If Progressive Muslims disagree with the Quran, why don’t they just leave the faith?

I have spoken about and against the so-called self-proclaimed Progressive Muslims many times. In their most extreme form, they do not consider the explicit texts of the Quran and Sunnah to be legally binding, and feel that it is permissible to re-interpret its commandments away in light of modern sensibilities. Although they are a very small trend in the Ummah (and their conferences and prayers only attract a handful of people), they are typically touted by the Far Right as being exemplary Muslim Reformers that the rest of us should follow (perhaps because, to be brutally frank, there is very little Islam that they are actually following in the first place).

Of late, one of their main points is the claim that same-sex unions are Islamically permissible – a claim that has absolutely no precedent in the entire history of our religion amongst all of the sects and trends of the Ummah, despite the diversity of Islamic thought. Their primary arguments are proposed by Prof Scott Kugle in his PhD dissertation that was published under the title: Homosexuality in Islam: Critical Reflection on Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Muslims. He has also written an article on the topic.

I had read the entire book and article last year, and found it to be bereft of academic merit. It lacked a consistent methodology, contradicted the most basic usool of Islamic law, and was so radically revisionist that I couldn’t believe any Muslim would accept such ‘scholarship’. Yet, it is constantly touted by Progressives as somehow ‘responding’ to the traditional understanding of marriage in Islam, and as being a type of final evidence that, once and for all, allows us to discard standard notions of Islamic sexuality.

Alhamdulillah, our brother and someone whom I’m proud to claim as my student, Mobeen Void, wrote a thorough summary and scathing critique of Prof Kugle’s writings (see link below). Warning: it’s a long read, and its conclusion is pretty obvious (viz., the texts of the Quran are absolutely explicit in condemning any type of same-sex unions, and there is no room for reinterpreting such texts). It is an interesting read, if only to see how Progressives attempt to do away with even the most explicit of Islamic commandments.

A simple lesson for us to learn is that the essence of Islam is to submit to the teachings of Allah, and not force the teachings of Allah to submit to our desires. And alhamdulillah, the mainstream majority of the followers of our beloved Prophet (salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam) will never deviate from this simple reality: even the average Muslim who commits a sin does not want to justify it! (Once, when I summarized Kugle’s research to a lay-Muslim who didn’t have any extra academic knowledge, he was extremely puzzled and said, speaking with the truth that only an innocent person can verbalize: ‘If they disagree with the Quran so much, why don’t they just leave the faith and do as they please? I don’t understand why they need to resort to such extreme tactics to justify their lifestyles?’)

Here’s the link for the article, and it’s also available as a PDF for those who want it.
http://ift.tt/29Siy3i

Yasir Qadhi

*Artikel ini diambil daripada Facebook Yasir Qadhi.

The post If Progressive Muslims disagree with the Quran, why don’t they just leave the faith? appeared first on Portal Islam dan Melayu.

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