Dissentient Culture

Dr. Muhammad Ra'fat Othman

The report in question stresses on democracy and sees that moderate Muslims should encourage and support it. Actually, Muslims are in no need for anyone to define this for them, simply because the Islamic system includes the advantages of democracy and avoids its disadvantages. Moreover, the common meaning of democracy (which signifies the people's government and will) exists in the Islamic political thought.

According to the Western concept of democracy, the people can cancel the nation's well-established fundamentals that were inherited throughout various eras and generations. They can also modify the system in whatever way they desire, even if this contradicts morals, ideals, and virtues. There is no room for this in the Islamic political system, as it has well-established moral and ideal fundamentals that cannot be cancelled, even by the people altogether.

At present in some Western societies, laws permit marriage between people of the same sex and give homosexuals legal rights, setting punishments for whoever violates these rights. On the other hand, Islam does not permit any of that, because all Islamic systems include moral regulations that provide protection against the violations of individuals, lusts, whims, etc.

Concerning women's rights, the claim that "moderation" requires the reconsideration of the Islamic attitude towards women should be rejected as neither objective nor sound. In Islam, equality between men and women is seen in light of a comprehensive frame that maintains equality in terms of human value and, nevertheless, recognizes differences in nature and tasks.

The Shari`ah offers women status and rights that are unprecedented in Western societies and not available in contemporary Western legal systems. According to the rulings of Islamic Shari`ah, a woman should not be insulted or humiliated at all by her husband, her family, or her society.

Respect for Women

Shari`ah treats women so kindly and respectfully. There is no difference between men and women in public rights. Almighty Allah says in the Qur'an what means, [consort with them in kindness] (An-Nisaa' 4:19). Moreover, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade men to say bad words to their wives. When a Muslim man asked him, "What is the right of a wife of any one of us on him?" The Prophet said, "To feed her when you eat [i.e., from the same sort or level of food], to clothe her when you clothe yourself, not to hit [or slap her] face, not swear at her, and not to refuse to share [the bed] with her."

One of the signs of respecting women in Islam is that while all Western societies allow men to have numerous paramours - something that insults the wife -, Islam does not allow men to take any mistresses or paramours. If, however, a man wants to have another woman in addition to his wife, the only way is to get married. This way keeps her respectable within society, and this is totally different from being a mere paramour whom a man uses for his pleasure whenever he wants, without any rights on her part; let alone the illegal children who may result from such relationship then be cast into orphanages and houses of foundlings.

A Western woman told Dr. Ahmad At-Tayyib, president of Al-Azhar University, during some symposium that "a woman is like a princess in Islam." As a matter of fact, a woman in Islam is quite so because she is to be taken care of in all stages of her life. Before marriage, her father takes care of her; after marriage her husband looks after her; if she loses both her father and her husband, the state cares for her, as this is one of the Islamic state's duties toward the people.

Furthermore, it is not reasonable at all to suggest, as stated by the American report, a 100-percent equality between man and woman. This contradicts the scientific rule that says that two untypical things cannot be inclusively similar. Certain matters that are required by woman's physical, psychological, and sentimental structure make her connected to certain rulings that are not like those related to man. Yet still, both man and woman are equal in general rights and in value.

As regards the issue of inheritance which is stressed by Western and American researchers in their reports, a woman's inheritance in Islam depends on her financial responsibility. Because a woman is not legally responsible for supporting others or even herself financially, it is quite fair that her share in inheritance be not like that of her brother, who is responsible for supporting her whenever she needs him. In the meantime, a general principle in Islam states that "women are equivalents to men," which means that they have the same rights which men have.

The American report demands that some verses of the Qur'an and Prophetic hadiths should be reinterpreted. This is not short of an attempt to subject the interpretations of Shari`ah to the tendencies of such bodies. More Importantly, the science of Qur'anic exegesis (tafseer) provides a great service and so does the Prophetic Sunnah in clarifying the Qur'anic verses.

Additionally, the interpretation of Qur'anic texts is very moderate, and what the American report proposes is an attempt to alter the meanings of verses and texts in order to make them in conformity with what they call for. This is rejected, because the followers of those bodies cannot impose their culture upon us.

One of the shortcomings of the Western political regimes and the American regime in particular, is that they want to impose their own desires and agenda on others. Islam has nothing to do with such coercion, especially when it comes to the matter of believing in Almighty Allah where there is no compulsion at all; as, after all, people will be judged by Allah on the Day of Resurrection.

Concerning the acceptance of a source of legislation not based on sectarian bases, Islam should not be accused of having laws that are based on sectarianism. Quite the opposite, Islamic laws are based on absolute justice, as the word "sectarianism" is always attached to any system that gives to a certain sect rights more than those given to another sect regarded by the system in question as inferior. The Islamic system has nothing to do with this.

The rule adopted by Islam in dealing with non-Muslims is that they have the same rights of Muslims and are entitled to duties like theirs. They are even exempted from certain rulings. Accordingly, they are not asked, for example, to avoid eating swine flesh. On the other hand, any Muslim who is proven to have eaten such flesh is prone to a punishment, terminologically called in Islamic jurisprudence ta`zeer (discretionary punishment).

The report says that a moderate Muslim is one who opposes terrorism and all other forms of violence. Well, Muslims do not need an American report to remind them of this. This is because Islam condemns terrorism and forbids Muslims from transgressing the life, property, or anything that belongs to any human being. Most Muslims denounce terrorism.

However, it is not fair to regard peoples defending their occupied lands as a form of terrorism, for this is a national duty approved by both Shari`ah and reason. Actually, any person who accepts that others should occupy their land has no dignity. When the oppressed resist the oppressors, this is called "fair war" and not "terrorism," as deduced from the connotations of the American report.