Marriage with Non-Muslim Women

It is commonly believed that Muslim men are allowed to marry non-Muslim “Ahl-e-kitaab” women. Let us thrash out this matter in the light of Quranic injunctions.

Before scrutinizing the Quranic verses in this regard, the term of "Ahl-e-kitaab" needs to be understood. This term, in Quran, has NOT been used to mention any particular religion; in fact, the Quran uses this term to describe those peoples who were following any book revealed before Quran. These peoples, in Quranic terminology, are not essentially Jews or Christians; these may also be Muslims. This fact is endorsed by the Surah Hashr-2 which reveals that " this is He who expelled from their houses those who became "kafir" out of "Ahl-e-kitaab"; it means all "Ahl-e-kitaab" are not “kafir”. At other places too( e.g. Ale Imran-113, 114) in Quran, mention has been made about "ahl-e-emaan" among the “Ahl-e-kitaab”. Briefly speaking, the term "Ahl-e-kitaab" in Quran, is used to mention group of people who were given revealed books before Quran; this group of people includes Jews and Christian as well as Muslims which-before having belief in Quran- believed in books revealed before Quran.

The Quranic text which is mostly relied upon to justify Muslim men's marriage with non-Muslim "Ahl-e-kitaab" women is Surah Maidah-5 which states that "..... food of those who were given scriptures before you is lawful for you (Muslims)……. and lawful are for you "Muhsanaat" of those who were given Book before you(Muslims). In this verse, the word "Muhsanaat" is mistakenly used with meanings "free and pious women"; in fact, in this verse, its meanings are "married women". In fact, this word “Muhsanat” has also been used with the same meanings - i.e. married women - in the Surah Nisa-24.

A superficial analysis of Maidah-5 reflects that lawfulness of food of "Ahl-e-kitaab" for the Muslims is conditional one. For instance, if any "Ahl-e-kitaab" offers pork to a Muslim, such food would not be lawful for the Muslim. Similarly, lawfulness of "Muhsanaat"-married women- from "Ahl-e-kitaab" is also conditional one. There are two conditions described in the Quran in this regard. One condition has been enshrined in Surah Baqra-221 which forbids Muslims from marrying "Mushrikaat". And the second condition has been clearly elaborated in Surah Al-Mumtahanah- 10 which states that :"........ And hold not to marriage bonds with disbelieving women. From the direction " hold not to marriage bonds with disbelieving women", it is clear that not only marriage with non-muslim women is forbidden but also such previous marriage bonds which existed before revelation of this verse have been directed to be broken up. Surah Maidah-5 describes a general principle that Muslims are allowed to marry married women from "Ahl-e-kitaab"; whereas exceptions to this principle have been enjoined in Baqra-221 and Mumtahanah-10. Keeping in view these two exceptions and the fact that the group of "Ahl-e-kitaab" includes both non- Muslims and certain Muslims as well, we can clearly conclude that if non-believing women from "Ahl-e-kitaab" and " Mushrikaat" from "Ahl-e-kitaab" are not allowed to be married by the Muslims , then only one group of women from the "Ahl-e-kitaab" is left, which is lawful for the Muslims under Maidah-5, and that is the group of Muslim women from the "Ahl-e-kitaab".

It is quite clear from this analysis that word "Muhsanaat" used in Surah Maidah-5 means "married women"; it is misunderstanding to infer from this word that "all free women-Muslim or non-Muslim- belonging to 'Ahl-e-kitaab', are lawful for the Muslim men. Actually term "Ahl-e-kitaab" is used to denote both non-Muslim and Muslim groups of "Ahl-e-kitaab; only Muslim women from "Ahl-e-kitaab" are lawful for the Muslims.

Alliance with Non-Muslims

The present dismal scenario overridden with bomb blasts and almost daily loss of innocent lives in Pakistan particularly and in the Muslim world generally forces every thinking mind to unearth the reality of various factors responsible for this fiasco. Let us have a critical look into the causes leading towards the confusion which actually provides breeding ground for creating this blood tainted scenario.We shall confine our argumentation to the religious roots of this troublesome disaster.

The root cause of this disaster befalling on innocent Pakistani citizens is that perpetrators of this disaster think they are justified in blasting innocent Pakistani citizens in the settled areas because Pakistan is in alliance with USA and NATO forces, which are killing tribal Pakistanis.

Let us have a look at what Quran says about'alliance with non-muslims. The Surah Al-Mumtehenah-1 reveals that " O, Muslims, don't be dependent/allies with enemies of Me and your's". Surah Al-Mujidilah-22, reveals that " you will not find any peoples who believe in Allah and the Day of Judgement that they would be reliant/allies with those who are hostile to Allah and His Messenger..... (SAW). Who is to be considered as enemy and hostile to Allah and Muslims? It is further elaborated in The Al-Mumtehnah-8, which states " Allah does not forbid you from dealing with kindness and justice with those who do not fight against you in connection with Deen and do not expel you from your houses".The verse 9 of the same chapter states " Allah forbids you from being dependent/allies with those who fought against you in connection with Deen and who expelled you from your houses and their supporters;those who will be dependent/allies with them, are wrong-doers".

From these verses, it is crystal clear that Muslims are forbidden from making alliance with such non-muslims who fight against muslims in connection with Deen, and expel muslims from their homes; and who are their supporters in such fight and expulsion.

These verses clearly constrain Muslims from forging alliance with the USA and NATO Alliance. Upto this stage, tribal Pakistanis are right in their opinion that Pakistan's alliance with the USA and NATO forces is un-islamic and forbidden in Islam. But the way they are responding to this un-islamic alliance is equally un-islamic in its nature. The tribal Pakistanis are failing in appreciating that Pakistani citizens are not in alliance with the USA; it is only governmental authorities which are in alliance with USA. Therefore, any act, on the part of tribal Pakistanis, which is playing havoc with the lives of innocent Pakistani citizens, is as much un-islamic and forbidden as is kiiling of tribal Pakistanis at the hands of USA and Pakistani authorities combined.

Aqamat-e-Deen

Islam assigns two types of duties to people; firstly on individual level and secondly on collective level.In fact Every duty assigned in islam has two phases (individual and collective). For instance,zakat (taking wealth from the rich and giving t...o the poor) as an individual duty is fulfilled, when individual pays it; but when it comes to collective level, only payment of zakat by individual is not suffice; at collective level, there has to be a system of zakat to take wealth from the rich and give away to the poor. An individual's duty to pay zakat is one phase of the duty; the other phase of this duty is to have or to strive for the establishment of system of zakat at the collective or state level. A person can't defray his duty of zakat completely, without establishment of zakat system; he has to go through both individual and collective phases of his duty, in order to defray his duty completely.

Similarly, all duties assigned in islam have two phases (i'.e. individual and collective) e.g. duties aiming at personal purification and collective purgation , relating to all moral, social, political and economic spheres. Fulfillment of these two phases of every assigned duty, is called Aqamat-e-Deen. Islam has not left adoption(at individual level) and establishment (at collective level) of Deen to human instincts; if God had left it to human instincts, there would be no need to sending revelation and the messenger(SAW).

There is no denying fact that collective life of people is always regulated by establishing institutions, and it is not a work of accident to establish a system; it always requires some planning, effort and devotion of capable selected/ chosen people of society to establish these institutions. Muslims can't go through collective phase of their duties without establishing islamic institutions .

Aqamat-e-deen, at the individual level, is the matter of "adoption of deen", but at the collective level, it is the matter of "establishment of Deen". Aqamat-e-deen is just like adoption and establishment of any other system. For instance, if we want people to adopt a democratic system, we first establish institutions of democratic political system , and then ask people to act accordingly; similarly if we want people to adopt capitalist system, we first establish institutions of capitalist system and then ask people to act accordingly. It is strange to preach adoption of Deen without establishing islamic systems at collective level. No islamic duty may be defrayed completely without fulfilling collective part of that duty. In other words,adoption of Deen at individual level is not enough until Deen is established at the collective level.

The viewpoint that we should first reform individual characters of Muslims and then establish our Deen/ islamic systems, is also not tenable due to very simple fact that we would require 18 crore years to mould 18 crore Pakistanis; you would appreciate that such a viewpoint would lead us to forget about establishment of our Deen. On the other hand, establishing Deen first would make the task much easier, because due to force of system/Deen, the people , not willing to mould themselves, would also be compelled to go along the system. So our focus should not be conversion of whole masses, rather our focus should be selected, skillful, capable, devoted people (NOT narrow-minded like some Talibans) which could install Islamic political, social, moral and economic systems first and then ask common people to abide by those systems/Deen to embrace obedience to Allah in their collective life. Look at the life of holy Messenger (SAW); in 13 years of 'Makki' period, only a few hundred people got converted, because there was no establishment of institutions in Makka. But in 11 years of "Madni" life, lacs of people were converted, because institutions were established in Madina. Make your task easier, achieveable and practicable by establishing islamic institutions first and then asking people to abide by such institutions.

Function of Human Intellect

In fact, many sectarian controversies emanate from the fact that many islamic scholars do not subordinate their wisdom / logic to revealed knowledge; rather they subordinate revealed knowledge to their logic/wisdom. Quran commands human beings to utilise their intellectual faculties, but function of of intellectual faculties is to prove revealed knowledge, not to contradict it. According to the Quran which states that " whoever becomes alive, he becomes alive due to logic; whoever dies, he dies due to logic", human intellect is a double edged sword; it can set you on the right path as well as on the Satanic path.In my humble understanding,if function of intellect is confined to proving revealed knowledge, intellect will not detract human beings. So whenever an Islamic scholar reaches a conclusion/ idea which is not mentioned in the revealed knowledge (Quran and Sunnah), or not endorsed, by inference, by revealed knowledge, he should keep on thinking over the issue untill his conclusion is endorsed by the revealed knowledge. If any idea/conclusion contradicts the revealed knowledge, it must be rejected outrightly.

REBUTTAL OF JAVAID GHAMDI

The current intellectual scenario in Pakistan has been particularly set in the backdrop of controversies as to what kind of state system should be adopted and how it should be adopted. Among other shades of this debate, the most important is the discourse as to what Islamic principles and approaches should be adopted to rebuild and reform state system in Pakistan. In this connection, Mr. Javeid Ghamdi presents some views which are not tenable when judged on established and internationally approaved principles of interpretation of Islamic texts.For instance, he opines that one can adopt 'Din' in his individual life without establishing islamic systems; he portraits that adoption of "Din" in individual sphere is to take precedence over establishment of Islamic systems which would naturally come into existence when people would have adopted "Din" in individual sphere. So people should not take special pains to establish Islamic systems at first stage; they should focus only to reform their personal lives/ characters at the first stage.Let us analyze Mr. Ghamdi's views in the succeeding lines.

Islam assigns two types of duties to people; firstly on individual level and secondly on collective level.In fact Every duty assigned in Islam has two phases (individual and collective). For instance, duty of payment of Zakat(taking wealth from the rich and giving away to the poor) as an individual's duty is fulfilled, when individual pays Zakat; but when it comes to collective level, only payment of Zakat by individual is not suffice; at collective level, there has to be a system of Zakat to take wealth from the rich and give away to the poor. An individual's duty to pay Zakat is one phase of the duty; the other phase of this duty is to strive for and establishment of system of Zakat at the collective or state level.He can't defray his duty of Zakat completely, without establishment of zakat system; he has to defray both individual and collective phases of his duty simultaneously.

Similarly, all duties assigned in Islam have two phases (i'.e. individual and collective) e.g. duties aiming at personal purification and collective purgation, relating to all moral, social, political and economic spheres. Fulfillment of these two phases of every assigned duty, is called Aqamat-e-Deen. Islam has left neither adoption(at individual level) nor establishment (at collective level) of "Din" to human instincts.

There is no denying fact that Islam deals with both individual and collective matters of mankind. Social collective matters are managed through a system. We can't imagine any social system without institutions. In other words, a social system always operate through the institutions. The establishment of institutions is neither a work of accident nor a natural outcome of individuals' pious actions, as Javaid Ghamdi is preaching; institution-building always requires some planning,skill and expertise of capable selected/ chosen people of the society. The Muslims can't defray their collective duties without establishing Islamic institutions through sheer planning, capability, devotion and skill. Only after establishing such institutions, we can ask people to mould their lives accordingly and lead their collective lives accordingly.

Aqamat-e-Din, at the individual level, is the matter of "adoption of "Din", but at the collective level, it is the matter of "establishment of "Din". Aqamat-e-Din is just like adoption and establishment of any other system. For instance,if we want people to adopt a democratic system, we first establish democratic institutions, and then ask people to act accordingly; similarly if you want people to adopt capitalistic system, you first establish capitalist institutions and then ask people to act accordingly. Mr. Ghamdi's logic is strange; he is preaching adoption of "Din" without establishing the Islamic systems.

The viewpoint that we should first abide by Islamic injunctions individually, is also not tenable due to very simple fact that we would require crores of years to mould 18 crore Pakistanis to establish Din; it may be appreciated that such approach would lead us to forget about establishment of our Din. On the other hand, establishment of "Din"/system at the first stage would make the task much easier, because due to force of system/Din, the people , not willing to mould themselves, would also be compelled to go along the system. So, at the first stage, our focus should not be character reformation of whole masses; rather our focus should be selected, skilled, capable, devoted people (NOT narrow-minded like some Talibans) which could install Islamic political, social,moral and economic systems. After establishment of such Islamic systems/institutions, we can ask common people to abide by such system/Din to submit to God's will in their collective life. Look at the life of holy Messenger (SAW); in 13 years of Makki period, only a few hundred people got converted. Why? because there was no institution-building. But in 11 years of Madni life, lacs of people were converted, because institutions were established there in Madina. Make your task easier and practicable by establishing Islamic institutions first and then asking people to go along these institutions.

Mr. Ghamdi has remarked that Islam does not require a common person to establish Islamic system; it is not a correct view. In Quran, whenever a duty is assigned, it is not only assigned to an individual but also to whole Ummah ( except where duty is assigned to the Messenger (SAW). That is why, in such cases, for the addressees, gramatically plural form (not singular form) is used. It means, all the Muslims are to contribute in establishment of "Din" through whatever capacities and capabilities they have; if any person is unable to contribute in terms of knowledge, skill or authority, he can contribute by offering physical, active or even silent support.

In fact, many sectarian controversies emanate from the fact that many Islamic scholars do not subordinate their wisdom / logic to revealed knowledge; rather they subordinate revealed knowledge to their logic/wisdom. Quran commands human beings to utilise their intellectual faculties, but function of of intellectual faculties is to prove revealed knowledge, not to contradict it. According to Quran " whoever becomes alive, he becomes alive due to logic; whoever dies, he dies due to logic". Human intellect is a double edged sword; it can set anyone on the right path as well as on the Satanic path.In my humble understanding,if function of human intellect is confined to prove revealed knowledge, it will not detract us. It would be more wise, if an Islamic scholar who reaches a conclusion/ idea which is not mentioned in the revealed knowledge ( Quran,Sunnah), or endorsed, by inference, by revealed knowledge, he should keep on thinking over the issue until his conclusion is endorsed by the revealed knowledge; however any idea/conclusion which contradicts the revealed knowledge must be rejected straightaway.

"Qattal" and its Imperatives

In Surah Al-Fath (28) Islam has been described as destined to be enforced over all other systems. This verse states: "He it is Who hath sent His messenger with the guidance and the religion of truth, that He may cause it to prevail over all religions. And Allah sufficeth as a Witness". In addition to peaceful means,the approach to get Islam enforced over other systems/din is, if required, 'Jihad bil saif', as has been mentioned in Surah al-taubah-29 which states that " Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Scripture - [fight] until they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled".

There are two types of 'Quranic' verses relating to "qattal" in terms of type of direction; first are those in which direction is in the form of "order"(e.g. al-taubah-29); second are those in which direction is in the form of "permission"(e.g.Surah Al-Hajj-39-41). The first type of verses are relating to domination/enforcement of Islam over the other systems/religions. The second type of verses are relating to self-defense;   relating to Muslims who are subjected to injustice and suppression; relating to Muslims who are not ruling nation but want to establish Islamic system over themselves (all three situations may be inferred from Surah Al-Hajj-39-41). In this second type of verses, Muslims are permitted to undertake "Qattal"; the word "uzen" used in verse al-hajj-39 means "permission".

Therefore, we should not confuse "order of qattal" with "permission of qattal".The "order of qattal" is meant for domination/enforcement of Islam over other religions/systems. Whereas "permission of qattal" is meant for three situations, as mentioned above, adduced from sura al-hajj-39-41 in which Muslims may have or may not have capacity to launch "qattal". That is why in those three situations Muslims are not ordered rather are permitted to launch "qattal", keeping in view their conditions/capability. In other words, in these three situations, Muslims are permitted to launch 'qattal' if they have capability to launch 'qattal'. It may please be noted that all three situations in which 'qattal' is permitted (not ordered) pertain to non-ruling Muslim nations. It means order of "Qattal" to get Islam  dominating/ enforcing over other systems does not apply to non-ruling Muslim nations (i.e. people/nation not having authority to enforce laws); rather it applies only to ruling Muslim nations (i.e. people/nation having authority to enforce laws). However non-ruling Muslim nations are permitted to wage 'qattal' in three situations i.e. for self-defense; for liberation from non-Muslim  subjugation; and for establishment of Islam over themselves, if they have enough capability for success. All these three objectives/situations of 'qattal' by non-ruling Muslim nations are adduced from the situations mentioned in al-hajj-39-41. 

Non-ruling Muslim nations (i.e. people/nation not having authority to enforce laws) are not ordered to wage 'qattal', if they are obstructed to establish Islam over themselves. But if Muslims are ruling nation (i.e. people/nation having authority to enforce laws) and they are obstructed by force from establishing Islam over themselves, in that case Muslims are ordered to wage 'qattal'.  The Muslims (ruling nations) are, all the times, under obligation to establish Islam over themselves (surah  Ale Imran-85; al-fath-28).

We may conclude that establishment of domination/enforcement of Islam over other systems, is the duty assigned to Muslims (ruling nation), and for that purpose they are ordered to launch "Jihad bil Saif". Non-ruling Muslim nations are not ordered to wage 'qattal' for domination/enforcement of Islam over other systems/'din'. However non-ruling Muslim nations are permitted to wage 'qattal' keeping in view their capability for three objectives i.e. self-defense; for liberation from non-Muslim subjugation; and for establishment of Islam over themselves.

Importance of Sunnah

Quran Pak's meanings are multi-layerd; every person can have access to the layer of meanings according to its capacity. The more a person gets access to  layers of meanings of Quran, the more learned he is; but all persons do not have equal access to layers of meanings of  Quran. As we know Quran is guidance to become obedient to Allah; as such all people, having ordinary knowledge and the learned ones, have right to avail complete guidance as enshrined in Quran. But ordinary people who don't have access to all layers of Quranic meanings can't avail complete Quranic guidance to achieve complete obedience to Allah. For such ordinary people, Allah has graciously bestowed a priceless gift of " Sunnah"- which is based on such layers of   Quranic meanings which are essential to be known for spiritual elevation. The ordinary people can avail complete Quranic guidance for spiritual elevation by following "Sunnah".

Muslims can't get glory without obedience to Allah- without establishing Allah's given systems, as understood by the holy Prophet; rise up to put on concerted efforts to change your systems on the basis of "Sunnah".

Corruption Remedy

we see absolute corruption in Pakistan. The reason is monopoly of some social groups in their respective fields; when these groups involve in corruption,they develop monopolized system of corruption in their respective fields. In our system of governance monopoly and corruption are intertwined and reinforce each other. If we want to eliminate corruption from our society, we need to break up monopolies of groups involved in corruption. One of these major corrupt and monopoly groups is bureaucracy which develop monopolized system of corruption through their national or provincial cadres.We need to break up monopoly of bureaucracy to eliminate corruption; in other words, we need to abolish national and provincial cadres of bureaucracy; we need to split up these national and provincial cadres into ministerial or departmental cadres which, on the one hand, would eliminate monopolized corruption, and,on the other hand, would provide room for development of specialization which would further enhance efficiency in service delivery.

Second Rise of Islam

Dear People,
Second Rise Of Islam is about to begin most probably in sep 2025 after a decline of 500 years, and will culminate into Islamic domination later on (InshaAllah). This rise will continue for one thousand years.Don't wait for end of world; end of world is not going to happen at least in the next one thousand years. We need to establish Islamic systems in order to achieve second rise of Islam; Muslims! rise up to welcome this new era and change your systems to replace them with Islamic ones.
ARIF MIAN