According to the claims of the atheists in the 101st verse of Maide Surah in Quran it says “DO NOT ASK – DO NOT QUESTION” and in other verses it says “THINK”. Does Quran forbid questioning and demand us to think at the same time? Is this a contradiction? Let us check the details in Quran and review the 101st verse of Maide Surah.
Mâide, 101st Verse: Believers, do not ask about things you will not like when revealed. They will be obvious if you ask within the light of Quran. ALLAH deliberately did not mention about them. ALLAH is the Forgiver, the Gentle.
First of all, a believer must know that both of the good and bad standards in his life are presented to him by Allah. The believers learn the laws of Allah from Quran via his Messenger. The Messenger is not entitled to adjudge in the name of religion. He is also obliged to comply with the orders and the prohibitions just as other believers. Prophet Mohammad and other messengers always answered the questions regarding religion based on revelations.
Is it possible that Prophet Mohammad answers questions about religion based on facts not mentioned in Quran or out of revelations? Of course no, since only Allah adjudges in the name of religion, Prophet Mohammad waited for revelations from Allah in order to answer religious questions. The 101st verse of Maide Surah comes into play at this point. Since each revelation of Allah is an order to be obeyed, the Messenger/Prophet Mohammad was ordered to answer the questions according to Quran.
On contrary to the claims, it does not say not to question in the 101st verse of Maide Surah; “tesu’kum: distresses you”, which means, do not ask questions that will bring new religious obligations for you. The prohibitions and orders mentioned in Quran are enough for you. Allah wants simplicity, not difficulty for you (2/185). Taking the verse as ordering not to question is an insincere and illogical approach. Because people never get distressed from asking and questioning, on the contrary, they become happy and feel the pleasure of questioning with their minds and ability of thinking that differentiate them from other creatures. The thing that makes people distressed is being limited by prohibitions. Since Allah knows the human being he created very well, he has declared that everything not mentioned in Quran are forgiven by him. The respondent of Quran is the mind. Let us review the importance given by Quran to think and question by sample verses.
Quran mentions about the regret of those who will go to hell and how Allah will answer them. According to the 37th verse of Fatir Surah those who deserve hell will say the following:
”Our God! Get us out, let us do better things than what we did before!”
According to the 37th verse of Fatir Surah Allah answers them as follows:
”Did not we give you a life long enough for a human being to THINK?”
So we have to THINK in order to find the right path and not deserve hell.
“…Do not you ever think?” (Ali İmran Surah | 65)
“…Will not you become wiser?” (Enam Surah | 32) …. [Check…. Araf Surah | 169, Yunus Surah | 16, Hud Surah | 51, Yusuf Surah | 109, Enbiya Surah | 10, Enbiya Surah | 67, Müminun Surah | 80, Kasas Surah | 60, Saffat Surah | 137, Yasin Surah | 68, Enam Surah | 32, Hadid Surah |17]
“…We are explaining the verses separately for a society that THINKS” (Rum Surah,28)
“And they say: “If we had listened or used our minds, we would not taste this fire.” (Mülk Surah, 10)
“Allah pollutes those people who do not use their minds.” (Yunus Surah, 100)
The Quran that invites to think, invites to question at the same time. When we take into consideration the Quran as a whole, we come to the following conclusion:
Some say that questioning is a sin. These claims are not correct. It is not possible according to Quran to claim that questioning is wrong in general. There are lots of verses in Quran that encourage people to question. What does Quran want us to question?
Here are some examples:
-Quran wants us to question the creation of universe (Enbiya Surah, 30)
-Quran wants us to question creation of human beings (Kıyame Surah, 37)
-Quran wants us to question the religions of our ancestors (Bakara Surah, 170)
– What standards should a book sent by God have? Quran wants us to question Quran itself (Nisa Surah, 82)
-Quran wants us to question the Prophet (Yunus Surah,38)
– If a religion is true, why should it be monotheistic? (Enbiya Surah 22) For instance, when we read the story of Prophet Ibrahim in Quran, we see that the story is about a process of questioning. For instance; prophet Ibrahim sees that the sun descends and says that it cannot be his God.
Allah mentions about these matters deliberately. In fact, he teaches us to reach the facts via questioning.
”If you suspect about what we sent to our servant, come on and bring just one similar verse. If your claim is true, bring your witnesses other than Allah” (Bakara Surah, 23)
If a better Surah is written, then Quran cannot be the wording of Allah. This challenge makes Quran a testable book.
In brief, questioning is not wrong or a sin according to Quran. Quran does not accept a belief based on imitation, on the other hand accepts a belief based on conscious thinking. You will never believe thoroughly unless you question.
