A common question that is both basic yet extremely profound, posed by many critics of the Islamic tradition, is whether or not the Quran is a relevant book.
Does the Quran promote concepts that provide answers for humans to live healthy and beneficial lives – for both themselves and the world around them?
Take a look at how Dr. Joseph Lumbard tackles this issue in the following video:
Relevancy of the Quran to Modern Questions
The Quran, beyond the shadow of a doubt, remains relevant to the questions we have today. One of the things that one can find, for example, is that there is a deep doctrine regarding the natural environment within the Quran.
It is so much so that one author, Reza Shah Qasimi, has said that if in fact the vision of tawheed that you had in the Quran were maintained, you wouldn’t have the environmental crisis.
The morals of the Quran are applicable under different circumstances at any time.
Quran and modern nutrition
Just take, for example, the verse that reads {eat and drink but not to excess.} (Al-A`raf 7:31) This verse is the basis of modern nutrition. It is the basis of nutrition for all time.
It is also the basis of maintaining a good relationship with the whole of the natural environment.
This verse really tells us what our conduct should be in relation to the environment, in relation to our own health at all times and at all ages. How could it not be applicable?
I mean, this is something that one even finds, for example, in the works of Galen and in the works of modern medicine. So, certainly it is.
Quran and wealth
In addition to that, one finds in the Quran, for example, the basic understanding of our relationship with wealth.
The Quran makes it clear that wealth is not really ours; it belongs to God. We have to treat it as such and we have to share it with others.
You do not have an income tax, but you have a tax on excess wealth. Imagine, if you had no income tax for people but you had a tax on people’s excess wealth, we would have a far more balanced economy in places like the United States.
If we did that, we would have a far more participatory economy and much less poverty. These are principles in the Quran that can be applied not only in Islamic civilizations but also can be used within other civilizations.
There was even a study done by a German economist that said that; it would be better to put a small tax on people’s residual wealth than to have an income tax and it would be better for the economy.
This scholar did this study having no knowledge of Islamic economics. He just came up with it on her own. And it completely confirms the Islamic, you might say, socio-economic model.
There are many other examples that one could find in the Quran.
The Quran has a message for all time, not only in terms of faith and relationship with God, but also, in terms of how we live in the modern world and how we confront many of the obstacles that we have before us; the Quran does give us solutions for how to overcome them.
Source: Bayan Islamic Graduate School
The post Is the Quran Relevant to Today’s Questions? appeared first on About Islam.
source https://aboutislam.net/shariah/contemporary-issues/is-the-quran-relevant-to-todays-questions/
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