Response to a blog comment: Confusions caused by multiple opinions

Question:
Whatever Mr. Ghamidi and people inspired by him (colleagues) said in the conference was their own understanding of Islam. And that should not be interpreted as according to Quran or Sunnah. Don’t you think that it confuses more than clearing other people’s thinking? On the one hand, their idea may get acceptance to the non-believers and, on the other hand, it may cause confusion/disturbance within the believers.

Response:
We humans get confused when we are asked to listen to something different from what we have been believing to be true. What is the proof that what we have believed in hitherto was correct? Was the number of people who followed that point of view, the degree/qualification of the person said it, his reputation, the size of his beard or what else is the criterion for knowing the truth? My humble submission is that the only thing that should serve as the ultimate criterion for accepting or rejecting a religious view as true is the Qur’an. If a view finds support from the Qur’an, it is correct; if not then it is not correct. If you have been believing in a point of view that didn’t emerge from the Qur’an, the correct Qur’anic view is bound to confuse you. But that confusion is welcome. Because it would be the first step towards your movement towards the correct view. The satisfaction (or lack of confusion) that you are cherishing so much can at times be a curse. You may be sticking to a view because it has been a part of your understanding for a long time. And simply because of that reason you don’t want to change it. How then would you ever know whether what you are accepting is consistent with the Qur’an or not? Is it going to be on the basis of the claims of the scholars whom you trust?

If a state of lack of confusion is an ideal, why do we want to cause non-Muslims to come out of that state? Let them too enjoy the joys of confusionlessness. And let us declare to the world at large that there is no truth and no untruth. Let everyone remain satisfied with what he/she has with him/her. In the world of ideas there is nothing right or wrong. If someone believes that this world is standing precariously on one of the two horns of bull, let him stay in the solitude of his satisfying belief.

[This is Dr. Khalid Zaheer's response to a blog comment.]

Views: 507