1 Life in the Shade of the Koran by Dr. Mohsen A. El-Guindy
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Life in the Shade of the Koran By Dr. Mohsen A. El-Guindy 1 Contents Page Introduction 3 Things and deeds prohibited in Islam 4 Inheritance in Islam 26 Wealth in Islam 31 Women in Islam 34 The veil in Islam 40 Marriage and sex in Islam 44 Polygamy in Islam 51 Jihad in Islam 56 Tolerance in Islam 62 Islam and democracy 72 Human rights in Islam 80 Misconceptions about Islam 108 References cited 119 2 Introduction In the shade of the Koran Muslims enjoy a pious life. To Muslims the Koran is the roadmap to paradise. Muslims earn paradise by adhering to the principles of the Koran and the Sunnah of the Prophet. They thus forbid what is prohibited and allow what is lawful. The author explains what is prohibited in Islam and what is lawful. In order to answer back the false accusations of the west against Islam, the author explains the topics: inheritance, wealth, women, the veil, sex, polygamy, jihad, tolerance, democracy, and human rights in Islam. The author refutes three main accusations against Islam: Islam is a recent religion invented by Muhammad, Islam is a violent religion and Islam is spread by the sword. The author provides evidences disproving such false accusations. 3 Chapter 1 Things and deeds prohibited in Islam In the shade of the Koran Muslims enjoy a pious and honorable life. The one thing that matters to Muslims is avoidance of Hell and attainment of paradise. To Muslims the Koran is the roadmap to paradise. Muslims earn paradise by adhering to the principles of the Koran. They thus forbid what is prohibited and allow what is lawful. The following are things and deeds prohibited in Islam: 1-Adultery In the West human rights calls for sexual freedom for both sexes and demand that they get sex education and access to contraceptives! Islam however, is the religion of strong family relationships. Sex in Islam means marriage, and no sex is allowed outside marriage. Spreading debauchery under the pretense of love or modern lifestyle is considered as a big sin in Islam. Islam has imposed a severe penalty on those who commit adultery even before marriage. Unmarried man or woman if they have sex outside marriage, Islam considers their act as a clear fornication. Both are whipped 100 lashes before a gathering witnessing their humiliation. If both were married, they are thrown by stones in a ditch until death. This penalty however requires four witnesses known by piety and credibility to swear in court that they have seen them doing the sexual act. If the four witnesses altogether are not available to the court the penalty is not concluded and the suspected are released and left to their conscious to seek Allah’s forgiveness. Let not any pity overcome you (so as to prevent you) from inflicting the order of Allah, if indeed you believe in Allah and the last day. And, let a group of the believers witness their punishment (An-Nûr, 2). This punishment was known before Islam in old religions including Judaism. Thus the society Islam tries to establish is a pure and chaste society where men and women are modest and god-fearing. It is not a society that raises the madness of sex or exploits women's bodies under the false claim of freedom. Fornication spreads diseases and mixes lineages and roots and causes corruption. The Islamic society is thus free from AIDS, Herpes, and other evils and epidemics that became rampant in modern free-sex communities. Allah says in the Koran: Indeed those who love that obscenity should be spread among the believers, shall have a painful chastisement in this life and in the Hereafter, and Allah knows but you do not know (An Noor 19). And do not draw near fornication; surely it is an indecency, and an evil which invites evil. (Al Isrâ', 32). In the Koran the sin of adultery is mentioned alongside polytheism and murder, illustrating its seriousness. 4 And those who invoke not any other god along with Allah, nor slay the soul Allah has forbidden except by right, neither fornicate, for whosoever does that shall receive the punishment. Doubled shall be the punishment for him on the Resurrection Day, and he shall dwell therein humbled (Al-Furqân, 68, 69). The Prophet said about the fornicator: “His belief leaves his body while he commits the shameful act, and hovers outside it until he finishes the act, at which time he regains it.” Furthermore, the fornicator in Islam is not allowed to consummate a marriage thereafter with a chaste partner. And there is punishment in the Hereafter. Islam has not only forbidden adultery and fornication, but has accompanied this prohibition with legislation that seals the avenues to them. Anything which is a precursor of fornication is itself a minor form of fornication. As in the authentic narration, "The eyes commit fornication, and their fornication is the look." Among those things which Islam has prohibited in this light are: a) Entering houses without permission: O you who believe! Do not enter houses other than your (own) houses until you have asked permission and greeted its occupants (An-Nûr, 27). b) Hayaa (bashfulness): According to the Koran the ultimate success in the hereafter depends on Muslims’ adherence to the branches of belief. Hayaa (bashfulness) is one of the branches of belief. Islam promotes Hayaa as a basic value in its social structure. Hayaa refers to the suppression of sexual behavior within certain limits and the avoidance of instigating sexual attraction beyond those limits. In Islam, Hayaa is one of the primary values, which besides a few other values provide the basis for not only moral behavior, but also a sound society. According to the Koran, Hayaa was the primary value that induced man to invent clothes to cover his private parts. In this regard the Koran refers to the incident that took place between Adam and Eve, the Koran says: And when they had eaten of the prohibited tree, their private parts became apparent to them and they started covering themselves with the leaves of the Garden (Al-Aa’raaf, 7) The Koran has given the minimum standard for the etiquette that should be observed between man and woman. When sitting in a mixed gathering, both the Muslim men as well as women should not try to lure someone from the opposite sex with their gazes. In other words, they should avoid staring at each other in a suggestive way. In a mixed gathering, both the Muslim men and women should wear dresses that 5 adequately cover their private parts. Any dress that is revealing or that may in any way arouse sexual thoughts in the minds of any member of the opposite sex is not allowed. The Koran directs women to turn their eyes away from temptation: O Prophet, tell these believing women (that when they interact in a mixed gathering) to turn their eyes away from temptation… (Al-Nûr, 31). Nudity in Western societies seemed to be everywhere. The prevalence of nudity in a society has a negative effect on Muslim’s inherent value of Hayaa. c) Lowering the gaze Allah instructed the Prophet to say to the believing men and the believing women to restrain their eyes and to guard their sexual morality by refraining from sexual congress. And say to the believing women, that they cast down their eyes and guard their private parts, and reveal not their adornment save such as is outward; and let them cast their veils over their bosoms, and not reveal their adornment save to their husbands, or their fathers, or their husbands' fathers, or their sons, or their husbands' sons, or their brothers, or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or what their right hands own, or such men as attend them, not having sexual desire, or children who have not yet attained knowledge of women's private parts; nor let them stamp their feet, so that their hidden ornament may be known. And turn altogether to Allah, O you believers; haply so you will prosper (Al-Nûr 30, 31). Muslim women are asked to guard their private parts by drawing their gowns when they go out, as a measure to distinguish themselves from others, so that they are not harassed. This applies to all Muslim women including the wives of the Prophet. O Prophet! Tell your wives, your daughters and the believing women to draw their cloaks (veils) over their bodies (when outdoors). That is more proper so that they may be distinguished and not be harassed. Allah is ever Forgiving and Merciful (Al-Ahzâb, 59). The Koran gives special directives to the wives of the Prophet when dealing with his visitors: Wives of the Prophet, you are not as other women. If you fear Allah, be not abject, so that he in whose heart is sickness may be lustful; but speak honorable words. Remain in your houses; and display not your finery, as did the pagans of old. And perform the prayer, and pay the alms, and obey Allah and His Messenger. People of the House, Allah only desires to put away from you abomination and to cleanse you (Al-Ahzâb 32, 33). 6 The Koran instructs the believers not to enter the Prophet's houses unless they are permitted to do so for a meal, in which case they do not sit waiting for the food until it be ready. But if they are invited then they enter not too early but at the time expected, and after the meal they should not linger to engage in a social discourse, but depart because such behavior causes inconvenience to the Prophet who is ashamed to ask them to leave.