Americans receive a lot of mixed messages about Islam – a religion with over 1.7 billion adherents – in part because it takes many forms.
Its holy book, the Quran, was revealed in the 7th century, entirely in Arabic, and hasn’t undergone any changes since. The book has come under intense scrutiny from many critics of the religion who believe that violence in the name of Islam is sanctioned in its chapters and verses. With some Muslims citing the concept of jihad (Arabic for “struggle”) to justify killing civilians, other Muslims and non-Muslims alike have advocated for a reformation of Islam in some form.
One such reform advocate, author Rashed Hasan, an American Muslim businessman who was born in Bangladesh and moved to the United States in the 1970s, has written a series of books titled “Removing the Middleman,” to provide context and commentary of the Quran for westerners, particularly Muslims, to give them a better understanding of a 1400-year-old book.
Hasan, in an interview with the Washington Examiner, said that his journey down this path began simply because he wanted to teach his children about “how we should practice our faith.”
“I felt that being a first generation immigrant in this country and raising my children here that many times where I went to the Islamic center, I felt like what was being taught and practiced was very different than what I read in the Quran,” Hasan said.
Hasan’s book series has two volumes out: “Deciphering Faith Without Ritual” and “Free to Choose.” He has a third volume due out in coming months. In each of these volumes, Hasan delves into each chapter and verse of the Quran with the goal of providing commentary and analysis (in English) of what it means in the 21st century. His hope is to complete his series by covering all 114 chapters of the Quran.
He continued to say that there’s been too much reliance on clerics and imams to spoonfeed Muslims on what their faith means and that Muslims need to start learning and thinking for themselves.
“If you go back to the roots of the Quran and really read it literally, and then try to put the context behind the verses and the guidance also in the context of today’s world, I do feel that anytime you challenge the status quo, the social norm, there’s going to be some controversy,” Hasan explained. “And that’s the legacy of the Prophet [Muhammad]. That’s the legacy of leaders all over the world even in today’s context.”
Hasan said specifically that when it comes to the more controversial parts of the Quran that are often cited by Islam’s critics, we should have more debate within the Muslim community about what these verses mean rather than be told what they mean by Muslim leaders.
“To me, those controversies are something that we need to debate and discuss. And the good thing is that we can go back to the source, the Quran itself, and see what it says and try to have a discussion and understanding among ourselves. And the more debate and discussion we have, I think we’ll be better off than to have certain clerics telling us how to interpret the book.”
