In Part 2 of Out of Context, Pastor Baughman asks me about verses & incidents of violence in the Quran and Sunnah.
Share the series with your Muslim and Non Muslim friends!
Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research will be dedicated to answering these questions in depth and will be launching in October insha'Allah!
Link: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VCZ9sTc8S98&list=PLutdSTmJ7bAJQaNrfGlijtvLsDcERufni&index=2
Link:
The Prophet....
Narrated 'Alqamah bin Wa'il Al-Kindi:
From his father: "A women went out during the time of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) to go to Salat, but she was caught by a man and he had relations with her, so she screamed and he left.
Then a man came across her and she said: 'That man has done this and that to me', then she came across a group of Emigrants (Muhajirin) and she said: 'That man did this and that to me.' They went to get the man she thought had relations with her, and they brought him to her.
She said: 'Yes, that's him.' So they brought him to the Messenger of Allah (Peace be upon him), and when he ordered that he be stoned, the man who had relations with her, said: 'O Messenger of Allah, I am the one who had relations with her.'
So he said to her: 'Go, for Allah has forgiven you.'
Then he said some nice words to the man (who was brought). And he said to the man who had relations with her: 'Stone him.' Then he said: 'He has repented a repentance that, if the inhabitants of Al-Madinah had repented with, it would have been accepted from them.' "
(Sunan al-Tirmidhi Book of Legal Punishments #1454)
The Caliphs....
Nafi' reported: "A man was invited as a guest of the family of a household, then he forced himself upon a woman among them. It was referred to Abu Bakr, so he flogged him and expelled him, and he did not flog the woman." (Musannaf Ibn Abi Shayba 29013)
Ibn Umar reported: "Umar ibn Al-Khattab was given a servant girl among the girls who served the leadership. She was forced upon by one of the young men, so Umar flogged the man and he did not flog the woman." (Musannaf Ibn Abi Shayba 29012)
Hajjaj reported: "An Abyssinian forced himself upon a woman among them. It was referred to Umar Ibn Abdul Aziz and he applied legal punishment on him." (Musannaf Ibn Abi Shayba 29014)
The Imams of Jurisprudence and Law....
Imam al-Shafi'i wrote: "If a man acquires by force a slave-girl, then has sexual intercourse with her after he acquires her by force, and if he is not excused by ignorance, then the slave-girl will be taken from him, he is required to pay the fine, and he will receive the punishment for illegal sexual intercourse." (Kitaabul Umm, Volume 3, page 253)
Imam Malik wrote: "In our view the man who rapes a woman, regardless of whether she is a virgin or not, if she is a free woman he must pay a "dowry" like that of her peers, and if she is a slave he must pay whatever has been detracted from her value. The punishment is to be carried out on the rapist and there is no punishment for the woman who has been raped, whatever the case. " (Al-Muwatta', Volume 2, page 734)
https://craigconsidinetcd.com/2016/04/01/10-great-prophet-muhammad-quotes-on-christians/
Constitution of Medina
http://www.constitutionofmadina.com/blog/2012/02/22/constitution-of-medina-in-63-articles/#more-102
PROPHET MUHAMMAD'S
CHARTER OF RIGHTS / PRIVILEGES TO CHRISTIANS
LETTER TO THE MONKS OF ST. CATHERINE MONASTERY
http://www.cyberistan.org/islamic/charter1.html
According to the tradition preserved at Sinai, Mohammed both knew and visited the monastery and the Sinai fathers. The Koran makes mention of the Sinai holy sites. In the second year of the Hegira, corresponding to AD 626, a delegation from Sinai requested a letter of protection from Mohammed. This was granted, and authorized by him when he placed his hand upon the document. In AD 1517, Sultan Selim I confirmed the monastery’s prerogatives, but took the original letter of protection for safekeeping to the royal treasury in Constantinople. At the same time, he gave the monastery certified copies of this document, each depicting the hand print of Mohammed in token of his having touched the original.
“O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you.” (The Holy Quran 49:13)
As Muslims, we already have enough Islamophobia and religious misunderstandings to occupy our lives until the end of time. Therefore the misunderstandings and bigotry that happen within our own communities is baffling and honestly quite sad, often targeted at the smaller and often more marginalized Shia Muslim communities. The amount of times I’ve come out as Shia to my non-Shia friends and have them either explode in anger or silently shake their heads in disrespect is uncountable, and unfortunately this happens to many of us on a daily basis. In a small attempt to clear out the misunderstandings and help foster a new environment of dialogue and open discussion, here are some of the most common misunderstandings of Shia Muslims that I’ve come across:
1. Shia Muslims don’t pray to God
This may come as a surprise, but there are a shockingly high amount of Muslims who have somehow been convinced that Shia Muslims do not pray to God (Astaghfirullah), and instead pray to Imam Ali or Imam Hussein or somehow do not pray to any entity at all. This is completely false. The main belief of all Muslims is the belief in One God, and God only. Shia Muslims, including all Muslims, believe in one God and pray to Allah five times a day if not more. We love God just as much as any other Muslim, and to assume that we do not pray to God is very offensive, and a blatant example of extreme bigotry.
2. Shia Muslims have a different Quran
This accusation is often easier to disregard and disprove, however is still unfortunately a highly popular misconception. The misconception that Shia Muslims read a different Quran is completely false. There is only one Quran, and one of the miracles of our religion is the preservation of the original Quran recited by Prophet Mohammad. Many have tried to convince me that Shia Muslims instead read some sort of distorted Quran made in Iran somewhere, however simply walk into any Shia Muslim centre near you and check the copies of the holy Quran on the shelf. We all (Alhamdulillah) read the same Quran.
3. Shia Muslims don’t pray the required five prayers a day
This is one of the most common misconceptions, and is used as an attack on Shia Muslims when it is absolutely not true. The five daily prayers that all Muslims perform is a requirement, and is a devotional form of love and respect to God. Shia Muslims pray the required five prayers a day. The only difference is the timings of prayer. We pray the five prayers but split it up into three times a day. The reasoning for this is because the Quran only mentions three times of prayer during the day. Sunni scholars agree that the Quran mentions only three times for prayer, however keep to praying five times of day based on hadith. So the only difference is the timings of prayer, and it is completely false to accuse Shia Muslims as not praying the required five daily prayers. In addition, there are many Shia Muslims who actually pray five times of day similar to the Sunni school of thought. It is therefore not true to accuse Shia Muslims of somehow not praying the daily prayers required of all Muslims.
4. Shia Muslims pray to a rock
This misconception comes from the fact that Shia Muslims pray on a torba, a round piece of hardened clay that one touches to the forehead during sujood. Shia Muslims do not pray to a rock (Astaghfirullah). We believe that whilst doing sujood our foreheads must touch natural earth, and not something artificial. This is to help keep the practice of what Prophet Mohammad did during his prayer. Numerous hadiths stated when the Prophet lifted his head from prayer the mark of earth could still be seen on his forehead. We pray on pieces of natural clay in order to keep prayer as natural and original as possible. While there are many hadith that support this claim, here is one of the most common ones by the famous Sunni scholar Bukhari:
“The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘The earth has been made for me a place of prostration and a means of purification, so wherever a man of my Ummah is when the time for prayer comes, let him pray.'” Bukhari
5. Shia Muslims only love Imam Ali and Imam Hussein and not Prophet Mohammad
This accusation is very common and clearly shows a lack of knowledge on the part of those participating in this misconception. Shia Muslims have pride in loving the Prophet, as well as loving his family which he encouraged us to do. Loving the Prophet means to love his beloved family as well. We love Imam Ali because of his role in preserving the religion and his love for the Prophet. We also love Imam Hussein (as well as Fatima, Hassan, Zaynab, and the rest of the family) because of their devotion to the religion in which they gave up their lives for. Many of my Sunni friends have no idea who the Prophet’s family were, which I believe is a lack of understanding of a huge part of who the Prophet was. To love the Prophet is to love his family, and to love his family is to love the Prophet
“That is of which Allah gives the good news to His servants, (to) those who believe and do good deeds. Say [O Muhammad]: I do not ask of you any reward for it but love for my near relatives; and whoever earns good, We give him more of good therein; surely Allah is Forgiving, Grateful.” (The Holy Quran 42:23)
6. Shia Muslims focus too much on Imam Hussein
This accusation is often used as an insult, which saddens me a level almost indescribable in words. I encourage all who do not have any knowledge on the Prophet’s grandson Hussein to read and understand who he was, both historically and religiously. Shia Muslims lament and remember his martyrdom, in which he was killed after standing up to corruption and injustice. Hussein’s body was mutilated and his severed head was displayed for all to fear. Imam Hussein’s family as well as other members of the Prophet’s family were chained and dragged to the Sham (modern day Damascus) to be held as prisoners in inhumane conditions. Both Shia and Sunni Muslims remember his death during the month of Muharram when he was killed, and the pilgrimage to his shrine in Karbala attracts more people yearly than the obligatory pilgrimage of Hajj. It is not only Shia Muslims who make this pilgrimage for Ashura, as hundreds of Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Hindus, and Sunni Muslims also commemorate his life and his stand against injustice by paying homage to his grave in Karbala.
7. Shia Muslims don’t rely on hadith or have unreliable hadith
This misconception is an unfortunate product of more than a thousand and a half years of suppression and smearing of the Shia community. To begin with, how to pray itself is completely based on hadith for both Sunni and Shia. If Shia Muslims did not rely on hadith, how would we be praying? We rely on famous Sunni scholars for hadith as well as our own hadith that many Sunni scholars have declared unreliable simply because it is from a Shia source. The misconception that all Shia hadith is unreliable must be understood as being simply untrue and a form of suppression. What makes Shia hadith unreliable? Many people will say that simply being “Shia” makes the hadith unreliable, but many cannot go further to describe why. This obviously is a blatant example of targeted suppression with no basis in truth or logical common sense. Many of our hadiths are taken from Ahlul Al Bayt, with many famous Sunni scholars agreeing on the importance of the Quran and Ahlul Al Bayt. The most famous hadith of the Prophet Muhammad:
“I am about to answer the call (of death). Verily, I leave behind two precious things (thaqalayn) amongst you: the Book of Allah and my Ahl al-Bayt. Verily, the two will never separate until they come back to me by the side of the Pond.”
This has been narrated by Al-Hakim al-Naysaburi, al-Mustadrak `ala al-Sahihayn (Beirut), volume 3, pages 109-110, 148, and 533); Muslim, al-Sahih, (English translation), book 031, numbers 5920-3; al-Tirmidhi, al-Sahih, volume 5, pages 621-2, numbers 3786 and 3788; volume 2, page 219; Ahmad b. Hanbal, al-Musnad, volume 3, pages 14, 17, 26; volume 3, page 26, 59; volume 4, page 371; volume 5, pages 181-2, 189-190; al-Nasa’i, Khasa’is’Ali ibn Abi Talib, hadith number 79; and over 30 other Sunni scholars as well as Shia scholars of hadith.
8. Shia Muslims all hate Sunnis or other non-Shia Muslims
This, similar to the previous misconception, is again used as a tool for dividing the differences and promoting hatred of the other. No, Shia Muslims do not hate Sunni Muslims or any other non-Shia Muslims. At the end of the day, we are all Muslims who believe in Allah and love the Prophet. Although there are differences, we all pray in the same direction, the same amount of times, to the same God, with the same amount of love for our religion. This misconception that we are closed minded or cut off from the rest of the Muslim community is false, and in fact we welcome dialogue and open discussions. Unfortunately it must be said that there are extreme on both sides which fuel sectarian hatred and must be stopped. The reality however is that there are numerous countries in which Shia and Sunni Muslims live side by side in peace and harmony: Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, and others. There are Sunni and Shia marriages, friendships, coworkers, and children. This over-exaggeration of the hatred between Sunni and Shia Muslims is a result of mass media and sectarian politics, and it should be our duty to put an end to divisive and toxic misrepresentations of the two schools of thought.
9. Shia Muslims are all from Iran or support the Iranian government
Unfortunately this misconception comes almost unknowingly to many and many don’t seem to even realize they are making this misconception. Not all Shia Muslims are Iranian or support the Iranian government. Yes, the majority of Iranians are Shia. However the majority of Shia are not Iranian. There are Shia in Saudi Arabia, in Lebanon, in Iraq, in Morocco, in Nigeria, in South Africa, in India, in Pakistan, in Afghanistan, in Turkey, in Malaysia, in Indonesia, in Singapore. There are Shia Muslims in every single continent on earth, with a colorful array of different cultures and backgrounds. To say all Shia are Iranian or support the Iranian government is to say all Sunnis are actually Saudi Arabian and support the Saudi monarchy. This of course, does not make any sense and is a misconception that can be easily disregarded.
These are but a few of the common misconceptions surrounding Shia Muslims on a daily basis, and although there are many more, this attempt was to foster an opening for further discussion between Shia and Sunni communities. Unfortunately these misconceptions are but a few that plagues our world. With extreme leaders on both sides spewing hatred and ignorant misconceptions to wide-eyed youth, many people resort to violence and hatred of the other without even knowing why.
In conclusion, I believe it is important to remember that the Holy Quran encourages us to learn and to know one another, no matter what background or culture or belief we come from. We should uphold this beautiful concept, and move forwards towards intelligent discussions and open minded questioning in order to better understand ourselves and other Muslims.
lbn Kathir, the famous Muslim historian and student of lbn Taymiyya, writes in his aI-Bidaya wa-l-Nihaya (vol. 10, p. 584 paraphrased) :
And of the people whom the Kharijites killed was Abdullah b. Khabéb, the Companion of the Prophet (salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam). They captured him, along with his pregnant wife, and said, "Who are you?" "I am Abdullah b. Khabéb, the Companion of the Prophet (salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam), and you have brought harm and fear to me," he replied.
"Don't worry about that," they said. "Narrate to us something that you hear from the Prophet (SAW)." He said, "I heard my father narrate that he heard the Prophet (SAW) say: 'There shall be trials and tribulations to come. The one who sits (and does not participate) is better than the one who stands, and the one who stands is better than the one who walks, and the one who walks is better than the one who runs.” [Point of the hadith: in times of chaos and bloodshed, don't be involved in killing and step aside]. When he narrated this hadith to them, they tightened his ropes and dragged him along. And as they were traveling, they came across a pig belonging to a Dhimmi. One of them killed the pig, but he was chastised by the others, "How dare you kill a pig belonging to a Dhimmi!" so he went to the owner and recompensed him. And another ate a date on the ground that had fallen from a garden, but he was chastised, "How could you eat from it without asking permission?" so he spit out the date and didn't swallow it.
Yet, despite this outward show of piety, it was these same people who slaughtered Abdullah b. Khabab, and when they came to kill his wife, she screamed out, "I am with child! Do you not fear Allah?!"
Not only did they kill her, they slit her stomach to kill her child as well.
- end quote from Ibn Kathir.
And all of this is but some of what our history books narrate regarding the fanaticism of the Kharaijites, whom our Prophet (salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam) predicted would irritate the Ummah until the end of times. From their characteristics:
- blanket takfir of all those who oppose them
- self-taught and trained in Islamic sciences
- outer shell of piety, whilst living an inner life of sin
- typically young in age, foolish in their goals
- unable to engage in dialogue, for all they know is the language of killing and violence
- their slogans sound good, but their actions belie their sweet talk
- they will leave the true enemies of Islam, and target the people of Islam
All of these, and more, have been predicted in the traditions, and we see these prophetic predictions verified and proven every single day.
"According to almost all the historians, Asma the elder sister of Aisha, was ten years older than Aisha. It is reported in Taqreeb al-Tehzeeb as well as in Ibn Kathir's Al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah that Asma died in the 73rd year after migration of Muhammad when she was 100 years old. Now, obviously if Asma was 100 years old in the 73rd year after Migration to Medina, she should have been 27 or 28 years old at the time of migration. If Asma was 27 or 28 years old at the time of hijrah, Aisha should have been 17 or 18 years old at that time. Thus, if Aisha got married in year 1 AH or 2 AH (after Migration to Medina), she must have been between 18 to 20 years old at the time of her marriage."
