The Interpretation of Islamic Texts Is Entirely Independent of Historical Vicissitudes - Term Paper Example

The interpretation of Islamic texts is entirely independent of historical vicissitudes. Introduction To non- Muslim, the thought of Islam seem paradoxical to them. There is different and a variety of options in which the Islamic texts are interpreted and in one of the common aspects is that the religion is portrayed as a religion of peace while other adherents of this religion will be deemed responsible for most of the terror attack in the world. But in reality the religion is emphasized on the faith built upon very high and ethical standards and furthermore it is a religion of law. Most of the society assumes that the interpretation of the Islamic text is completely independent from the historical vicissitudes in contrary the opposite is quite true. Most of the interpretation of the Islamic texts is based on the historical changes and this is modified in order to suit a particular context whether present or past. It is in this perspective that I will be arguing against the perception that the interpretation of the Islamic texts is entirely independent of historical vicissitudes. The paper will be split into various categories in order to look analytically on the aspects that support my argument. The first section will be a history on Islam in the world. Thereafter I will discuss and argue against the aforementioned topic. This will be done in different contexts like looking at the gender in relation of the Islam; this will be looked at in relation of the treatment of women and men through the interpretation of the Islamic texts. Each concept will be looked at analytically with the support of relevant reading material and credited sources. The last section will be the conclusion of the paper and how each of the said point has been relevant during the research for this paper. Each argument will be argued first with me giving my own opinion about it then using the citation from relevant materials and concluding with my own opinion of the said topic. Each stage will have the relevant support references. Introduction to Islam The history of Islam has in most cases been associated with the sole existence of Islamic states and empires. Since the beginning Islam was existing; the spread of the religion was on a community—state basis. It was both a faith and a political order. Within years and centuries after the His death, Muhammad’s local Arabian polity did become a very huge empire going as far as North Africa to Southeast Asia. The advancement and development of Islam and institutions are always intertwined. History of Islam In the 6th Century in the Arabia brought forward the rise of Islam. The Arabia was the source and congregation of many religious beliefs. There was a bit of Judaism and Christianity although for the better part of the 6th Century C.E (Common Era) they were overwhelmed by the faction of the tribal gods that practices barbaric activities. Muhammad (pbuh), the Prophet of Islam was born in Mecca which is on the Arabian Peninsula that is what is referred to as Saudi Arabia. He was born in the 570 C.E. He was raised in a trading family and by the time He was 25 He married an older widow who at that time had employed Him as a trading agent. At the age of 40, He began to experience visions and also auditory revelations, during one of His occasional meditation retreat in a nearby cave. According to Islamic Social Services Association, the angel Gabriel appeared to him with a book and commanded him to “Read”. Initially this revelation was being shared with His friends and family and with time He began to meet on a daily basis with the growing number of people and the message of Peace (Islam) was shared. One of the main missions of Muhammad (pbuh) was to stop the vicious cycle of murder and warfare that was being committed by the pre-Islamic tribes. Muhammad’s (pbuh) message was of course met with a great opposition that made Him flee to the neighbouring city of Medina.(This is a town approximately 400 km North of Mecca). This is the period that marks the beginning of the Islamic era and the Islamic dating. The event is called Hijrah (emigration). After a great period of conflicts finally Muhammad (pbuh) and followers returned to the holy city of Mecca. Muhammad (pbuh) died in 632 in Medina and He also did not leave any male heir. According to Endress (1987), The word Islam is an Arabic word meaning peace, greeting, allegiance loyalty, obedience and submission to the will of the Creator of the universe. Allah is the name of the Creator and it is also an Arabic word which means God Almighty. Allah is the one and only God and has 99 names and countless attributes. For example He is the Merciful, the Mighty, the Provider, the Loving, the All-Knowing, the Protector, the Last, the Eternal among other attributes. Muslims believe that Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was chosen by Allah (God) as the last prophet and also the messenger to the human kind in order to deliver his message of Islam or Peace. Muslims do not worship Muhammad (pbuh), they only worship Allah as Muhammad (pbuh) was a Prophet and a statesman. The message of Peace is recorded in the Islamic Scripture; The Qur’an. The message is considered the exact words of Allah that was revealed to Muhammad (pbuh) through Gabriel over the 23 year period. Qur’an is written in Arabic and has 114 chapter commonly referred to as Suras. The Qur’an is read and also recited in accordance to a set of rules and regulations governing the Qur’an. Before reading the Qur’an, a Muslim must be clean and also in a state of cleanliness. Just before Muhammad (pbuh) died, the sayings and practical guidance in the way of daily living that is were compiled and collected. They are better known as Hadiths. The Qur’an also teaches the Muslim to live in peace and with submission to Allah within self or with other people, the environment and the universe. The goal in life for every Muslim ought to be worshipping Allah, obeying His commandments by striving to go to Heaven and escape Hell in the after life. The Muslims can trace back their origin back to Prophet Adam who is also recognised by the Christians and Jews. Abraham is also regarded as the father of the three monolithic faiths – Islam, Judaism and Christianity. The Muslims also believe that Abraham was the one who established a worshipping house in Mecca and this house is called the Ka’bah. This house is presumed to be the first house devoted to worshipping one God. Throughout the history of humanity it is believed that Allah has sent different people (messengers) to the humanity with related teachings. Overtime the message and teachings have been misunderstood and also misinterpreted however, Muslims believe in the prophets that can be found in the Judaism and Christianity religion, they include Noah, Isaac, and David among others. They also believe Jesus was there but only as a prophet and unlike Christians they do not consider him divine. In addition Muslims also respect the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. The followers of Islam, Christianity and Judaism are sometimes referred to as “the People of the Book”. Some of the aspects of Islam is that Muslims do not believe in religious coercion as they explain that people should be given an opportunity to practice their own beliefs. Like Christianity, Islam has angels and also the Day of Judgment. Islam teaches the people that they must work out their salvation by the guidance of Allah therefore they ought to put into practice their beliefs on a daily basis. With Islam one is taught how to conduct himself or herself in private and also in public. One is taught how to be efficient member of the family, community and the society in general. Interpretation of the Islamic Texts One of the common and misunderstood concepts in Islam is the role of Muslim women in the society. Perception of most people in the society is that the Muslim women are oppressed, repressed and suppressed in contrary this might not be the real issue as some of the texts have been interpreted not as the way that it was supposed to be governed as per Qur’an and Sharia (Islamic laws). One area that is commonly interpreted wrongly and is mostly misconstrued is the female gender and the interaction in the public sphere whereby most of the Islamic communities restrict how the women will interact with other people in the public. This in most cases has been exaggerated to the extreme as the case where the women ought to be denied a chance to worship in the mosque. Maleiha Malik (2006) argued that the Western feminists had positioned themselves in a masculinised and orientalised attitude towards assuming that non-Western woman has embraced religion and tradition contrary to committing themselves to individuality and personal choice. Inherent is Malik’s perception o f the hierarchy and value judgment in which Muslim women are assumed to have not progressed from suppression from the patriarchal authority to the position that are enjoyed by the Western feminists. One country that provides an interesting and crucial dichotomy between forms of Muslim feminisms is Malaysia. A group calling itself Sisters in Islam have put pressure to the society and focuses mostly in providing an alternative interpretation of the Qur’an beyond the ones offered by the bigoted male theologians. The theologians have mostly reduced the status of the women to that of being inferiors (Crabtree et al, 2008). According to Moghissi in Feminism and Islamic Fundamentalism he explains that such kind of movements is in harmony with the separation of Islam as a belief and personal choice, and Islam as a law, as a state religion. In retrospect those who reject the masculinised Sharia in the cultural and spiritual aspect as well as in the broader feminist ethos in terms of equality between the male and female genders in the society are shunned. Sister of Islam is one such group engaging in the attempt to get the texts revised to include the female voice around the Abrahamic mono- religion of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism as described by Harrison (2007). However these views have been viewed as self-defeating if the texts are accepted and they are deemed snit-feminist. Citing the work of Amina Wadud-Muhsin; both Davary and Harrison consider the difference and distinction between the exclusion of the women opinions in the interpretation of the Islamic text and their inclusion within the message of the sacred text. The most important point for Wadud –Muhsin is the idea of the prior text; ‘the background and baggage of the individual interpreter and the mega-text of the universal message of Islam’ (Davary 2008). As Haleh Afshar argues; this fundamentalism is a revivalism of Islam and symbolizes the return to the ‘golden age’ and unpolluted Islam an idea that is assumed to empower the women. This ought to be the case since the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is credited with having elevated the status of the female gender in the Arab society from a hopeless position. The misconception that Islam bars women from any public post is therefore wrong and clearly refuted from the verse above. From the time of Prophet Muhammad more than fourteen hundred years ago, Muslim women have and when need be fought as soldiers furthermore they provided medical and nursing to the Muslim armies and so did they hold public offices and teach in various fields. It is stated clearly by Prophet Muhammad that it is the responsibility of every male and female to acquire knowledge and also this is supported by the Sharia that stipulates both men and women to have equal access to education. However it should be noted that in the Islamic reference to rights go in tandem with the duties therefore some obligations can be accomplished by women and as a result must fulfill them in order to bring peace and harmony in the domestic and social scenarios. In the economic sphere Sharia takes an exception that a woman is a total independent entity. A Muslim woman can contract, gift on her own name and as a mother, daughter, wife and sister a Muslim woman is entitled to inheritance. Furthermore the woman can transact business as an independent person who is not liable for her husband’s debt if there are any. According to the Islamic Scriptures; the woman is not obliged to spend a single cent on the family and also her husband has no rights to claim on the money she has inherited or earned. The scriptures state that the woman can contribute towards the family or to help her husband if she chooses on her own free will at the end this will be considered as charity on the woman’s part. The husband as the head of the family is obliged to provide for the woman and also the family. In most cases the women retain their maiden name once they are married bringing out the aspect of independent personality. In the real sense the women are denied the right to work therefore it becomes difficult for the women to get any income from whatever work they aspire as most of the careers will mostly be male dominated. Furthermore the society has changed overtime and in most cases as the man is the provider and head of the family, the woman has to contribute in the family in terms of income. According to Rapoport (2005) he explains that in the early Islam there was a change in gender division of the economy with the re-entry of elite women into the land market. Women were still excluded from holding official positions and collecting tax revenues that came with the positions. During the period the share of agricultural surplus that was being channeled to these positions was decreasing as more land was set aside to enhance endowments that were for the most part private or familial. While Islamic law allows the founder of an endowment complete freedom in choosing its beneficiaries, many founders still stipulated that the revenues of the endowment would be divided according to Islamic inheritance law. Another aspect of interpretation of the Islamic text is under the divorce. Divorce was quite typical of medieval Islamic society and therefore it should not be taken as the modern and western phenomenon per se instead the divorce aspect of the Islam should be looked from the history to where it is presently. According to Rapoport, divorce rates were quite high as evidenced by the many written literature depicting divorce proceedings. Furthermore Rapoport critics the usual assumption that the women are inferior when it comes to legal proceedings as the ones in the medieval Islamic society had so much power and they were mostly economically independent from their men. In the medieval Islam the transmission of dowries, women accessing waged labour and the very strict separation of property between the spouses enabled the divorce being simple and normative initiated by the women as much as their husbands. Muslim women and men always observe modesty in their interactions this is to avoid any situation that might compromise their morals and also destroy their reputation. As a result it is forbidden for both Muslim men and women who are not related to each other to be left alone together. As much as Islam from time immemorial does not allow dating, certain provisions are made for the sole purpose of marriage and to socialize. This will be done in front of a chaperon (Hosseini 1993). The Islamic texts explains that to the believing women they should lower their gaze and guard modesty while the believing men should lower their gaze and keep themselves from immodest actions and that is pure for them. For Islam the consequence of premarital and extramarital sexual relations can be grave since it is forbidden in the Sharia law. Another controversial aspect of the Islam is the owning of hijab by many Muslims. As Basharat explains that hijab stands in the opposition to the objectification and exploitation of the Western female sexuality and at the same time it creates a complex social representation in relation to gender and politics. He argues that the practice of wearing it (hijab) removes the wearer of the hijab from the ‘sex economy’ this it enables her to avow her personality but not in the sense of the sexualized femaleness. Zine hover in contrast clarifies that wearing a hijab is not necessarily a religious obligation for all the Muslim women instead it can also be worn as a form of an identity whether politically, religious or culturally. Conclusion With the interpretation of the Islamic scriptures and with no central authority most of the societies and groups have tried to interpret the Islamic texts and tried to claim authority and in the end it becomes violent with the way the issue is handled. Most of the facts stated indicates that some of the decisions made in most cases are not independent instead they have historical changes that have resulted in the decisions being altered contrary to what the scriptures and Islamic text say. The current Islam is faced by fundamentalists who interpret the Islamic text wrongly and also view the world in a narrow minded view especially with issues concerning the genders. In conclusion I disagree that the interpretation of the Islamic texts is not independent from historical vicissitudes instead it so much co-relates with it from the time it was started to the present day. References Afshar, H. (1996) ‘Islam and Feminism: An Analysis of Political Strategies,’ in M. Yamani (ed.), Feminism and Islam, New York University Press: New York , pp. 197-216; Ashencaen Crabtree, Husain and Spalek. Islam and Social Work Ashencaen Crabtree,S. , Husain, F. , Spalek, B. (2008) Islam & Social Work: Transforming Values into Practice, Policy Press; Bristol:, pp.19-40. Basharat, (1988). ‘Hijab as an Instrument of Taking Women Off the Sex Economy’; S. Moscovici, ‘Notes Towards a Description of Social Representations’ in European Journal of Social Psychology, 18 pp. 211-250. “Brief History of Islam”, Islamic Social Services Association. Web. 2009. Retrieved 12 Dec 2012. Davary, B. (2008). ‘Muslim and Christian women, the Image of God and the Common Legacy of Patriarchy’ in Pakistan Journal of Women’s Studies, 15, 2 1024-1256; Harrison, ‘Modern Women, Traditional Abrahamic Religions and Interpreting Sacred Texts.’ Endress, G. (1987). Introduction to islam. New York, Columbia Univ Press. Harrison, V. S. (2007)‘Modern Women, Traditional Abrahamic Religions and Interpreting Sacred Texts’ in Feminist Theology, 15:2, pp. 146-159. Malik, M. (2006)‘Feminism and its “Other”: Female Autonomy In An Age of “Difference”’ in Cardozo Law Review 30: 6 , pp. 2613-2628. Mir-hosseini, ziba.  (1993).  Marriage on trial : a study of Islamic family law : Iran and Morocco compared / Ziba Mir-Hosseini  I.B. Tauris, London ; New York : Moghissi, Feminism and Islamic Fundamentalism, 139 Y. Rapoport,(2005). Marriage, money and divorce in medieval Islamic society. Cambridge UP (chap.4)  Zine, J. (2004). ‘Creating a Critical Faith-Centered Space for Antiracist Feminism’ in Feminist Studies in Religion, 2:2, pp. 167-187. Read More