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Archive-name: islam-faq/part8
Posting-Frequency: monthly Last-modified: 1995/3/27 Version: 3.3 Organization: Alumni Association, Caltech, Pasadena, California See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge
Copyright 1993,1994,1995 Asim Mughal (mughal@caltech.edu)
Redistribution for profit, or in altered content/format
prohibited without explicit written permission of the author.
Any other redistribution must include this copyright notice and
attribution.
Frequently Asked Questions: Part 8
__________________________________
This message is automatically posted to 'soc.religion.islam'
every month and when updated. This lists answers to most
commonly asked questions on the forum. Contributions & changes
are requested and should be directed to: mughal@caltech.edu
OVERVIEW: The Frequently Asked Questions document for
Islam has been divided in parts. Below is the index.
Part 1 - Welcome & Index
Part 2 - Info on Islamic News Groups
Part 3 - Introduction to Islam
Part 4 - God & Worship
Part 5 - Islam, Quran & Muhammad (PBUH)
Part 6 - Marriage Laws in Islam
Part 7 - Women In Islam
Part 8 - Life after Death, Moral System & Human rights in Islam
Part 9 - Islam: Prophethood, Jesus & Trinity
Part 10 - Islam: Farrakhism & Malcom X
Part 11 - Islamic Internet Guide: Islamic Resources on Internet
Part 12 - Other Islamic Resource Guides on Internet
Part 13 - Islamic Literature: Books & Video
Part 14 - Islamic Calendar & Prayer Time Table for 1994
Part 15 - Misc: List of Halal Foods
________________________________________________________
PART 8: Life after Death,Moral System & Human Rights in Islam
Contents
--Articles--
1. Life After Death ............................................... from III&E
2. Moral System In Islam .......................................... from III&E
3. God Consciousness .............................................. from III&E
4. Social Responsibilities ........................................ from III&E
5. Parents & others ............................................... from III&E
6. Human Rights In Islam .......................................... from III&E
7. Human Rights in an Islamic State ............................... from III&E
--Announcements--
8. Archive Info ..............................................................
9. Credits ...................................................................
Articles .....................................................................
1. Life After Death ............................................... from III&E
The question whether there is a life after death does not fall under the
jurisdiction of science, as science is concerned only with
classification and analysis of data. Moreover, man has been busy with
scientific inquiries and research, in the modern sense of the term, only
for the last few centuries, while he has been familiar with the concept
of life after death since times immemorial. All the prophets of God
called their people to worship God and to believe in life after death.
They laid so much emphasis on the belief in life after death that even a
slight doubt in it meant denying God and made all other beliefs
meaningless. The very fact that all the prophets of God have dealt with
this metaphysical question of life after death so confidently and so
uniformly - the gap between their ages being thousands of years - goes
to prove that the source of their knowledge of life after death as
proclaimed by them all, was the same, i.e., Divine revelation. We also
know that these prophets of God were greatly opposed by their people,
mainly on the issue of life after death, as their people thought it
impossible. But in spite of opposition, the prophets won many sincere
followers.
The question arises: what made those followers forsake the established
beliefs, traditions and customs of their forefathers, notwithstanding
the risk of being totally alienated from their own community? The simple
answer is: they made use of their faculties of mind and heart and
realized the truth. Did they realize the truth through perceptual
consciousness? Not so, as perceptual experience of life after death is
impossible.
Actually, God has given man, besides perceptual consciousness, rational,
aesthetic and moral consciousness too. It is this consciousness that
guides man regarding realities that cannot be verified through sensory
data. That is why all the prophets of God while calling people to
believe in God and life after death, appeal to the aesthetic, moral and
rational consciousness of man. For example, when the idolaters of Makkah
denied even the possibility of life after death, the Quran exposed the
weakness of their stand by advancing very logical and rational arguments
in support of it:
"And he has coined for us a similitude, and has forgotten the fact of
his creation, saying: who will revive these bones when they have rotted
away? Say: He will revive them Who produced them at first, for He is the
Knower of every creation, Who has appointed for you fire from the green
tree, and behold! you kindle from it. Is not He Who created the heavens
and the earth, able to create the like of them? Yes, and He is indeed
the Supreme Creator, the All-Knowing." (36:78-81)
At another occasion, the Quran very clearly says that the disbelievers
have no sound basis for their denial of life after death. It is based on
pure conjecture:
"They say, 'There is nothing but our present life; we die, and we live,
and nothing but Time destroys us.' Of that they have no knowledge; they
merely conjecture. And when our revelations are recited to them, their
only argument is that they say, 'Bring us our fathers, if you speak
truly.' (45:24-25)
Surely God will raise all the dead. But God has His own plan of things.
A day will come when the whole universe will be destroyed and then again
the dead will be resurrected to stand before God. That day will be the
beginning of the life that will never end, and that Day every person
will be rewarded by God according to his or her good or evil deed.
The explanation that the Quran gives about the necessity of life after
death is what the moral consciousness of man demands. Actually, if there
is no life after death, the very belief in God becomes irrelevant, or
even if one believes in God, that would be an unjust and indifferent
God: having once created man and not concerned with his fate. Surely,
God is just. He will punish the tyrants whose crimes are beyond count:
having killed hundreds of innocent persons, created great corruptions in
the society, enslaved numerous persons to serve their whims, etc. Man's
having a very short span of life in this world, and this physical
world's too being not eternal, punishments or rewards equal to the evil
or noble deeds of persons are not possible here. The Quran very
emphatically states that the Day of Judgment must come and God will
decide about the fate of each soul according to his or her record of
deeds:
"Those who disbelieve say: The Hour will never come unto us. Say: Nay,
by my Lord, but it is coming unto you surely. (He is) the Knower of the
Unseen. Not an atom's weight, or less than that or greater, escapes Him
in the heavens or in the earth, but it is in a clear Record. That He may
reward those who believe and do good words. For them is pardon and a
rich provision. But those who strive against our revelations,
challenging (Us), theirs will be a painful doom of wrath." (34:3-5)
The Day of Resurrection will be the Day when God's attributes of Justice
and Mercy will be in full manifestation. God will shower His Mercy on
those who suffered for His sake in the worldly life, believing that an
eternal bliss was awaiting them. But those who abused the bounties of
God, caring nothing for the life to come, will be in the most miserable
state. Drawing a comparison between them, the Quran says:
"Is he, then, to whom We have promised a goodly promise the fulfillment
of which he will meet, like the one whom We have provided with the good
things of this life, and then on the Day of Resurrection he will be of
those who will be brought arraigned before God?" (28:61)
The Quran also states that this worldly life is a preparation for the
eternal life after death. But those who deny it become slaves of their
passions and desires, make fun of virtuous and God-conscious persons.
Such persons realize their folly only at the time of their death and
wish to be given a further chance in the world but in vain. Their
miserable state at the time of death, and the horror of the Day of
Judgment, and the eternal bliss guaranteed to the sincere believers are
very beautifully mentioned in the following verses of the Holy Quran:
"Until, when death comes unto one of them, he says, 'My Lord send me
back, that I may do right in that which I have left behind! But nay! It
is but a word that he speaks; and behind them is a barrier until the day
when they are raised. And when the Trumpet is blown there will be no
kinship among them that day, nor will they ask of one another. Then
those whose scales are heavy, they are successful. And those whose
scales are light are those who lose their souls, in hell abiding, the
fire burns their faces and they are glum therein." (23:99-104)
The belief in life after death not only guarantees success in the
Hereafter but also makes this world full of peace and happiness by
making individuals most responsible and dutiful in their activities.
Think of the people of Arabia. Gambling, wine, tribal feuds, plundering
and murdering were their main traits when they had no belief in life
after death. But as soon as they accepted the belief in One God and life
after death they became the most disciplined nation of the world. They
gave up their vices, helped each other in hours of need, and settled all
their disputes on the basis of justice and equality. Similarly the
denial of life after death has its consequences not only in the
Hereafter but also in this world. When a nation as a whole denies it,
all kinds of evils and corruptions become rampant in that society and
ultimately it is destroyed. The Quran mentions the terrible end of 'Aad,
Thamud and the Pharaoh in some detail:
"(The tribes of) Thamud and 'Aad disbelieved in the judgment to come. As
for Thamud, they were destroyed by the lightning, and as for 'Aad, they
were destroyed by a fierce roaring wind, which He imposed on them for
seven long nights and eight long days so that you might see the people
laid prostrate in it as if they were the stumps of fallen down palm
trees.
"Now do you see remnant of them? Pharaoh likewise and those before him
and the subverted cities. They committed errors and those before him,
and they rebelled against the Messenger of their Lord, and He seized
them with a surpassing grip. Lo, when the waters rose, We bore you in
the running ship that We might make it a reminder for you and for
heeding ears to hold. So when the Trumpet is blown with a single blast
and the earth and the mountains are lifted up and crushed with a single
blow, then on that day, the Terror shall come to pass, and the heaven
shall be split for upon that day it will be very frail. Then as for him
who is given his book in his right hand, he shall say, 'Here take and
read my book! Certainly I thought I should encounter my reckoning.' So
he shall be in a pleasing life in a lofty garden, its clusters nigh to
gather.
"'Eat and drink with wholesome appetite for that you did long ago, in
the days gone by.'
"But as for him who is given his book in his left hand, he shall say:
'Would that I had not been given my book and not known my reckoning!
Would that it had been the end! My wealth has not availed me, my
authority is gone from me.'" (69:4-29)
Thus, there are very convincing reasons to believe in life after death.
First, all the prophets of God have called their people to believe in
it.
Secondly, whenever a human society is built on the basis of this belief,
it has been the most ideal and peaceful society, free of social and
moral evils.
Thirdly, history bears witness that whenever this belief is rejected
collectively by a group of people in spite of the repeated warning of
the Prophet, the group as a whole has been punished by God even in this
world.
Fourthly, moral, aesthetic and rational faculties of man endorse the
possibility of life after death.
Fifthly, God's attributes of Justice and Mercy have no meaning if there
is no life after death.
2. Moral System In Islam .......................................... from III&E
Islam has laid down some universal fundamental rights for humanity as a
whole, which are to be observed and respected under all circumstances.
To achieve these rights Islam provides not only legal safeguards but
also a very effective moral system. Thus whatever leads to the welfare
of the individual or the society is morally good in Islam and whatever
is injurious is morally bad. Islam attaches so much importance to the
love of God and love of man that it warns against too much of formalism.
We read in the Quran:
"It is not righteousness that you turn your faces towards East or West;
but it is righteousness to believe in God and the Last Day and the
Angels, and the Book, and the Messengers; to spend of your substance,
out of love for Him, for your kin, for orphans for the needy, for the
wayfarer, for those who ask; and for the freeing of captives; to be
steadfast in prayers, and practice regular charity; to fulfill the
contracts which you made; and to be firm and patient in pain (or
suffering) and adversity and throughout all periods of panic. Such are
the people of truth, the God-conscious." (2:177)
We are given a beautiful description of the righteous and God-conscious
man in these verses. He should obey salutary regulations, but he should
fix his gaze on the love of God and the love of his fellow men.
We are given four heads:
a) Our faith should be true and sincere,
b) We must be prepared to show it in deeds of charity to our fellow-men,
c) We must be good citizens, supporting social organizations, and
d) Our own individual soul must be firm and unshaken in all
circumstances.
This is the standard by which a particular mode of conduct is judged and
classified as good or bad. This standard of judgment provides the
nucleus around which the whole moral conduct should revolve. Before
laying down any moral injunctions Islam seeks to firmly implant in man's
heart the conviction that his dealings are with God who sees him at all
times and in all places; that he may hide himself from the whole world
but not from Him; that he may deceive everyone but cannot deceive God;
that he can flee from the clutches of anyone else but not from God.
Thus, by setting God's pleasure as the objective of man's life, Islam
has furnished the highest possible standard of morality. This is bound
to provide limitless avenues for the moral evolution of humanity. By
making Divine revelations as the primary source of knowledge it gives
permanence and stability to the moral standards which afford reasonable
scope for genuine adjustments, adaptations and innovations, though not
for perversions, wild variation, atomistic relativism or moral fluidity.
It provides a sanction to morality in the love and fear of God, which
will impel man to obey the moral law even without any external pressure.
Through belief in God and the Day of Judgment it furnishes a force which
enables a person to adopt the moral conduct with earnestness and
sincerity, with all the devotion of heart and soul.
It does not, through a false sense of originality and innovation,
provide any novel moral virtues nor does it seek to minimize the
importance of the well-known moral norms, nor does it give exaggerated
importance to some and neglect others without cause. It takes up all the
commonly known moral virtues and with a sense of balance and proportion
it assigns a suitable place and function to each one of them in the
total scheme of life. It widens the scope of man's individual and
collective life - his domestic associations, his civic conduct, and his
activities in the political, economic, legal, educational, and social
realms. It covers his life from home to society, from the dining-table
to the battlefield and peace conferences, literally from the cradle to
the grave. In short, no sphere of life is exempt from the universal and
comprehensive application of the moral principles of Islam. It makes
morality reign supreme and ensures that the affairs of life, instead of
dominated by selfish desires and petty interests, should be regulated by
norms of morality.
It stipulates for man a system of life which is based on all good and is
free from all evil. It invokes the people, not only to practice virtue,
but also to establish virtue and eradicate vice, to bid good and to
forbid wrong. It wants that the verdict of conscience should prevail and
virtue must not be subdued to play second fiddle to evil. Those who
respond to this call are gathered together into a community and given
the name "Muslim". And the singular object underlying the formation of
this community ("Ummah") is that it should make an organized effort to
establish and enforce goodness and suppress and eradicate evil.
Here we furnish some basic moral teachings of Islam for various aspects
of a Muslim's life. They cover the broad spectrum of personal moral
conduct of a Muslim as well as his social responsibilities.
3. God Consciousness .............................................. from III&E
The Quran mentions it as the highest quality of a Muslim:
"The most honorable among you in the sight of God is the one who is most
God-conscious." (49:13)
Humility, modesty, control of passions and desires, truthfulness,
integrity, patience, steadfastness, and fulfilling one's promises are
moral values which are emphasized again and again in the Quran. We read
in the Quran:
"And God loves those who are firm and steadfast." (3:146)
"And vie with one another to attain to your Sustainer's forgiveness and
to a Paradise as vast as the heavens and the earth, which awaits the
God-conscious, who spend for charity in time of plenty and in time of
hardship, and restrain their anger, and pardon their fellow men, for God
loves those who do good." (3:133-134)
"Establish regular prayer, enjoin what is just, and forbid what is
wrong; and bear patiently whatever may befall you; for this is true
constancy. And do not swell your cheek (with pride) at men, nor walk in
insolence on the earth, for God does not love any man proud and
boastful. And be moderate in your pace and lower your voice; for the
harshest of sounds, indeed, is the braying of the ass." (31:18-19)
In a way which summarizes the moral behavior of a Muslim, the Prophet
(PBUH) said:
"My Sustainer has given me nine commands: to remain conscious of God,
whether in private or in public; to speak justly, whether angry or
pleased; to show moderation both when poor and when rich, to reunite
friendship with those who have broken off with me; to give to him who
refuses me; that my silence should be occupied with thought; that my
looking should be an admonition; and that I should command what is
right."
4. Social Responsibilities ........................................ from III&E
The teachings of Islam concerning social responsibilities are based on
kindness and consideration of others. Since a broad injunction to be
kind is likely to be ignored in specific situations, Islam lays emphasis
on specific acts of kindness and defines the responsibilities and rights
of various relationships. In a widening circle of relationship, then,
our first obligation is to our immediate family - parents, husband or
wife and children, then to other relatives, neighbors, friends and
acquaintances, orphans and widows, the needy of the community, our
fellow Muslims, all our fellow human beings and animals.
5. Parents & others ............................................... from III&E
Respect and care for parents is very much stressed in the Islamic
teaching and is a very important part of a Muslim's expression of faith.
"Your Sustainer has decreed that you worship none but Him, and that you
be kind to parents. Whether one or both of them attain old age in your
lifetime, do not say to them a word of contempt nor repel them, but
address them in terms of honor. And, out of kindness, lower to them the
wing of humility and say: My Sustainer! Bestow on them Your mercy, even
as they cherished me in childhood." (17:23-24)
OTHER RELATIVES
"And render to the relatives their due rights, as (also) to those in
need, and to the traveler; and do not squander your wealth in the manner
of a spendthrift." (17:26)
NEIGHBORS
The Prophet (PBUH) has said:
"He is not a believer who eats his fill when his neighbor beside him is
hungry"; and: "He does not believe whose neighbors are not safe from his
injurious conduct."
Actually, according to the Quran and Sunnah, a Muslim has to discharge
his moral responsibility not only to his parents, relatives and
neighbors but to the entire mankind, animals and trees and plants. For
example, hunting of birds and animals for the sake of game is not
permitted. Similarly, cutting trees and plants which yield fruit is
forbidden unless there is a very pressing need for it.
Thus, on the basic moral characteristics, Islam builds a higher system
of morality by virtue of which mankind can realize its greatest
potential. Islam purifies the soul from self-seeking egotism, tyranny,
wantonness and indiscipline. It creates God-conscious men, devoted to
their ideals, possessed of piety, abstinence and discipline and
uncompromising with falsehood, It induces feelings of moral
responsibility and fosters the capacity for self control. Islam
generates kindness, generosity, mercy, sympathy, peace, disinterested
goodwill, scrupulous fairness and truthfulness towards all creation in
all situations. It nourishes noble qualities from which only good may be
expected.
6. Human Rights In Islam .......................................... from III&E
Since God is the absolute and the sole master of men and the universe,
He is the sovereign Lord, the Sustainer and Nourisher, the Merciful,
Whose mercy enshrines all beings; and since He has given each man human
dignity and honor, and breathed into him of His own spirit, it follows
that, united in Him and through Him, and apart from their other human
attributes, men are substantially the same and no tangible and actual
distinction can be made among them, on account of their accidental
differences such as nationality, color or race. Every human being is
thereby related to all others and all become one community of
brotherhood in their honorable and pleasant servitude to the most
compassionate Lord of the Universe. In such a heavenly atmosphere the
Islamic confession of the oneness of God stands dominant and central,
and necessarily entails the concept of the oneness of humanity and the
brotherhood of mankind.
Although an Islamic state may be set up in any part of the earth, Islam
does not seek to restrict human rights or privileges to the geographical
limits of its own state. Islam has laid down some universal fundamental
rights for humanity as a whole, which are to be observed and respected
under all circumstances whether such a person is resident within the
territory of the Islamic state or outside it, whether he is at peace or
at war. The Quran very clearly states:
"O believers, be you securers of justice, witness for God. Let not
detestation for a people move you not to be equitable; be equitable -
that is nearer to God-fearing." (5:8)
Human blood is sacred in any case and cannot be spilled without
justification. And if anyone violates this sanctity of human blood by
killing a soul without justification, the Quran equates it to the
killing of entire mankind.
"...Whoso slays a soul not to retaliate for a soul slain, nor for
corruption done in the land, should be as if he had slain mankind
altogether." (5:32)
It is not permissible to oppress women, children, old people, the sick
or the wounded. Women's honor and chastity are to be respected under all
circumstances. The hungry person must be fed, the naked clothed and the
wounded or diseased treated medically irrespective of whether they
belong to the Islamic community or are from among its enemies.
When we speak of human rights in Islam we really mean that these rights
have been granted by God; they have not been granted by any king or by
any legislative assembly. The rights granted by the kings or the
legislative assemblies, can also be withdrawn in the same manner in
which they are conferred. The same is the case with the rights accepted
and recognized by the dictators. They can confer them when they please
and withdraw them when they wish; and they can openly violate them when
they like. But since in Islam human rights have been conferred by God,
no legislative assembly in the world or any government on earth has the
right or authority to make any amendment or change in the rights
conferred by God. No one has the right to abrogate them or withdraw
them. Nor are they basic human rights which are conferred on paper for
the sake of show and exhibition and denied in actual life when the show
is over. Nor are they like philosophical concepts which have no
sanctions behind them.
The charter and the proclamations and the resolutions of the United
Nations cannot be compared with the rights sanctioned by God; because
the former are not applicable on anybody while the latter are applicable
on every believer. They are a part and parcel of the Islamic Faith.
Every Muslim or administrator who claims himself to be Muslim, will have
to accept, recognize and enforce them. If they fail to enforce them, and
start denying the rights that have been guaranteed by God or make
amendments and changes in them, or practically violate them while paying
lip service to them, the verdict of the Holy Quran for such government
is clear and unequivocal:
"Those who do not judge by what God has sent down are the disbelievers."
(5:44)
7. Human Rights in an Islamic State ............................... from III&E
1. THE SECURITY OF LIFE AND PROPERTY:
In the address which the Prophet delivered on the occasion of the
Farewell Hajj, he said: "Your lives and properties are forbidden to one
another till you meet your Lord on the Day of Resurrection." The Prophet
has also said about the dhimmis (the non-Muslim citizens of the Muslim
state): "One who kills a man under covenant (i.e., dhimmi) will not even
smell the fragrance of Paradise."
2. THE PROTECTION OF HONOR:
The Holy Quran lays down:
i) "You who believe, do not let one (set of) people make fun of another
s= et."
ii) "Do not defame one another."
iii) "Do not insult by using nicknames."
iv) "Do not backbite or speak ill of one another." (49:11-12)
3. SANCTITY AND SECURITY OF PRIVATE LIFE:
The Quran has laid down the injunction:
i) "Do not spy on one another." (49:12)
ii) "Do not enter any houses unless you are sure of their occupant's
consent." (24:27)
4. THE SECURITY OF PERSONAL FREEDOM:
Islam has laid down the principle that no citizen can be imprisoned
unless his guilt has been proven in an open court. To arrest a man only
on the basis of suspicion and to throw him into a prison without proper
court proceedings and without providing him a reasonable opportunity to
produce his defense is not permissible in Islam.
5. THE RIGHT TO PROTEST AGAINST TYRANNY:
Among the rights that Islam has conferred on human beings is the right
to protest against government's tyranny. Referring to it the Quran says:
"God does not love evil talk in public unless it is by someone who has
been injured thereby." (4:148)
In Islam, as has been argued earlier, all power and authority belong to
God, and with man there is only delegated power which becomes a trust;
everyone who becomes a recipient of such a power has to stand in awful
reverence before his people toward whom and for whose sake he will be
called upon to use these powers. This was acknowledged by Hazrat Abu
Bakr who said in his very first address: "Cooperate with me when I am
right but correct me when I commit error; obey me so long as I follow
the commandments of Allah and His Prophet; but turn away from me when I
deviate."
6. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION:
Islam gives the right of freedom of thought and expression to all
citizens of the Islamic state on the condition that it should be used
for the propagation of virtue and truth and not for spreading evil and
wickedness. The Islamic concept of freedom of expression is much
superior to the concept prevalent in the West. Under no circumstances
would Islam allow evil and wickedness to be propagated. It also does not
give anybody the right to use abusive or offensive language in the name
of criticism. It was the practice of the Muslims to enquire from the
Holy Prophet whether on a certain matter a divine injunction had been
revealed to him. If he said that he had received no divine injunction,
the Muslims freely expressed their opinion on the matter.
7. FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION:
Islam has also given people the right to freedom of association and
formation of parties or organizations. This right is also subject to
certain general rules.
8. FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE AND CONVICTION:
Islam has laid down the injunction: "There should be no coercion in the
matter of faith." (2:256)
On the contrary, totalitarian societies totally deprive the individuals
of their freedom. Indeed, this undue exaltation of the state authority
curiously enough postulates a sort of servitude, of slavishness on the
part of man. At one time slavery meant total control of man over man -
now that type of slavery has been legally abolished but in its place
totalitarian societies impose a similar sort of control over
individuals.
9. PROTECTION OF RELIGIOUS SENTIMENTS:
Along with the freedom of conviction and freedom of conscience, Islam
has given the right to the individual that his religious sentiments will
be given due respect and nothing will be said or done which may encroach
upon his right.
10. PROTECTION FROM ARBITRARY IMPRISONMENT:
Islam also recognizes the right of the individual not to be arrested or
imprisoned for the offenses of others. The Holy Quran has laid down this
principle clearly: "No bearer of burdens shall be made to bear the
burden of another." (35:18)
11. THE RIGHT TO BASIC NECESSITIES OF LIFE:
Islam has recognized the right of the needy people for help and
assistance to be provided to them: "And in their wealth there is
acknowledged right for the needy and the destitute." (51:19)
12. EQUALITY BEFORE LAW:
Islam gives its citizens the right to absolute and complete equality in
the eyes of the law.
13. RULERS NOT ABOVE THE LAW:
A woman belonging to a high and noble family was arrested in connection
with theft. The case was brought to the Prophet, and it was recommended
that she might be spared the punishment of theft. The Prophet replied:
"The nations that lived before you were destroyed by God because they
punished the common man for their offenses and let their dignitaries go
unpunished for their crimes; I swear by Him Who holds my life in His
hand that even if Fatima, the daughter of Muhammad, had committed this
crime, I would have amputated her hand."
14. THE RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE AFFAIRS OF STATE:
"And their business is (conducted) through consultation among
themselves." (42:38) The "Shura" or the legislative assembly has no
other meaning except that the executive head of the government and the
members of the assembly should be elected by free and independent choice
of the people.
Lastly, it is to be made clear that Islam tries to achieve the above
mentioned human rights and many others not only by providing certain
legal safeguards but mainly by inviting mankind to transcend the lower
level of animal life to be able to go beyond the mere ties fostered by
the kinship of blood, racial superiority, linguistic arrogance, and
economic privileges. It invites mankind to move on to a plane of
existence where, by reason of his inner excellence, man can realize the
ideal of the Brotherhood of man.
Announcements ................................................................
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Dir: /pub/calmsa/islam-faq/
-- E-MAIL --
Send E-mail to: mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu
Text of E-mail Message:
send usenet/news.answers/islam-faq/part8
quit
-- GOPHER --
Site: gopher.caltech.edu 70
Path: Computing Information/
CCO anonymous ftp archive/
pub/
calmsa/
islam-faq/
Site: latif.com 70
Path: Resources relating to Islam/
Soc.Religion.Islam
-- World-Wide-Web (WWW) --
One recommended interface is 'mosaic,' below are mosaic 'home pages.'
URL at USENET Archive site:
http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/islam-faq/faq.html
URL at Caltech MSA site:
http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~calmsa/links.html
9. Credits ...................................................................
The author wishes to thank all those who contributed in any capacity for
the original one part FAQ or this multi-part FAQ.
-- SOURCES --
The basic introduction and literature presented in the FAQ is from
brochures on Islam distributed by Institute of Islamic Information &
Education (III&E). These brochures were typed in electronic form by
Ms.M.Ahmed.
The information on soc.religion.islam forum (in Part 2) has been
compiled from USENET archives and administrative logs of
Soc.Religion.Islam moderator panel.
What is III&E?
III&E is an acronym for the Institute of Islamic Information & Education
which was established in Chicago, Illinois in 1985. The III&E is
registered in the State of Illinois and recognized by the Internal
Revenue Service (IRS) as a not-for-profit religious organization.
More information can be obtained by contacting Dr. M. Amir, III&E, P.O.
Box 41129, Chicago, IL 60641-0129, U.S.A.; Tel: (312) 777-7443 Fax:
(312) 777-7199.
-- FORMAT --
The format of the FAQ series has been done by utilizing resources of
Islamic Information & News Network (IINN). A custom program, Nebula,
written by editors of IINN for generating newsletters has been used.
What is IINN?
Islamic Information & News Network is a forum dedicated to educate the
network community on issues relating to Islam and Muslims in an academic
& non-political environment. Weekly digest is available on internet by
subscribing to MUSLIMS@ASUACAD.BITnet (A Bitnet listserv list) and on
USENET: bit.listserv.muslims.
-- Permissions --
Permission to post this multi-part FAQ has been obtained by the
following:
o Institute of Islamic Information & Education (III&E)
o Islamic Information & News Network (Muslims@PSUVM.bitnet)
o Moderator(s) of News.Answers (Thomas Khoenig & P.Huang)
# End of Islam FAQ Part 8 #
User Contributions: 1 Star Wars Home Theatre ⚠ pypb km Starwars Wars youtube.com/watch?v=KgUoGsWrFEs Comment about this article, ask questions, or add new information about this topic:Part1 - Part2 - Part3 - Part4 - Part5 - Part6 - Part7 - Part8 - Part9 - Part10 - Part11 - Part12 - Part13 - Part14 - Part15 [ Usenet FAQs | Web FAQs | Documents | RFC Index ] Send corrections/additions to the FAQ Maintainer: mughal@alumni.caltech.edu (Asim Mughal)
Last Update March 27 2014 @ 02:11 PM
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