The Light (English) September 2014

September 2014

September

2014 Webcasting on the world’s first real-time Islamic service at www.virtualmosque.co.uk Editors: Lord Shahid Aziz, M.Sc. Mr Mustaq Ali, M.Sc. Contents: Page The Call of the Messiah Beating Women, or Beating Around the Bush, or …

by Edip Yüksel Muhammad (pbuh), Part I

by Prof. K. S. Ramakrishna Rao West Leads the World in ‘Islamic Values’

by Ali SIna

‫ن‬ ‫ْحالرَّ ْ ی م‬ ‫حم‬ ْ ‫ْس م‬ ْ ٰ ‫ِباہللْالرَّ م‬ The Call of the Messiah

by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Promised Messiah and Mahdi The second Messiah God Most High was then pleased to resolve that, in accordance with the prophecy in the Torah and the prophecy in the Holy Quran, another Messiah like unto the former should be raised towards the end of the Islamic order of the Khilafat. He therefore, in like manner, brought into being this Messiah at the head of the 14th century, and, as in the case of the first Messiah, news about the advent of the second Messiah had also been communicated through the Holy Prophet, foretelling that he would come at a time when the Holy Quran would have gone up to heaven – that is to say, when people would have fallen into various doubts and uncertainties and become devoid of faith regarding the Day of Requital,

1 3 5

like the atheists – and that the Messiah would, by means of his preaching, signs and spiritual power, regenerate faith in them, deliver them from doubts, and eliminate the work and activity of the Anti-Christ with his heavenly weapon, without heaving any recourse to Jihad; that the pure influence of the Holy Spirit would spread in the world without the agency and force of hands; that the cool breeze of truth-perception would blow over human minds; that a major revolution would come to pass, with peace, goodwill and love of humankind; that Satan would be overthrown and defeated, and the Holy Spirit would be triumphant and victorious.

Spiritual warfare Many prophets of God have uttered prophecies about this, the last age, but it is regrettable indeed that our ignorant and witless maulvis have unnecessarily thrust into it the doctrine of Jihad. It had never been the intention of the Holy Prophet (peace and the blessings of God be upon him) and it should be remembered that, for anyone who seeks to engage in Jihad, this will not be a spiritual war between the wind that heals and the wind that poisons, in which the healing wind will at last be victorious. The Promised Messiah has been raised only for the purpose of this spiritual warfare; and it is not necessary that it should reach its point of completion during his lifetime; rather this seed which has been sown in the earth will grow up and enlarge slowly until, in accordance with the solemn word of the God Most High, it will one day become a big tree, and all those who hunger and thirst for

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2 truth will rest and repose in its shade; and the love of falsehood will vanish away from human hearts, such that falsehood will meet its death and cease to exist, and the spirit of truth will be created in every heart. On that day will be fulfilled all those scriptures in which it is written that, like the sea, the earth will become filled with truth. But all this, as is the Divine practice, will be accomplished by degrees; and it is not necessary, for this gradual growth, that the Promised Messiah should be in living flesh-andblood form all the time; the existence of God Most High will be sufficient and enough. Such has not at any time been the requirement of God Most High, and no change or alteration can ever creep into the Divine Law. A man, therefore, who would raise an objection at the time of the Promised Messiah’s demise, saying, “What has he done?”, will be utterly ignorant and unknowing; for, although not all at once, yet eventually all that seed that the Promised Messiah has sown will begin to grow by degrees, and attract minds towards itself, until it will, like a circle, spread over the world. That time and hour when this perfect and complete change will come to pass is in the knowledge of God Most High God only, just as you know that the creed of the dajjal did not spread over the earth all at once, but its seed grew up and flourished slowly, in the same way, the world will turn to truth but by slow degrees, like lookers-on and spectators. You should not assume that the world will turn topsy-turvy with one stroke; but just as fields and trees grow and enlarge in a gradual manner, in the same way will this also be accomplished. It should be remembered that, with regard to the Messiah, i.e. the one imbued with spiritual blessings of whose advent in the last age the glad tidings had been given to the Muslims, it is also written that he will slay and destroy the Antichrist. But this destruction will not be accomplished by the edge of the sword or by rifle bullet; the significance, rather, is that the heresies

innovated by the dajjal will become cease to exist.

The Antichrist It appears from a careful study of Hadith that dajjal is in reality the name of Satan, and the people by whom Satan will have his mission carried out and fulfilled have also been called dajjal metaphorically, for they function as his arms َ ‫ت َو ْاْل‬ and limbs. The Quranic verse ‫رْض‬ َ ‫خ َْل‬ ِ ٰ‫ق السَّمٰ و‬ ِ ‫ق النَّاس‬ ِ ‫( اَ ْکبَ َر ِم ْن خ َْل‬40:57), khalq-us-samawati wa-l -ardhi akbaru min khalq-in-nasi, “God’s works of art and mechanisms are much bigger and better than those of men”, make reference to those people of whom it has been written that they would, in the last age, make great mechanical inventions, and thrust their noses into and interfere with Divine works. The commentators have written that by men is here meant the dajjal; and this statement is obviously an argument for the fact that the dajjal is not one single َ man or individual, otherwise the term ‫( ناس‬nas) would not have been used َ for him; there is no doubt that the term ‫ ناس‬is used for a group of men, and the group that will walk in the shadow of Satan’s evil influence will also be known by the name dajjal. To this fact also points the arrangement of the Holy Quran, in that it has begun with the verse ‫اَلْ َح ْمد ِ ٰلِل ِ َربِّ الْ َعال َ ِمیْن‬, al-hamdu l -Illahi rabb-il-‘alamin, and ended with the statement َ‫اس ِمن‬ ِ َّ‫اَلَّ ِذیْ ی َوس ِْوس فِ ْی صدوْ ِر الن‬ ْ ‫( ال ِجنَّ ِۃ َوالنَّاس‬114:5–6), alladhi yuwaswisu fi-sudur-in-nasi min aljinnati wa-n-nas, “who whispers into the hearts of men, of jinn and men”. Here also the term ‫ی‬ ْ ِ ‫نَفَّاثَاتِ ف‬ ‫( ْالعقَ ِد‬113:4), naffathati fi-l-‘uqad, “who blow on knots”, stands for and denotes the dajjal. The substance of this chapter is that you should seek refuge in God Most High from the evil of the dajjal. The chapter that precedes it is The Dawn, which speaks of a dark age and the deception and guile of women; and, then, there is the Divine direction to seek refuge in God Most High from the kind of people who walk in the way of Satan. It is, then, plainly evident from this arrangement that it is

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3 the same set of people who have, in other words, been called Satan and, last of all, by mentioning this horde, it is meant to indicate that in the last age they will be dominant, and with them will be missionary women such as will, by visiting homes, try to separate wives from their husbands and break and dissolve the marriage tie. These three chapters of the Holy Quran, it should be clearly remembered, speak of the age of the dajjal, and we are commanded to seek refuge in God Most High from the evil of this age so that we may be safe and secure from it. Our attention, in this way, is called to the point that those evils would be set aside and removed only by the celestial light and blessings that the heavenly Messiah will bear and bring with him.

Perhaps the Sai Yuga that the Hindus have been waiting for also refers to this age.

They have, in their commentaries, quoting baseless traditions of the Israelites, deceived the world.

Beating Women, or Beating Around the Bush, or ….

by Edip Yüksel (Editor’s note: Some 25 years ago, I came to the conclusion that the verb DaRaBa used in 4:34 did not mean beating the wife. Here is an article by a Sunni brother who has deep knowledge and understanding of the Holy Quran, as he is a translator of it, and who has independently come to the same conclusion.

It is recommended that, for a better understanding of the thesis of this article, you use the English translation of the Holy Quran to look up verses mentioned here.)

“Verse 4:34 of the Quran orders believers to beat their wives; so, Islam is a male dominant religion.”

Many of us have heard this criticism from Christians, atheists, agnostics, etc. Personally, every time I read 4:34, I felt that something was wrong. How does God, the Most Wise order us to beat our women? What kind of solution is that? It is in con-

trast to the verses in which God describes marriage: “Among His signs is that He created for you spouses from among yourselves, in order to have tranquillity and contentment with each other. He places in your heart love and care towards your spouses. In this, there are signs for people who think.” (30:21) Obviously, these mixed messages have bothered many contemporary translators of the Quran.

To avoid the moral and intellectual problems, they tried to soften the word beat when they translate the verse 4:34. For instance, Yusuf Ali uses a merciful parentheses after beat to save women: “… As to those women on whose part you fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them (first), (next), refuse to share their beds, (and last) beat them (lightly) …” (4:34) Many tried to beat around the bush to beat the problem generated by the beat of 4:34.

When I finished the Turkish translation (of the Holy Quran) (1991), this verse was on the top of my orange list to study carefully. Whenever I encounter a problem regarding the understanding of a Quranic verse, I remember 20:114 and pray accordingly: “Most Exalted is God, the only true King. Do not rush into (understanding) the Quran before it is revealed to you, and say, My Lord, increase my knowledge.”

Almost all of the translations have mistranslated the four key words or terms of this particular verse. These are: Qawwamune, Faddallallahu ba‘dahum ala ba‘d, Nushuzehunne, and Fadribuhunne. In our late book, “Errors in Turkish Translations” (Istanbul, 1992) we have discussed the real meaning of these words and the motivation and reasons for mistranslating them. Here, we will focus on the last word, Fadribuhunne.

A famous multi-meaning word The problem comes from the word Idribuhunne

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4 which we used to translate as “beat them”. The root of this word is DaRaBa. If you look at any Arabic dictionary you will find a long list of meanings ascribed to this word. That list is one of the longest lists in all the Arabic dictionary. It can be said that DaRaBa is the number-one multi-meaning word in Arabic. It has so many different meanings, we can find numerous different meanings ascribed to it in the Quran.

• To travel, to get out: 3:156; 4:101; 38:44; 73:20; 2:273 • To strike: 2:60,73; 7:160; 8:12; 20:77; 24:31; 26:63; 37:93; 47:4 •

To beat: 8:50; 47:27

•

To set up: 43:58; 57:13

• To give (examples): 14:24,45; 16:75,76,112; 18:32,45; 24:35; 30:28,58; 36:78; 39:27,29; 43:17; 59:21; 66:10,11 •

To take away, to ignore: 43:5

•

To condemn: 2:61

•

To seal, to draw over: 18:11

•

To cover: 24:31

•

To explain: 13:17

As you see, in the Quran alone we can witness the verb DaRaBa having at least ten different meanings. DaRaBa has also other meanings which are not mentioned in the Quran. For example, in the Arabic language, you do not print money – you DaRaBa money, you do not multiply numbers – you DaRaBa numbers, you do not cease the work – you DaRaBa the work. In Turkish we have many verbs similar to DaRaBa, such as tutmak, calmak, vurmak etc. In English we have two verbs which are almost equivalent to DaRaBa. These are to strike and to beat.

Webster’s Dictionary gives fourteen meanings to the verb strike: hit (against); ignite; (of snake) bite; (of plants) (cause to) take root; attack; hook (fish); sound (time) as bell in clock etc.; affect; arrive at, come upon; enter mind of; discover (gold, oil etc.); dismantle, remove; make (coin); cease work as protest or to make demands. The same dictionary gives eight meanings to the verb “beat”: strike repeatedly; overcome; surpass; stir vigorously with striking ac-

tion; flap (wings); make, wear (path); throb; sail against wind.

At the beginning of this article (underlined) I deliberately used beat in three different meanings in a single statement just to show the variety of meanings in a single word. In English, when we order someone to beat it we mean get out.

Similarly in Arabic, when we order someone with the command form of DaRaBa, that is iDRiB, we mean get out.

How can we find the appropriate meaning?

When we encounter a multi-meaning word, we select the proper meaning according to the context, forms, and common sense. For instance, if we had have translated DaRaBa in 13:17 as beat instead of explain, the meaning would be ridiculous: “… God thus beats the truth and falsehood” (13:17) Another example of mistranslation of DaRaBa can be found in the translation of 38:44.

All the translations (except Dr. Khalifa’s translation) inject a male-made story to justify their silly translation. Here is how Yusuf Ali translates the verse about Job: “And take in the hand a little grass, and strike therewith: and break not (the oath).”

Yusuf Ali, in the footnote narrates the traditional story: He (Job) must have said in his haste to the woman that he would beat her: he is asked now to correct her with only a wisp of grass, to show that he was gentle and humble as well as patient and constant.

However, without injecting this story, we can translate it as the following: Now, you shall travel the land to fulfil your pledge (that is to deliver the message). We found him steadfast. What a good servant! He was a submitter (38:44).

Let’s turn back to 4:34 Additionally, the word Nushuz which is generally translated as opposition has another meaning which can be translated as degrees of disloyalty ranging from flirtation to sexual liaison. If we

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5 study 4:34 carefully we will find a clue that leads us to translate that word as flirting or cheating or an extramarital affair. (Any word or words that reflect the range of disloyalty in marriage.)

The clue is the phrase before Nushuz as reads: … and observe God’s commandments, even when alone in their privacy.

This phrase emphasises the importance of loyalty in marriage life. Furthermore, the same word Nushuz is used in 4:128, but it is used to describe the misbehaviour of husbands not wives as was in 4:34. So, the traditional translation of Nushuz, that is, opposition will not fit here. In marital relations, opposition cannot be a double-edged behaviour. So, translators try to avoid this contradiction by ascribing just the opposite meaning of opposition, i.e., oppression in verse 4:128. However, the meaning of Nushuz as disloyalty is appropriate for both cases described in 4:34 and 4:128.

A coherent understanding When we read 4:34 we should not understand idribuhunne as to beat those women. We must remember that this word has many meanings.

God gives us three ways of dealing with extramarital-affair. In the beginning stage of such misbehaviour husband should start from giving advice. If it does not work and she goes further and commit a proven adultery, that time husband has the right to strike them out (4:34 & 65:1).

Let’s present our suggestion for the translation of verse 4:34 Men traditionally take care of women, since God has endowed each of them with certain qualities and men spend from their financial resources.

The righteous women are obedient (to God) and during the absence (of their husband) they honour them according to God’s commandment. As for those women whom you are experiencing a fear of disloyalty from, you shall first advice them, then (if they continue) you may desert them in bed, then you may strike them out. If they obey you then don’t transgress against them. God is Most High, Supreme.

Beating women who are cheating is not an ultimate solution; but striking them out

[sending them away – Editor, The Light] from your house is the best solution. And it is fair too.

Note by the editor of the original article In addition to all the well written information from Mr. Yuksel (above), it must also be added that those who interpret the word iddribuhhunna in 8:78 to mean physically beat are in fact violating three Quranic principles, and they are: 1- God prohibits all aggression. To physically beat another person is an act of aggression no matter what justification anyone may have: do not transgress, God does not like the aggressors 2:190 2- God commands husbands and wives to treat each other with love and mercy, once again beating up the wife is not a merciful act: And from His signs is that He created for you mates from yourselves that you may reside with them, and He placed between you affection and mercy.

In that are signs for a people who reflect. 30:21 3- In Sura 4 which is given the title Women in verse 19 men are told specifically to treat their wives bil-ma'ruf which means with kindness. Needless to say, physically beating women does not exactly qualify for anyone’s definition of kindness.

4- To soften the issue, some scholars have claimed that a husband may only beat his wife if she commits adultery. But when we examine this interpretation, once again we find that it contradicts Quranic law. In the case of adultery, God has already prescribed a fixed punishment of 100 lashes (24:2). The important issue here is that the same crime or sin should not entitle two separate punishments. If a wife commits adultery and is given 100 lashes, then her husband beats her as well, she would have received two separate punishments for the same sin.

Muhammad (pbuh), Part I

by Prof. K. S. Ramakrishna Rao Head of the Dept. of Philosophy, Govt. College for Women, University of Mysore, Mandya-571401, Karnatika, India

[Editor’s Note: The following is reprinted from Islam and Modern Age, Hyderabad.]

In the desert of Arabia was Mohammad born, according to Muslim historians, on April 20, 571.

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6 The name means highly praised. He is to me the greatest mind among all the sons of Arabia. He means so much more than all the poets and kings that preceded him in that impenetrable desert of red sand.

When he appeared Arabia was a desert – a nothing. Out of nothing a new world was fashioned by the mighty spirit of Mohammad – a new life, a new culture, a new civilization, a new kingdom which extended from Morocco to Indies and influenced the thought and life of three continents – Asia, Africa and Europe.

When I thought of writing on Mohammad the prophet, I was a bit hesitant because it was to write about a religion I do not profess and it is a delicate matter to do so for there are many persons professing various religions and belonging to diverse school of thought and denominations even in same religion. Though it is sometimes, claimed that religion is entirely personal yet it can not be gainsaid that it has a tendency to envelop the whole universe seen as well unseen. It somehow permeates something or other our hearts, our souls, our minds their conscious as well as subconscious and unconscious levels too. The problem assumes overwhelming importance when there is a deep conviction that our past, present and future all hang by the soft delicate, tender silk cord. If we further happen to be highly sensitive, the center of gravity is very likely to be always in a state of extreme tension. Looked at from this point of view, the less said about other religion the better. Let our religions be deeply hidden and embedded in the resistance of our innermost hearts fortified by unbroken seals on our lips.

But there is another aspect of this problem.

Man lives in society. Our lives are bound with the lives of others willingly or unwillingly, directly or indirectly. We eat the food grown in the same soil, drink water, from the same the same spring and breathe the same air. Even while staunchly holding our own views, it would be helpful, if we try to adjust ourselves to our surroundings, if we also know to some extent, how the mind our neighbour moves and what the main springs of his actions are. From this angle of vision it is highly desirable that one should try to know all religions of the world, in the proper sprit, to promote mutual understanding

and better appreciation of our neighbourhood, immediate and remote.

Further, our thoughts are not scattered as they appear to be on the surface. They crystallize around a few nuclei in the form of great world religions and living faiths that guide and motivate the lives of millions that inhabit this earth of ours. It is our duty, in one sense if we have the ideal of ever becoming a citizen of the world before us, to make a little attempt to know the great religions and system of philosophy that have ruled mankind.

In spite of these preliminary remarks, the ground in these field of religion, where there is often a conflict between intellect and emotion is so slippery that one is constantly reminded of fools that rush in where angels fear to tread. It is also not so complex from another point of view. The subject of my writing is about the tenets of a religion which is historic and its prophet who is also a historic personality. Even a hostile critic like Sir William Muir speaking about the holy Quran says that.

“There is probably in the world no other book which has remained twelve centuries with so pure text.” I may also add Prophet Mohammad is also a historic personality, every event of whose life has been most carefully recorded and even the minutest details preserved intact for the posterity. His life and works are not wrapped in mystery.

My work today is further lightened because those days are fast disappearing when Islam was highly misrepresented by some of its critics for reasons political and otherwise. Prof. Bevan writes in [The] Cambridge Medieval History, “Those account[s] of Mohammad and Islam which were published in Europe before the beginning of 19th century are now to be regarded as literary curiosities.”

To write this monograph is easier because we are now generally not fed on this kind of history and much time need be spent on pointing out our misrepresentation of Islam.

West Leads the World in ‘Islamic Values’

by Ali Sina Ali Sina is the author of Understanding Muhammad and working on his new book The Life of Muhammad under the Light of Reason, a comprehensive review of the life of the Prophet of Islam. In this article he criticises Hossein Askarai view that non-Muslim states have adopted and espouse Islamic values whereas Muslim

September 2014

7 states do not. He goes on to criticise Islam for this state of affairs rather the fact that it is misunderstood and misused by politicians to further their own objectives.

Are non-Muslim countries more Islamic than Muslim countries? That is what Hossein Askari, an Iranian-born professor of International Business and International Affairs at George Washington University, believes. Askari says Ireland “leads the world in Islamic values as Muslim states lag.” After studying 208 countries and territories he found that the top countries in both economic achievement and social values are Ireland, Demark, Luxembourg and New Zealand. Britain also ranks in the top ten. The first Muslim-majority nation is Malaysia ranking at 33, while the only other state in the top 50 is Kuwait at 48.

Askari then concluded that the Quran’s teachings are better represented in non-Muslim societies than in Islamic countries, which, he believes, have failed to embrace the values of their own faith in politics, business, law and society.

Askari said Muslim countries use religion as an instrument of state control. “We must emphasize that many countries that profess Islam and are called Islamic are unjust, corrupt, and underdeveloped and are in fact not ‘Islamic’ by any stretch of the imagination,” Askari asserted.

“Looking at an index of Economic Islamicity, or how closely the policies and achievements of countries reflect Islamic economic teachings – Ireland, Denmark, Luxembourg, Sweden, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Singapore, Finland, Norway, and Belgium round up the first 10”, Askari added.

Askari said: “If a country, society, or community displays characteristics such as unelected, corrupt, oppressive, and unjust rulers, inequality before the law, unequal opportunities for human development, absence of freedom of choice (including that of religion), opulence alongside poverty, force, and aggression as the instruments of conflict resolution as opposed to dialogue and reconciliation, and, above all, the prevalence of injustice of any kind, it is prima facie evidence that it is not an Islamic community.”

If Askari were right, the solution would be

simple. To get rid of corruption, oppression injustice and inequality in Islamic countries, which according to Askari are not Islamic values, we could encourage Muslims to leave Islam and follow the lead of non-Muslim countries. It appears that the more a country is Islamic the more it lacks “Islamic values.” Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan that are more Islamic are also more oppressive.

But of course Askari is wrong. In Islam the unbelievers are not equal to believers. “Is he, then, who is a believer like one who is disobedient? They are not equal.” (Q. 32:18) In Islam men excel over women. (Q. 4:34) Also Islam honours the institution of slavery.

(Q 33:50, 23:5) Dawud reports a hadith (14:2692) of a slave of Ibn Umar who ran away to the enemy and when Muslims overpowered them Muhammad returned him to Ibn Umar.

Dawud says that this slave was not distributed (as a part of booty) among the rest of the captives who were also reduced to slaves.

As for freedom of religion, the Quran says “No religion other than Islam will be accepted from anyone.” (Q. 3:85) The argument that Islam is tolerant because the verse 2:256 says there is no compulsion in religion is a fallacy. This verse has nothing to do with tolerance. According to Islamic sources, the Jews of Medina had adopted and raised the orphaned children of Arabs and these children had embraced Judaism. When Muhammad expelled the Jews from their city the relatives of these children (now adults) wanted to prevent them leaving but in loyalty to their adopted parents they preferred to go. The matter was brought to Muhammad who said, if they want to go let them go, “there is no compulsion in religion.” Of course if they wanted to stay they had to convert to Islam.

Askari’s argument that the prevalence of corruption, oppression and injustice in a society is prima facie evidence that it is not Islamic is absurd. Governments are either democratic or dictatorial. Corruption and oppression are more likely in dictatorships. In democracies, people have the power to remove corrupt governments, unless they are so ignorant that they are easily deceived, which is not the fault of democracy. In democracy, laws are made by people. Islam does not recognize the laws made by people. The

September 2014

8 laws are made by God and the ruler, as the executioner of divine law, is not accountable to the people. And as long as he adhered to the Islamic law no one is allowed to criticize or oppose him, even if he is unjust.

Muhammad said, “If Allah has on Earth a caliph who flays your back and takes your property, obey him; otherwise die holding onto the stump of a tree.”[Dawud 35: 4232] So much for freedom and justice!

The 18th century Muslim scholar Shah Waliullah on the Obedience of the Caliph wrote, The Prophet has said: “Hearing and obeying is an obligation of every Muslim, whether he likes the command or dislikes it, as long as he is not commanded to commit a sin. If he is commanded to commit a sin, then he absolved of the obligation to hear and obey.” [Sahih Muslim.]

(I say): Since an imam is installed for two kinds of public weal, by which religious and political affairs are regulated, and since the Prophet was sent for their sake, and the imam is the Prophet’s deputy and an executor of his mission, therefore, obedience to the imam is indeed obedience to the Prophet. And disobedience to him would be tantamount to disobedience of the Prophet except when he commands to commit a sin. For then it would be evident that obedience to him is no longer in obedience to God, and in that event, he would cease to be a deputy of God’s

Prophet. This is why the Prophet said: “Whoever follows an amir, he indeed follows me, and whoever disobeys an amir, he indeed disobeys me” [Sahih Muslim]. [Shah Wali Allah, Selection from Hujjat Allah al-Balighah, English Translation, 2006, pp. 116-117] As for economics, something Khomeini said, “is for the donkey,” Islam has very little to offer.

Bukahri (3:39:541) reports Muhammad saying, “There is no house in which these (agricultural) equipment enters except that Allah will cause humiliation to enter it.” The reason Muhammad disparaged agriculture is because he wanted to encourage his companions to earn their living through jihad. He said that is the best bargain and he who strives hard for Allah’s cause with their wealth and in persons will reap the rewards. (Q. 6:11) The irony is that Muslims can see something is wrong with their societies, but can’t see its cause. Western countries are not prospering because they have embraced Islamic values.

How delusional is this thinking? They are prospering because they drew a clear line between religion and state, and have embraced secularism. Muslims can’t do such a thing. Islam is more than a religion. It is primarily a political system.

It is totalitarian as it controls all aspects of the life of the believer. Muhammad was not just a prophet but also a dictator. His successors also ruled with undisputed authority.

If Islamic countries are dictatorial, unjust, oppressive and backwards we should look for the cause of it in the values that they espouse. Their failure is evident even to them. But instead of acknowledging the problem they keep digging their heads deeper in the sands of denial. Isn’t it time to wake up?

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