Page 118 - Seekers Guide Book

Islam and the Quran
another would say this is a temporary injunction and
the verse relates to a period when there were no world
bodies such as the United Nations, no pacts between
countries and no universal norms governing relations
between nations. But now since we have all of these,
there is no need for going to war. The only option before
people and nations today is that of peaceful negotiation.
So, two different commentators would give different
interpretations of this verse.

Even in the Gita there are differences in commentary.
For example, Mahatma Gandhi has said that war
mentioned in the Gita is meant in the spiritual sense,
that is one should engage in ‘spiritual war’, while there
are some other scholars who say that war in the Gita is
real physical war on the battlefield. So, there will always
be such differences. This is the case even when it comes
to the interpretation of the Constitution of India.

One has to study oneself to know which interpretation is
correct. There will never be compulsion in this matter –
that is, never will it become absolutely clear as to which
interpretation is right and which is wrong. One will have
to do deep study to understand this. Only in physical
sciences are there no such differences, but there will be
differences in social sciences or humanities. In physical
sciences, mathematics provides certainty. But in the field
of humanities, there would always be subjectivity.

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