Why cant the quran be edited, why does it have to be the final version?

Question

Why cant the quran be edited, why does it have to be the final version? i mean the times have changed, murder, rape and slavery is illegal in all developed countries, so why is the quran still teaching stuff from the horde warfare era, why cant we edit it

Answer 1

First of all the way you have asked the question suggests that you believe that actions such as slavery and rape are justifiable in Islam, It also shows that you have done no research to verify whether those actions are truly part of Islam or not, however I hope that my answer can clear up a few things.

Islam does not justify murder as the verse below suggests, however their are certain actions, if performed by an individual will lead to the death punishment, this is not something to be carried out by any member of the public rather it is the governments and judicial systems responsibility

Whoever slays a soul, unless it be for a manslaughter or for mischief in the land, it is as though he slew all men; and whoever keeps it alive, it is as though he kept alive all men.” (Surah al-Mā’ida 5:32)

Sayyidina Muhammad, peace be upon him, told us: "The best of the Muslims is he from whose hand and tongue the Muslims are safe." [Muslim]

In regards to slavery, well it is widely known that Islam was the first religion to halt the practice of slavery, as you can tell from the hadeeth below, a man is not supposed to trade humans, this topic has been covered in details here

“Allaah, may He be exalted, said: ‘There are three whose opponent I will be on the Day of Resurrection, and whomever I oppose, I will defeat … A man who sold a free man and consumed his price.’” Narrated by al-Bukhaari (2227).

In regards to rape, well Islam prohibts muslims from any unlawful sexual intercourse, as shown in the verse below. The only lawful sexual intercourse permissible is one where a valid marriage contract is in place (with the consent of the wife ofcourse)

“And come not near to unlawful sexual intercourse. Verily, it is a faahishah (a great sin) and an evil way.” [al-Israa’ 17:32]

now that a few thing are hopefully clarified, I'd like to make my next point, Things may be normal to a specific country/culture/religion may not seem normal to members of other country/culture/religion, for example it is not normal for Muslims to have sexual intercourse with other than their wife, however in western countries this is pretty much the norm, the media knows that most people only perceive their actions to be normal and other fall under the category of weird and insane, therefore the media takes advantage of this and it occassionaly chucks a few Arabic words in the headlines or quote things out of context so that gives people more reason to believe that we are "Weird" & "Insane"!

Now coming back to your original question, in short NO the Quran Cannot be edited even if you tried to!

"We have, without doubt, sent down the Message, and We will assuredly guard it from corruption." [Noble Quran 15:9]

The main reason that leads people to believe that the Quran should be edited is their focus on out of context quotes and Images portrayed by the media and terrorist organisations, while those who actually look into the true definitions and teachings of Islam eventually become impressed withit and relise that the actions performed by terrorists are contradictory to the teachings of Islam.

The Quran is a guidance, guiding us how to live our lives in a way that pleases god and is beneficial to society, although it was revealed 1400 years ago, it still provides non-timely-constrained laws, for example stealing is forbidon, shouldn't this always be the case, we are obliged to help the poor and needy, isn't their always going to be poor and needy that need the help of others, the list can go on and on but I think you got the image.

The Quran is not constrained by time, rather the opposite is what Islamaphobes want you to belive.

“and We have revealed the Book to you explaining clearly everything (16:89).

God Knows Best, May God guide us all to the straight path!

Apologies if my tone in this answer sounds offensive however this is not the intent!

Do please spend the time to look into this beautiful religion, just to grasp an understanding of the true teachings, whenever you want to seek knowledge you should always refer to its source, not the media or word of mouth!

Answer 2

As others have mentioned already the statement

Blockquote ' murder, rape and slavery is illegal in all developed countries, so why is the quran still teaching stuff from the horde warfare era' Blockquote

Is just not true.

1. Murder is not only NOT allowed, but one who kills one person is as if he has killed all of humanity. There are only two conditions where taking a life is allowed and murdering someone is one of them.

2. Quran ended slavery and the path that was used to make people slaves, that is war prisoners, are supposed to be freed either as favor or with ransom.

3. Rape is a form of oppression and corruption on earth - and its maximum sentence can be death penalty according to Quran.

Like other people have mentioned, dont judge a religion from what a group of people does in the name of that religion. It was not true with Hitler, not true with KKK and, not true now with ISIS or the likes of them.

For islam main source is Quran and anything at odds with Quran is not part of Islam. So before you criticize islam please do read Quran and NOT as a collection of sentences that have no context, like ISIS does, but as a book that gives basic rules of life, gives gradual instructions on ending practices like slavery, and most of all, asks people to think, reason, think, reason, think.

Finally why not change Quran? because Quran is just a reminder of basic rules we all human, most of the time, already know about and come to the same conclusions on, whether we read Quran or not. Since human nature hasnt changed, no beed to change Quran. :-)

Answer 3

+1 Medi1Saif. And to OP, what you don't understand is this:

When the man-made laws are changed over time, why should it then affect the laws made by ALLAH?

We should not transform text of ALLAH according to our society and whims and wishes, rather it should be the other way around. We should implement the laws set by ALLAH in our societies.

Who is a better law maker, the man or the CREATOR?

Any sensible man would say CREATOR. Why? Because the CREATOR knows it all and has knowledge of past, present, future and beyond.

So if we took your advice and started altering our Holy Book according to man made laws and those laws changed every generation, we would have a book that has zero to none original text (From the Creator) and a thousand years later, it would have so many contradictions that no man would be able to justify what got into someone's head who made change number, lets say, 5551. I hope I am making sense to you.

It is We Who have sent down the Dhikr (i.e. the Quran) and surely, We will guard it (15:9)

The 'Guard it' here means to keep it in its original form. Name one other book that has withstood the trail of time and has preserved its original form?

Other Holy Books such as the Torah and the Bible have lost their originality. You never know anything about in the book that might be man-made or from the CREATOR.

One last thing:

The fact that Al-Quran has preserved its originality is the miracle of Al-Quran.

It's not its con, rather pro. :)