Comparing Islamic Values To Western Secular Values - 1

Question:
1)Are you saying that part of understanding the Qur'an is to understand its historical context?
2) Should I consider the world of 1400 years ago when I read the Quran?

Well there are two points here. Firstly one who wishes to study Islam properly should make him/herself aware of the time when verses were revealed and the context in which they were revealed. You will often see that surahs are divided into whether they were Mekkan or Medinian. It is important because the situations of the Islamic community differed when they were starting out in Mekkah compared to when they migrated to Medina. The second point is that just because we should be aware of the historical context of the quran does not mean it is only suitable for the time it was revealed. It is a message that is applicable to our lives today. Many scholars throughout the past few hundred years have learns to deal with new social circumstances and technologies in an Islamic way. I must say in my own opinion though some people are hesitant to change – there are various examples. This does not mean that it is not possible for the Qur'an to be a guide for today. We must continue to reform the system without reforming Islam. 

So having said that I want to take an example of how reading the Qur'an out of it’s historical context could cause one to misunderstand it. It is the issue of alcohol. It was slowly prohibited. Firstly the people are told there is good and bad in alcohol but that the bad outweighs the good. The people were told not to drink alcohol coming to prayer and later on it was completely prohibited. These are spread out throughout the Qur'an so let’s say someone who just starts reading the Qur'an sees the verse where alcohol has good and bad. They may think it is ok to drink alcohol because Allah says there is good. If they do not know that later on in the Qur'an it is completely forbidden that could cause them to view the message of Islam differently. See Allah understands our desires and probably had it been that alcohol was forbidden in the very first revelation people would not have turned to Islam. So slowly it was forbidden to make it easier on the people. Or it another issue could arise. 

So in short I do think when studying the Qur'an like in a serious way that it is important to understand its historical context and the events that happened. Also at the same time I am a supporter of those who want to use Islam in today's life and to reform the system using Islam. Nothing is ever going to be 100% the way it was back 1400 years ago and we must be open to some changes but not changes in the word of the Qur'an. And you might think that is a difficult task to study such a context but even us Muslims are not aware of everything in the history of Islam that is why we rely on those who are educated to help us in such matters.