Fatwas: Part Forty-Three

Issued by: Dr. Ahmed Subhy Mansour, translated by: Ahmed Fathy

May God Reward You

Published in June 29, 2016

Question: …  Dear Sir, … Allow me to tell you that you can help increase the number of Quranists worldwide if you would be more active within social media; your ideas must enter all Arab streets from the Arabian Gulf to the Atlantic Ocean … I myself have been shocked when I first googled your name and spent hours and hours watching your videos and reading your archive … I feel sad that your IQC Facebook page/account is rarely visited … I would like to ask your permission to allow me to create an account of ahl-alquran.com via Facebook and Twitter to copy and paste links of your videos, articles, and books … I admire your works very much and would like to help spread Quranism … Thank you very much for being what you are, and please accept my warmest and cordial love and respect to your person …     

Answer:            

  We thank you from the bottom of our heart; may God reward and bless you. We are very much in need of those who make people get to know about Quranism within cyberspace. Our readers are few people and the number of those who watch our videos are fewer. Here are some of our internet sites apart from ahl-alquran.com

https://www.facebook.com/groups/464854560257638/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/AhmedSubhyMansourBooks/

https://www.youtube.com/user/ahlalquran1/featured

but some evil Sunnites take up our name to distract readers away from our writings. We would like you to use a new name for the account you will create and we give you permission to share all our videos, articles, fatwas, and books; we need every possible active voluntary help of good people like you. We hope that hundreds of our fellow Quranists would do the same; Quranists are less than 10000 persons worldwide and most of them are impecunious; if we joined hands to be more active within cyberspace in our peaceful intellectual endeavors of reform, God will lend us victory. May God come to the help of all of us.  

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To Be Named after Epithets of God

Published in Augustus 1, 2007

Question: …  Dear Sir, … You have mentioned in one of your articles that it is not permissible to name male babies after God's Epithets   … Have you a Quranic evidence to support this view? … Thank you  …  

Answer:

  We did not say that; we mean that it is not permissible to name children/babies after names never ascribed to God after the term (Abdul- or Abdel-) which (means the servant of...); e.g., Abdul-Sattar, Abdul-Mawjood, and Abdul-Maqsood, because (Sattar, Mawjood, and Maqsood) are never names or holy epithets of God at all. The male names containing the pre-fixes ''Abdul-'', "Abd-", or ''Abdel-'' in Arabic literally mean (the servant/slave of so and so). No real believer should name their sons after such names related to Sufi, Shiite, or Sunnite deities/saints. As for true epithets of God, like Raheem (i.e., Merciful), Raouf (i.e., Compassionate), and Kareem (i.e., Generous), one can use them as names for male babies, but without the definitive article (the), or (Al-) in Arabic, as the definitive article within such epithets make them pertain only to Almighty God.

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Jihad for the Truth

Published in September 2, 2012

Question: … Dear Sir, … I cannot study online within your Quranist University … I love traditional way of learning within lectures delivered within halls and classroom … I cannot spread Quranism within my relatives and friends and I feel guilty; I live in a Wahabi Gulf monarchy and I fear being persecuted … But I am active in copying and pasting links of your articles via many websites, is that OK?  … Thank you …      

Answer:

  Thank you, our dear daughter, and God bless and reward you. Do not feel guilty; each of us is striving as much as one can within our capacity in our peaceful intellectual jihad endeavors for the sake of God and Islam. Do not get yourself into risky situations; it is enough to spread news of Quranism and proselytize it via cyberspace, which is an excellent horizon for marginalized people like Quranists. Of course, God will reward us in this life and in the next world; let's compete in all good deeds before we die.  

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Scattered Letters in Quranic Chapters

Published in December 12, 2012

Question: … Dear Sir, … What is the meaning of the scattered letters at the beginnings of some Quranic Chapters like in these verses:- 2:1, 3:1, 7:1, 10:1, and 11:1? … Thank you …     

Answer:

  The numerical miracles of the Quran explain to us now the reason of the presence of these letter in the balance of the Quranic text within the digital value/numerical of its letters; please read the Arabic articles of the Canadian-Egyptian Quranist Mr. Riyadh Al-Kholy concerning the numerical miracles.   

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Those of Your Women

Published in August 7, 2007

Question: … Dear Sir, … Do the verses 4:15-16 tackle the penalty for homosexuals (i.e., lesbians in 4:15 and gays in 4:16) as per views in the YouTube videos of Dr. Muhammad Shahrour, as the Arabic grammatical dual masculine form is used in 4:16 and the feminine dual form in 4:15? Or do you disagree with that? … Thank you …        

Answer:

 The view you talk about here about women is quite faulty and wrong indeed. God says in the Quran: "Those of your women who commit lewdness, you must have four witnesses against them, from among you. If they testify, confine them to the homes until death claims them, or God makes a way for them." (4:15). This verse tackles women who are sex workers within houses of ill-repute where male customers visit them for illicit sex (fornication). This has nothing to do with homosexuals or lesbians at all; grammatical Arabic rules were formulated centuries after the advent of the Quran and cannot be used to interpret Quranic verses. The form in 4:15 is plural and NOT the dual feminine form. As for 4:16, it is indeed about two men (and the dual masculine form is used clearly) who commit homosexual relations, prohibited in Islam, and the punishment is severe rebuke in public, scandalizing them, and shunning them both till they repent. God says in the Quran: "If two men among you commit it, punish them both. But if they repent and reform, leave them alone. God is Redeemer, Full of Mercy." (4:16).

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Prostrating in Case of Forgetting

Published in June 14, 2013

Question: … Dear Sir, … Why are you endorsing prostrating in case one forgets the number of Raqas in any prayers? Is not that act is based on a Sunnite hadith of Abou Hurayrah?! Why one is not to repeat the whole of the prayers instead, then? … Thank you …    

Answer:

 Of course, you can repeat the whole prayer in case of doubt. Of course, many hadiths were fabricated during the Abbasid Era and were ascribed to Abou Hurayrah after his death as a famous Umayyad narrator/fabricator of hadiths. Of course, piety is the most vital thing; if one forgets how many Raqas he/she prayed, one is to go on praying in piety and in the fear of God for the rest of the prayers and prostrate at the end of them. One may have another options is to begin the prayers all over again. Anyway, those whose hearts are so busy thinking of transient items of this world cannot pray properly and they attain no piety at all because of their lack of concentration; do not be one of those impious people who do not fear God and their prayers are merely useless movements.    

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Taha Hussein Again!

Published in April 28, 2015

Question:  … Dear Sir, … Who are the Azharite sheikhs that persecuted the late francophone Egyptian Azharite thinker Taha Hussein? … Thank you …         

Answer:

  And who are the sheikhs that persecuted us, Dr. A. S. Mansour, within the periods 1977-1980 and 1985-1987? No one remembers the names of these Azharite leaders who persecuted ourselves nor the names of those who persecuted Taha Hussein, because these persecutors had no scientific contributions or books of any kind, and after they died, they went into the dustbin of history and sank into oblivion. Who knows the names of our Azharite persecutors: Abdel-Rahman Al-Kordy, Saad Dhallam, M. Al-Saady Farhoud, Ibrahim Al-Fayoumi, and Khouleif? They were head professors of Al-Azhar University who did all their best to persecute our person and inflict all possible penalties on us. No body now would remember their names. At one time, we wrote a memo to Farhoud, the head of Al-Azhar University in the 1980s, telling him that even after we resigned from our post there, history will immortalize our name because of our books that will outlive us, while his name will sink into oblivion as he wrote no books at all and he could not even write any. This is what occurred once Farhoud retired: no one ever remembered him, while he saw our name rising into fame inside and outside Egypt despite being persecuted. The owner of the pen who writes what is useful to people has his/her name immortalized since there will be people who read them in many generations. Those in authority will lose it by death or by any other means. Glorified by the name of the Immortal King and Creator of heavens and the earth.    

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Shiites during the Mameluke Era in Egypt

Published in February 22, 2012

Question: … Dear Sir, … I am a new Quranist and a novice to your website, and I admire very much your book titled "Al-Sayed Al-Badawi between Fact and Myth" … I'm currently working on my MA thesis on Shiites in Upper Egypt during the Mameluke Era; would you kindly advise me about what references to read? … Thank you …   

Answer:

  You are welcome to our website; read all our historical researches to learn more about your topic and about research methodology, especially our Sufism encyclopedia, as Sufism is a direct result of hiding the tenets of the Shiite religion. As far as we know, there are no sufficient references about Shiites in Upper Egypt during the Mameluke Era. Some Shiite families resorted to Upper Egyptian villages to escape persecution by Sunnites in Cairo and Lower Egypt, and they have hidden their faith and were engaged into feuds and disputes with other tribes, while hiding their rituals. You can dig out references in manuscripts in the Cairo National Library, but we advise you to read extensively about Sufism to differentiate between it and Shiite Sufism and pure Shiite creeds. Please keep in touch.     

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Quranic Chapter 105

Published in July 3, 2012

Question: … Dear Sir, … What is your own reading of the Quranic Chapter 105? Is it linked (as per Sunnite narratives) to a Yemenite king who desired to demolish the Kaaba to make pilgrims go to Yemen instead? What do you think? … Thank you …   

Answer:

 This is the whole Chapter 105: "Have you not considered how your Lord dealt with the People of the Elephant? Did He not make their plan go wrong? He sent against them swarms of birds. Throwing at them rocks of baked clay. Leaving them like chewed-up leaves." (105:1-5). We do not like the Sunnite story that link this Chapter 105 to the Kaaba, as there is no reference at all to Mecca and the Kaaba in this Chapter 105, unlike the cases of other verses about them in Quranic stories and legislations. We deduce from 105:1 that Muhammad did not witness the events described in the Quranic Chapter 105, whether they had occurred in Mecca or elsewhere. The same expression of (Have you not considered how...) is used many times about Muhammad in the Quranic verses: like these examples within the Quranic Chapter Two: "Have you not considered those who fled their homes, by the thousands, fearful of death? God said to them, "Die." Then He revived them. God is Gracious towards the people, but most people are not appreciative." (2:243); "Have you not considered the notables of the Israelites after Moses?..." (2:246); "Have you not considered him who argued with Abraham about his Lord..." (2:258). We might be wrong but the Quranic Chapter 105 does NOT tackle Mecca; rather, it tackles smiting of one of the disbelieving nations by God in ancient eras, and no other details are mentioned, as per the Quranic methodology of Quranic stories that focus on events and moral lessons drawn from them and not on location, persons, or eras.       

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Custody of My Daughter

Published in July 17, 2011

Question: …  Dear Sir, … I am an Omani woman divorced five years ago with only one eight-year-old daughter, and my daughter's custody is mine, and I am the one spending on her … My ex-husband agreed to let my daughter remain with me after I get married; a man of high moralistic level has proposed to me, but I'm afraid that the law entails that my ex must have the custody of my daughter after I get married! I have no relations and so is my ex-husband, and he himself does not like the Omani law imposing on him to have the custody of a daughter in whom he never took interest at all … Any advice? Is it legal and OK within Islam that my daughter remains with me and her step-father (i.e., my future husband)?  … Thank you …      

Answer:

 Of course, you have every right to keep the custody of you daughter till she is 16, when she must choose whether to remain with you or with her biological father. Her father must spend money on her as per Quranic sharia laws while she is in your custody. As for your future husband, it is OK that he deals with your daughter as if she were his own and to become like a father to her. Within Islamic laws, this step-father cannot in the future marry your daughter even if he left her mother by divorce one day. We are not fully aware of laws in the Gulf countries, and we do not know if laws impose on your ex to gain custody of your daughter whether he likes it or not, but anyway, you must win your ex to your side in that case (before judges in court) for the sake and interests of your daughter. 

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Selfish Brother

Published in December 14, 2011

Question: …  Dear Sir, … I am a Moroccan rural woman who is a new Quranist and I read regularly on your great website, especially the fatwas section; this encouraged me to ask for your advice … my younger brother who is now 50 years old, was so pampered by our doting parents, though he used to verbally abuse both Dad and Mom, who never refused him anything because he is a male (!) who was born after three daughters (including me, the eldest) … My brother was so pampered that he once beat Dad because he refused to marry him off to a young girl he chose as his future wife; my brother married her in secret and drop out of college, and the folks of the wife disowned her for it … My brother was broke and jobless and stayed at home, where Dad spent money on him and his wife … When our Dad died while leaving us no money at all, I and my sisters had to work so as to spend money on our brother and his wife, especially that he insisted to continue his university education, and after graduation, he deserted us and lived elsewhere, never visiting us; we expected nothing from him, nor even gratitude … The problem now is that my brother's only son (who is as selfish and pampered as his father) wants my male sons who work in the KSA to host him there to work with them; my sons are willing to help, but I feel this son of my brother will cause much trouble to them … Shall I advise them not to help him or not? … What do you think? … Thank you …         

Answer:

  Your brother is selfish and ungrateful; he never felt ashamed of being spent on by his married sisters nor of marrying without paying a dowry and of cutting all relations with his sisters later on. He cannot attain piety at all. His son, as you say, is just like him; do not offer any help to him or his father ever again; you have done all you could do in the past; let your brother taste the ingratitude of his only son. Do not cause trouble to your sons in their jobs in the KSA. Do not feel pangs of conscience; make good deeds with the poor and hungry ones. Your selfish ungrateful brother was helped by you way too much, and enough is enough.   

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Get him Out the House At Once

Published in October 16, 2015

Question: … Dear Sir, … I am the biggest sister of many siblings; my youngest brother is a disaster; he is 38 years old, without a university degree and jobless; he borrows from each of us money that he never paid back; no relatives of ours trust him for his dishonest ways; he even got married (and divorced) three times without telling us unless after it is too late! I and my sisters spend on him. My father died while cursing him for all the troubles he caused us; our senile, old mother hates him and give him money to keep away from the house for good, but he keeps causing trouble and wreaking havoc … Any advice?  … Thank you …

Answer:

 This corrupt, spoiled son is the victim of your family as you have pampered him too much and made him too dependent on you; he cannot be fit for the roles of a husband or a father. We think he is emotionally embezzling your mother. The only solution is to expel him out the house at once and for good, so that he will get to learn from mercilessness of people and life. If he remained the way he is, he will destroy himself and others around him. The only treatment for him is to get him out of the house immediately; this is not a punishment, we assure you. 

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Admiring your Writings, but...

Published in June 21, 2009

Question: … Dear Sir, … I am an Arab who lives in the UK, and I like and admire your writings very much, but I hate your heaping praise to the USA … The British helped me a lot but I cannot overpraise them at the expense of the harm done to my native land because of the British occupation … Thank you …     

Answer:

 Thanks for your email message and admiration, but let us clarify the following points: 1) the views of ours in religion and politics are viewpoints that might be wrong or right; nothing is absolute, and we never praise or flatter anyone at the expense of our religion, and 2) the USA never cares from the praise from us as a writer or from anyone else; the Americans care only for their interests, as politics is the language of economic interests and not principles and values; this is why the USA care for Wahabis of the KSA and ignore Quranism as the solution for facing and undermining Wahabi terrorism in the West. We, as a Quranist thinker seek only to please God and we do not seek any other allies or supporters except our Almighty Lord.

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 Those Who Led us Astray

Published in March 14, 2015

Question: …  Dear Sir, …Who are the ones referred to in 41:29 as Hell-dwellers who misled people?  … Thank you …   

Answer:

 God says in the Quran: "Such is the recompense of God's enemies-the Fire-where they will have their permanent home, in recompense for having disregarded Our verses. Those who disbelieved will say, "Our Lord, show us those who led us astray-among jinn and humans-and we will trample them under our feet, so they become of the lowest."" (41:28-29). This means that Hell dwellers will regret their misguidance – after it is too late – and will ask God to increase the torment of those who led them astray; i.e., imams/clergy of misguidance of the earthly religions and the devils that whispered to them to do evil deeds and to disbelieve in God and His Path (i.e., the Quran). People do not see devils during their lifetime; Hell-dwellers will see devils in Hell who misled them: "Whoever shuns the remembrance of the Most Gracious, We assign for him a devil, to be his companion. They hinder them from the path, though they think they are guided. Until, when He comes to Us, he will say, "If only there were between me and you the distance of the two Easts." What an evil companion! It will not benefit you on that Day, since you did wrong. You are partners in the suffering. Can you make the deaf hear, or guide the blind, and him who is in evident error?" (43:36-40).  

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Difference in Higher Values

Published in September 9, 2007

Question: … Dear Sir, … I am an Arab who lives in the West, and I disagree with your opinion that the higher values of the Quran match those of the West; there are no corporeal punishment in the West (unlike the Quranic cutting thieves' hands off and flogging adulterers and fornicators) and sexual freedom of the West is in contrast with prohibiting extramarital sex and homosexual relations in the Quran  … Are some Quranic legislations does fit modern life or certain cultures? … What do you think of my views now?… Thank you …      

Answer:

 There is a difference between higher abstract values and their application from one era to another and from one country to another. No one can apply 100% of the higher values known to all human beings (and similar to Quranic higher values); as no one can remove 100% of evil nature from human souls nor the whispers of devils. For sure, evil deeds are being committed and good deeds are being performed till the end of days; otherwise, the Last Day of Judgment (and Hell and Paradise) is of no use. Life is a test; and higher values are being applied in a varied manner from one individual to another. Dreams of people of social justice and better changes of life conditions shape their views of the higher values. Sometimes, mottoes of freedom turn into nightmares and shackles (e.g., communism and Marxism). Thus, sexual freedom (i.e., random, casual sex) without restraint is something bad; even the West people begin to realize this fact. If you are a Muslims, you must choose to avoid all illicit forms of sex prohibited in the Quran, if you desire to pass this one test of the many tests of life. Every country has the right to issue laws; you live in a country with permissiveness atmosphere of sexual relations, but you can choose to abstain from illegal sex to please and obey God. Otherwise, Islamic values of the Quran match those higher values of all humanity: charity, justice, courage, generosity, kindness, truthfulness, freedom, mercy, patience, justice, equality, etc. No one is obliged to apply corporeal punishment within a society that agreed to replace them by other penalties like imprisonment terms etc. It is far more important to apply higher Quranic values in one's life willingly and individually to seek to please God and obtain His mercy; what is wrong is to coerce others in the name of God and persecute them as if one applies sharia laws; such compulsion is found in Sunnite Wahabism, and never in Quranism. One cannot cut off a hand of a thief or flog a fornicator unless the culprit confess willingly of the sin and asks to be purified. There is no obligation here. Thank you for your question and keep in touch.  

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Quranic Revelation and the Metaphysical Realm

Published in Augustus 15, 2008

Question: … Dear Sir, … In your writings, you assert that Muhammad received the entirety of the Quran inside his heart at Mount Al-Tur in Sinai, Egypt, and yet, in other writings, you assert that Muhammad waited for the Quranic revelation to answer questions posed to him in verses that contains the expression (They ask you about...Say...) How come is that? Is not this contradictory?… Thank you  …  

Answer:

   Within our book titled "The Night-Journey Is The Night of Decree", we have proven using the Quran only that Muhammad was transported in one night of Ramadan (the Night of Decree) from Mecca to Mount Al-Tur, Sinai, Egypt, to receive the Quranic text in his heart and mind by arch-angel Gabriel, in the same location where Moses received the Torah or the Ten Commandments. See 53:1-18. Such Quranic verses inside his heart and mind is part of the metaphysical realm, known only to God, not to Muhammad, until God allowed him to recite certain verses when occasions would arise in certain situations, by making the verses appear in his conscious mind and uttered by his tongue. This is why the Quran is linked to the invisible and unknown realm in this verse: "This is the Book in which there is no doubt, a guide for the righteous. Those who believe in the unseen, and perform the prayers, and give from what We have provided for them." (2:2-3). This fact about Muhammad is understandable from these verses: "This is news from the past that We reveal to you. You were not present with them when they plotted and agreed on a plan." (12:102); "These are some stories from the past that we reveal to you. Neither you, nor your people knew them before this. So be patient. The future belongs to the pious." (11:49); "These are accounts from the Unseen, which We reveal to you. You were not with them when they cast their lots as to which of them would take charge of Mary; nor were you with them as they quarreled." (3:44). Thus, some of the Quranic verses talk about the metaphysical realm (past, present, and future) within being revealed to Muhammad gradually; he never knew he would make mistakes and be rebuked in the Quran for them, nor did he know the pains, defeats, and immigration as events waiting for him, as these events became within the known, physical realm only when God allowed such events to occur and such verses to be revealed. Thank you for your good question.  

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The Meaning of Fornication

Published in Augustus 26, 2013

Question: …  Dear Sir, …  Does fornication means coitus itself between a man and a woman who are not married to each other, or even includes foreplay, petting, snogging, etc. without coitus? … What is the Quranic meaning of fornication based on Quranic verses themselves without any other outside source? … Thank you …

Answer:

 Foreplay and sexual touches, etc. are NOT fornication per se though they might lead to this sin. The definition of fornication is intercourse between a man and a woman who are not married to each other. Legal marriage entails writing contract, paying a dowry, and certain duties and rights from both partners within the wedlock. As per 4:25 and 24:3, God entails that a man must pay a dowry to his wife, and that men are not to marry female fornicators unless they repent first. The two types of female fornicators are those sex workers who have sex indiscriminately with customers in return for money, and those who are kept women by certain men in their houses. Both types can repent and wait for three months before they can marry (to make sure they are not pregnant). Of course, having kept women or concubines deprives women of their rights that are obligatory in Islamic marriages. Please read our article (in English) on divorce for further details about the three-month waiting period, on this link:

http://www.ahl-alquran.com/English/show_article.php?main_id=15977      

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The Quranic Term ''Holy''

Published in May 14, 2014

Question: …  Dear Sir, … The Quranic term ''holy'' is mentioned three times (in 5:21, 20:12, and 79:16) to describe locations; how come then that you assert in your writings that God is the Only Holy Being? … Thank you …     

Answer:

 God is the Only One to be deified, praised, glorified, and sanctified as Holy, in piety, fear, and submission to Him; and the Holy One is among His epithets. See 59:23 and 2:30. And it is absolutely forbidden to sanctify mortals as 'holy' (esp. prophets) nor even any other beings or places. Yet, sanctification as holy for certain locations in the verses you mention and for Gabriel (named in the Quran as the Holy Spirit in 2:87, 2:254, 16:102 and 5:110) refers to purification linked to the arch-angel carrying God's messages to prophets and pure locations where God's revelation descended, e.g., in Sinai as per 20:12 and 79:16. The term 'holy' regarding Palestine in 5:21 refers to purification in the moral/figurative sense of the term. Thank you for your good question.  

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Paying Dowries Is A Duty

Published in June 30, 2017

Question: … Dear Sir, … If a man got married without paying a dowry for his wife as per Islamic laws in the Quran, is the marriage deemed valid and legal? … What about if the wife willingly cedes her right to receive it? What do you think? … Thank you …    

Answer:

 Marriages are valid only when dowries are paid from husbands to wives; wives can later on give the dowries (wholly or partially) back willingly to their husbands.

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Tattooist

Published in June 30, 2017

Question: … Dear Sir, … I'm a man who works as a tattooist; is it OK or not to draw the tattoos on the naked body parts of women and men? … Thank you …   

Answer:

 Drawing as well as all arts is not prohibited. But we tend to think that your seeing, touching, and drawing on naked bodies of women is prohibited but within the small mistakes and NOT grave sins like fornication.