Indian Press on Objectives of the Shariah And Places Of Worship Act: New Age Islam's Selection, 19 March 2021
By
New Age Islam Edit Desk
19 March
2021
•
Objectives of the Sharī'ah
By Dr
Nazir Ahmad Zargar
• The
Places Of Worship Act Has Been Challenged. Here’s Why This Is Dangerous
By
Salman Khurshid
• Two
Balloons Have Done What Imran Khan Govt Couldn’t — Give India Sleepless Nights
By
Naila Inayat
•
Latif-Ul-Khabiir
The
Greater Kashmir
--------
Objectives
of the Sharī'ah
By Dr
Nazir Ahmad Zargar
March 19,
2021
Sharī‘ah is
principally based upon the benefit of the beings. That is why it holds that
originally and essentially all beneficial actions are legitimate, all harmful
ones illegitimate. The divine attributes Rahmān (the Compassionate) and Rahīm
(the Merciful) imply that Allāh is Oft
Forgiving, protecting His creatures, “preserving them, guiding them, and
leading them to clear light and higher life.” The word Rahmān expresses Allāh’s
love to man. Therefore, Allāh’s relation to man is the relation par excellence
of love, sympathy, concern, solicitude, compassion and mercy.”
Both the
words Rahmān and Rahīm are derived from Rahmah ‘which signifies tenderness,
requiring the exercise of beneficence and thus comprising the idea of love and
mercy.’ While Rahmān denotes Allāh’s tenderness towards all His creatures in
general, Rahīm denotes His tenderness towards His worshippers in particular.
Justice being the fundamental principle existing in every commandment of the
Sharī‘ah, its every rule bears witness to this generalization when it takes
into consideration human nature and its general weaknesses and basic needs.
Consider, for example, some of its rules:
Difficulty
gives rise to convenience.
When a
matter becomes rigid, it turns flexible.
It is not
legitimate to fulfill one’s needs by encroaching upon other’s rights.
Need
becomes necessity, be it general or specific.
It is not
legitimate to harm anybody or tolerate harm.
From the
above many sub-rules are deduced of which a few are:
Harm should
be stopped as far as possible.
Harm should
not be ended by replacing it with the same thing.
Greater
harm can be discontinued by replacing it by smaller harm.
A limited
harm can be tolerated when it stops a general harm.
Stopping of
harmful things is better than gaining of beneficial things.
One who has
access to confidence mustn’t act on doubt.
Anything
which is yet to come into existence, its nature cannot be decided.
Anything,
the taking of which is unlawful, its giving is also unlawful.
When
Allāh’s right and man’s right come at the same time, man’s right is given
priority for Allāh has no need and man
has need.
Laws of
Punishment cannot be implemented in presence of doubt.
The
objectivesof the Sharī‘ah are six. They constitute the prime values whose
actualization is desirable in order to materialize the purpose of creation and
aim at preserving: (i) Life (ii)
Progeny (iii) Property (iv) Honour (v) Dīn (vi) and reason.
Preservation
of Dīn
“Religion”
is a loose rendering of the word Dīn, which, unlike the western concept of
religion, encompasses man’s whole life, in this world and in the Hereafter.
Here it fittingly means belief in the Oneness of God and all other fundamentals
of faith that follow it. All the commandments of Sharī‘ah are fundamentally
faith-based and any such commandment, which ever goes against faith is
irreligious and hence rejected. While on one hand the Sharī‘ah commands that
the faithful must obey their leaders, it orders that any such kind of obedience
to the ruler that leads to disobedience to Allāh is strictly prohibited. At one
place Allāh says:
“O ye who
believe! Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger, and those charged with authority
among you.” (4:59)
Rasūlullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam explains this as
under:
“It is
obligatory upon a Muslim to listen to obey (his amīr) whether he likes (his
amīr’s order) or not unless he is not commanded to commit sin. So when an amīr
orders for doing a sinful act, then (you should) neither listen (to his order)
nor obey (his command).”
Preservation
of Life
After
mentioning the first ever murder on the earth committed by Ādam’s son Qābīl
(Cain) when he killed his own innocent brother Hābīl (Abel), the holy Qur’ān
declares in clear terms:
“Whoso
kills a person, except for a person, or for corruption in the land, it shall be
as if he had killed all mankind, and whoso brings life to one it shall be as if
he had brought life to all mankind.” (5:32)
Thus in the
Islāmic Sharī‘ah “the murder of an individual is a crime against the whole
community, or rather humanity.” On the other hand saving a life from unjust
murder is a service to the humanity as if the whole humanity has been saved
from injustice and peace and security has been safeguarded. Moreover, in this Āyah the Arabic word Ihya’
is here synonymous with Ibqa’, which means not only letting a person live but
protecting his life also.
Preservation
of Progeny
The Pagan
Arabs used to bury their female children alive. The holy Qur’ān puts an end to
this heinous crime thereby paving way for the sustenance of coming generations:
“When the
female (infant), buried alive, is questioned—for what crime she was killed.”
(81:8-9)
Not only
this, but even killing of the yet unborn foetus is prohibited: Once a woman
killed another woman with a stone. The later was pregnant and her foetus also
died with the blow. This case was brought to the holy Prophet Sallallahu Alayhi
Wa Sallam. He decided that the murderer woman should pay the diyah (blood
money) against the fetus by setting free a slave (male or female) and the diyah
of the slain woman should be paid by the murderer’s family members, her heirs
and her son.
Allāh says:
“Kill not
your children for fear of want: We shall provide sustenance for them as well as
for you. Verily the killing of them is a great sin.” (17:31)
Thus feticide
has been strictly prohibited by Islām as Harām. It is in Bukhārī and Muslim
that Allāh’s Messenger Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam, when asked by ‘Abdullāh b.
Mas‘ūd about what constitutes the grave sins replied that killing of children
for fear of poverty is one of the heinous sins.
Preservation
of Property
Rasulullah10sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam has made one’s property harām for another (except through
lawful means). He said:
“So your
blood, your property and your honour are sacred to each other.”
Again, it
is narrated by Bukhārī and Muslim that Allāh’s Messenger sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam said:
“One who
usurped the smallest piece of land, be punished by Allah by having seven earths
suspended around his neck.”
Every human
being has right to keep his or her personal property. Whatever one earns
belongs to him:
“To men is
allotted what they earn and to women what they earn.” (4:32)
Stealing
others’ property is a grave sin. That is why a thief is punished by cutting off
his hand. Allāh says:
“As to the
thief, male or female, cut off his or her hands a retribution for their deed
and exemplary punishment from Allah.”
(5:38)
Since the
Sharī‘ah preserves and protects people’s property, it considers one who loses
his life while protecting his legitimate wealth as a Shahīd (martyr):
The holy
Qur’ān prohibits in clear terms earning of wealth through unlawful means. Even
the state cannot interfere with any of its people’s lawful earnings. The
following Qur’ānic commandment is for all, ruler as well as the ruled:
“And do not
eat up your property among yourselves for vanities, nor use it as bait for the
judges, with intent that ye may eat up wrongfully and knowingly a little of
(other) people’s property.” (2:188)
Preservation
of honour
The
Sharī‘ah protects the honour and prestige of every human being as his basic
right. Allāh says:
“Let not
some men (and women) among you laugh at others.” (49:11)
Thus
laughing at people in contempt and ridicule is prohibited. Again says
Allāh :
“Nor defame
no be sarcastic to each other, nor call each other b (offensive)
nicknames.” (49:11)
“And spy
not on each other, nor speak ill of each other behind their backs.” (49:11)
In this way
the Sharī‘ah has forbidden all such ways of insult. Every individual has legal
right that no one injures his honour and prestige nor defames his image whether
by hand or tongue. Slandering of chaste women is cursed thus:
“Those who
slander chaste, indiscreet and believing women are cursed in this life and in
the Hereafter: For them is a grievous chastisement.” (24:23)
Preservation
of al-‘Aql (reason)
Islām
claims that all humans can know the Truth by any of the two: revelation or
reason. Hence all humans are entitled to know the Truth which is translated
into Law in the form of the Sharī‘ah. Man is off and on invited by the holy
Qur’ān and the Sunnah to think and ponder over the phenomena taking place
around him. When the holy Qur’ān rejects compulsion in the matters of religion,
then it becomes clear that one has every choice to choose his way by applying
his faculty of reason.
Yes,
revelation can be and is sometimes beyond reason but never against it. That is
why the Islāmic scholars unanimously hold reason subordinate to revelation.
Hence “the Sharī‘ah declares ideological skepticism to be false, a defiance of
God, and it prescribes that none may promote it to destroy the tradition of
human knowledge and wisdom, or prevent anybody from appropriating it or
contributing to its growth.” This fact puts a halt to the spread of ignorance and
hate in the name of the so called “freedom of thought and speech”. You are not
allowed to defame people or spread rumor in the society in the name of freedom.
Remember that ‘your freedom ends where other’s nose begins’. One can raise his
voice against the state in a democratic system but cannot resort to rebellion
which is in no way acceptable. That is the reason why apostasy is liable to
death in Islam because it is considered rebellion against a state which is
fundamentally based upon faith. An apostate is not similar to a non-Muslim who
enjoys every right as a human being. In fact a rebel loses his right to live
unless he discontinues rebellion.
The fact
that the holy Qur’ān has invited all to apply reason in order to understand
Allāh’s Message of Truth by using the world al-‘aql and its various derivatives
49 times, (reasoning), tafaqquh (understanding) tadhakkur (perceiving) and
other related words hundreds of times enables one to conclude that even belief
without its proper understanding is considered blind which often bears more
hatred than mutual understanding, peace and harmony. So highly appreciated is reason in the
Islamic system that the scholars of hadīth unanimously reject a hadīth as
forged if it is contrary to reason and common experience in addition to some
other things.
https://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/opinion/objectives-of-the-shariah/
----
The
Places Of Worship Act Has Been Challenged. Here’s Why This Is Dangerous
By
Salman Khurshid
March 19,
2021
I have
defended the Ayodhya judgment knowing that many enlightened Hindu friends have
been critical of its conclusions. I have defended it for the legal correctness
of its arguments and the greater cause it serves of national reconciliation.
Amongst the arguments I marshalled in support was the explicit finding that the
Places of Worship Act conclusively put a lid on all other disputes by freezing
the status of places of worship on 15 August 1947. Five justices of the
Constitution Bench stamped their approval on the far-sighted Act passed in the
aftermath of the December 6, 1992 demolition of Babri Masjid. Understandably,
the validity of the Act was not under challenge and the Court did not expressly
hear arguments on either side but the fact remains that the Constitution Bench
stamped its approval. Technically speaking, the notice issued by the Supreme
Court might be correct, but the implications are far-reaching and might
undermine our efforts to persuade the general public, including Muslims, about
the correctness and virtue of the Ayodhya judgment. Inevitably the sceptics who
opposed the acceptance of the alternative piece of land for a mosque will steal
a march over those of us who support reconciliation. What is worse the country
will once again descend into the spiral of conflict and lack of faith, not
something that any god would want to inflict upon us.
The path
opened by the latest notice is wide and endless; Mathura and Varanasi will not
be the final destination. Filial piety will entirely be replaced by paying for
the “sins” of ancestors. For all of us who have condemned Partition and
accepted that the national unity of India of 1947 is more important than
imagined insecurity or perceived slight to dignity, we are suddenly being
subjected to a new Partition. But having repudiated it once, we will reject it
with greater emphasis this time. It matters not that a further price has to be
paid. We will pay the price without the least hesitation. Yet a question must
be asked: Do people who are pushing India away from acceptance of pluralism
know where it will lead us? Modern-day liberal societies are for reasons of
principle or pragmatics fast becoming multi-ethnic and multi-cultural. Our own
contribution to the changing colours and contours of global societies is
considerable. We celebrate Indian-Americans reaching out to place their
footprints on the soil of US politics. Questioning, if not stifling, pluralism
at home can only be signs of myopia or at worse, hypocrisy. We have expressed
outrage at racism in the UK targeting the first Indian woman President of the
Oxford Union accused of insensitive racial tweets. But our government pretends
not to hear similar, and worse, slurs and insults directed at our own people.
Protest and patriotism have become the two boxes to tick on the peril of social
media onslaughts and police prosecutions. Yet we are aggrieved that other
democracies in the world find that disturbing.
India is
engaged in a battle for the mind and soul. We would like to believe that we
speak for the light against the darkness espoused by our adversaries. Be that
as it may, the battle, not of our seeking, will be a long and arduous one. Yet
we will prevail in the end because the soul of India will not be suppressed for
long. But sadly we remain scattered in our separate ambitions to become victors
against oppression and deceit. The truth is that what matters is we vanquish
the forces that have sought to destroy the India we cherish, and not who wears
the laurel leaf of triumph and acclaim. The rules of recognition will emerge
organically from the struggle itself. Legacy and ambition will have to take the
back seat as we equip ourselves for a battle with an adversary who has changed
the rules of engagement and turned hate and avarice into lethal weapons.
In all
historic battles, the experienced and youth march shoulder to shoulder to
accomplish the toughest of tasks. Unfortunately, our times have seen the
unwholesome estrangement of the young from the old. The impatience and
frustration felt by the former and the insensitivity shown by the latter have
brought us a wide gap. A remarkable popular protest against NRC-CAA was marred
by speeches and actions by young activists that provided fuel to the
detractors. Freedom belongs to us all and cannot be a monopoly of some. Freedom
and its claim come with corresponding responsibilities. Short cuts might appear
attractive and even heroic but if they hurt the idea of Freedom, they are no
less oppressive than the very acts being opposed. Those who defend Freedom must
be morally superior to those who desecrate it. Mahatma Gandhi must be our
constant pole star in the process.
Even as we
balance ourselves to steady the ship of State, we cannot and must not steer
away from the Supreme Court. Despite periodic disappointments and some signs of
accommodation of majoritarian perceptions, the Supreme Court is what stands
between the rule of law and the rule of whims. Like other members of society,
judges too are a product of and respond to circumstances. They are trained to
appeal to higher values of our society that we lesser people overlook for
selfish concerns. It is for that reason we place constitutional faith in our
judges.
----
Salman
Khurshid is a senior Congress leader and former external affairs minister.
https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/places-of-worship-act-ayodhya-judgment-secularism-spureme-court-7234765/
-----
Two
Balloons Have Done What Imran Khan Govt Couldn’t — Give India Sleepless Nights
By Naila
Inayat
18 March,
2021
What was
supposed to be a regular week, wasn’t. First, they downed one balloon, then
they came for the other. But what did India get out of downing two, not one,
aircraft-shaped balloons of Pakistan? Are they spies? Are they balloons? Are
these aircraft?
The answer
lies in this tell-all tale.
In the
early hours of 10 March, a balloon with PIA (Pakistan International Airlines)
marked on it landed in the Indian village of Sotra Chak in Jammu and Kashmir.
The intruder wasn’t welcomed with roses; instead, it was taken into custody by
the J&K Police. Suddenly, it felt like post-Balakot February 2019 all over
again. Only this time the situation was far more serious, this was no spy
pigeon or warplane. But rest assured, the war room was on red alert.
A rattled
India, still trying to figure out how its sovereignty was breached, was now
under a balloon attack. On 16 March, the second aircraft balloon landed in
India, at Bhalwal, looking like the cousin of the one that landed flat a week
earlier. It was assumed that Balloon Number 2 was here to free its cousin.
After all, it will go down in the history as the first-ever balloon that gave
sleepless nights to the enemy. This is a curious case of arrested balloons.
One can’t
help but wonder, were the captured balloons offered tea by India? And was it
good tea?
This tale
is different from 2018, when balloons with “I Love Pakistan” were found in
Rajasthan. Not even like 2017 when Doremon-printed balloons landed in the
Indian village of Malia with some Pakistan coins. How you wish it were
Bitcoins. There was a message in Arabic that was hidden in the balloon too.
Conspiracy was hatched.
Balloons
deflate, tensions mount
While in
custody, Balloon Number 1 has been at its best behaviour and cooperating with
Indian authorities. We have been told by “reliable sources” that it has been
heard saying, “My name is PIA balloon and I am not a terrorist.” Of course, no
one will buy that. Because its inimical designs were not only for Kashmir
Banega Pakistan but also to revive the lost glory of Pakistan International
Airlines that has suffered at the hands of the Imran Khan government, which
declared 40 per cent of its pilots had fake licences. This is also not like the
time when good friend Malaysia impounded a PIA aircraft due to non-payment of
lease. All that is now forgotten because the PIA balloon is a martyr. There is
light at the end of the tunnel, always.
The tension
in the sky suggests that either India or Pakistan, or both, can go to the
International Court of Justice over the capture of two trained balloons. And
both can then walk out claiming a win, but in real, winning nothing. It is true
that the panic over this ceasefire violation by balloons is a real deal, given
how excited everyone gets after one ceasefire deal. Even an intervention by the
United States president can’t solve the ‘gubaray zameen pe’ kind of situation
that we face today.
Move aside
missiles and pigeons
To all
those who don’t take this seriously, you need to know that this balloon
business is Pakistan’s own space programme. And unlike India, Pakistan has
probably spent only Rs 100 to reach this far, while India continues to waste
crores. All for what? It is a tragedy of our times that such a state-of-the-art
space mission would need an introduction even. India should learn all about it
from the Pakistani balloons in captivity.
Now the
pigeons, deer and monkeys who spent their lives spying for Pakistan and India
have been challenged by China-made plastic balloons. How’s that for a two-front
war? Not bad, I would say. In 2021,
balloons are the new Weapons of Mass Destruction, and should be flaunted
in the 23 March Pakistan Day parade. Next to the defence toys like the big bad
tanks, missiles and drones, a dozen balloons could well be a peek into the
future of war. Let’s go ahead and give highest defence awards to Balloon Number
1 and 2 for their valour, while India can award the men who caught these
balloons red-handed in broad daylight.
https://theprint.in/opinion/letter-from-pakistan/two-balloons-have-done-what-imran-khan-govt-couldnt-give-india-sleepless-nights/624021/
----
Latif-ul-Khabiir
The
Greater Kashmir
March 19,
2021
No vision
can grasp Him but His grasp is over all vision; He is above all comprehension,
yet is acquainted with all things’’ (Al An’am: 103)
Latif is
subtle Quranic idiom, finest in its frame, silken in its form, imperceptible to
senses. ‘Latif’ whatever the manner of defining it defies total definition, so
subtle is the idiom, while as ‘Khabiir’ is the one vested with total knowledge
of all that exists in the universe, that is One and Only Allah (SwT). He knows
mysteries, which are beyond human comprehension. While as no vision can grasp
Him, His grasp remains over all vision
Thus
Latif-ul-Khabiir could be an attribute of Allah (SwT) denoting acquaintance
with whatever exists in universe, in fact the multiverse, as scientific
knowledge underlines that what we call universe is actually a multiverse,
beyond the moon, and beyond the stars and the sun.
‘Latif’ the
subtle idiom finds mention in another Holy Verse:
‘’Seest
thou not that Allah sends down rain from the sky, and forthwith the earth
becomes clothed with green? For Allah is He Who understands the finest
mysteries and is well acquainted (with them)’’ (Al Hajj: 63)
The Holy
Verse marks the grace of Latif-ul-Khabiir. In bestowing His favours, He is
extraordinarily gracious. Being the nature personified, Allah (SwT) has the
ultimate knowledge of subtleties of nature, as well as the interaction between
various elements of nature—of the sky above, and of the earth below. Thus it is
the rain from the sky which clothes the earth with green. Allah (SwT)’s acquaintance with various
elements of nature and its mysteries, which are but manifestations of the
prowess of Latif-ul-Khabiir, marks the subtlety of the interplay of these
elements–the song of the nature, its unending melody!
https://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/friday-focus/friday-focus-latif-ul-khabiir-2/
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