{"id":26,"date":"2014-02-24T01:30:26","date_gmt":"2014-02-24T01:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/mbprasad\/?p=26"},"modified":"2014-02-24T01:31:20","modified_gmt":"2014-02-24T01:31:20","slug":"the-rules-of-religion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/mbprasad\/2014\/02\/24\/the-rules-of-religion\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rules of Religion"},"content":{"rendered":"

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During Week 3 in class we discussed the recitation of the Qur\u2019an, and this blog is a response to Al-Ghazali\u2019s \u201cExternal Rules of Qur\u2019an Recitation.”\u00a0What most stood out was the contrast between public recitation and a private reading of the Qur\u2019an. However, after comparing this reading with Sardar\u2019s Reading the Qur\u2019an <\/em>and Rasmussen\u2019s The Quran in Indonesian Daily Life, <\/em>I realized that the differentiation is not so much private versus public. Instead, it is more of a question of strict or flexible interpretation.<\/p>\n

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From the 12th<\/sup> century, Al-Ghazali writes traditionally and expects different practices of recitation than we might expect now. Recitation, especially as Al-Ghazali proposes, seems to be much more focused on constructing a persona. For example in rule six, Al-Ghazali says that we should weep while reciting the Qur\u2019an. If we can\u2019t weep, we should force ourselves. While I understand that forcing ourselves often produces genuine feelings in the end by association, it is still strange to think such rules will give us a better understanding of our own faith. Al-Ghazali propagates a much stricter interpretation of recitation of the Qur\u2019an than Rasmussen does, which ties into the blog I wrote about \u00a0Infidel<\/em>. Does a strict interpretation and specific rules enhance our practice and ultimately make us a better believer?<\/p>\n

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This is the question that I sought to tackle through the artistic form of film<\/a>. I asked members of the Harvard community questions surrounding rules and religion. Some of the questions include:<\/p>\n