Islamic Sharia Laws *Justifying child abuse in the name of Shariah <http://www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1390>*
*Hazrat Ayesha was 19, not 9 when she married the Prophet* Marriage in Islam is a civil contract, meesaaq (4:21), and as such it can be finalized only between persons who are intellectually and physically mature enough to understand and fulfil the responsibilities of such a contract. This can be further understood from the verse; “And test the orphans until they reach the age of nikah (marriage), and if you find in them rushdh (maturity of intellect) release their property to them.”(4:6). The Quran makes intellectual maturity (which always falls beyond the age of puberty) the basis to arrive at the age of marriage. This is also in conformity with the Quranic description of marriage as emotional bonding between two mutually compatible persons through which they seek “to dwell in tranquillity” (see 7:189 and 30:21) in the companionship of each other which is not possible if either of the spouses is mentally undeveloped. -- *A. Faizur Rahman* More...<http://www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1390> Islam,Terrorism and Jihad *Indian Madrasas: Bastions Of Radical Islamism And Terrorism? <http://www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1392>* *“We don’t produce terrorists; we feed and educate poor children”* According to a report published in the Delhi-based Muslim fortnightly, Milli Gazette, the Uttar Pradesh government has issued “a mischievous circular” that suggests that certain vested interests are seriously preparing the ground for a “communal civil war” in the state. The circular, signed by Senior Superintendent of Police, Lucknow, B. B. Bakhshi, has been issued to the state police as a guideline on how to keep a vigil on “ISI activities”. The circular says that ISI is “leaving no stone unturned” to disrupt life in the state, and is luring Muslim and Sikh youth “to involve them in subversive activities”, besides also fanning anti-Hindu sentiments. The circular instructs the Station House Officer of every police station to “prepare a register of Muslim and Sikh families living in his respective area”. In particular, the report emphasized, a list of newly constructed Madarsahs and mosques should be kept and these are to be closely monitored. ... ... This is not to suggest that all is well with the Madarsahs today [10]. Many Madarsahs in Pakistan, for instance, have emerged as breeding grounds for self-styled jehadists, including the Taliban in Afghanistan and the Lashkar-i-Tayyeba which wants to emancipate Kashmir. It appears that the experience of Madarsahs in Pakistan [11] has fuelled the fear of Madarsahs in India, but clearly such a fear is misplaced, as there is no evidence of Indian Madarsahs having anything to do with their counterparts across the border, or for that sake, even their counterparts within the country. Madarsahs are extremely autonomous institutions and there is no federation or Union that runs or monitors them. ... This is manifest in the form of animosity and competition among Madarsahs of different maslaks [12] (schools of thought). Most Madarsah graduates are taught how to put down the other school of thought (through an interesting expertise called the Radd, meaning to argue against, but in reality translates to “rubbishing”) whenever chance permits. *The Radd* is not targeted at other religions, but at the various Islamic sects and more specifically at other madarsahs run by rival sects*.* -- *Zafar Anjum* More...<http://www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1392> Islamic Sharia Laws *The evil of triple divorce – an unmitigated monstrosity <http://www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1391>* That Hazrat Umar [ the second pious caliph] used to order the public flogging of the person pronouncing triple divorce in a single say is beyond all dispute but nobody has so far provided a convincing reply regarding the continuation of this practice when its deterrent aspect has become a thing of past. It is also not so that providing deterrence in such matters is the prerogative of Islamic states only. Had an initiative to that effect come from those who derive the force of triple divorce from Hazrat Umar, the Govt., while passing the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986, would have willingly incorporated into it, a provision for punishment, whether by fine or imprisonment of those dissolute husbands who indulge in this abominable practice. Such a step on the one hand could go a long way in setting right the distortions in the whole concept of divorce and on the other could save the government from the criticism of those who sometimes rightly deplore the predicament of Muslim women. -- *M.K. Sherwani* More...<http://www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1391> Islam and the West *The Muslim world: Humanity cries for freedom <http://www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1389>* *Plight of Muslims: Some plain speaking* It is not for nothing that nearly 50,000 Muslim scientists are working in the United States; that the best books on contemporary Islam and Muslim societies have been authored by intellectuals like Murad Hofmann, Ziauddin Sardar, Jeffery Lang, Jamal Badawi, Karen Armstrong, G. H. Jansen, Carol L. Anway, Raji L. Faruqi, all having benefited from Western scholarship; that women could pray alongside men in the Western mosques; that erudite Muslim women scholars like Amina Wadud, Nimat Hafez Barazangi, Asma Barlas, Fatima Mernissi could blossom only after taking up asylum in the West; that Muslims could carry on the dawah in all these societies without hindrance; that innumerable non-Muslims find spiritual solace in the fold of Islam there; that ISNA or ICNA could stage massive conclaves in Washington or Chicago. Simply criticizing the West for our plight would not work. Making others wrong does not offer solution to our ills. Muslim world and communities are in need of rationally analyzing the mess that surrounds them. They need to shift from rituals to values, from hollow advocacy to activism, from praising Islam to practicing it, from denigrating the West to learning from it, from criticism of others to introspection. Unless this is done, the siege would deepen, snuffing out life from the ummat e wast (the moderate nation) that we need to be. -- *Maqbool Ahmed Siraj* 3 Comments More..<http://www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1389> -- Syed M. Asadullah --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Asalam o Alaikum, You Are Receiving This Message, Because You Are A Member Of FOCUS ON ISLAM, A Google Group [..:: The Best Group For Nice Islamic Mails ::..] \/<<<<>>>>\/<<<<>>>>\/<<<<>>>>\/<<<<>>>>\/<<<<>>>>\/<<<<>>>>\/<>\/ You can Post Your Comments and Suggestions to Me [Moderator of this Group] on this email address: [email protected] To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.google.com/group/focusonislam/ To post messages/mails to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] Please forward our Mails to Your friends, and convence them to join our Group. 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