Synopsis
As intended in its purest form, faith in God and religious practices were meant to forge a global alliance of goodwill and common humanity by encouraging diverse tribes to work together – a social, moral and ethical construct to help define coexistence as a way of life. However, the creation of hierarchies and religious clergies converted religious texts into tools for division and judgment.This second volume continues the journey into deconstructing the texts of the Qur’an and peeling back the layers of complex undertones and contexts in an effort to empower the reader to do the same. Reviewing the third and the fourth chapters of the Qur’an, this volume brings to life the fundamental right of each and every human being to be free to choose his or her faith and the mode of its expression while volume 1 was focused on fundamental aspect of this faith in God without confining such faith to mere rituals. While chapter 3, “The Family of Amran”, draws attention to the original convergence of the three faith – Judaism, Christianity and Islam; and delves into the underlying root causes of subsequent divergence of these religious beliefs and practices; Chapter 4, “The Women” makes a passionate appeal to our human consciousness and God given freedom to create a social construct where gender equality is absolute by providing directional guidance on man-woman relationships, marriage commitments, inheritance, equal rights and obligations and a confirmation that each one of us, irrespective of gender, is to be equally responsible and empowered to do good on this earth.
About the Author
Rashed Hasan has a deep faith in God and shares a deep concern about the welfare of the human race. He was born in a third-world Muslim country but was fortunate to have been educated in some of the finest institutions in the Western world. As he traveled throughout Muslim lands, he saw the poverty, a lack of education, the rise in conservative thinking, and a lack of empowerment and self-governance on a large scale. Yet he was fascinated by the humility and God consciousness of the average person. As he traveled around the Western world, he witnessed vigorous intellectual discourses, unprecedented economic well-being, and awesome technological innovations but was dismayed by the absence of humility, lack of respect for human equality, and the rise of income disparities to an alarming proportion. Rashed has a long career in industry, management consulting, and technology entrepreneurship. He worked for premier management consulting firms such as Booz Allen Hamilton and Ernst & Young. He has worked for and consulted for major global corporations in the automotive, health-care, energy, media, pharmaceutical, transportation, and building-materials industries.He cofounded several technology companies in health-care informatics and big-data analytics. Along the way he has also founded and led a number of faith-based, political-grassroots, youth-leadership, and immigrant-advocacy organizations in the United States in collaboration with the US Department of Justice, the PA Department of Health, the Jewish Healthcare Foundation, the Heinz Endowment, and other philanthropic organizations. Rashed lives in Alexandria, Virginia (in the United States), a town known for its historical connection to the American Revolution and George Washington, one of the Founding Fathers. He devotes much of his time to building a technology consulting company and is actively involved in community dialogues and building relationships at professional, personal, and community levels with special attention to and interest in young people who question the world as it is and aspire to change the world to be a better place. When not working, he can be found reading books, traveling, cooking a meal, and gardening. Rashed has a BS and an MS in mechanical engineering from MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and an MBA in finance and operations from the Wharton School, Philadelphia, PA. He also teaches at George Mason University’s School of Business in Fairfax, Virginia.
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