Salaam,

my readers who keep coming back here!

After reading the book I should give some kind of final recommendation from my side. It is marvelous reading, skillfully written bringing Islamic history close to Muslims and non-Muslims alike. I appreciate the amount of time and research the author has invested in it. Only if  there were not the one thing I have been writing in my previous posts and am quite unhappy with.

After having some serious concern about Lady Aisha’s age at her marriage since it is not known, all speculation is based on Hadiths only,  I think that the positive aspect of information and positive image it gives about Islam weighs more and therefore I recommend it for interested readers.

But readers should always keep in mind that it is a fiction novel after all and not everything what the vivid imagination of Mr. Pasha (which I envy – to be honest) brought to life here is necessary word by word true.

I could not find any historical errors since for most of the events exist surviving documents around which the author has woven this historical novel. 

Ramadan Greetings

Mona

Practices according the Hadith’s  vs. teaching in the Quran 

 Pakistan deal enshrines sharia law 

Quote:  “As retaliation for the military presence, the Taliban carried out a series of deadly attacks, beheadings and destruction of girls’ schools. They also continued to gain ground, setting up checkpoints throughout the area.”

No matter what the reason for the confrontation in Northern Pakistan is, there is no justification for attacking Girl’s Schools. The Taliban (extreme Wahhabi branch of Islam and Taleban) object them as un-Islamic although education and gathering knowledge (even from “as far as from China”) is one of the most important duties for both sexes in Islam.

 “And whoever kills a believer intentionally, his punishment is hell; he shall abide in it, and God will send His wrath on him and curse him and prepare for him a painful chastisement. (Q.4:93)

“And do not kill any You shall not kill any person - for God has made life sacred - except in the course of justice, and whoever is slain unjustly, We have indeed given to his heir authority, so let him not exceed the just limits in slaying; surely he is aided.” (Q.17:33)

“…… You shall not kill - God has made life sacred - except in the course of justice. These are His commandments to you, that you may understand.” (Q.6:151)

“The true servants of The Merciful are they who walk gently on Earth, and who, when the foolish address them, reply with (words of) peace.” (Quran 25:63)

……………………………….

On woman rights Qur’an gives also women a substantial role in choosing their own life partners:

 “Do not prevent them from marrying their husbands when they agree between themselves in a lawful manner.” (Q.2:232)

According to the Qur’an, the accusation (of unchastity) must be proven by four eyewitnesses, a practical impossibility. Even then a death penalty is not ordered in the Qur’an. The occasional stoning to death as punishment for adultery is a an ancient tradition also in the pre-Christian era as mentioned in the Bible. An unjustified accusation is a grave sin:

“Surely those who accuse chaste believing women, unaware (of the evil), are cursed in this world and hereafter, and they shall have a grievous chastisement.” (Qur’an 24:23)

“And those who speak evil things of the believing men and the believing women without their having earned (it), they are guilty indeed of a false accusation and a manifest sin.” (Q. 33:58)

Q.4:15 “And as for those who are guilty of an indecency from among your women, call to witnesses against them four (witnesses) from among you; then if they bear witness confine them to the houses until death comes close to them or God opens some way for them.”

The logical conclusion from these Verses of the Holy Quran is that a harsh punishment is not advised,  but immorally behaving woman should be kept at home or  until God shows a solution for the  situation.  The stoning of women  IS  NOT  mentioned in the Quran  but it was quite common in the pre-Islamic Middle East, as it was at the time of Jesus, a Prophet to Muslims, too.    Quoting the Bible, John 8:1-3  “If any of you have not committed a sin you can throw the first stone at her.”

News from the small Scandinavian country Finland (yet well known for NOKIA and Mika Hakkinen).  It used to be a hidden tolerant island and cultural conflicts sounded like echoes from overseas.

The Lebanese born Imam Chehab Khadr  of the local Helsinki Muslim community 

defended in an  Aamulehti  newspaper interview the notion that girls as young as nine years old could be wed into marriage with parental consent and that what is against the law some countries is permissible in others.  It followed on outcry in the country with unbelievable amount of feedback, blogger comments and phone calls what made him change his position the next day. 

Nobody could be fooled; words are cheap and even cheaper by the dozen. The damage is done and once again the image of Islam was badly tarnished in a place which is known to be very welcoming and tolerant.  They have for centuries a small Muslim community originating from the east with no problems whatsoever with human rights or marrying little girls. Today Muslim immigrant youth is causing trouble and controversy, mostly through the growing rape rate in bigger cities (mostly by Somalis) and  small time criminality like snatching ladies handbags in broad daylight. People do not walk in the streets at night time anymore!

My first reaction was that this man is mega stupid!  But he is a regular guest at state banquets, and TV talk shows. This middle aged man probably close to his fifties has been living large part of his life in a Western country with an excellent human and especially women rights record. Finland was the 1^st country in Europe to grant women voting rights and women make up almost half of the parliamentarians and they have a woman president in her second term already. I would have wished at least a little more openness of mind and some critical thinking.  

From a man in his position one would expect more common sense. How can he advocate Stone Age practices marrying little girls when there are lots and lots of unmarried young women waiting to get married?  A grownup man wishing to marry a six or even a nine year old girl is a man with sick fantasy, a pervert and a pedophile, there is no way around it.

This Imam went so far as saying that in Western societies youngsters at that age are involved in sexual acts but in Islam he is accepting it in a marriage. Not to mention that elsewhere hardly any 6 yr. or 9 yr. old girl is sexually active, so he was simply lying.

There is a HUGE  difference here: the first one is not acceptable although it happens occasionally  (mostly rape by someone close) - the latter one is sanctioned by higher authorities, and what is worse: sanctioned by God itself?!I went to find facts from Wikipedia.    What I found very shocking that Lebanon which is trying to appear the most modern and advanced Middle Eastern Muslim country has the worst record of women rights! Nine year old girls are children and sexual acts with them is pedophilia, married or not.  It makes me sick, this is not Islam.

From the list  of some countries with marriageable ages for male/female I pick up Lebanon, the former home country of this Imam: Lebanon: 18 for males and 17 for females; scope for judicial discretion on basis of physical maturity and wali’s permission from 17 for males and 9 for females; real puberty or 15/9 with judicial permission for Shi’a; 18/17 or 16/15 with judicial permission for Druze.   Nine years minimum age for little-girl-wives and this country is bragging to be a model to the Muslim Middle Easterners.    HOW can a 10-year old be a mother to an infant, or perhaps this possibility is not taken into consideration in those male chauvinistic minds?

In a few days I will write, Inshallah,    about the Prophept’s young wife Aisha. The Hadith’s suggest, that she was married to him at the age 6 yrs.  By Hadith’s  of which I am very critical about. They were collected as late 250-300 years after the death of the Prophet (p.b.u.H.). From 600 000 stories f.e. Bukhari selected 7,397 based on their truthfulness. Truthfulness? How can a lengthy recitation transmitted by word of mouth over half a dozen generations be truthful in every single word? Human mind is not a computer, it can err with the best of intentions.  

Prophet Mohammad discouraged in his lifetime writing down these stories in fear they would be confused with the Quran itself. Well, yes, it looks like it happened after all.There are several surviving written document from the lifetime of the Prophet from which we can reconstruct the events and we find that Aisha was in her late teens, probably early twenties when marrying as it happened in Medina after he Hijjra (emigration). Especially the shia-Muslims (most Iranians, half of the Iraqis, Persian Golf Emirates, part of Saudi Arabia, and Southern Lebanon) still hold on to this practice and what disturbs me most is that the media and especially the internet is full of hate speech regarding this matter and Islam is regularly called a “Pedophile Religion”. Opponents are using a very powerful image,  and it is working.

One of my favorite quotes is from the late  Dr. Lila Fahlman,  founder of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women (CCMW):   “Hadith’s have ruined Islam. “

I am trying my very best to shake up and wake up the Muslims themselves into critical thinking ( it is our duty trying to change things we think are wrong) and at the same time trying to build bridges.

There is no other way. 

Mona

Today in the news: Writers Rushdie, Saviano discuss death threats at panel discussion in Sweden

Security high for visit of Rushdie and Saviano    

All these years since The Satanic Verses controversy and the death sentence by Iranian Mullah’s I am wondering how it came exactly like Rushdie had planned. He wanted controversy and he knew that conservative Muslims would be infuriated. The news would go around the globe like a forest fire and he would be famous.

Why are Muslims so easy to trick to do exactly what is the aim of these provocateurs?     The same phenomenon was with the infamous Danish Islam caricatures. They were publishes i.e. in Egypt half a year earlier and nobody bothered to protest. Only after it came international news, when radical Muslims started burning Danish flags and puppets. Governments were forced to give statements that they are powerless, because there is a law for freedom of speech.   Again and again provocateurs are trying the same trick. These days, so I read, in Holland is a new cartoon movie in the making about Islam.     

Fortunately Muslims are awakening and do not react as they wish anymore.  There is a sura in the Quran that advice believers to answer to provocateurs with words of  peace:     

“And the servants of the Beneficent God are they who walk on the earth in humbleness, and when the ignorant address them, they say:   Peace.”  Quran [25.63]     

I am not a literature critic but at the beginning of this all I read several critics which suggested that Salman Rushdie is a mediocre writer at best. Now there are even rumors, that the Swedes would give him a Nobel literature prize soon.  

While watching World News and Mayhem on my TV screen I have long been intending to write about Democracy because the common assumption is that Islam and Democracy do not go well together. 

 We should not confuse tradition with religion.  In older democracies the path to this day was long and slow. Some reached it earlier, like in Britain the first step was as early as in 1215  known as the Magna Carta.  Other countries have followed.   Although one must sometimes wonder if democracy is the best way to govern.   It is always a compromise which naturally is not the best solution to problems.  And voters do not always choose the best candidate simply because of lack of knowledge and experience and they can be easily manipulated.  But there is no better way available and the rights and safety of individuals must be guaranteed.

In my opinion in the Quran  we have clear instructions for the early Muslim community to practice democracy:   “O you who believe! obey Allah and obey the Apostle and those in authority from among you; then if you quarrel about anything, refer it to God and the Apostle, if you believe in God and the last day; this is better and very good in the end.” (Q. 4:59)

“And their business is (conducted) through consultation among themselves.” (Q.42:38)

“God does not love the public utterance of hurtful speech unless (it be) by one to whom injustice has been done; and God is Hearing, Knowing.” (Q.4:148)

Traditionally, before Islam matters in the pagan Arabian Bedouin communities where already handled democratically. Clan elders discussed problems, set rules and practiced justice as they are still doing it among themselves in a smaller scale, because today we have governments and state laws. Like in almost all early human communities regardless of location worldwide.

It was much later than dictators have taken over motivated mostly by power and material gain. It is still a long way for many, but I am hopeful that matters will improve. In my opinion the key to success is education, education, education and especially that of the women. They are the ones who educate the children and their influence on the society is tremendous.

Unfortunately in many places religion have been used to segregate women from men denying them the basic human rights the Quran guarantees them! (Please read also the Topic No.6 on the right “Women and Islam”) 

As I already wrote, we should not confuse religion with tradition. I am quite critical about the Hadiths. They are orally narrated reports from the time of early Muslim community and were collected as late as 250-300 years after the death of the Prophet (p.b.u.h.). Bukhari, for example, examined 600,000 traditions of which he accepted only 7,397!

I have never forgotten an experiment we did in school, I was 11 years old (the last year before changing schools). At the beginning of class the teacher gave us a sentence or perhaps it was two sentences - a short story. We whispered it to each other and by the time bell was ringing for break the teacher asked the last pupil to tell what he had heard. We could not believe what from the story had become, it was unrecognizable!

I am not asserting, that this is the case with Hadith’s, but taken in account the time which passed (200-300 years) even the best-meaning and devoted believer can err. It is human, we are not computers that can record every word forever.  

In my opinion we should put less importance on the Hadith’s (put them in perspective) and more on the Quran, which gives us clear instructions and in this particular case we understand that Islam favors Democracy!  

Quoting the late Dr. Lila Fahlman   Founding President of the World Council of Muslim Women Foundation: “Man-written Hadith’s have ruined Islam and do not speak to human rights or to equality for men and women, but rather favour the enslavement of women.”…   “Any Muslim who finds the Qur’an difficult to understand would do best to spend his time on the Qur’an rather then on the Hadith’s, which can never surpass the Qur’an as the Hadith is man written.”

A Joke
(everybody gets those, a.k.a. spam): A little girl asked her mother: “How did the human race appear?” The mother answered: “God made Adam and Eve and they had children and so was all mankind made.”Two days later she asks her father the same question. The father answered: “Many years ago there were monkeys from which the human race was developed.“The confused girl returns to her mother and says: “Mom, how is it possible that you told me that the human race was created by God and Papa says they were developed from monkeys.” The mother answers: “Well dear, it is very simple. I told you about the origin of my side. ”

“Garden Eden” by Jacob Savery, 1601, on Copper panel

A peaceful paradise as we love to imagine it. According to Judaism and Christianity after creation God drove Adam and Eve out of Garden Eden for disobedience. Islam, although it has common ground with them, does not mention this incident. Muslims believe in all prophets of the Bible and in Jesus, who was to them a teacher and a prophet and accuse early Christians of making him the Son of God. Jews and Christians are mentioned in the Quran several times and referred to as “The People of Book” (meaning believers in the same God/Allah). Allah is the name of God in Arabic and in Aramaic and Jesus called God (=English word!) Allah, after all Aramaic was his mother tongue.

The origins of humankind has always been surrounded by mystery, faith and superstition and since Charles Darwin by controversy.

In my opinion there is no contradiction between the story of creation in the Bible or the Quran and the modern science. The origins of the faith were in Palestine and the race and language of the people were Semitic. First parts of the Old Testament were written down between the 12^th and 9^th century BC and in course of time then translated several times.

Please read also the topics No. 3 Short History and No. 5 Jesus, Christianity on the right panel.

From about 3^rd century BC Jews in Palestine came to use Aramaic in both speech and secular writings. Aramaic is a Semitic language and was also the mother tongue of Jesus as Arabic is a Semitic language, in which the Quran was revealed.

The creation of the universe is told to have happened in seven days. In Arabic (a Semitic language) the word day can also mean a long period of time. Thus we could say that the creation of the Universe took place in seven very long periods of time.

Lets imagine the superstitious people of Palestine 10000 years ago. The existence of One almighty God had to be told them in a language they could understand and thus events in the Bible are told like stories. And generations after generations told them their offspring until in the 9^th century BC first scriptures were written, known as the Pentateuch.

So, there ins no problem with the stories of Creation.

The Darwinist theory of creation ist still not complete when it comes to humans. You may have heard the term Missing Link, a link that would connect today’s man Homo Sapiens with its primate relatives, the apes. There is a real possibility that this missing link will be discovered, but wouldn’t it be one more prove of the power of God Almighty, who “created Man from a single cell” (Quran) ??

I quote myself from the Topic No. 7 on the right panel “What the Quran has to say about Creation”

“O mankind! We created you from a single soul, male and female, and made you into nations and tribes, so that you may come to know one another. Truly, the most honored of you in God’s sight is the greatest of you in piety. God is All-Knowing, All-Aware.” (Quran 49:13)

“Do nit the unbelievers see, that the heavens and the earth were joined together, then we clove them asunder and, We got every living thing out of water. Will they not then believe?” In another translation of the same verse: “Are then, they who are bent on denying the truth not aware that the heavens and the earth were (once) one single entity, which We then parted asunder?” (Quran 21:30)

“Moreover (God) turned to the heaven, when it was smoke and said to it and to the earth…. ” (Quran 41:11)

“And it is We who have built the universe with power, and verily, it is We who are expanding it.” (Quran 51:47) (The Theory of the expansion of the universe was developed by Albert Einstein in his Theory of Relativity and is widely accepted today.)

“And God has created from water every living creature: so of them is that which walks upon its belly, and of them is that which walks upon two feet, and of them is that which walks upon four; God creates what He pleases; surely God has power over all things.” (Guran 24:45)

Charles Darwin’s theory is strongly backed by these verses:

at the beginning there was smoke, Big Bang, out of which God created earth and heaven and that every living thing came out of water!