Re:Why doesn’t Pakistan reform its blasphemy laws?
by int_19h on Tuesday April 25, 2017 @07:40PM
(#14199270)
It's also important to note that such interpretation is subjective, and there are different schools of thought within Islam, that ascribe different contexts (and, consequently, different scopes) to the verses.
Also, the mainstream consensus changes over time - there has been a fairly long period, for example, during which the Sword Verse was interpreted to imply that the Caliph does have the authority (and in some madhabs, the obligation) to wage offensive war against unbelievers:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_of_Islamic_scholars_on...
Re:Why doesn’t Pakistan reform its blasphemy laws?
by duncan_bayne on Wednesday April 26, 2017 @03:04AM
(#14201039)
Yes. As with people arguing about the interpretation of other religious texts, though, the main issue is: what do the _majority_ of followers of the religion believe? Or, perhaps: do _enough_ followers of the religion believe the problematic interpretation?
Had Al-Ghazali been less successful in his reactionary unwinding of the Islamic world's enlightenment, we'd probably be having a very different conversation now.
It's important to note that a large portion of verses in the Quran were revealed to the Prophet in response to a particular event that took place during his lifetime. Tafsir (exegesis) is the subfield of Islamic science that deals with figuring out the context of a particular verse.
[1] Explanation of that verse (5:33): http://www.altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=2&tTafsirNo=73&t...