Question 101 - The Enlightening Answer Across the Ether, Vol 2

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Question 101

These questions are addressed to Sayyid Ahmed Alhasan-may Allah protect him. First, I will introduce my humble self. I live on the island of Awal-Bahrain-and am one of the Ajam, or the sons of the Ajam, as the narration says that they are among the Supporters of the Mahdi. I hope, Allah willing, to be his supporter. I am 30 years old. Islam: I have an objection concerning Islamic character that has truly perplexed me. I hope you can answer, as, praise be to Allah, I regard you as one of the specialists. There are traits urged by the Prophet (s) and the Imams from the People of the House (a), but other things contradict them. Adopting the Islamic system of character therefore becomes difficult to understand, let alone apply or accept instinctively. For example, Islam calls us to mercy, compassion, and love, but at the same time calls us to hate the disobedient person or disbeliever and dissociate from him. Islam calls for tolerance, respect for opponents, and dialogue with wisdom and good counsel, but commands fighting and killing them. Islam calls for rejecting arrogance but praises self-respect. What is the difference, since on close examination they are the same thing? It also accepts that the soul humble itself before Allah, so how can the soul then possess dignity? Islam rejects zealotry and fanaticism but supports wilaya and protective jealousy. Islam rejects desires in this world but does not reject them in the Hereafter-houris, palaces, and wine. Finally, it calls for freedom but establishes laws and commands absolute obedience to the Prophet (s) and the Imams. I also see that the Quran causes a Muslim to be hypocritical and makes him truthful neither with himself nor with others. My other objection concerns the fantastical description of the punishment of Hell in the Quran. I do not understand the reason for this frightening, terror, and dread that Allah wants the human being to experience. I understand that warning is useful, but please contemplate some verses that cause a person to doubt that they come from a Creator merciful to His creature, such as: ‘I will burden him with a steep ascent’; ‘Seize him and shackle him’; ‘Then fasten him in a chain whose length is seventy cubits’; eternity in Hell; Juz Amma; the terrors; the punishment of the grave; ‘faces laboring, weary’; zaqqum and dari; and many others. A third objection is the presence in the Quran of passages discussing personal matters of the Prophet (s), his wives, paternal and maternal aunts, a woman who offered herself, the story of his forbidding maghafir, his marriage to Zayd’s wife, and those who called him from behind the chambers, and so on. Why discuss the personal life of the Messenger of Allah? Yes, he is Allah’s Messenger, sent by Allah to guide human beings and return to Allah. Please reflect upon this. My fourth objection is that there are words and descriptions in the Quran from which souls recoil. For example, the Quran addresses menstruation and uses the term ‘woman’s private part’: ‘And Mary, daughter of Imran, who guarded her private part.’ Imagine that I describe your grandmother or mother by saying, ‘Your mother, who guarded her private part’! My fifth objection concerns fantastical punishments for simple matters and mistakes. For example, sodomy is a deviation in a human being, yes, but it is caused by female hormones that Allah created in the man, which cause him this deviant desire. It is a desire that he wants to satisfy, whether he is an effeminate man who wants it done to him or one who does it. Why, then, this magnification of the punishment and condemnation established by the Quran? The second example is the prohibition of marrying the Messenger’s wives after him and the statement that doing so is grave with Allah. I wonder why it is grave, and why it is prohibited at all. The third example is fleeing in war. A human being naturally fears being killed. If he happens to flee the confrontation during fierce warfare and hides, this is something for which he should not be blamed-be fair. Yet we find that the Quran criminalizes this poor, frightened fugitive. The fourth example is that the punishment for harming the Prophet is a curse-expulsion from Allah’s mercy. My wife harms me day and night, but I still love her. Likewise there is supplication that the oppressors be cursed. I cannot sincerely ask Allah to curse someone; this conflicts with the primordial nature. Rather, I pray for guidance. My sixth and final objection is that the Quran says that the jinn and human beings cannot produce anything like this Quran. Yet we find that there is a surah produced by some people which resembles the Quran. I personally could quite easily produce something resembling the Quran. Indeed, some sermons by eloquent speakers have greater eloquence than the Quran, even in Nahj al-Balagha by Imam Ali (a). How do you resolve these objections for us? I know my questions may be silly, but I truly seek the truth and knowing the reality is very important to me. I do not deny that you have presented rational matters in which I currently believe, such as the invalidity of current emulation, ruling by conjecture, invalid ijtihad and principles, and the possibility of seeing the Imam according to the transmitted narrations, and likewise the descendants. May Allah reward you well; I have learned much from you. Sender: Hasan Ali

Source: The Enlightening Answer Across the Ether, Vol 2; Author: Imam Ahmed Al-Hasan; Question 101; Page Not available; AL-JAWAB-AL-MUNIR-V2-Q101. View Arabic source · Open the original Arabic source ↗