Book Summary
This book is one of the most insightful as well as thought-provoking, especially for all Muslims.It is pertinent to mention that, Irshad Manji has raised many queries related to the repression of women in Islam. She has uttered this, why can women not lead prayers? Does the Quran really prohibit women from leading prayer. In addition to that, Ibn Rushd spoke up for equality between the sexes. In his judgment,” the ability of women is not known “because they are relegated to the business of procreation child-rearing, and breastfeeding. In order to shut up his mouth, Muslims had exiled him to Morocco, and on the eve of the 13th century, where Ibn Rushd died under suspicious circumstances.
During the ninth century caliph, al Manun who had promoted rational thought and the free will of every human being. In a stunning repudiation of both free will and rational thought, then many Muslims disagreed with his interpretation of Islam. Above all, the author has left behind myriad thought-provoking queries, for instance, she said that why the prophet Muhammad (PBUH) had commanded his army to kill an entire Jewish tribe. On the other hand, the Quran supposedly came to him as a message of peace. At another place, she said, what does it take to turn a devout Muslim into a suicide bomber?
Furthermore, whom did God create first Adam or Eve? While God breathed life into a single soul and from that soul he made its spouse.
Irshad Manji is condemning the pact of Umar evidently because that pact had provided some discriminatory elements towards non-Muslims for instance, when any Muslim wants to sit, then non-Muslim will stand up.
With the passage of time, this pact became detrimental towards Jews and Christians.At the dawn of the ninth century, an eminent legal scholar used this pact as a precedent toward non-Muslim subjects. Indeed, Muslims came up with the following terms directed towards Jews and Christians,for instance,”You shall not occupy the middle of the road or the seats in the market, obstructing Muslims and you shall distinguish your headgear by a mark and many else.It is worth mentioning that, Israel came into being as a result of Zionism. Zionists had realized that antisemitism was not going away and while getting worse day by day.
In, the “who betraying whom chapter of this book, author has decoded many ciphers to some extent.It seems obvious from Lebanon’s laws which are prohibiting Palestinian refugees from working full time, purchasing land or becoming professionals.Indeed,the only Arab Muslim country that has given citizenship to Palestinian refugees is Jordan. One of the tragedy is that , against the interests of Arab tenant farmers, the Ottoman had sold voluntarily land to the early Zionists. Yes, Muslims did this. And they did it consciously.
During the first world war, the Arabs helped Britain fight the Ottomans, on the condition that all of Palestine would be in Arab hands after the war. In 1917, Britain broke its pact with the Arabs. Haji Amin was the mufti of Jerusalem in 1921 and president of the supreme Muslim council in 1922. So , the woeful news is that in 1943 Haj Amin addressed imams at Bosnia by assuring that Islam and Nazism shared a commitment to social order, family structure and perpetual struggle against the Americans,the English, and the Jews.
Even though, he ordered to kill the Jews wherever you find them. And, this pleases God, history, and religion. Between 1949 and 1967, Bernard lewis said that in particular, the Arab states occupied parts of Palestine while by claiming that they speak for the Palestinians.Mostly, Palestinians were discouraged by Arabs in the field of the political process. As strict Islam has acquired momentum,Yasser Arafat has customized religious visuals for political ends.In the mid-1970s,he invoked the word martyr without any Quranic connotation.Once upon a time, mullahs had denounced pokemon (the children’s video game) as a Japanese word that translates into I’m Jewish. One of the tragedy is that,in 1994, Egypt’s Nobel prize winner was murdered whose name was Naguib Mafouz .
Moreover,his murder was substantiated by his work regarding to the interpretation of Islamic historical figures.He had narrated realities in his manuals that was a big mistake.In, Tunisia and Algeria, Muslim women cannot legally marry outside the faith while men on the other hand,can do it.
And from 1975 to 1990,the Lebanese civil war cost at least 1,50,000 lives, most of them belonging to Palestinians. That’s more than ten times as many deaths as Israel has inflicted in 50 years of combat. More importantly, Muhammad Ali Jinnah had stated in his speech, You are free to go to your temples,you are free to go to your mosques in the state of Pakistan.You may belong to any religion or caste or creed that has nothing to do with the business of the state.A shame about the demise of Pakistan under the rising tide of Islamism.In 1977, a U.S backed military coup installed General Zia- Ul -Haq, who loved golf, tennis, and absolute order.
To cement his grip, he surrounded himself with sycophantic mullahs who referred to him as a commander of the faithful.Certainly, he had promoted tribal customs, in his way ,stoning arose as a legal punishment for adultery.It is noteworthy that , Pakistan’s Abdus Salam the Nobel prize in Physics was prevented to come back to Pakistan.One of the condemnable stances had taken by parliament by took away his citizenship.Salam’s crime ?
He was an Ahmadi.Abdus Salam had tried to donate his Nobel Prize money to the government but Zia rejected his offer. Since September 11, Pervez Musharraf has stated that, Muslims today are the poorest,the most illiterate,the most backward ,the most unhealthy,the most unenlightened,the most deprived and the weakest of all the human race.
Is Islam the uber-oppressor of creativity, dynamism and democracy.Had Jinnah’s vision prevailed , Pakistan could have been as modern as pluralistic and spiritual as Israel.It turned out to be the opposite more feudal than modern ,more sectarian than pluralistic, more maniacal than spiritual.
Is Islam is the “straight path” then why are there detours in practice?
Taslima Nasrin, a feminist writer had been exiled from Bangladesh due to having freedom of thought.She had queries related to the Arabic language, why we are supposed to pray in Arabic, while Allah knows everything. Even more importantly, Quran insists to that, to God belongs the east and the west.Wherever you turn there is the face of God .
Then, why must Muslims bow to Mecca five times a day?Infact ,the Quran requires the prophet’s wives to veil,it never decrees such a practice for all women.Isn’t it also plausible that Arab warriors, more familiar with their sturdy customs,grafted many of these customs onto the Islam they exported . Furthermore, the gates of Ijtihad, independent thought closed by the 12th century.
As Karen Armstrong stresses, the Ismailis a branch of the Shia were urged to seek the truth , wherever it could be found . Moreover,sufis were inspired by the study of Plato and Aristotle.In the mid of 19th-century desert mullahs bullied the Ottoman Empire to drop three seminal issues of religious reform:ending the Muslims role in the African slave trade, freeing women from the yoke of the veil, and letting unbelievers live in the land of the prophet.
According to official Saudi teachings,Shias are a Jewish conspiracy.Once a mind blogging act happened in March 2005, a woman led a public mixed-gender Friday prayer session for the first time in Islamic history.It happened in Newyork city. In addition to that, there is no prohibition in the Quran against women becoming businesspeople.The Arab custom of honor demands sacrificing your individuality to maintain the reputation, status and the prospects of your husband, father and brothers.
It is pertinent to mentioned that, Europe, still hesitates to imagine Muslims as a full citizens.There are many Muslim families have lived in Germany since the Second World War .Why are they still referred to as second and third-generation immigrants instead of as Germans.
Appreciated sir ????