Wahabbism is pristine Islam

Submitted by Vinodgupt (United States), Jan 20, 2006 at 10:32

Pat,

A few notes on your comments:

1. On revision of Koran over centuries:

No, the koran has not been revised over the centuries. Initially when Muhammad used to get his "revelations" people used to memorize or wirte them down on whatever was available to them. Over the decades people put them in different froms. By the time the third Caliph Uthman was in power and Islam having spread to Egypt, Mesopotamia -- current Iraq -- and other places, different versions of Koran were rampant. Uthman charged one man -- I don't remember his name rioght now and it is not of much significance for our purpose at hand -- to collect all the versions and make an authentic version. Most of the "Prophet"s companiions were still alive. So in the time of Uthman an official version of the Koran was made and all copies of all other versions were systematically destroyed. So, sonce that time the version which is currently available has been the nly version. Whether it contains what was really "revealed" by Allah, only Allah can tell.

2. Different interpretations of the Koran:

Yes, it is true that any text may be interpreted differently by different people. The same can be said of the Koran, and specially so of some verses. But most of the verses are so direct that one has to stretch his imagination to find a different interpretation. For the sake of brevity I will not give any example but if youi so desire I shall be glad to provide.

Over the centuries when Islam reached different countries, due to inherent attachment to one's old culture all people did not follow Islam in its pristine purity. Wahab in Arabia and his contemporary Shah Waliullah in India started a movement for the Musloms to return to the pristine original purity of Islam as practiced during the time of the Prophet and his first four rightful Caliphs. In India -- it is now becoming more global -- there is a movement and a society called Tabligh Jamaat whose purpose to get the Muslims to rid of practices that they have retained from their older cultures.

When one tries to convey the opinion that the problem is woth Wahbbism -- it is wrong. Wahbbism is return to the pure Islam.

Vinodgupt

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