Siraj Islam

For centuries, the majority of Muslims have been revering the Hadith corpus as a second source of religious guidance and law in Islam, after the Quran. However, the Hadith never enjoyed unquestioned scriptural authority. The challenges to its authority were strong and widespread in early Islam and are even more pronounced in modern time. This book is a systematic attempt to chronicle these challenges in early Islam and introduce modern-day critics, summarizing their positions. It then provides theological underpinnings that call into question both the authority and the authenticity of the Hadith corpus. And, more importantly, the book provides a detailed analysis of egregious hadith from the collections that are considered by traditional Muslims as sahih, i.e., sound and authoritative. It is such hadith that contradict the Quran, science, or reason and negatively affect Muslim beliefs and practices. The disturbing content of the Hadith has made Islam a religion of ridicule and the staple of the Islamophobes, who use the most egregious hadith to paint Islam as a fanatic, violent, and misogynistic faith.

We cannot consider humanity's relationship to the Divine without asking questions. How can God exist? What lessons does He have for us? If God is omnipotent, what role is there for human free will? Toward a Quranic Understanding of the Divine seeks the answers to these queries in the wisdom of the Quran. Only the words in the holy book are considered, free from the often-distorting lens of cultural expectations or dogma. Authors Abdur Rab, Farouk A. Peru, and Siraj Islam start from the basic principle that seeking a path to God is humanity's primary goal. They then explore how focusing on our real selves (nafs) helps us meet the Divine (liqa'ullah). They candidly discuss how scientific findings, including evolution, have their place in God's natural laws and interpret scripture as spiritual lessons rather than literal accounts. From there, the book examines the unity of God and important lessons for humanity, the difference between Divine preordination and human predestination, and the many blessed attributes found in God's names as they appear in the Quran. A bold, insightful exploration of Quaranic Islam, this extraordinary book reveals a loving, compassionate God and how His ideals, properly emulated, can transform our spiritual lives.