Standing Alone in Mecca by Asra Q. Nomani

Beej

Here are answers to your questions:


``Meher – are you telling me that it’s the WOMAN who is paid a dowry when getting married? That appears to be turning things topsy-turvy. Is that a universal practice among Muslims of all sects?``

Yes, Qura`n granted this right to women that dowery is given by man. This practice is widely practiced in middle east, Afghanistan and pushto speaking parts of Paksitan. Unfortunately, the people on the East bank of River Sindh, Pakistan India, Bngladesh have ignored God`s commandment and started demanding dowry from bride. This is unIslamic and unjust.


``Fiqah – is it always what’s written down in the Qura’n only, or are there other sources which are accepted as fiqah? ``

Fiqah literally means law. There are two sources of law. One is Qura`n and Hadith and other is Ijtehad. explained below.



Ijtehad – what are the mechanisms to set up one? Are these standardized?``

Ijtehad is a standard practice in all juresprudence whether Islamic or secular. It is an intutive method of induction and deduction used to formulate a law. In Islamic jurisrudence any law that is thus formulated has to be verified whether it contrdicts any Islamic injunction or not. For example, computer hacking is a crime but why? Thru a method of induction and deduction jurists have come to the conclusion that it is equivalent to theft and destruction of private property, therfore, unlawful. In Islamic law it is also unlawful because it goes agaisnt the principle of sanctity of other peoples property and rights.


``Muttah – temporary marriage? Why would one want to marry “temporarily”? Doesn’t the objective/vow include “till death do us part” or something along those lines?``

I think you should ask Salim Chauhan this question. from Sunni point of view such an arrangement is equivalent to prostitution and thus forbidden.


``Biddat – if an “innovation” could go through an ijtehad mechanism, would that then be considered Fiqah? Are there any instances of something which used to be called “biddat” at one time having become accepted over time as a fiqah or at least legitimately Islamic later on, as the societies changed? ``

Ijtehad is forbidden in matters of faith. for example we are not allowed to philosophize by induction and deduction that God does not exist or there are two or more Gods. An example of biddat is the ``demanding`` the dowery from brides. Holy Prophet (pbuh) voluntarily gave some household items to his daughter as dowery and the Mehr that was established at that time was arbitrarily established at some amount of silver whose price in todays money would be less than Rs. 6000. Qura`n has not established any fixed amount for mehr and it is left on brides` discretion but bad Muslims in order to exploit women on one hand started demanding dowery from women citing that Holy Prophet gave his duaghter the dowery but on the other hand started fixing Mehr at Rs. 6000 which goes agaisnt Quranic injunctions. These two bidaa`ts are destroynig the Muslim social life where girls remain unmarried for decades because they do not have dowery.

``And another question – is there a supreme religious authority in the structure of organized Islam which arbitrates matters related to interpreting fiqah and biddat – with authority to overrule others? Are there instances of contradictory interpretations?``

Shias ascribe this authority to their religious leaders called Imams. The latest Imam is Imam Khomenie who can overrule anything. Sunnis do not ascribe this authority to any one. Traditionally, Muslim law was developed in schools and universities and judges used to informally consult these schools for guidance in legal decisions.

Re: # 50

Thanks for your endorsement of the prophets’ (pbut) role in Islam.

“Okay, we do not know the answer, but neither do you except for some alleged revelations.”

An equally silly response to this argument would be that at least we have something to base our lives on, instead of just a hypothesis.

But seriously, doesn’t it seem ironical to base one’s entire life, which is proven to be real beyond the shadow of doubt, on a mere hypothesis without any chance of it being proven true in the near future?

If we look for touchable, seeable, hearable evidence then we may never believe in God. But at the same time, we create a mental block for ourselves to think rationally for His Existence. Rationality suggests (a) if He made Himself visible, then no one will be an unbeliever, and thus out goes the purpose of our brain which we claim to put us above other animals. (b) although some things cannot be seen, heard, touched, tasted, or smelled, but they exist. A simple example: if we come across an alien food, we’ll not know if it contains nutrients or poison. It will only become apparent to us after we feed it to the cat or our enemy first. Therefore, the outcome will determine whether the “nutrients” or “poison” existed. Note, we couldn’t see either of those; their effect on the cat or the enemy allowed us to determine that specific property.

Now if someone who had told you the specific properties of other such things, and he/she turned out to be true on all counts, then what would you do if he/she told you that the fruit you hold in your hand is nutritious or harmful? Would you reject that person flat out just because you cannot see the nutrients or the poison?

IMHO this is how we believe in Allah too. A lot of what He has said about the eras prior to the revelation of Quran, future events, and His allusion to scientific phenomena in the Quran have already been proven to be true and verified by even non-Muslim scholars. So based on such data, one isn’t left with an excuse NOT to believe what He says about the purpose our creation in the ‘alleged revelations’.

But the condition is, one studies the Book with sincerity and open mind. Otherwise, a person couldn`t 1st grade math with a closed mind.

It is not about micro management and keeping ‘khaata’. The `khaata` is for the purposes of transparency and justice when criminals will be prosecuted and law-abiding folks will be rewarded, so none could say he/she was wronged.

If you think about the meaning of religion, it is a way of life and it deals with our behavior. Even if we keep the hereafter aside for this discussion, whatever He has told us to do and not do bear benefits for us in more ways than one. This fact has been proven to me many times in my life. The simple analogy is that of traffic laws. Just because you’re a safe driver, doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be any traffic laws. There’s a whole bunch of people who drive erratically on purpose. Sometimes, even good and safe drivers tend to drive rash when they don’t see the `law enforcment` elements. Often people don’t understand the reason behind certain rules, but these save many lives including our own.

Basically, in my opinion and I’m not even close to the scholars I’ve read and heard, Islam teaches us to control our emotions and channel them to proper uses that benefit us and the people around us in more ways than one. When we don’t do so…well, that’s when the cliché ‘what goes around, comes around’ comes true. Example of Saddam Hussain is apparent to everyone, and GWB’s actions are soon to follow suit as the growing trend in the US and worldwide seems to be. I’m sure you’re aware of lot more of such examples in history.

Therefore, punishment is only for the violators of basic and natural human functions, and it will be waived if one sincerely repents before it’s too late. Otherwise, what else is it if not love that He has told us in great detail what to do so all of us could have a safe and prosperous life here and get into heavens afterwards? If He was so keen on punishing us, why would He raise prophets from amongst us and give us scriptures so we don’t hurt ourselves? He could’ve just left us on our own to figure out the whole thing, so most of us would end up all messed up in this life.

Furthermore, Allah does not detest the false gods and goddesses, for such an act will endorse the existence of these. Case in point: He detests Satan for his disobedience. Why? Only because Satan exists!

He simply tells us that we’re fooling ourselves if we think the idols or other stationary object that we often create ourselves will benefit us somehow. So the pitiful creatures can worship whom they please, but at the end of the day the things they worship break, rot, disappear, or whatever. In some cases, these are said to be only intermediaries between Him and the worshipers, which, by the way, is also unnecessary thus prohibited in Islam. Even the prophets He raised from amongst us are not intermediaries. They’re simply human beings who lived the way Allah wants us to live, so we can be sure that whatever Allah asks of us is humanly possible.

But none of this will make sense to you, unless you study the Quran and sunnah as an open minded person that you claim to be. Judging from “…not someone who micromanages, punishes rather than loves, is a sycophant, is extremely jealous of his pitiful creatures worshipping anyone else, and keeps detailed bahi-khaata (ledger sheet) of each and every action of each and every human being.” you’re operating on false premises based on hearsay and it screams out your closed state of mind on this subject. No offense!

Cheers
:-)~~

Urstruly (#54):

Here’s a counterpoint on punishment for adultery …

Quranic view

Your translation of 24:2 is doubtful. Quran uses Arabic words derived from the root word “zanni”, which covers both fornication and adultery according to some of the well-reputed scholars I checked.

I checked Quran translations of Yusuf Ali, Pickthal, and Shakir. Two of these three (Yusuf and Pickthal) translated “zanni” as “adultery or fornication”.

Shakir translated it as “fornication” only. And by no coincidence, this is the one you posted. Read on.

Arabic lexicon

I further checked Arabic-to-English lexicon of Lane for “zanni”. It specifies, repeatedly, “fornication or adultery” in its translations. It uses “zanni” in several Arabic phrases, in varying contexts … and in each case the English translation lists “fornication or adultery”.

Traditions of Holy Prophet (pbuh)

If you ignore Quran and continue to blindly chase ahadith, you are bound to err. Admittedly, some ahadith mention Prophet (pbuh) prescribing death for adultery. However, upon close inspection, these cases fail to hold up.

In some such recorded cases, it turns out that the perpetrators were Jews, and therefore Mosaic Law was applied to them (which prescribes death for adultery).

In case of believers who were killed for adultery, it has not been established if the incident took place before revelation of 24:2, or after it. In the latter case Prophet (pbuh) followed Mosaic Law for guidance. Furthermore, believers condemned to death may have committed adultery as well … while adultery was not necessarily the reason why they were executed. Recorded history fails to address such details, leaving a cloud of doubt over interpretations of such events.

Some confusion arises from saying attributed to companions Omar and Ali. Upon scrutiny, saying attributed to Omar contradicts the one attributed to Ali, which points to lack of authenticity of these traditions altogether. I’ll skip the details for now.


So what about Jesus? Is he coming back or not??

Re: # 64

Thank you.

But your contention is speculative. I guess we have to check each and every concubines on case by case basis whether she was consulted before marriage or not. I am saying this because the principle that Islam has established for marriage is that woman should be consulted before marriage. But having a law or principle does not mean that act that it was intended to regulate will not happen. For example, in every society of the world there is law against murder and yet murder happens in all societies. Having a law does not gurantee anything. people in their hearts have to be convinced that murder is an act that is below human. Fortunately an overwhelming majority of people in every society is convinced of this practice.

The shortcomming in secular laws as compared to religious laws is that when man faces this question ``what if I commit this crime when no one is watching and there is no chance of getting causght``. When man faces this question in secular societies, St. Louis happens and when man faces this question in a society where religious teachings reign supreme -he will always get the answer ``God is watching``.

Re: # 62

urstruly,

good answer - and i have heard it before ....... but is a nikah valid if it is against the consent of the concubine ? .......... now please don`t tell me that the poor women willingly consented to ``marrying`` men who already had a stable full of women ! ............ most of us suspect this practice was designed to continue a tradition which was near and dear to the hearts of the powerful allies and potential recruits - men who could not control their libido ..........

another answer which was given to me by a ``scholar`` is that this ayah is applicable ONLY to the prophet and in NO WAY does it set a precedent for all muslims ............ maybe you should try this one next time you are asked this question ............ see - sometimes i can help you !

hamidm

a serious answer.

But first get one thing out of the way that Islam prohibits any sexual congress between a man and woman unless they are bound by marriage thru nikah regardless of whether a woman is a concubine or not.

Second, the english word ``Concubine`` does not do justice to describe the women in question. The word concubine gives an impression of a courtesan which sometime do what they do as a profession and they are trained in it. The Holy Qura`n refers the concubines or slaves as those men and women who are held captive after war AND those people who voluntarily got into what we call today as ``bonded labor` through slave traders, which were todays equivalent of emloyment agencies. In olden days in almost all parts of the world whenever a tribe or group of people overpowered another tribe, they either killed the whole tribe or kept the whole tribe as captives and used them as forced labor. These people were treated like animals and their women who were in the possession of their masters were fair game.

Holy prophet (pbuh) changed all that and first time in the history of world granted rights to these people. Since, this practice was entrenched in human psyche since the beginning of the human history, Islam used a gradual approach to emancipate these people. In this method people are fist made aware of something that is not right, then they are taught and educated in this regard and when people are adequately trained they change the custom from inside and then change becomes permanent. The other way to is to impose a new law and bring change thru military power when people are not really ready for it. Only in 19th century millions of people perished in American civil war over the issue of slavery. And n present day, if we accept that American claims of bringing democracy to middle east is true, then it has resulted in the loss of hundereds of thousands of people in Afghanistan and Iraq, because poople are not mentally ready to accept this change.

Islam used a different approach to address the issue of slavery.

1. First it created an awareness in the people that slaves are human beings who have feelings and they feel pain like normal people. There are several verses and Ahadith that urges Muslims to be gentle to these people.

2. Then it set out moral values as to how to treat them and give them respect.

3. At third stage a method was set up as to how these people get out of slavery. For that a practice was established to buy their freedom and setting them free. The people who used to free slaves were promised great rewards in hereinafter.

4. A more rigid standard was ascribed to get them freedom when in Qura`n established that one of the eight puposes of Zakat was ``freeing the captives``.

5. At this stage the differences between those freed but second class citizens and those of their captives was abolished by setting an example. Holy prophet (pbuh) married his first cousine Zaynab (ra), who was daughter of one of tribal chiefs and belonged to most noble family in Mecca, to his freed slave and adopted son Zaid (ra).


5. At the next stage slaves who were still captive were given legal rights. Some of these laws relate to the marriage between captors and their captives. Which was another method of not only freeing slaves but giving them respectful status in the community as well. The verse that you have quoted is one of many that address that issue.


That is the reason as the human society developed these practices gradually abolished from the Muslim societies by the time English philosophers figured out that slavery was a vile practice and English navy started attacking Dutch and American slave ships.

Re#60 Urstruly

Thanks for providing the definitions – when too many of such terms are just thrown around or taken for granted, it gets rather confusing for simple folks – as is clear from the fact that I even missed the book author’s first name.

I have follow-on questions on some of these.

Meher – are you telling me that it’s the WOMAN who is paid a dowry when getting married? That appears to be turning things topsy-turvy. Is that a universal practice among Muslims of all sects?

Fiqah – is it always what’s written down in the Qura’n only, or are there other sources which are accepted as fiqah?

Ijtehad – what are the mechanisms to set up one? Are these standardized?

Muttah – temporary marriage? Why would one want to marry “temporarily”? Doesn’t the objective/vow include “till death do us part” or something along those lines?

Biddat – if an “innovation” could go through an ijtehad mechanism, would that then be considered Fiqah? Are there any instances of something which used to be called “biddat” at one time having become accepted over time as a fiqah or at least legitimately Islamic later on, as the societies changed?

And another question – is there a supreme religious authority in the structure of organized Islam which arbitrates matters related to interpreting fiqah and biddat – with authority to overrule others? Are there instances of contradictory interpretations?

urstruly,

..... this is a serious question : what about sex with a concubine ? is that considered adultery if you are married and plain old fornication if you are single ?

........ i assume you will not dispute that concubines are allowed in islam ? ..... if you beilieve in the koran (or Al-Quran), here is what it has to say on the subject:

````Oh Prophet! Verily, We have made lawful to you your wives, to whom you have paid your Mahr, (their dower) and your concubines - whom Allah has given you, and the daughters of your paternal uncles and the daughters of your paternal aunts and the daughters of your maternal uncles and the daughters of your maternal aunts who migrated (from Makkah) with you, and a believing woman if she offers herself to the Prophet, and the Prophet wishes to marry her; - a dispensation for you only, not for the rest of the believers. Indeed We know what We have enjoined upon them about their wives and their concubines - in order that there should be no difficulty on you`` [Al- Ahzab: 50]

#All interactors,

I am sick and tired of all you people, and I am not going to take it any more!!!

I am truly miffed at virtually ALL of the chowk interactors here!

There are always some implicit assumptions in most of your posts – as follows:

(a) the reader is a Muslim.

(b) the reader understands Urdu.

(c) the reader understands all those terms from the Quran.

Well, stop thinking of your reader as your image in the mirror!!! Get your tooty-footee fruity out of your snooty and take a look around you!!!

For example, just look back at some of the interacts from yesterday, I am totally confounded. As this crowd continues to yammer on terms which are un-intelligible to me, here are my “few” questions!

#25 Urstruly
What the heck is Zina?
What the heck is shirk?
What the heck is hadd?
What the heck is Asra?

#39 by sattar2
What the heck is fiqah?
What the heck is ijtehad?
What the heck is muttah?
What the heck is meher?

#45 Nadia_Zehra
What the heck is biddat?

#48 ntsyed
At last, somebody who explains the nomenclature! Well, spoken too soon!
What the heck is Hijaz?
What the heck is jilbab?
What the heck is khimar?

And by the way, for all of you – when the heck are you going to find one consistent way to spell names?!!! (I am referring to the Prophet`s name, of course!)

#33 hamidm2
[the bigger question is what was the khwaja doing in the water ?]
Communing with nature, of course! The even bigger bomb-shell though, concerns the tattoo (as in the Urstruly interpretation of the term)! What the heck was he doing with the khwaja in the water? Yeah! Tell me this one, if you dare!

Re: # 42 khmkhawa

A short answer to your question is that Qura`n suggests two punishments for unmarried fornicators.

1. In a state where Islamic law is not the law of the land:

we must follow the instructions in Chapter The Women verses 4;15 & 4:16

For Women:

4:15 If any of your women are guilty of lewdness, Take the evidence of four (Reliable) witnesses from amongst you against them; and if they testify, confine them to houses until death do claim them, or Allah ordain for them some (other) way.


For men:

4:16 If two men among you are guilty of lewdness, punish them both. If they repent and amend, Leave them alone; for Allah is Oft-returning, Most Merciful.
(this verse should not to be confused as a punishment for sodomy)


2. If we live in a state where Islamic law is the law of the land then we seek guidance from the Chapter The Light verse 24:02

24:02 (As for) the fornicatress and the fornicator, flog each of them, (giving) a hundred stripes, and let not pity for them detain you in the matter of obedience to Allah, if you believe in Allah and the last day, and let a party of believers witness their chastisement.

---

In either of the two cases the Arabic words used in the Qura`n to describe fornicators indicate that in both instances the punishments are for unmarried men and women. Qura`n does not specify a punishment for adultery which is a more severe crime than fornication among unmarried man and woman because there are spouses and children involved with adulterers who promised to bind by an oath of faithfulness at Nikah. But since Qura`n does not spefiy adultery as a punishable crime, does it mean that adultery is permissible in Islam? For the answer to this question we must look towards Holy Prophet (pbuh) as to how he has interpretted these verses for us. From the ahdith and the legal verdicts given by first four righteous Caliphs who coited those ahadith as refernce, we come to know that Holy Prophet (pbuh) validated the Mosaic law of stonning to death of adulterers for his ummah as well.

I hope this answers your question. In the discussion on punishment for fornication and adultery there is a whole host of ``ifs`` and ``thens`` in the jusriprudence that it is not possible to cover them all in a short post.

Re: # 45

shabash !............ your parents will be proud of you !............ you were obviously paying attention in your islamiyat classes .........

Re: # 43

aye !

Romair,

re:

``Unfortunately, no one knows of those Muslim female authors, since all the press is hogged by the lesbian, out of wedlock child, angry against society, desparately-hoping-for-a-fatwa- against-their-book money making group. I am not judging their personal character. I am sure they are better humans than I. But why put one`s own personal life on public display, based on false information? It`s like the actresses who give long interviews to Vanity Fair on their divorces. It seems to me like they are just doing it for publicity.......... ``

Good question. Can you think of answers other than the one you have easily arrived at?

``I have one simple question for the self-proclaimed atheists, too:

I`ve read and heard a lot about how, from where, and when humans evolved, but nothing on the WHY part. So please tell me WHY did humans evolve?``

Okay, we do not know the answer, but neither do you except for some alleged revelations.

If you want to call what we don`t know and is not knowable with our current state of knowledge and understanding, as God, I have no problem.

I, at least, am willing to accept God as a hypothesis which has neither been proven nor disproven. But if there is a God, she is someone who has merely established some macro rules for the functioning of the universe (call them laws of nature, if you will), not someone who micromanages, punishes rather than loves, is a sycophant, is extremely jealous of his pitiful creatures worshipping anyone else, and keeps detailed bahi-khaata (ledger sheet) of each and every action of each and every human being.

BTW, my understanding of the role of the prophet in Islam is the same as yours. Those Muslims who say otherwise want to reform Islam without using the `R` word.

Re: # 24

If there is no Surah in Quran, which forbids non-Muslims entering Mecca, then it is stupid. I am sure there are other thousands of cases in Muslim practices have no legitmacy at all.