"Seek knowledge, even unto China" - Prophet Muhammad

As-salamu alaykum, chapos!

After consulting with the cyber Ulama we have decided to create an open thread where curious posters can take a break from the great posting jihad and ask questions on the nature of Islam or the Muslim experience. So long as they are asked in good faith, from a position of truly wanting to learn, these questions will be answered without judgement.

As for Muslims, all of us are free to answer any of the questions, even ones that have already been answered. This is an open thread, and the input of different Islamic perspectives is valuable to getting a big picture.

To all those reading this, remember: No one person is an authority on Islam. This is why it traditionally the din never had its own clergy. Always have this in mind when researching on Islam.

Alright, now GET TO ASKING!

    • Saif [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      When Islam first emerged as a movement in the 6th century, it was in a liberatory fashion, especially for the women. Islamic values asserted new rights for them and espoused their equality with men. When comparing the condition for women after Muhammad to the Jahiliyya period before it, it seems like night and day. During the Jahiliyya, women were reduced to nothing but objects. Powerful men would collect dozens of wives and treat them like they were his property, while the society at the time would bury infant girls just because they preferred having sons.

      The Prophet instituted rules at the time that were absolutely revolutionary for the era. A lot of these aspects of Islam that are used in a reactionary way were actually originally liberating for women, and so lose the spirit of it. For example - the idea that a Muslim man can have 4 wives was actually meant to limit them, and this came with the necessary assertion that they must be treated as equals. Islam asserted for women the right to inherit instead of it all going to the sons, the right to keep anything they earn from employment instead of giving it to the family, and equity in all economic transactions. The Qur'an also vehemently asserts that victims of sexual violation are completely innocent, which some modern Muslim states completely disregard for many women.

      Even though today Westerners accuse Islam of being misogynistic, during the colonial era ironically they claimed the opposite - it may be bizarre to say, but Westerners used to level the accusation that Islam was misandric. That's because the traditional role of women in Islam was to be an equal partner who had an equal say in how a household is run, and the Prophet gives the ordinance that they must be treated with the utmost respect and veneration. Just look up any quote by the Prophet or the early Sahaba on women and this becomes clear:

      "Only an honorable man treats women with honor and integrity, and only a vile and dishonorable man humiliates and degrades women" - Prophet Muhammad

      "The whole world is a provision, and the best object of benefit of the world is the pious woman." - Prophet Muhammad

      "The women are not a garment you wear and undress however you like. They are honored and have their rights" - Umar Ibn Khattab

      As for the LGBTQ community, this is harder to analyze because the early Islamic sources simply never says anything about the LGBTQ community. The concept of there being distinct categories of "sexuality" is a relatively new concept in Western society, so the Qur'an never says anything about them because they weren't even aware of the existence of such a thing.

      The way Islamic values are presented, it is clear that Islam is not merely a set of specific, hard-encoded rules to abide by. The Qur'an for example is definitely not structured like a rulebook, it's a series of sermons, prayers, and stories that we have to put effort and analysis in order to interpret its meaning, it's open-ended. The reason I say this is because Islamic jurisprudence is based on interpretive reasoning, and if one were to use interpretive reasoning on the spirit of Islamic justice and liberation to fill in the gaps and apply Islam to the modern context, one could easily argue that it is our duty to protect the vulnerable and to assert the rights of women and the LGBTQ. Islamic legal scholars today have attempted to interpret reactionary viewpoints on these vulnerable communities, however, the tradition of jurisprudence is fallible and Muslims are under no obligation to listen to them. It is clear from the spirit of Islam, and from the intention of the Prophet, that the Islamic doctrine is to seek liberation and protection for all peoples, especially these vulnerable groups.