Sunday, October 25, 2020
Friday, October 23, 2020
Saturday, August 15, 2015
Loyalty_A Basic Part Of Intelligent Life
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What does the
Religion of Peace Teach About... |
| Loyalty A Basic Part Of Intelligent life | |
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Loyalty is faithfulness or a devotion to a person, country, group, or cause. Philosophers disagree on what can be an object of loyalty as some argue that loyalty is strictly interpersonal and only other human beings can be the object of loyalty. The idea has been treated by writers from Aeschylus through John Galsworthy to Joseph Conrad, by psychologists, psychiatrists, sociologists, scholars of religion, political economists, scholars of business and marketing, and—most particularly—by political theorists, who deal with it in terms of loyalty oaths and patriotism. The subject had received "scant attention in philosophical literature". This he attributed to "odious" associations that the subject had with nationalism, including Nazism, and with the metaphysics of idealism, which he characterized as "obsolete". He argued that such associations were, however, faulty, and that the notion of loyalty is "an essential ingredient in any civilized and humane system of morals". |
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Many Muslims are loyal to the non-Muslim countries in which they live, of course, but it is in spite of Islamic teaching.
Unlike other faiths, Islam is not just a religion but a political system as
well. The state is intended to be inseparable from religious rule.
Islamic law, or Sharia, is complete and not designed to coexist with or be
subordinate to other legal systems. Muslims are not meant to be ruled by non-Muslims. The Qur'an is very clear that they are to resist unbelievers by any means until Islam establishes political supremacy. This doesn't mean that everyone must be forced to become Muslim, but rather that everyone must submit to Muslim rule. |
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The Qur'an: Qur'an (5:3) - "This day have I perfected your religion for you." This verse is often interpreted to mean that any government outside of Sharia is unnecessary at best, and corruptive at worst. Qur'an (18:26) - "[Allah] maketh none to share in his government." This was probably intended as a slam against polytheists and the Christian belief in the Trinity, but it has also been used as the basis for criticizing earthly governments. Qur'an (19:64) - "And we do not descend but by the command of your Lord; to Him belongs whatever is before us and whatever is behind us and whatever is between these, and your Lord is not forgetful." Qur'an (4:141) - "...And never will Allah grant to the unbelievers a way (to triumphs) over the believers." Qur'an (63:8) - "...might belongeth to Allah and to His messenger and to the believers; but the hypocrites know not." The "hypocrites" are defined as Muslims in name only, those who do not submit to the theocracy of Allah. Qur'an (5:49) - "So judge between them by that which Allah hath revealed, and follow not their desires, but beware of them lest they seduce thee from some part of that which Allah hath revealed unto thee" Allah's Qur'an takes priority over the desires of the people. A democratic nation is by nature one that is not governed by Islamic law, meaning that a Muslim citizen would have divided loyalty. It's clear from this verse which side he must choose. Qur'an (3:28) - "Let not the believers Take for friends or helpers Unbelievers rather than believers: if any do that, in nothing will there be help from Allah: except by way of precaution, that ye may Guard yourselves from them. But Allah cautions you (To remember) Himself; for the final goal is to Allah." The word 'friend' is Awliyaa which is inclusive of friends, protectors and helpers - the components of civil society. See also verse 5:51 Qur'an (4:123) - "Not your desires, nor those of the People of the Book (can prevail): whoever works evil, will be requited accordingly. Nor will he find, besides Allah, any protector or helper." Qur'an (28:17) - "O my Lord! For that Thou hast bestowed Thy Grace on me, never shall I be a help to those who sin!" It is difficult to reconcile this verse with the civic duty of a public office holder in a pluralistic society. Qur'an (4:59) - "O you who believe! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority from among you..." Oddly enough, this verse is sometimes used in an attempt to make the case that Muslims should respect a non-Muslim civil government. But a careful reading makes it clear that the rulers Muslims are to obey are from among their own body of believers. This verse commands strict obedience to the leader (even if he steals and flogs them, according to a hadith reported by Sahih Muslim). How can this refer to a non-Muslim leader when other parts of the Qur'an call for violent Jihad against persecution from non-believers? See also 9:29, which establishes the ideal relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims. |
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From the Hadith:
Muslim (19:4294) - "When you meet your enemies who are polytheists
[Christians], invite them to three courses of action. If they respond to any one
of these, you also accept it and withhold yourself from doing them any harm.
Invite them to (accept) Islam; if they respond to you, accept it from them and
desist from fighting against them ... If they refuse to accept Islam, demand
from them the Jizya. If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your
hands. If they refuse to pay the tax, seek Allah's help and fight them"
Bukhari (53:392) - While we were in the Mosque, the
Prophet came out and said, "Let us go to the Jews." We went out till we
reached Bait-ul-Midras. He said to them, "If you embrace Islam, you will
be safe. You should know that the earth belongs to Allah and His Apostle, and I
want to expel you from this land. So, if anyone amongst you owns some property,
he is permitted to sell it, otherwise you should know that the Earth belongs to
Allah and His Apostle."
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Additional Notes: Scholar Jamal Badawi insists that, "Muslims should not melt in any pot except the Muslim brotherhood pot." A CAIR executive director (in the United States) recently said, "if we are practicing Muslims, we are above the law of the land." The Calcutta Qur'an Petition says of Muslim communities that "even fresh converts tend to become highly orthodox people and follow the sayings of [the Qur'an] with a fanatical zeal with the result that whichever country as their sizable number amongst its population can never have peace on its soil." Where Muslim minorities exist, there is unusual social strain manifested by dissention, demand and disloyalty, as well as a cohesive group identity that resists self-reflection and thrives on the perception of victimization by the majority. Islam teaches that nations are in one of two major categories - Dar-al Harb (house of war) and Dar-al-Islam (Muslim rule). Any nation that is not Muslim is therefore, by definition, at war with Islam (or, at best, in contradiction to the preferred order). Muslims cannot be expected to maintain loyalty to a nation that is at war with their religion. To be fair, some Muslim scholars contend that there is a middle ground, Dar al-Ahd (land of covenant) or Dar al-Sulh (land of truce), in which non-Muslim countries agree to allow Muslims to practice their faith and evangelize freely in exchange for peace (rights that are formally denied to infidels in Islamic lands). Scholars consider this a transitional period leading to the eventual triumph of Islam via conversion. The practical definitions of Dar al-Ahd and Dar al-Sulh are somewhat nebulous. Some feel, for example, that denying Muslims their own system of law and Sharia courts constitutes an interference with Islam. Others believe that these states of condition only applied in Muhammad's day. Still others feel that a truce has a ten year-limit, and can be broken anytime by the Muslim party. Another difficulty with these "middle ground" options is that there is no central authority to declare which non-Muslim nations fall outside the category of Dar al-Harb. Ultimately, true Muslims are citizens of the ummah (Islamic community) and not of any country - and the ummah has no recognized leader. Even a government of Muslims is not necessarily a Muslim government. Islam requires Islamic law, therefore theocracy is the only pure form of government. In fact, this is what propels the vast majority of violence in the Muslim world, which victimizes Muslims themselves more than any other group. Although Muslim apologists sometimes claim that Islamic terrorists aren't Muslim by virtue of the fact that they kill other Muslims, the Qur'an advocates striving against both unbelievers and hypocrites, the latter of which are Muslims who profess Islam, but do not support Islamic rule over the way of the infidel as required (see Muslim 20:4696). Hypocrites include any government which does not uphold strict Sharia, as well as those that make alliances with a non-Muslim country (thereby making covenants and truces quite difficult to legitimize). This is the real reason terrorists kill fellow Muslims, particularly local police, troops and officials who are in the service of such governments. One of the most influential Islamic scholars of the modern age, Egyptian Sayyid Qutb, says that Muslims have a duty to overthrow any non-Islamic governments by violent means. He explains: "Islam is not merely a belief, so that it is enough merely to preach it. Islam, which is a way of life, takes practical steps to organize a movement for freeing man. Other societies do not give it [Islam] any opportunity to organize its followers according to its own method, and hence it is the duty of Islam to annihilate all such systems, as they are obstacles in the way of universal freedom. Only in this manner can the way of life be wholly dedicated to Allah, so that neither any human authority nor the question of servitude remains, as is the case in all other systems which are based on man's servitude to man." [Quoted from Andrew Bostom's The Legacy of Jihad] Elsewhere, Qutb puts it even more bluntly: The foremost duty of Islam in this world is to depose Jahiliyyah (unbelievers) from the leadership of man, and to take the leadership into its own hands and enforce the particular way of life which is its permanent feature." [Quoted from Robert Spencer's Religion of Peace?] In a book promoted by the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), Islamic scholar Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi writes that "Islam wishes to destroy all States and Governments anywhere on the face of the earth which are opposed to the ideology and programme of Islam regardless of the country or the Nation that rules it. Islam requires the earth – not just a portion – but the whole planet.” (source) Whether or not a Muslim believes in active rebellion against secular or non-Muslim rule (and most may not), it is does not change the fact that Islam is defined by allegiance to Allah and his self-proclaimed messenger, Muhammad. Therefore any extraneous loyalty that is in contradiction to what Allah has already established would be strictly forbidden. [It should be noted that Muslims as individuals vary widely in their understanding of and allegiance to Islam. While ideological scrutiny may be appropriate for certain sensitive positions in the intelligence, military or law enforcement communities, simply being a Muslim is not sufficient grounds for denying employment to or making assumptions about any such individual.] |
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Thursday, July 23, 2015
Equility of Men And Women_ A Part of Intelligent Life
Equality of Men and Woman in Islam, and their complementary nature to one anotherIf total equality between all members of the same gender is impossible due to natural differences in strengths and other qualities, regardless of whether the gender is masculine or feminine, then it is definitely impossible between the two genders. Allah, the Exalted and Almighty, says in the Glorious Qur'an:
(And of everything We have created pairs, that you may remember (the Grace of Allah).)
[51:49]
Even atoms exhibit this dual quality with inter-related and
complementary roles played by the positive and negative particles and
ions, yet each is an integral part of the whole system of the so called
binary basis of all life. Most living beings have male and female sexes
for reproduction. As the science of biology teaches us, all mammals
have similar traits in their molecular and glandular structures that
determine differences in gender. These basic physical, psychological
and sexual traits have their definite effects on other spheres of life.
It is natural for a man to need and find fulfillment with a woman and for a woman with a man, since they are created one from the other and for one another. They both are inseparably bound to each other. Neither can they find fulfillment except when in the company of the other as legal and honorable mate and spouse, as Allah (The Almighty) says in His Majestic Book, the Qur'an, mentioned in the two verses cited in the preface:
(O Mankind! We have created you from a male and a
female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one
another. Verily, the most honorable of you in the Sight of Allah is the
believer who has Taqwa (piety and righteousness). Verily, Allah is
All-Knowing, All-Aware.)
[49:13]
In many instances Islam treats women as equals to men. Some of them
are given below. In the coming sections we will expand on these themes
in various contexts throughout the book.1) Eqaulity in Basic Humanity
Both the male and the female are equal in terms of their humanity. Islam does not categorize women, for instance, as the source of evil in the world for some & original sin that caused Adam (Peace be Upon Him) to be dismissed from Paradise, or to be the cause of evil in the world by setting loose a Pandora's box of vices, as some other religious doctrines and fables teach.Allah, the Exalted and Almighty, states in the Glorious Qur'an:
(O mankind! Be dutiful to your Lord, Who created you
from a single person (Adam), and from him (Adam) He created his wife
(Eve), and from them both He created many men and women...)
[4:1]
Allah also states in the Glorious Qur'an:
(Does man think that he will be left neglected without
being punished or rewarded for the obligatory duties enjoined by his
Lord (Allah) on him? Was he not a mixed male and female discharge of
semen pouring forth? Then he became a clot; then (Allah) shaped and
fashioned (him) in due proportion, and made him into two sexes, male
and female. Is He not able to raise to life those who are dead?)
[75:36-40]
Allah illustrated in the verses that He created both sexes from one
single source. There is no difference between the two sexes in terms of
qualifications in humanity, and each complements the other as the two
genders of the species. Islam has abolished and abrogated all the
previous unjust laws that demoted women as inferior in quality and
nature. The Prophet of Allah (Peace be Upon Him) said:
Verily, women are the twin halves of men.
[Abu Dawood #234 , Tirmidhi #113 & others]
2) Equality in Religious Obligations
Equal religious duties and rituals are required from both women and men. Testimony of Faith (Shahaadah), Prayer (Salah), Obligatory Charity (Zakah), Fasting (Saum), and Pilgrimage (Hajj) are equally required of both genders. In some cases the requirements are a bit easier on women to alleviate their special cases of hardship. For instance, in consideration of her health and physical condition, menstruating women or a woman in the state of postnatal bleeding and recuperation are absolved from the duty of prayers and fasting. She is required to make up the days of fasting missed due to menses and postnatal bleeding, but not her prayers, as that would be too burdensome.3) Equality in Rewards and Punishments
Both males and females have similar rewards for obedience and penalties for disobedience in this world and the Hereafter. As stated by Allah in the Glorious Qur'an:
(Whoever does righteous acts, whether male or female,
while he is a believer, verily, to him We will give a good life, and We
shall pay them certainly a reward in proportion to the best of what
they used to do.)
[16:97]
And the Lord Most Majestic says:
(Surely for men who submit to Allah and for women who
submit to Allah, for believing men and for believing women, for devout
men and devout women, for truthful men and truthful women, for
steadfast men and steadfast women, for humble men and humble women, for
charitable men and charitable women, for fasting men and fasting
women, for men who guard their chastity and women who guard their
chastity, for men who remember Allah much and for women who remember
Allah much, for all of them Allah has prepared forgiveness and a mighty
reward.)
[33:35]
4) Equality in Preservation of Honor and Nobility
Women have the same moral obligations and are entitled to the same general rights as men in guarding chastity, integrity and personal honor and respect, etc. No double standards are allowed. For instance, those who falsely accuse a chaste woman of adultery or fornication are publicly punished, just as if a man is slandered. Allah, the Exalted, states in the Glorious Qur'an:
(And those who accuse chaste women, and produce not
four witnesses, flog them with eighty lashes, and reject their testimony
forever. Indeed, they are those who are disobedient to Allah.)
[24:4]
5) Equality in Financial Dealings and Property Ownership
Women are equally qualified and allowed to engage in financial dealings and property ownership. According to Islamic law women can own, buy, sell and undertake any financial transaction without the need for guardianship, and without any restrictions or limitations - a situation unheard of in many societies until modern times.6) Best of you is the Best to his Womenfolk
Islam indicates that a man who honors, respects and deals with women justly and integrally, possesses a healthy and righteous personality, whereas a man who mistreats them is an unrighteous and unrespectable man. The Prophet of Allah (Peace be Upon Him) said:
The most complete believer is the best in character, and the best of you is the best to his womenfolk.
[Tirmidhi #1162 and verified]
7) Equality in Education and Cultivation
Islam entitles women to the same rights as men in terms of education and cultivation. The Prophet of Allah (Peace be Upon Him) said, as reported and authenticated by the scholars of prophetic traditions:
Seeking knowledge is compulsory for each and every Muslim (i.e. both male and female).
[Ibn Majah #224 al-Baihaqi and verified]
Muslim scholars collectively agreed that the word Muslim when used
in revealed scriptures includes both male and female, as we indicated
in parenthesis. Thus, Islam entitles women to the same right of
education in order to understand the religious and social obligations,
and obligated them both to raise their children in the best manner, in
accordance with the right Islamic guidance. Of course women have certain
obligations in bringing up their children that are commensurate to
their abilities and men have complementary obligations to finance,
protect and maintain according to their added responsibilities in the
family unit. The Prophet (Peace be Upon Him) said:
Whoever takes care of two girls until they reach
puberty, he and I will come on the Day of Resurrection like this.” The
Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) then joined his fingers to
illustrate this.
[Muslim #2631]
About female slave girls, the Prophet of Allah (Peace be Upon Him) said:
Whoever has a female child with him (under his
guardianship from slavery), and trains her in the best behavior, and
teaches her well, and then frees and marries her, will have a double
reward.
[Bukhari #97 & Muslim #154 ]
8) Equality in Social Responsiblities
Men and women have similar obligations and responsibilities to reform and correct the society to the best of their capability. Men and women shoulder the responsibility of enjoining good and forbidding evil equally, as Allah, the Exalted, states in the Qur'an:
(The believers, men and women, are helpers,
supporters, friends and protectors of one another, they enjoin all that
is good, and forbid all that is evil, they offer their prayers
perfectly, and give Zakah (Obligatory Charity) and obey Allah and His
Messenger. Allah will bestow Mercy on them. Surely Allah is All-Mighty,
All-Wise.)
[9:71]
9) Right to Receive Fair Share of Wealth
Men and women have set and determined rights to receive their fair share of wealth, just as they are obliged to give Zakah (Obligatory Charity) according to the set calculation. All Muslim scholars unanimously agree upon this. A woman has her set share of inheritance, as will be discussed in more detail later, which was a right unthinkable in many societies.Allah (The Almighty) says:
(There is a share for men from what is left by parents
and those closely related, and there is a share for women from what is
left by parents and those closely related, whether the wealth be small
or large: a legal mandatory share.)
[4:7]
10) A woman, just like a man, can give someone the right of seeking refuge and security among the Muslims
Allah, the Exalted, says:
(And if one of the polytheists seeks refuge, give him
until he hears the words of Allah, then take him to his place of
security.)
And the protection of Muslims is one, and the least among them can give protection; and whoever usurps the right of a Muslim then the curse of Allah and His angels and all the people is upon him, and no repentance or ransom will be accepted from him
[Bukhari #3008]
This is also proven by the famous story of Um Hani' (Mother of
Hani') when she gave protection to a polytheist who sought refuge with
her on the day of the conquest of Makkah after her relative threatened
to kill that person (for some past enmity) so the Messenger of Allah
(Peace be Upon Him) said,
We protect and give asylum to whomever you give asylum O Um Hani'.
[Bukhari #350]
These are just some of the rights, mentioned here as examples in a
summarized way to indicate the comprehensive nature of the Islamic
jurisprudence.
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