Islam and Context

[daenigma]

I don’t understand why Muslims scholar’s like to take Muhammad’s life out of context and the lifestyles of people at that time and insist that we try to live like it’s still the 7th century, and that certain parts of Islam weren’t specific to those times and conditions. They want to keep it rigid and confining, when i fact Muhammad(PBUH)was a reformer, who wanted Islam to be a pro-active and progressive faith. Although he worked with what immediately faced him at the time, he intended for Islam to change, evolve and adapt with the times as human customs and thinking evolves. The problem with Islam today is that the gates of itijihad have been thrown shut. The Quran is very ambiguous, Islam was intended to be open to interpretation and was a lot more personal and not as rigid as it is today. It has become stagnant the same way Catholicism stagnated Jesus’s movement when it codified and corporatised it

Now take for example the fact that the prophet(PBUH) married Aisha when she was 6 years old and consummated their marriage when she was 9 years old ? Many Islamic scholars give the the justification that it was a normal part of Arab ‘Lifestyle’ at that time. Having intimate physical relations with a - would be seen as immoral, unethical, illegal and vulgar practice in 2010, so clearly the Islam at the time was based on the way people lived back then. Now if you go by the example i’ve given in the vast difference between now and should it be realistic that Islam should be 100% applied the same way as it was back then ? If you look at it objectively, no one can deny (however you want to spin it or twist it)that a lot of Islam is based on the culture and lifestyles of people living in Mecca at that time. For example the fasting guidelines and how men were solely responsible for supporting their families financially, which i will will elaborate on below.

1. Fasting guidelines were implemented on the fact that Meccans were traders who basically worked when they chose to, the equivalent of what you’d call self employed in this day and age. Also it was normal(even now for many) at the time for Meccans to sleep 5-6 hours a day in the hot weather, normally during the period between Fajr-Zuhr, Zuhr-Asr, Asr-Maghrib. Now should there be the same fasting guidelines for Muslims who live in much different working and environmental lifestyles to that of Mecca 1400 years ago ?

2. The instruction on men supporting their families were based on the fact that Mecca was full of rich merchants who could easily support their family financially without the need for women and children having to go out to work. Now we all know in the real world unless your last name is Hilton the chances are that you will have to go out work.

Even during the time of the prophet he changed various aspects of Islam, for example he starting Taraveeh prayers, then instructed and forbade people that they shouldn’t pray Taraveeh prayers so that people don’t assume and think Taraveeh is a Farz prayer. So why do Islamic scholars insist Islam be so rigid ? Does it say anything in the Quran forbidding Islam from adapting to the present lifestyle and context ?

[Das_Reich]

Re: Islam and Context

well there is ijtehad in islam, why dont u learn enough to get to that stage and then make your own decisions.However going against clear hadith is NOT ijtehad that is disbelief ...so be careful not to cross the line.

[shardmanny]

Re: Islam and Context

well im sunni, and i dont take offence with what dr has written. depends on your definition of itjehad but seriously dr has offered us all good advice. its the only way

btw always check your sources, internet is awash with agendas

[shardmanny]

Re: Islam and Context

the level of islam many of us aim to achieve doesnt give us the right to question another sect. thats a scholarly debate

[Iconoclast]

Re: Islam and Context

[note]Plz stick to the topic and display some tolerance[/note]

[mAd_ScIeNtIsT]

You are right to say that Islam changed and evolved during the life of the Prophet (pbuh), but then you overlook his final sermon when he said it was now complete. It's like making a scuplture. It takes different shapes while it is being made, but then stays in its final shape once complete.

1) Fasting guidelines were implemented on the fact that Meccans were traders who basically worked when they chose to, the equivalent of what you'd call self employed in this day and age. Also it was normal(even now for many) at the time for Meccans to sleep 5-6 hours a day in the hot weather, normally during the period between Fajr-Zuhr, Zuhr-Asr, Asr-Maghrib. Now should there be the same fasting guidelines for Muslims who live in much different working and environmental lifestyles to that of Mecca 1400 years ago ?

Those fasting rules did not change during the lifetime of the Prophet (pbuh), when he expanded the area under his direct rule to all of the Arabian peninsula, including agricultural areas (such as Hijaz and east coast oases, as well as Yemen) and industrial areas (yemini textiles were famed). This shows that the fasting rules he laid down were for more than just Meccans.

Today, 1.3 billion Muslims living in places varying from the frozen north of Canada to the hot wastes of the Sahara through the the very tip of Africa fast as required. The very fact that fasting hasn't emerged as a widespread health hazard in this population also backs up that the fasting rules laid down in Mecca can still be followed through the world without harm. Indeed, those same rules also specify that if you are in a position where fasting would cause you harm then you are excused .

2) The instruction on men supporting their families were based on the fact that Mecca was full of rich merchants who could easily support their family financially without the need for women and children having to go out to work. Now we all know in the real world unless your last name is Hilton the chances are that you will have to go out work.

The view that women cannot work is a minority view amongst scholars. There are many, many fatwas clarifying that is it permitted. In fact, you can see in many Muslim countries from Morocco to Malaysia, how active mainstream Islamist movements are in condemning public immorality, yet they don't say a word against the women working in those countries.

In Pakistan, the main Islamist movement, the Jamaat-i-Islaam, even regularly boasts of how many women professionals are joining the party to help it achieve its goal of making an Islamic nation.

Even during the time of the prophet he changed various aspects of Islam, for example he starting Taraveeh prayers, then instructed and forbade people that they shouldn't pray Taraveeh prayers so that people don't assume and think Taraveeh is a Farz prayer. So why do Islamic scholars insist Islam be so rigid ? Does it say anything in the Quran forbidding Islam from adapting to the present lifestyle and context ?

Your example is bad - even you yourself don't say that he made Taraveeh obligatory but then stopped it.

Islam is open to interpretation by those who have studied it and its sources in depth, and in fact many prominent scholars have opposed codification of Islam and defended the need to allow it to always be open to interpretation. Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal, the founder of the Hanbali fiqh, was one such person.

However, interpretation does not allow changing of the words Quran and the Hadith/Sunnah, and it does not allw you to go against anything explicitly mentioned in the Quran and Hadith/Sunnah.

That being said, there have been different interpretations of Islam over different times and places.

A number of examples include how Imam Shafi (founder of the Shafi fiqh) changed his viewpoint on a number of issues after moving from Iraq (an urban sociaty) to Egypt (a rural society). The interpretation which has had made of the Quran and Hadith in one location didn't easily apply to the life in another.

Another, more extreme, example comes from Turkey, where in during the early Ottoman era there were regular civil wars after sultans died when their sons would wage brutal civil wars to take control with thousands of Muslims dying as a result. Turkey's scholars interpreted Islam at the time to issue a fatwa saying that to save lives, it was halal for a a Sultan to imprison and murder his brothers upon taking power. Later on, when constitutional succession was established, this interpretation was abandoned.

My point is that Islam already has leeway to adapt to changing societal needs, and already has done so.

[USResident]

@mAd_ScIeNtIsT

You are right to say that Islam changed and evolved during the life of the Prophet (pbuh), but then you overlook his final sermon when he said it was now complete. It's like making a scuplture. It takes different shapes while it is being made, but then stays in its final shape once complete.

Those fasting rules did not change during the lifetime of the Prophet (pbuh), when he expanded the area under his direct rule to all of the Arabian peninsula, including agricultural areas (such as Hijaz and east coast oases, as well as Yemen) and industrial areas (yemini textiles were famed). This shows that the fasting rules he laid down were for more than just Meccans.

Today, 1.3 billion Muslims living in places varying from the frozen north of Canada to the hot wastes of the Sahara through the the very tip of Africa fast as required. The very fact that fasting hasn't emerged as a widespread health hazard in this population also backs up that the fasting rules laid down in Mecca can still be followed through the world without harm. Indeed, those same rules also specify that if you are in a position where fasting would cause you harm then you are excused .

The view that women cannot work is a minority view amongst scholars. There are many, many fatwas clarifying that is it permitted. In fact, you can see in many Muslim countries from Morocco to Malaysia, how active mainstream Islamist movements are in condemning public immorality, yet they don't say a word against the women working in those countries.

In Pakistan, the main Islamist movement, the Jamaat-i-Islaam, even regularly boasts of how many women professionals are joining the party to help it achieve its goal of making an Islamic nation.

Your example is bad - even you yourself don't say that he made Taraveeh obligatory but then stopped it.

Islam is open to interpretation by those who have studied it and its sources in depth, and in fact many prominent scholars have opposed codification of Islam and defended the need to allow it to always be open to interpretation. Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal, the founder of the Hanbali fiqh, was one such person.

However, interpretation does not allow changing of the words Quran and the Hadith/Sunnah, and it does not allw you to go against anything explicitly mentioned in the Quran and Hadith/Sunnah.

That being said, there have been different interpretations of Islam over different times and places.

A number of examples include how Imam Shafi (founder of the Shafi fiqh) changed his viewpoint on a number of issues after moving from Iraq (an urban sociaty) to Egypt (a rural society). The interpretation which has had made of the Quran and Hadith in one location didn't easily apply to the life in another.

Another, more extreme, example comes from Turkey, where in during the early Ottoman era there were regular civil wars after sultans died when their sons would wage brutal civil wars to take control with thousands of Muslims dying as a result. Turkey's scholars interpreted Islam at the time to issue a fatwa saying that to save lives, it was halal for a a Sultan to imprison and murder his brothers upon taking power. Later on, when constitutional succession was established, this interpretation was abandoned.

My point is that Islam already has leeway to adapt to changing societal needs, and already has done so.

Very nice reply MAD bhai.

Just to add one more piece of information regarding women not being involved in economic opportunities, one cannot ignore the fact the Prophet SAW himself married Khadija RA, a merchant lady and was working for her. So women who were capable of or had circumstances where it would not get in the way, did participate in the economics of the muslims and Arabic societies.

[Das_Reich]

Re: Islam and Context

I second that great reply MS