Allah decieves : makr-Allaho???

Does Allah deceive? makar-Allahu

 

by Khurshid Imam

 

 

A. Introduction

 

Quran:  Wamakaroo wamakara Allahu waAllahu khayru almakireena
….
Quran translation: “And (the unbelievers) plotted and planned, and Allah too planned, and the best of planners is Allah” 3:54
…..
Anti-Quranic people: “See! The Quran says that Allah is deceiver / plotter because the arabic word “makar” refers to plotting / deceiving. Muslims mistranslates Quran and change the meaning. They wrongly write that “makarAllahu” means planning – “Allah plans”. The correct translation should be “Allah plots / deceives”.
Almighty God is deceiver-What does it mean??
 

B. How do we understand any attribute of God? How do we understand any action of God?

Word of God is available to us in language. Language was invented by human being. Human being invented Aramaic, Hebrew, Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian and the revelation of God were in these languages. See the chronological order:
a. In the beginning ONLY God existed. There was no Arabic, Sanskrit, Hebrew.
b. Then creation took place. Human being started living on the earth.
c. As a result of evolutionary process human being started using / inventing language. Sanskrit, Hebrew, Arabic, English came into existence gradually.
d. God revealed his scripture in these languages and detailed about himself using these languages.

The last point has the crux of the article. God describes about himself / his actions / his doings using the language that was invented by human being. Now question is:
How EXACTLY is GOD?
How God DOES anything?
How God perform any action?
How exactly God does that entitle him to be called The CREATOR?
How exactly God does that entitle him to be called The SUSTAINER?
How exactly God does that entitle him to be called MOST MERCIFUL?
… and so on.
Any honest person will say – “I do not know”.

Understanding things beyond our material world

Its but natural that human mind can not grasp the complete and exact nature of God. How can we? When none of us has ever seen him? The brain with which we want to comprehend God – was given by him. Science tells that human being is able to use hardly 5-10% of his brain. How can we grasp / understand the nature of God with limited mind, without seeing / experiencing him.
He was there when nothing else was there. He created nature, he gave us eyes to see, ears to hear, mind to think and we want to comprehend him 100%? It is not possible at all.

Why only God? Even paradise-hell: its exact nature; our life after death; how angels take out soul at death; the life of barzakh (stage after death till the day of judgement) … all such things are beyond our material world. None of us has seen these with eyes or seen photograph or had audio / video; they are beyond this material / physical world hence we can not grasp exact nature of all these till we are in this material world.

    Human mind perceive and understand those things about which it had some experience of seeing / feeling etc OR at least there exists something similar to that. Things that we have not experienced at all and whose resemblance does not exists – we can not perceive fully. We can just use some terms to explain its nature yet never we can explain fully. Take an example:

Discovery of “orange” !!!
Imagine a time in the past when human beings had discovered “Apple” and “Lemon”, but “Orange” was not discovered. Now one fine day Khurshid imam discovers “orange” 🙂
Now how he will explain about orange to the masses? Please keep in mind that even the name “orange” will be given to that entity using human language. He will explain nature of newly discovered thing by telling:
– You know the fruit that i have discovered is somewhat similar in shape of Apple. But it is not exactly of apple shape.
– Its taste is – more sweeter than lemon but less sweeter than apple. Its sweetness is in mid of these two fruits.
Even if i write voluminous books just to explain the taste of “orange” i can not make people understand how it taste. It is ONLY after actually tasting that someone will understand what is the taste of orange.
Now imagine about God!! There is no resemblance of him. Nothing is like him. How can we make anyone understand how exactly God is? How he does anything? No way! Absolutely no way! We have to rely on what he has revealed to us and we can get only a glimpse of his attributes.

Talking to unborn baby?
Imagine a hypothetical scenario. A 7 month old unborn baby in the womb of mother. Suppose somehow someone from outer world can communicate to him 🙂 Baby is told that as of present he is residing within the “body” of a “human being“. One day he will “come out“. Then he can see lot of “man“, “woman“, “boy“, “girl“, “animals“, “plants“. He can sit in “car“. He can see huge “mountain“, he can go to “lake” which is full of water. He can see “computers“, “robots“, “washing machine that washes clothes“, “TV that shows videos“………  oh! i will faint.
Do you thing these words will make any sense to the unborn kid? Can he comprehend any of these things? NO! All these are beyond his perception, beyond his small “world”, beyond his imagination. You can only make very very little effort in explaining nature of these things to the baby. You will use things that are within his domain to explain about out-of-womb things.

Similarly everything that is beyond our material / physical world viz: God, paradise-hell, life of grave will be understood better when we cease to exist in this physical world, when we leave this material body. Until then we will get only minimal description of these things. Now the question is How God makes us understand these things? Answer is: using the language human beings understand. That is why the Quran describe beautifully about God in these words:

Say: He is Allah (Almighty God), the One and Only;
Allah, the Eternal, Absolute;
He begets not, nor is He begotten;
And there is none like unto Him. Quran; Surah Ikhlas 112

This the shortcut but unique description of almighty God. As we have seen earlier that human mind can only understand things using his experience / his understanding. If he tries to understand completely the nature and essence of God using his brain then he is bound to fail. The same thing happened with dayanand sarswati – the founder of aryasamaj. He tried to understand the exact nature of God using his limited brain. His brain told that how can God create something from absolutely nothing? His logic was that since for any creation human being need some initial matter to start with; and in absence of any such matter no creation can take place hence – he propagated that – almighty God also can not create anything from absolutely nothing. I m sorry to say that Pandit dayanad sarswati completely failed; he underestimated God. He was using defective scale to measure the length!!!

C. What is meant by “makar” (plotting / deceiving) of Allah?

We can not see or feel God. So how we know him? Through his signs and attributes. Quran has given so many attributes to almighty God. Some of them are:

Ar-Rahman                             (الرحمن)                                        The All-Compassionate
Al-Malik                                 (الملك)                                           The Absolute Ruler
Al-Jabbar                               (الجبار)                                          The Compeller
Al-Musawwir                         (المصور)                                       The Shaper of Beauty
As-Sami                                 (السميع)                                         The Hearer of All
Al-Basir                                 (البصير)                                         The Seer of All
Al-Hakam                              (الحكم)                                           The Judge
Al-Hasib                                (الحسيب)                                        The Accounter
Ash-Shahid                            (الشهيد)                                          The Witness

Now we say God is Al-Basir i.e. “The Seer of All “. How he sees everything? Its exact sense – we don’t know.

a. Human beings also see. Animals also see. Seeing of human beings will have a limit. This attribute of “seeing” in infinite sense will apply to God only. There is no comparison between seeing of human being and seeing of God. When i tell you “i saw a peacock”. Then you can understand what i m talking about, you can grasp it. But, when God says that “He sees” then we may not grasp it fully. Why?

b. For any action / attribute of human being; a medium is required.
When you talk about same action / attribute for God then medium is eliminated. There is no medium. We never know HOW he DOES anything?

For human beings to see they require “eye” – something with which they can see.
Not only presence of “eye” but also its various elements like retina etc should function well.
Not only this, but also some “light” is required so that their eyes can function.
… and similarly one can see that so many mediums are required for the action of seeing.
.. However, when you talk about GOD then seeing of God does not discuss or take into account any medium but it only reflects the end result. How he sees? we don’t know. But the end result that by seeing he is well aware of everything – is correct.

When we say God is As-Sami i.e. The Hearer of All – then we never mean that God requires a ear, a medium where sound can travel etc but we only mean the end result; that is he is hearing everything so he is well aware of speech of people.

When we say God is Al-Khaliq i.e. The Creator – then we are only expressing the end result that he will cause things to come into existence. How exactly? We do not know. Human beings need initial material, a process, a plan, a time line, other favoring conditions but when for God we can only say that these medium will be eliminated and as a end result creations will come into existence.
…….
Similarly if you ponder over any attribute of God then you will realize that all attributes express the ultimate end result by eliminating medium. Now let us come to the actual topic of the article.
People from all faith ultimately believe in what i have explained till now. Please note that there can not be any word in any language to denote the exact nature of any action of God. When you ask a hindu / christian / or any theist – “How exactly God does anything? How he creates? how he sees? how he hears? How he destroys? Then all will say – we don’t know, we can not grasp super power God”

It is true that Quran refers to “makar” of Allah at several places. But what will this action “makar” will mean when used for God? We have seen that any action of God always conveys the end result by eliminating medium. Because medium is required for human beings. “makar” means to deceive.
What happens when i deceive you?
In simple words “what you were understanding was actually wrong. You were thinking that you were right but actually you were wrong” – right? Now for deceiving you i would have used some medium. I might have spoken lie, i might have tricked you into believing something else. So a medium is required when deceive word is used with human being.

When makr is used with Allah then medium for “makar” is eliminated. We do not know medium but we know the end result that people were actually wrong when they were thinking they are right. If Allah has done makar with anyone then it indicates that those people were believing / understanding wrong thing ultimately.

If you read all such reference of makar of Allah then you will be surprised to see that in all such references people were actually believing something wrong while being convinced that they were right. So makar-Allah is the most appropriate word for such instances!!!! In order to cut short the article we will take only one instance for explanation.

a. Quran, Surah Al Imran 3:54

See how beautifully this ayah refers to the wrong belief of those people who believed that jesus had died!!
Read Surah al-imran; ayah 46 onwards till 55 and you will realize that only “makar” Allah was the befitting word for the event described.

Surah Al Imran 3:45 – describes about the glad tidings of birth of jesus to Maryam (Peace be upon her). It is prophesied that Jesus will be an honorable person.
Surah Al Imran 3:46 – speaks about the prophecy of speech of jesus when in cradle.
Surah Al Imran 3:47 – Maryam would be surprised how she can bear without any physical touch. She will be assured that God will make this happen. Now here also please note: God will make maryam give birth to jesus even without male intervention; how it is possible? We don’t know exactly. As its action by God we will eliminate the medium which is required in normal case. Only end result is know i.e. Maryam will give birth to Jesus.
Surah Al Imran 3:48-53 – details about teachings propagated by Jesus. Then he would know about some people who would reject his teachings and planned against him.
..
And then 3:54 speaks about planning of jews against Jesus. They planned to kill jesus. Obviously Jesus did not want to be killed. Jews did everything to make sure that they kill jesus. But what happened? Did they kill? Answer is NO.
Quran says emphatically in 4:157 that though jews thought that they had killed jesus but actually they did not kill. And this planning , deceiving is mentioned in Surah Al Imran 3:54.
“And (the unbelievers) plotted and planned, and Allah too planned, and the best of planners is Allah” 3:54

makara l-lahu – refers to the false belief of jews i.e. they were deceived into believing that they had killed jesus. They were made to believe that they had killed jesus while actually they had not. Plotting by Allah is not same as plotting by human beings; but the end result is same that people believed/understood wrong!!!

Note: Jesus was killed or he will return back? Go through below articles for detailed analysis:
http://khurshidimam.blogspot.in/2012/06/jesus-dead-or-alive.html
http://khurshidimam.blogspot.in/2012/06/jesus-is-not-dead-and-will-come-again.html

Similarly you can analyse following ayah and understand in context that how some people were deceived and they believed wrong things.

b. Quran, Surah Anfal 8:30
c. Quran, Surah A’araf 7:99
d. Quran, Surah Namal 27:50

D. Allah mocks?

Once you have understood what is meant by makara l-lahu it will not be difficult to understand other supposed-to-be-negative qualities that are used for God. Why we assume them to be negative is because we understand it the way it is used for human being. While God is free from any error.

al-lahu (Allah) yastahzi– Allah mocks at them and gives them increase in their wrong-doing to wander blindly…. (2:15)

Let us read in context. If you read Surah baqrah 2 ayah 8 to 15 then you find:

8. And of mankind, there are some (hypocrites) who say: “We believe in Allah and the Last Day” while in fact they believe not.

9 They desire to deceive Allah and those who believe, while they only deceive themselves, and perceive (it) not!

10 In their hearts is a disease and Allah has increased their disease. A painful torment is theirs because they used to tell lies.

11 And when it is said to them: “Make not mischief on the earth,” they say: “We are only peace-makers.”

12 Verily! They are the ones who make mischief, but they perceive not.

13 And when it is said to them (hypocrites): “Believe as the people have believed,” they say: “Shall we believe as the fools have believed?” Verily, they are the fools, but they know not.

14 And when they meet those who believe, they say: “We believe,” but when they are alone with their Shayatin (devils – polytheists, hypocrites), they say: “Truly, we are with you; verily, we were but mocking.”

 So here Almighty God is speaking about people who
  – want to deceive allah and believers;
  – have knowing rejected truth and thus this has lead to disease of rejecting truth
  – Used to lie;
  – Would not mend their rebellious nature;
  – Would consider believers as fool;
  – they would proclaim that they are mocking at truth / believers.

Then next ayah says – Allah mocks at them and gives them increase in their wrong-doing to wander blindly. Quran, Surah Al-Baqrah 2:15
Kindly ponder – if you read with context then you will realize that those people who are trying to make mockery of truth / believers would be mocked by God. Meaning – these rebellious people would think that believers are lower / wrong / mean / going astray while actually God will make these people be wrong and going astray.

These are they who have purchased error for guidance, so their commerce was profitless. And they were not guided. Quran, Surah Al-Baqrah 2:16

Now we see some people make mockery of religion. How? We have seen detail in 2:8-14 i.e. by falsely claiming so many things and considering believers to be fool and on wrong path. When you mock someone then you may or may not lie and you will end up showing the opponent as lower or mean.
Allah mocks. How? For sure his way of mocking is not as that of human being. But the end result is same. ACTUALLY these deviated people will end up being shown on wrong path and hence lower.  Ponder over ayah 15-16 “….These are they who have purchased error for guidance, so their commerce was profitless….”
Thus they will be mocked by God.

E. Conclusion

1. Anti-islamic writers attack Quran by saying that it speaks about God deceiving and plotting. They say “How this is possible”. They refer to 3:54 and other ayah.
2. God existed when nothing existed. Language was invented later by human beings. God reveals his scripture in these languages. God describes about himself using these languages.
3. God is without any likeness, without any resemblance. No word in any language can describe the essence of God. None of us has seen him so that he can describe how God is.
4. When a action is attributed to human being then it is well understood, but when same action is attributed to God then it express only the end result. The medium used for performing this action is eliminated when we talk about God.
5. For human beings to see they require “eye” – something with which they can see.

Not only presence of “eye” but also its various elements like retina etc should function well.
Not only this, but also some “light” is required so that their eyes can function.
.. However, when you talk about GOD then seeing of God does not discuss or take into account any medium but it only reflects the end result. How he sees? we don’t know. But the end result that by seeing he is well aware of everything – is correct.

6. Makr-Allah i.e. plotting by God expresses the end result that these people were made to believe wrong thing, they were misunderstanding while thinking that they are understanding. This is makr-allah. The medium for this action is eliminated.

7. Remember everything we talk about God is conveyed to us using language invented by men. So we can never get complete grasp of his essence until we actually feel (which is not possible till we are in material / physical world).

Note: * If you don’t agree with the article then instead of giving fatwa of deviation / kufr / shirk / biddat – have faith in Allah and leave it to him to judge.

* Author: Khurshid Imam is software engineer at Bangalore, India. For any criticism / feedback / suggestion feel free to mail – serviceforhumanity@gmail.com

The article can be found at: http://khurshidimam.blogspot.in/2012/07/allah-decieves-makr-allaho.html

The article can be downloaded as pdf from: http://www.scribd.com/KHURSHIDIMAM

The Salah (Namaz or mulsim prayer) – that muslims DO NOT offer

The Salah (Namaz or mulsim prayer) – that muslims DO NOT offer

by Khurshid Imam

A. Introduction

I have seen “pious” youngsters debating endless on “The correct way of offering Salah“.
I have seen young people with long beards spending great amount of time in proving that their way of offering salah is the best and other ways being absolutely wrong.
I have heard muslims saying that Salah will not be accepted behind those imam who do not offer salah in a way they deem to be “the only correct method”.
I have witnessed night long debate between Salafi and Sunni regarding correct method of offering Salah.
I have seen youngsters posting photos in facebook describing the “correct way of offering salah” and the subsequent counter arguments.
“One need to put his hand at this position else salah will not be valid”
“If you put your hand as the way you are putting then your salah is waste”
“If you offer salah behind that imam then you salah is invalid”
“Sahi tareeqa”    ……     “correct way of offering Salah”    …….    “Salah as per sunnah”……….
………………………………………………
………………………………………………
Note: In this article terms “Salah” OR “Namaz” OR “prayer” will be used interchangeably.
Also we are not going to talk about various postures of salah, positioning of various parts in salah etc. In short we are not discussing about the “body” of salah, rather “soul” of salah!

B. What was the purpose of Salah

إِنَّ الصَّلَاةَ تَنْهَىٰ عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالْمُنكَرِ

Indeed Prayer prevents from the immorality and evil deeds. Quran, Surah An kabut 29:45 

Almighty God says: Salah prevents one from immorality and evil deeds.
But we see many muslims who offer prayer regularly; indulging in so many wrong things. We see many of them ly-ing; many of them cheating; grabbing land, giving false witness; backbiting others; disturbing peace in the society; creating mischief in the land; giving lustful eyes to womenfolk; lending money on interest; oppressing people; disrespecting their parents.

What does it mean??
What was the purpose of Salah? The purpose was that Salah WILL prevent you from indulging in shameful and bad deeds. Allah is not telling that “if you offer salah then have shame and do not indulge in wrong things”. Please mark the difference between these statements.

Quran is NOT telling “if you offer salah then have shame and do not indulge in wrong things”.
Quran is telling “Salah prevents one from shameful and bad deeds”. It means if you will offer SALAH then it WILL prevent you from bad things.
Did you get the difference?

Quran is saying that Salah will prevent you from doing shameful and bad deeds.
Muslims are saying that they offer salah – yet we find them indulging in shameful and bad deeds.
What does it indicate? It indicate: Either Muslims are NOT offering the Salah commanded by Allah …. OR….. Word of allah is wrong !!!!!
Choice is yours. Which one you find to be true?

Case A. Word of Allah is wrong? Is Quran wrong when it is saying that “Salah will prevent you from doing shameful and bad deeds”? Still muslims – who claim to be offering salah with khushu and khuzu – are indulging in shameful and bad deeds.
…..
OR
……
Case B. These muslims are NOT offering the salah commanded as by Allah!!!!!!

C. Soul of Salah is lost

Instruction of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) was that when you stand for prayer; try to imagine that Allah is seeing you.

To worship Allah as if you see Him, and if you cannot achieve this state of devotion then you must consider that He is looking at you.

‏”‏ أَنْ تَعْبُدَ اللَّهَ كَأَنَّكَ تَرَاهُ، فَإِنْ لَمْ تَكُنْ تَرَاهُ فَإِنَّهُ يَرَاكَ ‏”‏‏
(Bukhari, Book #60, book of tafseer; Hadith #300)
(Bukhari, Book #2, Book of belief; Hadith #47)

Salah (Namaz or prayer) is one of the most important form of worship. For offering salah we were given instruction that at least we need to:
: Try to feel the presence of Almighty God.
: Assume that Almighty God is seeing me; he is well aware what i am doing now.

Why this instruction was given?

In salah we must strive to develop this consciousness that Allah is seeing me. Allah is seeing me. When i m in qiyam (standing), in ruku (bowing), in sajda (prostration) – every moment Allah is seeing me.
If we practise this during the 5-10 minutes of one time salah then gradually we will develop God consciousness. 5 times a day of salah offered with the concentration that Allah is seeing me will soon result in increased God consciousness. With continuous practise of this way of salah; Allah will be more in our consciousness and even when we are not in salah, we are busy in our day to day activity then also we will have the consciousness that Allah is seeing me.
With the increased level of God consciousness it will be really very easy to abstain from shameful and evil acts. How? Read carefully –

When you started learning how to drive a car;
Then you are taught about functionalities of break, gear, clutch, steering etc. You are taught that to start car you need to make ignition ON, then gradually press the accelerator and release the clutch. When there is need to stop or slow down then you need to apply break and change gear and press clutch, release accelerator at the same time…..You need to focus on these things in order to drive. You can not drive car initially without consciously doing all these things. At this stage you are driving car with conscious mind.
These things are taught in the beginning to one who wants to drive car. For some days he practise in the prescribed manner and with the constant practise he is able to drive smoothly.

After 1-2 months
You would be driving car while talking on mobile, looking outside also and you will not even realize how many times you changed gears, how many times you had to suddenly apply break – because you are so well versed in driving that things are automatically happening. Now you will not think one by one what to do to stop the car. Things are stored in your mind and you are doing things perfectly. While driving at high speed if suddenly a dog comes to road, immediately your body will react to apply break, change gear and press the clutch without much difficulty. At this stage you are driving car with subconscious mind.

What is the conscious mind?
The conscious mind is the part of your mind that is responsible for logic and reasoning. If i asked you about the sum of one plus one; it’s your conscious mind that is going to be used to make that addition.
The conscious mind also controls all the actions that you do on intention while being conscious.The conscious mind is also known to be the gate keeper for the mind. If someone tried to present you with a belief that doesn’t match your belief system then your conscious mind will filter that belief.

What is the subconscious mind?
The subconscious mind is the part of your mind responsible for all of your involuntary actions. Your breathing rate and heart beats are controlled by your subconscious mind.

If you started to control your breath on intention then know that your conscious mind took charge while if you were breathing without being conscious of the breathing process then know that your subconscious mind is in charge.Your emotions are also controlled by your subconscious mind. That’s why you sometimes might feel afraid, anxious or down without wanting to experience such a feeling.
Your subconscious mind is also the place where your beliefs and memories are stored. That’s why affirmations make no sense and can never improve your beliefs. Affirmations are done on a conscious level and are always filtered by the subconscious mind because they usually don’t match your belief system.

When u were learning car then you were doing everything with conscious mind. Gradually – with constant practise and repetition – things started moving from conscious mind to sub conscious mind. When things are stored in subconscious mind then it will happen involuntarily. Then you do not need to think and do; rather it will happen involuntarily.

If good deeds, bad deeds, shameful and evil deeds along with their islamic rulings are stored in our subconscious mind then it will become extremely easy to abstain from evil and shameful deeds. Because then we need not to voluntarily abstain from bad deeds rather our subconscious mind would be programmed in such a way that it will automatically react as per ruling of Quran.

Programming your subconscious can be done through hypnosis. Salah or Namaz is probably the best form of hypnosis.

Trance
The state of hypnosis is exactly the same as the state you experience when you stay in bed just before you fall asleep. Its the state of being half awake. This state is called trance state,during the trance state the conscious mind becomes a little dormant .The subconscious gains more control and thus makes you receptive to suggestions because the conscious mind no longer filters data. Salah should be offered in a manner that through trance a devotee fills his subconscious mind with Quranic teachings.
….Here. Here is the crux of the article.

You may be guessing why i am being psychologist? Namaz or Salah has to do lot with these things. Salah is a programming to store more information in subconscious mind.

D. How Salah  prevents from the immorality and evil deeds?

In the beginning it would be difficult but with passage of time the following practise would make a person really offer salah in a way prescribed by Allah. With constant practise the salah would really prevent shameful and evil deeds.

A. Offering a Salah will take around 5-10 minutes time. Five times salah in a day will make 30-40 minutes.

B. Salah need to be offered with the concentration that Allah is seeing me.

C. Devotee is trying to empty his mind. He is preventing any other thought to enter his brain.

D. In the silence; Recitation of Quran is going on (either by the imam or the devotee himself). Devotee understands the meaning of ayah recited.

E. A situation of trance is created wherein ayah of Quran – that is recited in salah – is being received in subconscious mind. It is the subconscious mind that is storing information from the Quran. If the person understand arabic then he will store information in his subconscious mind that:
1. Alcohol is prohibited. If recitation of Quran, 5:90 was going on.

2. All doors for shameful activities are closed for a believer. he should not approach anything that may lead to immorality. If recitation of Quran, 17:32; 24:2 or 6:151 was going on.

3. Killing of innocents is absolutely forbidden. If recitation of Quran, 5:32 was going on.

4. One MUST respect his parents and should not express any word of disrespect. If recitation of Quran, 17:23 was going on.

5. One MUST stand for justice. If recitation of Quran, 11:112 was going on.
 
6. One MUST abstain from gambling. If recitation of Quran, 5:90-91 was going on.

7. One MUST not indulge in lending money on interest. If recitation of Quran, 2:278 was going on.

8. One MUST not steal. If recitation of Quran, 5:38 was going on.
 
9. One MUST not LIE. If recitation of Quran, 6:24 was going on.

10. One MUST not bribe.If recitation of Quran, 2:188 was going on.

11.One MUST guard his/her modesty. If recitation of Quran, 24:30-31 was going on.
……..
and so onnnnnnnnnnn

When a person has REALLY offered salah with the above understanding and practise (Please keep in mind – he is developing God consciousness also by imagining that Allah is seeing him.) then it will become extremely easy for him to abstain from shameful and evil things.

1. When someone will offer him wine then he will NOT think with conscious mind whether i should drink alcohol or not rather his subconscious mind will tell him that alcohol is prohibited for a believer in God. Automatically he will reject the offer.

2. When he would glance at attractive, beautiful girl then he will NOT think with conscious mind whether i should continue looking at girl or not. Rather his subconscious mind will take away his gaze. This will happen automatically.

3. When someone offered him bribe then he will NOT think with conscious mind whether i should accept it or not rather his subconscious mind will automatically make him reject it.

4. When he has to decide or judge in a matter involving his relative and neighbor then he will NOT think with conscious mind that he should favor his relative; rather his subconscious mind will make him do justice.

5. When someone will allure him for giving false witness in court then again subconscious mind will automatically reject it.

This is how “Indeed Prayer prevents from the immorality and evil deeds. Quran, Surah An kabut 29:45″

D. Best form of meditation is Salah or Namaz

Voluntarily prayer or nafil salah:
Instruction of the Prophet Muhammad was that one need to offer nafil salah at home. In mosque when imam is reciting Quran then subconscious minds of those offering Salah is being filled with Quranic commandments. This is practise of hypnosis is in congregation. The same practise of hypnosis need to be done alone by an individual. Nafil salah was the best way for it and muslims were supposed to program themselves through nafil salah individually.

When it is said about some devotees of God, some sufia-e-ekraam (Respected soofees) that they “saw” God everywhere – that does not mean they were actually seeing God. Rather, these sufia-e-ekraam had developed such a great level of God consciousness that every time they could FEEL the presence of God. Through Salah and other ibadat (worship) they developed God consciousness to such a level that every time they had the feeling that God is seeing them and God is just their with them. No one ever claimed to see God.

Lot of importance is given on meditation in Hinduism. Through meditation our Hindu brethren want to achieve peace of mind and good qualities in their life. As explained above – Namaz or Salah is the best form of meditation. It contains many asan or postures as prescribed in meditation. Many sects in Hinduism has upheld this methodology of concentration, hypnosis, trance etc. Brahmakumaris – one of the sect of Hinduism – is the best example for it. At their center they also achieve it through rajyog. If one go into detail then one will find it perfectly on line with salah. Details of this is beyond the scope of article.

However, through salah or namaz one achieve a higher level of God consciousness. Teachings of God are more imbibed in the subconscious mind and one will attain real peace and happiness. My request to Non muslims! Give a chance to it.

E. Conclusion

1. Salah or namaz or prayer is one of the most important aspect of islam.
2. Unfortunately most of us do not give its due importance to salah. We argue and fight on trivial issue over salah.
3. The soul of salah is lost, concentration is more on the body of salah.
4. The purpose of salah was “Indeed Prayer prevents from the immorality and evil deeds. Quran, Surah An kabut 29:45“. However we see many muslims offering 5 times “salah” and yet indulging in so many sinful activities. It means either muslims are not offering the salah required by Allah or quran is wrong when it claims that if you offer salah then you will be prevented from doing wrong things.
5. One need to offer salah with the imagination that Allah is seeing him. The Quran being recited should go to his subconscious mind.
6. When things are stored in subconscious mind then automatically person will respond accordingly.

Note: * If you don’t agree with the article then instead of giving fatwa of deviation / kufr / shirk / biddat – have faith in Allah and leave it to him to judge.

* Author: Khurshid Imam is software engineer at Bangalore, India. For any criticism / feedback / suggestion feel free to mail – serviceforhumanity@gmail.com

The article can be found at: http://khurshidimam.blogspot.in/
The article can be downloaded as pdf from: http://www.scribd.com/KHURSHIDIMAM

Who is KAFIR – Clear the misconception

Who is KAFIR 

 

By khurshid Imam

 

Introduction

Very few Islamic terms are as misunderstood as the term “Kafir”. A few Muslims use this term to humiliate some non Muslims. On the other hand our non Muslim brothers perceive this word as an abuse and take umbrage to it. So what is so great about this term – kafir? And million dollar question is to whom this term-kafir-applies i.e. WHO REALLY IS KAFIR?

It is no wonder that today many so-called-Muslims are living in the world of illusion wherein they think that:

1.      Just because they are born is a Muslim family they are Muslim and will get paradise. 

2.      Just because their name is khan or ahmed or Muhammad they are Muslim and will get paradise.

3.      Just because they go for namaz once in a week (for juma) they are Muslim and will get paradise.

4.      Just because they believe in Allah and akhrat they are Muslim and will get paradise.

 

Almighty God has strictly put two conditions for the salvation or for entering paradise – 1. Faith 2. Actions. 

If anyone reads Quran then these two conditions echoes throughout the Quran for getting paradise. In simple word only with faith AND action a person will be really a Muslim.

But look at the tragic part. When a Muslim read Quran and when Almighty God is speaking about punishment or condemnation for Kafir then the Muslim reader will automatically translate the word Kafir as NON-Muslim in his mind. He will think that these punishments and condemnations are certainly not for me but for Non Muslims. Similarly when God is talking about reward for momin(believer) or Muslim then reader will think – ‘yes! This ayah is talking about me’. Thus the dream of illusion continues for such type of Muslims and only in the life hereafter they will realize how wrong they were.

Three meanings of word – kafir

The Arabic word Kafir has three meaning. And certainly kafir does not mean Non-Muslim. Quran has used the word kafir in any of the three meaning everywhere.

 

1.      One who conceals: The act of concealing something is called kufr in Arabic. In Islamic and Quranic terminology kufr will mean concealing teachings of God / concealing the truth / concealing what is right and divine / concealing the message of God. Now we Muslim proudly say that Quran is the word of God, it is the truth; it contains the message of God. 

 

                    الَّذِينَ يَبْخَلُونَ وَيَأْمُرُونَ النَّاسَ بِالْبُخْلِ وَيَكْتُمُونَ مَا آتَاهُمُ اللَّهُ مِن فَضْلِهِ ۗ وَأَعْتَدْنَا لِلْكَافِرِينَ عَذَابًا مُّهِي

Those who are miserly and enjoin miserliness on other men and hide what Allah has bestowed upon them of His Bounties. And We have prepared for those who hide (kafir word is used here).  a disgraceful torment. Quran, Surah Nisa 4:37

 

Now be ready for a straight forward Question:  As per this definition of kafir who is MORE entitled to be called kafir – Non Muslims or so-called-…….?

 

2.      One who is ungrateful: The act of being ungrateful is called is called kufr in Arabic. Gratefulness is shown towards some very important and precious thing. We say Quran is the most precious thing. In Islamic and Quranic terminology kufr will mean not being grateful to emaan (faith)/ quran / not being grateful to the message of God. Now we Muslim proudly say that Quran is the word of God, it is the truth; it contains the message of God; emaan is the biggest wealth. As per this definition of kafir who is MORE entitled to be called kafir – Non Muslims or so-called-…….?  Think honestly.

 

They recognize the favors of Allah. Then they deny them; and most of them are ungrateful (kafir word is used here). Quran: Surah Nahal 16:83

 

“Any who is (so) grateful does so to the profit of his own soul: but if any is ungrateful (Arabic Kafara), verily Allah is free of all wants, Worthy of all praise.” Quran: Surah Luqmaan 31:12

 

3.      One who rejects:The act of rejecting something is called kufr in Arabic. In Islamic and Quranic terminology kufr will mean rejecting teachings of God / rejecting the truth / rejecting the message of God. As per this definition of kafir those Non Muslims will be called who have REJECTED the truth / the message of God.

 

قُلْ يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ لِمَ تَكْفُرُونَ بِآيَاتِ اللَّهِ وَاللَّهُ شَهِيدٌ عَلَىٰ مَا تَعْمَلُونَ

 

 Say: “O people of the Scripture ! Why do you reject the Ayat of Allahwhile Allah is Witness to what you do?”  Quran, Surah Al imran 3:98

 

 It is not that by default any non Muslim will be called kafir. And for this action it is required that truth is presented to them; otherwise they can be called ghafil or unaware.

 

 

In simple words

Going by the above 3 definitions of kafir the whole perception of word kafir changes and it can shiver one from inside and force to think more and more about Quranic ayah. 

 

Those who conceal teachings of God have done KUFR as per Arabic language. Whether they are / were scholars of torah/zabur/injeel OR bible who know the truth of the message of GOD; whether they be scholars of Hinduism who know the monotheism of Vedas and the prophecy of prophet Muhammad; whether it be so-called-Muslims who conceal the truth of Islam from the masses. As of today the uncorrupted and pure message of God is with Muslims mostly so the act of concealment can be done mostly by them.

 

Those people who were given revelation from God and they were not grateful to God-too have done kufr. Remember the last revelation-Quran- is in the house of Muslims mostly.

 

Those who reject the teachings of God-too have done kufr. So our non Muslim brethren should understand that this is not an abusive term rather its misunderstood term. If they reject the teachings of God they can be called kafir as per Arabic language or “saty-tiraskari” in Sanskrit.

 

Let us read Quran with proper understanding rather withy preconceived ideas and thoughts.And Allah knows the best. 

 

Conclusion:

1.      Word kafir is one of the most misunderstood terms by Muslims and non Muslims.

2.      Quran has used kafir word in any of the 3 meaning: one who conceals one who is ungrateful and one who rejects.

3.      Out of these three definitions this word will apply more to so-called-Muslim in 2 cases as of today.

 

 

Author Khurshid imam is a software engineer at bangalore. Mail serviceforhumanity@gmail.com for feedback

Note: If you don’t agree with the post then instead of giving fatwa of kufr/shirk/deviation – have faith in Allah and leave uo to him to judge.

DOES ISLAM PERMIT SEX WITH SLAVES ?

 

Rethinking and introspecting whether Islam permits sex with slaves and encourages slavery system.

Imagine!
A young muslim lady captured by US troop in iraq/Afghanistan/ Somalia/ Yemen. She is held captive by her captor. The captor wishes to have physical relation with her.And he had it.
What do you call it? Rape? Or illegal relation? Un Islamic? Against humanity? Barbaric? I am sure you will call one of these.

Now again imagine!
There is Islamic state established in near future. Muslim army is fighting with a nation. A young lady is captured by muslim forces. Now; be honest and tell me: If the Muslim captor wishes to have physical relation with the lady without marriage – can he?
If you have not read my above paragraph then may be you will take some time to answer but eventually you will answer – YES.

A. Introduction to this sensitive issue

One of the favorite topics of anti-Islamic writers is the issue of “physical relation with slaves”. They humiliate Muslims by saying that what is the religion Islam which permits physical relation with slaves. An innocent Muslim tries to defend by saying that Islam absolutely permits physical relation with slave without marriage; because he thinks this is the permission of Almighty God. The common understanding among Muslims is that Islam absolutely permits to maintain physical relationship with slave women – without marrying them – who are possession of Muslims in a war.
Islam is deen-e-fitrat i.e. religion as per the nature. Not a single teaching of Islam can be against humanity or against the law of nature. If some so-called-teachings of Islam is against humanity then one need to seriously ponder over the issue and analyze and try to find out what exactly Islam say about the issue. In no case one should go against the revelation of Almighty God i.e. QURAN.

B. Pre Quranic Arabian culture and social system

Before understanding this issue; let’s first understand that social culture of Arab was very different from today.

1. Black people were considered inferior. Slavery system was flourishing. Slaves were sold, bought, disposed off. Slave women could be used as concubines. One could have maintained physical relationship with as many slave women he wished. War of that time was also very different from today. Captives of war were also considered as possessions. Captive’s women would become slaves.

2. Women were considered inferior to men. People burying their baby girl alive were one of the evil cultures. No rights for women in the property.

3. Alcohol was rampant. People would drink alcohol very fondly. People had different kind of alcohol for different occasions.

Such was the situation when Prophet Muhammad claimed Prophet Hood in the desert of Arabia. As Islam is the complete way of life and it deals with the all aspects of life so it has to deal with these notorious customs also. How it dealt? In a very sophisticated way – keeping in mind the human psychology.

C. How Islam dealt with this unjust system

Islam gave the concept of one brotherhood. No one is better than other on the basis of color, birth, race, language, region or wealth. Quran, Surah Hujrat 49:13

Also Almighty God made clear that men and women are equal in the sight of God. They have different priorities in some duties but they are equal. Elaborating these points is out of the scope of the subject.

We all are aware that Alcohol was eradicated from the society in gradual manner.

1. In first step people were informed that though alcohol has something good but as a whole it’s harmful and sinful.

”They ask you concerning wine and gambling. Say: “In them is great sin, and some profit, for men; but the sin is greater than the profit……“. Quran, Surah baqrah 2:219

2. As a second step Almighty God commanded people that they should not approach prayer when they are intoxicated i.e. had alcohol. So this way people were forced to reduce the alcohol. At least for 6-7 hours a day people could not have alcohol.

“O you who believe! Approach not As-Salat (the prayer) when you are in a drunken state until you know (the meaning) of what you utter…..”. Quran, Surah Nisa 4:43

3. And then finally Almighty God straightforwardly prohibited alcohol.

“O you who believe! Intoxicants (all kinds of alcoholic drinks), and gambling, and Al-Ansab , and Al-Azlam (arrows for seeking luck or decision) are an abomination of Shaitan’s (Satan) handiwork. So avoid (strictly all) that (abomination) in order that you may be successful.” Quran, Surah Maida 5:90

Almighty God in his divine wisdom prohibited alcohol in steps. Had Almighty God ordered in one go it would have been very difficult for people to stop.
It’s natural and logical because any addict will find it difficult to give up addiction of alcohol in one go.
Now let’s come to the main point – what about physical relation with slaves?

D. Sex with slave – PROHIBITED in Islam in stages!!!!!!!

Islam prohibited it in stages: why?

There is no doubt that unjust system of physical relation-with-slave had to be eradicated. So what approach Islam adopted? In one go? No. It would have proved disastrous because of following reasons:

A. There were numerous slaves present that time: young, poor, elderly, handicapped, women, widows, and children. They were dependent on their master for their food, clothing and shelter. If all of a sudden slavery system was abolished then there would have been a large number of poor people left in the society who would have no means to support them.

B. Similarly there was a great chance of exploitation of large number of slave women in the form of prostitution or brothel because they would have become helpless with nothing to sustain and nowhere to go. Please keep in mind most of these slaves were people foreign to the land of Muslims.

C. There was no proper system for the rehabilitation and taking care of large number of slaves if all of a sudden slavery system was banned.

Islam started discouraging the slavery system:

In no verse, Qur’an has approved of slavery. Please note that the phrase, ‘whom your right hands possess’, has been used on all such occasions instead of being kept in jails, be distributed among the victorious believing men where they can observe the living examples of Islam in practice. Though Quran has used the word ‘whom your right hands possess’ I will be using this word and “slave” interchangeably through this article.

1. Muslims were encouraged to free the slaves.

Almighty God encouraged people to give freedom to slaves. Freeing of slave was one of the ways of repentance of the sin of Muslims. This was great wisdom as people would gradually free slaves.

a. “It is not for a believer to kill a believer except (that it be) by mistake; and whosoever kills a believer by mistake, (it is ordained that) he must set free a believing slave and a compensation (blood-money, i.e. Diya) be given to the deceased’s family unless they remit it…..”. Quran, Surah Nisa 4:92

b. “Allah will not punish you for what is unintentional in your oaths, but He will punish you for your deliberate oaths; for its expiation feed ten Masakin (poor persons), on a scale of the average of that with which you feed your own families, or clothe them or manumit a slave…” Quran Surah Maida 5:89

c. “Those who divorce their wives by Zihar(Zihar was an pre-Quranic evil practice in which a wife would be considered mother to a person if her husband would call her as “MY MOTHER”. Also marriage in this case would become invalid), then wish to retract the words they uttered, shall have to free a slave before they touch each other. This is enjoined (as a penalty for doing so). Allah is well-aware of all your actions”. Quran Surah Mujadila 58 : 3

Muslims were told to raise the status of slaves. Treat them with more honor and respect. Give them proper food and clothing. Look at the teaching of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him):

d. Narrated Abu Musa: The Prophet said, “Set free the captives and accept invitations.” (Bukhari Volume 9, Book 89, Number 285)
(Bukhari Book #62, Hadith #103)
(Bukhari Book #70, Hadith #552)

e. Narrated Al-Ma’rur: At Ar-Rabadha I met Abu Dhar who was wearing a cloak, and his slave, too, was wearing a similar one. I asked about the reason for it. He replied, “I abused a person by calling his mother with bad names.” The Prophet said to me, ‘O Abu Dhar! Did you abuse him by calling his mother with bad
names You still have some characteristics of ignorance. Your slaves are your brothers and Allah has put them under your command. So whoever has a brother under his command should feed him of what he eats and dress him of what he wears. Do not ask them (slaves) to do things beyond their capacity (power) and if you do so, then help them.(Bukhari Volume 1, Book 2, Number 29)

f. Hilal b. Yasaf reported that a person got angry and slapped his slave-girl. Thereupon Suwaid b. Muqarrin said to him: You could find no other part (to slap) but the prominent part of her face. See I was one of the seven sons of Muqarrin, and we had but only one slave-girl. The youngest of us slapped her, and Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) commanded us to set her free. (Muslim Book 015, Number 4082)

g. Narrated Abu Musa Al-Ash’ari: “The Prophet said, “Give food to the hungry, pay a visit to the sick and release (set free) the one in captivity (by paying his ransom).” (Bukhari,Volume 7, Book 65, Number 286)”

h. Narrated Ali ibn AbuTalib: The last words which the Apostle of Allah spoke were: Prayer, prayer; fear Allah about those whom your right hands possess. (Sunan abudawud Book #41, Hadith #5137)

2. Encourage the marriage between slaves so that they can lead independent life away from slavery.

“And marry those among you who are single the Salihun (pious, fit and capable ones) of your (male) slaves and maid-servants (female slaves). If they be poor, Allah will enrich them out of His Bounty. And Allah is All-Sufficient for His creatures’ needs, All-Knowing (about the state of the people)”. Quran, Surah Nur 24:32

The teaching of Porphet Muhammad(Peace be upon him) is:
Narrated Abu Musa: Allah’s Apostle said, “He who has a slave-girl (or a woman of captivity) and educates and treats her nicely and then manumits and marries her, will get a double reward.” (Bukahri Volume 3, Book 46, Number 720)

3. Above all were methods to discourage the slavery system. It was putting a psychological pressure on people against the slavery system.

Initially only unmarried men were permitted to have physical relation with slaves:

1. Now we are entering the area where one needs to seriously ponder over the Quranic Ayah. The ayah that people quote in justification of sex-with-slaves is mainly these 2 ayah.

2. Elaborating the good qualities of a true believer Allah speaks about maintaining modesty in the two ayah: Surah Momenun 23:5-6 and Surah Marij 70:29-30

لَّا عَلَىٰ أَزْوَاجِهِمْ أَوْ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُهُمْ

“And those who guard their chastity, except from their wives OR (the slaves) that their right hands possess”

Now both of these ayah talk about maintaining sexual relationship with wife OR those whom your right hand possess. Please mark the key word OR here.The Arabic word “AW” means OR. Unfortunately some of the Quran translation wrongly translates here “AW” as AND. The correct translation is OR. The key is: permission of having physical relationship is given with wife OR those whom your right hand possess. It’s not that by chance or by mistake (nauzbillah) God has mentioned OR, rather it is deliberate. The initial restriction was to have physical relation with wife OR slave. So initial permission for physical relation with slave girl was ONLY for unmarried person.

Please note that both of this ayah were revealed in mecca. Don’t believe? Please confirm. So it was an early regulation of Quran.

Finally Allah ordered that one has to do MARRY a slave girl in order to maintain sexual relationship:

1. Whenever we want to understand final and complete ruling for an issue then we need to take into account all related / relevant ayah. As we have seen with the two ayah that initially only for unmarried person it was permitted that they could have maintained physical relationship with slaves lets see what is the final and complete ruling on this issue.

2. After few years of revelation of above mentioned 2 ayah (Surah Momenun 23:5-6 and Surah Marij 70:29-30) the below ayah was revealed regarding maintaining physical relation with slave girls.

“If any of you have not the means wherewith to wed free believing women, they may wed believing girls from among those whom your right hands possess: And Allah hath full knowledge about your faith. Ye are one from another: Wed them with the leave of their owners, and give them their dowers, according to what is reasonable: They should be chaste, not lustful, nor taking paramours: when they are taken in wedlock, if they fall into shame, their punishment is half that for free women. This (permission) is for those among you who fear sin; but it is better for you that ye practice self-restraint. And Allah is Oft-forgiving, most Merciful.” Quran, Surah Nisa 4:25

This ayah was revealed in medina. Through this ayah last nail in the coffin of sex-with-slave was hammered. Pondering over the above ayah we find that:

A. Obviously a person will look for girl according to his status. In case he is unable to afford then he should MARRY slave girl. However Allah made clear that all people are from one man and woman – so slave or free person – they all are from one man and woman. None is greater than other except by the reason of
virtue.
B. This permission of marriage with slave is if he fears that he will not be able to practice restraint, and fears to commit sin, he is permitted to marry the possessed women. Please note If Islam permitted sex with captive women, there was no need for the above elaboration.
C. Also if having physical relation with slave girls was allowed then there was no need of committing sin as Allah has mentioned in this ayah – This (permission) is for those among you who fear sin.
D. So Allah made very clear in this Ayah that if you don’t have means to marry free women and if you fear that you can commit zina by having illegal relationship (It automatically closes the door for permissibly of having physical relation with slave) then you can MARRY slave girl. Still Almighty God encourages self
restrain (restraining from what? Obviously illegal physical relation. So how come illegal physical relation with slave is permissible?) i.e. you wait till you get means to marry free believing women.

Prophet Muhammad was exception for the above ruling. Apart from his wife he was permitted to have relation with slave. I will not go into detail now. Separate article is required for this issue.

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ إِنَّا أَحْلَلْنَا لَكَ أَزْوَاجَكَ اللَّاتِي آتَيْتَ أُجُورَهُنَّ وَمَا مَلَكَتْ يَمِينُكَ

“O Prophet! We have made lawful to you your wives to whom thou hast paid their dowers; and those whom thy right hand possesses out of the prisoners of war whom Allah has assigned to thee; and daughters of thy paternal uncles and aunts, and daughters of thy maternal uncles and aunts, who migrated (from Makka) with thee; and any believing woman who dedicates her soul to the Prophet if the Prophet wishes to wed her;- this only for you, and not for the Believers (at large); We know what We have appointed for them as to their wives and the captives whom their right hands possess;- in order that there should be no difficulty for thee. And Allah is Oft- Forgiving, Most Merciful.” Surah ahzab 33:50
This ayah of surah ahzab 33, Ayah 50 was revealed for prophet and it says:
1. It is lawful for the prophet – his wives AND whom your right hand possess.Note the arabic word “WA” (AND) here. Remember for believers the word “AW” was used in the context of slave women while in case of Prophet word “WA” which means AND is used. So this ayah is telling that ONLY for prophet – wives AND slave women both are lawful.
2. And then Allah made very clear that this SPECIAL permission of having wives AND slaves is ONLY FOR YOU. And this permission is NOT for the believers. Then again Allah provide the context of this special permission by saying – “this only for you, and not for the Believers (at large); We know what We have appointed for them as to their wives and the captives whom their right hands possess“. Thus Allah made clear that in the matter of slave rulings for prophet and believers is different.
3. SO through 33:50 Allah says that for prophet only wives+slaves is allowed while for believers it is NOT the ruling.

The final ruling of Quran on the issue of sex with slave:


The sequence of orders of the holy Qur’an is a very clear cut. Those who have misunderstood it, have erred, however great they were. After the completion of Quran Islam was complete. Whatever guidance has been given by Quran – that will always be final and not semi-final. So on the issue of physical relationship with slave-girl; teaching of Islam is that ONLY after marrying them one can have physical relation with slave girl. Any physical relation outside the bond of marriage is haraam / prohibited / adultery / major sin.

Any doubt?

A. Some people may have doubt that since ayah of Quran can NEVER be abrogated hence what relevance Surah Momenun 23:5-6 and Surah Marij 70:29-30 and other such ayah have today or in future? The answer is simple – YES; not a single ayah of Quran can be abrogated. Ayah speaking about slave girls in Surah Momenun 23:5-6 and Surah Marij 70:29-30 is valid even today.
The only thing is that since 4:25 maintains that slave girl should be taken into nikah in order to maintain physical relation, so if a person is not married and wants to follow Surah Momenun 23:5-6 and Surah Marij 70:29-30 then he has two option-
a> Marry a lady
b> If slave system persists then take into nikah to the slave girl. Also remember 4:25 discourages marriage with slave girls because of obvious reasons. That is why Allah has prescribed self restrain in this case.
Please note that slavery system is nowhere today so second option is eliminated today.  However, if a person is married then he has to maintain physical relation ONLY with wife.

B. Some people may have this misunderstanding that in case when a person can not marry free believing woman (may be because of financial reason) – as per 4:25 then how he will marry his OWN slave girl (assuming that the person financial condition is bad then how come he is possessing slave?). Please clear this misunderstanding by reading 4:25 carefully. This ayah speaks about marrying slave girl from AMONG slave girls; also it says wed them with the permission of THEIR folk. This ayah makes clear that slave MAY or MAY not be your own slave-that is why it mentions marrying them with the permission of their master. Here again i would like to emphasize that one should MARRY a slave girl in case he fear he will not be able to practice self restraint. If he can then he should wait till he is able to marry a free lady. In no any case islam permits adultery or any relation outside the bond of nikah.

E. Conclusion

1. Slavery system was in full business during the pre Quranic era.
2. Slaves were bought, sold, treated badly, not considered dignified human beings. People captured in war were treated as slaves.
3. Worst situation was for women. Their masters would treat them as concubines. Their masters could have had physical relations with them.
4. Eradicating gradually this menace; Islam proceeded in steps.
5. In the first step: earlier only unmarried Muslims were allowed to have physical relations with slaves. Surah muminoon 23:5-6 and Surah Marij 70:29-30.
6. Afterwards in Almighty GOD commanded people to MARRY slaves if they wanted to have physical relationship 4:25
7. Today Quran is complete. Any practice that was prevalent earlier and when Quran puts an end to it then we have to see the final ruling from Quran. As in the case of Alcohol when 5:90 was revealed then it was made absolutely prohibited to have alcohol. Similarly in 4:25 Allah made clear that one has to MARRY a slave if he wants to have physical relationship.
8. Any physical relation relationship outside the bond of NIKAH / MARRIAGE is absolutely haraam.
9. No matter how much you try to convince a non muslim you will never be able to justify – through out your life – that Islam permits having sex with slaves without marriage. Neither can you convince yourself nor anyone.

1. If you don’t agree with the mail then instead of giving fatwa of deviation/kufr/shirk/biddat – have faith in Allah and leave it to him to judge.
2. I am very well aware that the general understanding among the muslim world is that Islam permits sex with slaves. In spite of this I have dared to go against the tide.
3. Believe me I have thought dozens of time before; whether to write on this subject or not. I tried my best to avoid it. However I realized that anti Islamic writers are attacking Islam on this issue on which Muslims are on the wrong side – unfortunately. So I have to be honest. What should I do?
4. Should I go with the majority of muslim world even though their understanding contradicts Quran and law of nature?
Or should I go by what GOD has mentioned in Quran?
I chose second option.

Author: Khurshid Imam is software engineer at Bangalore. For any criticism / feedback / suggestion feel free to mail – serviceforhumanity@gmail.com

On the day of Qiyamah Prophet will complain to Almighty God – “Oh God! My people had LEFT / ABANDONED Quran” – Quran, Surah Furqan 25:30

Does Quran prohibit befriending non muslims?

 

 

Clear your misconception: Not to take disbelievers as friends

 

by Khurshid imam

 

One of the prevalent misconceptions among our Muslim brethren is that we should not take ALL non Muslims as friend. This misconception is very harmful as it is one of the obstacles in dawah. People get excuse not to do dawah.

Quran DOES say not to take non Muslims as friends ….. But ALL non Muslims or only certain non Muslims? The beauty of Quran is that explanation of an ayah of Quran is found in another ayah of Quran. So when we conclude anything from Quran then we MUST take all ayah of Quran into consideration.

 

The Quran speaks about not to take non Muslim friends in following ayah:

a. Surah Al Imran 3-118

b. Surah Nisa 4-89, 139, 144

c. Surah Maidah 5-51

d. Surah Mujadilah 58-14, 22

e. Surah Mumtahanah 60-1, 8, 9

 

If one analyzes these ayah then it becomes clear that people who are enemies of Muslims and Islam and who all hell bend on working against the mulsims – should not be taken as friend or helper.

 

Statements of those ayah of Quran that speaks about not taking non Muslims as friends:

1. Surah Al ‘Imran 3: 118 says “don’t take non Muslims as friends as they will not fail to do their best to corrupt you, they are already full of hatred for you…”.
2. Surah Nisa 4 : 89 says not to take those people as friends who have rejected the faith.
3. Surah Mujadilah 58 : 14 refers to these people as one upon whom is the wrath of Allah.
4. Surah Mujadilah 58, Ayah 22 clearly says “You will not find any people who believe in Allah and the last day, making friendship with those who oppose Allah and his messenger, even though they were their fathers or their sons or their brothers or their kindred…”
5. Surah Mumtahanah 60 explains in details whom not to take as friends. In Ayah 1 Allah says “Take not my enemies and your enemies as friends, showing affection towards them, while they have disbelieved in what has come to you of the truth, and driven out the messenger and yourselves because you believe in Allah your Lord.”.
6. In Ayah 8 Allah says – “Allah does not forbid you to deal justly and kindly with those who fought not against you on account of religion nor drove you out of your homes…”
7. In Ayah 9 Allah says – “It is ONLY as regards those who fought against you on account of religion, and have driven you out of your homes, and helped to drive you out, that Allah forbids you to befriend them. ..”

 

So it is clear from the analysis of Quran that Allah does prohibit us to take those non Muslims as friends who:

1. Are enemies of Islam, working against Muslims and Islam

2. Oppressing Muslims on account of Islam.

3. Driven Muslims out of their home or helped to do so.

4. Rejected the truth after it was presented to them and rebelled against Allah.

i. For rest of other non Muslims we should behave well with them, deal justly with them.