Tons of questions, queries and wot not.
-
I'm a new member. First of all, I'm exteremely surprised and happy at finding you guys. My grandfather, father and I have read some good authors and concluded that Quran alone is the source of islamic law and hadith is unfortunately a tool employed by priests to control the masses. (Of course, it is not an attack on the Prophet). A well read but rarely discussed scholar in Pakistan, Ghulam Ahmed Pervaiz has been saying what you are talking about, since 1930s. I recommend that you all read his translation of the Quran at
http//www.tolueislam.com/Parwez/expo/exposition.htm
He also has a great book 'Islam A challenge to religion', that extracts Quranic laws in one spot. Read it. It is available on tolueislam site. Put it on this site. Spread the word.Ask the idara and try to post a copy of the Quran glossary and translation on your site. I'm sure they won't mind. Please support the idara, and join forces with it. Remember, free-minds.org is in itself nothing, but a tool to facilitate education, communication and rational thought and eventually, the message of Quran. So do not develop hostility of any sort. Also note that in Pakistan, the people's mentality is exteremly narrowed down. They resort to killing you if you even suggest the notion that hadith should not be a part of the shariah. Idara is literally standing amid ignorants. It needs your help.
Proceeding further, the Quran requires us to use modus ponens and other logical tools to extract information. To use MP or HS, you need to have information in the correct order compiled in close proximity. Joe average such as myself is not a learned scholar. He can't remember everything. This idea particularly magnified if the momineen are planning to setup a society as per the divine law. So the scholars, the lawmakers, the readers, all of them need a software tool that facilitates the following
1-Hold multiple translations of the Quran for comparative study.
2-Allow insertion of comments without changing the translation.
3-Allow a reader to drag and drop a verse under a specific section already structured by the reader. So for example, I could pre-design a structure such as "Politics, Law, Rights, Foreign affairs" and so on. Hence while reading the Quran if I find a verse relevant to 'Politics', I merely click on the verse, and drag it into the section of 'politics'. This way, I can archive the relevant verses and consult them as and when needed. The software should also allow a user to add new structures and remove them as need. For those who have used macromedia dreamweaver, this is like clicking on a hyperlink and dragging the arrow to a file on the right. MAcromedia dreamweaver MX is a great example of the process I'm trying to articulate.
4-A built in-search engine. If I want to read all verses that mention 'Momin', I would type it in and receive all the verses where the word is mention. This topic-wise search is extremely useful.
5-Wish list Collaborate with other readers and compare notes by either email or through synchronization through a server (such as free-mind's).
I think such a software will greatly reduce time in extracting information from the Quran and allow almost anyone to develop their own encyclopedia of Quranic Laws. I predict that this software will be particularly useful and vastly employed once the true islamic state exists.
Are there any coders out there who can do this?
I recommend
1-Use Java technology so our linux friends are included.
2-Allow some sort of word processing ability so thesis can be developed from the extracted information.
3-Build-in multiple fonts like English, Urdu, Arabic, Persian Turkish etc for preview atleast.I wonder how many read this so far? D
Who am I?
I'm not a Muslim. I was born and raised as a Muslim. Then I reasoned that just because I am born in a Muslim's house, does not mean that it is the truth. While I didn't refute islam as wrong (afterall I could have been born in the truth-house and I have no way of knowing), I did observe our prominent communist and capitalist societies. I found them all flawed and disturbing.
So I said to myself, hey why read the Quran? So far what I read, makes sense. I plan to browse it over once, then read it with thorough detail, and after that time if I have determined that indeed this is the word of Allah, then I will embrace Islam. Indeed, if there is Allah, he knows my intentions are clear and my criterion for selection is only rational thought. I have a feeling that it is the truth (but I'm creating a bias to myself and I detest myself for doing so).
In any event, I know one thing for sure. Islam is not a religion. It is not a relationship between a man and a creator. It is a deen, or a way of life, loosly speaking. It accomplishes its true goals once a collective of like minded individuals sit together on a piece of land, and implement the divine order.
So, are you all ever gonna do that or is this a big hub hub? If yes, what is the plan? I read in the Quran that it asks you to plan your resources before starting this programme. Where is the plan? Why aren't you doing this? Why this waste of time? No such information even on progressivemuslims.org. Magazines and all sound sweet and lovely, but you need a place to start from.
And PLEASE, create a mailing list that everyone can communicate through.