Polygamy in Context

Over the centuries, Muslim scholars and men have accepted polygamy, the practice of having multiple wives, but the Qur’anic permission and the context have been lost. In the Qur’an, polygamy is never discussed in terms of men’s rights, but instead in terms of the needs of women and children at the time.

In fact, it is mentioned in verses 4:3, 4:127 and 4:129 of the fourth chapter of the Qur’an, notably entitled An-Nisa' – the Arabic word for women. Much of this chapter was revealed in the fourth year of migration of the fledging Muslim community from Mecca to Medina, circa 627 CE, and marks the start of the Muslim calendar. It builds on the preceding chapter regarding the Battle of Uhud between early Muslims and the inhabitants of Mecca in which many Muslim men were killed, leaving widows and orphans.

This is the context which is crucial to any discussion of polygamy in Islam, as permission was granted to men under these specific conditions. Polygamy was allowed in verse 4:3 because of God’s concern for the welfare of women and orphans who were left without husbands and fathers who died fighting for the Prophet and for Islam.

It is a verse about compassion towards women and their children; it is not about men or their sexuality. It was an instruction to a patriarchal society that these women and their children needed protection and maintenance, which at the time was most effectively achieved through marriage.

When it came to orphans, God suggested, “If you fear that you cannot do justice to orphans, marry such women as seem good to you, two, or three or four, but if you fear that you will not do justice then marry only one….” This solution was to provide some protection for vulnerable women and children in a patriarchal society, so long as all wives received equal, fair treatment.

But in verse 129, God suggested that the possibility for equal, faire treatment is unlikely: “And it will not be within your power to treat your wives with equal fairness, however much you may desire it…”

Incredibly, verse 129 is largely ignored and verse 3 is used by some Muslims to justify plural marriages for men, as if the verses are about men’s sexual needs rather than about the welfare of widows and orphans.

Scholars, such as the 19th century Egyptian jurist Muhammad Abduh and the contemporary Indian Islamic scholar Asghar Ali Engineer, reject the argument that men’s sexual lust should be satisfied by multiple wives, or indeed that men’s and women’s rights to sexual satisfaction differ.

Yet some men use the example of the Prophet’s multiple wives as justification for their own polygamy. But Muhammad had only one wife for 25 years. Only after her death did he enter into concurrent marriages, most of which were political moves to cement relationships with other tribes.

However, one powerful hadith (saying of the Prophet) describes the reaction of the Prophet on hearing that his cousin and son-in-law, Ali – married to his daughter Fatima – was considering taking a second wife. The Prophet was so angered he announced publicly that if Ali wanted a second wife, he would have to divorce Fatima first.

Over the centuries, the Qur’an has been almost exclusively interpreted by male scholars, and though many have been well-meaning and learned, they have reflected their own times, cultures and assumptions.

Fortunately today many scholars, such as Engineer, conclude that “polygamy was contextual, and monogamy is the norm” for our times. Some countries, such as Tunisia, have based their laws on this understanding.

The Qur’an’s message is eternal, but understandably the context has changed, and there are examples of the evolutionary teachings of the Qur’an.

For example, slavery existed for a long time within Muslim communities. It is true that most slaves were those taken in war, but slaves they still were. The Qur’an teaches kind behaviour towards slaves and encouraged freeing slaves as an act of charity, but did not eradicate slavery. Yet today, no Muslim would justify slavery.

Muslims, both men and women, must understand the restricted contextual permission for polygamy. It is not a God-given right for Muslim men and in today’s context it no longer applies as a means of protecting women or providing for them.


*Alia Hogben is Executive Director of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women (CCMW). This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

Brother Ali: "Islam Made Me Hip-Hop Star"

Brother Ali has a very interesting explanation for what changed him from an angry, struggling teen growing in the Midwest to a famed Hip-Hop star who tours the world with his music.

"There have been a lot of life-changing moments," Brother Ali told IslamOnline.net in an exclusive story.

"Some of the big ones were becoming involved with Islam and being involved with music."

He was born Jason Newman, with the rare genetic condition of Albinism, which is also accompanied by visual difficulties.

His childhood was marked by cruelty and exclusion by his white classmates.

"I was kind of an outcast as a kid," he recalls, adding he felt most at home amongst African Americans.

"When I come across white people and hear all the racism and the white supremacy, it makes me really confused and angry and upset."

But Ali, 33, says that Islam, which he embraced at the age of 15, helped him go through his difficult times, from parting ways with his wife of 10 years, to becoming homeless and trying to secure custody of his son.

"Islam helped me with a lot of those things. It helped me understand myself and the world better."

For Brother Ali, who has recently wrapped up a world tour for his fifth album "Us," it was not an easy journey to rise and solidify his place amongst the Hip Hop elite.

He says it is Islam and Prophet Muhammad that led him from being the angry, struggling teen growing in the Midwest to the famed Hip-Hop star who tours the world with his music.

"One of the main messages through out the Qu’ran and from the traditions of prophet Mohamed is the idea of excellence… that everything Muslims set out to do, they want to perfect it and they want to be excellent," he notes.

"Our prophet is a walking example of what human excellence can be and all the potentials that is inside of a human being. And I am really inspired by that."

Ali believes that with his music and his Islam, he is on a mission.

"I believe this is what I was born to do and it is my job and my goal as a Muslim to be the best that I could be."

His songs tackle everything from his life struggles, to race relations in America, to wars.

In his last album, he presented a song about the war.

"We as Americans are being set to stick to blind generic patriotism. I made the song about this feeling, about the underside of America that we do not really hear about a lot," he explains.

"Because of this song I lost a tour I was looking for. When we were in Australia, the Department Of Homeland Security froze our entire account. And I suspect that this song and the controversy behind it was behind all this."

But Ali, now a father of Soulaila, 2, and Fahim 9, is not ready to compromise on what he believes in.

"What is really important when you apply Islam to your life is not to pretend to play a character.

"That’s why in my music I try to be honest and express myself in the most honest way."

Read more:http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1235340171658&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout#ixzz0hVt8d4Qg

Hadith: Good Deeds rewarded by God

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Who among you has fasted today?...Who among you joined in a funeral procession today?...Who among you fed a poor person today?...Who among you visited an invalid today?...Anyone who combines (these good deeds) will certainly enter Paradise."

Sahih Muslim, Hadith 505

The Prophet also said: "Every act of goodness is (a form of) charity."

Sahih Muslim, Hadith 496


Photo Source: Islamic Garden.

Qur'an: Understanding and Meanings

Qur'an is supposed to be read with understanding and there are quite a few passages that exhorts us to read and understand Qur'an:

[Will they not reflect upon the Qur'an? If it had been from other than Allah they would have found therein many contradictions] (An-Nisaa' 4:82) and [Will they not meditate on the Qur'an, or are there locks on their hearts?](Muhammad 47:24).

[(This is) a Book that We have sent down to you, full of blessing, that they may reflect upon its signs, and that men of understanding may remember] (Saad 38:29).

There was this Interesting article in The Guardian by Usama Hasan:

When I first participated in electronic discussions about religion as an undergraduate about 20 years ago, I began all my posts with, "In the name of God." This was the standard translation of bismillah, a phrase that prefixes all 114 chapters of the Qur'an bar one, and by which Muslims start all kinds of daily activities, including work, eating, travelling and making love. (Queen employed the phrase in their Bohemian Rhapsody, of course.) One of the other students responded with, "In the name of myself, since I can't speak for God … " Whilst other colleagues asked him to apologise, fearing that another humourless Muslim would be offended and disengage, I was creased with laughter. But I took his point, and ever since that exchange I have tended to use the prayer-like "With the name of God" for my own correspondence, reserving "In the name of God" for translations of the Qur'an. This illustrates the difficulty of dealing with nuanced religious texts.

The 9th-century inquisition launched by the otherwise-enlightened rationalist caliphs at Baghdad against traditionalist theologians hinged on the nature of the Qur'an: the traditionalists maintained that the Arabic Qur'an was the literal, uncreated word of God, whilst the rationalists argued that it was created, fearing that a pre-eternal Qur'an was an Islamic equivalent of the divine Jesus of the trinity. The later Ash'ari school attempted a compromise by saying that the word of God was manifested at different levels, including those of the Arabic Qur'an as well as its meta-lingual meaning known to God within himself, a sort of divine "mentalese", to borrow a term popularised by Stephen Pinker and other modern linguists.

Language is a vehicle of meanings, and one of the arguments cited to support the disputed existence of mentalese, in which we allegedly think, is precisely the possibility of translation between languages.

The success of Arabic as the lingua franca of the Islamic world meant that the first complete translation of the Qur'an into Persian came over a millennium after the Islamisation of Persia and was by Shah Waliullah of Delhi (1703-1762), two of whose sons completed the first Urdu translation. Some of Shah Waliullah's narrow-minded contemporaries branded him a heretic for daring to translate the Qur'an: they said he was claiming to know all its meanings in order to do this.

Good translations necessarily try to incorporate insights from the centuries of tafsir, or Qur'an-commentary. Tafsir is divided into four broad categories: (i) traditional, on the basis of authority; (ii) rational, often with strong linguistic analysis; (iii) legal, devoted to jurisprudence; (iv) mystical, devoted to inner and spiritual meanings.

The most popular English translations today are the 20th-century efforts of Abdullah Yusuf Ali (a very British Indian), Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall (a pro-Ottoman Englishman) and Muhammad Asad (born Leopold Weiss, an Austrian Jew). Ali and Asad both provide brief commentaries as well, which together cover all four categories given above to some extent.

As an example, take the story about an Israelite fishing village tested by its local fish only coming near on the Sabbath (2:65, 5:60, 7:163-167). Some of the villagers fished indirectly on the Sabbath and thus mocked the law by sticking to its letter whilst violating its spirit. They were punished by "becoming apes and pigs". The traditional commentary is that they were literally transformed into lower animals. However, Asad follows the rationalist commentators and has them becoming like apes and pigs, ie losing their intellectual capacities and becoming dominated by greed.

There is a real need for mystical and spiritual commentaries to be made more widely-available, especially as contemporary Islam is often dominated by dry, legalistic interpretations. A master of all four types of commentary was the 19th-century chief scholar of Baghdad, al-Alusi, who wrote the voluminous tafsir called Ruh al-Ma'ani (The Spirit of the Meanings). He often gives the spiritual commentary after covering the more obvious explanations. For example, Moses asks his followers to enter the Holy Land, but they lack the ambition and courage to fight the tyrants who rule there (5:20-26). For Alusi, the deepest meaning of this passage is that we are supposed to discover the holiest precincts of our hearts, but most of us are too lazy to combat the tyrannical qualities, such as selfishness and envy, that prevent us from doing so.

Finally, I agree with Salem Azzam's statement at the World of Islam Festival in 1976, "The best translation of the Qur'an is in the language of action." Thus, a short chapter such as Neighbourly Needs (107) would be translated through faith and care for orphans and the needy, favouring sincerity over religious ostentation and generosity over miserliness.

Abercrombie & Fitch says 'No Hijab Please'

Well, another fashion chain in the USA seems to have problem with Hijabi girls working in their store. I wonder if they have the courage to put up a sign saying Hijabis not allowed to shop in store. I suppose they should have a problem with girls wearing too many clothes. The company motto is to have least clothed models for adverts.

Anyway, the article on Hijabophobia is here and here.

No bus for Hijabi Girls

School bus drivers have been accused of racism after failing to stop for pupils wearing Muslim hijabs.

Young girls have claimed they are being bullied on board for dressing in the traditional veil which covers the head.

To avoid trouble, ‘cowardly’ drivers are allegedly ignoring pupils who wait at bus stops wearing the headscarf.

Following a police investigation, officers will now be drafted on to board the buses to protect the students from ‘racist’ taunts of other passengers.

The problems centre on Merseytravel and pupils attending West Derby's Holly Lodge Girls' College in Merseyside, where 10 per cent of the 11,274 11 to 18-year-old students are from ethnic minorities.

Members of the Muslim community said the issue was a long-running one.

Amina Ismail, who works at Liverpool John Moores University, was approached by the victims.

She said: ‘They said people driving past were being abusive because they were wearing the hijab.’

Ms Ismail said bus drivers refusing to stop were ‘cowardly’ and that ‘they should not push their own personal prejudices on young people’.

She urged people to ‘see past the scarf or skin colour and look beyond this’.

Holly Lodge has previously won praise from Ofsted for its ‘promotion of equality and diversity’.

Headteacher Julia Tinsley said: ‘There have been a small number of cases where ignorant people have directed racist comments at our pupils while they are on buses.

‘It is completely unacceptable and very upsetting for those involved and we have provided support to those affected.

‘We welcome the assistance from Merseyside police in tackling the mindless minority who think it is acceptable to make racist comments.’

Merseyside police has produced an action plan to prevent any further incidents, including looking at how victims can pass on anonymous information.

A spokesman said the force was committed to tackling racism, adding: ‘We will be putting police community support officers on public buses during the periods these incidents are happening to reassure passengers and deter would-be offenders.

‘CCTV will be routinely checked following allegations of any criminal offence.’

However, Colin Carr, regional adviser for Unite - whose members include bus drivers - said he would be surprised if they were failing to stop.

‘The union would condemn this kind of action, and equality and diversity is something we promote across the spectrum,’ he said.

Merseytravel said it condemned ‘all acts of racism’ and, after probing the claims, has ‘now drawn up an action plan to deal with and prevent any further incidents’.

Wilders goes for headscarf ban in the Hague

A ban on headscarves for city council workers and in all institutions and clubs which get local authority money will be the most important point in the PVV´s negotiations to join governing coalitions in Almere and the Hague, says party leader Geert Wilders.

Speaking to RTL news, Wilders said the ban would be central to talks to form new local authority executives in the only two cities where the party is contesting the March 3 local elections.

The ban will apply to 'all council offices and all other institutions and clubs which get even one cent of council money,' he said.

The PVV is tipped to emerge as the biggest party in Almere and second biggest in the Hague.

Speech

Wilders brought up the ban again in a speech to supporters in Almere, where he entered the room to the Rocky theme tune Eye of the Tiger.

The ban will not apply to other religious items such as Christian crosses and Jewish skull caps because these are symbols of our own Dutch culture, Wilders said in his speech, receiving a standing ovation from the crowd.

The speech began with a 'lengthy tirade' against the 'arrogant Labour party', according to the Volkskrant report of the meeting. 'If you translate the PvdA's Arabic language election brochures they say 'bring your family here. You get benefits, we pay for everything', the Volkskrant quoted the PVV leader as saying.

'Almere must become the safest city in the Netherlands,' he said. 'There will be an end to subsidies for Turkish macramé and Arabic finger painting. Not just the Netherlands but all of Europe will look to Almere.'

Discrimination

Wilders is currently facing charges of discrimination and inciting hatred against non western immigrants and Muslims. He always maintains he is opposed to Islam, not Muslims themselves.

Earlier this week, Wilders told the Telegraaf the PVV´s commitment to maintaining the current retirement age of 65 would be crucial in negotiations to form a new national government, following the collapse of the CDA, Labour and ChristenUnie alliance last weekend.

Most parties have already ruled out forming a coalition with Wilders. Only the Christian Democrats and right wing Liberals VVD have not done so.

Opinion polls make it likely that four parties will be needed to form a new government after the June 9 vote.

© DutchNews.nl

Mr Wilders has previously demanded in parliament that women who wear hijab should be subject to a 'head rag tax'.

Review: My Name is Khan

In one of the most highly anticipated releases of recent times the King Khan of Bollywood returns to play Rizwan Khan an Indian immigrant to the US. Rizwan has Aspergers syndrome, a mild form of Autism, he can 'repair almost anything' he believes ardently in the advice his mother gave him: 'in this world there are either good people or bad people' Rizwan strives to be a good person and see good in others and spread love and good will. Indeed this is all very heart warming. Rizwan is able to win over the woman of his dreams, love her child as his own, charm his neighbours, impart knowledge to those who think him 'slow', demonstrate good citizeniship and pride in his adopted country.

However the catastrophe of 911 is followed by tragedy in the lives of Khan and his family. Leading him to undertake a journey to explain his faith and to prove to the world and the the US president that he is not terrorist and to win back the love of his life.

I liked many things about his movie it was truly refreshing to see Muslim protaganists just being fairly normal Muslims. Rizwan tries hard to be good son, brother, husband, father and a good practising Muslim too.

His sister-in-law played by Sonia Jehan is a hijab wearing psychologist, educated, articulate and devout, when she describes her hijab as not simply a cover but part of her existence I could have cheered! Nice quotes from the Quran are imparted to the audience. The scene where Rizwan prays publicly and proudly at a rest stop was truly soul-stirring.

Similarly the scenes where Rizwan is met with suspicion and the reactions of Americans towards him were sometimes funny sometimes chilling but all too realistic.

The way in which Rizwan manages to transit through hurricane hit Georgia and help the people there, reminded me of the true story of a brother named 'Zeitoun' in New Orleans I wondered if the film makers had been inspired by his amazing story.

The chemistry between Kajol and SRK is as crackling as ever. SRK certainly pours his heart and soul into this character and makes him both authentic in his portrayal and likeable in his innocence.

Overall the message here was that Muslims must be good examples of their good faith, certainly a message I agree with.

There were some things I didnt like about the film: the way in which Rizwan walks into a seemingly normal local mosque and they are preaching violence and hate.

The fact that he marries a Hindu girl, it is wrong and yes i know it happens, but the love story between a disabled man who loves a single mother and her son is beautiful, so I would allow them this artisitic licence. And we all know SRK is happily married to his Hindu wife I felt as if he he needed to reflect this in a sort of Hindu-Muslim unity plug.

The scenes where Rizwan was kept in detention could have been more suitably harrowing and realistic. However I guess for a family movie this was slightly glossed over.

The way in which African-Americans were portrayed was cetainly stereotypical, and made me rather uncomfortable, really they should have dont a better job with those characters and scenes.

Karan Johar says he was bored with Bollywood so he set out to make a different sort of film exploring more serious subject matter. To an extent he suceeds however he still manages to dot the movie with the melodramatic and often unbelievable kitsch of Bollywwod escapism. But for many that is what makes them love Bollywood! For others it can be cringeworthy.

Many will insist this movie has a pro-secular humanist message however I found it to be simply about love and faith.

Jewish settler throws wine at a Palestinian woman in Hebron in the West Bank.

A Jewish settler throws wine at a Palestinian woman in Hebron in the West Bank. Holy to both Jews and Muslims, the city is often the scene of violence. Castelnuovo captured the attack while photographing a celebration of the Jewish festival of Purim

Rina Castelnuovo/Reportage by Getty

Source: Times Online

Guest post: I should be allowed to read what I have to sign!

I was intrigued by the experience of Ayesha Nasir who writes about how she and many other women of her aquaintance did not read their Islamic marriage contracts.Islam gives women full rights to negotiate many terms in the marriage contracts and even demand the amount of 'mehr' they wish to receive. However this almost never happens in the marriages of the South Asian Muslim community. Negotiation, if any, is restricted to fathers, brothers and uncles meanwhile brides are almost never given the opportunity to read their own marraige contracts or have any sort of say on the amount of the 'mehr'. The 'mehr' is also often just a token amount, asking too much may offend the grooms family and lead to accusations of greed. Meanwhile it is perfectly acceptable for the grooms family ask for large amounts of money or expensive items in the brides 'trousseau'.

Ayesha mentions that while her husband ofcourse is briefed by the religious scholar in attendance and reads the marriage contract in detail, making additions and cancellations, he is hurt by her request to want to see it, she is also rebuffed by her own family.

'My grandmother, the stern matriarch of our family, warned me with a scowl that to read the contract would be a bad omen. But I was still eager to see the papers and began bugging my father. He initially consented, but eventually pulled back, saying he didn't want my husband's family to take offense. I burst into tears. My father patted me on the head, whispered consoling words, and said I should trust him.'

While it may well be true that the bride can rely on the male members of her family to ensure her rights in the 'Nikah nama' in such a situation the upper hand is with the groom's family and the bride's family may remain quiet out of politeness and not wish to cause a fuss. No one wishes to be too vocal on behalf of their daughter and offend the all powerful 'ladke wale'(boy's side) who are after all graciously accepting their daughter as part of the family.

This is a sorry state of affairs, due to patriarchal cultural traditions women are being denied a very basic right to have a say or even read their own marriage contract.

Indeed her experience of her marriage ceremony was also quite similar to my own.

'And so, during the ceremony, I sat a mile away from my fiance, could barely hear the words being recited, and felt as removed from the proceedings as a guest. I heard the microphone being passed to my husband. I heard him say "yes" three times, as is the tradition in Islam. I heard a round of congratulations. When my mother engulfed me in a tight hug, I protested that I had no idea what was happening.'

Surely brides should be allowed to be more active participants in their own marriages!