By Wessam Reda
Agreeing with Dr. Hassan Al Turabi’s recent interpretations regarding veil in Islam, and responding to the criticism against our Prophet Muhammad (PBOH) from the Vatican Pope and earlier the Danish cartoons, I would like to brainstorm how we could utilize the current thoughtful interpretations made by Dr. Turabi and others like Gamal El Banna -who came up with new interpretation regarding smoke inhalation during Ramadan- to stipulate some points that could add up 1 billion new Muslims to our community.
Some people, who experience certain traumatic events or feelings of guilt, suffer great pains at a certain time which they perceive as God's punishment for their being away from his path, so they declare themselves clergymen and nuns and start to wear a veil or grow a dense beard as a sort of salvation and to refresh their Faith through sacrifice, some of them even sacrifice their faces and hide them. The sad thing is that when those people heal and wish to come back to our life, they get rejected from the society that calls their hair and face sacrifices a final destination without a return back. Hair sacrifice is really a big thing to do that's why we do it during Haj, with a permission to substitute it with another tradition of choice (Al Baqara 196) وَلاَ تَحْلِقُواْ رُؤُوسَكُمْ حَتَّى يَبْلُغَ الْهَدْيُ مَحِلَّهُ فَمَن كَانَ مِنكُم مَّرِيضاً أَوْ بِهِ أَذًى مِّن رَّأْسِهِ فَفِدْيَةٌ مِّن صِيَامٍ أَوْ صَدَقَةٍ أَوْ نُسُكٍ, which shows it is not a sacrifice to do everyday. Islam does not approve monk-ship as a style of living (Al Hadeed 27) وَرَهْبَانِيَّةً ابْتَدَعُوهَا مَا كَتَبْنَاهَا عَلَيْهِمْ إِلَّا ابْتِغَاء رِضْوَانِ اللَّهِ فَمَا رَعَوْهَا حَقَّ رِعَايَتِهَا. God didn't create men to be exactly like one person in resemblance and appearance and taste for life, only in worshipping; that's why marrying more than one wife is not a Sunna. Islam accepts everyone's outfit and we don't have a uniform to wear. The Indian Sari for example is accepted by Islam and a woman is requested to wear a veil only during prayers and Haj because you need it to add some holiness to the self during the occasion. Consider it a worshiping tradition but not a woman's regular outfit. Al Noor 31 وَلْيَضْرِبْنَ بِخُمُرِهِنَّ عَلَى جُيُوبِهِنَّ instructs women to cover their chest area completely and never show it while breast feeding excluding certain peopleوَلَا يُبْدِينَ زِينَتَهُنَّ and not to move in ways that reveal their body, belly dancing is an example وَلَا يَضْرِبْنَ بِأَرْجُلِهِنَّ لِيُعْلَمَ مَا يُخْفِينَ مِن زِينَتِهِنَّ. Al Ahzab 59 يُدْنِينَ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِن جَلَابِيبِهِنَّ ذَلِكَ أَدْنَى أَن يُعْرَفْنَ shows that women wore dresses down till the knee. Cosmetics were allowed for all girls and women until they grow too old for it, as in Al Noor 60 فَلَيْسَ عَلَيْهِنَّ جُنَاحٌ أَن يَضَعْنَ ثِيَابَهُنَّ غَيْرَ مُتَبَرِّجَاتٍ بِزِينَةٍ. Islam was targeting a conservative civilized modern society with elegant men and appealing women. Some people say it's in the Quran. Well, the Hijab in Quran states that Prophet Muhammad's wives should not expose themselves to people while they are at home. Just imagine the daily crowd in front of a Prophet's door, so the Quran tells them it is OK and not offensive if you talk to people from behind doors if you're not ready to meet them and never feel guilty about it. Over ages, Religion men used manipulation by Higab among other legends like female circumcision to inhibit adultery in the community, but that has nothing to do with Allah's religion.
Let's also have a closer look to foursome marriage (marrying 4 wives). Islam came in a time where people had several wives at the same time. It was hard to let a person declare his Islam and desert his many wives and keep "just" one وَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَلاَّ تُقْسِطُواْ فِي الْيَتَامَى. It was easier to go through a transition from 10 or 8 to 4 and then to one only. Al-Nissaa 3فَانكِحُواْ مَا طَابَ لَكُم مِّنَ النِّسَاء مَثْنَى وَثُلاَثَ وَرُبَاع states you can keep any two, three or four out of those you liked from your existing women and if you fail to be fair to them 4, then you are allowed to keep only one فَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَلاَّ تَعْدِلُواْ فَوَاحِدَةً. Later, Allah mentions that you will never be fair with women (Al Nissaa 129)وَلَن تَسْتَطِيعُواْ أَن تَعْدِلُواْ بَيْنَ النِّسَاء وَلَوْ حَرَصْتُمْ Islam here brings dignity to the woman and lets her be the one and only for her husband instead of sharing him with 9 others. I don't mean people who have second wives should divorce them for we can then fall into a social crisis. Islam should start to build itself again over the existing situation as it did before during our Prophet's time. Everybody would keep his wives, but we have to take a new Islamic approach that states clearly no more foursome marriages among the new generations. Islam encouraged and accepted everybody to approach God as they were and then applied the rules gradually. Islam also used the multi-wives ancient community during the Prophet’s time to free women from slavery. So in Al Nissaa 3 فَوَاحِدَةً أَوْ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُكُمْ ذَلِكَ أَدْنَى أَلاَّ تَعُولُواْ, God mentions that you can keep one wife or the women slaves. People of that era who married their slaves gave them liberty by tradition. Islam came to offer the woman monogamy, freedom and dignity. Some of the people who still fight against monogamy say that man was not created monogamous, yet they know that Adam (PBOH) had only one wife when he needed four wives most to build the world, and Noah as well.
A question remains, did God bestow a gift on Muslims to marry four wives and left the rest of humanity without such social privilege? Did God order only Muslims to cover their hair and left the rest of humanity enjoying the hair gift? Islam has a place for everybody with or without beards and veils. At this era, Islam needs people who can do more than just worshipping. We lack brilliant communicators, negotiators and drivers of civilization. We can at least attract them. We have to revise the English version of the Quran, and try to find for ourselves what was misinterpreted over the last 1500 years that might have brought us down to mockery and criticism. We have a golden opportunity to add up to 1 billion new Muslims, just if we know that none of them wants to be a clergyman or share her husband with another.
Reference: The Holy Quran