Muslims that belittle the Quran are the perfect interlocutors for those that attack the Quran. If you make a body of narrations take precedence over your Holy Book, abrogating its verses, relating its corruption, alleging it deficient, it is no wonder that missionaries embrace you.
Do you not see that it is your dawah — your assertive scholarship — that is killing the message? You have preached before all the world that your rendition of faith is the most authentic, truer than all others, in which all people must believe absolutely or be damned. But your opponents have opened wide your books and pored over your texts, jumping on every contradiction and anomaly. Likewise, they listen intently to your celebrated scholars, combing through their unending output, seeking to pounce on every word that undermines you.
The missionaries do not see — nor do they care about — the persecuted sages you lambast as heretics and turncoats, for holding different opinions, born of their own engagement with ancient texts and the world around them. They only care about you and your rendition of faith, which they too present as the only authentic form of Muslim belief. You are perfect bedfellows. Your dawah is their vector of attack.
If only you had set out on the road of inward contemplation, before arrogating to yourself responsibility to preach before even learning to walk. If only you had contemplated on your own state, before busying yourself with the concerns of others. If only you had reflected on the verses of the Book you belittle.
Do you order righteousness of the people and forget yourselves while you recite the Scripture? Then will you not reason?
Quran 2:44
Last modified: 20 May 2021
