Islam for Women

I am reading this book very carefully and taking notes. It is a wonderfully written colorful peace of research and until page 110 I have not found any historical mistakes expect the one I would like to discuss today. History coming alive!

I trust it would be a great basis for a new movie about the birth of Islam like the well known masterpiece “The Message” by Mustafa Akkad . Since the author is an accomplished screen writer I am especially worried about this. Once a MOVIE is made about (any) events it becomes the truth to most of the people.

In the shoes of Mr. Kamran Pasha I would be really careful what to allow to be done in his name. In Islam we are accountable for our deeds and intentions, and one of the worst sins in Islam are inventions into the faith.

If there were not the ONE thing I oppose strongly since there is NO REAL evidence of the date of birth of Lady Aisha. Only one or two Hadiths, which were collected as late as 250-300 years after the death of the Prophet (pbuH). Until then they were mere traditions remembered orally. The Prophet himself discouraged writing down his every word because he feared they would be confused with the Quran.

Needles to tell my Muslim readers how Islam is portrayed on internet forums whenever the topic Islam comes up. The Prophet (pbuH) is routinely called “a pedophile caravan bundit”!

I have the strong suspicion that the author had to make a few changes, probably only one (since to book is powerful reading) to his manuscript so that it would be accepted for publication. The one about Lady Aisha’s age. It would explain hastily made changes in the text about it and the from it resulting unmatching dateline. Muslim readers know what I am talking about, the opponents do not hesitate to use all means to tarnish the image of Islam. They are mostly powerful media owners and editors in chief in major publications.

Why do I believe so?

On page 9: Aisha is claimed to be born in 613 A.D.

On page 92: is claimed that Aisha “counted over 40 most powerful men not only of Mecca but the Bedouin tribes…” at the age of tender age of 3 years?!

On page 96: in 619 A.D Aisha is claimed to be 6 years old almost 10 yrs after the 1. Revelation” in 610 A.D. when driven out of Mecca into exile

Page 105: Her sister Asma is 16 yrs old in 621 A.D when boycott ends meaning that Aisha would be STILL 6 yrs old (after spending 3 years in exile, and not 9!). Asma was 10 yrs her elder. According to Adel Salahi the boycott lasted for 3 years “Muhammad, Man and Prophet” by M.A. Salahi, page 160 (not 2 yrs as in this book) .

For other events in this novel there are surviving documents and scriptures to rely on and they are largely accepted as accurate, historically correct. The early Muslim community had many literate people who recorded events and in one of them is said that Aisha was a young girl when converting with her elder sister to Islam (among the first 80 Muslims to do so), in 610 A.D. That would make her at least 11 years old when returning home from exile from the desert outside of Mecca even if she was a newborn baby back then. And if we believe this to be correct, since it was recorded in the lifetime of the Prophet (and not 250-300 years later!) then she was at least in her late teens when marrying the Prophet!

Salaam for later commentary,
Mona

Again and again while reading other blogs and forums the notion comes up, that Islam does not tolerate other faiths and that its main aim would be to convert others under Islam by violent means. As proof they quote isolated Hadiths and suras of the Quran . 

 Nothing would be more wrong and against the spirit of Islam.

It is true, that believers are encouraged to invite people of other faiths to get to know Islam by good example and friendly discussions, but never by force.

As I wrote in the first part of this theme (pls. scroll this page down) the Prophet himself instructed believers not to harm people, who came under the government of the new Muslim state.

There are numerous suras of the Quran and Hadiths to prove this. Many more than there are others, which are taken out of context (from a war situation, when Islam was under attack).

And as always, the text of the Quran is more accurate than the Hadiths, which were sorted out according to their truthfulness as late as 250 years after the death of the Prophet (p.b.u.h.). Please read also on the right panel Topic No. 7  What the Qur’an says about… … other faiths.. tolerance and Hadith’s.

Freedom of Religious Assembly and Religious Autonomy:
Given consent by the constitution, the Jews had the complete freedom to practice their religion. The Jews in Medina at the time of the Prophet had their own school of learning, named Bait-ul-Midras, where they would recite the Torah, worship and educate themselves.
On one occasion, the Prophet received a delegation of sixty Christians from the region of Najran, then a part of Yemen, at his mosque. When the time for their prayer came, they faced the direction of east and prayed. The Prophet ordered that they be left in their state and not harmed.

There are also examples in the life of the Prophet in which he cooperated between with people of other faiths in the political arena as well. He selected a non-Muslim, Amr-ibn Umaiyah-ad-Damri, as an ambassador to be sent to Negus, the King of Ethiopia.

May God bestow upon us wisdom and tolerance to be able to tackle the problems the human race is facing in the near future.

. . . . .

“There is no compulsion in religion; truly the right way has become clearly distinct from error; therefore, whoever disbelieves in the Shaitan (Devil) and believes in God he indeed has laid hold on the firmest handle, which shall not break off, and God is Hearing, Knowing.” (Q.2.256)

“God forbids you not, with regards to those who fight you not for [your] faith nor drive you out of your homes, from dealing kindly and justly with them; for God loved those who are just.” (Quran, 60:8)

“Say, we believe in God and that which has been revealed to us, and that which was revealed to Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes and that which was given to Moses and Jesus and to other prophets, from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and to Him we submit.” (Q.3:83)

If You have read other topics on the right you may have noticed, that I am quite critical about the Hadiths – the reports from the early Muslim community and the years thereafter. They were collected, sorted out and written down ca. 250 years after the death of the Prophet (p.b.u.h.).

They reflect the customs and beliefs of that time and should not always be taken literally.

Science today has a more accurate picture f.e. of the universe than people had 1400 years ago. In some hadiths astronomical phenomena are explained in clearly unscientific manner, from falling stars to the moon splitting in two. People around the Prophet narrated these and for centuries they were taken literally.

Even if the Prophet did make all these statements, then they must be seen as his sincere belief what he thought was right. After all he was an ordinary man, as He himself stated on numerous occasions.

Please read also on the right panel the topic No. 8 Hadiths (reported Sayings by The Prophet) and No. 7 What the Qur’an says about… - The Creation of the Universe.

“O, assembly of the jinn (spirits) and the men! If you are able to pass through regions of the heavens and the earth, then pass through; You cannot pass through but with authority”(Q.55:32-37)

(Hubble space telescope image ‘Cat’s Eye Nebula”, an exploding star, NASA Oct.31st 1999 at:http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap991031.html)

Unfortunately, very often the Hadiths take a more important role than the Quran itself in the daily life of the believers when it comes to practical decisions.

The holy Quran was revealed to the Phophet in a dream or in a dreamlike condition and Muslims believe it to be the Word of God, literally. Until today researchers have not found any scientific inaccuracy in it.

Ref. The Bible, The Quran and Science. By Maurice Bucaille

A Student to his father: Today, my science teacher brought a mobile model of our Universe with its Sun, Moon and the Planets in our class room. It was fun to watch our Earth spinning on its own axis and at the same time also around the orbit of our Sun. When our side of the Earth faces the Sun we have the Day, and the people living on the other side of the Earth have Night. This alternating Light and Darkness within a Day has been the eternal Law of the Nature. A Muslim students dialogue with his parents.