Quora Answer: Why Do Some People Have Such an Extreme Interpretation of the Qur’an?

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ 

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “Why have some people taken such an extreme interpretation of the Qur’an?  How do they justify practices like hiding of women, the oral thalaq, and suicide bombing being implicit in Qur’an?” 

This is a feature of every faith tradition throughout history.  You can have two people read the Bible, or the Qur’an, or the Torah, or indeed, any form of religious Scripture and one will find God’s Mercy and the other will justify Divine Wrath.  But it is not these books. It is the heart. 

To better understand this, imagine that the heart is like a glass bowl.  Our acts of worship purify the heart.  Our learning expands the bowl.  But the polishing is far more important.  If the bowl is dirty, filled with the detritus of the ego, of envy, oppression, hatred and violence, then even the purest water poured in becomes undrinkable.  And if the heart is purified, and the soul at peace, then the water remains untainted.  That is what religion is like in the hearts of people. 

The first quality of a believer is a purified heart, because ikhlasw, sincerity, is a requirement for the acceptance of deeds and worship.  And the best way to sincerity is to want goodness for another such that the self is not involved.  If one cannot have that, it does not matter how much of the Qur’an he can quote.  It will not benefit him in the least.