Maulana Wahiduddin Khan I Discover Islam
On an occasion, a Muslim individual gave a copy of the Quran to his non-Muslim friend. With great enthusiasm and deference, the non-Muslim friend took the Quran, and read it from the beginning to the end. When the two friends met again, the non-Muslim returned the copy of the Quran with these words: “Now give me the other Quran to read.” The Muslim thought that his friend wanted a different translation of the Quran, so he found one and handed it to him. The non-Muslim examined it for a few minutes, then said: “But this is the same Quran. What I meant was–give me the Quran that you people practice in your daily lives.”
Though this may seem like an amusing tale, the fact is that the non-Muslim individual had hit the nail right on the head. The Muslims do have two Qurans, one which was revealed by God fourteen hundred years ago, and another which they themselves have written. The first is the real Quran. The second is not known as “The Quran” as such. It goes by the name of “Quranic commentary” and “Quranic interpretation”. The commentary and interpretation of the Quran that the Muslims have made, amounts to a parallel text. It is this second “Quran” which provides the foundation for their practices in the modern age.
The Quran teaches that Islam means submission, but the Muslims have–in their own commentaries–turned their religion into a source of pride. The Quran tells us that salvation depends upon a person’s actions, but from the interpretations that the Muslims have made of the Quran, one would think that it is enough to be a purely nominal Muslim to earn salvation. The Islam contained in the Quran teaches man to become conscious of his own faults, and seek to correct them; but from what the Muslims have made of the Quran, any person would think that Islam teaches man to pick on the faults of others, and ignore his own. The Islam of the Quran is a universal religion, which belongs to everyone; but the Islam which the Muslims have fashioned for themselves, is that of a nationalistic heritage which belongs solely to them and to no one else.