As you know, God is a unity, real and logical
And The Quran is from God
But The Quran never told you to be Muslims!
The way we have come to use the word Islam is not the way that the Quran and the early Classical Arabic speakers used it.
Islam in its true and original Arabic meaning has nothing to do with God at all! It is just a vocabulary word that means:
Submission primarily, as well as 'giving, quitting (something/someone), paying in advance,
salutation, salvation.
Don't believe me? God, in Arabic, is Allah. Do you see or hear the word Allah in the word Islam? No.
In the Quran this word is only used in its true meaning and it is always used in context.
Following a religion called Islam and professing to be Muslim is in essense a nonquranic practice, because these words have nothing to do with God in their original Arabic sense.
However, calling oneself Muslim and following a religion called Islam can only be justified in that in these post-Quranic times there is one sole criteria for anyone who follows the relgion of Islam.
What is that sole criteria? Professing to believe that the Quran is a divine inspiration and that Muhammad is God's prophet.
As long as you believe this then you are a Muslim. A Muslim's identity through Islam only hangs on this. Even if he can be considered a bad Muslim by others, he is still a Muslim if he believes in these two things.
The Mullahs, Scholars, Sheikhs & Imaams are a Priesthood, They are no different than the Priesthoods of Christianity and Judaism; lords and superiors in disregard to God.
Quranist Islam, which is a form Islam that is exclusively guided by the teachings of the Quran distinguishes religious leadership from religious lordship.
Equal Opportunity Education and Mutual Consultation is encouraged in the Quran. The knowledgeable are to be respected, however those who are more knowledgeable have a duty to bring those who aren't onto their level. And those who are less knowedgeable have a duty to raise their level of knowledge so that they can contribute equally in society. Elite classes of scholars who make decisions (fatwas) for the ignorant masses is not the societal system that the Quran promotes. That is religious lordship not religous leadership.
The example of God's messenger is limited to the duties of his messengership. Muhammad has no authority outside of the message that he preached, which was the revelation that he recieved, and which was only the Quran.
God's messenger is on an equal footing with all sincere individuals who try to articulate the messages of the Quran through honest and thorough study of it. He was only commanded to deliver it and to follow it.
Muhammad was not the only or best messenger of God. Whoever implies this is clearly contradicting the Quran.
The Quran never said that Muhammad is the best of men. So why would you believe this? As a matter of fact why would this even concern you? The Hadeeth that say this also say that the Arabs are the best of all people, and we know that this is not true. The best people are those who take the best measures to ensure their welfare and well-being; present and future, in this world and the next (49:13). As well as those who make what is honorable imperitive, whose imperitives are honorable and who forbid the despicable and are faithful to God (3:110).
All hadeeths, because of Isnaad, are nothing but hearsay and rumor. The example of God's messenger Muhammad should be sought in the Quran before the Hadeeth. And much doubt has to be cast onto these Hadeeths, even the authentic ones. As a science, history should always be subject to re-evaluation, and it is always subject to error. Muhammad's example (and even his history) can most reliably, and without any doubt, be found in the Quran. The Quran is more historical than the Hadeeth and the Hadeeth should never be used to intepret the Quran. The hadeeth can only be right about Muhammad if they don't contradict each other, they don't contradict archeological evidence, and if they don't contradict the Quran. Currently there are even Saheeh hadeeth that don't meet these qualifications.
Muslim scholarship has in no way exhausted the Quran for what it can be fully saying in each of its passages. They blindly follow the limited opinions of certain previous scholars for their understanding of the Quran. Traditional Islam lies when it says that it takes the Quran over the Hadeeth, because the interpretations of these scholars on the Quran are always highly and prejudicially influenced by the Hadeeth.
Muhammad is told to follow the religion of Abraham. God bless and keep them both.
God made Abraham an exemplar for Muhammad. So Muhammad is not the most perfect man or prophet. The religion of Muhammad is the religion of the Quran, and the religion of the Quran is the religion of Abraham. God bless and honor them both!
The Quran preaches in its pages that 'Al-Islaamu
lillaahi' or 'Submission to and for God' i.e. being pro-God is the
message of God to humanity. That is the religion of Abraham. Islam, just in its post-Quranic meaning, is only the first, very small step towards that. The Quran is bigger than Islam.
The infidel or disbeliever according to the Quran is the one who is not faithful to God and the last age, when humanity will go back to God. When the Quran speaks of the infidel/disbeliever (kaafirun) it does not mean a Non-Muslim. There are plenty of disbelieving Muslims infidels according to the Quran's standards. Whoever says that the Quran means Non-Muslim when it uses these terms is ignorant.
The Quran says that no one is to be forced to follow any religion, custom or rule. Ipso facto. Even the apostate has a right to turn away from the Quran and Islam peacefully without having to suffer any reprecussions. Whoever says that the Quran imposes religious conformity onto all people is completely lying about the Quran.
