8. Why is the Quran interpreted differently, unlike the Bhagwad Gita, which is inferred the same among Hindus across the world?

The issue of different interpretations exists everywhere in the religious discipline. This is not simply a matter of the Quran, rather it is a matter which pertains to all religious books.

In the Gita, Krishna urges Arjun in these words: ‘O Arjun, go ahead and fight!’ In these scriptures too, there is an injunction to engage in battle. When you study different religions, you will realize that they do speak about war. You will also realize that every religion is basically a religion of love, compassion and peace. However, as an exception, every religion allows for war for the purpose of defence.

While Gandhi interpreted the words ‘O Arjun, go ahead and fight’ to mean a peaceful ‘internal struggle’, the same text was interpreted by Bal Gangadhar Tilak to mean a violent and concerted action to end injustice.

Religion is not a mathematical discipline; it is a subject of humanities, which is open to interpretation.  For example, political science has more than ten interpretations of the term ‘sovereign’ and ‘sovereignty’. Any subject that is based on mathematics is less likely to have conflicting interpretations, but this is not the same in disciplines of humanities. For example, lawyers contest the same case from two different perspectives based on the same constitution.