Basic Lessons from Islamic Apologetics
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FAQs with Islamic Apologetics - Part 2
Using apologetics discourse, Dr. Hatem al-Haj continues to address some of the frequently asked questions within Islam. Watch the first part on FAQs with Islamic Apologetics here.
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This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Okay, brevity has not ever been a skill that I developed or, you know, mastered, but this will test my skill, you know, my undeveloped skill in summarizing. So, and I'm, you know, you're testing my undeveloped skill of summarizing on the issue of slavery, women's role, penal code in Islam. That's pretty interesting. Okay, so let's go. Slavery. The first thing that we want to say is that, you know, in this discussion about nominalism, the fact that one name is being used for two different concepts does not mean that there is outside in the extramental reality, these concepts are the same thing. We're referring to them by one name because of some commonality, qadr mustarak, common degree, but in the extramental reality, they could be completely different from each other. That's the first thing that you want to say. So when we're talking about slavery, that Islam did not take a strict abolitionist approach against it and tolerated its existence, albeit with modification, great deal of modification, great deal of modification. We're not talking about the same slavery that comes to our minds within the culture context that we live in. Is that clear? That's one thing.
The second thing that you want to mention is that slavery in Islam, you know, second thing that you want to mention, jump to application, as we said before, we do not want to bring it back. And here are our reasons why we don't want to bring it back. Listen to the first or second lecture, we talked about this concept, application. We don't want to bring it back. Islam was more keen on, you know, liberating human beings more than any other religion, provided more avenues for liberation more than any other religion, tried to squeeze the tributaries into the river of slavery more than any other religion, did not allow any of them to exist after Islam, except, you know, as one of the options prescribed for dealing with the presence of war, the two other options that were before it was to free without compensation and to free with compensation or exchange. So application comes, you know, after you talk about the name, talk about application, and then afterwards you want to talk about particular things that are essential to mention at the outset. One of them is that slavery in Islam was never a racist institute. We have, you know, in the, you know, who are the most famous slaves that we remember?
Bilal the Abyssinian, who else? Sohaib the Roman, who else? Salman the Persian. And in fact, most of the slaves in the history in the Middle Ages, in particular, like, you know, the word Middle Ages also is, but anyway, most of the slaves that were had were actually from Asia. Slavery, because that is, you know, because in sub-Saharan Africa, most of the expansion of Islam in sub-Saharan Africa was not through conquests, was through peaceful spreading of the religion, just like the Far East, just like the Far East. We're not saying they were never conquests, but most of the spread of Islam in Africa was not through conquests. So this idea of slavery being, like, this idea of a particular race of people being targeted by slavery, that is not the slavery that was tolerated by Islam whatsoever, because racism is an idea that is completely foreign to Islam. Is that clear? That's the second thing that you want to... the fact that... but we have to move, because, you know, the fact that in the treatment of slaves in Islam, the fact that you made avenues for them towards freedom, we can talk about how many avenues were made. Some of them were even put in the hands of the slaves themselves, such as getting contracted, purchasing oneself. The fact that we had slaves that became the sultans, the upward mobility of the slaves within the Muslim history is just, like, unmatched anywhere else.
You know, even Napoleon talks about this. Upward mobility to the point where they became the sultans. They became the ruling dynasty in Egypt for hundreds of years. Mamarik, Dawlat al-Mamarik. So these are just very few points that I wanted to mention. Issue of women's role, the hardest of all. Clarification, justification, application. When you talk about justification, when you talk about application, talk about when does the change of customs matter, because there are certain areas where change of customs matter and matters, and that should be taken into consideration. But in many areas, change of customs does not matter because the chemistry between men and women does not change by the technological advances, technological developments, and so on and so forth. So when it comes to gender interactions, for instance, no level of moral or intellectual complexity can immunize us against sexual immorality. And that is quite obvious. It can make us immune and can be protective. That is quite obvious. So different sort of strata in society. So we're talking here about gender interactions, how we have to maintain propriety of gender interactions, and how our level of intellectual or sort of whatever development should not deceive us into thinking that we are immune to immorality or impropriety.
The other thing that I wanted to say is Islam does preach equality between men and women in their humanity. Men and women. Women are the full sisters of men. Shakiq is the full sister, not the half. I'm sorry. Full sister, not the half sister. Shakiq is the full sibling, not the half sibling. So, shakaiq al-rijal means that they are the full sisters of men. وَقَلَقَنَاكُمْ مِّنْ زَكَرٍ وَأُنْسَ وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلًا لِتْعَارَفُوا إِنَّ أَكْرَامَكُمْ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ يَتْقَاكُمْ So, O people, we have created you from a single male and a single female and made you into nations and tribes that you may acknowledge each other. The most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most pious. Whether you are male or female, in the sight of Allah is the most pious. So that concept has to be established. However, we have to say that this is equality in their humanness, in their humanity. It does not mean equality in their length, it does not mean equality in their muscle mass, it does not mean equality in everything else. We have to recognize that there are many biological and psychological, emotional, physiological differences, and those differences are consequential to the roles that they will play in the society. But the relationship between them is a relationship not of individual independence, but rather of social interdependence. We can't live without them, they can't live without us. Or if I want to be sort of impartial, I can't because I'm a man.
But men cannot live without women, and women cannot live without men. It is social interdependence. And the fact that their roles complement each other is what makes them valuable for each other. If they have the same roles, they will lose value. Men will lose value, women will lose value because they have the same roles. Why is it that we need each other? Because we have complementary roles. That does not mean stiffness, does not mean that women cannot work outside, cannot have careers, cannot do this. Brevity is a problem, but people who know me know what I teach, and they will be able to understand what I'm trying to get at. But I am trying to get at the fact that we have to be careful, we have to be courteous, we have to be respectful, we have to understand our interdependence, and we have to understand our complementary roles, and we have to be also flexible in not being, in not, so for instance Nusayba bint Ka'b participated in the military effort, but does that mean that we will have the army half and half men and women? No. You know how many women participated in military efforts? But some did, and she fought, you know, she fought, not only that she was taking care of like Rubai'a bint Muhawith and Aisha and so on, but she fought, she held the sword and she fought. But how often did this happen? Yet, you can't say that Nusayba bint Ka'b is not feminine, or you can't detract from her femininity, because she did this.
At the same time, the Prophet cried when Zaid bin Harithah died, and when he saw Usama, the son of Zaid, he cried. He cried when he went to visit Sa'd bin Ubadah, he was his companion, he was his friend, he was his companion, and he was sick, and he cried. He cried when he visited the grave of his mother. So you can't say he is the best of all men, he is the most masculine of all men, isn't he? Then you can't say that this is not masculine. These are the social constructs that men don't cry. No, the greatest of all men cry, and cried several times. He cried also, it is not simply crying because of a spiritual experience or because of the fear of God, but he cried because of his sick friend, companion. He cried because he saw that little orphan who lost his father when he went to visit the grave of his mother. It is just like expressions, like normal expressions of emotions. But again, at the same time, we go back and say, if we don't recognize our differences, then we will not recognize how valuable we are to each other. And that will be a problem. A gender war will be the last war for humanity, because that will destroy humanity.
Finally, the last one, in fact, I would recommend Dr. Jonathan Brown's paper on the penal code in Islam. What is it called? It is on the Yaqeen website. You could just type in Yaqeen, Jonathan Brown, and Google that, and it will come up, insha'Allah. Because also, brevity here, you know, brevity is not my forte. I say this, and I ask forgiveness of Allah for you. Subhanaka wa ma'a l-hamd. Insha'Allah, we ask forgiveness of Allah for you.
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