Quranic Exploration
and
Discovery
Quranstruelight.com is an institution established with the sole purpose of exploring and discovering the long lost, but original and true, light of the Quran. The Quran is a book of knowledge and wisdom. It reveals the ideal discipline for human life to be followed in its present stage of creation. We think we can’t discern the true lines of this discipline unless we discover the answer as to what is life. This question has remained an unsolved mystery. To know the life is to know the purpose, and unless man is aware of the purpose, he cannot know himself. Therefore, before we look for the true light of the Quran, it is imperative that we should know the purpose of the creation of man and the goal he is destined to. The Quranic injunctions are full of repeated hints that lead us to the knowledge and wisdom that open up new horizons of thought, and help us know the answers to those questions that keep arising in our minds.
However, to make those hints visible to the human mind, the Quran needs to be re-translated on the most rational and academic lines in order to satisfy our quest of knowledge to discern the ultimate truth of our lives. The Quran’s reality is shrouded in mystery, and its true spirit and essence are wrapped up in a cloak of myth and fiction. It is the destination of Quranstruelight.com to solve this mystery and rip apart that cover of myth and fiction, which keeps the true face of the Quran hidden from the eyes of humanity.
To set off towards the aforesaid destination, Quranstruelight.com’s primary aim is to bring into focus, through the most effective medium of the internet, the most progressive, rational and up-to-date research work being done by Aurangzaib Yousufzai in exposing the true Quranic Doctrine. A very careful study and evaluation of the level and standard of his translation work, together with its comparison with similar work currently being done by different scholars of the Quran, have led us to believe that his work probably stands as the ultimate available source, for the time being at least, by which the real spirit and essence of the Quran can be recovered to a great extent from the debris of organized distortion, rehabilitated in its most appropriate form hitherto known, and disseminated to the truth seekers around the world with confidence. The veracity of his rational, academic and linguistic conclusions, arising out of a meticulous research process, is open for assessment at any level and will hopefully establish its scholarly authenticity when scrutinized empirically, ideologically and linguistically, as well as historically in any academic forum.
Therefore, our target audience is the highly educated and consciously evolved Muslim and non-Muslim intelligentsia, and those seasoned Quranist researchers who possess the required capability and intelligence for not only comprehending the quintessential of his presentations, but who can look at his work with an open and independent critical attitude. Thus Quranstruelight.com earnestly tries to offer the most progressive translations of Quranic Themes in separate independent segments, as well as through corresponding articles and books, in a sincere effort to present the Quran in the way it was originally disseminated in its purest and unadulterated form at the time of Revelations to Mohammd pbuh, the holy Messenger of God. The research-based material presented for now surpass the figure of one hundred writings, and there’s much more to come in the near future.
M.A.K. Aurangzaib Yousufzai is a researcher in Islamic History and the Quran, with a lifelong Mission to expose the Great Arab Hoax of the Umayyad dynasty of rulers that was to exercise a most potent influence upon Islam and the coming generations of Muslims. It was to deprive them of their great legacy left behind by the socio-political revolution brought about by the Messenger of God, Mohammad pbuh in the medieval Arabia, and to subject them to all time misery, exploitation and subjugation under the tyranny of their own and foreign masters.
He was born in the historical city of Lahore, a few years after the historic partition of India (1947), in the glorious era signified by the climax of Arts and Literature and excellence in academic achievements and professionalism. From the junior school-age he was passionately devoted to studies in literature, history and religion, spending most of his off-school time in the great Panjab Public Library nearby, and remained affiliated in his teens with a mainstream religio-political party of his homeland. He graduated from University with English and Economics, and much later once again from another University in Islamic Studies and Sociology. He secured Diplomas in Commerce and in Civil Engineering. Has pursued Arabic language Courses in two Arab countries as well as studies for Masters in Quranic Tafseer (Interpretation). He has served in Panjab University (College of Oriental Studies), Benghazi University (English Department), Libya, and Riyadh University (English Department), Saudi Arabia. He has visited almost all the Arab countries in the near and middle East (including Egypt) as well as Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey. Has deep interest in Islamic theology, comparative religions, history and archaeology. By virtue of a very broad mindset, he soon became an ardent advocate of pluralism, diversity and a collective acceptance of universal human values and ideals as stipulated in all Scriptures. He remains affiliated with the famous, nineteenth century “Back to Quran Movement” and “Pan Islamism” launched by Syed Jamal ud Din Afghani, Mufti Mohammad Abdu’ from Egypt and Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and his close associates from the sub-continent, whose later stalwarts included big names like Dr. Ali Shree’ati of Iran, Imam Ubaidullah Sindhi and the great Islamic philosopher Dr. Mohammad Iqbal.
With the passage of time, and as his conscious evolution continued to grow, he became spiritually attached to and deeply inspired by the Quranic philosophy of Dr. Mohammad Iqbal. However, his range of studies in Islamic Ideology encompassed every remarkable intellectual in the field. His inspirations are not derived from just one or two sources or gurus, but transcend all borders and fields of knowledge. The quest for truth is the natural phenomenon inherent into every human self. He believes that Age factor has no importance in your process of the acquisition of knowledge, and no age is too late of an age for enhancing your intellectual level. In his humble opinion, however, advanced age is a much better stage for a competent analysis and a fulfilling comprehension of knowledge, irrespective of the field chosen. So our advanced years of life put us in an advantageous position in this respect. Learning must go on at all costs, until the last breath a human being inhales of his physical life.
Aurangzaib Yousufzai has discovered recently, that apart from the divine criterion of Scriptural Guidance sent to man from time to time, the best judge of truth is our inherent treasure of conscious values endowed to us by our Creator indiscriminately, at a particular time of His choice, when we still are in the process of growing up in the wombs of our mothers. By that award, He transforms us into "a completely different creation" (خلقا آخر) rather than merely an animal organism. Those conscious values that we all are blessed with, and are trustees of, are named as the "Attributes of our Creator." Often these attributes lie dormant within us. All we need in this life is to awaken and make them fully functional so as to govern our lives.
He thinks that among many perennial questions humanity is facing, the most sought after umbrella question is “What is the Truth?" All the branches of sciences and philosophy, in some way or other, have this one question before them. Human beings have responded to their impulse to know the truth in four distinctive ways:
1. Mythmaking (With the aid of imagination of symbolism)
2. Philosophy (With the aid of reason)
3. Science (Analysis and apparatus)
4. Religion (Empathy and intuition)
In his quest of knowledge, Aurangzaib Yousufzai has studied extensively all those who have at one time or other probed the philosophy of Islam in their own distinct ways, from different angles and perspectives, in order to get access to the ultimate truth. The diverse paradigms and perspectives these scholars have kept in view in their deliberations of the Quran consist of: socio-political revolutionary aspect, the socio-economic classes and corresponding discrimination and exploitation factors, the relation between nature, human society and the individual self, the correlation between all branches of knowledge, the relation of one historical era with its succeeding one, the Sufism (based on Mystical interpretation of Islam), the Inductive Logic as compared with the Greek Deductive Logic dominant during the Abbaside period and thereafter, the very important Human Character and Conduct factor, and the aspect of blind conformism and dumb obedience rampant among a big segment of the human population. Some of the prominent contemporary names of those Muslim scholars who have taken into account one or more of the above perspectives in their research work, apart from the pioneers mentioned above, include Dr. Mohammad Yousuf Goraya, Dr. Fazlur Rahman, Dr. Khalifa Abdul Hakim, Dr. Rasheed Jalandhry, Dr. Rafi-ud-Din, Dr. Manzoor Ahmed, Prof. Dr. Mohammad Ajmal Khan, Maulana Abul-Kalaam Azaad the one-time President of Indian National Congress, Dr. Ghulam Jilani Barq, Hafiz Habib-ur-Rahman Siddiqi Kandhalwi and others.
In his belief that Truth can only be discerned through the acquisition of knowledge beyond borders, he studied the overall concepts and parameters of knowledge. He found out that the acquisition of knowledge is the question of means, sources and ends of knowledge. Taking up the vast subject of knowledge we find ourselves stuck with a variety of old and new viewpoints through which the question of knowledge can be reflected upon. We often are required to take up a position as to what, according to us, distinguishes adequate and rational knowledge from inadequate or false knowledge – the question of Epistemology in scholarly terms. To lay the basis of our conclusions in any academic discussion on knowledge, we have to choose one position among some possibilities, for example:
Put more emphasis on logical and empirical methods, and stress that knowledge is an apprehension of necessary and universal principles. (Causal determinism, empirical materialism: Aristotelian position)
We have an option to support the theory that, “knowledge is merely an awareness of absolute, universal Ideas or Forms, existing independent of any subject trying to apprehend to them.” (Idealism: Platonic position)
Or that Knowledge is the product of sensory perception, and rationalism which sees it as the product of rational reflection. (Post-renaissance scientific empiricism)
Or that Knowledge results from a kind of mapping or reflection of external objects, through our sensory organs, possibly aided by different observation instruments, to our brain or mind. (Reflection-correspondence theory: if we adopted that position we would have to enter into the mazy realm of language, and its relation to reality, towards Structuralism & Post structuralism)
Or that Knowledge is an empirical statement which comes from analytical truth. (Comte’s position: Logical Positivism)
To reach the ultimate Truth, every existing theory of knowledge must be kept in view, while advancing the most progressive results coming out of the modern and latest discoveries in the field of knowledge or sciences. Hence, the research work by Quranstruelight.com represents an advanced-level presentation, just in the line of identical work that continues coming up from different quarters. It goes without saying that most of the orthodox Muslims may not be able to grasp it at first sight, and it may prove for some others to be a shock treatment. However, it can at least expand some fellows’ mental horizon by offering an alternate account or picture of Islamic ideology in a purely socio-political perspective. I understand they may not have come across this perspective of the Quran earlier in their lives, and therefore it may not look acceptable to them in the beginning. They are apt to see it as a Religion. But the fact remains that many scholars of global repute have thought and written on the same lines in recent times. The Quran, in fact, does not present a religion by any account, and it is ridiculous and childish to think that it stipulates a code of “eating and drinking” or that God Almighty is involved in our “marrying and divorcing," and asks us to pray in a certain direction five or seven times in a 24 hour period, and admonishes us to remain hungry and thirsty for a full month from dawn to dusk.
The work of Quranstruelight.com reflects and corroborates the views of two great philosophers of recent times who have categorically prescribed some guiding principles to reform the extremism- and violence-infested human society in the present times.
Dr. McDougall writes in his book “World Chaos” these decisive paragraphs:
“Our ignorance of the nature of man has prevented and still prevents the development of all the social sciences. Such sciences are the crying need of our time, for lack of them our civilization is threatened gravely with decay and perhaps complete collapse.
We talk of Psychology, of Economics and of Political Science, of Jurisprudence, of Sociology and of many other supposed sciences, but the simple truth is that all these fine names simply mark great gaps in our knowledge – they vaguely indicate regions of vast wilderness hardly yet explored – yet regions which must be reduced to order if our civilization is to endure.
My thesis is that in order to restore the balance of our civilization, we need to have far more knowledge (systematically ordered or scientific knowledge) of human nature and of the life of society than we yet have.
Here then is the only road to remedy the parlous and ever more dangerous state of our civilization. We must actively develop our social sciences into real sciences of human nature and its activities…….. The task of finding a basis and providing a methodology for the social sciences is far more pressing today than it has ever been.
What, then, in practical terms is the remedy? I can give my answer, most concisely, by suggesting what I would do if I were a dictator…… I would by every means, seek to divert all our most powerful intellects from the physical sciences to research in the human and social sciences.”
We at Quranstruelight.com believe that harmony in all the sciences is the greatest need of the day. When we look into the present creative stage of man, we find that basically the purpose of this creative stage is (a) attainment of self-knowledge or self-consciousness; and (b) stabilization of self by following FIRMLY the great attributes of the Creator, as revealed to mankind through the process of guidance. Life is the art of the Creator, and so it has inherent attraction to seek its source and to gain more and more knowledge of its Creator. Thus all knowledge has its spiritual import. Whatever knowledge is achieved by man, its purpose is to know himself. We may divide knowledge in different branches or fields because of its diversity, but all knowledge is spiritual and not mechanical in origin. All sciences of knowledge are ultimately bound to lead towards one basic reality of the Universe.
In his well-known six lectures entitled “Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam”, the great philosopher Dr. Mohammad Iqbal writes:
“Classical Physics has learned to criticize its own foundations. As a result of this criticism, the kind of materialism which it originally necessitated is rapidly disappearing; and the day is not far off when Religion and Science may discover hitherto unsuspected mutual harmonies. It must, however, be remembered that there is no such thing as finality in philosophical thinking. As knowledge advances and fresh avenues of thought are opened, other views and probably sounder views than those set forth in these lectures, are possible. Our duty is carefully to watch the progress of human thought, and to maintain an independent critical attitude towards it.
Humanity needs three things today – a spiritual interpretation of the Universe, spiritual emancipation of the individual, and basic principles of a universal import directing the evolution of human society on a spiritual basis”.
We end this segment of our discourse by confessing that the spiritual interpretation of the Universe is not easy because spiritual values are non material and cannot be fully expressed and communicated through the words coined by man. But our duty is to do our little bit and leave the rest to the coming generations of more evolved humans. We are trying to do our part by converting into English the true essence of the Quran recently discovered through the presently achieved highest level of human knowledge and sciences. The Quran’s true essence is not only spiritual in nature, but the Quran always talks in relation with nature, the Universe and the entire act of Creation.