Difficult Dawah Questions pdf download

Difficult Dawah Questions

DIFFICULT DAWAH QUESTIONS

The prophet was a pedophile

The Prophet has been accused of being a pedophile due his marriage to ‘Aa’ishah at the age of 9.

1. Pedophilia involves adults taking advantage of children by purchasing sexual favors from them. British and German sex tourists being caught in Sri Lanka, Thailand and the Philippines are not seeking marriage but only sex from child prostitutes or impoverished people willing to give their children away for a few pennies.

• The age of consent for women set in the West varies from 14 to 18. These ages were arrived at by democratic vote and have no actual relationship to the woman’s ability or inability for sexual relations or marriage.

Consequently, what is considered legal sex in France may be considered rape in England.

• Islaam sets the age of marriage at puberty, as it is the natural dividing line between childhood and adulthood. Menstruation indicates that a young girl has reached childbearing age. This age may vary from country to country, but it is discernable and not arbitrary.

• Most societies around the world sanctioned child marriages up until this century. It was not introduced by Islaam but regulated.

• Islaam stipulates that a girl or boy married before puberty will not live with their spouse until they have attained puberty. Furthermore, they have the right to cancel or proceed with the marriage when they reach puberty.

• ‘Aa’ishah was seven when she was married off to the Prophet and she came to live with him when she reached puberty at nine.

• Women abused as children usually have difficult times coping as adults. They are often unstable and psychologically handicapped. ‘Aa’ishah became the leading female scholar of her time and conveyed to the next generation an enormous body of Islaamic law. She was known to be the fourth most prolific narrator of the Prophetic traditions of all of the Prophet’s followers.

ISLAAM ALLOWS MUSLIM MALES TO BEAT THEIR WIVES

The finger is often pointed at Muslims as being wife beaters since Islaamic law permits hitting wives.

1. Domestic violence is not unique to Muslim societies, it is wide spread throughout the world. In fact the rate of violence is far higher in Western countries in which it is illegal for husbands to hit their wives.

The reason being the extended family structure’s role in domestic disputes. In the West, the family is reduced to what is commonly referred to as the “nuclear family”; the husband, wife and kids.

Consequently, relatives have little or no concern in domestic disputes. In Muslim communities, the relatives are encouraged to interfere, to protect the rights of their daughter, sister, niece, aunt, or cousin.

 Families often live together, or in the same vicinity and family contact remains strong.

• The West’s attitude toward corporal punishment has changed drastically since Dr. Spock [not of the Enterprise] published his seminal work in the 50’s on the rearing of children.

His book became a standard, not only for parenting, but its principles became standards for educational institutions. His view was that children should be treated as little adults.

 They should be reasoned with, and advised, but not hit. In the same way that, as adults, one would not hit another adult in order to get them to follow instructions, nor would they be hit for disobeying orders, children should not be struck. As a result, the use of corporal punishment in schools was abandoned. It had already been stopped in prisons in favor of reform.

The consequence in schools is that teachers became hostages in the hands of their students.

A number of cases of students attacking teachers occurred in the late sixties and seventies. As a result, most inner city schools in America have metal detectors at their gates in order to disarm students.

• Islaam recognizes corporal punishment for major crimes; 100 lashes for fornication, 80 for drunkenness and slander, etc. Furthermore, regarding children, the Prophet  said, “Teach your children the prayer when they are seven and spank them for it at the age of ten.”¹

There are limitations, in that the Prophet prohibited hitting in the face, even in the case of animals.

• It is true that the Sharee’ah does permit a husband to hit his wife. Allaah stated that in the Qur’aan (Soorah an-Nisaa, (4): 34)².

The Prophet also said, “You have rights over your women that they do not allow anyone you dislike into your home. If they disobey you, you may spank them. And the woman’s right on you is that you clothe her and feed her justly, according to your means.”³ However, that permission is under special conditions and with severe limitations.

A husband is not permitted to beat his wife simply because she spilled his tea, burnt his toast, forgot to iron his shirt, etc. for example. The Qur’aanic permission given is specifically in the case of divorce, as a last resort to save the marriage.

The Qur’aanic verse outlines the procedures which should be followed in the case of a rebellious and unjustly disobedient wife. She should first be verbally advised of her obligations.

 If that fails, the husband should then cease having sexual relations with her. Failing that, if the husband sees it useful, and as a final step in order to bring her back into line he is allowed to hit her.

What is meant by the Prophet’s words “…If they disobey you…” is rebellious disobedience to instructions permitted by Islaamic law.

• As to instructions which contradict the  “Men are protectors and maintainers of women, because Allaah favored them over women and because they spend to support them from their means.

Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient and guard what Allaah instructed them to guard in their husbands’ absence.

As for those rebellious women, admonish them, then abandon them in their beds, then beat them. But if they return to obedience, do not make their way difficult.”

The Prophet said, “Creatures should not be obeyed if it means disobedience to the Creator.”

As regards the hit, it should not be physically damaging and it should not be in the face as the Prophet said, “… Do not hit her in her face nor curse her…”⁴ and “Do not beat your wives as you would your servant girls in pre-Islamic times.”⁵

 If the husband abuses this conditional permission and brutalizes his wife, her male relatives have the right to intervene and the case can be taken to the courts if it is severe enough.

5. Consequently, the intent of this beating is not inflicting pain and punishment but merely to bring the woman back to her senses and re-establish authority in the family.

CHOPPING OFF OF HEADS AND HANDS AND STONING TO DEATH

Muslim application of criminal law has often been described as Medieval Draconian laws. The application of capital punishment has been banned by the UN and the ECC.

1. Punishment in Western penology served three functions:
2. Retribution (justification looking to the past – i.e. punishment, revenge);

 ii) Deterrence (justification looking to the future – i.e. prevention); and iii)Reformation

• In The Report of the Departmental Committee on Corporal Punishment in England, 1938, the committee’s unanimous opinion was that “corporal punishment was of no value as a deterrent and should be abolished.”

In 1952, in the USA, Justice Hugo Black wrote: “Retribution is no longer the dominant objective of criminal law. Reformation and rehabilitation of offenders have become important goals of criminal jurisprudence.”

 In 1972, Justice Thurgood Marshall wrote: “Punishment for the sake of retribution is not permissible under the Eighth Amendment.” In the same year, California’s capital-punishment law was declared unconstitutional.⁶

 For some criminologists “reformation” has become synonymous with “cure”. The criminal is no longer a “bad man” but a “sick man.”⁷

A convict needs treatment. He is genuinely ill, perhaps physically, almost certainly mentally, and psychiatrically.

• The Abolition of the Death Penalty Act of 1965 cancelled capital punishment for murder. The Home Secretary  announced on 22^nd April 1970 that 172 convicted murderers had been released from  prison since 1960, most of them having only served nine years or less of their statutory life sentence.

Only five served 12 or more years, nine served 6 or less and one completed only 6 months.⁸

These are not cases of mistaken ruling which was corrected. These were convicted murderers being let out on the public due to their good behavior in prison. Many of them killed again, only to be sentenced for a few more years.