Islam for Women

Muslims hate dogs?

In the news, again, are Muslims and how “narrow minded they can be!”  “Muslims outraged at police advert featuring cute puppy sitting in policeman’s hat.”

A postcard featuring a cute puppy sitting in a policeman’s hat advertising a Scottish police force’s new telephone number has sparked outrage from Muslims.   Tayside Police’s new non-emergency phone number has prompted complaints from members of the Islamic community.The choice of image on the Tayside Police cards – a black dog sitting in a police officer’s hat – has now been raised with Chief Constable John Vine.

“The advert has upset Muslims because dogs are considered ritually unclean and has sparked such anger that some shopkeepers in Dundee have refused to display the advert.   Dundee councillor Mohammed Asif said:  ’My concern was that it’s not welcomed by all communities, with the dog on the cards.  ‘It was probably a waste of resources going to these communities.  ‘They (the police) should have understood.   Since then, the police have explained that it was an oversight on their part, and that if they’d seen it was going to cause upset they wouldn’t have done it.’   Councillor Asif, who is a member of the Tayside Joint Police Board, said that the force had a diversity adviser and was generally very aware of such issues…..”

Since beginning of time, since the humans started to domesticate animals for company, for protection, as working animals, milk and meat producers dogs were first domesticated from wolf ancestors about 15,000 years ago. It is widely known as mans best friend, because it defends its owner unconditionally.In my experience and understanding/knowing dogs are not filthier or dirtier or anything bad more than other animals either. The same goes for pigs.

Animals should not be kept in houses, because the daily prayers are done on a clean floor or a mat. At least that one room should be kept out of reach of pets. The floor must be clean, also of toddler’s waste (“accidents” happen) and other impurities . “Cleanliness is part of faith” (Quran)

Muslims are not allowed to eat dead meat, blood, the flesh of a swine. Pigs are all-eaters, they eat everything eatable, even dead flesh. Animals that eat other animals and especially dead animals are forbidden like meat eating birds are also forbidden. Only grass eating animals having hoofs and only one set of jaws are allowed. In fact in the Jewish religion the food law is even stricter.

Anyone who ever visited the Middle East must have seen shepherds wandering around with their flock of sheep and a dog or two guarding them. You must have noticed, how friendly there are with their dogs and the vast majority of them are Muslims.

As far as I know most Muslims in Britain are of Pakistani or Indian origin. I have heard some strange beliefs from them which have nothing to do with Islam but very much with Culture and their own Tradition. Only recently I read a newspaper article mentioning, that the most radical Muslims preachers in British mosques are of Pakistani by birth.

I do not know what to say. May God grand them wisdom and insight. From the article above I understood that the British police is aware of the problem with Cultural sensitivities, they are human and make mistakes.

In this case, I think they did not do any mistake. The majority of the British love cute little dogs and there is nothing wrong in putting a puppy in a police hat. And if a Muslim finds the postcard offending he or she does not need to look at it, as simple as that.

The Adoration, by Domenico Ghirlandaio.
Newborn Jesus child surrounded by animals, a donkey, a cow and most probably by sheep and a sheep dog

As the Christmas Holiday is nearing I would like greet my Christian readers with wishes of peace and tolerance!

The Problem is not Islam.

While reading latest comments to the Queen Rania’s award winning Youtube Video one of them  made me think, is he/she right or wrong?

“zeppelinsteen In Malaysia where I come from, there is approx. 60% Muslims. We have a lot of Christians as well. But the Muslims here are totally different from the Middle East. For example we don’t have any problem with women rights or whatsoever. Yet, other religions are going well with Islam. I think it’s not about challenging stereotypes, it is changing attitudes of the ARABS! “

Yes, he or she is right: the Problem is not Islam.

The problem is,  that some Muslims do not realize that what they believe to be Islamic teaching is in fact tradition. The Hadith’s  (traditions) sometimes clearly contradict the Holy Quran. The best example is the stoning of adulterous women as it still happens in some areas  in the Middle East. It was common practice before Christianity, which Jesus abolished (pls. read the article below “Stoning of a child” ).   

In the Quran there is NO mentioning of it but a sura, that cannot be misinterpreted:  

“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.” (Quran 4:15) 

They somehow manage to distort the Original Message of  Righteousness, Tolerance and Humanity.  It was Islam,  that introduced 1400 years ago all these virtues to then pagan Bedouins, who were warring each other in bloody tribal conflicts.  And it is not solely the problem of the Arabs, who count only around 15 % of  the Muslims worldwide.

The reason  is that many preachers still prefer the Hadith’s,  even if there are clear instructions of tolerance, forgiveness, human rights, even animal rights and  “do not kill” in the Quran. 

Please read the passages of the Quran on the right panel, No. 7  “What the Quran has to say..” 

Traditions change last, unfortunately.

Amnesty: Rape girl, 13, killed for adultery 

Stoning a gang rape victim, Amnesty International Report

November 1, 2008  -  MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) – A 13-year-old girl who said she had been raped was stoned to death in Somalia after being accused of adultery by Islamic militants, a human rights group said.Dozens of men stoned Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow to death Oct. 27 in a stadium packed with 1,000 spectators in the southern port city of Kismayo, Amnesty International and Somali media reported, citing witnesses. The Islamic militia in charge of Kismayo had accused her of adultery after she reported that three men had raped her, the rights group said.Initial local media reports said Duhulow was 23, but her father told Amnesty International she was 13. Some of the Somali journalists who first reported the killing later told Amnesty International that they had reported she was 23 based upon her physical appearance.

It hard to come to senses after news like this knowing that it was Islam that introduced righteousness to a then pagan community. For thousands of years stoning to death and nailing on a cross (in Palestine)  were the most common ways of death penalty,  I suppose since Stone Age.

Jesus, who is also a Prophet for Muslims like all the other Prophets of Christianity said:  “If any of you have not committed a sin you can throw the first stone at her.” (Bible,  John 8:1-3)  

(Painting: Jesus and the Woman Taken in Adultery, by Vasiliy Polenov )( 

The Story in the Bible- The Adulterous Woman. (John 8:1-3)It was about a woman who had been caught committing adultery, and had to stand in front of the teachers of the law and Pharisees and also Jesus, and they said that “In our law Moses commanded that such a woman must be stoned to death,” and then they put all the pressure on Jesus by saying what do you think, and then said to Jesus, so that they could accuse him, but they didn’t trap Jesus.   Jesus then said “If  any of you have not committed a sin you can throw the first stone at  her.” The older people left first and eventually everybody had gone,  and there was just Jesus and the woman left. Jesus said to her “Where  are they all, there is no one left to condemn you,” and then said ” I  don’t condemn you either, go, but do not sin again.”  

As true Muslims believe in ALL the Prophets before Phophet Mohammed in my opinion this is a significant statement from Jesus.  And most importantly it  does not contradict the Quran.

In the Quran the stoning of an adulterous woman is not advised.    “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.” (Quran 4:15)

Some extreme branches of Islam still practice the stoning to death. In their understanding  its justification must be based on Hadiths, because in the Quran there is no mentioning of it. 

“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)

I pray to God, the Allmighty, that all Muslims would finally start realizing the real Teaching of Islam,righteousness and human rights.

Salaam, Mona

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Edit: The complete story on BBC News from Somalia. Her 62-year-old aunt told the BBC that the teenager had in fact been raped by three armed men – and she took Asha to the police station to report it.

“I don’t know what crime she committed other than being raped – and I was not even allowed to see her body.”   - Asha Ibrahim Dhuhulow’s aunt

“They are wrong if they committed a kidnap. They will have to be punished under Sharia law.”- Hiiran’s al-Shabab Chairman Sheikh Ali Dheere

“One of the 100 most influential people in the world”

Ayaan Hirsi-Ali                      

was named in 2005 by TIME Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

For some time now it has been in my mind that I should write about her, because she is spreading information as Islamic which actually is NOT and the readers of her bestsellers and articles hardly can make the difference what is true and what is her view. Everything she says should be seen on the background of her Somalian childhood. It is one of poorest and most backward countries in the world and its traditions should be seen in that perspective. There is also an interview with her on Youtube “On Losing Faith In Islam”

She is a Dutch feminist born in Somalia. When she was eight her family left Somalia for Saudi Arabia, then for Ethiopia and eventually settled in Kenya. From Germany se came to the Netherlands where she sought and obtained political asylum in 1992, under circumstances that later became the center of a political controversy.

A political crises surrounding the potential stripping of her Dutch citizenship led to her resignation from the parlament, and led indirectly to the fall of the second Balkenende cabinet.

She is known in the West by her assumed name, Hirsi Ali, instead of her original name, Hirsi Magan.

She opposes vehemently immigration to the Netherlands while she herself lied about almost everything when getting her asylum status and later her Dutch citizenship.

In its critic of Ali’s autobiography, The Economist called her a “chameleon of a woman”, referring to her talent for reinvention and opportunism.

Speaking of opportunism: her books are translated into numerous languages and turned best sellers. She is living now in the United States and  recently I came across an ad: “URGEND APPEAL: Please Help Protect Ayaan Hirsi Ali” on the website ofRichard Dawkinds, wheere she is collcting money for her personal safety. Strange, don’t you think? All these best seller -books and fame cannot pay for her bodyguards?

Hirsi Ali is today an atheist renouncing Islam. She is free to believe or not to believe, it is her decision. As it is stated in the Quran “There is no compulsion in faith” (Qur’an 2:256)

There might be Hadith’s in which a death penalty is suggested for abandoning Islam. But in light of the numerous relating passages of the holy Quran they do not weigh much.

Please read also the Topic No. 7 “What the Qur’an says about…” on the right panel. I would be delighted to have Ayaan on my blog reading these statements. All her arguing would be nullified.

I am not denying that Islam is often distorted out of ignorance or due to uneducated preachers, too much have been changed in the original Message of Peace and Humanity and it urgently needs revival.

What Hirsi Ali experienced in her early childhood in one of the 3 poorest countries of the world and during her schooling with the most strict interpretation of Islam, the Wahabism  in Saudi Arabia, has influenced her thinking.

And as I surf the net trying to find specific statements from her about Islam I could not find any! Strange. There is her Homepage but there is no writing or thoughts from her, just a link to collect money for her safety. Very strange, one of the 100 most influential people in the world has nothing to say on her website.

I have to pick up lines from articles and try to answer them one by one.

Quote: “Hirsi Ali criticizes Prophet Mohammed on the grounds of both his morality and personality. In January 2003 she told the Dutch paper Trouw, “Mohammed is, seen by our Western standards, a pervert”, as he married, at the age of 52, Aisha, who was six years old, and the time of consummation, nine. “

As I have written very detailed in this blog about Aisha I just direct you, my reader, to articles on the right panel, No.4 “Biography of Mohammad” (the names and ages of the wives of Prophet Muhammed are listed at the end of the article)

Just a short reminder: from surviving documents we can estimate the age of Aisha at the time of her marriage. She must have been in her late teens or early twenties.

His first marriage with the wealthy widow Khadijah (who was his employer) lasted for 25 years, it was monogamous and very happy. She bore him all his surviving children.

His other wives where aged widows, a young slave girl Maria (a “present” from an African ruler and whom he set free and married and who gave him his only son,w ho died in infancy). Lady Aisha remained childless and after the death of the Prophet she continued teaching Islam and even participated in politics of the early Muslim community.

To be continued soon, her view vs. my view.

http://www.rekombinant.org/old/article.html.sid=2467