A quick Islamic lesson for the hypocritical secularist bigots

Javed Ahmad

 

Before I proceed, let us all agree that we are living in a Muslim majority secular system where Islam is practiced at the personal level (by some) and not at the State level. We also need to accept the fact that the people who are actively advocating for “Women Empowerment in Bangladesh” are not Jews, Christians, Hindus or pagans, but unlearned self-hating Muslims who have no knowledge of Islam and its Shariah nor do they care to know. Similarly, the people who are in the opposite camp protesting it are basically traditional madrassa trained Muslims who are also not so familiar with the Islamic references on this subject matter either. Their outburst is basically emotional and not on sound learned logic and reasoning deriving from the original Arabic sources; because they too do not know Arabic.

 

I find it easy to handle a complex topic in a table format comparing the issues side by side; this allows the reader to understand the related issues easily and clearly. Therefore, I will stick to the same method on this discussion as well.

 

Sl.#

Problem type

Secular situation

Islamic situation

1

Abduction or kidnap

Kidnapping and abduction is a common problem in any secular society and this has nothing to do with Islam. Criminals engage in this crime for different reasons – for ransom money, for political rivalry, for rape, torture and killing. A secular response is normally catching the criminals and bring them to trial or compromising with them if cannot be caught.

Since we no longer have an Islamic state anywhere in the world today, therefore it is hard for us to imagine what would be an Islamic response to this problem. We do find a referencing to kidnapping in the following record, “Narrated Sad that his father said: Abdur-Rahman bin Auf said to Suhaib, ‘Fear Allah and do not ascribe yourself to somebody other than your father.’ Suhaib replied, ‘I would not like to say it even if I were given large amounts of money, but I say I was kidnapped in my childhood.’ “  (Bukhari, Book #34, Hadith #422)”; but this does not help us much other than telling us that kidnapping used to happen even then. The Qur’an acknowledges the problem as follows, “Call to mind when ye were a small (band), despised through the land, and afraid that men might despoil and kidnap you; But He provided a safe asylum for you, strengthened you with His aid, and gave you Good things for sustenance: that ye might be grateful. (Al-Anfal, Chapter #8, Verse #26)”; indicates that living in unity under the Mercy of Allah in a Islamic state is a solution.

2

Rape and Adultery

It is an ongoing problem in all secular societies around the world and there is no solution. The crime (including incest) happens even in the so called developed societies. The law and enforcement agencies in the developed societies advise the victims of rape not to defend rather comply when attacked by a rapist to avoid further harm and injuries. And if a rapist gets caught the punishment is normally imprisonment. Adultery, which is basically having consensual sex, is not a crime in a secular society.

In an Islamic society Muslims women are discouraged in going out of home unless it becomes necessary. And when they do, it is recommended that they have a male company from among the close relatives for safety. Since all women in an Islamic society wears hijab (and often nikab) they do not draw any sexual attention from the on lookers, thus remains safe. Adultery on the other hand is a punishable offence in Islam, “The woman and the man guilty of adultery or fornication,- flog each of them with a hundred stripes: Let not compassion move you in their case, in a matter prescribed by Allah, if ye believe in Allah and the Last Day: and let a party of the Believers witness their punishment. (An-Noor, Chapter #24, Verse #2). Also see Al-Isra, Chapter #17, Verse #32, An-Noor, Chapter #24, Verse #3, Al-Mumtahana, Chapter #60, Verse #12.

3

Murder for dowry

Dowry is basically a cultural problem in Bangladesh. Often the parents of a daughter promises dowry at the time of marriage to the son-in-law and his family that they later fail to keep. As a result relationship strains and killing out of grief occurs. Our secular government is yet to come up with a solution to this ongoing problem.

There is no concept of dowry in Islam. In fact, in Islam, it is the other way around, the Muslim groom pays the bride an agreed upon amount as gift (Mohrana) at the time of marriage (See Al-Baqara, Chapter #2, Verse #229). But in our culture, hardly any man pays it. The bride does not pay anything. Every able male and female is encouraged to  marry in an Islamic society, “Narrated Uqba bin Amir: Allah’s Apostle said, “From among all the conditions which you have to fulfill, the conditions which make it legal for you to have sexual relations (i.e. the marriage contract) have the greatest right to be fulfilled.”  (Bukhari Book #50, Hadith #882).”

4

Acid attacks

This particular crime basically entered from our next door Indian culture where it is a dominant problem. Desire to hurt someone by throwing acid may come from jealousy and hate after failed relationship or desire for a relationship that did not materialize. Our secular government is yet to come up with a solution to this ongoing problem.

I have not seen any news of this crime from anywhere else in the world except for from India and Bangladesh. This crime is totally unknown in other societies. There is no possibility of this crime to happen in an Islamic society as the women folks wear hijab and nikab when they are out of home and there are no free mixing of males and females.

5

Even teasing

In a free mixing society of males and females it is a common occurrence. In many developed countries the women folks teases men jokingly or mockingly and is not considered a crime. There women folks take teasing as a complement from men instead of feeling insults. But our basically conservative but liberty seeking women folks here in Bangladesh are finding it hard to cope with.

It is impossible to tease a woman under a veil. Survey shows that women wearing hijab gets better treatment from men than the women who does not wear hijab. Hijab is compulsory for all Muslim women in Islam; see An-Noor, Chapter #24, Verse #31. Unfortunately, our seculr Muslim men never tell our women folks that they are committing crime by disobeying Allah direct command on hijab. Fortunately though, many Muslimah are now adopting veil willingly as they are becoming aware of it.

6

Suicide

Many of our women folks commit suicide for many different reasons; rape, teasing and acid attacks being some of those reasons. Normally, lower self esteem drives a person to consider suicides. Our secular government is yet to come up with a solution to this ongoing problem.

Suicide is self-murder, which is prohibited in Islam. See the following hadiths from Bukhari, Book #23, Hadith #445, Book #23, Hadith #446, Book #52, Hadith #297, Book #73, Hadith #126.

7

Prostitution

Prostitution is unavoidable in a secular free mixing society. As a result we find growth and existence of institution like brothels in all secular societies and people do not see anything wrong in it. This liberal sentiment gives growth to promiscuity in a society where prostitution becomes sex addictions leading to decline in married family lives.

Prostitution is forbidden in Islam. Therefore, there is no chance for development of brothels and promiscuity. See An-Noor, Chapter #24, Verse #33, and the Bukhari hadiths Book #34, Hadith #439, Book #34, Hadith #440, Book #36, Hadith #483, Book #63, Hadith #258, Book #63, Hadith #259, Book #63, Hadith #260.

8

Inheritance

In a secular society, it is necessary for women to have equal shares in inheritance as secular men do not care for secular women. They compete in education and jobs with men for equality. Today we have women in police, armed forces, and in every sector of our lives as our secular men do not want to take any responsibility for them. In a secular setting, an irresponsible man is the happiest man, while the irresponsible woman suffers the most.

Islam guarantees protection for women and have bestowed a lot of responsibilities on Muslim men. Therefore, in order to aid us in fulfilling our responsibilities Allah gave a complete plan for settlement of inheritance in the Qur’an. A complete chapter in the Qur’an has been dedicated in dealing with issues related to women. See An-Nisa, Chapter #4, Verse #11, Verse #12, Verse #176, Al-Fajr, Chapter #89, Verse #19. Also see Bukhari Book #4, Hadith #193, Book #37, Hadith #489, Book #51, Hadith #27 and more. Women in Islam are secured in the following manner:

  1. They are not required to work to support themselves as the husband takes the responsibility.
  2. She gets and fixed amount of pocket money from husband to spend for her on a regular basis.
  3. She gets to keep the gift (mohrana) amount she gets from her husband at the time of marriage.
  4. She inherits wealth and property both from her fathers and husbands end and gets to keep them all for herself.
  5. When her husband passes away, her son becomes responsible for her well being. If she has no son then the brother-in-law is responsible for her care taking and so on.

 

In other words, Muslim women in an Islamic state gets a free ride all her life in this world without taking any financial responsibility making them the happiest women in the world that could obviously be a matter of jealousy for secular women who does not have such a an arrangement.

9

Education

In a secular system worldly knowledge is more important than the spiritual or religious knowledge. Therefore, people growing up in this system spend a considerable amount of time in learning through a formalized institutions gradually specializing in a particular discipline to build a career for livelihood. The entire focus is on this temporal life only with no preparation for the after life as there is a lack of belief and faith.

Muslims (both male and female) give priority on spiritual and religious knowledge over the worldly knowledge in order to understand the meaning of transition to after life first. Once the foundation is laid and Islam is understood and practices are established, only then they venture for worldly pursuits. This helps the Muslims to stay focused on the core area in balancing their life and requirements (See Aal-e-Imran, Chapter #3, Verse #79). The primary focus of a Muslim is the life hereafter and not this temporal world. Islam is the only religion that offers a “book” (i.e., The Qur’am) that could be “studied” – “And We had not given them Scriptures which they could study, nor sent to them before you (O Muhammad -sm) any warner (Messenger).” (Saba, Chapter #34, Verse #44); no other religion have had this privilege. The books that they claim to be divine (meaning the Bible, Torah, etc) were all written and compiled after the departure of their prophets, which can be compared to the collection of hadiths we have. But Qur’an was compiled during the lifetime of the Prophet (s) in the manner we find it today.

10

Equal opportunity

Since there are no special privileges and rights for women in a secular system, they automatically get equal opportunity in every sector competing with men equally. Ironically, despite all the “equality” there are differences in income between men and women even in the developed societies.

In Islam, male and females are equal before the law, but men are one degree higher when it comes to responsibility as they play the role of the guardian of women; “…And women shall have rights similar to the rights against them, according to what is equitable; but men have a degree (of advantage) over them. And Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise.” (Al-Baqara, Chapter #2, Verse #228)

11

Divorce

Divorce is a common occurrence in a secular system where people grow up with a strong sense of self freedom and independence. Since they follow their own personal whims and desires they hardly care for other person’s feelings and well being. They believe in self gratification as the key to enjoyment in this life. There are some do’s and don’t in a secular society but it could change over time and whenever they like to change it.

Allah dislikes a divorce. He is more in favor of seeing a case peacefully settled than separating for good. In Islam, a Muslim man is required to continue to support the divorced woman until she remarries; “For divorced women Maintenance (should be provided) on a reasonable (scale). This is a duty on the righteous. (Al-Baqara, Chapter #2, Verse #241). Allah has purposely made re-unification difficult once a divorce becomes effective. He imposed hilla marriage (see Al-Baqara, Chapter #2, Verse #230). Similarly, divorcing is also not so easy; there are some steps that need to be followed before a divorce takes effect (see Al-Baqara, Chapter #2, Verse #229).

 

Conclusion: As far as my understanding goes, I see a plot of secular men to enslave secular women in the name of “freedom and empowerment”. Because I see no reason why would a woman in her right mind would prefer secular system over Islam. From the above discussion it is clear that Islam favors women more than men and protects them more that the secular system.

 

In an Islamic society, Muslim women live a dignified and honorable life under the strict principles of Islam where men are put in charge to look after their well being at all levels. They are exempted from many responsibilities as compared to men. Only the dodging secular minded so called Muslim men would try to avoid his duty and responsibility over their woman folks and would therefore advocate for a secular system where women gets constantly exploited by men in every sphere of their life. We know it because we are living in a secular system and there are plenty of such examples like that around us that are undeniable. Women of the world need to understand the merits and demerits of both the systems before choosing one. Good and sincere men and women should choose Islam.

 

In Bangladesh, where jobs are scarce and there are many qualified unemployed men, empowering women economically does not do any good. Islam advocates for economic empowerment of Muslims men so that they could take care of their women folks. A single male's income can supplement for many female members of a family.

 

I hope this short but precise paper would shed some light in the mind of an ignorantly arrogant secular Muslim. Majority of the Muslims folks (male and female alike) are born in secular Muslim homes where there is no practice of Islam whatsoever. As a result most of the so called Muslims grow up without any knowledge of Islam and with a strong belief in secularism imitating the West which is foreign to Islam. Often these Muslims go against their own religion thus committing serious sin and crime against their own souls – this is the ultimate tragedy of the Muslims (by name only) in Bangladesh. They hate themselves for being Muslims and are ashamed of Islam.

 

Any one who, after accepting faith in Allah, utters Unbelief,- except under compulsion, his heart remaining firm in Faith - but such as open their breast to Unbelief, on them is Wrath from Allah, and theirs will be a dreadful Penalty.  (An-Nahl, Chapter #16, Verse #106)

 

I do not see any reason why would anyone carry a Muslim name and call one a Muslim and disobey Islamic principles. The way I see it, if anyone is uncomfortable with Islam then he or she should consider changing the religion or become an atheist. That way the rest of the world would know their true identities. They have a choice and no one is going to stop them from changing their label. Islam is such a magnanimous religion that it does not impose the way of life on anyone, thus declares –

 

Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error: whoever rejects evil and believes in Allah hath grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold, that never breaks. And Allah heareth and knoweth all things.  (Al-Baqara, Chapter #2, Verse #256)

 

So why not be true to yourself and true to your society? Declare to the world you are truly are! Because as a Muslim you are left with only one choice, promote and establish Islam as a way of life from personal to the state level; there are no alternatives. Do not fight against Islam being a Muslim; because that is hypocrisy and bigotry.

 

References:

 

Rise of social ills in absence of Islam: http://www.bangladesh-web.com/view.php?hidRecord=318635

 

Female schoolteacher abducted in Tangail: http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=182261

 

Rapist jailed for 14 years: http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=182263

 

Two commit suicide: http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=182267

 

Stalker jailed for 6 months: http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=182268

 

Veil ban: The unveiling of France's bigotry: http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=182151

 

Inheritance law in Islam and women: https://javedahmad.tripod.com/islam/Javed.htm

 

Couple commit 'suicide': http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=182307

 

8-year-old rape victim dies without treatment: http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=182304

 

'Work unitedly to implement women policy': http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=182369

 

Florida pastor Terry Jones burns Koran after mock trial: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/304937#ixzz1K6U1ioUv

 

Afghan protest over 'burnt Koran': http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8324869.stm

 

US soldiers burn Quran then have fun shooting live rounds at reacting prisoners: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8Q3dOWomVI

 

Teachings of Krishna to help build secular Bangladesh: http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=155586

 

The scandal of unpunished sexual assault within the US army: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/oct/25/usa.gender

 

More Than 25% Female Army Officers Got Raped By Fellow American Soldiers: http://pakistankakhudahafiz.wordpress.com/2010/04/01/more-than-25-female-army-officers-got-raped-by-fellow-american-soldiers/

 

Many US Female Army Officers Were Sexually Assaulted: http://www.injuredworkers4change.org/many-us-female-army-officers-were-sexually-assaulted.cfm

 

Central Europe Is Becoming The Terrifying Incest Capital Of The World: http://jezebel.com/#!5047786/central-europe-is-becoming-the-terrifying-incest-capital-of-the-world

 

Incest: an age-old taboo: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6424337.stm

 

Horrific details emerge in German incest case: http://www.mail.com/int/news/europe/202124-horrific-details-emerge-german-incest-case.html

 

Photos Show Rape of Iraqi Women by US Occupation Forces: http://www.aztlan.net/iraqi_women_raped.htm

 

Take action against bigots: http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=180464

 

Scandalous Liaisons: http://glo.msn.com/relationships/scandalous-liaisons-1534226.story/?GT1=49006

 

Human Trafficking and Prostitution: http://www.prostitutionresearch.com/faq/000175.html

 

Prostitution Law - Guide to Prostitution Law: http://www.hg.org/prostitution-law.html

 

How advertisers create body anxieties women didn't know they had, and then sell them the solution: http://www.slate.com/id/2291205/?gt1=38001