About this website:

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Who listen [closely] to all that is said, and follow the best of it: [for] it is they whom God has graced with His guidance, and it is they who are [truly] endowed with insight!
Quran 39:18

With this in mind we provide here extensive resources so that one can go directly to the original source and verify for oneself matters and issues related to Islam rather than relying on second or third hand information or simply taking hearsay for the original as is common with most Muslims and even with some scholars. No one person, no matter how knowledgeable in Islam and no matter how popular among Muslims including past Imams, can be considered as the final authority on Islam The final authority on Islam must rest with the Quran and Quran alone.

This website does not promote one or the other view of Islam. It is purely meant for scholarly work. Whatever label (Modernist, Rationalist, Quran-only, Reformist, Anti-Hadith, Mutazila...) was attached in the past against one or the other group, it is important to study their writings and their sources and only then one should make independent judgment about them and about their work. Searching for resources sometimes becomes a hindrance in the search for truth. The resources provided here, it is hoped, will help ease that hindrance somewhat for those who are striving for the truth.

What is Quran?
The Constitution for Humanity
The Catalog of the Universe

The Book that God gave to His Messenger through revelation, and which he passed on to the Humanity in the form in which we know it today. The internal evidence provided by the Qur'an itself, as well as historical research, proves that the original Qur'anic text has not been changed or is likely to be altered in the future. This is a unique attribute of the Qur'an and is not shared by any other revealed book now extant. The Qur'an embodies the deen (The System of life) revealed to the earlier Anbiya (Messengers of God) in its true and perfect form. The mode of expression of the Quran is neither poetry nor prose, but has its own style and rhythm. It has a rare beauty and grandeur, and is sublime.

This Book does not give us merely a code of ethics; it provides us with a code of life which embodies guidance, principles, values and laws relating to every sphere of human life and natural phenomenon. The Qur'an, according to Islam, is the final authority in matters of deen. The values, injunctions, and the principles enshrined in the Book form the corner stone of the Islamic polity and the limits laid down by it provide the framework within which the laws of the Islamic State may be formulated. These principles, or limits, or framework, are immutable, but the statutes made by the State within these four corners are open to modification and change according to the needs of the times.

The Qur'an is the last of the Divine Books, because Messenger-hood ended with Muhammad. No subsequent human opinion or pronouncement in matters of deen, therefore, can be recognized as authoritative; nor can any man-made law repugnant to the Qur'an be regarded as binding upon the Muslims. The Qur’an is a book of guidance for all mankind and transcends the barriers of time and space. The Islamic State is an instrument for the enforcement of the Laws and Injunctions embodied in the Qur'an.

What is Islam?

Islam is not a private individual affair, but a collective system, not a vehicle of personal salvation but of universal welfare, not an adversary of reason but a liberator of human reason, not a breeder of superstition but a radical challenge to all superstition, not a purveyor of fearful conformity but a creator in man of courage and self reliance, not a call for renunciation of the concrete and the real but an invitation to conquer and subjugate the world of matter, not a supporter of the status quo and of the vested interests but a beacon light pointing in the direction of a total "revolt against all forms of tyranny and exploitation".  It is, in short, a loud "YES" to life, and totally rejects the whimpering "NO" which religious priest-craft has used to shackle the divine potentialities created in man by God.

It is a Challenge to Religion.

Religion vs. Deen

A comparative study of religion and Deen, should help us understand the vital and fundamental characteristics of each and the differences between the two:
Religion Deen
Religion is merely some sort of subjective experience and is concerned only with the so-called private relationship between God and man. Deen is an objective reality and a system of collective life.

 
Every follower of a Religion is satisfied that he has established a communion with the Almighty, and the objective of each individual is his own salvation. The aim of Deen on the other hand is the welfare and progress of all mankind, and the character and constitution of a society indicates whether or not it is founded upon the Divine Law.
Religion  does not afford us any objective. criterion by which we could determine whether or not our actions are producing the desired results. In a social order governed by Deen, the development of a collective and harmonious life correctly indicates whether or not the people are pursuing the right course.
Religion is hostile to scientific investigation and is an adversary of reason, so that it could flourish unhampered with the aid of a blind faith. Deen helps in the development of human reason and knowledge, allows full freedom to accept or reject on the basis of reason and arguments, and encourages investigation and discovery of all the natural phenomena to illumine the path of human life and its advancement in the light of the Permanent Values.
Religion  follows the susceptibilities and prejudices of men and pampers them. Deen seeks to lead men to a path of life that is in harmony with the realities of life.
In every age, therefore, Religion sets up new idols and mumbo-jumbos in order to keep the people's attention away from the real problems of life. But Deen is rational and radical: it breaks all idols, old and new, and is never variable in its principles.
Religion  induces a perpetual sense of fear in the minds of men and seeks to frighten them into conformity; While Deen treats fear as a form of polytheism and seeks to make men courageous, daring and self-reliant.
Religion  prompts men to bow before every seat of authority and prestige, religious as well as temporal. Deen encourages man to walk about with his head erect, and attain self-confidence.
Religion  induces man to flee from struggle of life. But Deen calls upon him to face the realities of life squarely, whatever the hazards.
Religion  treats the world of matter with contempt and calls upon man to renounce it. It promises paradise only in the Hereafter as a reward for the renunciation of the material world. Deen, on the other hand, enjoins the conquest of matter and leads man to immeasurable heights of attainment. It exhorts him to seek well-being and happiness in this world as well as felicity in the life Hereafter.
Religion  encourages belief in fatalism, and this tends to dissuade man from active life and self-development. Deen gives man power to challenge fate, and provides energy for a life of activity and self-development.
Religion  seeks to comfort the weak, the helpless and the oppressed with the belief that the affairs of this world are governed by the Will of God and that its acceptance and resignation helps to endear them to God. This sort of teaching naturally tends to morbidity, and emboldens their religious leaders who profess to interpret the Will of God, so that they indulge in their misdeeds with perfect impunity and persuade the adherents to a complete and quiet submission. Deen, on the other hand, raises the banner of revolt against all forms of tyranny and exploitation. It calls upon the weak and the oppressed to follow the Divine Laws and thereby seek to establish a social order in which all tyrants and oppressors will be forced to accept the dictates of right and justice. In this social order, there is no place for dictators, capitalists or priests. They are all enemies of Deen.
Religion  enjoins religious meditation in the name of worship and thus induces self-deception.

 

 Deen exhorts men to assert themselves and struggle perpetually for the establishment of the Divine Social Order, and its betterment when attained. Worship in din really means obedience to the Laws of God.
Religion  frowns and sneers at all things of art and beauty.

 

 Deen defies those who forbid the enjoyment of the good and beautiful things of life which God has created for the enjoyment of man.
Religion denounces everything new and declares all innovation as sin.

 

 Deen holds that the needs and demands of human life keep changing with the change in the conditions of life; change and innovation are, therefore, demanded by life itself. Only the Divine Laws are immutable.
It should now be easy for us to see the fundamental difference between Deen and Religion. Islam means saying "Yes" to life; while the response of religion is "No"!

Thus Islam is an open challenge to religion as such.