After two weeks of trying to arrange for this meeting, he could finally come and talk to me. I had just arrived home after a long day at work but couldn't have rejected the chance. He is considered 'by my brother' to be a knowledgeable open-minded scholar (sheikh) who would be able to answer all my questions!
He sat on the balcony with my brother, shutters closed. I sat on a chair behind the shutters where we could hear but not see each other.
He talked to me in a warm confident voice that patiently welcomed my questions.
Chose to you this part of the meeting:
1- My first question Sheikh is very simple: If a man and a woman commit fornication, the ruling in Shari'a is the same for both.
-That's right. (he recites verse 24:2 which means that both the sinning man and woman receive the same punishment.)
Are they equally forgiven insha'allah if they repent?
- Of course. (and he recites the beautiful verse 39:53)
Does the man have to tell his future wife about his past relationships?
- NO. Why would he reveal a sin that Allah has covered for him? Doesn't make sense?
Does the woman have to tell her future husband about her past relationship?
- (pauses) YES.
Haven't they both repented? What is the difference?
- She has to tell him. If she hides this surgically it'll be considered deceit.
But 'why would he reveal a sin that Allah has covered for him? Doesn't make sense?'
- She has to pay for what she did and know that she also might have to give up some of her dowry or so.
Sheikh, you know how big a nightmare this can be for a woman in a Middle Eastern society? and religion actually asks her to forget and says that it's not the right of the future husband to know anything the woman doesn't want to reveal?
- (getting a bit frustrated) She has to submit to the fact that she is physically and anatomically different from a man and this is her fate.
Frustrated myself, I decided to move on to the next question.
2- My second question Sheikh is regarding the death penalty for people like Salman Rushdie. Why is his life sought for writing a piece of fiction?
(Sheikh's words are his and not Islam's.)
Saturday 1 September 2007
Salman Rushdie
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5 comments:
So... what was the answer to the last question ?
"He's a non-believer who deserves to be killed" said the Sheikh.
wow
hey do you think its certain then what he said about women having to reveal what they have done in the past, when i read comments liek that i really start to think that there isnt any equality in islam of men and women and i hate feeling like this
Hi Haadiya,
I understand what you mean. To be honest, the way I look at such issues after years of thinking and feeling there is no equality in Islam, I started to look at it from a different perspective. A perspective that unfortunately they don't teach us at school and don't allow us to take in society; I now believe that many things that Muslims take for granted are opinions of scholars who are by the end of the day 'human beings' who may have their biases, personal motivations, etc., which all can influence what they tell people like you and me. There is no way that a religion from God, who created us equal, would be revealed to us to make us unequal, no?
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