Islam

"...a series which was dedicated to the redressing of appalling ignorance and misrepresentation of a vast continent ended up just being another expensive propaganda for the racial-religious superiority of seductive superstition imported into or forced down the throat of African continent"...If the references to Islam still remains veiled they become transparent when Soyinka writes...but let it not be done as a continuation of the game of denigration against the African spiritual heritage/...perpetrated by Islam;s born again revisionist of history..."

"..Closed groups who live in superstitious conviction that mutilation is good for a child, can not be expected to be open about such matters. As a result of their conviction, the parents perceive mutilation of their own child not as a criminal..."

"... Soyinka, the authentic African visionary, is clearly surprised that there are still individuals who hold that religion, Islam especially, has any relevance to a new vision of Africa as this continent faces challenge of the twenty-first century. Islam may after all not only be alien to Africa, it is also alien to our era. It is not only an imported superstition, it is also an antiquated superstition, a tale that is full of fury and violence but signifying nothing. ..."

""...The images of Islam that emerge from critical literature indicate a translation of colonial perceptions of Islam as a primitive and regressive superstition, either imposed by force or else singularly deformed to suit the defective ethical standards of Africans."

"A'isha reported that a Jew from among the Jews of Banu Zuraiq who was called Labid b. al-A'sam cast spell upon Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) with the result that he (under the influence of the spell) felt that he had been doing something whereas in fact he had not been doing that. (This state of affairs lasted) until one day or during one night Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) made supplication (to dispel its effects). He again made a supplication and he again did this and said to 'A'isha: Do you know that Allah has told me what I had asked Him? There came to me two men and one amongst them sat near my head and the other one near my feet and he who sat near my head said to one who sat near my feet or one who sat near my feet said to one who sat near my head: What is the trouble with the man? He said: The spell has affected him. He said: Who has cast that? He (the other one) said: It was Labid b. A'sam (who has done it). He said: What is the thing by which he transmitted its effect? He said: By the comb and by the hair stuck to the comb and the spathe of the date-palm. He said: Where is tbap He replied: In the well of Dhi Arwan. She said: Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) sent some of the persons from among his Companions there and then said: 'A'isha. by Allah, its water was yellow like henna and its trees were like heads of the devils. She said that she asked Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as to why he did not burn that. He said: No, Allah has cured me and I do not like that I should induce people to commit any high-handedness in regard (to one another), but I only commanded that it should be buried."

".. Should Islam embark on a period of enlightenment and modernization? Does Islam need a Voltaire to call Muslims to break free of Superstition, to use their mind not emotions, to take note, as he did in 1800s, that "Nothing can be more contrary to religion and the clergy than reason and common sense."

"Abu Sa'id reported that Gabriel came to AJlah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) and said: Muhammad, have you fallen ill? Thereupon he said: Yes. He (Gabriel) said:" In the name of Allah I exercise you from everything and safeguard you from every evil that may harm you and from the eye of a jealous one. Allah would cure you and I invoke the name of Allah for you.""

"..Is there an enlightened Muslim man or woman who can stand with Voltaire and say, "To think of virgin as a virtue--and not a barrier that separates ignorance from knowledge -- is an infantile superstition"? Where is the biting criticism from within? Or is it the West that should be listening to the critical voice of Voltaire and examining itself and it's committment to moral principles? As Thomas L. Friedman has written, Westeners should hold Arabs and Muslims to the same high moral standards as Westeners hold for themselves. .."

".. Islam is in need of enlightenment. Islamic societies still wrestle with the Dark Ages (prejudice, restricted thought, superstition) that strapped Christian societies before the Reformation and Age of Reason questioned central tenets. But it is unlikely that this movement will rise up from within the Islamic world. Writers, academics, and journalists who voice their criticism are forced to take refuge in the West. Their works are banned in their own country.."

"Abu Huraira reported so many abidith from Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) and he reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: The influence of an evil eye is a fact."

"Ibn 'Abbas reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: The influence of an evil eye is a fact; if anything would precede the destiny it would be the influence of an evil eye, and when you are asked to take bath (as a cure) from the influence of an evil eye, you should take bath."

"Yahya related to me from Malik that Muhammad ibn Abi Umama ibn Sahl ibn Hunayf heard his father say, "My father, Sahl ibn Hunayf did a ghusl at al-Kharrar. He removed the jubbah he had on while Amir ibn Rabia was watching, and Sahl was a man with beautiful white skin. Amir said to him, 'I have never seen anything like what I have seen today, not even the skin of a virgin.' Sahl fell ill on the spot, and his condition grew worse. Somebody went to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and told him that Sahl was ill, and could not go with him. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, came to him, and Sahl told him what had happened with Amir. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'Why does one of you kill his brother? Why did you not say, "May Allah bless you?" (ta baraka-llah) The evil eye is true. Do wudu from it.' Amir did wudu from it and Sahl went with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and there was nothing wrong with him.""

"And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more. And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf."

"And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?"

"And he left all that he had in Joseph's hand; and, having him, he knew not aught save the bread which he did eat. And Joseph was of beautiful form, and fair to look upon. And it came to pass after these things, that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said: 'Lie with me.' But he refused, and said unto his master's wife: 'Behold, my master, having me, knoweth not what is in the house, and he hath put all that he hath into my hand; he is not greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?' And it came to pass, as she spoke to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her. And it came to pass on a certain day, when he went into the house to do his work, and there was none of the men of the house there within, that she caught him by his garment, saying: 'Lie with me.' And he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out. [...] And she laid up his garment by her, until his master came home. And she spoke unto him according to these words, saying: 'The Hebrew servant, whom thou hast brought unto us, came in unto me to mock me. And it came to pass, as I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment by me, and fled out.' And it came to pass, when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spoke unto him, saying: 'After this manner did thy servant to me'; that his wrath was kindled. And Joseph's master took him, and put him into the prison, the place where the king's prisoners were bound; and he was there in the prison."

"When Joseph said to his father: O my father, I saw eleven stars and the sun and the moon -- I saw them making obeisance to me. He said: O my son, relate not thy dream to thy brethren, lest they devise a plan against thee. The devil indeed is an open enemy to man."

"Then she would resort to enticements in order to obtain her desire. She would promise to release him from prison, if he would but grant her wish. But he would say, "Better it is to remain here than be with thee and commit a trespass against God.""

"And she [ Rachel ] conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach: And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another son."

"Some people asked the Prophet: "Who is the most honorable amongst the people?" He replied, "The most honorable among them is the one who is the most Allah-fearing." They said, "O Prophet of Allah! We do not ask about this." He said, "Then the most honorable person is Yusuf, Nabiyyullah (Arabic: نَـبِيُّ الله‎, Prophet of Allah), the son of a Nabiyyillah, the son of a Nabiyyillah, the son of Khalilillah (Arabic: خَـلـيـلِ الله‎, "Friend of Allah").""

"This and that outrage have I executed against thee, but, as thou livest, I will put yet other outrages upon thee if thou dost not obey me." But Joseph replied, "The Lord executeth judgment for the oppressed." Zuleika: "I will push matters so far that all men will hate thee." Joseph: "The Lord loveth the righteous." Zuleika: "I will sell thee into a strange land." Joseph: "The Lord preserveth the strangers."

"When he was on the point of complying with the wish of his mistress, the image of his mother Rachel appeared before him, and that of his aunt Leah, and the image of his father Jacob. The last addressed him thus: "In time to come the names of thy brethren will be graven upon the breastplate of the high priest. Dost thou desire to have thy name appear with theirs? Or wilt thou forfeit this honor through sinful conduct? For know, he that keepeth company with harlots wasteth his substance." Astonished at the swift change in his countenance, Zuleika said, "My friend and true-love, why art thou so affrighted that thou art near to swooning? Joseph: "I see my father!" Zuleika: "Where is he? Why, there is none in the house." Joseph: "Thou belongest to a people that is like unto the ass, it perceiveth nothing. But I belong to those who can see things.""

"She would say, "I will bring false accusations against thee before thy master," and Joseph would reply, "The Lord executeth judgment for the oppressed." Or, "I will deprive thee of food;" whereupon Joseph, "The Lord giveth food to the hungry." Or, "I will have thee thrown into prison;" whereupon Joseph, "The Lord looseth the prisoners." Or, "I will put heavy labor upon thee that will bend thee double;" whereupon Joseph, "The Lord raiseth up them that are bowed down." Or, "I will blind thine eyes;" whereupon Joseph, "The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind.""

"By way of punishment for having traduced his ten brethren before his father, Joseph had to languish for ten years in the prison to which the wiles of traducers had in turn condemned him. But, on the other hand, as he had sanctified the Name of God before the world by his chastity and his steadfastness, he was rewarded. The letter He, which occurs twice in the Name of God, was added to his name. He had been called Joseph, but now he was called also Jehoseph."

"The whole course of the son's life is but a repetition of the father's. As the mother of Jacob remained childless for a long time after her marriage, so also the mother of Joseph. As Rebekah had undergone severe suffering in giving birth to Jacob, so Rachel in giving birth to Joseph. As Jacob's mother bore two sons, so also Joseph's mother. Like Jacob, Joseph was born circumcised. As the father was a shepherd, so the son. As the father served for the sake of a woman, so the son served under a woman. Like the father, the son appropriated his older brother's birthright. The father was hated by his brother, and the son was hated by his brethren. The father was the favorite son as compared with his brother, so was the son as compared with his brethren. Both the father and the son lived in the land of the stranger. The father became a servant to a master, also the son. The master whom the father served was blessed by God, so was the master whom the son served. The father and the son were both accompanied by angels, and both married their wives outside of the Holy Land. The father and the son were both blessed with wealth. Great things were announced to the father in a dream, so also to the son. As the father went to Egypt and put an end to famine, so the son. As the father exacted the promise from his sons to bury him in the Holy Land, so also the son. The father died in Egypt, there died also the son. The body of the father was embalmed, also the body of the son. As the father's remains were carried to the Holy Land for interment, so also the remains of the son. Jacob the father provided for the sustenance of his son Joseph during a period of seventeen years, so Joseph the son provided for his father Jacob during a period of seventeen years."

"Zuleika saying, "If it be thy wish that I forsake idol worship, then fulfil my desire, and I will persuade that Egyptian husband of mine to abjure the idols, and we shall walk in the law of thy God." Joseph replied, "The Lord desireth not that those who fear Him shall walk in impurity, nor hath He pleasure in the adulterer.""

"Joseph said: "Though thou coverest up the eyes of the idol, remember, the eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the whole earth. Yes," continued Joseph, "I have many reasons not to do this thing for the sake of God. Adam was banished from Paradise on account of violating a light command; how much more should I have to fear the punishment of God, were I to commit so grave a sin as adultery! The Lord is in the habit of choosing a favorite member of our family as a sacrifice unto Himself. Perhaps He desireth to make choice of me, but if I do thy will, I make myself unfit to be a sacrifice unto God. Also the Lord is in the habit of appearing suddenly, in visions of the night, unto those that love Him. Thus did He appear unto Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I fear that He may appear unto me at the very moment while I am defiling myself with thee. And as I fear God, so I fear my father, who withdrew the birthright from his first-born son Reuben, on account of an immoral act, and gave it to me. Were I to fulfil thy desire, I would share the fate of my brother Reuben.""

"Another time she came to him, and said, "If thou wilt not do my desire, I will murder the Egyptian and wed with thee according to the law." Whereat Joseph rent his garment, and he said, "O woman, fear the Lord, and do not execute this evil deed, that thou mayest not bring destruction down upon thyself, for I will proclaim thy impious purposes to all in public.""

"His mistress, or, as she was called, Zuleika, pursued him day after day with her amorous talk and her flattery, saying: "How fair is thy appearance, how comely thy form! Never have I seen so well-favored a slave as thou art." Joseph would reply: "God, who formed me in my mother's womb, hath created all men." Zuleika: "How beautiful are thine eyes, with which thou hast charmed all Egyptians, both men and women!" Joseph: "Beautiful as they may be while I am alive, so ghastly they will be to look upon in the grave." Zuleika: "How lovely and pleasant are thy words! I pray thee, take thy harp, play and also sing, that I may hear thy words." Joseph: "Lovely and pleasant are my words when I proclaim the praise of my God.""

"she said to Joseph: "Why dost thou refuse to fulfil my wish? Am I not a married woman? None will find out what thou hast done." Joseph replied: "If the unmarried women of the heathen are prohibited unto us, how much more their married women? As the Lord liveth, I will not commit the crime thou biddest me do.""

"In medieval early modern Islamic legislation on zina, therefore, a number of issues collide with one another, setting the foundation for eventual modern reinterpretations. Most fundamentally, sex law is intimately connected in this jurisprudence-as it is in the modern period-to both political identity and political space. At the same time, however, although there is a definite overlap between rape and adultery under the larger rubric of zina, the two remain relatively distinct-rape having to do with inappropriate copulation and adultery having to do with violating a contract. Likewise, for the most part sexuality and reproduction are emphatically separate-pregnancy irrelevant to adultery legislation and (male) sexual behavior the issue at stake in determining sexual crime. Nonetheless, there is also a starting point set here for an eventual conflation of rape and adultery as well as an eventual conflation of sexuality and reproduction. Indeed, by the time the early modern Ottoman codifications were being promulgated, these lines had been effectively blurred. Sexuality and reproduction remained to some extent separate, but with the collapse of hadd and tazir, sex crime became increasingly political and increasingly central to state structures. Likewise, sex crime became far more closely linked to emerging notions of the public and the private spheres-the primary difference between the seventeenth century and the nineteenth century being the seventeenth century emphasis on quasi private contracts and the nineteenth century emphasis on the emphatically public social contract. Moreover, these issues play almost the same role in medieval and early modern Catholic, French, and Italian law. There is, for example, a definite overlap in medieval France and Italy between rape and adultery-rape “defined as any sexual act outside of marriage and in particular applied to sexual intercourse with virgins, regardless of the aspect of violence.” At the same time, however, the punishment for adultery/rape-death and/or the obligation to settle a dowry on a deflowered virgin -sets up distinctions between the two that should at this point be familiar. The emphasis on the marriage contract, for example, once again creates a situation in which the punishment for raping a woman capable being contracted in marriage (i.e., a virgin) is far less severe than the punishment for raping a woman who could not be contracted in marriage (i.e., a married woman)."

"Complete legal capacity is only held in a person who has complete control of their body and mind. Slavery is premised upon the absence of control over the body, since it transfers control of the body and labour of the slave to another person, including sexual control. Therefore to ask the question pertaining to compulsion or consent of the enslaved person is to ask a question that does not have legal salience. Enslavement by definition removes the requirement for consent."

"Obviously, the rhetoric of the public/private distinction that would underlies modern political behavior had not been constructed in the Ottoman Empire in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. There does, however, appear to be a starting point set for an eventual movement in that direction. A hierarchy of sexual vulnerability (married women to young boys to unmarried women to adult men) is being formulated here and then linked to notions of physical mobility and space. Those who are more sexually vulnerable cannot venture out into public space; those who are less so can cross the public/private divide with more confidence. Likewise, those who are a threat are primarily defined as such because they are capable of carrying those who are threatened across spatial lines. And indeed, theoretically, at least, the crime that was rape occurred only as a result of a violation of these assumptions about space.38 Finally, for women but not for men,39 it was the precise act of entering into a contract (marriage, concubinage) that redefined both sexual vulnerability and physical mobility. It was indeed the contract above all that defined sexualized political space (“the public”) and politicized sexual space (“the private”)."

"Sixteenth and seventeenth century Ottoman legislation on adultery and rape, for example, stipulated the frequent use of fines, moving away from the earlier emphasis on corporal punishment The hadd penalty for flogging or death for sexual crime *or even else severe tazir variations on this punishment) was for the most part replaced in this period by a scale of fines that depended on an individual's marital, religious, and economic status. This did not mean, however, that hadd punishments disappeared completely. As Leslie Peirce notes, the punishments articulated in the codes are “qualified .. with the brief statement provided the sharia punishment is not applied.'” Nonetheless, the basic assumption was that “the fine for adultery imposed on a rich Muslim was six times greater than that imposed on a poor Muslim and twelve times that imposed on a poor non-Muslim or a slave” Fines tied to both economic and political/religious status, in other words, replaced universal physical punishments applicable to everyone in the Muslim community."

"I should also emphasize that corporal punishment continued to play a role in the jurisprudence of the early modern period. As Judith Tucker notes in her analysis of seventeenth and eighteenth century legal structures in Ottoman Syria, for example, the shifting line between adultery and rape led many jurists to develop completely new types of physical punishment to respond to sexual crime. While noting that most judges did not make use of these prescriptions int heir actual adjudications, Tucker observes that, [t]he various evolving Ottoman criminal codes (kanun) authorized the Islamic judge to fine a perpetrator of simple za in lieu of applying the hadd penalty of the shari'a, but in the case of forced abduction and rape, whether of a woman, a girl, or a boy, the criminal code prescribed castration of the guilty."

"In this interpretation, in other words, zina as rape led to a severe, corporal tazir punishment that bore very little relationship to hadd adjudifications. At the same time, however, it was not just zina as rape, but rape along with abduction-the movement of perpetrator and his victim across space-that merited this particularly formidable response. The crime, that is, was conceived of as one that struck not just at sexual morality, but also at emerging notions of public and private space. And indeed, a second moment at which corporal punishment continued to be invoked was one that also revolved around questions of space. In this situation, however, the issue at stake was the respectability of the woman involved in the case. As Pierce argues, [I]f the mufti gave the category muhaddere [respectable] a definition, imperial law endowed it with material consequences. According to the statute books issues by the sultans, penalties for illegal behavior might differ according to whether a woman was muhaddere or not ...[i]n other words, the non-muhaddere woman might suffer a severe flogging and a substantial fine, while the parallel punishment for the muhaddere woman was the public humiliation of her husband the imposition of a comparatively lesser fine. By translating muhaddere as “respectable,” Peirce provides the literal translation (veiled, modest, concealed) with a significant social and legal meaning. At the same time, however, by choosing the word “respectable” in particular, she likewise gets at nascent modern notions of, of course, “respectability,” of the spaces in which respectable women travel, of where exactly women of what type move.33 Along with this new, sliding scale of fines linked to social status linked to corporal punishment,34 therefore, we can also see by the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries an interest on the part of the Ottoman government in defining not just the contract and copulation as they relate to sexual crime, but the sexual, moral, marital, economic, and political status of the individuals involved in them-especially to the extent that this status was manifested in movement across space."

"A woman went out to pray at the time of the Prophet, and she was met by a man who attacked her and had his way with her. She screamed and he went away. Then another man passed by and she said: “This man did such and such to me.” A group of the Muhājirīn came by, and she said: “That man did such and such to me.” They caught the man who she thought was the one who had attacked her, and brought him, and she said: “Yes, this is the one.” They brought him to the Messenger of Allah, and when he issued orders concerning him, the one who had attacked her, stood up and said: “O Messenger of Allah, I am the one who attacked her.” He said to her: “Go, for Allah has forgiven you, and he said kind words to the man. [...] And he said concerning the man who had attacked her: “Stone him.” And he said: “He has repented in such a manner that if the people of Al-Madīnah repented like this, it would be accepted from them."

"It is otherwise where a woman, residing in the house of her husband, refuses to admit him to the conjugal embrace, as she is entitled to maintenance, notwithstanding her opposition, because being then in his power, he may, if he please, enjoy her by force."

"Al-Nasafi added an undeniable shade of violence to his discussion on marital rape. While he argued that a necessary condition of hitting one's wife is to leave her intact or sound, soundness is not a cindition for sex. so if a wife dies while her husband is having sex with her, he is not liable."

"A man may gratify his passion with his female slave in whatever way he pleases. It is lawful for a man to perform the act of Azil (i.e. coitus interruptus) with his female slave without her consent, whereas he cannot lawfully do so by his wife unless with her permission. The reason of this is that the Prophet has forbidden the act of Azil with a free woman without her consent but has permitted it to a master in the case of his female slave."

"Thus, marital rape is literally uncriminalizable under dominant interpretations of shari‘a."

"The last solution offered by Al-Kasani is especially disturbing, since it forces a wife to engage in non-consensual sex. If a wife's nushuz consisted of her sexual refusal, then her husband could have sex with her against her will. According to al-Kasani, marital rape was legally permissible."

"The fatal blot in Islam is the degradation of women. ... The Muslim soldier was allowed to do as he pleased with any infidel woman he might meet with on his victorious march. When one thinks of the thousands of women, mothers and daughters, who must have suffered untold shame and dishonour by this license, he cannot find words to express his horror, And this cruel indulgence has left its mark on the Muslim character."

"Coercion within marriage or concubinage might be repugnant, but it remained fundamentally legal."

"The followers of Imam Abu Hanifah said: "The right of the sexual pleasure belongs to the man, not the woman, by that it is meant that the man has the right to force the woman to gratify himself sexually."

"...marital rape is an oxymoron; rape (ightisab) is a property crime that by definition cannot be committed by a husband."

"Though I believe in the strongest possible terms that meaningful consent is a prerequisite for ethical sexual relationships, I am at a loss to find this stance mirrored in the premodern Muslim legal tradition, which accepted and regulated slavery, including sex between male masters and their female slaves....I recall no instance in any Maliki, Hanafi, Shafii, or Hanbali text from the 8th to 10th centuries where anyone asserts that an owner must obtain his female slave’s consent before having sex with her. Indeed, I am aware of no case where anyone asks whether her consent is necessary or"

"For premodern Muslim jurists, as well as for those marginal figures who believe that the permission still holds, the category "rape" doesn't apply: ownership makes sex lawful; consent is irrelevant."

"Islam, from among all religions, best suits the science discoveries and is the most ready to edify souls and force them to abide by justice, kindness and toleration."

"Every person I met believes if there is any disagreement between the Koran and science, then the Koran wins. It's just utterly deplorable. These are now British children who are having their minds stuffed with alien rubbish. Occasionally, my colleagues lecturing in universities lament having undergraduate students walk out of their classes when they talk about evolution. This is almost entirely Muslims."

"A totally objective examination of it [the Qur'an] in the light of modern knowledge, leads us to recognize the agreement between the two, as has been already noted on repeated occasions. It makes us deem it quite unthinkable for a man of Muhammad's time to have been the author of such statements on account of the state of knowledge in his day. Such considerations are part of what gives the Qur'anic Revelation its unique place, and forces the impartial scientist to admit his inability to provide an explanation which calls solely upon materialistic reasoning.""