8 questions

I am sent questions and queries from time to time by people who are working on some research programme or writing about Islam and Muslims. The following are 8 questions which I answered and thought to place it on my blog for general public.


1) What do you think of the extremists who kill in the name of Islam?
We need to be careful when we say ‘extremists who kill in the name of Islam’. No one kills in the name of Islam. Killing is an act of murder and those who kill will always seek to justify their acts, to satisfy their conscience, and to attempt to persuade others of the legitimacy of their reasons for committing them. They could be Muslim political fanatics or some of the Irish who want to get rid of British rule or defend their right to be part of British rule. Some states commit acts of mass murder, and justify them as being ‘in the long term interest of the country’ or by enacting new laws to justify their criminality.
The Quran says: ‘and those who do not associate beside Allah any other god, and do not kill the soul that Allah has sanctified it except (within) legal right’…
This applies in a case of retaliation or to the law of retribution.
Destroying people’s lives by committing a murder or mass murders and attempting to justify it within any legal framework or system, religious or secular, is simply unacceptable.

2) What are your views on the Burqa, Hijab and Niqab?

There are few issues here:
Let me first clarify that majority of Islamic scholars are not of the opinion that women should cover or veil their faces.

The wearing of the Hijab is intended to protect a woman’s dignity by the wearing of clothes that cover her, and do not show her body in a provocative or inappropriate manner.

The wearing of the Burqa is now mostly confined to the women of Afghanistan, although it used to be worn, and can still be seen in parts of Pakistan and India. This is a fading local cultural phenomenon.

The Niqab, worn previously by women who were from a traditionally very conservative society, is, in my opinion, now worn either to show a deep personal commitment to spiritual purity, or, as is the case in many Muslim countries, has become part of local religious requirement.

The secular systems and the Feminist movements in the West oppose it; they hold the view that it symbolises the repression of women, or wearing it goes against the European norms of women’s liberty. Many people within some religious establishments also express the same objections, and cite it as an example of Islam’s inferiority and incompatibility with the present age. Women should have the choice and the right to demonstrate their liberty by exercising their options to wear whatever covering they want, or do not want, or in any other way.

Neither the state, nor any other organisation, should dictate to any religious minority, on what they should or should not wear, in my opinion. Let there be a personal choice which Islam will always defend.


3) Do you think women are oppressed in Islam?
I do not think women are oppressed in Islam in any sense. Islam was the first religious and legal system to grant them distinct equal rights, and made any discriminatory acts against them unlawful. Both men and women are equally responsible for their actions in the Sight of God and are given, equally, the free will to show their commitments towards Him.
Men and women are equal in their personal rights, ownership of business and properties, full entitlement to education, employment or inheritance law. Modesty is a requirement for both men and women.

If any cultural or local tribal traditions adversely affecting the treatment of women are seen to exist, they are not derived from Islam.

4) Many people who are against Islam like to take things out of context from the Quran. What do you think of that?
This has become widespread in a world where everyone declares that all religions should be treated fairly. However, quotes made freely and totally out of context, seem to have become the norm when attacking Islam and its teachings.

Islam, as is clear from the Quran, invites people to understand its teachings and not to take it for granted. Islam has no attitude of blind belief. It invokes people’s wisdom and intelligence, and says: ‘The truth is from your Lord, let him who wants to believe, do so, and let him who wants to disbelieve in it, do so’…

The Quranic teachings were revealed to the Prophet Muhammad over a 23 year period, which included periods of peaceful preaching and severe persecution, when wars were imposed on Muslims, forcing them to leave their towns. This resulted in the building of a community and eventually a state, in another town, together with further teachings concerning both the spiritual and the mundane life of the people, the formation of treaties and alliances, and co-existence with other communities.
Those who would malign Islam, deliberately and spitefully, confuse one period with another.

5) Do you think the Quran advocates violence?
No, the Quran does not advocate violence. The Quran is quite clear on this when it says: ‘and when they incline to peaceful relationship then you must respond to it and place your trust in Allah…

It also says: ‘there is no compulsion in religion’. Many wars were undertaken in the name of religion but Islam abolished the whole idea of imposing a religion onto another people. There is no concept of holy war in Islam. Jihad, as a concept equal to holy war, is a wholly un-Islamic one.

The Quran repeats in the most clear term saying: ‘Allah does not love those who spread mischief in the land’.

The Quran goes further and says: ‘and (only) fight in the way of Allah against those who are fighting you and do not transgress, as Allah does not love those who transgress (the limits).

Yes, Islam grants a person or a people the right to defend themselves when attacked; a path followed by all nations and peoples.

6) What stops people from learning about Islam?
I would say there are lots of people who learn about Islam and appreciate its teachings. However, in my opinion, historical prejudices, personal grievances, a dislike of Muslims, a feeling of racial supremacy, narrow mindedness and sense of monopoly about God and His favours, all combine when people disapprove of learning about Islam, as do images of violence, suicide bombings, immigration, projection of Sharia as repressive legal system, and all that is hateful to any person of common sense.

When people are continually told that violence comes from Muslims, understandably they come think that Islam is about violence. It is also understandable that some people, having continually received the wrong message, would like to protect themselves or their children from anything Islamic.

It is all about Image, and I remember one of the reasons raised by an opponent in the Prophet’s time, mentioned in the Quran, for not embracing Islam was their saying: ‘if it (Islam) were to be of any good, it would not have come to you’.

7) Does the media have a role in this?
Some of the media has, and continues, to play an extremely spiteful role in directing people’s minds against Islam and Muslims, particularly, when it comes to the reporting of conflicts in the world, and on local issues concerning the community. The Media needs sensationalism to engender greater profits, and continues to manipulate the news regardless of who is hurt and harmed in the process.
News that may concern an individual from the Muslim community, which is somehow linked to a regional conflict, is made to show that whatever happened was the result of being a Muslim, and political ideologues are continually encouraged to attack Islam.
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8) What can be done to stop misconceptions arising amongst people?
The other day I was reading some comments made about an article written by a Muslim on Islam, in which one commentator said: ‘…minds are already made-up about Islam’.

This is a true reflection of a real prejudice and shows that many people in this world are not open to any form of reasoning but only heed the opinions which are already firmly entrenched in their own minds. It is a sad situation, the changing of which will be an enormous undertaking, involving all of us, at all levels of society.

Politicians, media and communities, all need to be more responsible and should show leadership by demonstrating that they all wish to build a firm and lasting community relationship.

The wider community should bear greater responsibilities towards creating an environment in which peoples can prosper and ideas can be challenged in a positive manner. At the moment, Muslims are being bombarded with allegations and are then expected to prove themselves by coming forward with solutions!

Everyone needs to assist in the creation of an environment of trust, encompassing a willingness to engage, create human fellowship, try to find the common ground, regard all people as equal and worth listening to, and dealing with all in a fair way. The Media should be made far more responsible for what they are publishing.