Zubair Ahmed

Sexual Assault

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Ever Merciful

Contents of this Article:

Introduction: “What is sexual assault”
A Letter of Concern
The Case of Yusuf a.s.
Comments on an Article: “Rape in Islamic Law …”
A Valid Question
Discussion on ‘The Audio Leak’
Conclusion

[1] Introduction: “What is sexual assault?

A sexual assault is any sexual act that a person did not consent to, or is forced into against their will. It is a form of sexual violence and includes rape, … or other sexual offences, such as groping, forced kissing, child sexual abuse, or the torture of a person in a sexual manner. Sexual assault is an act that is carried out without the victim’s active consent. This means they didn’t agree to it. …”

[Source: https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/sexual-health/help-after-rape-and-sexual-assault/%5D

“Sexual assault and abuse are serious crimes which continue to have a significant impact on our society. The devastating consequences for any victim can often be misunderstood and neglected. Despite this, the vast number of victims remain hidden due to a fear of coming forward or a lack of faith in organisations. …”

[Source: https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/health-just/sexual-assault-and-abuse/%5D

Age of Marriage

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, ever Merciful.

This is a controversial topic on which Muslims are not united (Muslims are more or less united on the essentials, such as the expression of belief that the Noble Qur’an is the Word of Allah, the 6 articles of faith, and 5 the pillars of Islam, than on the details and interpretations thereof).

Some Muslims adhere to news reports (ahadith) which give Aisha r.a. a young age of 9 at the time of the wedding, and 6 at the time of the marriage (even though a 6 year old girl is incapable of giving [a valid] consent to her marriage), ignoring other news reports which indicate a higher age.

It is rightly said: ‘don’t believe everything you read/hear.’

Jihad?

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Ever Merciful.

I intend to respond to some of the issues raised on the issue of Jihad in the following website:

http://www.answeringmuslims.com/p/jihad.html

It is suggested on this polemical anti-Islamic site that there are three stages of Jihad, i.e. the term Jihad used in the sense of ‘fighting’, which is actually referred to as ‘qitaal‘ rather than Jihad in the Holy Qur’an.

The primary meaning of the word Jihad in Arabic is to strive, which may be towards God [22:78, 29:69] against Satan, or one’s inner weakness [29:6], overcoming disbelief with the truth in the Qur’an [25:52].

Jesus a.s. & His Supposed Crucifixion

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Ever Merciful.

Introduction:

There is no hadith, weak or sound, in which the Holy Prophet Muhammad s.a. elaborates the meaning of [4:157], though other verses relevant to Jesus a.s. and Christian doctrines were brought up in a discussion/debate with a delegation of 60 Christians from Najran who visited the Prophet s.a. in Medina, according to Sirat Rasulullah by Ibn Hisham. Muslim scholars appear to have developed an erroneous understanding of the verse by relying on highly contradictory (hence likely to be false) substitution legends which differ in the version given in different muslim tafasir on almost every detail, (such as differing even on the identity of the substituted person, who is said to be either a roman soldier, a passing Jew, Judas Iscariot, Simon of Cyrene, one of the disciples, Peter, or Sergius, or Tatianus) attributed mostly to unnamed Christian sources (which itself is highly suspicious, and a tell tale sign of ‘fake news’), which appear to have originated in Iraq in the middle of the second century after Hijra (“Christ in Islam and Christianity: Representation of Jesus in the Qur’an and the Classical Muslim Commentaries”, by Neal Robinson).

Right-hand Possessions

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Ever Merciful

This issue has acquired importance in our time due to the recent extreme human rights violations perpetrated by the terrorist organisation known as ISIS or ‘Daesh’.

My assessment is that this is a result of the false labelling of hadith collections as ‘sahih’, apparently due to the lack of proper and intensive study of the Qur’an by the likes of Bukhari and Muslim, for there is a significant amount of doubtful and criminal reports in their compilations, and which have been accepted uncritically over the centuries, and in so doing, verses of the Noble Qur’an were misinterpreted under the influence of such false reports, with subsequent generations of Muslims accepting them out of regard or reverence for their predecessor male scholars.

These male scholars were either biased against women in some way, or at least did not perceive their biases and those of their predecessors, and who both compiled and canonised hadith compilations including those Ahadith which are misogynistic, as well as issued the interpretations of Qur’an, Ahadith and Sira literature, with at times, little regard for the rights and feelings of women, and with little to no input from Muslim women scholars over the centuries. So, let us now analyse this issue with an unbiased and critical mind.

Obedience:

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, ever Merciful.

There is much emphasis in the Pakistani, and some other cultures, on respect for and obedience to parents, husbands, elders, teachers, leaders etc. However, to what extent is this so in Islamic teachings?

My study has shown that this is not the case in the teachings of Al-Islam. For instance, I am yet to see any command from Allah s.w.t. in the Qur’an to wives to obey their husbands, or an order to children to obey their parents.

In this article, I examine what Allah s.w.t. and His Noble Messenger s.a. have taught us in this regards.

Women’s Rights

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Ever Merciful

Contents of this Article:

Introduction: The State of Muslim Womens Rights
Women and Men as Allies
Khadija r.a. an Ally of the Prophet s.a.
A Misogynistic Bukhari Hadith
Umm Salama r.a. and the Treaty of Hudaibiyyah
Who is More Honourable?
The Jilbaab and the Khimaar
Relations Between Spouses
The Woman is Right!
Conclusions

[1] Introduction: The State of Muslim Womens Rights

Some male muslim leaders, scholars, and others, become defensive when the teachings of Islam on women’s rights are questioned, and respond by saying that Islam gives ‘similar’, or even ‘equal rights’, and status, to women, comparable to men (e.g. mirza masroor ahmad sahib, current elected caliph of the ahmadiyya community). They cite the case of Aisha r.a., wife of the Prophet Muhammad s.a., as an erudite Muslim Woman Scholar whom the male Companions (Sahaaba) r.a. of the Noble Prophet Muhammad s.a. used to consult for insight and guidance on religious matters, as per the following hadith:

Abū Musa r.a. narrated:

مَا أَشْكَلَ عَلَيْنَا أَصْحَابَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ حَدِيثٌ قَطُّ فَسَأَلْنَا عَائِشَةَ إِلَّا وَجَدْنَا عِنْدَهَا مِنْهُ عِلْمًا

i.e. Never was a hadith unclear to us, the Companions (ra) of the Messenger of Allah s.a., and we asked ‘Aishah (ra), except that we found knowledge concerning it with her.” (Tirmidhi, Vol. 1, Book 46, Hadith 3883)

Human Relations

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Ever Merciful.

This post discusses the relationship between one’s material, mental and moral diet, and human relations with persons of different persuasions and dispositions, according to what can be derived from the Noble Qur’an.

The Numbers Conflict

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Ever Merciful.

Contents:

Introduction
Evidence of Conflicting Numbers Claims
Discussion
A New Motto: ‘Truth for All, Lies for None’
Conclusion

[1] Introduction:

One of the conflicts in the ahmadiyya muslim community at the present time (this article was initially composed around 2017) is that different senior official representatives of the administration or nizam of the ahmadiyya community have been making disparate claims about the number of members for over a decade, as evident from the links provided in the ‘Evidence’ section below.

Please keep in mind the following admonition of Hadhrat al Masih al Ma’oud a.s. prior to studying the data below:

“When a doctrine becomes old, and a person has believed it for a long time, it becomes very difficult for him to desert it. He cannot tolerate hearing against it. Rather, on hearing the opposite, he becomes furious, and is even prepared to seek the blood of the opponent, because the old habit becomes part of his temperament.” [Malfoozat Vol 3, p. 538, 1 Aug 1904]

“The fact of the matter is this, that unless a person ponders over any subject, and does so with an open mind, and without prejudice, paying attention to all aspects, and does not listen/read attentively, he can’t desert the old belief. When a person hears something new to him, he should not immediately jump up to oppose it. Instead, it is his obligation to ponder over all it’s aspects, and think over it in solitude, judiciously, honestly, and above all, fearing the Almighty.” [Malfoozat, Vol. 2, p. 355, 31 August 1901]

Freedom of Speech

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, ever Merciful.

True Islam upholds freedom of belief and speech. However, many muslims, sunnis as well as shi’ites, advocate legal punishment for blasphemy. In this article, we shall carefully examine what the Holy Qur’an teaches us in this regard.