Dear Mr. Iftekhar A. Hai Shab (Quran Teacher)
UMA Interfaith Alliance
Thank
you for your reply. My response is in red.
“You must study the whole Quran when you are explaining one or two
verses in the light of wisdom of the whole Quran. I am saying this
with utmost humility and honesty....please do not take it personally.
We are all here to learn from each other”
I agree that the Quran should be translated/understood in its
entirety. Unfortunately, most translations that exist today fail to do
exactly that. Most modern day ‘teachings’ or ‘studies’ of the Quran,
including your comments below, are in fact based on sayings of the ‘Ahadith’,
which of course are significantly influenced from the Bible & Torah.
The truth is that the Quran has continuously been translated in light
of the Ahadith, Bible & Torah - never in its entirety.
Let me response your comments by piecemeal
2)
He made political alliances with warring tribes and taking a
women/wife from the other's tribe was a further ratification of
peaceful alliance absolutely important for the establishment of a
Greater Cause of establising an Islamic State in Medina. The pagan
society had unjust and unfair rules reference to wife/female orphans
and widows.
To state that Prophet Mohammed made political alliances by marrying
unfortunate women to spread Islam is to reduce his noble persona to an
iota. One could say (and have already said) that the Prophet took
advantage of these women (in compromising positions) and lured them
into his harem for personal gains. One could also question why his
focus remained on women, after all in a society where unjust and
unfair rules existed- men were sure to be unjustly prosecuted?
Prophet Mohammad’s mission was beyond making mere alliances. His
greater cause was anything but political- he introduced such a
revolutionary system that the weak and oppressed individuals of
society (both women AND men) willingly embraced the Quranic
System and revolted against their malicious rulers. There was no need
to make alliances. To make alliances would mean to compromise the
message of the Quran. I would like you to provide references from the
Quran in regards to Prophet Mohammad’s alliances- if I am not
mistaken, this is a belief adopted from the Ahadith.
Do you think for establishing the Quranic state in the city of Medina
he should make political alliance with martial tribes by marrying
their captives or widows women. This kind of statement is an insult
about the noble Persona of Mohammad and if you have this vision then
please quote the verse of the Quran in the support of your statement.
3)
Please know that Prophet David had 100 wives and 300 women in
his royal harem and Prophet Solomon had 300 wives and 700 women in his
royal harem. They gave support and shelter to women not for sexual
reasons but to provide a social security network that was completely
absent during those days. During our Prophet times too there was no
social security housing or support so it was easy to admit them in the
House of Prophet and give them shelter. He took widows or divorced
women as wives so as to establish a sense of fairness and equality.
There were no sexual reasons for increasing the women/wives in
Prophet's household.
I am surprised at how often we unconsciously humiliate our Prophets.
If I were to believe that they had 300+ wives, then this simply means
that women were nothing more than a commodity in the eyes of our
Prophets. Even if our Prophets married these women due to ‘societal
norms’ then one could argue that despite working towards
revolutionizing society by introducing ‘fairness and equality’- how
could they conform to such practices (polygamy) which in fact
reinforced inequality?
Your statement that Prophet David had 100 wives and 300 women in his
royal harem and Prophet Solomon had 300 wives and 700 women in his
royal harem. Would you please provide the reference from the Quran
where Allah has mentioned that Prophet David and Solomon had 700
women in their Royal harems? There is another question strikes in my
mind that how Prophet Solomon was cohabiting his 300 or 700 wives in
365 days of the year. Do you think by making royal harem with
countless wives or women is not the insult of the women and spreading
Islam by this way is the right path? I think you have barrowed this
prospect from Torah,Bible and the literatures of Ahadith.
Above mentioned your comments reflect that You
have been profoundly influenced by Israelite literatures, as the
Israelite patriarchs were profusely polygamous and some of them had
hundreds of wives. Islamic traditions and Ahadith carry the
stories that both David and Solomon had 99 to 100 wives.
According to a popular tradition, there was a
time when David was living with ninety-nine wives. One day, just by
chance, or by the stroke of his sheer good luck, he saw his neighbor’s
wife having a bath. She was beauty personified from head to toe. He
fell in love with her instantly and decided to marry her right away.
However, there was a problem; she was already married. He found a real
easy approach to get her husband out of the way. The neighbor got a
call for military duty and found himself dispatched to the war zone
immediately. With all the impediments removed, he married the
woman of his dreams and changed the odd number of ninety-nine to an
even figure of one hundred.
[Sura Sad verses 22-25, Tafseer
Fatah-ul-Qur’an, translation published by Taj Company]
Imam Bukhari reports about Solomon, who was
enjoying the company of 60 or 70 wives, and explains how he got a
deformed son after copulating with his 70 wives in one night.
[B4: 421, 635; B9: 420, 561]
[Comment: He must have been limited to ten
strokes apiece, with maximum ejaculation of 5 or 6 times, the normal
human average.]
Narrated Abu Huraira: ‘The Prophet said, Allah’s
Prophet Solomon, who had seventy wives, proclaimed one evening,
“Tonight I shall have sex with all of my wives and shall impregnate
each one of them with a son, who after birth, will grow into a fine
cavalier and fight for Allah’s cause.” With this vow, he went to all
of his wives, but none of them conceived, except one, who produced a
physically deformed baby boy.’
Allah’s Messenger commented, “If Solomon had just
added Allah willing, then each one of those women would have delivered
a healthy cavalier to fight for Allah’s Cause.”
These mentally deranged, muck writing, Iranian
self-styled Imams seem to have vowed to diatribe and denounce all
Messengers of Allah, by inventing scandalous anecdotes about their
lives.
It is interesting to note here that this
conniving Imam Bukhari neither saw the time of the last Messenger, nor
met anyone who had seen him alive. Then how could he relate such
malicious stories in his name? Why had good and sane Muslims all over
the world not put his total collection to the torch?
Was he present at the birth of Solomon’s deformed
son? Who was the attending physician that confirmed the birth and
issued the appropriate medical certificate to that effect?
4)Most of our Prophet's marriages were to ladies whose husbands had
died as martyrs and they were older ladies who needed support. All
these facts must be considered when reading the Quran and
understanding it.
Please provide verses from the Quran.
5)Verse 4:3 has got to be studied in a much broader context. You must
read 4:1 which speaks about the honoring the womb of a mother.
Meaning be respectful of your mothers.
Do you think above verse has opened the discussion about the honoring
the womb of a mothers. Honoring of mother womb is confusing statement
from your end and what do you think about the wombs of wives,
daughters, sisters and other women of our society.
The translation of the verse 4:1, referred above
is as under:
‘Listen up and comprehend O humankind!
Establish your government based on the constitution of the Qur’an and
follow the nurturing laws of your Sustainer! He fashioned you from a
single living cell, which through innumerable spontaneous
transformations
resulted in the formation of human genders. These first living cells
lay scattered along the large and small bodies of water like oceans,
lakes, rivers, and ponds and had the innate capability of developing
into sexual human males and females. They passed through various
nourishment stages staying safe and secure, as milk dwells in the
fresh state within the udders of lactating life forms, including human
females. It took billions of years for the perfection of the human
race, in the form of men and women, as Our last creation on the face
of the earth. These newly born creatures scattered all over the
planet, adjusting to all kinds of habitats for their propagation. From
the creative perspective, the entire humanity is just like a large
single family. You should establish the wholesome system of Allah, on
the pattern of a fetus that gets protection and proper nourishment in
a mother’s womb, so that every individual, residing in the earth’s
‘womb,’ gets equal, fair, and just treatment. The Islamic
administration must ensure all amenities of life, such as
accommodation, job security, health care, and education in a peaceful
and prosperous environment. This is the only way, following which, the
people will get way above the animal level and achieve the true human
values. Take a start with establishing this system first among your
relatives and then gradually spread it out to the entire population,
around the globe! Henceforth, you should begin respecting one another,
along with honoring the social, moral, financial, and all other values
encoded in the Qur’an! Surely, Allah’s judicious system is watching
your activities for achieving either wonderful or disastrous results.’
In
the above verse the Quran does not discuss ‘honoring the womb of a
mother’, it emphasis that during the establishment of the Quranic form
of socio economic system, you should first begin with your close
kinship.
6)
4:2 speaks about the orphans and they have to be treated fairly and
justly. Never to be taken advantage. Here special emphasis is
on women or girls who have come either as captives or widows or
orphans.
The Verse 4:2 further explains that society should provide the means
of sustenance to the destitute male and female individuals of the
society
[Al- Yatama].
The phrase Al- Yataima’ commonly translated for orphans especially for
women or girls who have come either as captives or widows. To limit
the meaning of the word ‘Al- Yataima’ to women or girls who have come
either as captives or widows is incorrect and sheer injustices with
the Arabic language. The tenure Al- Yataima’ according to the Arabic
grammar has been used for male and female persons who are weak or
vulnerable in society. The Quran has used this term in the same
meaning in the verse 4:2:
“To begin this program, you should make arrangement to hand over what
belongs to those destitute male and female individuals in the form of
jobs and other rights regarding the basic necessities of their lives.
Do not keep valuable job, good trade, best occupations and superior
work for yourself or specified class or group and give them worth less
kind of positions. Moreover, do not devour their other economic
sources of income which legally belongs to them by incorporating with
your sources of income by using political tactics. Remember if you
will make and approve this kind of policy it will be considered
serious crime against the society. This kind of guiding principles
will create grief, loneliness, distress and fatigue in the society.”
4:3 asks that if you cannot deal justly with orphans (females)...the
command is to marry them, give them respect and give them security in
the society. Here marriage is asked of men of means to provide them
with social contract of respectibility. If you can afford to bring
those orphan girls in your house for support then you can marry up to
4. This is the limit......not more than 4 as wives.
In the verse 4:3 the Quran further explains the meaning of the
term
Al –Nisa and narrates
that if you fear that you are unable to make a organized system for
the support Al- Yatama [ weak or solitude male/female individuals of
society] then you should take the responsibility [socially and
economically ]of the Al –Nisa. In this verse the word Al –Nisa does
not stand for women or wives, but it stands for those insolvent
male/female individuals who are the most neglected or weak amongst the
Al- Yatama category. Therefore, the possible correct translation
would be as under
“And if you feel fear[ because of perplexed political
circumstances]that you shall not be able to establish an equitable
justice system towards the insolvent members [men, women and children
(Al- yataham)]of the society then co-mingle[NIKKAH] with those
members of the society about whom you think they are the most
forgotten category from the impoverished]Al-Nissa] group of the
society in the form of contract. You May provide them the means of
sustenance in the form of their support or sponsor one, or two or,
three, or four male or female deprived members Al –Nissah]of the
society and if you fear that you shall not be able to do the justice
with them then do not do it. However, it will be more equitable for
you that you will not deal unjustly with those members of the society
[male and female] who are working in your houses and work places.
You should deal with them with fairness in the subject of their wages
or other basic necessities of their lives.”
The above mentioned verse does not discuss the formation of harems of
four or more wives under the pious shelter of the Quran but it
provides a guideline on how to establish an economic based justices
system in the absence of an organized form of economic system for the
support of deprived class of the society in the presence of odd
circumstances.
I may further add that the terms religion, prophet, worshipping of
God, believer, Lord, interfaith, forgiveness, day of judgment,
doomsday, monotheism, merciful, sin and other countless terms have
been borrowed from the Christianity and Judaism by Muslims scholars
in the rendition of the Quran.
Best Regards
Akhtar Sherazi
Please visit the website for The Quranic Education and Research Inc
for more information about us. You can also place an order online
through Paypal on our website. www.quraniceducationandresearch.com