Islam The Misunderstood Religion Irf
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Channel: Bilal Philips
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The segment discusses the misunderstandings and lies surrounding the topic of Islam, including the confusion surrounding the origin of the term " Islam" and the claims made by some people about the history of Islam. The speakers also touch on cultural aspect of marriage, the legality of honoring women, and the negative impact of terrorism on society. They emphasize the importance of finding a balance between sexuality and integrity, finding a balance between sexuality and integrity, and taking responsibility for one's behavior. The speakers also stress the importance of finding a balance between sexuality and integrity, taking responsibility for one's behavior, and the negative consequences of sexual attraction.AI Generated Transcript ©
To do that job for us today,
brothers and sisters,
to speak on Islam, the misunderstood religion to be followed by an open question and answer session. May I present before you Dr. Abu Amina bill Phillips
hamdu Lillah wa salatu salam ala rasulillah. All praise is due to Allah and Milan's Peace and blessings beyond the last messenger of Allah.
As my brother Muhammad nyck introduced the topic Islam misunderstood religion.
In fact, it was the topic which is the title of a book
written by
Mohammed Koto,
which influenced me to become a Muslim,
some 20 odd years ago.
At that time,
the book addressed not necessarily the same topics that I will be addressing.
But it served the same purpose in terms of clarification of common misunderstandings with regards to Islam.
From
mostly a political perspective, because of the time when I accepted Islam, I was a communist after having left Christianity, for communism.
So it clarified for me from a political perspective,
why Islam
was the most effective system or had with it the best principles for the running of human society, and for the protection of the rights of individuals, and creatures on the earth.
My talk is focused more from a general misunderstanding held around the world with regards to Islam. And that misunderstanding could be traced back to two major sources. If we assume that the world media for the most part originates in the West, when we look at the various news reports, it's by AP Associated Press, Reuters, all these press agencies, the vast majority of them are Western based. And as such, they influence the media all over the world today.
We have to understand that
the
misconceptions, which are prevalent in the media today,
are a result of either one or another factors of two factors. The one or the first would be that of deliberate misinformation.
And that is a product of the Crusaders period, in which they encountered Muslims. This is where Christianity in Europe encountered Islam under the heading of the crusades, where they sought to liberate as they cite the Holy Land from the Muslim infidels. In order to generate support for this crusade. There were large amounts of false information disseminated about Islam in order to encourage these people to go and fight give up their lives to occupy this particular and, of course historian since then, you know, have pointed out that the reasons behind it were, to a large degree, economic and not religious at all. It had to do with the trade, which was coming from the Far East,
trade in spices, trade in silk, etc, that the Muslims were the middlemen, and they wanted to remove the middleman.
But it was given this overtone of religious struggle in order to motivate the masses to support this crusade.
And we could say today's misinformation, deliberate misinformation is a part of that it's an extension of it or you could say it is a hangover from the period of the Crusaders. What came out of that period, during the period of colonial expansion over the Muslim world, as well as the rest of the world is a tradition of study known
Orientalism in the West, Orientalism meaning they specialize in eastern things, Eastern religions, etc. It included others but focus to a large degree on Islam because they represented the largest group.
And it was missionary based. It was the there were systems of study set up in order to penetrate the areas under Muslim control to penetrate these areas psychologically, intellectually. So they made a study of Islamic texts, etc, to try to find opportunities or avenues by which they could confuse the people create doubts in the peoples about their religion in order to support their own political control over those given areas.
As a result, the
orientalist tradition is filled with many lies, things which are outright lies about Islam. Unfortunately, the approach was not one of discussion and debate, where you sit down and present what your beliefs are, and I will present what my beliefs are, but it was an attack.
And as such, unfortunately, that attack was an unscrupulous attack in which they sought to malign Islam in any way, shape, or form possible. So many lies, I mean, many things are attributed to Islam, which even the smallest child if you ask the child, you know, is this a part of Islam? They will tell you? No, no, it has nothing to do with Islam. Islam doesn't say this, the smallest child can give the correct answer. So we cannot excuse you know, scholars, PhDs, you know, of Europe, etc, who studied Islamic texts, they learned Arabic to the point where they've understood the Quran, they understood Islamic textbooks of fit, etc, then they're going to make fundamental mistakes on very
basic things, which each and every Muslim knows.
This represents the deliberate
element in misinformation. Now, there is another element of misinformation which I call the inadvertent element. And that is due to misinterpretations where people observe Muslims doing something and then they
judge it according to their own cultural or social or religious backgrounds.
They interpreted from that point of view, just as a simple interpretation. For example, if Muslims are seen to bow towards the Kaaba, in India, for example, then Hindus will bow to their idols will look at this and try to interpret it in the same light. Well, you know, Muslims are bound to the carbides, we bow to idols, you know, this is not necessarily a thing of worship, but it is a means through which God is worshipped. And this is how it is interpreted. So they interpreted in that light, or, for example, Muslims slaughtering of animals, that in Christian tradition, the slaughter was sacrificial for the removal of sin in Christian tradition, so when they look at Muslim
slaughtering on the odd half, they tried to interpret it in the same light.
That is one legitimate
source of misinformation which we cannot blame people for it is understandable, it's only for us to try as Muslims to clarify to them that it is not as they perceive it.
The other source is one of
a lack of information, where people don't have information about what Muslims are doing, and they form interpretations or form ideas about Muslims and their practice based on a lack of information.
The other aspect
of inadvertent misinformation is from the practice of Muslims themselves. were Muslims, in their own ignorance of Islamic teachings, then, involve themselves in practices which are
incorrect, which are recognized internationally as being able to correct and such people of other ethnic backgrounds, religious backgrounds, then judge Islam
Based on the practice of Muslims, again, this we cannot blame others because it is natural for people to judge a religion based on the practice of the people. And if it is common practice amongst these people to do this or to do that, then to say this is from the religion is reasonable and logical, though it may not be the case. So, in this area, I mean, we Muslims ourselves are to blame for this portion of misinformation. And the best that we can do is to clarify for them, that Islam is not what Muslims do, what what Muslims are supposed to do.
And then we clarify to them, what, in fact, are the actual teachings of Islam.
Now, what I intend to do this morning is just to look at some of the major areas of misinformation or mis interpretation, misunderstanding with regards to Islam.
And I will divide them into three basic areas, one of beliefs, one of religious practices, and the third of social practices.
Now, with regards to religious beliefs,
the central pillar of Islamic belief is in one God, Allah.
And
it has been perceived by others, that this God is a personal God of Muslims, as when we read in the scriptures about Jehovah, of the Jews, he is the personal God of the Jews.
From an Islamic perspective, of course, this is not the case, Allah is the God of creation, He is the Creator Sustainer of the whole universe, all that exists.
And he is the same God who is found in all religions.
However, the view of that one God, because the vast majority of religions in the world do believe in one God, irrespective of what their followers may practice.
Today,
if we search back to the origin of their beliefs are
we sift away the intermediaries, we will find a belief in one God, whether you're in South Africa, whether you're in Korea, whether you're in India here, or any other part of the world, the general belief of all peoples is in one God.
The difference from an Islamic perspective, not that that one God is a special god of Muslims. But that that one God is unique.
Unique when we speak of the oneness of God, we don't mean oneness, in the sense of he is one.
This glass of water is one because this is one glass of water, but there's another glass of water over there. There's no uniqueness in that oneness. When we speak of a law, God has been one, we're speaking about a unique oneness, meaning that whatever attributes God has, they are unique to himself, that these attributes are not shared by his creation,
in their completeness, in their perfection,
human beings love,
God loves, human beings, see, God sees but the seeing of human beings is not as God sees. God's seeing is
infinite, the past the present the future, what is hidden, what is open, whereas human beings are limited to understanding the present
with limited information about the past, virtually no information about the future,
and what is hidden from them, they cannot perceive. This is human
attributes. So from an Islamic perspective, God's attributes are unique.
And this is what distinguishes Islam, from all of the other religious expressions in the world today. That what is common to all of the other religious expression
It is that the attributes of God have been given to his creation in some way, shape or form.
No matter what system you look into, you will find that these attributes have been given either to human beings,
where you have God men, or a god man, or it is to
some of the creatures,
as may be held in a variety of other
religions, historically, we have found people worshipping either animal figures, or imaginary animal figures composed of a variety of animals, maybe with a mixture of human beings, etc, etc, what, but objects of worship in general, end up being
objects from God's creation.
What is usually raised as a question in this regard, is one.
What then do Muslims visualize, since everybody else was worshiping God visualizes God, they have images, either of human beings, animals, trees, or whatever.
They visualize God through these images, what then do Muslims do?
And we have to explain to them to clarify for them that we do not visualize God.
Because if we strive to visualize God, then we have visualized this creation, because we can only visualize what we have seen.
If I tell you about something you have never seen, having attributes and qualities you have never perceived in any way, shape or form. And you cannot visualize it. I mean, these are among the things of this world by telling you about a fruit in Sumatra,
which you have never tasted, I can only tell you, it's like a mango. And it looks like this. And it feels something like that. But can you actually really perceive of what this is no, until you taste it, you cannot, this is the nature of human beings, we cannot see our senses cannot perceive or understand what we haven't experienced.
So for a human being to try to visualize God.
And some people say, Okay, well, gods or spirits.
Then, when people say God is a spirit, something comes to mind.
That spirit is some kind of a smoky, hazy kind of a thing you know, there are people still are going to try to put something in their mind of what the Spirit looks like.
So in Islamic perspective, we don't even say God is a Spirit.
The spirits are created.
The human spirit is created by God.
It's not a part of God in human beings, which again, some people, you know, though they say, Yes, God is One unique and everything else. But there is a peace of God in you and me.
You know, that spirit is a part of God.
This is a common belief. And of course, once you open that door, for somebody to say that part of God's Spirit is inside you and inside me. There only remains for somebody to pop up and say, Well, guess what? Yes, it's true. God's Spirit part of it is in you and isn't mean but God's Spirit is more in me than you. Therefore, you should direct your worship towards me, because God's Spirit is concentrated in me, you know, you have this kind of philosophies evolving, which in courage, people towards the worship of human beings. Whereas, from the Islamic perspective, as I said, No, God is unique.
In the purest sense,
he does not have the attributes of human beings, when he is worshipped. He is worshipped by way of his attributes by our knowledge of his attributes, we worship Him, knowing that He is the Most Merciful. We worship Him, knowing that you know is whatever we think, whatever we have done,
we worship Him, knowing that he is forgiving, that he has control over all things. Since everything which takes place in the universe is by his permission, then our worship should be directed to him. So this is how we worship God without trying to visualize him in any way, shape, or form. So for us, the Kaaba
the
direction in which Muslims worship in Mecca is not an object of worship.
And it is not an intermediary through which we worship God because it is possible to go to Mecca and worship inside of the Kaaba. And nobody who has an idol who he worships to, will climb inside of his idol and start worshiping. Because if he does, then he is no longer worshiping his idol is somewhere else is going outside of the idol. So his worship those who are involved in worship through idols, they will always have to have that idol visualized in front of them they work through the idol is either in a picture or in the form of a statue or a human being or whatever. But nobody to be considered sacrilegious to go inside of the idol to worship. So from an Islamic perspective, the
Kaaba is only a direction of worship, it focuses the direction for the organization of prayer.
So pre people, and mosques are lined up in that direction all over the world, which would appear if one were to rise above the earth, as concentric circles from Mecca, over the rest of the earth. So it's only a direction of worship. In fact, the Kaaba
was broken down at one point in time, and the prophet may God's peace and blessings be upon him, informed us that in the future, it will be broken down again,
as one of the signs of the last day, an individual will come and Ethiopian will come and he will
smash it to be broken down. But worship will not cease,
worship will not cease, we do not have to have a picture of the Kaaba to worship.
So it is only for the organization of worship, and not an object of worship, or an intermediary through which we worship.
The other point concerning God in Islam, Allah
is that the term Allah,
we do not necessarily hold to be the name of God in the sense that all other names are illegitimate.
Allah is an Arabic term.
So the Semitic languages, the ancient among them, whether it's Aramaic, or Cyrillic, or Amharic, etc, these ancient Semitic languages all refer to God as a lot.
But if one finds, as I found, when I visited Korea some years back, that
the name which the Koreans had forgotten hand on him,
which was the name they use, before Christianity came there. And before even Buddhism arrived there,
it referred to God with attributes, very similar to the attributes as God is described in Islam,
then, we would have to say that, obviously, the prophet who would have been sent there, because from Islamic believes prophets were sent to all nations and tribes. So the Prophet, communicating the teachings of Islam, to those people would have communicated it in their own language. As the law said, in the core, it only sent prophets speaking the language of the people, because the duty of the Prophet is to convey.
So
that that's quite conceivably is a legitimate name for God.
The only thing that we reject is where these names contain other meanings, those other meanings we reject, but the pure meaning of God being the creator Sustainer of the universe was unique in his attributes, this
is God, a law in whatever language, you express it.
The other
point of misconception and this arises amongst Christians with regards to Muslims, because of that historic struggle, known as the Crusades
is that
Muslim Muslims reject Jesus.
And of course, when one goes to the Quran, the basic scripture of Islam
one finds otherwise. In fact, Jesus His name is mentioned more often in the Koran than Muhammad, may God's peace and blessings be on both of them.
It's not to say that Jesus has mentioned more times in the crime than Mohammed, may God's peace and blessings be upon them. But that by name, Jesus is mentioned more often.
In fact, we even have a chapter of the Quran named Maria, Mary, the mother of Jesus. So
it is not true that Muslims rejected Jesus, but they reject the concept of Jesus being God. This is what is rejecting the concept of Jesus being God, or the Son of God, Son of God,
which, in Christian theology, in essence means that Jesus was God.
God became man, and dwelt among them.
This is what is rejected by Muslims, but the virgin birth of Jesus, which today many Christian theologians amongst the Protestants are rejecting
many today who question and reject even Jesus's virgin birth.
for Muslims, it is a point of belief.
If a Muslim denies that Jesus was born from a virgin,
he or she who denies it denies Islam,
because they're denying the clear text of the Quran.
So it is a point of faith for Muslims to believe in the virgin birth of Jesus.
However,
virgin birth from an Islamic perspective, does not elevate Jesus to godhood does not give him any aspect of divinity, because birth is a quality of creation, not the Creator.
Because once you're talking about birth, whether it's virgin or otherwise, you're talking about creation, you're no longer talking about God. So virgin birth does not indicate divinity is not evidence for divinity, as a lie in the Quran, himself states. That's the example
of Jesus is that of Adam.
Jesus is like Adam,
Allah created them,
by the Command V. And they were,
that is the bottom line. And we look at Jesus's creation,
by the Virgin Mary, as being a completion of the modes by which human beings were created.
There are four basic modes, until the birth of Jesus, three existed.
Human beings created without fathers or mothers,
that was added,
the human being created without a mother.
That was Eve,
human beings created with fathers and mothers, that's humankind, and Jesus, a human being created without a father.
This is only a completion of the modes of creation, Alok and creators as he wishes.
The other misconception
concerning Islam in terms of its beliefs
is that Muslims
are
Arabs.
Of course, in India, this is not so much of a misconception because Muslims are living right next to the rest of the population. And they realize that these people converted
by but for much of the world's
Muslims were referred to as Turks at one point in time,
and in general today, as a result of media, propaganda, Muslims are looked at as Arabs. So many Westerners think that Islam is concentrated in the Arab countries.
However, we know that the largest Muslim country today
Is that of Indonesia, over 200 million Muslims, and they are not Arabs.
So, in fact, when you add up the Arabs with regards to the rest of the Muslims, there are only some 20 25% of the totality of Muslims.
So
Arab and Islam are not synonymous. And this is something which came also out of the era of the PLO,
activities where terrorism was being attributed to Muslims, Arab names were used Arabs, Islam, it became confused and deliberately confused, in many cases, and this impression was given.
So when people want to make cartoons, for example, about Muslims, they will use an Arab representative, you know, having a big hook to nose and, you know, gotras, the Saudis were usually this is how they will they want to depict Muslims. That's the general image that they will depict a typical Arab from Arabia
with regards to practices,
religious practices,
one of the common
expressions about Islam is that it was spread by the sword.
And I know this idea is revived in India to certain degree by certain elements
to give the impression that people became Muslims by force. However, the realities of India belie that.
Muslims ruled India for how many hundreds of years, and the vast majority of Indians are not Muslims, if they were putting people to the sword, unless, if they did not accept Islam, then you would not have found a non Muslim in India. But this was not the case. Muslims ruled Spain for some 700 years also.
And the vast majority of Spaniards did not become Muslims, many did. But the vast majority did not.
Where
populations became Muslims on mass. This was by the choice of the people. their lands were administrated by Muslims
in the expansion of Islam from Arabia, but people accepted Islam by choice. In the vast majority of cases, I'm not saying that we may not find somewhere somehow sometimes an instance in history where somebody forced somebody. But as a teaching of Islam, it is rejected a lot of states very clearly in the second chapter of the Quran, La Crosse in that there is no compulsion in religion, one cannot force anyone.
So it is against the fundamental teachings. If somebody did it, they did it in error.
The next most common misconception
is that Muslims have four wives,
polygamy, you know, especially for myself in the West, in the West, whenever people find out you're a Muslim, the first thing they ask you about is this four wives, you know why four wives?
This is the biggest issue.
First and foremost, we have to clarify, for those who have this idea that this is not something which Islam prescribes meaning that every Muslim must have four wives. And actually, you I think, nobody would think that. Yes, when I was in England, about six months ago, I met one English brother who accepted Islam, you know, and he told me that he had wanted to accept Islam sometime before.
But
he loved his wife. You see, as he said, You know, he said, I really love my wife, and I didn't want to marry anybody else. So he held back from accepting Islam thinking that once he became a Muslim, he had to have four wives.
So again, even though it might seem quite funny to us, people have this misconception because Muslims are presented as having four wives.
Now, what we have to point out for people is that having more than one wife is something which Islam did not invent.
Islam did not bring polygamy onto the world scene when it did not exist before. polygamy is a part of the history of mankind. You cannot
Find a corner of the earth in which the people have not practiced polygamy. And when I say polygamy actually, the correct term is really polygyny. Because polygamy means having one wife more than one wife, or more than one husband. Right. And really, from an Islamic perspective, it's only having more than one wife, having more than one husband is called polyandry. And this is something which rarely happened in the history of human beings, the vast majority of cases 99.99%. Wherever you go on the face of the earth, people have been practicing polygamy.
Even in the societies, I mean, the basis of Western civilization is Greece and Rome, Greco Roman culture. And in Greece and Rome, the law was monogamy. It's true, that was the law.
But in Greece, in Rome,
the majority of the population were slaves. The majority of the population were slaves, and the slave master had free access to any of the slave women he wanted. So though he was officially married to one,
he was practicing polygamy.
So even the so called monogamy in the so called monogamous societies that didn't exist in the past. And it doesn't exist today in the present in the West, which promotes itself as the upholders of monogamy. What we find is taken in America is that well over 65% of American males have had sexual relations outside of marriage, married people we're talking about.
So what we find is that the majority are practicing polygamy, but it's called extramarital relations, they have another name for it. And by calling it extramarital relations, then one is not held responsible. See,
what happens is that women, especially the feminists, the feminist element, they look at polygamy as being the worst thing that could ever happen to women.
And so, they lead the frontal attack on Islam, with this issue of polygamy, polygamy is the oppression of women.
But really, it is monogamy, that is the oppression of women.
Because monogamy is not enforced anywhere.
And men make the laws, this is reality. Human society, men have made the laws we have had a few women pop up here and there, Cleopatra, you know, Indira Gandhi, you know, others around the world popping up for minutes, but who really ran the show the men behind them, and men have made the laws.
So, this monogamy
which is instituted legally by males, is not to the advantage of females. Females think it is, but in fact, it is not. Because what it does is it legitimizes polygamy, unrestricted and without responsibility. Because a man in the West, for example, in America or in England, a man may have one wife and 10 mistresses
is legal. It's not a crime.
A wife and 10 mistresses,
he has no responsibility to these mysteries, to look after them to maintain them all. He does, so is free to have them at his leisure, it is only pleasure.
There is no responsibility involved. So it is in his favor, that he is not allowed to have more than one wife. Because that way the other woman cannot demand anything
because they're not his wife.
Whereas Islam recognizes the nature of human beings.
And that is to deal with the way in which a law has created human society
that human beings. When we look at the populations around the world,
women outnumber men with the exception
of China and India,
where, unfortunately, there has been systematic genocide against females.
Whether it is midwives being paid to kill
young girls at birth, which has been reported in India, and a large scale, or in China, where their people are only allowed to have one child, and everybody wants a male, the
females are aborted or whatever. So our change in demographics have taken place over the last decades. But all of the countries around the rest of the world, there is a surplus of females, a surplus of females resulting one from wars,
from wars, wars, which are continually happening, which involve death to males, violent crimes in society, mostly it is males killing males.
Even statistics in terms of births, the number of children that die in the process of birth, and in the early stages of life, it's concentrated amongst males. And females live longer than males. If you go around the world, and you add up all the people who are in their 90s, you will find that some 75 to 80% of them are females, females live longer than men. Some people say it's due to stress and other things. It's biological.
Allah has created them.
So Islam provided a means by which the surplus females and most vast majority of society could be reintegrated into society through legitimate marriage. Because females, as for the most part, have a desire to have relations with males. This is created in level as is created in males to have relationship with females. So either they're going to fulfill it legitimately, or it's going to be fulfilled illegitimately. This is why after World War Two, when a huge portion of the male population in Germany was destroyed, German parliamentarians debated introducing polygamy.
Unfortunately, the church was against it, strongly opposed to it. So it was never instituted. What is the result? In Germany today, prostitution is legal.
It is a legal profession. People are provided with work cards, and medical benefits, everything, it is considered a profession like any other profession, prostitution, something which is despised over the majority of the world looked at as being something evil, but there it has become legal.
So
what Islam provides is a means of dealing with social problems in society.
Through polygamy,
with its restrictions, it is not unrestricted polygamy in a way you find, for example, in America, you have a group known as the Mormons who used to practice unrestricted polygamy. They have a state called Utah, mostly they're concentrated there. And they used to practice on restricted polygamy, you know, until around the 30s or so, when the American government put pressure on them, saying that either you cut this out, or we'll take away your statehood.
Then the leaders of the community, the elders received revelation, because they believe their elders received revelation from God, that polygamy should now be cancelled. So it was canceled. Many of the followers question this, it seemed to be too coincidental that the American government was saying stop it, and all of a sudden you receive revelation Stop it. So they rejected this decision by the elders and they continue to practice polygamy unrestricted till today. So when I was in the states a couple of years back, you know, they had this individual on TV, they like to have these talk shows, etc. That one individual young man is about 26 and he had 36 wives.
26 years old, he has 36 wives, and they were interviewing buddies. But you know, when you look at really what is going on there is he taking care of these wives meaning he has the economic means to look after 36 women know what he is, he is like the central banker, you know, everybody is working and they turn their monies into him and he now redistributes these monies etc. You know, over the families.
I mean, he is not providing for these
Whereas from Islamic perspective, if a man has another wife, he must provide for her as he provides justly for his first wife.
This is an issue of responsibility. And this is why we have to point out to those who raise the specter of polygamy, that
Islam permits polygamy.
But wherever you go in the Muslim world,
even in the richest of countries, there is no more than about 15%. of Muslim population that practice polygamy.
It's always remained a minority, because it involves responsibility.
I mean, those people are practicing Islam properly. In polygamous circumstances, we'll make that very clear.
Though people from the outside tend to think of it Oh, he's got two wives, oh, you must be having a good time.
The point is that, when a man has one wife,
there comes along with that one wife, times of misunderstanding, times of stress, difficulty, etc.
When a man has two wives, that is doubled.
So though on one hand, people tend to look at it's double the fun,
double the pleasure, one has to look at the other side, there's double the economic responsibilities, double the headaches that come with any marriage, even in single marriage circumstances, is the reality. And so you'll find even men who have the economic means
deciding not to take a second wife, because they don't want the hassle. The difficulty, the trouble that comes along with it. One is enough.
So
we can see from that, that's, in the principle of polygamy, Islam, takes into account the social,
biological needs of human beings.
The third main point is that of arranged marriages as again, this issue of marriage tends to be focused on arranged marriages, Muslims are portrayed in this way, that the women, again are forced into marriage, because the biggest element which seems to be attacking Islam is from the feminist side. This is where issues of feminism used to arise. And this issue of arranged marriage, you know, tends to be a big issue for Western women, it is something abhorrent. And in their context, we can understand it, one looks at it from their context where a woman
when she reaches 17, or 18, she's expected to be out on her own, out of the house, looking after herself finding a job taking care of her own business, parents are no longer responsible for
they have no claim over her. In fact, many parents will push their kids out, get out.
We've done our job, no, you go take care of yourself, fend for yourself out there. So a woman who has gone out and fended for herself, looked after herself taking care of herself, for her parents to then come around and say we think you should marry so and so seems to be very logical, like, I'm on my own, I'm taking care of my life, etc, I can't choose what's best for me. So from that perspective, when they look in the Muslim world, this idea that marriages are arranged, I see this as some kind of oppression.
Of course, whenever one looks at principles outside of the context, we can always get these kinds of misunderstandings, because the idea from the Islamic perspective, is not that women are forced to marry certain individuals, according to Islamic law. And again, I say, according to Islamic law, because unfortunately, in the cultural practices of Muslims in different parts of the world, they do force their daughters to marry.
The forcing, may not necessarily be putting a gun to their heads, but it may be if you don't marry this man, I will cut you off from the family. The family will have nothing to do with you anymore. You're on your own, so on so on. So
this is psychological forcing.
So a woman has to think
she's forced, she has no choice.
And of course, from an Islamic perspective, this is abhorrent.
The
agreement of the daughter should be sought.
She should not be obliged to marry anyone she does.
not want to marry
I know
the concepts
of what is known as love marriages, meaning a woman falls in love with a man and wants to marry, then the families, you know, cry Oh, what is this totally unacceptable. But at the same time the same families are putting their daughters in school along with boys
growing up in classrooms along with boys, and then they're wondering why the daughters are falling in love with these boys.
If
one puts one's daughter in a circumstance where she could, natural instincts will lead her to falling in love with young men, then they have to be prepared to deal with these consequences. If a doctor comes and says, I want to marry this person, don't react by saying no, you cannot marry because you love this person. Love is a part of marriage. So if a doctor comes with that, one should instead say okay, let's see this person, because we are as parents supposed to help our daughters.
So we check the person, if the person is suitable from the point of view of religion, the religious person,
he is from a good family taking care of his family is known with a good reputation, the society etc, then we should encourage that marriage, not that we encourage love marriage, meaning that people should just go out and date and all these kinds of things. But
we encourage marriage, which is based on Islamic principles, and
to whatever degree to the degree meaning of why Prophet Muhammad wa sallam said, see the people before you marry them.
So that there be something in people's hearts
that marriage where there is no attraction
is becomes a bond of slavery.
It is not marriage anymore.
Love a law when he describes marriage. And the Quran describes it as a means by which he puts mawatha.
Love compassion
between the two.
So from the Islamic perspective, the permission of the doctor must be taken. If she has been previously married, the affair is more in her hands. And the Guardian
is there to confirm her choice as being the best
or advising her. Otherwise, if he is not.
In the case of the unmarried woman woman who has never been married before, then it is the duty of the family to help her find a husband to help her find out when because the principle is that Islam does not want the women to be going out looking for how to check out men and establish because they can easily be fooled. So the family takes an active role in the arranging of the marriage, finding somebody suitable, but then the permission of the daughter is to be given that she says okay,
she satisfied.
So, the arranged marriage is only to help
in the society. Because of the fact that marriage is not merely a man and woman getting together but families. It's a bonding of families.
The children are related back to both sides of the families. This is a bonding of families and the extended family in Islam is highly regarded.
The other area
and again, this is related to females is the area concerning divorce in Islam, as Islam is portrayed in the world that divorce is the right of men and it's really easy. The man just says your divorce, your Divorce, Divorce the woman's divorced.
Course The fact of the matter is quite different when one goes into Islamic law, that it is not with that kind of simplicity, that in fact, there are conditions he's not allowed to pronounce the words if his wife is in our menses. These conditions have to do with ensuring that the choice or this decision is one based on
clear
facts, not an emotion purely
because we know that females prior to their menses, just in the immediate period prior to it, they have what is known as PMS,
where their biological changes affect their psychology, the wife becomes more irritable, easily upset, etc, etc. And those periods are very common amongst women. So it may lead to misunderstanding, and then divorce is pronounced. So Islam says no, the woman is in her menses.
If a woman is in a period between menses in which one has had sexual relations with his wife then
cannot pronounce divorce, you're also
saying, Well, if you love her enough to have sexual relations with her, you're not ready to do.
So it should be in a period in which he doesn't have sexual relations with.
So even after the pronouncement of divorce, the divorce is not automatic, it doesn't take place, it means that the process of divorce begins. And that requires three monthly cycles for the woman have menses,
or if she doesn't have menses three months,
before the divorce becomes complete, so and in which that period they are supposed to continue to live together, the man is not allowed to send a woman out of her home, it's an opportunity for them to reconcile.
So the process is not that easy as it tends to be portrayed in the Western media.
Of course, in the end, it still is a pronouncement, a statement. Whereas in the West and Western media, Western practices for a man to get divorced, generally speaking, you have to get into court, you have to get lawyers, you have to, you know, take care of your wife or your ex wife, you have to claim this about her. And that's about her and she claims this about you, you have to wash your linen in public
is a public attack.
And after that, then you can settle down and make some kind of compromise, divide up the properties, etc, etc. So it is a drawn out process. So relative to Islam, it seems relatively simple because it's only a state.
But for us in Islam, we don't see that as a problem, because it is a contract. If people can
institute that contract by saying I do, why that contract cannot end by saying I don't.
Nothing is unreasonable illogical about it, it's the country.
Now,
the aspect of it being the rights of men, of course, this is not correct. It is primarily the rights of men. Yes, men, without any special circumstances have the right to pronounce divorce.
In their marriage.
Women don't have that right automatically. But if a woman at the time of marriage,
ask that it be put as a clause in her marriage, that she can pronounce divorce as their husband. He accepts that clause, then it becomes her right.
And if at any time during the marriage, the wife asked the husband, will you permit me to pronounce divorce? And he says, yes, you have the right to
then she can pronounce it was that it happened in the time
where a man gave his wife permission and she pronounced divorce on him. He came and complained to the Prophet. So I sell them.
You gave her the permission, he ratified it.
The other thing is that the woman does have the right to seek divorce
automatically through the legal system, that through the courts, she can seek divorce. And that form of divorce is known as cola.
This happened in the time of Prophet Muhammad, Allah. Of course, today.
Muslims have made the conditions for cola so difficult. You know that for a woman to seek divorce to this manner is virtually impossible. This is unfortunate, because if we look at what happened in Sahih Bukhari
what happened in Sahih Bukhari we recorded authentically recorded that a woman came to Prophet Mohammed Solomon said with regards to her husband,
I have no complaints about this man. His religion is religious, nor about his maintenance of me
He looks after me well,
but I just can't stand him.
I can't stand to look at him.
When I see him in the midst of people, I find them to be the most detestable.
This is what she felt in her hearts.
She could not to be with this man. It was threatening her religion, because it made her bad in her character to her husband. In some narrations mentioned that she felt to spit in his face
when he came to him,
and of course, this is evil. It's bad.
So Prophet Mohammed wa sallam asked her
if she was prepared to give back. What was given to her as Mahara, that he asked the first what was given, she informed me that it was an orchard. And he asked whether she was prepared to give it back, and some narrations and said that she said, I'll give back to.
And he said, No, no, just give back what was given to you.
And then he instructed her husband to facilitate the cola.
Meaning that
it's quite possible. And not to say this is the factory, this is the situation, but it's quite possible that she married him without seeing him.
This was a mistake. And this created this problem.
This is guidance to people from that perspective. Also, it's quite possible that there were things about him, which were hidden. And we have cases recorded authentically where problems are solved, and a woman came to him and
married him. When she came and removed their clothing. He saw a spot on her back discoloration in her skin.
And he sent her back to her family. She was divorced, because this was a
physical defects, which he wasn't informed about. So
hidden physical defects can be the basis of seeking divorce,
if it was hidden at the time of marriage. So every woman finds herself in a situation where the man did not inform her about certain things. She doesn't necessarily want to bring it to the public notice, well, this happened is this a nice that she can seek it through. And that Avenue is there for her to terminate her marriage.
The covering of women again, tends to be one of the areas of focus
against Islam, evidence that Muslims oppress their women, that they must cover themselves. Whereas from an Islamic perspective, that covering is for the protection of women.
It is for the protection of women, that woman be protected as a law says in the Quran, you need Allah hindlimb Angelababy hiner Leah rathna por la you then they should put their outer garments over themselves to be known and not harmed, that they be known in the society and not harmed. It is for their protection. In Western society, where women are exposed, they are under attack,
in a way unprecedented in history.
In 1991, the statistics of rape in America, rape in America where you can buy sex without any problems.
extramarital relations are widespread yet.
Rape had reached the 100,000 mark. Over 100,000 people were reportedly raped in America in 1991. And they estimate that the actual numbers were seven to 10 times that, because most rapes are not reported.
This is an epidemic of rape.
Women being molested in all of the workplaces, whether they join the armies in great numbers. Women are being molested in the army. You have the tail hook incidents, etc.
Women in the legal profession, in the medical profession throughout whatever fields they went into, they're being molested.
And we should note that when we're talking about rapes in America, we're not talking about women raping men.
You know, because of course, this is this does exist. But those 100,000 didn't involve any women raping men and maybe one or two.
So it is women who suffer.
The rise in rape, you can see can be charted.
And you will find a correlation between that rise in rape
and the unclosing of the Western female.
At the turn of the century,
Western females wore hijab,
they were covered from head to toe, even when they went swimming, they wore dresses.
But from that time till now, their clothing has been systematically removed.
Till now some are, you know, debating or arguing that they should be allowed to walk naked in the streets if they feel like it.
And there is, as I said, a direct correlation between the unclosing of the female and the attacks against Islam close the female to protect
because males biologically have been shown to be aroused far
more quickly than females, masters and Johnson's did extensive studies on male and female differences in their sexual habits and, and nature's and it's well documented.
So,
to protect the female,
they are covered.
And this extends a job extends beyond the clothing itself to actually a separation a general separation in society
that it does, it discourages the mixing of males and females and gathering social gatherings etc, etc.
for the protection of the female, although, to be fair, to some degree, this has been abused amongst me.
Where, for example,
in certain parts of the world,
females are not allowed to go to mosques.
The man will prevent females from going to the mosques.
Though Islam says otherwise.
don't prevent your women from going to the mosques, though their homes are better for them don't prevent them from going to the mosque. But today in certain parts of the world, women are not allowed to go to the mosque.
We find also that education
to large degrees were denied women in certain parts of the Muslim world
under the name of a job.
But again, Islam stresses education for both males and females. It is not limited to males because females will raise the next generation need to be educated, both islamically as well as academically. Muslim criminal law is another area in which Islam tends to be condemned.
A person is stoned to death for adultery, their hands are cut off for stealing these type of things.
Even a murderer is executed in the West, which decided that they would no longer kill murderers.
They then decided that everybody else was killing those who killed or wrong.
It is enough to point out that the main goal behind the application of Islamic law is deterrence
is deterrence is to discourage crime.
And as such, the penalty is severe.
It is a severe penalty.
But the main goal is the discouragement of crime and that penalty is not applied randomly. It must only be applied or it should only be applied where there is absolute evidence. In the West, a person may be convicted of murder
based on forensic evidence,
forensic evidence which could be fabricated
and Islam, forensic evidence is not enough.
The person may be jailed,
because the judge
believes that it is likely that this person did it, but they cannot be executed.
As the process elements said to
drop their produce the shoe box
where there is doubt where any doubts arise, then the Hadoop are not to be applied. These are the those laws of executing, taking the hand cutting off the head stoning to death.
And when we look at the laws concerning adultery, and fornication very severe, especially in a society, Western society where fornication is no longer considered to be a crime.
Right, it is removed as a crime from the law books, then for a country to be giving 100 lashes for somebody to find a kit, or starting to them them to death for adultery, it seems excessive, brutal.
But we have to know from an Islamic perspective that this requires four witnesses,
who sees these people in the UK.
And how many cases of this occurs? Very few. So the severity of the law is there as a warning, of course, in the case of women
who give birth to a child to get pregnant, and they're not married,
or their husband has been out of the country for one year, and all of a sudden they're pregnant, you know, that can be evidence in and of itself. Because from an Islamic perspective, the woman cannot claim a virgin birth, you recognize virgin birth only in the case of Jesus. So that is sufficient evidence for her to be punished.
But as I said, in general,
it remains as a deterrent in the society.
And as such, it is severe. But even the cutting off the hands of the thief, there are requirements, the amount stolen is not just any amount. If the thing which was stolen was public property, it's not applied. If it was something out in the open, people attempted, it's not applied, it was in a time of famine or difficulty, it is not applied. If it is from your own boss, he's not giving you our wages, etc. It does not apply. There are many circumstances not apply. It's only really applied for the professional thief,
the one who trains himself to pick your pockets, to crack to break in your safe to break into your home. This is really to deal with professional crime.
In closing issue concerning terrorism, because it's the big issue today, where terrorism is attributed to Islam,
we should understand one that this is an extension from the crusading period.
And it is a direct product of the activities of the PLO back in the 70s and early 80s, where airliners were being bombed, you know,
airports bombed, you know, bombs going off indiscriminately killing women and children, etc.
that the PLO do not represent Islam
should be very clear. The PLO do not represent Islam, there are Muslims amongst them to people with Muslim names. But there are also communists, and they're Christians. It is not limited to Muslims is not a Muslim organization,
an Islamic organization. So what it has done what it did,
its activities cannot be attributed back to Islam.
Islam does not condone terrorism, Prophet Muhammad wa sallam made specific instructions with regard to jihad,
that in the course of jihad, women and children, the old temples of the synagogues and the churches should not be destroyed, etc. There are specific rules given destroying orchards where people are going to eat food, etc. Destruction, just wanton destruction is not permitted from an Islamic perspective.
So, terrorism should not be attributed to Islam. It is incorrect to do so.
Muslims will fight.
Islam does legitimize fighting in defense of the faith.
This is something which
Muslims should not feel shy about. People fight for all kinds of reasons. They fight in defense of the property. They fight in defense of the nation.
Muslims fights in defense of the faith.
So I'll just stop now. reminding the audience that we said from the very beginning
that the misconceptions and misunderstandings about Islam and Muslims
can be attributed back to two basic sources.
One deliberate falsification of information about Islam and Muslims,
which is a product of the Crusader hangover
prevalence in the West, which controls the international media to a large degree,
and so their attitudes spill over into the newspapers throughout the world. That means that we're talking about media distortion, but having its roots in the Crusader attitudes of the past. And the other source, we said
also was deliberate distortion was that of the orientalist traditions were the centers of study for Muslim. The Muslim religion Muslim peoples developed amongst the missionaries for the purpose of attacking Islam. That deliberate distortions were made about Muslims in order to discredit them and in order to discredit the religion to facilitate their colonization of Muslim lands.
The other source we said was inadvertent where people misinterpret Muslim practices, reasonably misinterpret them,
or due to a lack of information about Muslims.
And furthermore,
due to the malpractice of Muslims, misinformation, due to what Muslims do,
which goes against the principles of Islam, and then what they do is attributed to Islam. And we said for this, we really have to tell them that Islam is not what people do what Muslims do, but what they should do.
The reality is that Islam invites
humankind, to morality,
the essence of Islamic teachings, our moral teachings, Prophet Mohammed, may God's peace and blessings be upon him and said in my boys to do tell me Mama Karima.
I was only sent to perfect for you the highest of moral character,
that all of the pillars and principles of Islam invites the adherence to morality
to what is known to be righteous and good throughout this world.
The essence of Islamic teachings are good moral principles, principles with regards to human beings and God with regards to human beings and other human beings and even regards with regards to human beings and the society around
Islam has very clear moral principles with regards to the conservation of nature and animals etc. Very strong opinions with regards to it based on the teachings of both the Quran and the Sunnah.
So,
it is important for Muslims, it is their responsibility to clarify these misconceptions, which are common among non Muslims throughout the world.
To put in the forefront, the essence of Islamic teachings, which are moral teachings seeking the moral good for human beings.
Xochimilco here, salam, alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
Now we would have the second part of today's session, that the question answer session,
Dr. A Birmingham, Bilal Philips for your usage, and all encompassing points presented.
On the topic of the day, Islam the misunderstood religion. We are aware that Dr. Bilal has presented just a few of the many, many points he could have presented. Now we would begin the question answer session.
May I briefly outline the rules? We expect to be observed during the question answer session so that we could derive more benefit for all of us present here in the limited time we have at our disposal.
questions asked should be on the topic. Islam the misunderstood religion only. Kindly state your question briefly and to the point.
Only one question at a time may be put forward to the speaker. For the second question, you would have to line at the back of the queue again.
two mics have been provided in the hall for the questions. One next to the stage on my right for the gents. The brothers may put forward the question there and one we have in the center aisle at the back for the ladies. The sisters may put forward the question at that mic.
You make
speak into the mic and put forward your question only when the mic is handed to you by our mic handling assistance. And you should speak directly into the mic only
written questions on slip papers which would be provided to you by the volunteers would be passed on through the volunteers to me on the stage. These questions would of course be given secondary preference if time permits and
we have
for the scope
kindly state your name and profession before putting forward a question to get a more appropriate level the answer from the speaker
we would allow only one question at a time on the mics alternately. First the ladies then the gents maybe have the first question from the sisters please.
We
would like to know which other points you could not cover short of time,
issues of child marriages.
Why Muslims abstain from alcohol, pork, etc.
The issues of
inheritance laws which give twice to males what females received.
There were two female witnesses. You know, with regards to two female witnesses equal to one male witness.
Muslim men are allowed to marry non Muslims, Muslim females are not allowed the sex amongst Muslims, prohibition of gambling and interest in Islam.
Islamic position with regards to democracy,
issues concerning abortion population control.
These are the main ones which was covered.
My name is Jerry shake, I am government servant working in olander. Radio.
Dr. Phil is we can understand if any non Muslim
misunderstood Islam due to lack of knowledge of Islam, or some according to you, deliberately,
dissemination of false information about Islam, it's understood, we can understand that, but some Muslims misunderstood Islam due to
not clear information regarding some aspects, just like divorce or family planning or interest, like these aspects. So due to that, some are Muslim scholars, that there is a difference of opinion among different Muslim scholars also, due to not clear or detailed information regarding some aspect. So some
non Muslims claims that we're not responsible
for or misunderstood for misunderstanding Islam. But Muslim scholars or Islamic itself is responsible for misunderstanding Islam. How we will clarify this?
Well, where there are differences of opinion among scholars,
the press
has the duty to find what is the majority opinion, at least if they go by the majority opinion, then we cannot blame them. But if they just go by the opinion, which they want, because what happens unfortunately, is that when issues arise, the press will seek out individuals who are known to have very controversial opinions, opinions, which may go against the mass of Muslims. So they will seek these individuals out and bring out their opinions to create, you know, it sells papers, because their goal is to sell papers. So there's this kind of, you could say bad journalism on their part, that their intent is selling papers are not conveying factual information to the people, because any
religion
if you go around looking, you can find differences of opinions. And if you are to take a minority opinion opinion held by a very small group, then you will always find distorted understandings of the general picture of Islam. So we say to the press, that you have a duty, just as when you are looking at your political issues, you know, and you're pulling the people, you don't pull one side, one community, you pull all sides so you get that picture an image of what the community and you look to see what is the majority of the community hold
Then this is what you should do.
Yes.
Not detailed, we're not
having detailed information about some aspects. That's the reason. So one can criticize Islam is incomplete religion?
No, I mean, the issue of difference of opinion difference of legal opinion, one cannot argue on the basis of it that Islam is incomplete. No, the implementation of Islam will always remain incomplete for Muslims.
There will always be a need for HD had for reasoning tries to apply Islam in our times, there will always be and in the future times, there will always be a need for HD had. So there and where there is HDR, there will be differences of opinion. So this is something a part of, of, of Islamic law, which is what gives it the flexibility that it has and gives it applicability today, even though it was revealed 1400 years ago, if you were to pick up any other legal system from 1400 years ago, British law, American law, European law, you tried to apply it today, it would be totally ludicrous because it's based on so many principles, which today are rejected by humankind.
Whereas Islamic the principles of Islamic law are universal 1400 years ago, they're applicable right till today. And the factor of which they had in that area which they had to apply and to deal with new circumstances that remains open. That door is not closed. So the application of Islam is not complete, but Islam itself as revealed religion is complete.
Yes, Mr. Can we have a question? Assalamu alaikum.
I'm Duran, I'm a student of Islamic studies from Xavier's college. I would like you to please clarify the misconception about
economically independent Muslim Muslim women in relation with the essential principles of Islam.
economically independent, Muslim women Well,
we can say that Islam established economic independence for Muslim women. In the final revelation itself, with the laws concerning inheritance,
property of women was confirmed, even with regards to their selves, that their names were not changed at the time of marriage, to confirm their individuality. The fact that they get married doesn't mean automatically, they're not included in the husband's family. So whatever it was, there is now becomes the husband's no Islamic law confirms their right to inherit and to own property from 1400 years ago, very important, because now the West, who tends to raise the specter of you know, Muslim women being denied economic rights, only gave the right to voting and economic right to own property and to sign business contracts in the late 1800s to early 1900s. In other words, Islam gave
that some 1400 years ago, so Muslim women from the time of Prophet had their own businesses, they work those businesses, though the general recommendation in terms of Islamic position with regards to women is that they be in the home. Still, for those who have the means that have the desire to work outside the home, while taking care of their home needs, or if they have some other arrangements, they are permitted to do so. So Islam gives the woman the right to set up her own business to run her own business to own the property of that business and to decide on how that business will be run, and how the monies will be spent herself. If her husband allows her to work
outside the home, what she earns is her own.
If she agrees or decides to give some to her husband, this is not a call from her. This is not an obligation on her part.
Assalamualaikum My name is Amira, I am a retired, I retired from a business establishment essentially,
I keep reading in a lot of audiobooks where it is mentioned that if you are in trouble, like if I'm involved in a court case, and there is a passage escription in the book, that if he reads so so so many times, at certain periods of the day or after certain setup, you might get
health as the hidden half from Allah or your decision may be changed in your favor, or a lot of things in life. Like
if things are going against my wishes, somebody some books says or some person says that you read soy sauce, they call it
Zika and was if
they
This practice of reading a specific Ayah as at a specific time for a specified number of repetitions, does it really change the decision of Allah? Or the predestination? Is it a good practice to follow by a Muslim? Or is it against the laws of tawheed? Will you please explain
the practice of
using the names of a law you can find books on the 99 names of a law in which each name is given certain qualities? You said so many times as you said, you know, your wife can't have a baby. So you recite this name. So many times you blow it on water, you drink the water, you you know, variety of different things and your prescriptions you should fast for so many days before you say the names and all kinds of things. This has no foundation in the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed Salim and his companions. Is this something which has been invented
where the names of Allah and other portions of the Quran have been turned into magical amulets,
magical formulas, attributing to them things, which Prophet Mohammed says lm did not. And when we are to look at any kind of prescription of this type, where somebody says, do this so many times and do that so many times, we have to ask, Where did this come from?
If the person said Rasulullah, saw Salah I'm talking,
you have to ask, Is this in Hadees? Can you show me this hadith? Give me the reference.
So you confirm that it is in fact from Prophet Mohammed Salim and if it's a doubtful practice, then you should confirm from somebody of knowledge, whether this hadith because if it's not inside Bukhari Muslim, whether the Hadith itself is authentic,
this is necessary because if we are going to embark on any act of worship,
and by reciting the Lord's names, this is an act of worship, or portions of the crime, these acts of worship. We should have the sanction of the Prophet Muhammad wa sallam on it. Because he did say, Man, I'm Rena Melissa minnow forward, whoever brings anything new in the religion which was not a part of it. It is rejected by Allah.
So if somebody says, Well, you know, my chef,
saw it in a dream.
have to say thank you, but no thanks.
Because when Allah revealed the verse, Allah Yama, acmella codina.
Today I have completed for you your religion.
When that verse was revealed,
Mr. Malik said regarding it,
whatever, was not religion, at that time, can never be religion.
Because a person who claims to bring something new in the religion is claiming either that that verse is not correct. The religion is not complete, I still have this thing to bring,
or the Prophet Muhammad wa sallam
didn't know as well as we do today. I mean, these are all statements and concepts which we have to say I was so far away from Islam. Because Prophet Muhammad SAW Selim was authentically reported to have said mataranka to share your caribou Camila La Ilaha Amar to combi, I have not left anything which will bring you closer to Allah, except that I have commanded you to do it.
So anybody who will try to bring these things, we have to reject them if they are not based on authentic traditions or Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad SAW a
good deal.
Last year, I graduated as a student of psychology. Basically, what I wanted to ask was, there are so many cases of child abuse, sexual and otherwise, what can you I mean, what is Islam do basically to protect that for women, you saying that your job protects them against sexual abuse against the eyes of men, men are men, they are not animals. I think men should be able to look after what they feel, I mean, given that they have higher levels of arousal, etc. But, I mean, what I mean, what does Islam do to protect children against such things?
Well, your question has two aspects to it. One, child abuse
Of course, Islam is very strongly against it. If it is sexual abuse, or it involves sodomy or rape, then the Islamic law is quite severe. To the point of death,
stomach punishments for sexual abuse of children is very severe.
On the other hand, in the case of women, and males in terms of the job protecting women, for males, it is not saying that men are animals,
you know, that they're all evil.
But it is recognizing the nature of human beings.
Men and women are attracted to each other by nature. And if a woman exposes more of her body, she will be more attracted to men. That is the nature, we're talking about sexual attraction, because for example, in the West,
when my wife works in Toronto, or in New York, wearing a job, people will look at her.
So Islam is that saying that she's covered. So it's no one will look at her, they will look at her. But the way in which they look at her is different from the way in which they are gonna look at a woman in a bikini, there's two different looks. So what Islam says it accepts that look, the way a person will look at a nun. Right?
But not the look, which is the sexual look, because the consequence of that, what's what you have to look at, what is the consequence, the consequence is that females will be harmed, because males are stronger than females. And if their desires are on fulfilled in a society, which promotes its products through females, they want to sell
a Corvette, or a Maserati or, you know, some very powerful sports sports car, they don't bother to put the statistics about the sports guy goes from zero to 106 seconds or whatever, they will put a woman lying in a bikini on top of the car. What is the message here? What is the message where the society promotes the sale of its products through the use of the female body, this is stirring up these feelings in the male population. So when a man goes out, and he buys a sports car, and he doesn't find a woman coming to lay on top of his car, they say, something wrong here. So this leads him to want to take it by force. So what Islam does in terms of the job, it will address the media.
Also, in the covering of the woman, it's also addressing should address the media to prevent the exploitation of females in the sale of goods in the society. So it's not about Of course, you know, I've met in the West, you know, women who will argue
she's wearing a micro miniskirt, you know, and a halter top, virtually naked. She's saying I am not putting on this clothes to attract men. I just like the fashion.
But the point is, when she puts it on and she looks in the mirror, what does she say to herself? Oh, you're looking good.
Looking good, too. Who is it? Because she wants females to look at her.
She is seeking the attraction of males. She may not see what comes along with that attraction. Men want to touch her or whatever these type of things. But that is the consequence. So Islam says do not do that. Cover yourself for the protection of yourself.
Yes, brother,
Salaam Alaikum.
I'm associated with a higher calling Guidance Center, located at Nepean sarode. My question is that Islam is said to be unique religion, but the Western media and the sectarianism among the Muslims have distorted the true image of Islam, confusing the Muslims and non Muslims alike. so kindly tell us what is the true image of Islam and how or where to find the truth? Islam from amongst the different images presented to us does that?
Well, in summary, I would say that the true image of Islam is found in the poor
and in the Sunnah,
as it was understood by the early generations of righteous Muslims. This is where the true image of Islam lies in terms of the fundamental principles of Islam. And where Muslim scholars have maintained that tradition till today, the true image can be found amongst them
But the basis of Islam is revelation. And this is where we should seek the answers. human reasoning has its place. It is not nullified in Islam, but it should never be given precedence over revelation. So where we have elements in the Muslim community, who seek to explain Islam, merely from a logical or intellectual point of view, which involves negating or rejecting portions of Revelation, we have to know that this is a deviation, a misunderstanding of Islam because our declaration of faith La ilaha illAllah Muhammad Rasulullah is a declaration of our acceptance of the Quran and the Sunnah as being the foundation for our lives. And of course, we say always that it is
the Quran and Sunnah as understood. By the early generations the companions of the Prophet Muhammad SAW Selim because people may still take the Quran and Sunnah and interpret it as they please.
Whereas we do have that restriction because prophet monster Solomon said, the best of generations is my generations, Pharaoh nasi corny. So Medina, Luna Hamza, Medina, Luna, whom he confirmed that those were the best of generations. So their understanding, being there at the time of Revelation is the best of understandings, and it should be given precedence over our own individual understandings till today.
Yes.
Listen, brother. My name is Ezra and I've just completed my graduation in microbiology. I would like to ask question again, regarding the nikana Ma, why do the woman have to put a special clause in the nijkamp nama for asking permission for divorce? And the men do not? Do they take women for granted that they have to give permission whether asked or not?
Okay? Why does Islam automatically give men the right and women have to get it by requests? Well, it is back again to the issues of the natures of males and females, that
in society, from time immemorial,
males have been making the decisions,
it is their historical role to be the leaders of society. And this, God has created them with the tools for it not to say that women have nothing to contribute, but in terms of decision making, primary decision making, this has been the biological and sociological position of males historically,
in terms of the decision for divorce, Islam looks at females as being
more emotional,
that that state of being more emotional is not necessarily a negative state, it is a positive state, for the rearing of children, that added emotion is very, very important.
This is why you find in general women tend to be much more
gentle and so on, so with the children than the men,
that there is a difference in that those basic natures and talking about in general. So the men
being less emotional, and less susceptible to biological changes which affect emotion, because again, we go back to the PMS situation for women, which can affect their own decisions, other biological changes into menopause and these type of biological changes which their bodies go through which do affect them psychologically.
On the basis of these as well as the qualities of leadership, which Allah has put in general, in men historically, that final decision initially is placed in the hands of the men, but the right of women with regards to it has not been neglected
or forgotten. Generally, most of us, following Islam selectively. Whatever we understood,
that also we are not falling
into zero interest
indigent status practice, let us who are sitting in the hall? What are the interests they are having? forgiven?
Start right now, this is a practical thing.
That is,
well, that's not really a question. But a statement, which I would, of course encourage with our brothers expression, that all of us who are involved in interest, give it up.
Give it up, so that we will not face that sin, that major sin, on the day of judgment has been so great, that ally and His Messenger have declared war on us has been so great, that Prophet Mohammed wa sallam compared saying that interest has over 70 branches, the simplest of which is equivalent to a man having sexual relations with his mother. I mean, putting an image in our minds that should cause us to think and to reject the interest systems which are being fostered on us. From the colonial era to today, we have to make a change. And every Muslim who is capable of making that change, who does make an effort to do so will be held accountable before Allah on the Day of
Judgment. It just is a major sin in Islam.
Yes.
My question is concerning the divorce. Suppose a man a Muslim man, he pronounces the first that goes to his wife, but he reconciles to her before the first monthly period, then in that case is the first divorce is complete.
If the man reconciles with his wife, before the third period, as you mentioned before the first period, it could be the first the second or the third be really critical, one is the third before the third period
comes or ends,
then that is considered a pronouncement of divorce, which is held in account.
It is not considered a completed divorce, but a pronouncement meaning that if he does it a second time, it becomes two pronouncements. But if he does it a third time, he cannot take his wife back without her marrying someone else in a legitimate marriage. Not a marriage of convenience, but in a legitimate marriage. And is widowed or divorced.
Yes.
My name is Rizwan, and I am into software programming in computers. Because the topic is misunderstanding Islam. I would like you to ask whether if someone says that the misconception regarding Islam will reduce to almost zero level when there is an actual elaborate system or in other words, victory and establishment, as was read in the beginning of the program that you will see people coming in the form of Islam when Allah gives you certain victory. The thing is, what is your opinion about this Muslim and how can it be achieved in the correct in this correct global Islamic status, so that these misunderstandings can be removed to its maximum level?