By IINA
Doha : Any suggestion of innovation in Islam does not mean that Muslims have to get away from traditions and the guidelines set by the Quran and Shariah, Qatar Foundation Vice Chairperson Dr. Saif al-Hajri said yesterday. He was speaking at the opening of the two-day ‘Innovation in Islam’ conference, organized by the Centre for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) at Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar (SFS-Q). “Focus on innovation in the religion doesn’t suggest that the scripture is old, it is rather very much alive. Islam gives huge margins of freedom to its followers to practice their faith,” Gulf Times reported quoting Dr Al Hajri as saying.
“And that doesn’t just stop at individuals. Islam also allows for greater co-existence with other civilizations just as well,” he added.
Earlier, CIRS director Mehran Kamrava welcomed the audience, while SFS-Q dean James Reardon-Anderson stated that this was the third year such a conference had been organized with an aim to encourage public engagement. The dean also chaired the first panel discussion that followed, ‘Innovation in Islam: Concept and Reality’. The two panellists included Nasr Hamid Abu-Zayd from the University of Humanistics in Utrecht and Prof Nelly Hanna from the American University in Cairo. According to Abu-Zayd, who focused on the ‘Development of Knowledge in Early Islam’, the translation of Qur’an – an ultra supreme Arabic text – is not only impossible, but forbidden.
“What is allowed is the translation of the meanings of the Qur’an for the sake of understanding. Arabic is so vast that no one person can claim to understand it. Even, while praying and performing religious duties, translation is not permitted.” He also covered such territories as Arabism versus foreign vocabularies and the stance of scholars such as Imam Al Shafi’ and Iman Abu Hanifa on inimitability of the Quranic text. This led to a tirade of questions by the audience during the interactive session. Some of them believed that non-Arab Muslims should be able to pray in the language they understand, or they would not “feel that spiritual connection with God.” Hanna spoke about ‘History from Below; Dictionary from Below’, in which she focused on a 16th century colloquial Arabic language dictionary written by a certain, Yousuf al-Maghrabi.
“This dictionary was not interested in the roots of the words, but contained words that the author heard from the by then, very cosmopolitan Cairo. This leads me to ask whether we can use a dictionary as a source for the cultural understanding of that time?” she questioned.
On a question related to certain passages in the Qur’an that are perceived to “promote violence,” proactive approach by the scholars to take up the challenge of clarifying the perceptions, was urged by the academicians.