Islam - a problem or a solution?

British women were granted the right to own property independent of their husbands only in 1870, while Muslim women have always had that right. While in many Western cultures daughters could not inherit anything if there were sons in the family, Islamic law has always allocated shares from every inheritance to both daughters and sons. A woman inherits from her relatives. The Quran states: "For men there is a share in what parents and relatives leave, and for women there is a share of what parents and relatives leave, whether it be little or much - an ordained share." (Quran 4:7) Islam made sure that mother, wives, sisters and female children were not neglected from their due share in inheritance. Islam made primogeniture unlawful.

According to the Quran, God created men and women out of the same substance and material. (Quran 4:1) They share the same lineage, and are brothers and sisters to each other - descended from the same mother (Eve) and father (Adam), race and origin. There is no notion of "Blame it all on Eve." Both Adam and Eve were equally held responsible for the fall from the Garden of Eden. (Quran 2:38)

While men and women are treated equal and have similar rights (Quran 2:228), the responsibilities are different. Man is held primarily accountable for providing support of the family. The Quran says: "Men are the maintainers of women because Allah has made some of them to excel others and because they spend out of their property." (Quran 4:34)

This does not, however, negate Muslim woman's right to earn money, the right to own property, to enter into legal contracts and to manage all of her assets in any way she pleases. She can run her own business and no one has any claim on her earnings including her husband. Khadija (R), Prophet's wife, was one of the successful businesswomen of Makkah. The Quran states: "To men is allotted what they earn, and to women, what they earn; but ask Allah of His bounty, for Allah hath full knowledge of all things." (Quran 4:32) 

Let me now quote some Prophetic sayings about the treatment of women in Islam.

Nearly twelve centuries before the dawning of western Enlightenment, the Prophet of Islam said, "The best among you are those who treat women well." The Prophet also said: "The most perfect believers are the best in conduct. And the best of you are those who are best to their wives." He also said, "No one of my Ummah (community) supports three daughters or three sisters and treats well, except that they will be a shield for him from the Fire (of Hell)." 

A man came to Muhammad and asked: "O Messenger of Allah, which person of all people is best entitled to kind treatment and the good companionship from me?" He answered: "Your mother." The man asked again: "And then?" He said: "Your mother." The man asked for the third time: "And after her?" He said: "Your mother." The man asked for the fourth time: "And after that?" He said: "Your father." 

How could a culture that teaches - "Paradise lies under the feet of mother" be oppressive to women?

There is, however, no denying that Islamic rules on sexual modesty have on occasions resulted in undue segregation between the sexes in public places, sometimes resulting in marginalization of women in public affairs. But that is the failure of present-day Muslims in not living up to the dictates of the Quran and Islamic Traditions, not of Islam as a religion. Contrary to the images portrayed in the western media, Muslim women see the Quran as a solution to their rights and not as a problem. 

2. Jesus in the Quran

Muslims believe in Jesus's miraculous birth, and that he was a prophet of God. The Quran says:

(And remember) when the angels said: O Mary! Lo! Allah giveth thee glad tidings of a word from him, whose name is the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, illustrious in the world and the Hereafter, and one of those brought near (unto Allah). (Quran 3:45)

Muslims reject Trinity. The Quran says, "People of the Book, go not beyond the bounds in your religion, and say not as to God but the truth. The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only the Messenger of God, and His Word that He committed to Mary, and a Spirit from Him. So believe in God and His Messengers, and say not, 'Three.' Refrain; better is it for you. God is only one God. Glory be to Him - (He is) above having a son." (Quran 4:171)

As to Jesus's mission on earth, the Quran says:

And remember, Jesus, the son of Mary, said: "O Children of Israel! I am the messenger of Allah (sent) to you, confirming the Law (which came) before me, and giving Glad Tidings of a Messenger to come after me, whose name shall be Ahmad." But when he came to them with Clear Signs, they said, "this is evident sorcery!"(Quran 61:6)

3. Status of Mary, the mother of Jesus

Muslims respect Mary, the mother of Jesus, very dearly. There is even a chapter of the Quran that is named after her (Surah Maryam). As to her status, the Quran categorically says: "Behold! the angels said: 'O Mary! Allah hath chosen thee and purified thee - chosen thee above the women of all nations.'" (Quran 3:42)

4. Attitude towards Christians

Christians are considered the People of the Book (i.e., to whom a Scripture was sent from God). The Quran says:

"And thou wilt find the nearest of them in affection to those who believe (to be) those who say: Lo! We are Christians. That is because there are among them priests and monks, and because they are not proud. When they listen to that which hath been revealed unto the messenger, thou seest their eyes overflow with tears because of their recognition of the Truth. They say: Our Lord, we believe. Inscribe us as among the witnesses." (Quran 5:82-83)

5. Attitude towards Others

Muslims believe in peaceful coexistence with others, irrespective of their faiths. Islamic history is a testimony to religious tolerance. This attitude comes from the Quran, which says:

"To each of you God has prescribed a Law and a Way. If God would have willed, He would have made you a single people. But God's purpose is to test you in what He has given each of you, so strive in the pursuit of virtue, and know that you will all return to God, and He will resolve all the matters in which you disagree." (Quran 5:49)

"There is no compulsion in religion. The right direction is henceforth distinct from error. And he who rejecteth false deities and believeth in Allah hath grasped a firm handhold which will never break. Allah is Hearer, Knower. (Quran 2:256)

Lo! Those who believe (in that which is revealed unto thee, Muhammad), and those who are Jews, and Christians, and Sabaeans - whoever believeth in Allah and the Last Day and doeth right - surely their reward is with their Lord, and there shall no fear come upon them neither shall they grieve. (Quran 2:62)

Lo! those who believe (this revelation), and those who are Jews, and the Sabaeans and the Christians and the Magians and the idolaters - Lo! Allah will decide between them on the Day of Resurrection. Lo! Allah is Witness over all things. (Quran 22:17)

He who obeys the Messenger, obeys Allah. But if any turn away, We have not sent thee to watch over them. (Quran 4:80)

It is because of such lofty notions of diversity and tolerance that the Islamic civilization was pluralistic and unusually tolerant of various social and religious denominations, something that was simply unthinkable outside in the Middle Ages. Jewish historians testify to the fact that had it not been for the protection and tutelage provided by Muslim rulers, Jews could not have survived in the Middle Ages. It was all too natural for European Jewry to find refuge among Muslims in North Africa and the Ottoman Empire when Christian Europe was practicing Inquisition, pogroms and holocaust to exterminate them. Muslim rulers never interfered with the religion of their subjects either. There was never anything like the Inquisition or the fires of Smithfield. Thus a number of small Christian sects, called by the larger sects heretical, which would inevitably have been exterminated if left to the mercies of the larger sects whose power prevailed in Christendom, were protected and preserved by the power of Islam. Even to this very day, there are groups like the Mountain, Tadzhik and Uzbek Jews, Yazidis and Sabaeans (Sabians) that are surviving with their culture and religion intact. 

Muslims are a minority in the West. Should non-Muslims be worried about their presence? I pray not. Islam teaches Muslims to be obedient subjects: "Oh you who believe! Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger, and those charged with authority among you." (Quran 4:59) A well-known hadith says: "You are bound to hear and obey the orders of the authority in hardship and in ease, willingly or unwillingly, and even when you are treated unjustly." [Muslim]

Islam commands Muslims to be the best of the neighbors. In a celebrated hadith, Muhammad said: "That person will not enter Paradise whose neighbor is not safe against his mischief. [Bukhari and Muslim] He also said, "He is not a [true] believer who eats his full while his neighbor lies hungry by his side. [Baihaqi] 

Here are some more sayings of the Prophet : "The best neighbor is one who behaves best towards his neighbors." [Tirmizi]

"By Him in Whose Hand my soul is, a slave of Allah does not believe till he likes for his neighbor what he likes for himself." [Bulugh al-Maram]

"Be a good neighbor to your neighbor and you will be a Muslim. Be a good fellow to your companion and you will be a Mu'min." [Ihya Ulum al-Din]

Likewise, the Quran commands Muslims, "Serve Allah, and join not any partners with Him; and do good to parents, kinsfolk, orphans, those in need, neighbors who are of kin, neighbors who are strangers, the companion by your side, the wayfarer (you meet) and the slaves : for Allah loves not the arrogant, the vainglorious". (Quran 4:36)

In another hadith, Muhammad illustrated the rights of a neighbor as follows: "Do you know what are rights of a neighbor? [They are as follows], If a neighbor seeks your help, extend it to him. If a neighbor asks you for a loan, lend him [if you have it.]If your neighbor becomes poor, then help him financially and attend to his poverty if you can. If your neighbor becomes ill, then visit him [checking on his health and situation.] If your neighbor is happy on certain gain, then congratulate him. If your neighbor is suffering a calamity, then offer him condolence. If your neighbor dies, then be at his funeral [if you can.] Do not raise your building over his building causing him a lack of sun exposure, or wind passage. Do not bother your neighbor with the smell of your cooking, unless you intend to offer him some [of the cooked food.] If you buy fruits [while he does not have the means to buy, or not] then offer him a little present of the fruit. If you do not want to offer him a present of your fruit, then bring it in the house [in an unnoticeable way.] Do not permit your child, later, to carry the fruit you bought and drag his son and tease him with it." [Al-Kharaitee]. 

6. Jihad

The topic of Jihad is a very favorite item in the arsenal of critics of Islam. It is often equated with religious intolerance that is sanctified in the Quran and Sunnah. This accusation by western critics is like turning the tables with a reprisal when one recalls that not a Muslim was left alive in Spain or Sicily or Apulia, and that not a Muslim was left alive and not a mosque left standing in Greece after the great rebellion in l821 (even to this day there is not a single mosque in Athens). In the Greek War of Independence in 1811, three hundred thousand Muslims - men and women and children - the entire Muslim population of the Morea without exception, as well as many thousands in the northern parts of Greece - were atrociously exterminated.

The Arabic word Jihad comes from the root word Juhd, meaning striving. There are two types of Jihad - minor and major. 

The Prophet said, "The mujahid is he who strives against his soul in Allah's way." [Bahr al-Fava'id] He also said, "We have returned from the lesser Jihad to the greater." He called fighting against one's nafs (cravings, ego) the "greater" Jihad because the outward enemy is clear to us all. And we are, thus, able to guard ourselves against it. But the path of this enemy [nafs] is hidden: we do not see it, and thus it is difficult to guard against it.

Jihad does not mean Holy War (Arabic phrase - al-harb al-muqaddasah does not exist in the Quran). Truly, the term 'holy war' is from the time of the Crusades and originated in Europe among the Christians as a rallying cry against the Muslims in Jerusalem. Far from being addicted to warfare, Islam insists on the importance of peace (was sulh khair - meaning: and peace is better.) The message of the Quran is a plural vision; it respects and values other traditions.

The Quran has fundamentally defined Jihad not as a war of aggression or of superiority or of authority, but of resistance against aggression. 

Early Muslims of Prophet's time were commanded: "Fight in the way of Allah against those who fight against you, but begin not hostilities," [Quran 2:190] "And fight them until persecution is no more, and religion is for Allah." [Quran 2:193]

Allah also said in Surah al-Baqarah, "Warfare is ordained for you, though it is hateful unto you; but it may happen that ye hate a thing which is good for you, and it may happen that ye love a thing which is bad for you. Allah knoweth, ye know not. " [Quran 2:216] 

Allah commands Muslims not to initiate war and to stop fighting: if the opposing party stops fighting.:"So, if they (opponents) hold aloof from you and wage not war against you and offer you peace, Allah alloweth you no way against them." (Quran 4:90) 

"But if they (opponents) cease, Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful." (Quran 2:192)

If Muslim youths today appear to be frustrated and angry it is not because of theology of Islam but of an inability as a human being to comprehend and/or tolerate anti-Muslim hypocrisy, double standard and the treatment of their brethren as third-class citizens of this planet. They are massacred, maimed and mutilated. They see how monumental abuses of human rights are routinely practiced against them, and yet, there seems to be no end in sight. They see how the neo-Crusadic powers of our time deliberately bomb everyone in a village or a market just to apprehend/kill a suspected hostile combatant. They see how scores of international charters and resolutions do not mean a thing to their greatest advocates, who practice not what they preach. It is a sad world indeed! There is none that speaks for them, and none that rescues them from their abysmal misery. 

Just as the humiliating Treaty of Versailles sowed the seed of Second World War, leading to deaths of 55 millions of armed and non-armed people, unless western powers are just and equitable in their dealings with Muslims, I am afraid that we will not see peace in our lifetime. Peace without justice is only an illusion!

7. Brotherhood in Islam

In his farewell hajj (pilgrimage) speech, Muhammad said, "O people, listen to me in earnest, worship Allah, say your five daily prayers, fast during the month of Ramadhan, and give your wealth in zakat. Perform hajj if you can afford to. You know that every Muslim is the brother of another Muslim. You are all equal. Nobody has superiority over the other except by piety and good deeds." 

In Islam: all men are not simply equal; they are brothers. The difference between equality and brotherhood is quite clear. Equality is a legal concept, while brotherhood proclaims the uniform nature and disposition of all men; all men originate from a single source, whatever their color.

Nearly a hundred years ago, Mahatma Gandhi said: "Someone has said that Europeans in South Africa dread the advent of Islam - Islam, that civilized Spain; preached to the world the Gospel of Brotherhood. The Europeans of South Africa dread the advent of Islam, as they claim equality with the white races. They may well dread it. If brotherhood is a sin, if it is equality of the colored races that they dread, then their dread is well-founded." 

Indeed, unlike most religions, Islam teaches that human diversity is a sign of God's mercy and a portent for men of knowledge. The Quran declares: "And of His (God's) signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the difference of your languages and colors." 

Islam shuns the very idea of chosen people or superiority based on race, ethnicity, color, tribe, language, geography, etc., by declaring: "O mankind! Lo! We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes that ye may know one another. Lo! the noblest of you, in the sight of Allah, is the best in conduct. Lo! Allah is Knower, Aware." (Quran 49:13)

With such profound statements in the Quran, Islam was able to wipe out age-old ethnocentric notions of superficial superiority and exclusive nobleness of mankind. In his book - Muhammad the Prophet of Islam - Prof. Ramakrishna Rao comments: "The principle of universal brotherhood and the doctrine of equality of mankind which he proclaimed represent very great contribution of Muhammad to the social upliftment of humanity." 

Muhammad's credit lies in putting this manifesto of survival of mankind into actual practice by transforming the lives of tens of thousands of individuals, who had hitherto a history of fighting wars for generations, in his lifetime. Following his teachings people buried their jealousies and discarded their vendetta and blood feuds. He made humanity realize and achieve the principle and practice of brotherhood of man, and to give up intrigues and conspiracies against truth and justice. 

Universal brotherhood is of vital importance in Islam. In Islam, what makes one better than the other is only Taq'wa, one's fear of God. The prophet of Islam epitomized the very idea of universal brotherhood. It was there that we find Rasulullah being in the midst of Arabs and non-Arabs alike, e.g., Salman - the Persian, Bilal - the Abyssinian, Shuaib - the Byzantine, and many others. Other peoples asked why the non-Arabs were in his company? The Prophet is reported to have said, "O my people, our father is one, our Lord is one, and our faith is one." He also said, "Salman (the Persian) belongs to my family." In the early days of Islam, when group prayer was proclaimed, he made Bilal (R) the first mu'addhin of Islam to call the ad'han. Even after the conquest of Makkah, it was Bilal (R) who was asked to climb to the top of the Haram al-Sharif to call ad'han after the idols were removed from its premises.

At what time or place and in relation to what other social, economic, political, religious system, philosophy or ideology - did the world ever witness such a perfectly amazing phenomenon? Even after some fourteen centuries later, Malcolm X [Alhaj Malik El-Shabazz] was amazed at his first contact with mainstream Islam when he visited the Muslim world in 1964: "America needs to understand Islam, because this is one religion that erases from its society the race problem. .. I have never before seen sincere and true brotherhood practiced by all together, irrespective of their color."

Concluding Remarks

Fourteen centuries ago, a Muslim Companion of the Prophet Muhammad addressed the general of the Persian garrison in the following words: "[Islam summons] mankind from the lowliness of the earth to the heights of the heavens, from the servitude of each other to the service of the Lord of the Universe, and from the oppression of the religions to the justice of Islam." Yes, that was precisely the role that Islam tried to play in the global arena. Through its concept of tauhid or pure monotheism and universal brotherhood, it offered the world a road to salvation. Instead of making God manlike, it tried to make man godlike. And this it tried by providing three basic elements - faith in one God without any associate, reform of the self and reform of the society at large. Islamic movements around the globe over the centuries, therefore, remained a religious commitment, a socio-economic-political program, but above all, a vehicle for the continuous reform of the society.