| Answer: class="Paragraph">In my
humble opinion, one basic thing needs to be understood: Religious scriptures are
one thing and deriving directives from them another. While the former are
divine, the process of deriving directives from scriptures is a human endeavour.
Human intellect, you would agree, has its own limitations. It can falter and err
and of course be different in different scholars. Hence the different
interpretations of certain directives of Islam are but a natural outcome of this
premise. In this regard, the real thing is the arguments which are presented in
support of a viewpoint. A person is required to weigh these arguments in the
scales of sense and reason and decide which one appeals to his intellect the
most. He should adopt that particular viewpoint, since he would be held
accountable according to his own understanding of religion. As long as he is
sincere in his search for the truth, it does not matter even if he seemingly
adopts a wrong viewpoint. He would be rewarded by God for his sincerity.
Allow me to say
that such differences do also exist in Christianity, Judaism as well as other
religions. The examples you have given are of a very broad nature. There is no
difference in opinion in Islam also if broader areas are considered. For
example, no one disagrees among the Muslims that each person is going to be held
accountable in the Hereafter for his deeds.
So I would say
that one should not get worried from this state of affairs. As long as this
world exists, difference in opinion would exist in areas which are prone to
human interpretation. What is important is that one should be a true seeker of
the truth and that this quest for the truth should be his most cherished goal.
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