05-15-2004, 02:49 PM
Muslimah one specific incident I refer to is the following:
When the Muslim woman who was being mistreated by her husband came to the Prophet and requested a divorce, she was denied several times because the Prophet did not think the request was appropriate, and that it would be better for her to work out her differences with her husband. Finally, the verse came to him that said "We have heard the argument of the woman who came to you" -- and proceeded to lay down divorce laws for women. In this instance, the Prophet was wrong in his judgement and was corrected by Scriptural revelation.
As far as instances where the right thing to do isn't clear, well we just talked about one -- covering the head for women.
Here's a more serious one: a death sentence for apostates. A great number of Muslims will swear by this. I think it's obscene, and it isn't at all a universally accepted concept.
Punishment for homosexuality: according to at least one school of Sunni law, the punishment is death. According to another, the practice should be discouraged but the guilty parties should not be punished at all and their final judgement left to God.
You mentioned salat. Muslims don't all offer their prayers in the same way, and don't even agree as to how many times a day they should be performed (Shias do three while Sunnis do five).
There is debate as to whether suicide bombing is a permissible tactic in war.
Muslims disagree as to whether non-Muslims will all go to Hell.
This isn't just "interpreting the Qur'an according to our needs." These are major differences sometimes, and especially when we are talking about things like the life and death of other people, they aren't just idiosyncrasies of one group's religious practice. So, how on earth can you claim that the right thing to do is obvious?