The Taliban, Sharia and Women's Leadership

abhab,
rather than an eraser i believe a trash can is the answer. anything useful (peace, tolerance, kindness etc...) in the koran can be found in the works of buddha, erasmus, hobbes, locke, jefferson, john lennon and big bird.

the "islamic world" is sorely in need of a renaissance/enlightenment. they are where the west was in the 1300s. they cannot even concieve of a non-theocratic government.

iraq is a perfect example: given the opportunity to create a fair, inclusive government, the iraqi founding fathers balked. their constitution begins with the curious boast that they “have honored the sons of adam.” it then declares that “islam is the official religion of the state and is a basic source of legislation” and that “no law may be enacted that contradicts the undisputed rules of islam.” they created a religious government…a theocracy. there was no one to stop them. separation of mosque and state is not even on their radar. any potential iraqi jefferson had been killed by iraqi politician/priests. iraqi founders see no incongruity in the fact that the constitution goes on to guarantee “the full religious rights for all individuals.” how is this possible for non-muslims, or the wrong kind of muslims, living in iraq? this religious version of “separate but equal” presents contradictions. for example, one “undisputed rule of islam” is that ex-muslims be killed (hadith 9:83:17), but this appears to violate the religious freedom clause of the constitution (article 2:2). the problem is that they take their religion very childishly, but very seriously. that is, they are literal fundamentalists and, as such, they think their scripture applies to you.

Daisy says:
"Women must enter this sphere of religious interpretation - in Pakistan or elsewhere - especially as we are the first to suffer from this oppression."

The Egyptian TV moderator Basma Wahba asked the Azhar Sheikh Mabrouk Attiyah on the Saudi Iqraa TV satellite channel on the Quran verse that allows men to marry four wives and ANY number of slaves and concubines. His reply was that Allah in His infinite wisdom had legislated this “law” and asked her indignantly: “How would you suggest we interpret this verse? Or maybe you wish for us to erase it with an eraser?”
This is the crux of the dilemma in modernizing Islam. You simply could not, because Muslims believe their book to be “the literal words of the Creator that is valid for all times and all places.”

771979,
i have a hard time squaring your frank acknowledgment of islamic atrocities ["carrying their weapons openly; killing innocent Muslims men, women and children; etc...] with your description of islam as promoting love peace and harmony. i'm all for love peace and harmony, and i think your approach is definitely the way to go. i wish it were more popular in iraq, afghanistan, pakistan, and israel/palestine.

please see my post about the "good verses" of islam:

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/salman_ahmad/2009/04/taliban_are_enemies_of_pakistan_and_islam.html
Posted by: walter-in-fallschurch | April 28, 2009 12:54 PM

i would post it here, but it had to be posted in three parts, i think because it was so long....

What are the social welfare, economic, financial, fiscal, foreign, defence, domestic and regional policies of Taliban? They never talk about these things but only of imposing Sharia Law without specifying method of its implementation.

So far, they are carrying their weapons openly; killing innocent Muslims men, women and children; spreading terrorism and violence and committing suicide bombing against innocent people; wearing dirty shalawars, kamaeezs, turbans and growing long beards and behaving like intimidating hordes thugs bullying people of Pakistan and defying law of the land.

That is the not the true message of Islam: using terrorism, violence, killing of the innocent and suicide bombing; destroying girls schools, stopping girls and women from educating themselves; denying women rights provided to them by Islam; whipping women for not wearing burqas and distorting Islam to achieve their political aims.

Islam adapts itself to changing time but the original spirit of Islamic injunctions remains unaffected. Islam preaches love, peace, harmony, equality, justice, righteousness, humility, intellectual development, creative thinking and not militancy as I have always said and will always say so. Prophet Mohammed (pubh) despite being persecuted abused and insulted never resorted to violence against his persecutors in Mecca and always said, “ I have been commanded only to perform’ dawah’ and permitted to do battle. He exhorted his followers to exercise patience against grievous injustice inflicted upon them. As we know that the Quran was revealed to Prophet (SAW) in instalments in twenty three years on different occasions and circumstances according to circumstances. Prophet Mohammed (SAW) used to tell the adherents to make your ’deen Islam’ easy to follow and practice and do no make it a burden to carry. It is the only way that the message of Islam can reach every corner of the globe and not by violence or through rigidity.

avp_65,
see my reply to your post on mr. rauf's comment thread.

The wise man in his brain hath said,
(after due consideration and citing lack of evidence)
that there probably is no Allah. Psalm 9-11-2001.

It is important to note that in Qur’an there is no concept of war of aggression and no concept of permissiveness of violence. Even where permission of war has been given it has been given to defend and protect rights of the oppressed and exploited, and not for achieving power. There is no verse in the Qur’an which permits violence for conquering territory or for achieving power. In fact war has been qualified in the Qur’an by the words fi’ sabilillah i.e. in the way of Allah. Thus a war can be fought, if at all necessary, not for any personal ambitions or for grabbing territory or not for personal animosity or for revenge but only in the way of Allah.

And what is the way of Allah? Allah’s way is of justice, Allah’s way is of protecting the rights of the poor and exploited. In fact the very first verse in the Qur’an permitting the use of violence reflects this very well. It says: “And what reason you have not to fight in the way of Allah, and of the weak among the men and the women and the children, who say: Our Lord, take us out of this town, whose people are oppressors, and grant us from Thee a friend, and grant us from Thee a helper.” (4:75) (emphasis added).
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~rtavakol/engineer/compassion.htm

HELP!!!!

i've been asking this question over and over (apologies to those who've seen it) on various threads, but still no answer:
are there verses you can quote from the koran (that were not later superseded by the ugly medina verses) and hadith that promote tolerance, fairness, equality, freedom of religion, self-determination etc...?
please, i would really like to know.

*Jihad against Violence*

*We do not need you to simply criticize Islam and Islamic law*

OK,no criticize.I wish good luck and success for your Jihad/Struggle against Violence(Man can scourge woman and Enslavement/Subjugation)

But,let me remind one thing;

What you say *We dont need you to criticize Islam* is a typical and traditional islamic mentality and logic that means *We dont want to discuss anything and we dont like dissident*
Yes,you are right.There is not Dissident tradition in islam/submission.
No Dissident means No Democracy,
No Dissident means No Human Rights...

Although everything,Have a good luck for your Struggle against Cult of Violence.