Regarding Islam, What are the main differences between your ideas and mainline ideas on Islam?
Hi Nick
Sorry to take so long to answer you, I did a reply then the forum disappeared for a week.
Hmmm difficult to answer. As I read Islam I don't hold different ideas on anything. My differences develop where interpretation is involved. An example would be rajm (stoning to death) .. the word does not exist in the Quran and the punishment for adultery is given in the Quran as lashes ... it is only when we go to hadith that scholars say the punishment is death if you are married, lashes if you are not. This is where I start to frown and wonder how much of this is simply looking for evidence to support your views or cultural beliefs.
As with many Western converts I do not hold hadith in the same light as born Muslims do .. is that my western thinking determining my reaction? Perhaps but it is just as likely that I read Quran and hadith without cultural norms telling me what they mean so I can see them for what they really are? My hubby believes hadith hold as much weight as the Quran does and I disagree ... we have some great fights about it
I feel anything written 300 years after the fact should be closely examined, together with the traditional beliefs before Islam to see if anything was allowed to creep back in (I suspect they were). I also believe we should interpret those stories appropriately for the times we live in ... that doesn't mean conform to Western moral codes or start drinking and opening brothels but as with marrying 9 year olds, we all know it is no longer appropriate for our times so why not accept the Prophet married Aisha for a good reason and in a time that puberty was the deciding factor but it's not something we should use or support being done today (of course the marriage age of most Muslim countries is legally 16 so in a way the state is taking over this role but I would like to see scholars moving in this direction too).
I have not made my mind up about some of these issues but the little voice in my head keeps saying "stop, think and read" ... I am not one for blind following (call it pride if you will).
Other issues are not Islamic but cultural, for example FGM in Egypt ... I hate it with a passion and have very rude things to say to the supporters of this barbaric practice (just about everyone I know over there). These issues tend to be ones where religion is used or even twisted to support an existing cultural practice.
To be truthful sometimes I dispair of Muslims, just google the question "can I have sex with my slaves" ... it is everywhere and you get these long winded "Islamically sound" answers which include extreme stuff like this "Similarly a slave woman does not have the right to refuse her master’s requests unless she has a valid excuse. If she does that she is being disobedient and he has the right to discipline her in whatever manner he thinks is appropriate and is allowed in sharee’ah." (I say extreme because there are also hadith which say - do not beat your wives as you did your slave women in the pre-Islamic era - but clearly that doesn't fit the bill so we'll ignore it.)
A valid excuse ... I should think being a slave and not wanting to be raped is a pretty valid excuse.
What I would love to see is more scholars handing out some common sense ... if I was a scholar for a day my answer would be something like this:
No you bloody well can't have sex with your slaves you moron, because you don't have any and are never going to have any. The Prophet's answer to just about everything was the emancipation of a slave ... thus ensuring that looooooong before now there would be no slaves. Go have an ice cold shower and then come back when you have a sensible question.
I want to ask: What is your opinion of Muslims who wish to leave Islam, and what is the mainline opinion of such people? I have heard that it is a crime to stop being a Muslim.
Sorry there is no quick answer to this
The mainstream view is that apostacy is punishable by the death penalty .. this comes from the hadith "whoever changes his religion, kill him". That said even some hard line jurists don't say kill anyone that leaves, they tend to refer to those who leave and wage war on Muslims or commit high treason (eg giving away state secrets).
Maliki and Hanbali jurists, along with some Hanafi jurists have stated that a minor, prior to puberty, can be apostates and subject to death The Hanafi jurists state that minors should not be killed or beaten but instructed until they return to Islam.
This is where it gets interesting ... If I understand correctly .. Hanafi jurists say that women apostates should not be killed because the Prophet prohibited men from killing women (the prohibition I believe was during war but there is nothing to say it's ok in peace time). Instead they think women should be forced to return to Islam, either by beating or imprisonment and if she doesn't return she should die in prison (not sure where the Quranic verses about no compulsion in religion have gone here). Why this is interesting is this blanket prohibition on killing women seems to get lost when the punishment of rajm for zina, of a married person, is talked about where their jurists state killing the woman is fine this is what I meant above when I said interpretation has a lot to answer for and can be rather selective.
Another interesting thing to note is the Quran says Allah (swt) will guide who He wills and lead astray who He wills. So to me if we kill people for simple apostacy it is like saying Allah (swt) is wrong, because He led that person astray by His Will and who am I to decide why Allah (swt) chose to do so. Also a person can become Muslim with their last breath on this earth ... how can I know that an apostate will not return to Islam later in life and be a much better Muslium than I could ever be ... so to me it's playing God.
My view is that if someone wishes to leave Islam and live peacefully they should be allowed to do so (like my husbands friend from his village). If they leave Islam and go to bomb Mecca or start killing Muslims then I would say bring on the death penalty and to me this is what I see in Islam and from the example of the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) ... the death penalty is for those who commit high treason in their apostacy.
If they choose to leave Islam and become Satan worshipers to me it is between them and Allah (swt) on the Last Day .. although I don't fancy their chances much
I have also found that the vast majority of people have no idea why they are having relationship problems. I reveal the causes, which makes all of the above a lot easier.
Now that sounds like a good thing to be able to do, as I agree on the no idea bit. Would love to know how you go about it but I probably don't have years to study the subject lol.
As with any couple we all get into the "what the other one does wrong" frame of mind and what Egyptian families tend to do is point out to the "wronged" party that they are hardly up for sainthood and point out the things they do wrong. It has a very calming effect when you realise your spouse isn't the only one causing problems in the marriage and leads to compromise and working together to improve things.
