FIXED MENTALITY OF MUSLIMS -

 

FIXED MENTALITY OF MUSLIMS

At the risk of sounding blunt, one cannot ignore a troubling tendency within many Muslim circles: a reluctance to unlearn inherited baseless beliefs and to engage the intellect with sincerity. Quranic expressions are often repeated as sacred jargon, yet their inner meaning and depth remain largely unexplored. In doing so, we inadvertently portray Allah - the Light that gives meaning to our existence - in a diminished, superficial and meaningless manner.

In many minds, Allah is imagined as a rigid and strict Commander / Lord, easily displeased by the slightest deviation in pronunciation of language or expression of the verses in the Arabic Quran. If the classical Arabic terms salah or sawm are rendered into Persian forms like namaz or roza, or if someone grapples imperfectly with the meaning of a Quranic words or phrases, it is assumed that divine displeasure immediately follows. Such assumptions reveal less about God and more about the limitations of our own imagination and insecurity.

More fundamentally, we rarely pause to contemplate the profound reality manifested by the Quranic word Allah. Instead, we often behave as if the Lord of the Heavens and the Earth is the Publisher and the Author of an Old Arabic text that He guards this with His Divine Copyright - Instead of reflecting on the limitless depth that this word points toward - the ultimate ground of existence, the source of consciousness, the sustaining principle behind every reality - We reduced Him to something far smaller and far more mechanical - 

In this imagination, Allah resembles a kind of “Divine Publisher,” protecting His sacred text with an absolute copyright: the meanings are fixed, the interpretations sealed, and the boundaries of thought tightly guarded. "The Divine Publisher" that punishes wrong reflection, wrong reinterpretation, or forbids diving deeper to engage with its meanings. Wrong comprehension of the book Quran is confirmed condemnation to Hell - So Muslim prefer only rote reading or follow so called established interpretations or exegesis.

Within such a strict framework, reflection becomes dangerous. To question inherited explanations, to reconsider meanings, or to explore the deeper implications of the text is often treated as a form of transgression. The fear is subtle but powerful: that an incorrect understanding of the Quran might lead to divine punishment, even eternal condemnation.

As a result, a paradox emerges. A book that repeatedly calls human beings to reflect, ponder, and use their intellect becomes surrounded by a culture that discourages precisely those activities. Instead of entering into a living dialogue with the text, many feel safer limiting themselves to recitation, memorization, and the repetition of established interpretations. Thought is replaced with preservation; inquiry is replaced with imitation.

Philosophically, this situation raises an important question: can the infinite reality symbolized by the name “Allah” - the source of existence, intellect, and consciousness itself - truly be confined within the narrow boundaries of a closed interpretive system?

If Allah is indeed the Lord of the heavens and the earth, then the Quran cannot merely be a static document guarded against reflection. Rather, it must be a living invitation to awaken the human intellect, to deepen awareness, and to engage continuously with the unfolding meanings of existence.

In this light, the real reverence for the Quran may not lie in protecting it from thought, but in allowing it to provoke thought - again and again - within every generation of reflective minds.

From this perspective, it is further assumed that only God knows the correct interpretation of the Quran, yet paradoxically that human beings will be punished if they fail to grasp its meaning correctly. This creates an image of the Divine that is both restrictive and intellectually paralyzing.

In truth, what we often construct in our minds is not the infinite Reality that the Quran points toward, but a narrow projection shaped by fear, habit, and inherited dogma. Such an image is not only inadequate - it is a profound underestimation of the boundless nature of Allah.