Fatwas: Part Forty-Four

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

The USA, Again!

Published in July 3, 2017

Question: …  Dear Sir, … The USA, and the West countries in general, hinders the realization of democracy and freedom in the Middle East countries because of financial reasons, and they participate in propagating Wahabism of the KSA to distort the image of real Islam … What do you think? … Thank you …     

Answer:            

 What the USA plans or desires is a matter of no importance; what does matter is the will of Arab nations and their ability to sacrifice anything to achieve political freedom and religious freedom. The USA cannot change reality; it merely takes advantage of it. Arab nations, if they want to live truly, have the power to change their reality and status quo.

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Treacherous Times

Published in July 3, 2017

Question: …  Dear Sir, … Is it OK in Islam (Quranism) to say phrases like (treacherous times); (time is out of joint); and (bad times), or are they insulting to God as Sunnites claim? … Thank you  …  

Answer:

  These phrases are not insulting to God at all; they are OK; the term "time(s)" here refers to eras of people or certain generations; the Quran itself uses the word ''centuries'' in some verses to describe certain ancient nations and their eras.

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Low Moralistic Level of Sunnites!

Published in July 2, 2017

Question: … Are you so base, vile, and mean?! Your trashy views will never undermine the Holy Sunna! You are an ignoramus and a disgrace! Could not anyone knock some sense into your mind?! You deserve nothing but people spitting on your impure beard! … All of us hate and despise you! … signature: Ali Omar Saqeef      

Answer:

 Such questions are not worthy of answers; you could not notice that we wear no beard at all! Let us wait till the Day of Resurrection when the Almighty Lord our God will judge us and settle our differences in religion.

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Beauty Salons

Published in July 4, 2017

Question: … Dear Sir, … Is it OK that I (a male youth) work inside a beauty salon an deal with customers that include men and women … Thank you …     

Answer:

  It is not prohibited; but we tend to think that male employees should deal with male customers and female employees are to deal with female customers. It is not OK that employees of the opposite sex see naked bodies of customers; yet, if male employees deal with female customers and female employees deal with male customers, this is a small mistake, not a grave sin, as long as the grave sin of fornication is avoided.  

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Decorating Mosques

Published in July 4, 2017

Question: … Dear Sir, … Is it OK to lavishly and excessively decorate the exterior of mosques to make them noticeable amidst high buildings of today? … Thank you …        

Answer:

 Those who desire very much to please God should not do that; money is better spent in building hospitals for the poor and to care for widows, children, orphans, the handicapped, and the hungry and the homeless, outside and inside one's homeland. This is being done by the West countries and the USA and their churches and charity societies, whereas this is never done by Arab tyrants and affluent, filthily rich Muhammadans. 

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Right of Self-Defense

Published in July 4, 2017

Question: … Dear Sir, … Let us assume, for instance, that some countries closed the Bab Al-Mandeb strait, south of the Red Sea, would our beloved Egypt have the right to engage into self-defense war as such closure will harm the Suez Canal? how harming of innocent ones would be avoided? Likewise, does Egypt have the right of self-defense by launching air strikes against ISIS terrorists in Libya as they send terrorists into Egyptian land? … Thank you …    

Answer:

  Self-defense endeavors are endorsed in Islam when aggressors attack us first, and lives of innocent civilians must be protected by all means; all cautionary measures must be adopted to protect the innocent ones. If the terrorists and criminals (like ISIS and Hamas) take human shields, victims who fall will be the fault of such terrorists and not those who engage into self-defense endeavors, since the defenders take care to protect lives of civilians as much as they can. Hence, all central intelligence apparatuses worldwide must cooperate to chase and hunt down terrorists to punish and eliminate  them as per this Quranic rule: "...Whoever commits aggression against you, retaliate against him in the same measure as he has committed against you..." (2:194). 

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Thank You, Dr. Asaad Jomaa!

Published in July 5, 2017

Question:  … Dear Sir, peace be with you; I'm Dr. Asaad Jomaa, a professor of Islamic philosophy, University of Kairouan, Tunisia. I admire your work very much; I take pride in being a Quranist like you, and I'd like to tell you, Sir, that I have launched a Facebook account (in French) titled "vivification coranique" or (Quranic revival), to translate some of your great articles into French and share some links of your subtitled videos and articles in Arabic, French, and English … I'd like to cooperate with you to spread Quranism as much as we can, provided that your prior written permission is obtained first … May God help all of us to serve His True Religion … Thank you …         

Answer:

  Thank you very much,Dr. Asaad Jomaa, and may God bless and reward you. All voluntary cooperation and help are more than welcome; you have our permission to translate into French anything from our archive and to share links of our articles in French, Arabic, and English as well as our YouTube subtitled videos of Friday sermons, (Exposing Salafism) episodes, and (Quranic Moments) episodes. https://www.youtube.com/user/ahlalquran1/videos

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Greeting a Christian

Published in July 6, 2017

Question: … Dear Sir, … Is it OK to greet a Christian man by saying to him this phrase: "...peace be upon him who follows guidance" (20:47)? … Thank you …   

Answer:

  Of course not; this may be offensive to him as it implies an insult to his religion; you will be accusing him of being misguided. One must greets others using what they would like to hear, NOT by hurting their feelings. God says in the Quran: "...and speak nicely to people..." (2:83).   

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Say, Declare, and Proclaim

Published in July 5, 2017

Question: … Dear Sir, … Are there any differences in the Quran within the usage of the terms (say), (declare), and (proclaim)? … Thank you …   

Answer:

  Please wait for our article coming soon about these Quranic terminologies and terms. Please read our book titled "(Say) in the Quran: Muhammad Had No Sayings Outside the Quranic Text".

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A Quranist, a Shiite, and a Salafist

Published in July 5, 2017

Question: …  Dear Sir, … Is it OK within real Islam to label and classify people by saying, for instance, a Quranist, a Shiite, a Sufi, a Salafist, etc. … Thank you …      

Answer:

  It is OK when someone declares his/her religious affiliation to be described by it by others. when the Qorayish disbelievers declared their disbelief in the Quranic message, Almighty God has commanded Muhammad to tell them the following: "Say, "O disbelievers. I do not worship what you worship." (109:1-2). What is prohibited is when one describes someone with untrue appellations or descriptions, e.g., some foes call Quranists as 'Shiites' because Quranists focus mainly on attacking, exposing, and undermining the Sunnite religion. Of course, Quranists are NEVER Shiites; rather, they describe all Shiites, Sufis, and Sunnites as Muhammadans who deify Muhammad and other mortals within their earthly, man-made religions. Quranists focus on refuting Sunnite Wahabism because it is a terrorist religion that wreaks havoc until now and that distorts and hijacks the name of Islam.       

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Intercession of Angels

Published in July 6, 2017

Question: …  Dear Sir, …  Do the verses 21:27-28 refer to intercession of prophets after obtaining prior permission from God? … Thank you …         

Answer:

  Of course not; the context of these verses is about angels: "They never speak before He has spoken, and they only act on His command. He knows what is before them, and what is behind them; and they do not intercede except for him whom He approves; and they tremble in awe of Him." (21:27-28). Arabs before Islam used to claim that angels are daughters of God; the term (children) in the Quran refers to both sexes (males and females). Angels intercede for pious human beings by presenting their good deeds to our Lord God so that these deeds turn into mercy for their doers, within God's permission. Please read our book on intercession.  

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Breastfeeding Sisters

Published in July 1, 2017

Question: … Dear Sir, … God prohibits in the verse 4:23 than a man would marry two sisters at the same time; does this apply to women who were breastfed with one's wife when she was a baby, and thus they are breastfeeding sisters? … Thank you …

Answer:

  Yes, of course, this applies to women who were breastfed as babies by the mother of one's wife; one cannot marry them.

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Breastfeeding Mothers

Published in July 1, 2017

Question: … Dear Sir, … as a child, I was breastfed by a woman whose husband have other children from another wife; am I allowed to marry his daughter who is NOT the daughter of this woman who breastfed me? … Thank you …     

Answer:

  Yes, you can; the women to whom you cannot get married are the biological daughters of the woman who breastfed you as a child, because they are exactly like your sisters. The breastfeeding duration that prevents marrying daughters of your breastfeeding mother is at least two years so that her breast-milk have formed your body.

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Poetry of The Pre-Islamic Era

Published in July 6, 2017

Question: …  Dear Sir, … Within the book of Taha Hussein titled "On Pre-Islamic Poetry", the author claims that some of the verses he quotes match some Quranic verses; what do you think of that?  … Thank you …   

Answer:

  The best amusement and diversion for Umayyad and Abbasid caliphs was to hear poetry recited to them and they used to handsomely reward poets with thousands of dinars and dirhams when poets praise them in lines of verse. Moreover, narrative poems  were so popular that many poet used to compose poems and ascribe them to poets of  pre-Islamic era. This created a problem especially when lexicographers and grammarians of Arabic (during the Abbasid Era) went to deserts of Arabia to record vocabulary and anecdotes from desert-Arabs and Bedouins who presumably had the 'pure' tongue. Two grammatical schools rivaled in that respect, within political influence and favor of Abbasids, and there was a popular demand for more verse 'remembered' from the pre-Islamic era. One of the poets was Hammad who, when exposed and scandalized, admitted to the caliph Al-Maamoun his guilt of composing poems and ascribing them to pre-Islamic era poets to get financial rewards. Hence, views of Taha Hussein in his book about poetry of the pre-Islamic era are invariably wrong, we assure you; he was not a researcher in history; he was a literary figure who took poems at their face value as if they were authentic original poems.  

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Mosques: Masjid and Jami'

Published in May 18, 2017

Question: … Dear Sir, …  What is the difference between the two types of mosques (in Arabic): masjid and jami' … … Thank you …      

Answer:

  Within Islam (the Quran only), sites of worship are named (houses of worships) and (masjids), and the latter term means literally in Arabic (places of prostration). When Arabs conquered other nations and built new cities, they called the main grand mosque in the center of such cities as (jami'), which literally means (location of gathered people). The Quranic term (jami') denoting gatherings of people is mentioned in the Quran as Almighty God will gather people before Him on the Last Day for judgment; see 3:9, 3:25, 4:140, 11:103, and 56:50. The Quranic term (jami') is mentioned within the context denoting gatherings of Islamic Shura (direct democracy) within the Yathreb city-state where all residents, men and women, had to attend; see 24:62.  

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The Quran as a Miracle

Published in May 15, 2007

Question: … Dear Sir, … The miraculous linguistic features of the Quran and its eloquence cannot be appreciated by worldwide non-Arabophone people; how come that the Quranic tongue is miraculous, then? How come that Muhammad did not gather the Quranic verses himself in one book? … Thank you  …  

Answer:

   It seems you are novice to our website as a new Quranist; please read on within our archive, especially, the article where we prove that the so-called companions never compiled Quranic verses at all in the sequence and order found now; rather, Muhammad himself wrote the verses and chapters in that order as per God's command. Muhammad supervised the writing of the Quran as a whole in that order shortly before his death. Thus, Muhammad did not leave us anything else or any other writings; we never believe in hadiths and narratives, and these include the silly story that the so-called companions might have compiled Quranic verses in certain order. Indeed, all hadiths are reflecting eras and mentalities of their authors; they have nothing to do with Islam. The Quran is the only source of Islam, its history and legislations. Besides, the only source to get to know about Muhammad is only the Quran. The Quran as a Sign and a Miracle is a challenge for Arabs to attempt to produce something nearer to its eloquence, as it is NEVER imitable. You can read articles by other Quranists about the numerical miracles of the Quran and some scientific indications in its verses, esp. the articles by our Canadian-Egyptian friend Mr. Morad Al-Khouly. Numbers are seen as the universal language now, with no room for bias or deceit. Non-Arabophone people are not required to believe in the miraculous linguistic features of the Quran.       

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How to Deal with My Wife

Published in October 31, 2010

Question: …  Dear Sir, … How should I treat and deal with my wife as far as Quranism is concerned? … Thank you …

Answer:

  A husband must treat and deal with his wife with kindness, love, and righteousness: "...And live with them in kindness. If you dislike them, it may be that you dislike something in which God has placed much good." (4:19). A husband's responsibility toward his wife includes to care for her feelings and needs and to spend money, time, and effort in that respect; he is NOT to oppress her or to dominate over her. If a husband fulfills all his duties toward his wife, she must obey him within what is permissible in the Quranic sharia legislations. Both the husband and the wife are equal human beings, not submissive to each other; each must advice goodness, right, charity, patience, and cooperation within piety and in the fear of our Lord God. both spouses must consult each other in all their matters within the conjugal life: "...and conduct their affairs by mutual consultation..." (42:38). The Islamic Shura consultation begins at households and families and then the whole society and State. Marriages must be based on mutual love, respect, affection, mercy, and participation: "And of His signs is that He created for you mates from among yourselves, so that you may find tranquility in them; and He planted love and compassion between you. In this are signs for people who reflect." (30:21). Thus, a husband must please and gratify his wife within mutual understanding and respect and sometimes the will to compromise sometimes to make her happy; this applies as well to the wife in relation with her husband. Both must obey the Lord's Quranic commands. There is no room for violence, coercion, or compulsion in marriage; as marriages contracts in Islam are based on mutual consent.

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Writing of the Quranic Text

Published in October 9, 2013

Question: …  Dear Sir, … I wonder why we find that some Quranic/Arabic words are written differently in comparison to the ways we write the same words of today's Arabic; besides, the same words are written differently in some Quranic Chapters … Thank you …     

Answer:

 The miracles of the Quran are not confined to some scientific indications and to its eloquence and historical facts; numerical miracles in its letters within the words are now being discovered by many Quranist and non-Quranist researchers. This is the reason behind the on-purpose different spellings of some words in the Quranic text. This means that many Quranic miracles will emerge to address the next generations that are not born yet. The language of numbers is now the universal one in the modern-age of science and the internet. Please do not believe in the myth that Muhammad was an illiterate person who commanded others to write the Quran down in a random or haphazard manner; rather, Muhammad wrote the Quran himself in that order and style of writing based in divine inspiration.

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The Era of Collapse and Destruction

Published in August 17, 2013

Question: … Dear Sir, … What is wrong in the Arab mentality?! Why Arab youths are mostly reading silly Wahabi books of venomous thought of destruction authored by ignoramuses and terrorists, while disregarding books of enlightenment, especially books on Quranism? … Why the terrorist Salafist MB thought still controls minds of millions in Egypt even after the four-day 30^th of June Revolt when millions of Egyptians in all main cities gathered in demonstrations and sits-in to depose the MB puppet-resident? …  Thank you …    

Answer:

  The problem is that Wahabism confiscates and monopolizes the name of Islam as if Wahabis were the only ones to talk about it and as if  they were representing it; Wahabism is the worst most obscurantist revival of the Middle-Ages mentality. Wahabis in Egypt control media, education, Al-Azhar, and all mosques, and they prevent any discussion of Wahabi notions. But we never lose hope; other generation under the age of 30 are now rejecting Wahabism more than ever, and the cyberspace spreads the good news of religious reform (i.e., Quranism). Within one decade, we think, the Arab mentality will be freed from all myths and shackles, and it will be open to God's True Religion (i.e., Quranism) and all sorts of knowledge and science fit for the 21^st century.

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Fighting Now!

Published in April 6, 2015

Question: … Dear Sir, … I understand quite well your views of self-defense as per the Quranic verses, but how does this apply to warring parties in Syria and within events in Iraq, a country destroyed by Iran, the UK, and the USA? What is real jihad in such instances? How can citizens fight tyrannical rulers and foreign occupiers within jihad in Islam? … Thank you …   

Answer:

  We tend to think that the wars of self-defense fighting now must be launched against ISIS terrorists in Syria and Iraq. It is OK for any country to interfere to so as to protect civilians against ISIS terrorists. The prohibited fighting in Islam is the aggressive one by seekers of power and rule. It is permissible and legal that citizens should revolt and fight against tyrannical rulers who refuse to apply political, economic, and religious reform and reject social justice and other values: peace, human rights, democracy, etc., and fighting here is allowed for reform seekers who demand the application of human rights and aim to stop religious persecution. Please read on within our archive of articles for more details.