Conditions for Changing Islam

Submitted by Mike Ramirez (United States), Jan 29, 2006 at 18:40

Actually, yes, the Qur'anic verses in Islam were able to change throughout the period when Muhammad was alive. There are many examples of this including Salman Rushdie's account of the "Satanic Verses" which had been originally written in the Qur'an then later abrogated.

There are yet other verses that were changed, however, it must be emphasized that when these changes were made, they were done so at a theological level and through a "Revelation to Muhammad." Such other "revelation" is when Muhammad decided to change the direction of prayer for Muslims and ordered them to no longer pray toward Jerusalem but to turn their back against Jerusalem and pray toward Mecca. This was the result of the Jews rejecting Muhammad as their prophet. About this time is also when Muhammad received his revelation to change the Muslim attitude toward Jews and Christians and thus imposed the tax (jizyah) upon those who did not convert to Islam. Later revelations called for stricter penalties and death toward unbelievers (Kafir) who would not accept Islam and Muhammad as the "final prophet of God.".

It is also interesting to note that, according to Islamic theology, the ideas for a verse did not always come from "Allah" but were also products of suggestion by one or more of the "companions" of Muhammad who had influenced his writings. These were structured so as to make it appear that they were "divine revelations" but their "human influences" become obvious in the Ahadith (sayings of Muhammad).

Here is proof that one or more of Muhammad's companions made a suggestion that resulted in a "divine revelation" that was later written into the Qur'an:
(from Sahih Bukhari: Volume 1, Book 8, Number 395: Narrated 'Umar bin Al-Khattab)

"My Lord agreed with me in three things:
1. I said,"O Allah's Apostle, I wish we took the station of Abraham as our praying place (for some of our prayers). So came the Divine Inspiration: And take you (people) the station of Abraham as a place of prayer (for some of your prayers e.g. two Rakat of Tawaf of Ka'ba)". (2.125)

2. And as regards the (verse of) the veiling of the women, I said, 'O Allah's Apostle! I wish you ordered your wives to cover themselves from the men because good and bad ones talk to them.' So the verse of the veiling of the women was revealed.

3. Once the wives of the Prophet made a united front against the Prophet and I said to them, 'It may be if he (the Prophet) divorced you, (all) that his Lord (Allah) will give him instead of you wives better than you.' So this verse (the same as I had said) was revealed." (66.5).

Conclusion: It appears that the only way that Muslims will accept a "change" in the Qur'an is through a "Divine Revelation." Since Muhammad has been deemed the "Last and Final Prophet of Allah" and is no longer alive, the question would now be: Who is able to qualify as an authoritative leader of Islam with the ability to make the change? The only acceptable answer is an Islamic Caliphate. But then the Caliphate would still proclaim that the entire world needs to be brought under the subjection of Islam and Shari'a rule. So, we are back to where we started from; Islam's goal of world domination.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".