Page 134 - Seekers Guide Book

Islam and the Quran
of the Fire, to abide therein forever. (Quran
22:27)

Here, it is clear that the act of going astray from Islam is
a matter that lies between man and God, and God alone
shall deal with such a person. A person who commits a
sin has his entire life to repent for his actions. So, anyone
who takes such a person’s life on account of apostasy
or blasphemy commits a heinous sin, as by killing the
person they also take away his opportunity for doing
repentance.

It is important to understand that the Shariah is a self-
managed system and an optional framework. It is to
support the organized working in a Muslim society and
is not to be enforced upon. This is because in Islam, an
action becomes rewardable when it is done without any
compulsion and under self-decision. That which is done
out of compulsion or is done under an imposition from
an authority is not worthy of being rewarded.

It is the role of the ulema is to clarify this and interpret
the Shariah in the modern idiom. For instance, there is a
verse in the Quran:

Call mankind to the Pilgrimage. They will
come to you, on foot and on every kind of
lean camel. (Quran 27:22)

There is consensus among ulema that the reference in the
above verse is to a mode of transportation (camel) that
was used in earlier times. This mode of transportation
is now no longer in use, so whatever is prevalent (cars,
buses, airplanes, etc.) will be used to go for the pilgrimage.

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