Islam

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Islam
Islam
Islam
Islam
Pre Islamic Arabia
 "The Original Arab, The Bedouin"
by Philip K. Hitti
• Blood, according to the primitive law of the
desert, calls for blood; no chastisement is
recognized other than that of vengeance. The
nearest of kin is supposed to assume primary
responsibility. A blood feud may last forty
years. In all those intertribal battles of pre-
Islamic days, the chroniclers emphasize the
blood-feud motif, though underlying economic
reasons must have motivated many of the
events.
 "The Original Arab, The Bedouin"
by Philip K. Hitti
• The spirit of the clan demands boundless
and unconditional loyalty to fellow
clansmen, a passionate chauvinism. His
allegiance, which is individualism of the
member magnified, assumes that his tribe
is a unit by itself, self-sufficient and
absolute, and regards every other tribe
as its legitimate victim and object of
plunder and murder.
Pre Islamic Arabia: Women
 Pre Islamic Arabia: Women
• In his book Infanticide: Comparative and
Evolutionary Perspectives, Glenn
Hausfater details how Qais Bin Assem, a
leader of the Tamim tribe, killed every
daughter he had for fear of their capture
(and his disgrace) in the inter-tribal wars
that dominated Arabian society at that
time.
Quran
 Quran
• And what will make you comprehend what the
uphill road is?
(It is) the setting free of a slave,
Or the giving of food in a day of hunger
To an orphan, having relationship,
Or to the poor man lying in the dust.
Then he is of those who believe and charge one
another to show patience, and charge one
another to show compassion.
These are the people of the right hand.
(90: 12 – 18)
 Hadith
• Allah looks not at your figures, nor at your
outward appearance but He looks at your
hearts and deeds.
• The strong man is not one who is good at
wrestling, but the strong man is one who
controls himself in â fit of rage.
• Do not disdain any good deed, even your
meeting with your brother with a cheerful
face.
 Hadith
• Allah will cover up on the Day of
Judgement the defect (faults) of the one
who covers up the faults of the others in
this world.
• Make things easy and do not make them
difficult, cheer the people up by conveying
glad tidings to them and do not repulse
(them).
• It is also charity to utter a good word.
 Hadith
• There is no superiority for an Arab over
a non-Arab and for a non-Arab over an
Arab; nor for white over the black nor
for the black over the white except in
piety. Verily the noblest among you is
he who is the most pious.
 Kafir
• In the Qur’ān an ‘unbeliever’ (Kāfirun Bī
Na‘matullahī) is not an atheist in our sense
of the word, somebody who does not
believe in God, but one who is ungrateful
to him, who can see quite clearly what is
owing to God but refuses to honour him in
a spirit of perverse ingratitude.
• Karen Armstrong, A History of God, (London:
Heinemann, 1993), p. 166
Image of the Prophet
Image of the Prophet (
http://www.zombietime.com/mohammed_image_archive/)
Image of the Prophet
 Image of the Prophet
• "§ Question : Is it permissible to draw or produce
a scene which shows the Prophet Muhammad
(s.a.w.), one of the past prophets or the infallible
Imams (a.s.), or other luminaries and show it in
cinema, on television or theatre?
§ Answer : If due deference and respect is
observed, and the scene does not contain
anything that would detract from their holy
pictures in the minds [of the viewers], there is no
problem." (www.sistani.org.)
Apostasy
 Apostasy
• http://apostasyandislam.blogspot.com/
• On Apostasy and Islam:

• 100+ Notable Islamic Voices affirming the Freedom of Faith

• " ... Let there be no compulsion in religion..." [2:256]

• Umar Ibn Abdul Aziz [d. 97 AH/720 AD]

Some people accepted Islam during the period of Umar bin Abdul Aziz, who
is called the fifth rightful caliph of Islam. All these people renounced Islam
sometimes later. Maimoon bin Mahran the governor of the area wrote to the
caliph about these people. In reply Umar bin Abdul Aziz ordered him to
release those people and asked him to re-impose jizya on them. [Musannaf
Abdur Razzaq, pp. 171-10, cited in M. E. Subhani,Apostasy in Islam (New
Delhi, India: Global Media Publications, 2005), pp. 23-24.
Blasphemy
 Blasphemy
• Amir Taheri, “Bonfire of the Pieties,” in The Wall Street Journal,
February 8, 2006. Iranian political writer and columnist, notes:

• The truth is that Islam has always had a sense of humor and has
never called for chopping heads as the answer to satirists… Both
Arabic and Persian literature, the two great literatures of Islam, are
full of examples of “laughing at religion,” at times to the point of
irreverence… those familiar with Islam’s literature know of Ubaid
Zakani’s “Mush va Gorbeh” (Mouse and Cat), a match for Rabelais
when it comes to mocking religion. Sa’adi’s eloquent soliloquy on
behalf of Satan mocks the “dry pious ones.” And Attar portrays a
hypocritical sheikh who, having fallen into the Tigris, is choked by
his enormous beard. Islamic satire reaches its heights in Rumi,
where a shepherd conspires with God to pull a stunt on Moses; all
three end up having a good laugh.
Blasphemy
 Blasphemy
• Razi (864 – 930 CE) wrote three books dealing with
religion; they were: The Prophet's Fraudulent Tricks, The
Stratagems of Those Who Claim to Be Prophets (Arabic
‫حيل المتنبيين‬and On the Refutation of Revealed ,(
Religions (Arabic ‫مخارق النبياء‬.(
On what ground do you deem it necessary that God
should single out certain individuals [by giving them
prophecy], that he should set them up above other
people, that he should appoint them to be the people's
guides, and make people dependent upon them?
How can anyone think philosophically while listening to
old wives' tales founded on contradictions, which
obdurate ignorance, and dogmatism?
Jihad
 Jihad
• JIHAD : strive, struggle
• Jihad of the heart/soul (jihad bil qalb/nafs) is an inner
struggle of good against evil in the mind
• Jihad by the tongue (jihad bil lisan) is a struggle of
good against evil waged by writing and speech
• Jihad by the pen and knowledge (jihad bil qalam/lim) is
a struggle for good against evil through scholarly study,
legal reasoning, and through sciences.
• Jihad by the hand (jihad bil yad) refers to a struggle of
good against evil waged by actions or with one's wealth,
such as taking care of elderly parents
 Jihad
• [5.32] For this reason did We prescribe to
the children of Israel that whoever slays a
soul, unless it be for manslaughter or
for mischief in the land, it is as though
he slew all men; and whoever keeps it
alive, it is as though he kept alive all men;
and certainly Our apostles came to them
with clear arguments, but even after that
many of them certainly act extravagantly
in the land.
Separation of State and Church
Separation of State and Church
• The important thing is that the establishment/re-
establishment of an Islamic state is neither the basic
objective of Islamic teachings nor is the very idea of such
establishment or reestablishment based on Islamic
teachings.
• Whoever claims that it is 'Fardh' (i.e. obligatory) for a
Muslim to join any given group, has either to provide his
basis of holding such an activity as "Fardh" from the
clear directives of the Qur'an and the Sunnah or to
openly declare that he is a prophet of God. For no one,
besides a prophet of God, has the right to declare
anything to be 'Fardh' or 'Haraam' in God's religion.
Separation of State and Church
Separation of State and Church
• Since there is so much diversity of opinion among
Islamic schools of thought and scholars, as noted earlier,
any enactment of Shari'a principles as law would have to
select some opinions over others, thereby denying
believers their freedom of choice among equally
legitimate competing opinions. Moreover, there is
neither a historical precedent of an Islamic state to
be followed, nor is such a state practically viable
today. As the most avowed advocate of an Islamic
state today would concede, there has never been
such a state throughout Muslim history, since that of
the Prophet in Medina was too exceptional to be
practically useful as a model to be applied today.
Women Rights
 Women Rights
• The woman who is forbidden to educate herself save in
the duties of the servant, or is limited in her educational
pursuits is indeed a slave, because her natural instincts
and God-given talents are subordinated in deference to
her condition, which is tantamount to moral enslavement.
The who is completely veiled - arms, legs, body - so that
she cannot walk, ride, breathe, see, or speak except with
difficulty is to be reckoned a slave.
In short, the woman from her birth to the day of her
death is a slave because she does not live by herself
and for herself. Instead, she lives for the man. She is
dependent upon him in every way
Qasim Amin, Al-Marat al Jadidah (Cairo, 1900), pp. 30-
34.
Hijab (13 century CE)
LGBT
 LGBT
• Does not a vast majority of them often end up ridiculing,
censuring and showing great disrespect to people who
have a proclivity for homosexuality?
Many of them are sincere Muslims …. They too stand in
prayer by night and whole-heartedly spend in the way of
God by day. They too love their neighbour the way they
love their own selves. They might be nearer to God than
many of the righteous we see around us. What right
have we to malign and abuse them and regard them
among the ‘‘untouchables’’. Is this not vanity and over-
inflated self-esteem on our part? Are we not crossing the
limits in trying to tell others that they have crossed their
limits?
Reform
 Reform
• Ali Abdel Raziq (1888-1966) was an Egyptian
Islamic scholar and sharia judge. He can be
regarded as the intellectual father of Islamic
laicism or secularism (the
separation of state and religion)

• Abdel Raziq brings forward the following arguments: First, the two main
sources of Islamic law (sharia), the Quran and the Sunnah (Tradition of
Messenger Muhammad), neither demand nor reject the rule of a caliph
(caliphate) or imam (imamate). Second, there is nore real ijma (consensus)
on the necessity of the caliphate. Third, experience shows that the caliphate
entailed a series of disasters for the Muslim community, and there is no
single rational argument for the (re-establishment of the caliphate.
Reform
 Reform
• Muhammad Rashid Rida (1865 - 1935):
• shari'a consists of `ibadat (worship) and
mu'amalat (social relations). Human reason has
little scope in the former and Muslims should
adhere to the dictates of the Qur'an and hadith.
The laws governing mu'amalat should conform
to Islamic ethics but on specific points may be
continually reassessed according to changing
conditions of different generations and societies
Reform
 Reform
• Shabestari theology: Limited nature of religious
knowledge
• "The meaning of perfection of religion (Ekmal e Din) is
not that it contains everything under the sun, so that if
we were unable to find a specific item in it, we could go
off calling it imperfect. It is not perfection for religion to
function as a substitute for science, technology, and
human deliberation.”
• Indeed, the Koran remains mute with regard to our
modern understanding of human rights, and yet these do
not in any way contradict the divine truth contained in the
Koran.
Reform
 Reform
• Kadivar theology: Plural nature of religious
knowledge
• "The principle of Velayat e Faqih is neither
intuitively obvious, nor rationally necessary.
It is neither a requirement of religion (Din) nor a
necessity for denomination (Mazhab). It is
neither a part of Shiite general principles
(Osoul), nor a component of detailed
observances (Forou') It is, by near consensus of
Shiite Ulama, nothing more than a jurisprudential
minor hypothesis."
Reform
 Reform
• I will speak of Christ as I have experienced Christ, and
thus I will add to the words of the ongoing story. My
words will not last any more than I will last, but they will
form a link or, even better perhaps, a chapter in an
eternal narrative. Beneath my words is an eternal truth. I
will express that truth for my time. Those who come after
me will have to express that truth for their time. All of us
will be glad that men and women in every age gave
rational form to their experience with Christ so that we
can be enriched and inspired by the witness of the ages
that includes both Scripture and creeds.
 Reform
• I have argued that the Qur’ân is a living phenomenon.... The Qur’ân
was the outcome of dialog, debate, despite, argument, acceptance
and rejection....The invitation to ‘rethink the Qur’ân’ flows from this
communicative dimension.....
I have argued not only for the continuation of this process of
rethinking but for moving it further toward a constructive method for
Muslims, wherever they are,to be actively engaged in formulating
the ‘meaning of life’ in the world in which they live and further
develop the spiritual and ethical dimension of their tradition....
the hermeneutics of the Pakistân Maududi, which divides the world
into two adversaries, echoed in Huntingtonís ‘Clash of Civilizations’.
So I conclude that we have to be alert and should join our efforts to
fight both claims and their consequences by all possible democratic
means.
Dr. Nasr Abû Zayd
Essence
 Essence
• ABU HAFS
Abû Hafs said: "Spiritual chivalry (futuwwa) is that one should
conduct oneself according to what is right and just (insâf) without
expecting to be treated according to what is right and just."
RABIA AL BASRI (717 – 801)

I want to put out the fires of Hell, and burn down the rewards of
Paradise. They block the way to God. I do not want to worship from
fear of punishment or for the promise of reward, but simply for the
love of God.
BETRAND RUSSELL
My whole religion is this: do every duty, and expect no reward for it,
either here or hereafter. - Bertrand Russell, in his Childhood diary
Essence
 Essence
• Imam Shafii (767 – 820 CE)

“I am convinced about the veracity of my opinions, but I

do consider it likely that they may turn out to be
incorrect. Likewise, I am convinced about the
incorrectness of the views different from mine, but I do
concede the possibility that they may turn out to be
correct.”
Harold Pinter (Nobel Laureate)

No statement I make...should be interpreted as final and

definitive. One or two of them may sound final and
definitive...but I won't regard them as such tomorrow,
and I wouldn't like you to do so today.
Essence
 Essence
• John Hick : pluralism is the belief that no
one religion has a monopoly of the truth or
of the life that leads to salvation.

• Rumi (1207 – 1273): "The lamps are

different but the Light is the same; it
comes from beyond"
(Rumi: Poet and Mystic, trans. R.A. Nicholson, London and Boston: Unwin,
p. 166).
 Essence
• Break the temple, Break the mosque,
Break whatever besides!
But do not break a human heart, because
that is where God resides!
Essence
 Essence
• Rabbi Hillel said: "What is hateful to you, don't
do unto your neighbor. The rest is commentary.
Now, go and study.
• Matthew 7:12 "So in everything, do to others
what you would have them do to you, for this
sums up the Law and the Prophets."
• The Holy Prophet: None of you [truly] believes
until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for
himself.