Voices of faith

McClatchy Newspapers

Voices of faith: Should antiquated scriptural injunctions be changed to suit modern society?

Syed E. Hasan, Ph.D., Islamic Research Foundation International: The critical word here is “antiquated.” Revision may be in order for scriptures where the original words have been altered by human beings to suit a particular social set-up. If so, certainly many of the so-called injunctions would not be tenable and may need a revision. On the other hand, if we consider a scripture where the original divine words and injunctions have remained intact, the need to make any change does not arise, because man-made rules are subject to change, but God’s are not — they are eternal and transcend the bounds of time and space.

The Islamic scripture, Qur’an, revealed to Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him), more than 14 centuries ago, is one such book. It has been preserved in its original form throughout this long period of time without any alteration whatsoever. In fact, if one reads a copy of the Qur’an in the original Arabic, one cannot find any difference, whether the copy was published in Australia, India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, South Africa or the U.S.A. Every word, down to the fine diacritical marks, is exactly the same. Further, at many international Quranic recitation competition, contestants from different countries, when asked to recall from memory and recite a given passage or chapter, each delivers exactly the same words despite the participants coming from as diverse a country as Egypt, India, Malawi, Nigeria or Qatar.

A.M. Bhattacharyya, an active member of Hindu community: Hinduism, which has been guiding the Hindu lives for many thousands of years, has a large number of holy books. First came the scriptures of Vedas. Vedas have two kinds of knowledge, ceremonial and spiritual. The ceremonial section includes prayers, rituals, duties and commandments. The spiritual section contains the most profound philosophical thoughts about the creation and its Creator and their interrelationship. It has its own series of scriptures, called Upanisads. In the later period many auxiliary scriptures, classified as Smritis, were authored by sages. Smritis include stories and illustrations, social structure, codes of conduct and one’s rights and duties. The wealth of knowledge in Smirtis helped to bring the messages of Hindu religious principles and practices to the people at all levels of the society.

The fundamental precepts of Hinduism in Upanisads are acclaimed by all Hindus as the eternal spiritual principles revealed by God to the ancient Vedic seers. These spiritual beliefs are the most authoritative and unchangeable. But, according to Swami Vivekananda, “Those religious practices which are based entirely upon our social position and correlation must change with the changes in society.”

For example, the caste system served very well in the structure of the old Hindu society. However, in the modern society the caste system is antiquated. It has created discrimination and division in the society. So, it must change to harmonize with the modern era.