The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) has said that the rights of the neighbour were so overwhelmingly emphasised to him by Angel Jibraeel that he feared that neighbours might be made partakers of one’s inheritance. In another Hadith, the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) said that a man whose neighbour is not safe from his misdeeds, is not a believer in Islam. -- Khwaja Mohammed Zubair

The question is: why can’t women judges deal with marriage and divorce cases? Is there any such injunction in the Quran or the Sunnah? No, not at all. In fact Imam Malik and the famous historian and Quranic commentator, Tabari, have held that women can become qazis; Imam Abu Hanifa was of the opinion that women can be appointed as qazis in certain circumstances; no one held that it would be under certain conditions only. -- Asghar Ali Engineer

The Dar ul-Uloom Deoband, India’s largest madrasa, is back in the news again—this time for a fatwa it has just issued that lays down that Muslim girls above the age of 13 should not ride cycles on the grounds that it would be difficult for them to do so while wearing their veils. Besides, so claims the fatwa, cycling has an adverse effect on girls’ physiques…..

But now this latest fatwa has rejuvenated my desire to hop on to a cycle again. It has also enthused me to share with the manufacturers of this fatwa news about the 6000-odd cyclists who took part in the cyclathon held in Mumbai in February this year to promote cycling as an environmentally-friendly alternative mode of transportation that can help bring down levels of air and noise pollution, especially in crowded urban areas. -- Nigar Ataulla

The Quran did not ban the consumption of alcohol in one go. Rather, this commandment was a gradual one, which passed through several stages. This point, and the statement of Ayesha mentioned above, well illustrates the principle of gradualism in seeking to establish the shariah. This principle is also clearly evident from the fact that when the son of the Caliph Umar Ibn Abdul Aziz asked him why he did not openly and directly crush strife and oppression and immediately impose shariah rules in this regard, he replied, ‘Son! Do not be in a hurry because God condemned the consumption of alcohol twice in the Quran and [only] on the third occasion declared it forbidden. I fear that if I try to make people follow the right path fully they might abandon the true path, leading to terrible strife.’

Another important Islamic principle that must be kept in mind when seeking to establish the shariah is that of properly choosing priorities. This is to say, one should be clear as to which issues need to be taken up and worked on first and which later. This principle is well illustrated in the life of the Prophet. Thus, in Mecca he focused only on inviting people to Islam and on spiritually nurturing his disciples. When some of his followers wanted to go to the Ka‘abah to pray, he advised them against it because, he said, the Muslims were still small in number. When he shifted to Medina, the Prophet focused all his energies on peaceful missionary work and on the moral, intellectual and spiritual training of new converts to Islam so that a community of Muslims could be formed qualified to fulfill the personal and collective responsibilities required of them by Islam. In this way, the Prophet exemplified the principle of setting priorities in his effort to establish the shariah.--Maulana Waris Mazhari

The Qur’an, which is the primary source of shari’ah, does not refer to hijab (veil) for ordinary women at all. On the other hand, it advises women not to display her zeenah(adornments) publicly (24:31) but refrains from defining what constitutes zeenah or adornment. It has been defined by various commentators depending on their cultural environment. Qur’an does not even say whether they should cover their heads, let alone faces. It says, on the other hand “except what appears thereof” leaving space for interpretation. There is near agreement among commentators that face and two hands should remain open.  However, it advises women to cover their breasts. -- Asghar Ali Engineer

So why is the practice of child marriage sanctioned in Muslim countries? Unfortunately, ultra-conservative religious authorities justify this old tribal custom by citing the Prophet Muhammad's marriage to Aisha. They allege Aisha was nine years old when the prophet married her. But they focus conveniently on selected Islamic texts to support their opinions, while ignoring vast number of other texts and historical information, which suggests Aisha was much older, putting her age of marriage at 19. Child marriage is against Islam as the Qur'an is clear that intellectual maturity is the basis for deciding age of marriage, and not puberty, as suggested by these clerics.

Whatever one's view on the prophet's marriage, no faith can claim moral superiority since child marriages have been practised in various cultures and societies across the world at one time or another. In modern times, though, marrying children is no longer acceptable and no excuse should be used to justify this. -- Shaista Gohir

Also See:

DID SAYYIDA AYESHA (ra) MARRY MUHAMMAD (P.B.U.H), THE PROPHET OF ISLAM, AT AGE 6?

http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=817

Justifying child abuse in the name of Shariah

http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1390

Tabri, in his History of Prophets and Kings, has narrated a case of adultery involving Mughira bin Shuba, the governor of Basra during the time of Caliph Umar and a young widow called umm Jamil. Sometime in AD 639, four Basra residents filed a complaint with the Caliph accusing the governor of adultery. What provided substance to the accusation was the fact that Mughira was a much married man, who would have to divorce one of his wives to take a new one in order to stay within the prescribed limit of four wives. -- By Arif M. Khan

‘Sometimes, the killing of a human shield (tatarus) is permissible […] and this is when the benefit of this action is certain and complete, when it is not possible to attack the aggressor without attacking the human shield, and also when [the benefit of this action] is absolute with regard to the entire community […] Our ulema are unanimous on the legitimacy of this matter, provided that these conditions are met […]’

The stringent conditions that Imam Qurtubi has laid down for the permissibility of killing human shields if this becomes unavoidable in order to take on the aggressor do not appear to apply in the case of present-day fidayeen attacks. However, in defence of such attacks, some scholars and others claim that they are permissible because they are resorted to for noble aims. In response, one can argue that this claim is an obvious contradiction of the fiqh rule:  ‘No aim, no matter how lofty, can justify the use of any wrongful means’ (al-ghayatu la tubarrirul wasilah). -- Maulana Waris Mazhari

Mumbai-based scholar Asghar Ali Engineer is one of many who believe that “the cultural basis of the Muslim Personal Law actually lies in the customary laws of the Arab society”. He questions practices such as marrying and divorcing on the phone. These are not mentioned in the Muslim Personal Law and should be declared invalid, says Engineer. He laments Muslim trivialization of “marriage, meesaq-e-ghaliza (strong covenant between two adults)... a qazi can be bribed to distort the rules laid down for a valid nikah and talaq”. ...

Triple talaq: Not mentioned in the Quran; an innovation. Most ulema agree that Allah considers talaq the most reprehensible of all that is allowed to man.....

Polygamy: A provision enshrined in the Quran, though hedged around by many conditions; upheld by the 1937 Muslim Personal Law but grossly misinterpreted and misused. 

 Those partial to the practice quote a Quranic verse as justification but forget that it was revealed during a great and bloody battle, which left many men dead and large numbers of destitute widows and orphans. The flipside is another verse in the same Quranic chapter, which stresses that no man is ever “able to be fair and just between women even if it is your ardent desire.” Senior cleric Maulana Shoeb Koti says it “proves the Quran lays emphasis on monogamy”. -- Mohammad Wajihuddin

Photo: Sania Mirza and Shoaib Malik

The AIMPLB’s attack of the Supreme Court’s judgement only highlights the plight of poor Muslim women and the urgent need to address this. The National Commission for Women given its 17-year-old history has done precious little to help these women. Those in the celebrity cocktail issues circuit haven’t had any ‘spontaneous’ emotional outbursts at the heart-rending situation of Shabana Bano. Perhaps Shabana Bano’s ‘crime’ of being unable to bring in the dowry demanded by her husband’s family isn’t chic enough in the secularist and women’s liberation quarters. To be fair, a lone article in the Indian Express welcomed the Supreme Court’s judgement. But that article didn’t delve into the fundamentals, something everybody wants to avoid. Sandeep B

This barbaric scene belongs in the Dark Ages, but pictures emerged today of a group of Islamic militants who forced villagers to watch as they stoned a man to death for adultery. Mohamed Abukar Ibrahim, a 48-year-old, was buried in a hole up to his chest and pelted with rocks until he died. The group responsible, Hizbul Islam, also shot dead a man they claimed was a murderer. But the verdict was so shocking that it prompted a gun battle between rivals within the group that left three militants dead, witnesses said. The executions took place yesterday in Afgoye, some 20 miles south-west of the capital of Mogadishu.

Photo: Begging for his life Mohamed Ibrahim appeals to Islamic militants not to carry out the execution as he is buried in the ground as his villagers are forced to watch

Although Malaysia has long prided itself on being a role model of a "moderate" majority-Muslim nation, politicians have taken to brandishing their conservative and punishment-focused Islamic credentials to attract the votes of Muslims drawn to "purer" leaders. Many Muslims are afraid to challenge the Islamists for fear of being labelled as anti-Islamic or ignorant of Islamic tenets. "This is definitely not the Malaysia I grew up in, which was far more relaxed and tolerant. This has really been a political development over the last decade or so where political parties have used Islam in order to win the Muslim vote," Marina Mahathir, a writer and a blogger, told me by e-mail. -- Mona Eltahawy

Since Aceh first introduced a limited Shariah law in 2003, at least half of Indonesia’s 32 provinces have enacted their own variations, including some that apply to non-Muslims, according to Santa Ana, California-based Compass Direct News, a Christian organization that monitors religious discrimination. Attitudes among Indonesian Muslims have hardened with the spread of Islamic courts, surveys show. A 2006 poll by the Indonesian Survey Institute found 48 percent of 1,173 respondents believed fornicators should be stoned, up from 39 percent in 2001. Thirty-eight percent said thieves should have their hands cut off, from 29 percent five years earlier. The margin of error was 3 percent. In Malaysia’s northern state of Kelantan, where the Pan- Malaysian Islamic Party has held power for the past 19 years, the capital city of Kota Bharu has no movie theatre. -- Daniel Ten Kate and Ranjeetha Pakiam

Muslims alone cannot be left to choose between the civil law and an outdated version of their personal law with all its distortions and misinterpretations intact. Turning the principles of Muslim law into a legislative enactment will, of course, be no novelty. Such an exercise has already been undertaken in a score of Muslim countries in West Asia and North Africa. (Non-Muslim countries too: look at the Philippines Code of Muslim Law 1977.) There is no justification for India lagging behind; especially since those countries’ efforts have made the job easier for India. Muslim law can be codified here simply by making an eclectic choice from amongst the statutory provisions of those countries in conformity with Indian social conditions. -- Tahir Mahmood

In an Indian village in UP’s Saharanpur district, Mohammad Iqbal got severely beaten up for his ‘crime’ of saying Takbeer as a clean-shaven person in a mosque before Iftar. In the ensuing violence that involved the entire village his 7-year-old daughter lost her life while four people got injured.

An eye-opening report by Saleh Ahqar of Delhi’s premier Urdu Daily Hindustan Express’ News Bureau from Saharanpur, a stronghold of Deobandi Talibani Wahhabism in Uttar Pradesh.

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Sultan Shahin, Editor, NewAgeIslam.com adds: The Wahhabi onslaught on Sunni Indian Muslims is now acquiring overtones of Talibani extremism and violence. What was considered harmless Tabligh (sermonizing) engaged in by the Tablighi Jamaat and similar Wahhabi organisations of the Deoband school of thought is asserting itself now through growing violence in its bid to acquire control of more and more Sunni Muslim mosques.

This has already happened in Pakistan where most Sunni Muslim mosques and madrasa

MUSLIMS living in polygamous marriages have been put on notice by federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland. Polygamous marriages do exist among Australian Muslims, a sheikh with the Islamic Welfare Centre in Sydney has said. But such relationships are illegal under the federal Marriage Act which defines marriage as being between a man and a woman.  "Everyone should be on notice that the law in Australia is that marriage is between a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others,'' Mr McClelland told reporters today. "That's based on a long tradition.

God is merciful, but believers are told to fear his wrath if they fail to conform to the duties he has revealed for them… Shari’a might well make up a set of substantive values and still be able to constitute constitutional principles. The substantive regulation of legislation does not, in itself, rule out an “Islamic constitution,” writes eminent scholar Mark Gould.