Islam - Answers_to_Non_Muslims.pdf - old - shmoach

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INTRODUCTION

Da’wah is a duty

Most Muslims know that Islam is a universal religion, meant for all mankind.

Allah (swt) is the Lord of the entire Universe, and Muslims have been entrusted

with the duty of conveying His message to all mankind. Alas, most Muslims

today have become callous towards this duty! While accepting Islam as the best

way of life for ourselves, most of us are unwilling to share this knowledge with

those to whom the message has not yet been conveyed.

The Arabic word Da’wah means a call or an invitation. In Islamic context, it

means to strive for the propagation of Islam.

The Glorious Qur’an says:

“Ah! Who is more unjust than those who conceal the testimony they

have from Allah? But Allah is not unmindful of what ye do!”

[Al-Qur’an 2:140]

T wenty Most Common Questions

In order to convey the message of Islam, dialogue and debate become

inevitable. The Glorious Qur’an says:

“Invite (all) to the way of thy Lord, with wisdom and beautiful

preaching, and argue with them in ways that are best and most

gracious!”

[Al-Qur’an 16:125]

In conveying the message of Islam to a non-Muslim, it is usually not sufficient to

highlight only the positive nature of Islam. Most non-Muslims are not convinced

about the truth of Islam because there are a few questions about Islam at the

back of their minds that remain unanswered.

They may agree with your contentions about the positive nature of Islam. But,

in the same breath, they will say - “Ah! But you are the same Muslims who

marry more than one woman. You are the same people who subjugate women

by keeping them behind the veil. You are fundamentalists, etc.”

I personally prefer asking the non-Muslims upfront, with their limited

knowledge, whether right or wrong, from whichever source it may be, what they

feel is wrong in Islam. I encourage them to be very frank and open and convince

them that I can take criticism about Islam.

In the past few years of my Da’wah experience, I have realized that there are

barely twenty most common questions that a common non-Muslim has

regarding Islam. Whenever you ask a non-Muslim, “what do you feel is wrong in

Islam?”, he poses five or six questions, and these questions invariably fall

among the twenty most common questions.

Logical replies can convince the majority

The twenty most common questions about Islam can be answered with reason

and logic. A majority of non-Muslims can be convinced with these answers. If a

Muslim memorizes or simply remembers these answers, Inshallah he will be

successful, if not in convincing non-Muslims about the complete truth of Islam,

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then at least in removing misconceptions about Islam and neutralizing the

negative thinking about Islam and Muslims that the non-Muslims have. A very

few non-Muslims may have counter arguments to these replies, for which

further information may be required.

Misconceptions due to media

The common misconceptions about Islam arise in the minds of a majority of

non-Muslims, because they are constantly being bombarded with

misinformation about Islam. International media is mainly controlled by the

western world, whether it is international satellite channels, radio stations, news

papers, magazines or books. Recently the Internet has become a powerful

medium of information. Though it is not controlled by anybody, one finds a large

amount of virulent propaganda about Islam on the Internet. Of course, Muslims

too are utilizing this tool to portray the right image of Islam and Muslims, but

they are far behind as compared to the propaganda against Islam. I hope the

efforts by the Muslims will increase and continue to be pursued.

Misconceptions change with time

The most common questions about Islam are different in different periods and

eras. This set of twenty most common questions is based on present times.

Decades earlier, the set of questions was different and decades later too, the

set of questions may change depending upon how Islam is projected by the

media.

Misconceptions are the same throughout the world

I have interacted with people in different parts of the world and have found these

twenty most common questions about Islam to be the same everywhere. There

may be a couple of additional questions depending upon the locale, the

surrounding or culture. For instance in America, the additional common

question is - “Why does Islam prohibit taking and giving of interest?”

I have included among these twenty most common questions, certain questions

more common among the Indian non-Muslims. For instance, “why do Muslims

have non-vegetarian food?” The reason for including such questions is that

people of Indian origin are spread throughout the world and constitute about

20% i.e. 1/5th of the world population. Thus, their questions become common

questions asked by non-Muslims throughout the world.

Misconceptions of non-Muslims who have studied Islam

There are many non-Muslims who have studied Islam. Most of them have only

read books on Islam written by biased critics of Islam. These non-Muslims have

an additional set of twenty common misconceptions about Islam. For instance,

they claim to have found contradictions in the Qur’an, they contend that the

Qur’an is unscientific, etc. There is another set of additional replies clearing

these twenty misconceptions among non-Muslims who have studied Islam from

distorted sources. I have also given the replies to twenty additional less

common questions among the non-Muslims in my public talks and book on

“Answers to Common Questions about Islam by Non-Muslims who have some

knowledge about Islam”.

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1. POLYGAMY

Question:

Why is a man allowed to have more than one wife in Islam? i.e. why is

polygamy allowed in Islam?

Answer:

1. Definition of Polygamy

Polygamy means a system of marriage whereby one person has more than one

spouse. Polygamy can be of two types. One is polygyny where a man marries

more than one woman, and the other is polyandry, where a woman marries

more than one man. In Islam, limited polygyny is permitted; whereas polyandry

is completely prohibited.

Now coming to the original question, why is a man allowed to have more than

one wife?

2. The Qur ’ an is the only religious scripture in the world that says,

“marry only one”.

The Qur’an is the only religious book, on the face of this earth, that contains the

phrase ‘marry only one’. There is no other religious book that instructs men to

have only one wife. In none of the other religious scriptures, whether it be the

Vedas, the Ramayan, the Mahabharat, the Geeta, the Talmud or the Bible does

one find a restriction on the number of wives. According to these scriptures one

can marry as many as one wishes. It was only later, that the Hindu priests and

the Christian Church restricted the number of wives to one.

Many Hindu religious personalities, according to their scriptures, had multiple

wives. King Dashrat, the father of Rama, had more than one wife. Krishna had

several wives.

In earlier times, Christian men were permitted as many wives as they wished,

since the Bible puts no restriction on the number of wives. It was only a few

centuries ago that the Church restricted the number of wives to one.

Polygyny is permitted in Judaism. According to Talmudic law, Abraham had

three wives, and Solomon had hundreds of wives. The practice of polygyny

continued till Rabbi Gershom ben Yehudah (960 C.E to 1030 C.E) issued an

edict against it. The Jewish Sephardic communities living in Muslim countries

continued the practice till as late as 1950, until an Act of the Chief Rabbinate of

Israel extended the ban on marrying more than one wife.

(*Interesting Note :- As per the 1975 census of India Hindus are more

polygynous than Muslims. The report of the ‘Committee of The Status of

Woman in Islam’, published in 1975 mentions on page numbers 66 and 67 that

the percentage of polygamous marriages between the years 1951 and 1961

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was 5.06% among the Hindus and only 4.31% among the Muslims. According

to Indian law only Muslim men are permitted to have more than one wife. It is

illegal for any non-Muslim in India to have more than one wife. Despite it being

illegal, Hindus have more multiple wives as compared to Muslims. Earlier, there

was no restriction even on Hindu men with respect to the number of wives

allowed. It was only in 1954, when the Hindu Marriage Act was passed that it

became illegal for a Hindu to have more than one wife. At present it is the Indian

Law that restricts a Hindu man from having more than one wife and not the

Hindu scriptures.)

Let us now analyse why Islam allows a man to have more than one wife.

3. Qur ’ an permits limited polygyny

As I mentioned earlier, Qur’an is the only religious book on the face of the earth

that says ‘marry only one’. The context of this phrase is the following verse from

Surah Nisa of the Glorious Qur’an:

“Marry women of your choice, two, or three, or four; but if ye fear that

ye shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one.”

[Al-Qur’an 4:3]

Before the Qur’an was revealed, there was no upper limit for polygyny and

many men had scores of wives, some even hundreds. Islam put an upper limit

of four wives. Islam gives a man permission to marry two, three or four women,

only on the condition that he deals justly with them.

In the same chapter i.e. Surah Nisa verse 129 says:

“Ye are never able to be fair and just as between women....”

[Al-Qur’an 4:129]

Therefore polygyny is not a rule but an exception. Many people are under the

misconception that it is compulsory for a Muslim man to have more than one wife.

Broadly, Islam has five categories of Do’s and Don’ts:

(i) ‘Fard’ i.e. compulsory or obligatory

(ii) ‘Mustahab’ i.e. recommended or encouraged

(iii) ‘Mubah’ i.e. permissible or allowed

(iv) ‘Makruh’ i.e. not recommended or discouraged

(v) ‘Haraam’ i.e. prohibited or forbidden

Polygyny falls in the middle category of things that are permissible. It cannot be

said that a Muslim who has two, three or four wives is a better Muslim as

compared to a Muslim who has only one wife.

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Islam - Answers_to_Non_Muslims.pdf

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