Remaining Intellectually Honest With the Quran

[Joseph Islam]

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REMAINING INTELLECTUALLY HONEST WITH THE QURAN. THERE IS NO COMPULSION IN RELIGION

Despite the Quran favouring an egalitarian lean to a primary Arab audience where arguably the societal tilt was in parts oppressive and unjust, there is no escaping the fact that the Quran also provides a religious remit in which it expects its adherents to operate.

It is my humble view, that if one feels the following is unacceptable from either a moral / philosophical / practical or religious standpoint and a true God would never have instituted these religious boundaries, then it is far more intellectually honest to dismiss the religion in the Quran as errant than to attempt to dissect and wrought the Quran by misrepresenting it to conform to one's worldviews. In the end, the Quran makes no compulsion in religion after it has made its narratives clear.

[1] The Quran rejects any physical intimacy outside the confines of holy matrimony (the sacred covenant of wedlock) which it accepts as lawful between a man and a woman. Any sexual pursuits by any gender outside this restricted ambit are considered a transgression by the Quran.
 
[2] In the confines of a household, the Quran places huge weight and the 'primary' burden to ensure financial responsibility, maintenance, fairness, justice and accountability on the shoulders of men. The Quran thus espouses a 'broadly' patriarchal approach to how it views an ideal familial structure should operate. However, this does not mean 'male domination' or a lack of compassion/justice. The Quran also brings forth rights to protect the interests of women (rights to inheritance / property/ earnings / opportunities / marital rights et al) which women have often been deprived of in many cultures today and of yore.
 
[3] The Quran expects its adherents to uphold certain rituals as part of worship. They should not be dismissed or 'read out' of the Quran by new-fangled interpretations without warrant.

[4] The Quran places great emphasis on justice and mercy. It also places great emphasis on exemplary punishments to be meted out as deterrents. This is with a view to avoid the proliferation of anarchy, lewdness/hedonism and general corruption (including the severance of legitimate rights), becoming the norm as part of society. The Quran makes it clear that powerful nations have been utterly decimated when a society reaches this point of transgression and there is no change in God's approach to destruction when the conditions of wantonness are met.

Of course, I have too at times, wrestled with narratives from the Quran and it has never always been easy to set aside my own modern biases / sensibilities when interpreting the Quran. However, to exercise as much fairness as one can muster during any exegesis, it is also true that one must allow the Quran to speak.