Misunderstandings - 2
Wife beating
Critic:-
According to Bukhari, Muhammad is
alleged to have said "None of you should flog his wife as he flogs a slave
and then have sexual intercourse with her in the last part of the day."
The implication is clear; it is
permissible to flog your wife as you flog a slave, only it must not be followed
by sex. One wonders what strange scruple is at work when none is felt regarding
gross brutality.
Comment:-
Only a
hostile perverse mind can draw such a conclusion, particularly when he pretends
to know something about the Quran. As usual the critic shows his own mentality.
The statement should have been translated "as IF you were flogging a
slave."
The
statement says "none of you should flog his wife as he flogs a
slave." and it also forbids having intercourse after violence. In fact,
even slaves were to be treated with kindness.
Obviously
those who wish to interpret the Quranic verse as promoting indiscriminate
wife-beating are trying to create prejudices as nothing is said about the
context in the Quran or the context of the social conditions to which it
relates. They are judging things from the modern western social context where
women find employment with employers other than husbands whom they must obey
and who can sack them. But they can legally neglect their families and children
thus allowing a great number of social ad psychological problems to arise. This
was not, of course, the social condition even in the West until very recently.
That is
not the Islamic context, where the differences between the sexes and, therefore
their social and cosmic roles are recognised. To put things in the Islamic
context:-
A study
of the verse Quran 4:34 shows that allows only a token chastisement of miscreant
wives who are disloyal and rebellious and have committed some perversity and
that as a last resort. It was meant to control violence against wives that was
widespread and to deter perversity that provokes it. Marriage is a contract and
husbands and wives have certain rights and duties towards each other, which
makes it a question of obedience to God’s law rather than to husband and wives.
Agreement to marriage implies an undertaking to abide by that contract. The punishment exists to show that the contract
is taken seriously. Obviously, if people adhere to the contract then the
punishment abolishes itself. The punishment of chastisement is a last resort
after admonishing and disassociation. Quran also requires that disputes between
husband and wife be settled in the extended family through mutual consultation
and arbitration by elders of the families of both spouses (4:35). This should
ensure fairness. As men are usually stronger, the wife also has the balancing
right to go to court (58:1-2). Divorce is the last stage, but that too requires
kindness (2:229-231). In general, the interference of the State in the private
affairs of the Family is not approved as it cannot really judge intimate
relationships and such interventions tend to be destructive.
The practice
of wife beating which was widespread was to be controlled to apply only to
miscreants for the protection of marriage and the family. Even so it is
interpreted in Law as a light show of disapproval that did no physical damage.
There is to be no further retaliation e.g. constant nagging, sarcasm,
accusation, mental torture. For some unknown reason physical punishment is
regarded as a greater evil than psychological torture in the West and even a
greater evil than the crime to be punished.
Women
are highly honoured in Islam as mothers or potential mothers, though some
people who may or may not know or understand or apply Islam, may mistreat them.
It is because the family is central to the Islamic social system in which each
se has a particular function that certain standards apply to them. The
instruction of punishment for failure to adhere to those standards acts as a
reminder and a deterrent. This is no different from the instructions to punish
theft and murder. When it reminds and deters then no punishment is in fact
needed. There is possibly less wife beating among Muslims than among Americans
where people seldom have any standards about mutual rights and duties of
spouses. What the Quran says is:-
“…they (your wives) are a garment unto you,
and you a garment unto them.” 2:187
“O mankind! Be careful of your duty to your
Lord, who created you from one soul, and created there from its mate, and
scattered from the twain a multitude of men and women. Be careful of your duty
towards Allah, in whose name you claim rights of one another, and the wombs
that bore you; verily, Allah is Watcher over you.” 4:1
“And they (women) have rights similar to
those of men over them in equity, though men have a degree of responsibilities
( or advantages ) over them.” 2:228
"O you who believe! It is not lawful for
you to inherit women against their will; nor to restrain them so that you may
take away part of what you gave them, unless they commit flagrant lewdness; but
associate with them with kindness and equity, for if you dislike them, it may
be that you dislike something wherein Allah has put much good for you."
4:19
“And all married women (are forbidden unto
you), save such as your right hands possess (captives of war) - It is a decree
of Allah for you. But lawful for you are all beyond these. So seek them with
your wealth in honest marriage and not lust. But such of them from whom you
seek comfort, give them their portions as a duty; and there is no crime in what
you do by mutual agreement after the duty has been done. Verily, Allah is ever
Knower and Wise.” 4:24
It is
necessary to understand that there is difference between men and women in that
it is women who are physically and psychologically equipped to bear and rear
children and that men being free of this task have the function of caring for
the women and their children physically, financially, socially and
psychologically. But this means that men need to be certain that the children
they are supporting are their own. There is a greater psychological bond and
resonance between those who are genetically related than those who are not.
Whereas it is obvious that the child born to a mother is her child, it is not
obvious who the father is. The sexual purity of women, therefore, becomes of
the greatest importance not only for the men but also for the children and the
women. But as the sexes are interdependent, the sexual purity of the women, of
course, also requires the sexual purity of men. Indiscriminate sexual activity
apart from weakening or destroying families within which the physical, mental
and spiritual welfare and development of people, particularly the next
generation is best achieved, also means
that there is a likelihood of incest
which is genetically damaging to the race.
Critic:-
There
are other things in Islam such as Polygamy that discriminate against women
treating them as inferiors.
Answer:-
As women
have the responsibility of bearing and rearing children they are and should be
more emotionally and socially orientated than men, who have a more remote
relationship with the children but are concerned more with physical and
abstract intellectual matters. Men are also physically larger and stronger and
they are freer to control the economic, political and ideological affairs of
the nation. This makes women more vulnerable and many rules exist to protect
women or are designed to recognise the differences in roles. It is these that
are falsely interpreted under modern western conditions as oppressive to women
when in fact they were liberating. Many girls in the West are seduced by men
for casual sexual relationships without respect or responsibility towards them,
as one can see from the great number of abandoned unmarried mothers with
children that are left to the State to care for.
Islam
does allow polygamy up to four wives provided they are treated equally, but
because this may be difficult, monogamy is regarded as ideal. (4:3, 129).
Polygamy exists because there is a surplus of women over men, not only owing to
wars that kills men leaving widows and orphans that need to be cared for, but
also because women, being child bearers are made physically more resistant to
diseases and stresses that kill men because of their more aggressive and
competitive roles. It is not difficult to see that in the absence of polygamy
there is either much sexual and emotional frustration for the surplus women or
else there is widespread competition among them for men that leads to general
sexual immorality and the breakdown of families. In fact we have a great amount
of hypocrisy in the West where men may have several secret mistresses towards
whom they have no responsibilities.
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Lying
Critic:-
Unlike
Christian teachings, Islam permits lying. According to Al Araby, "Bluntly
stated, Islam permits Muslims to lie anytime that they perceive that their own
well-being, or that of Islam, is threatened."
Comment:-
Where in
the Quran does it permit lying? The only place in the Quran that can be
interpreted by hostiles as giving such permission is in the following:-
"But he who is forced by hunger (or
necessity), not inclined wilfully to sin, verily, Allah is Forgiving and
Merciful." 5:3
We see
from this that it is the inner intention that counts. This must be so if we are
speaking of spiritual matters rather than physical or social ones.
Lying
is, therefore, a state of denying the truth inwardly. Under torture, for
instance, what a person says is a question of self-preservation not of denying
the truth. But even in war deceiving the enemy is permitted - it is called
strategy. Games are often based on it.
Is it
always a good thing to give a person the facts if more harm is done than good
or they misuse it? In so far as the Universe arose because of Purpose, values
are prior to facts. Indeed, even when we invent e.g. cars and aeroplanes, they
become facts after values. Truth it self is a value and telling the truth is a
moral question.
The
ethical question then is this:- How is greater good to be achieved or the evil
to be lessened.
Critic:-
I was
speaking to a Muslims. As a simple way of showing him how I could never
contemplate being a Muslim, I told him that I had discovered in my translation
of the Quran, (given to me by a Muslim who wished to convert me) that a man
should beat his wife if she was rebellious. He did not believe me. I showed him
the verses. He was appalled, and referred the matter to a Muslim cleric. When
he next saw me he was triumphant: the cleric had told him that the Quran is
written in God's Arabic, and that in God's Arabic the verses I had shown him
said that if a wife was rebellious you should TAKE HER BY THE ARM, and
remonstrate with her. He was satisfied. This is an example of lying in the
interest of Islam. How can we be sure that, if this is permitted, Islam is not
based on lies? The Islamic doctrine of lying is, of course, that one may lie in
a good cause.
Comment:-
The
above is more an example of you "lying" to support your prejudices.
Obviously, what the Quran says is at least what Muslims understand it to say.
However, people understand it according to their degrees of intelligence,
knowledge and motives. What the Quran actually says is a matter of study,
context, comparing verses in the Quran, scholarly research, and meditation, not
of selection out of context and prejudice.
It is,
of course, possible to interpret things in many different ways as we can see
from the controversies on these inter-religious sites. It is necessary not only
to understand things according to how they were meant, but also to explain
things to others in the best way according to their understanding, and
according to the fitness to the conditions in which they are to be applied. We
are advised:-
“Those who listen to the Word (or advice)
then follow the best (meaning) of it; those are they whom Allah has guided, and
those it is who are the men of understanding.” 39:18
“And follow the best of that which has been
revealed to you from your Lord before the punishment comes suddenly while you
do not even perceive.” 39:55
“Call unto the way of your Lord with wisdom
and goodly exhortation, and reason with them in the best (kindest, most
gracious, elegant, persuasive) way; verily, your Lord He knows best who has
erred from His way, and He is best aware of those who receive guidance.” 16:125
“What you have is spent (wastes away), but
what Allah has endures; and verily, We will recompense the patient (steadfast)
in proportion to the best of what they used to do.” 16:96 Also
39:35 and 46:16
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Islamophobia
A Muslim:-
Islamophobic commentators in SRI
and elsewhere falsely accuse Muslims of diversionary argument in their
rejoinders. Islamophobes totally fail to recognise that their own overt anti-Islamic
propaganda is a diversion. This phenomenon is fully described at this
informative link:- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda.
Critic:-
Pardon me but that is simply not
good enough. Here are some questions:-
1. Do you consider anyone that makes
an objective inquiry about Islam an Islamophobe?
2. Do you consider that anyone
that posts to Islamic newsgroups embarrassing facts about Islam (facts
establishable from the Quran, the Hadith and from sources that Muslims consider
reliable or the Sira), things Muslims would rather non-Muslims did not know, an
Islamophobic?
As far as I am concerned, stone
cold unassailable facts, facts that Muslims agree on about Islam are *NOT*
propaganda. They are truth. They may be embarrassing facts that you would rather
not come to light, but if they are considered true and are not false or
exaggerations or partial truths then that is *NOT* propaganda. Whole truth is
*NEVER* propaganda.
Comment:-
There are no "stone cold
facts".
(1) All facts exist within a context
which give them meaning.
(2) Things that do not affect the
mind of the perceiver cannot be known by him. There are no facts that are not
interpreted by the mind of the perceiver. These interpretations depend on the
nature of the mind of the perceiver.
(3) The opinions of the perceiver
are created by:-
(a) The capacity of his mind to
hold and process information
(b) The context of the relevant
knowledge he has which may be limited, and different people have different sets
of partial knowledge.
(c) His motives whether he wants
to know or deny or to serve some particular purpose of his own.
(d) The efforts he makes to gather
knowledge, understand and process the information.
When a person makes a dogmatic
negative assertion instead of asking a question to gather information or
expressing a tentative opinion for discussion then we know that he is either
trying to convince himself or others.
Those hostile to Islam choose
verses that they can interpret in a negative manner. These are opinions. There
is a big difference between knowledge and opinion. The Islamic view is given in
the following verses:-
"And give full measure
when you measure out, and weigh with a right balance; that is better and fairer
in the final determination. And follow (or pursue) not that of which you have
no knowledge; verily, the hearing, the sight, and the heart, of all of these it
shall be asked (to give an account). And walk not on the earth proudly
(insolently); verily, you can not rend the earth asunder, nor can you stretch
to the height of the mountains." 17:35-37
"I follow only that which
is inspired in me. Say: Is the blind man equal to him who sees? Will ye, then
not reflect?" 6:50
"But if you follow most of
those who are in the land, they will lead you astray from the Way of Allah.
They follow naught but opinion (conjecture or suspicion) and they only
guess." 6:117
"But most of them follow
naught but conjecture (suspicion, fancy, guesswork, speculation); verily,
conjecture can by no means take the place of (or avail against) truth. Verily,
Allah is Aware of what they do." 10:37
"Cloak not truth with
vanity and falsehood, nor knowingly hide the truth." 2:42
"Restrain thyself with
those who call upon their Lord morning and evening, desiring His countenance
(or nearness and intimacy), and let not your eyes be turned from them, desiring
the adornment (and pomp) of the life of this world; and obey not him whose
heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance, and who follows his own lusts
(prejudices, fantasies, superstitions), and whose affair has been abandoned.
But say: The truth is from your Lord, so let him who will, believe; and let him
who will, disbelieve." 18:29-30
"And those who will not
witness vanity (frivolous, foolish, ignorant, futile and useless things,
falsehood); and when they pass by vain (frivolous, foolish, futile, ignorant,
false) discourse, pass by with dignity;" 25:72
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Knowledge and Science
Critic
There is plain proof that the
Koran is not, by divine Providence,
scientifically accurate -
Comment:-
It has been pointed out several
times that the Quran contains knowledge, not science in the Western sense which
a modern restricted form of verbal or mathematical knowledge. It consists of
certain kinds of facts that are organised in certain ways for certain purposes,
usually to provide technological application.
Religion is about values, about
beneficial relationship with, and adjustment to Reality, and human spiritual
development, the actualisation of inherent potentialities.
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Validity of Past Scriptures
Assertion:-
The Koran makes a point of
essentially invalidating the bible due to its having been supposedly altered to
such a great extent from the original text that its meaning is now thoroughly
distorted.
Comment:-
I do not think that is strictly
true.
The Quran accepts that the Torah
and Gospels were sent by God through Moses and Jesus. This, of course, refers
to the revelation rather than the Text. But the main objections is not so much
to the text as to the interpretation of it. The Prophet himself referred to
their books when speaking to the Jews and Christians.
"It is He who has sent
down to you the Scripture with truth, confirming what was revealed before it,
and has revealed the Torah and the Gospel before this for the guidance of
mankind, and has revealed the Discrimination (Criterion). " 3:3
"Here you are, disputing
about what you have some knowledge of; why then do you dispute about what you
have no knowledge? Allah knows and you know not. Abraham was not a Jew, nor yet
a Christian, but he was a 'Hanif' (an upright man) who had surrendered, and not
of the idolaters. Verily, the people who have most claim to (or are nearest of
kin to) Abraham are those who follow him, and this prophet, and those who
believe: - Allah is the patron of the believers. A sect of the people of the
Book long to lead you astray, but they only lead themselves astray, and they
perceive not. O people of the Book! Why disbelieve you the revelations of
Allah, when you yourselves witness them? O people of the Book! Why do you
clothe the truth with falsehood and knowingly hide the truth? " 3:66-71
"Say, O people of the
scriptures, ye have naught of guidance till ye observe the Torah and the
Gospels and that which was revealed unto you from your Lord. That which is
revealed unto thee (Muhammad) from thy Lord is certain to increase the
rebelliousness and disbelief of many of them. But grieve not for the
disbelieving folk. Whosoever believes in Allah and the Last day and does right,
there shall no fear come upon them nor shall they grieve." 5:68-69
Critic:-
That is interesting. I have not
come to understand the Muslim point of view as such.
Suffice it to say, there is plenty
of evidence to support the inconsistency proposition about the Bible, not least
of all from Christian scholars themselves, regardless of what Muslims might or
might not suppose. Does not this errancy evidence prove that the Quran is right
about the Bible's corruption?"
Comment:-
Scholarship does show
inconsistencies in the Bible and this does support the Quranic position. But we
must not exaggerate or distort what the Quran says.
To reiterate:-
The Quran confirms the previous
revelations - note: the revelations not the doctrines of the churches.
The Quran has superceded the previous
scriptures and rectifies the misunderstandings associated with them.
The NT of today consists of
writings by third parties, human beings, and contains their reports, opinions
and points of view. These are not revelations. It does contain reports of some
of the sayings and doings of Jesus and it is these that are the revelations or
inspirations from God.
Apart from what is contained in
the Bible, the organised Churches have also constructed doctrines that are not
in the Bible e.g. the divinity of Jesus, the Trinity, vicarious atonement etc.
On top of this different Christian
sects and individuals have their own opinions about religious matters based on
whim, speculation, desires, partial knowledge and distorted views.
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The Burden of Proof
Critic:-
The Problem of the Quran is this:
The burden of proof is on Muhammad that the book he composes is revealed to him
from beyond. By the challenge to produce verses like the Quran, he is asking
people to prove that it is his word. This is shifting the burden of proof to
the readers.
Comment:-
You are mistaken.
The duty of Muhammad (saw) is only
to convey what he has experienced. Others can prove it to themselves,
understand, accept and apply it or not. Whether they do or not makes a
difference only to themselves not to anyone else. We are dealing here not with
impersonal science but with something that affects the conduct of life and
state of being of the person.
"And if they dispute with
you, then say: I have surrendered my whole self unto Allah, and so have those
who follows me. And say to those who have been given the Book, and unto the
unlearned (or unread or Gentiles)? Have ye, too, surrendered? And if they
surrender, then are they truly guided. But if they turn their backs, then your
duty is only to convey the message unto them. Allah is Seer of His
servants." Quran 3:20
"Say: Obey Allah and obey
the Messenger; but if you turn away then it is for him to do only that
wherewith he has been charged, and for you to do only that wherewith you have
been charged. If you obey him, you are rightly guided. But the Messenger has no
other charge but to convey the message plainly." 24:54
"But if you deny this,
then know that nations before you have denied it. The messenger has only to
convey the message plainly." 29:18
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Radical Muslim
Assertion:-
I am a radical Muslim.
I have my own opinions. For
instance, I think nakedness is natural and people like to show and see
beautiful bodies. There is nothing wrong with this.
Comment:-
What is a "radical
Muslim"? Is it one who has opinions contrary to Islam?
A person is a Muslim or tries to
be a Muslim or not. Qualifying or limiting "surrender to Allah" is
not surrender. To profess to "Surrender" but not to do so is hypocrisy.
Or it is culpable ignorance either because the instructions in the Quran have
not been studied or because the reason for the instructions have not been
understood. You cannot be selective.
"Whoever judges not by
what Allah has revealed, these are the wrong-doers." 5:45
"Do you then believe in
part of the Book and reject the rest? But the reward of such among you as do
that shall be naught else but disgrace in this worldly life, and on the day of
Judgment shall they be driven to the most grievous torment, for Allah is not
unmindful of what you do." 2:85
"Restrain thyself with
those who call upon their Lord morning and evening, desiring His countenance
(or nearness and intimacy), and let not your eyes be turned from them, desiring
the adornment (and pomp) of the life of this world; and obey not him whose
heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance, and who follows his own lusts
(prejudices, fantasies, superstitions), and whose affair has been
abandoned." 18:29
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