Literalism is a tool of fundamentalism. If you lay out all interpretations on a level plane and examine them logically from metaphorical and allegorical perspectives as well as literal, you'd see that that no one method of interpretation is superior to another. There may be one you identify more with, but that does not make it inherently superior to the others, since other individuals will identify with other interpretations. Modes of thinking, my friend. Not everyone is a straight-forward literalist; not everyone wants to be a straight-forward literalist. When it comes to religion I think that's a good thing - otherwise every religious person on the planet would be a fundamentalist.
Writing can not mean more to us, than it did to the ones who wrote it. Allegorical and metaphorical writing is stated as such by the writer. I can not just claim now that what you said was metaphoric, and what you really meant was (insert some strange theory here). Literalism, whether a tool or not, is in fact the truth. It is what it was meant to say. Modes of thinking is merely a way to change what is plainly written to mean what it does not say.
I've delivered a personal interpretation of that passage somewhere else on this site (can't remember where - too many threads, too many posts). Think of the passage metaphorically and historically - the pagans were, at the time of the writing of the Qur'an, the people who were refusing to accept Islamic values, yes? Then to say "fight and slay the pagans wherever you find them," taken in a metaphorical way, could easily be an impetus to fight and defeat one's own personal doubts, that small urge to reject, wherever it is found in one's mind.
But is that what Mohammed meant when he wrote it? Was he speaking metaphorically or literally? When you read writings elsewhere in the Qur'an, it backs up that verse as been literal. Further, when you read his message to the pope in Rome, saying "there shall be no two faiths in Arabia" that indicates he meant literal. When you read how he had groups of infidels, people who refused to accept islam, brought to him by 20s, and had each ones head sliced off by his personal guards... I would suggest that he meant "slay the infidels" literally.
You can not change what type of writing given to you just to fit your own personal view. All writing must be taken the way the writer intended it to be.
Is this a custom-made interpretation? Yes. Does it make more sense to me then a literal interpretation? Depending on the context, yes. Personally, it does make more sense to me - I have little reason to hate anyone. If I had more, solid reasons to hate a person or a group of people, then maybe I'd want to look at that passage differently.
It might not make more sense to you. There are plenty of people out there who just aren't wired for the abstract, and that's okay. Still, every time you see a Christian who's repulsed by the idea of stoning adulterers to death, I'd challenge you not to assume that such a change in sentiments regarding "literal" interpretations of holy books is impossible in Islam as well.
It's not a matter of hate, but rather truth.
There are many issues raised by moral relativism, yes, however, there were plenty of strong issues that existed prior to its development. Moral relativism is, in my view, the only equitable way to deal with other cultures - after all, either we exercise moral relativism and tell them that we're okay with them doing things their way, or we extoll moral absolutes and tell them that we believe that their beliefs are "bad" or "wrong," based on our beliefs. Not only is that disingenuous, but it's ineffective. No one likes to be told that their beliefs are wrong. Present your evidence for this and we'll go from there.
In Canada, a father murdered his high school age daughter because she didn't wear a head covering at school. It was considered an "honor killing" because it, in their view, upheld the honor of Islam. How do you deal with this?
Go to a child daycare. Watch the children play. How does the 1 year old know that he should hide the toy he stole from another child behind his back when the women comes? How does the child know how to lie? Who tells that child not to say to their parent what they did?
Remember a few years back, a school teacher was sent to prison based on the words of children, and later was found they all lied completely about what happened. Why? Who told them to lie?
Many years ago I was in inner city schools and found that the kids had no concept that stealing was wrong. Taking things that didn't belong to them was the accepted norm... yet the moment someone swiped something of theirs, they went ballistic. Why? What made them believe that stealing was wrong when it happened to them?
I believe that God placed in every human some basic moral values. No one anywhere likes it when people lie. No one like it when their stuff is stolen. Now we can come to a point we willfully refuse to follow those morals, but even then, even when they see no problem with them breaking those morals themselves, they go ballistic when someone breaks those morals against them.
I am constantly amazed by people who lie, and then are outraged when someone lies to them. Or people who cheat on their wife, and then go nuts when they find out their wife cheated on them. And my favorite, people who steal stuff routinely, and go crazy when someone steals their car stereo.
I can't help but see that moral values external to society seem very obvious to me. One the things many American business men discovered the hard way while dealing with Asian Cultures, is that your word is truth. It's your bond. It's everything. If you say you are going to do thus and so, they expect you to do exactly, and precisely what you say you are going to do. A small slip, even not covering the tip at lunch if you said you would, results in canceled contracts.
These basic morals are visible in all age groups, and in all nations. Whether it's a toddler that tells their mommy you promised we could go to the park, to the Japanese businessman who expects you to pick up the tip at lunch when you say you will, to the high school boy that sees his girlfriend wander off with another guy, to the 45 year old wife who sees notes left by her husband written to a different women.
