^ good post .......(I think).Again the point is, muslims have a choice. Either embrace what's appropriate for contemporary civilization and update religious and social practices or run the risk killing it. Stagnant water only becomes poison
There is nothing to update, but rather corrected by understanding the message in the Quran... what we think as Islamic practice is actually a result of "noble" efforts of state sponsored clergy from the time of the dynasties!
Islam is just like any religion in that PEOPLE determined how to interpret and practice the message. Sure, the Quran may be the unaltered word and yeah, Muhammad may have said everything the hadith reported he said, but regular ol' imperfect humans decided how the religion is to be practiced. What constitutes the necessary rituals, laws, etc.
What sets Islam apart from other religions is that initial interpretation basically has not changed. It has kept to its Arabic roots, culture and language. People assume that since that is the way it has always been practiced, any other interpretation is unIslamic. I think that gives people confidence like they are following the only true, unaltered religion.
There is nothing to update, but rather corrected by understanding the message in the Quran... what we think as Islamic practice is actually a result of "noble" efforts of state sponsored clergy from the time of the dynasties!
whether ypu want to call it correction or update, certain things have to be changed with how islam is understood to be and how it is practiced. the mullahs and clergy are clearly not doing that right and so anyone who lives strictly by islamic edicts are misfits in contemporary world
That’s the thing Tariq. Polygamy is not a license to be your horny self. Polygamy is just ONE solution among many in times of dire need. Right now, in Darfur (I love the Darfur example, because it fits in so nicely), men are being killed left and right, and the number of widows (these women don’t have 2 kids like us Americans, they have like 6 or 7 easy) have NOWHERE to go. Polygamy, if practiced in this situation, can be helpful. At least these women will have some protection, and some shelter, and they have some new family support.
Taking on multiple wives should have been what these waderas and chaudris who do practice polygamy should have been doing during Pakistan’s big earthquake, where so many women were left widowed or orphaned. But, no. They don’t do that. They just take the hottest urban woman they can find as their second wife, because they don’t like their first wife who is some unbearable cousin. Taking the woman who has lost her legs in the earthquake, and has nowhere to go, as a second wife is just unheard of.
