The Light February 2020 02

ِ 

February 

2020 

س ی ْ ِ الرَّح 

ن 

س 

س ‏ْب سِ‏ اہللس الرَّْحْ‏ ٰ 

I Shall Love All Mankind. 

The Light 

International Organ of the Centre for the Worldwide Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam 

WE BELIEVE 

The Holy Prophet Muhammad (s) is the Last Prophet. After him, no prophet, old or new, can ever come. 

The Holy Quran is complete, and no verses are missing from it. 

The Holy Quran is perfect and none of its verses are abrogated. 

Webcasting on the world’s first real-time Islamic service at 

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Editors 

Dr Zahid Aziz 

Managing Editor Mr Shahid Aziz 

Suriname 

South Africa 

The USA 

Dr Robbert Bipat 

Mr Ebrahim Mohamed 

Mrs Zainab Ahmad 

Mrs Faryal Abdoelbasier 

Contents 

The Call of the Messiah 2 

Muslim Women Scholars by Dr Zainab Alwani 

2 

India - A Land of War? by Ghulam Rasool 11 

An Alliance of people of goodwill by Peter 

Welby 13 

Forgiveness (Part 1) by Iain Dixon 15 

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ʿĀʾisha’s commentaries . . . correct 

particular narrations by the 

Prophet’s companions, and . . . 

ʿĀʾisha’s methodological contribution 

is a potential model for how to engage 

hạdīth holistically in the light of 

the Qurʾānic . . . women’s . . . participation 

within . . . religious scholarship 

is essential for enhancing religious 

scholarship . . . and for advancing 

the role and status of women in 

spheres where Islamic knowledge is 

applied. – Dr Zainab Alwani

February 2020 The 

Light 2 

The Call of the 

Messiah 

by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam 

Ahmad 

The Promised Messiah and Mahdi 

(Editor’s note: Any quotations from the Quran 

are translated from the author’s explanations 

and are not literal translations of the verse 

quoted. This extract is from the book Nuzul-ul- 

Masih, taken from the Lahore Ahmadiyya publication 

‘Essence of Islam’, p. 127 - 129, where the 

Promised Messiah puts forward arguments and 

signs about his claim.) 

Of all of the gifts of God, the most precious 

is the gift of His sure and certain word revealed 

to a human. Through these words, a person 

reaches the highest stage of advancement in the 

knowledge of God. It is as if he sees God, and his 

belief in His existence is the belief of an eye-witness. 

Divine awe and grandeur take full possession 

of his heart and the darkness of doubt vanishes 

away as it were the gloom before the light 

of the sun. He then walks upon the earth like an 

angel, and is unique in his righteousness, 

unique in his hatred for sin, unique in his love 

for the One God, unique in his faithfulness to 

Him, unique in his fear of God, unique in his 

trust in Him, and unique in his fidelity to this 

bond of friendship. Moreover, as Allah’s promise 

is that Divine revelation shall always be 

granted to faithful hearts, reason also requires 

its actual continuance in the world for the good 

of mankind. There is no remedy for sin and 

transgression except the certain revelation of 

Divine Beauty and Glory. Experience shows that 

there are only two forces which can keep one 

away from transgression or disobedience, i.e., 

true love for, or true fear of the Being whose 

commandments can be transgressed or disobeyed. 

True love for a kind and gracious friend 

is also attended with the fear lest the tie of 

friendship should at any time be broken. Therefore, 

the person whose heart is inspired with 

true love for God or true fear of Him, and the 

person who knows and loves such a person and 

is affected by his superior influence, are both released 

from the bondage of sin. But the person 

who does not belong to either of these classes 

cannot be free from the poison of sin. There are 

some hypocrites who pretend that they are sinless 

and pure in hearts, but they only try to deceive 

people and God. 

Release from sin is impossible, unless a 

death is brought on the carnal desires of the 

heart by the awe inspiring fear of God through 

the piercing rays of certainty, unless true love 

and true fear dominate the heart, and it is consecrated 

with the glory and beauty of God. Yet 

the heart can never realize these conditions as 

long as there reigns no certainty in it regarding 

the existence of God and His two attributes of 

Glory and Beauty. (Return to contents) 

Muslim Women as Religious 

Scholars 

By Zainab Alwani, 

Ph.D. 1 

A Historical Survey 

(Note: Dr. Zainab Alwani 

is the Founding 

Director of the Islamic 

Studies program at 

Howard University 

School of Divinity (HUSD). She is the Associate 

Professor of Islamic Studies and the chair of the 

Religious Studies Master of Arts program at 

HUSD. She is an Islamic scholar, researcher and 

community activist. Dr. Alwani is also the first 

female jurist to serve on the board of the Fiqh 

Council of North America and currently serves 

as the Council’s Vice-Chair.) 

Abstract: This paper is concerned with the 

role and general impact of women’s scholarship 

in the arena of religious sciences. I provide a 

concise overview of the foundational sources of 

Islamic knowledge followed by an overview of 

women’s engagement therein. I then examine 

1 In the preparation of this essay for publication I am 

grateful to my research assistant Celene Ayat Lizzio. 

I Shall Love All Mankind.



ʿĀ ʾisha’s commentaries which seek to correct 

particular narrations by the Prophet’s companions, 

and I argue that ʿĀ ʾisha’s metho-dological 

contribution is a potential model for how to engage 

ḥ adīth holistically in the light of the 

Qurʾānic message and objectives. I conclude by 

stressing that women’s concerted participation 

within the realm of religious scholarship is essential 

for enhancing religious scholarship in 

general and for advancing the role and status of 

women in spheres where Islamic knowledge is 

applied. 

Introduction 

Since the inception of the Islamic community 

in the earliest decades of the seventh century, 

women have been taking a prominent role 

in the cultivation and preservation and cultivation 

of the main sources of Islamic knowledge, 

i.e. the Qurʾān, and sunna. This legacy of 

women’s scholarly activism was later suppressed 

and weakened, but never entirely extinguished. 

Through an analysis of women’s contributions 

to the realm of religious sciences, this 

paper argues for the need for increased 

women’s engagement with the foundational 

sources of Islamic scholarship. I argue that just 

as women’s voices and intimate engagement 

with the religious sciences were vibrant and influential 

in the nascent Muslim community, 

women scholars of the present should follow 

the footsteps of their foremothers. Women’s 

concerted participation within the realm of religious 

scholarship is essential for enhancing religious 

scholarship in general and for advancing 

the role and status of women in spheres where 

Islamic knowledge is applied. 

My essay begins a concise overview of the 

foundational sources of Islamic knowledge, followed 

by an overview of women’s engagement 

therein. Here, I call attention to the early vigour 

and subsequent decline of women’s contributions 

to the religious sciences and I suggest that 

a strong methodology based on the Qurʾān and 

sunna is one tool in reasserting women’s scholarship 

and reshaping religious discourse. I then 

devote special attention to ʿĀ ʾisha’s efforts to 

correct misogynistic attitudes that were propagated 

by some of her contemporaries on 

women’s roles in the society. 2 I argue that 

ʿĀ ʾisha’s methodological contribution is a 

model for how to engage ḥ adīth holistically in 

the light of the Qurʾānic message and objectives. 

I stress the contemporary role and import of 

women’s engagement in the tradition of interpretation 

and in the development of religious 

fields of knowledge. 

The importance of women’s engagement 

with the foundational sources 

Religious scholarship in Islam is based on 

several primary sources including the Qurʾān 

and the collected sunna of the Prophet Muhammad 

which clarifies and expands upon Qurʾānic 

teachings. 3 Muslims regard the Qurʾān as the ultimate 

reference for human affairs and believe 

it to be safeguard by God from distortion. 4 The 

Qurʾān regards the Prophet as a role model for 

humanity (e.g. Qurʾān 33:21), and hence, from 

the perspective of Islamic jurisprudence, the 

authentic prophetic sunna explains, clarifies, 

and demonstrates how to implement the teachings 

of the Qurʾān. The sunna has a range of different 

hermeneutic functions vis-a -vis the 

Qurʾān. For instance, jurists regularly discuss 

and deliberate how a particular ḥ adīth, a reported 

saying or action attributed to the 

Prophet, relates to the text of the Qurʾān. First, 

2 ʿĀʾisha is the daughter of the first Caliph Abū Bakr 

ʿAbdullāh bin Abī Quhạ̄fah (c. 573 – 634 CE). She was 

characterized by a sharp intelligence and was the 

source of more than twelve hundred hạdīth reports. 

For an account of her life and role in the tradition see 

Dennis Spellberg, Politics, Gender, and the Islamic Past: 

The Legacy of A’isha Bint Abi Bakr (New York: Columbia 

University Press, 1994). 

3 Religious scholarship in Islam is based on several primary 

sources including the Qurʾān and the collected 


sunna of the Prophet Muhammad which clarifies and 

expands upon Qurʾānic teachings. 

4 See for instance Q. 15:9. While I am addressing here 

on the role of the Qurʾān in deriving legal theory and 

principles, the Qurʾān describes itself with at least 

thirty-four attributes including hudā (guidance) and 

dhikr (remembrance); the role that the Qurʾān plays in 

Muslim life and devotion is multi-fold; for a thorough 

and skilful treatment of this topic see Ingrid Mattson, 

The Story of the Qur'an: Its History and Place in Muslim 

Life. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2008.



each ḥ adīth is evaluated for authenticity on a 

sliding scale based on the content and the character 

and reliability of the chain of narrators. 

Then, if the content of a reported ḥ adīth has no 

apparent relation to the Qurʾān, jurists may accept 

it as a part of the body of religious law on 

the condition that it does not directly contradict 

a more firmly established principle. Furthermore, 

the reported action could be general and 

apply broadly, or it could be a matter that specifically 

pertained only to the Prophet 

Muḥ ammad due to his exhausted status as a 

prophet. Jurists also deliberate whether the action 

represents simply a custom particular to 

the time period and geographic local, in which 

case it is not necessarily religiously binding on 

Muslims at large, or whether a given tradition 

represents a more fundamental religious principle 

that should be religiously binding. This is 

merely a simplistic rendering of a complex body 

of legal theory on the relation between Qurʾān 

and sunna. A vast array of individual ḥ adīth reports 

comprises the corpus of sunna, and this 

corpus differs across sects, schools of thought, 

and geographic locals. 5 

Across all trends of thought, the underlying 

esteem for the Prophet is fundamental; he is regarded 

as a model for conduct to be aspired to 

by Muslims. The Prophet was a religious 

teacher, a moral guide, a statesman, a social reformer, 

and a committed family member; all of 

these roles were in the reception and subsequent 

perception of his prophecy and traditions. 

6 In particular, the role of the women in his 

household is highly significant, and these 

women enjoyed exclusive access to intimate 

knowledge about the Prophet, including information 

about many of the situations that he 

faced in his public life as well as in his more private 

affairs. The critical engagement of these 

women is exemplary. Upon examination, the 

Qurʾān and sunna exemplify the enormous role 

that the female companions and family of the 

Prophet had on Islamic scholarship by broadening 

the religious knowledge. The Qurʾān notes 

this distinguished place occupied by the women 

in the Prophet’s household and designates the 

title Ummahāt al- muʾminīn for the wives of 

Prophet Muhammad. 7 Indeed, the Qurʾān specifically 

instructs the women of the household 

of the Prophet: “Remember [and proclaim] 

what is recited in your houses of God’s revelations 

and wisdom (wa athkurna mā yutlā fī 

buyūtikunna min ayāti allah wa al-ḥikma) for 

God is all subtle, all aware (inna allah kāna 

laṭīfan khabīran)” (Q. 33:34). 

Here, A. Yusuf Ali in his translation of this 

verse explains that the verb adhkurna takes the 

wives of the Prophet as its subject and means 

not only remember, but “recite, read, make 

known, and publish the message.” 8 This verse 

quoted above is directly following a strong confirmation 

of the equal merit of men and women 

who are submissive to God (al-muslimīna wa almuslimāt): 

“Truly, submissive men and submissive 

women, believing men and believing women, 

obedient men and obedient women, truthful 

men and truthful women, steadfast men and 

steadfast women, humble men and humble 

women, charitable men and charitable women, 

fasting men and fasting women, the men who 

guard their private parts and the women who 

guard, and the men who remember God often 

and the women who remember—God has prepared 

for them forgiveness and a rich reward” 

(Q. 33:35). 

5 See Jonathan Brown, Ḥadīth: Muhammad’s Legacy in 

the Medieval and Modern World (Banbury: Oneworld, 

2009), 150-183. 

6 See Roy Mottahedeh, Loyalty and Leadership in an 

Early Islamic Society (London: I. B. Tauris, 2001). 

7 The title is evocative of characteristics such as love, 

care, intuition, and wisdom. For an account of the role 


The verses mentioned above serve to illustrate 

the responsibility that God bestowed upon 

the women of the Prophet’s household as well 

as the equal plane upon which God placed men 

and women of Muslim character. The role of 

women in the preservation of the message of Isand 

the involvement of the Ummahāt al-muʾminīn in 

the recording and reciting of the Qurʾān see ʿĀʾishah 

ʿAbd al-Rahṃān, Tarājim sayyidāt bayt al-nubbuwa 

(Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-ʿArabī, 1984), 25. 

8 Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Meaning of the Holy Qur’an, 

11th ed. (Beltsville, MD: Amana Publications, 2004), 

1067.



lam did not merely remain a Qurʾānic commandment, 

but according to the earliest Muslim 

historiography, women had a dynamic role in 

the initial preservation of the Qurʾān. For instance, 

an original handwritten copy of the 

Qurʾān, out of which all subsequent copies were 

made during the first Caliphate, was said to be 

under the preservation and trust of Ḥ afṣa bint 

ʿUmar (d. c. 656 AD), the daughter of the second 

CaliphʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb (d. 644 AD) who 

married the Prophet shortly after her first husband 

was killed in the battle of Uḥ ud (3/ 625). 

According to traditional accounts, women did 

not simply safeguard the physical copies of the 

early Qurʾān but also had an active role in its 

transmission and interpretation, as will be elaborated 

below. While Sunni authors tend to concentrate 

on ʿĀ ʾisha and Shiʾi literature focuses 

on Fāṭima (d. 632 AD, the daughter of the 

Prophet’s first wife Khadīja and the only child of 

the Prophet to have survived to adulthood), the 

women in the Prophet’s household contributed 

greatly to the development of Islamic scholarship, 

alongside the contributions of many other 

women in the early Muslim community. 

Muslim societies throughout history were 

not static, but in fact were very dynamic, with 

regard to woman’s status. The era, location, political 

climate, economic factors, regional customs, 

and local traditions contribute greatly to 

the expectation, roles, and opportunities for 

women. Each country, region, city and even village 

has its own features. Women status, civic 

roles, and political engagements vary greatly 

from one place to another, even within the same 

As the Caliphate took on dynastic 

tendencies, . . . Women, for the most 

part, lost the esteemed public roles 

they had gained under the Prophet and 

his immediate successors, and by and 

large, an older, deep-rooted ideal of 

women as inferior and gained greater 

staying-power within religious discourses 

and society at large. 

time period. Throughout more than fourteen 

centuries of Islamic history, diversity and plurality 

have been the main characteristics of Islamic 

culture and society. Hence, it is difficult to 

determine exact reasons for overall dearth of 

women’s engagements in religious scholarship 

in Muslim societies at large. Less than three decades 

after the Prophet’s death, new concepts 

and ideals were introduced into the social fabric 

of the early Muslim society. Particularly as the 

empire of the early Muslim’s grew and became 

increasingly urban, Islamic values were put to 

the test by conflicting tribal and authoritarian 

forces. As the Caliphate took on dynastic 

tendencies, submission to the ruler was often 

deliberately equated with submission to God, 

and as a result, protest against political oppression 

was conflated with so-called chaos-inducing 

rebellion. In theological discourse, concepts 

of fate were emphasized over those of human 

freedom. Women, for the most part, lost the esteemed 

public roles they had gained under the 

Prophet and his immediate successors, and by 

and large, an older, deep-rooted ideal of women 

as inferior and gained greater staying-power 

within religious discourses and society at 

large. 9 While women were still able able to exert 

influence, particularly through their male kin, 

on the whole women’s contributions to public 

life were drastically curbed, and their epistemic 

authority regularly regarded as secondary to 

that of men. 10 As discussed below, the derivation 

of religious law and trends in exegesis often 

further inscribed women’s perceived inferiority. 

In order to illustrate these general dynamics 

with specific examples, I examine below 

women’s role and contributions to specific 

fields of Islamic knowledge, namely exegesis 

(tafsīr), ḥ adīth scholarship, and jurisprudence 

(fiqh). I then propose means and methodologies 

relevant to advancing women’s contemporary 

engagement with the tradition by putting forward 

the example of ʿĀ ʾisha. In my discussion I 

9 See the arguments of Mona M. Abul-Fadl, “Revisiting 

the Muslim Woman Question: An Islamic Perspective,” 

adapted from Muslim Women Scholars on Women in Islam, 

symposium hosted by Chicago Theological Seminary, 

November, 7th 1990, accessed June 1, 2011, 

http://muslimwomenstudies.com/WomRevisit.htm. 


10 As discussed in detail in Ahmed Ragab, “Epistemic 

Authority of Women in the Medieval Middle East,” 

Journal of Women of the Middle East and the Islamic 

World 8, no. 2 (2010): 181-216.



draw upon early textual sources, including the 

Qurʾān, ḥ adīth collections, biographies of the 

Prophet (al-sīra al-nabawiyya), 11 political histories 

of the early Muslims (al-ṭabaqāt), 12 biographies 

of prominent Muslim scholars, 13 the 

tradition of jurisprudence (fiqh), 14 and Muslim 

literary culture more generally. 

Women and the tradition of exegesis 

Exegesis (tafsīr) is a field of Islamic scholarship 

that is impacted by the pre-conceived societal 

perceptions of women just as much as it can 

be seen as impacting women’s role and status. 

Methodological trends in classical exegesis fall 

into at least two categories. The first trend, 

known as tafsīr bil-maʾthūr (lit. exegesis by adage), 

employs the Prophet’s words and actions 

as the framework for textual engagement. In the 

second trend, known as tafsīr bil-raʾī (lit. exegesis 

by opinion), interpretation is based on rational 

analysis of a variety of sources. The exegesis 

of Muḥ ammad b. Jarīr al-Ṭabarī (d. 

310/923) is considered the backbone of the 

first school. 15 Ṭabarī’s exegesis collected many 

traditions that entered the Islamic textual traditions 

through Biblical origins, including traditions 

that involved women. 16 Throughout his 

commentary, Ṭabarī records adages simply to 

express doubts about the veracity of its origins, 

yet later generations of scholars would quote 

and incorporate the particular adage as part of 

the body of authoritative knowledge. Barbara 

Freyer Stowassar’s examine the impact of later 

commentators imparting their biases by drawing 

on themes of women’s defective nature and 

inherent threat to the social order, and highlights 

how pre-Islamic traditions, among other 

factors, provided a repertoire of adages of 

women as devious, unchaste, and deceitful. 17 

She observes that: “medieval Islamic society 

was patriarchal to a far higher degree than had 

been the early Islamic community in Mecca and 

Medina, first recipient of the Qurʾān’s revelations.” 

18 

However, beginning in the eighteenth century, 

a different scriptural canon on women 

gradually began to emerge, driven by a retrieval 

of exegesis based on reading the Qurʾān intra 

textually (tafsīr al-Qurʾān bil-Qurʾān, lit. interpreting 

the Qurʾān through the Qurʾān). This 

trend in exegesis called for a critical examination 

of the extra-textual material that had been 

previously drawn into the fold of Qurʾānic interpretation. 

It also emphasized more emphatically 

the understanding that passages in the 

Qurʾān illuminated other passages, and that this 

hermeneutic strategy took precedent over all 

others. Women participated actively in that reform 

movement; for example, ʿĀ ʾisha ʿAbd al- 

Raḥ mān (1913-1998), a professor of Arabic literature 

at the University College for Women at 

Ain Shams University in Cairo, wrote a Qurʾānic 

exegesis under the alias Bint al-Shāṭiʾ which was 

based on this concept of holistic, intra-textual 

interpretation. 19 

11 For a discussion of Muslim sacred texts as a source 

of the social history of women, see Ragab, 182-5. 

12 There are a vast number of biographical compendia 

that document and gather data regarding events, battles, 

wars, cities, rulers, and influential people. They 

represent a rich source for discerning women’s history 

for contemporary authors. For example, ʿAbd Halīm 

Abū Shuqqa, has fairly recently sought to present a 

comprehensive account of the status of women in the 

early Muslim community in six volumes entitled Taḥrīr 

at marʾa fi ‘aṣr al-risālah, (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 

1990). 

13 Muslim historians began collecting biographies of 

prominent scholars in the second century of the Islamic 

era; many collections were limited to a specific 

school of thought. Overall, entries on women were significantly 

less compared to those of men and exceedingly 

rare in the collections limited to particular 

schools of thought; see Ruth Roded, Women in Islamic 

Biographical Collections: From Ibn Saʿd to Who’s who 

(Boulder: L. Rienner Publishers, 1994). 


14 For an overview of the legal tradition as a source of 

women’s history see, Judith E. Tucker, “‘And God 

Knows Best’: The Fatwa as a Source for the History of 

Gender in the Arab World,” in Beyond the Exotic: 

Women’s Histories in Islamic Societies, Amira El Azhary 

Sonbol, ed. (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 

168-179). 

15 Muhạmmad b. Jarīr al-Tạbarī, Jāmi‘ al-bayān ‘an 

ta’wīl al-Qur’ān (Reprinted Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1985). 

16 Barbara Freyer Stowassar, Women in the Qur’an, 

Traditions, and Interpretation (Oxford and New York: 

Oxford University Press, 1994), 23. 

17 Stowassar, 23-5. 

18 Ibid., 21. 

19 ʿĀʾisha Abd al-Rahṃān Bint al-Shatiʾ, al-Tafsīr albayānī 

lil-Qurʾān al-karīm. 3rd edition, Cairo: Dār al- 

Maʿārif, 1968.



In the later decades of the twentieth century, 

Muslim women’s religious scholarship begun 

to raise difficult methodological questions 

in the service of building a critical and insightful 

hermeneutic repertoire to the foundational 

sources: Who possesses the authority to interpret 

the Qurʾān? What are the limits of Qurʾānic 

interpretation? When there is a multiplicity of 

interpretations, how is the best interpretation 

to be determined? How should changes in social 

expectations and mores be taken to bear in interpretative 

strategies? How can women re-approach 

the Qurʾān with renewed vigor and confidence? 

Is there a “woman’s reading” that 

might substantively differ from a ‘man’s reading’ 

of a given verse? Engaging with these types 

of exegetical questions became a foundation for 

women’s religious scholarship. Notably, in the 

early 1990s Amina Wadud greatly advanced 

this line of inquiry with the first edition of her 

book Qur’an and Woman. 20 Azizah al-Hibri, 

Nimat Barazanji, Laleh Bakhatiar, Asma Barlas, 

Laury Silvers, and others have also focused on 

developing hermeneutic strategies for contemporary 

exegesis. The work of these scholars 

continues to influence newer generations of 

women who are building upon this foundation. 

Women and the transmission of ḥadīth 

Women participated greatly in the establishment 

of ḥ adīth sciences, and women ḥ adīth 

transmitters were noted to be particularly 

trustworthy. According to the renowned ḥ adīth 

scholar Shams al-Dīn al-Dhahabī (d. 748/1348), 

there were many men who fabricated ḥ adīth; 

however, no woman was ever accused of fabrication. 

21 Indeed, ḥ adīth scholarship was an area 

of religious knowledge where early Muslim 

women flourished. 22 Fāṭima b. Ibrāhīm 

Maḥ mmū d Ibn Jawhar (d. c. 1300) is one illustration; 

a renowned teacher of some of the most 

prominent ḥ adīth scholars of her time, her reputation 

was such that when she came to Madina 

for pilgrimage, at the local students’ request she 

taught in the mosque of the Prophet and signed 

licenses (ijāza) to transmit her narrations. 23 Another 

example is Zaynab bint al-Shaʿrī (d. c. 

614/1218) who studied ḥ adīth under important 

scholars and in turn taught many reputable 

students including Ibn Khallikān (d. 

681/1282). 24 Despite some notable examples, 

women in ḥ adīth scholarship never reached par 

with men in terms of numbers of their numbers. 

From its heyday among the early generations of 

women, this tradition of women’s ḥ adīth scholarship 

seems to have dwindled; all the while 

ḥ adīth literature is frequently evoked in order 

to suppress the role, rights, and status of 

women. 25 Writing against this trend, the recent 

work of Sa’diyya Shaikh has analyzed several 

prominent ḥ adīth from a Muslim feminist lens, 

therein providing strategies for engaging with 

the tradition in ways that highlight women’s 

strengths, assets, and potentials. 26 

Women and the legacy of fiqh 

The urbanization and growth of the bureaucratic 

and intellectual elite in the eighth through 

twelfth centuries brought the advent of institutionalized 

schools of legal thought (s. madhhab, 

plur. madhāhib). In an effort to systematize the 

derivation of religious law, a body of knowledge 

referred to as fiqh (lit. comprehension) developed 

in cultural centers in response to local cultural, 

social, political, and judicial needs. Fiqh is 

20 1st edition 1992, subsequent editions include Kuala 

Lumpur: Penerbit Fajar Bakti, 1994 and Oxford: Oxford 

University Press, 1999. 

21 Abū ʿAbd Allah Shams al-Dīn al-Dhahabī, Siyar 

ʿAʾlam al-nublāʾ, vol. 23 (Beirut: Dār al-Risāla, n.d.), 

119; see also the full discussion on 119- 23. 

22 With regard to their role in transmitting hạdīth, Muhammad 

Zubayr Siddiqi notes that: “There is simply no 

parallel to this special and valuable role played by 

women scholars in the development, preservation and 

dissemination of Islamic knowledge,” in Ḥadīth Literature: 

Its Origin, Development, Special Features & Criticism 

(Cambridge: The Islamic Texts Society, 1993), 

117. 

23 Ibid., 127. 


24 Muhạmmad Akram Nadwī, Al-Muḥaddithāt: The 

Women Scholars in Islam (Oxford: Interface Publications, 

2007). 

25 The reasons for this decline remain an open era for 

further scholarship. See related discussions in ‘Umr R. 

Khālah, ʿAlām al-nisāʾ fī ʿalām al-ʿArab wa al-Islām, vol. 

1, (Beirut: Mu’sasāt al-Risāla, 1978), 357-358; see also 

Siddiqi, 122. 

26 Sa‘diyya Shaikh, “Knowledge, Women and Gender in 

the Hadith: A Feminist Interpretation,” Islam and 

Christian-Muslim Relations 15 no. 1 (2004): 99-108.



Faṭīma al-Samarqandiȳa, . . .was a renowned 

Ḥ anafī mufti, and before her marriage to 

ʿAlā al-Dīn Abū Bakr Ibn Masʿaū d al-Kāsāsnī 

. . . legal edicts used to be signed jointly with 

her father ʿAlā al-Dīn Muḥ ammad ibn 

Aḥ mad al- Samarqandī (d. c. 538/1144). 

Later, the legal edicts were signed by all 

three, Faṭīma, her father, and her husband . . 

. 

the effort of humans to understand and interpret 

the Divine scripture, and then to integrate 

this understanding into the social fabric, civic 

institutions, and daily life. The term fiqh also refers 

to the vast collection of opinions on the law 

given across centuries and schools of thought. 27 

As the body of fiqh developed in theoretical sophistication, 

Muslim scholars advanced various 

frameworks to comprehend the teachings of the 

Qurʾān and sunna vis-a -vis al-wāqiʿ, a term 

which in Muslim legal theory refers to the social 

and material realities of society. 28 Thus, the theoretical 

grounding of religious law was seen to 

be responsive to social realities. In fact, the law 

took shape vis-a -vis practical, theoretical, and 

ideological concerns, and included in its scope 

factors such as experience, custom, precedent, 

and public interest. 29 The classical methodology 

for determining religious law allows for a plurality 

of opinions among qualified experts. 30 

While their roles may be lesser-known and 

lesser-celebrated, women have been legal 

scholars and have played important roles as legal 

experts and consultants. For example, a 

woman mufti is said to have contributed extensively 

to the establishment of Ḥ anbalī legal 

thought through her documentation of the 

teachings of Imām Aḥ mad Ibn Ḥ anbal (d. 

241/855). 31 In Qayrawan (present day Tunisia), 

mufti Khadīja bint Saḥ nū n (d. 270/883 or 884) 

taught Mālikī jurisprudence, and she reports 

that her father, Saḥ nū n b. Saʿīd al-Tanū khī (d. 

240/854 or 855), one of the most important jurists 

of his time, used to regularly consult her 

for advice on issuing opinions. 32 Faṭīma al-Samarqandiȳa 

(d. 578/1182 or 1183), was a renowned 

Ḥ anafī mufti, and before her marriage 

to ʿAlā al-Dīn Abū Bakr Ibn Masʿaū d al-Kāsāsnī 

(d. 587/1191), 33 legal edicts used to be signed 

jointly with her father ʿAlā al-Dīn Muḥ ammad 

ibn Aḥ mad al- Samarqandī (d. c. 538/1144). 

Later, the legal edicts were signed by all three, 

Faṭīma, her father, and her husband. 34 Al-Imām 

Abū al-Qāsim ʿAbd al-Karīm ibn Muḥ ammad al- 

Rāfiʿī (d. 623/1226) a Shāfiʿī scholar, 35 is reported 

to have studied with his grandmother 

Zulaykha bint Ismāʾl b. Yū suf al-Shāfiʿī, a mufti 

at the time. 36 Despite these examples and other 

noteworthy individuals, the tradition of legal 

scholarship as a whole is characterized by a 

dearth of women’s voices. This lack of women’s 

representation has deeply affected women’s legal 

rights in many areas such as marriage, divorce, 

inheritance and other financial and commercial 

rights. 37 At present, women scholars 

are gaining modest ground as councils made entirely 

of male legal scholars are very gradually 

27 See Jasser Auda, Maqasid Al-Shariah as Philosophy of 

Islamic Law: A Systems Approach (London; Washington: 

The International institute of Islamic Thought, 

2008), p. xxvii. 

28 For detailed discussions see Taha Jabir Al Alwani, 

Source Methodology in Islamic Jurisprudence: Usul al- 

Fiqh al-Islami, 3rd ed., Yusuf Talal DeLorenzo and Anas 

S. Al Shaikh-Ali trans. (Herndon. VA: International Institute 

of Islamic Thought, 2003). 

29 For an overview of the development of the law see 

Bernard G. Weiss, The Spirit of Islamic Law (Athens and 

London: The University of Georgia Press, 1998). 

30 John L. Esposito, Women in Muslim Family Law (New 

York: Syracuse University Press, 2001), 51. 

31 Khālah, vol. 1, 138. 

32 Ibid., 332-333. 

33 Ibn al-ʿAdīm, Kamal al-Dīn. Bughyat al-ṭalab fī 

tārīkh ḥalab, vol. 10 (Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, n.d.) 

4346-7. 

34 Ibid. 


35 Ibn Mulaqqin Sirāj al-Dīn al-Shāfiʻī, 25. 

36 Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūtị̄ and Tāj al-Dīn al-Subkī, Ḥusn almuḥāḍara 

fi tārīkh Miṣr wa-al-Qāhira, vol. 1 (Cairo: Dār 

al-Fikr al-ʿArabī, 1998), 343. For a mention of subsequent 

women muftis in Egypt see Amira El Azhary 

Sonbol, ed. Women, the Family, and Divorce Laws in Islamic 

History, Amira El Azhary Sonbol (Syracuse: Syracuse 

University Press, 1996) 7-8; see also Afaf Lutfi al- 

Sayyid Marsot, Egypt’s Liberal Experiment, 1922-1936 

(Berkley: University of California Press,1977), 39-51. 

37 For a thorough discussion of this topic see Shaymāʾ 

al-Sarrāf, Aḥkām al-marʾa bayna al-ijtihād wa-altaqlīd: 

dirāsa muqārana fī al-sharīʿa wa-al-fiqh wa-alqānūn 

wa-al-ijtimāʿ (Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Intishār al- 

ʿArabī, 2008



making moves to include at least one female legal 

scholar, often to work specifically in the area 

of “women’s issues”, i.e. matters of female hygiene 

and some areas of family law. 38 

ʿĀʾisha: Reclaiming a Tradition of 

Women’s Engagement 

In this segment, I argue that the legacy of 

ʿĀ ʾisha is replete with methodological premises 

for enhancing women’s portrayal in the religious 

tradition and for promoting women’s engagement 

with the primary religious sources. 

Analyses of the critical methodology of ʿĀ ʾisha 

are not without precedent, and at least three 

classical Sunni scholars have previously sought 

to develop this field of study: Abū Manṣū r ʿAbd 

al-Muḥ sīn bin Muḥ ammad bin ʿAli al-Baghdādī 

(d. 489/1095 or 1096), was the first to compile 

about twenty-five sayings attributed to the 

Prophet by his Companions which ʿĀ ʾisha had 

revised in a volume entitled: “al-Ijāba fīmā istadrkat 

ʿĀʾisha ʿalā al-Ṣaḥāba” (The Answer to 

what ʿĀ ʾisha Revised on the Companions); subsequently, 

Muḥ mmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh Badr al-Dīn 

al-Zarkashī (d. 794/1370), a prominent scholar 

of ḥ adīth and Qurʾānic sciences, composed a 

commentary on al-Baghdādī’s examples 39 and 

finally, Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyū ṭī, (d. 910/1505), 

composed another commentary on this material 

which had come o be known as istidrākāt 

ʿĀ ʾisha, (ʿĀ ʾisha’s revisions). 40 While few in 

number, these works confirm what is pointed 

out by contemporary Muslim feminist authors, 

41 namely that ʿĀ ʾisha had a clear conception 

of how to derive understandings from the 

Qurʾān and sunna of the Prophet. Her strategies 

for laying claim to religious authority and firmly 

refuting misogyny serve as examples of how 

women can and should bring their critical perspectives 

to the constitution of religious knowledge. 

ʿĀ ʾisha made the Qurʾānic teachings and 

Prophetic sunna the solid basis from which she 

launched her dissenting opinions. 

For instance, Aḥ mad ibn Ḥ anbal (d. 855) 

narrated the following in his Musnad: 

Two men entered ʿĀ ʾisha’s house and said: 

“We heard Abū Hurayra saying that the Prophet 

used to say, ‘affliction resides in women, donkeys 

and homes.’ ʿĀ ʾisha was markedly disturbed 

by that and said: “I swear by He who revealed 

the Qurʾān upon Abū- Al-Ghāssim [Mohamed] 

that he did not speak like this. Rather 

the Prophet of God said, ‘The people used to say 

during the Jāhilīya [pre-Islamic era] women, 

animals used for transportation, and home 

bring bad omen.’ 42 To this, ʿĀ ʾisha recited the 

verse: “No calamity befalls on earth or in yourselves 

but it is inscribed in the Book of Decrees 

before we bring it into existence. Verily, that is 

easy for Allah. In order that you may not grieve 

at the things that you fail to get nor rejoice over 

that which has been given to you. And Allah 

likes not prideful boaster” (Q. 57: 22-23). 

In this example, it was clear for ʿĀ ʾisha that 

the Qurʾānic worldview denounced superstition 

(e.g. Q. 27:45-47, 36:18, and 7:131), and 

therefore, an accurate ḥ adīth could not contradict 

the Qurʾānic worldview. In commenting on 

this exchange, al-Zarkashī highlights the subsequent 

wide acceptance of ʿĀ ʾisha’s reasoning 

among scholars. 

In another example, ʿĀ ʾisha refuted a misogynistic 

ḥ adīth by evoking the sunna of the 

Prophet. In this ḥ adīth, narrated by Abū 

Hurayra, the Prophet is said to have reportedly 

cautioned against three mishaps, the occurrence 

of which could invalidate a person’s 

prayer. These included the passing by of a 

woman, a beast of burden, or a black dog. To 

this, ʿĀ ʾisha exclaimed: “Would you equate us 

with beasts and hounds! By God, the Messenger 

of Allah used to go about his ṣalāt [prayer] as I 

was stretched on the bed between him and the 

38 E.g. “Women Welcome Female Muftis in Syria,” Middle 

East Online, March 7, 2008, accessed June 1, 2011, 

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=26721. 

39 Muḥmmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh Badr al-Dīn al-Zarkashī, al- 

Ijāba lil-īrād mā istadrkathu ʿĀʾishah ʿalā al-Ṣaḥāba, 

Sa‘īd al-Afghānī ed. (Beirut: al-Maktab al-Islāmī, 1980). 


40 Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūtị̄, ʿIyn al-iṣāba fī istadrāk ʿĀʾisha 

ʿalā al-Ṣaḥāba, ʿAbd Allāh Muḥmmad al-Darwīsh, ed. 

(Maktaba al-ʿAlim al-Qāhira, 1409/1988). 

41 On ʿĀʾisha’s skill in refuting misogynistic hạdīth see 

Shaikh, 105-6 and Naguib, 42. 

42 Ahṃad ibn Hạnbal, Musnad, in Hạdīth EncyclopediaCD-ROM, 

hạdīth # 24894.



qibla [the direction of prayer]. I felt I needed to 

go to the restroom and did not want to stay 

there and cause distraction to the Messenger of 

God, so I quietly sneaked between his feet.” 43 

In forcefully refuting the misunderstanding 

of the ḥ adīth and respectfully challenging and 

explaining her view, ʿĀ ʾisha was fending for the 

integrity of the teachings of the Prophet. ʿĀ ʾisha 

spent over three decades after the Prophet's 

death, honoring a legacy by transmitting knowledge, 

explaining and interpreting, and correcting 

misperceptions. She was the source of one 

thousand two hundred and ten ḥ adīth narrations 

of the Prophet, one hundred and seventy 

four of which were authenticated in two of the 

most prominent ḥ adīth collections Ṣaḥ īḥ al-Bukhārī 

and Ṣaḥ īḥ al-Muslim. 44 Her traditions 

were transmitted by a great number of the 

Prophet’s companions and followers. 45 In her 

analyses and criticisms of the various ḥ adīth 

narratives, and in her debates with a number of 

the Prophet’s companions, ʿĀ ʾisha countered 

claims insinuating that women were inferior in 

either religion or intellect. She stressed the importance 

of narrating ḥ adīth in their entirety, in 

the context in which they were uttered, and verbatim. 

In her opinion, it was not acceptable to 

only convey the meaning of the ḥ adīth, as the 

meaning was a matter of interpretation and 

could be modified as a result of the narrator’s 

limited memory or level of understanding. For 

instance, it is commonly explained that some 

Companions of the Prophet used to attend the 

initial part of the Prophet’s meetings and would 

miss the latter part, while others came late, 

hearing only the last of what the Prophet was 

saying. 46 Hence, ʿĀ ʾisha commented on the reports 

of many who misunderstood the narrative 

due to tardiness or premature departure. 47 

With a distinctive rhetorical skill, she would 

tactfully analyze, criticize, correct, and debate 

in order to expose the weak points in any report 

she found offensive or otherwise incorrect. 

Conclusion: 

The Islamic tradition places a high priority 

on piety and the acquisition of knowledge for all 

Muslims. While men predominate as religious 

authorities, this has not altogether precluded 

women from gaining scholarly credentials and 

expertise. Women scholars have been involved 

in key areas of religious knowledge, including in 

exegesis, ḥ adīth transmission, and the interpretation 

of religious law. In contemporary times in 

particular, women scholars are researching and 

interpreting the Qurʾān and sunna, and they are 

elevating the quality of the discourse, in particular 

by bringing to attention issues that previous 

scholars have not addressed to satisfaction. 

Many of these women scholars are also involved 

in building Muslim communities and in striving 

to establish a balanced and peaceful societies 

that live up to the Qurʾānic expectation of a community 

which strives for justice and “the middle 

way” (Q. 2:143). 

Inspired by the teachings of the Qurʾān, and 

with determination to understand and preserve 

the guidance of the Prophet, contemporary 

Muslim women scholars are mitigating genderbias 

and providing a more holistic and accurate 

rendition of Islamic knowledge which has as its 

foundations in the Qurʾān, in the authentic 

sunna, and in the unity of man and woman (e.g. 

Q. 4:1 and 49:13). The field of Muslim theology 

offers new possibilities for women to advance 

in religious scholarship across domains of expertise. 

The voices of emerging Muslim theologians 

are more often than not geared to contemporary 

realities and seek to articulate ways in 

which the Islamic religion provides resources 

for addressing social challenges and individual 

needs. As epitomized by this volume, the field of 

Muslim women’s scholarship draws upon tradition 

with a critical eye for elevating the status of 

women and the socially marginalized. As I have 

argued in particular, ʿĀ ʾisha’s legacy and strategies 

for engagement provide inspiration for 

women scholars as they seek to contend with 

problematic aspects of their religious heritage. 

For contemporary women scholars, a foundational 

understanding of her methodology is vital 

to a reinvigoration and reformation of tradition. 

(Return to contents) 

43 Hạdīth Encyclopedia CD-ROM, Bukhārī #481 and 

Muslim #795. 

44 al-Zarkashī, 30-36. 

45 Ibid, 34-33 

46 Ibid., 103. 

47 Ibid. 




India 

Darul Mua‘ahda or Darul Sulah (land of peace 

treaty), not Darul Harb (land of war) 

No Religious Sanctity On ‘Ghazwatul Hind’ 

By Ghulam Rasool Dehlvi 

(Ghulam Rasool Dehlvi is a 

lecturer at the Jamia Millia 

Islamia in New Delhi (India). 

He lectures in Arabic & 

Islamic Studies and Comparative 

Religion.) 

(Note: We make no comment on the Kashmir issue 

with which the article starts. It is similar to 

events taking place in India at the time of the 

Promised Messiah when Muslim would declare 

killing of the British to be a jihad. Hazrat Mirza 

Ghulam Ahmad, the Promised Messiah, strongly 

refuted that such killings were jihad. He wrote a 

book called The British Government and jihad in 

which he strongly refuted that such actions by 

individuals can be termed jihad. As he prophesied, 

Muslim will come to accept his interpretation 

of Islam regardless of whether they accept 

his claims or not.) 

Eisa Fazili, the slain ISIS sympathizer in 

Kashmir, young gullible student of the B Tech 

(IT) who joined militant ranks, warned the 

Ulema: “One day they have to show their faces 

to Allah who will punish them for failing in their 

duties to give a call for Jihad fi Sabilillah (armed 

struggle in the path of Allah).” 

But what Fazili and his likes of the radicalized 

Kashmiri youths fail to do is reason with 

themselves: when the Ulema — of any sect 

(Maslak) or any school of jurisprudence (Mazhab) 

— have not issued any decree or fatwa for 

jihad in Kashmir, why these half-educated 

youths are hell-bent on calling for the self-declared 

‘jihad-e-Kashmir’? Have they become 

self-imposed Ulema or muftis (Islamic jurists) 

by themselves to declare Jihad or Qital, something 

that, according to the established Islamic 

scholars, only state can declare? Don’t they look 

up to the authoritative Ulema and authentic Islamic 

scholars as their religious mentors anymore? 

When Ulema and Islamic clergy don’t ask 


them to participate in any kind of jihad, then 

who are forcing them to go berserk and play 

havoc across the valley in the name of jihad and 

Khilafah? Clearly, the present-day extremist jihadists 

in Kashmir are deceiving themselves 

and are working on the behest of the foreign interests. 

They are simply puppets of the foreign 

political ambitions and are, knowingly or unconsciously, 

serving the ulterior motives and 

designs of the anti-India elements. Therefore, it 

is indispensable to rescue the misguided Muslim 

youths in Kashmir from the false Islamic jihad 

bred by the outside interests. Eisa Fazili argued 

with the Ulema that one day they have to 

show their faces to Allah who will punish them 

for ‘failing in their duties to call for Jihad’. But he 

could not reason with himself as to how he 

would show his own face to Allah while he has 

failed to spend his God-gifted precious life in the 

righteous path of Allah (fi sabeel lillah). Will Allah 

not ask him why he wasted his sacred life in 

the so-called jihad which was neither commanded 

by God nor declared by state, nor endorsed 

by even a single authentic Islamic 

scholar? 

Let alone the established Islamic scholars in 

India, even the Pakistani ulema have refuted the 

legitimacy of any such self-declared jihad. This 

came in a recent Anti-terror Fatwa popularly 

known as “Paigham-e-Pakistan” signed by 

1,800 Ulama of almost every Islamic school of 

thought. It has categorically stated two important 

things: (1) that ‘only the state can announce 

a jihad’ and (2) that any decree (fatwa) 

or move to enforce the Shari‘ah law cannot be 

legitimized without the legal statutes. It reads: 

“According to Islamic jurists, no activity 

leading to war can be initiated without the consent 

of the state ruler or his appointed commanders. 

A soldier cannot attack the enemy in 

his personal capacity without the permission of 

his commander … Islamic jurists also pronounce 

that war cannot be waged without the 

permission of the government. Moreover, it cannot 

be started just to overcome the enemy. It is 

the right of the government to allow fighting or 

waging war which is further subject to the vulnerable 

security situation of the state. The Holy



Qur’an states: “And if they (the enemy, combatant 

or hostile people) incline towards peace and 

reconciliation, you also incline to it and put your 

trust in Allah. Surely, He alone is All-Hearing, 

All-Knowing.”(Surah Anfal: 8:61, Holy Qur’an) 

Based on several verses of the Qur’an like 

the above, authoritative ulema and muftis (Islamic 

jurists)—both in India and Pakistan— 

have delegitimized any kind of self-declared jihad 

or armed struggle. They have specifically 

decreed against waging war against the state. 

Thus, what the militants in Kashmir are doing is 

Fasad (mischief), not Jihad. Their untenable 

theological justifications and farfetched religious 

arguments cannot be the Islamic basis of 

support for their acts of terror and violence. 

According to the reports, the slain Kashmiri 

militant also made a plea for the armed struggle 

or jihad against what he called the reign of Kufr 

(Darul Kufr). In his war-cry, his argument was 

that it is the religious duty of every Muslim to 

fight against the Darul Kufr and Kafirs. Thus, he 

sought to legitimize the terror attacks not just 

against the Indian government but also against 

those in power within Kashmir. 

However, the extremists’ theological justification 

for combat against the non-Muslim majority 

countries calling them ‘Darul Kufr’ (land 

of disbelief) is completely erroneous and untenable. 

They are twisting the early Islamic 

terms and concepts which the ulema have mentioned 

in a historical background. But the present-day 

fanatics misperceive them and consider 

every country where the Islamic Shariah 

is not enforced as Darul Kufr or Darul Harb 

(land of war). Thus, jihadist extremists believe 

that the people of these countries may be fought 

by an Islamic expedition (Ghazwa) in order to 

conquer their territories. 

But this jihadist argument has been refuted 

by the fact that the classification of territories 

made by early Islamic jurists was not intended 

to justify a wanton war against the non-Muslim 

lands. Rather, it served as a basis upon which 

certain jurisprudential (fiqhi) rulings were implemented 

on Muslims. It was just like the classification 

of the globe into political territories 

today. 


The collective consensus (Ijma’a) of the 

mainstream Ulema today is on the authentic Islamic 

position that if Muslims peacefully coexist 

with other people enjoying safety of life and security 

of the religious freedom anywhere in the 

world, any such territory or country can be 

termed as Darul Mua‘ahda (land of peace 

treaty) or Darul Sulah (land of reconciliation) in 

the purely Islamic jurisprudential (Fiqhi) terms. 

Maulana Hussain Ahmad Madani, an established 

Islamic cleric who popularized the concept 

of Darul Mua‘ahda in India, motivated Muslims 

towards the territorial nationalism rather 

than creating a nation based on religious considerations. 

In 1937, Maulana addressed a political 

meeting in Delhi and made this clear: “Today 

a nation is made on the basis of the country. 

If there are different religions in the country, the 

nation does not become different”. 

As for the medieval Islamic terms like Darul 

Islam, Darul Kufr and Darul Harb, they are null 

and void today; abrogated by the new world order, 

constitution, international covenants, 

peace treaties and international relations. They 

might have been relevant during the third and 

fourth Islamic centuries. Even then, they did not 

serve as the basis for wanton killing of the non- 

Muslims or Muslims. Imam al-Kasani (r.a)—the 

6th century renowned Islamic jurist who authored 

one of the most colossal reference works 

on the Hanafi law “al-Bada’e al-Sana’e”, wrote in 

his classical work: 

“What is meant by designating the word 

“Dar” (land or abode) with Islam and Kufr (disbelief) 

is not Islam and disbelief per se, but the 

state of security or insecurity. Moreover, the relative 

juristic rulings are not based on Islam itself 

or Kufr (in this case), but on the security or 

insecurity.” 

This position was reinforced by Ibn al-Qayyim 

al-Jawziyyah, revered as an important 

Imam in the Sunni Islamic tradition. He clearly 

stated in support of the above traditional Islamic 

position: “This is the opinion held by the 

majority of scholars [Ulema]. It is crystal clear



that Muslims jurists made their opinions according 

to Fiqh al-Ma’alat (the Islamic law 

which takes into consideration the outcomes of 

actions).” [Ibn Qayyem Al-Jawziyyah, Ahkam 

Ahl Al-Dhimmah 2/873]. 

As an eminent medieval Islamic jurist of the 

Hanbali School of jurisprudence, the decrees on 

the religious rights of non-Muslims in the writings 

of Imam Ibn al-Qayyim compiled in “Ahkam 

Ahl al-Dhimmah” are noteworthy. They indicate 

that the early Islamic jurists applied Maslahah 

(public interest) as the basis of the Shariah rulings 

on the contemporary issues. As a result, the 

religious rights of non-Muslims were guaranteed 

in the authoritative views based on the 

rightly guided Islamic principles, rather than 

the misguiding opinions of the political theologians 

who served the ulterior motives and imperialist 

designs of the different Muslim dynasties. 

Since the security and peace treaty are fully 

guaranteed in the constitution of the nation 

states, the rulings of Darul Islam or Darul Kufr 

are no longer of any Islamic application today. 

Zakir Musa’s open threat to behead ‘those who 

talk in terms of nation state’ is only a symptomatic 

of his sheer lack of knowledge about the 

Qur’anic law and canonical Islamic texts. Of 

course, his war cry of ‘Ghazwatul Hind’ threatens 

the status quo of the security paradigm in 

the valley, but he has no substantial support 

from the established Islamic scholarship in India. 

from any of the four established Islamic thought 

resources—Qur’an, Hadith, Ijm’a (consensus) 

or Qiyas (analogy). Those who are critical of the 

Indian Alims and Fazils accusing them of ‘siding 

with the government’ and refusing to issue the 

‘jihad decree on Kashmir’ should worry as to 

how they would show their faces to Allah in the 

hereafter (Akhirah). In fact, Allah will punish 

them for failing in their duties to pay heed to 

this clear commandment of the Prophet Muhammad 

(peace be upon him): 

“Whosoever kills a person who has a truce 

with the Muslims will never smell the fragrance 

of Paradise” (reported by Sahih Muslim). 

The non-Muslims, not only Muslims, enjoyed 

the protective status, safety of life and security 

of faith in the Madina state where the 

Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) announced: 

“Beware! Whoever is cruel and hard on a 

non-Muslim minority, or curtails their rights, or 

burdens them with more than they can bear, or 

takes anything from them against their free will, 

I (Muhammad) will complain against the person 

on the Day of Judgment” (reported by Abu 

Dawud). 

(Return to contents) 

Short Url 

An alliance of people of 

goodwill 

By Peter Welby 

https://arab.news/w9y6e 

In fact, the entire extremist jihadist rhetoric 

in Kashmir which is underfoot to agitate Muslims 

on social media and YouTube videos is run 

of the mill and has no substance or support 


Peter Welby is a 

consultant on religion 

and global affairs, specializing 

in the Arab 

world. Previously he 

was the managing editor 

of a think tank on 

religious extremism, 

the Center on Religion 

and Geopolitics, and 

worked in public affairs in the Arabian Gulf. He 

is based in London, and has lived in Egypt and 

Yemen. Twitter: @pdcwelby



A group of the world’s most respected Islamic 

scholars and faith leaders, joined by experts 

from governments and representatives of 

civil society organizations signed a new charter 

to build global peace, based on tolerance and religious 

freedom. (WAM) 

More than 500 religious and political leaders, 

academics and civil society activists from 

over 80 countries gathered in Abu Dhabi last 

week to launch a set of principles that champion 

the shared values of different religions and promote 

joint action for the global common good 

and against extremism. 

It is notable that this took place in the Gulf, 

and not in Europe or the US. The UAE has long 

prided itself on its promotion of tolerance — 

naming this past year the Year of Tolerance — 

but the event was attended by religious leaders 

from across the region, including Sheikh Mohammed 

bin Abdul Karim Al-Issa, Secretary 

General of the Muslim World League in Saudi 

Arabia. 

The Charter of the New Alliance of Virtues 

is devoid of most of the usual platitudes that can 

form interfaith charters, and is based on an idea 

that could be embraced by all without being 

seen as owned by any one religion. This is because 

while the original Alliance of Virtues 

upon which this project was based is known of 

through the Islamic tradition, it predates Islam. 

The story goes that following the period of 

conflict around Makkah known in Islam as the 

Sacrilegious War, a Yemeni trader brought some 

goods to the city, and sold them to a Makkah nobleman, 

who refused to pay what was owed. 

The trader climbed Mount Safar, the place for 

public appeals at the time, and denounced his 

fraudulent purchaser and all those from Makkah 

who allowed one of their own to act unjustly. 

Other noblemen were appalled by the treatment 

meted out to this guest, in violation of the 

rules of hospitality let alone the rules of trade, 

and so convened an Alliance of Virtues that 

committed to defend the values deemed common 

among them, including the defense of the 

weak against the powerful. 

We know about this because Muhammad, 

before his prophethood, was there, and spoke 

about it later. And although it took place in pre- 

Islamic Makkah, he said that such was the value 

of this alliance that if he had been asked to join 

after the coming of Islam he would have done 

so. 

And despite this endorsement from the 

Prophet of Islam, the alliance can be viewed 

with equal approbation by other faiths too. The 

Alliance of Virtues was not formed by Christians 

or Jews, but by people whose goal was simply to 

do good work. This means that although this 

new Alliance of Virtues is designed with the 

Abrahamic faiths specifically in mind, it is open 

to any who share the values it espouses. 

But in the idea of shared values between the 

faiths lies the question. The interfaith world has 

long been dominated by a philosophy that seeks 

to downplay differences and focus on commonalities. 

There are plenty of commonalities to 

choose from, particularly in the Abrahamic 

faiths; for example, the belief in one God who 

created the universe and all that’s in it, and is 

directly concerned with the actions of humanity. 

But there are also profound differences, 

which will not be overcome by ignoring them. 

The smallest Lahore-Ahmadiyya Mosque – 

located in Suriname, South America. 


Moreover, the classical interfaith model is 

dominated, particularly among the Christian 

and Jewish participants, by religious liberals, 

occasionally operating well outside the orthodox 

parameters of their faiths. This domination



I am a follower of Jesus myself, 

and have never needed a religious 

Priest to forgive my sins. 

leads to fears among many conservative believers 

of syncretism that the purpose of interfaith 

work is to deny that differences between religions 

are significant, and to push the belief that 

all paths to God are equally valid. 

The problem is that the social hostility and 

mutual suspicions between religions, at both a 

local and the global level, are often dominated 

by the conservatives. Gatherings dominated by 

liberals will fail to make significant movement 

toward overcoming these hostilities — they are 

preaching to the converted. 

Herein lies the delight of the new Charter. 

Not only are its values truly shared, at least in 

orthodox theologies of the Abrahamic faiths 

(values including human dignity, freedom of 

conscience, justice, mercy and peace), but it is 

backed by a number of US evangelicals, who 

among the Christian groups are most vocally 

hostile to Islam. They are also within the Christian 

tradition focused on the truth of the bible 

and the imperative to proselytize. They are not 

even close to syncretism between religions. 

The purpose is to draw on those shared values, 

not to edge toward some specious “ever 

closer union,” but for shared action. Between 

them, the Abrahamic faiths account for more 

than half of the global population; if these principles 

are acted upon, it can have a powerful and 

wide-ranging effect. 

But here lies the challenge. Writing the 

Charter is only the beginning. Unlike many documents, 

it has been written, targeted at and 

signed by individuals rather than institutions or 

governments. Modelled upon the previous Alliance, 

it is an alliance of people of goodwill. But 

as with any Charter, its only value will come if it 

is acted upon. It must turn into practical reality. 

This will be the challenge for its signatories 

over the coming years. (Return to contents) 

COFFEE SHOP THEOLOGY! 

MUSINGS OF A ‘LATTE-DAY SAINT!’ 

(A series of random 

reflections 

from an avid reader 

of the Bible and the 

Quran, but written 

from the perspective 

of a simple 

thinker sipping a 

drink in a coffee shop - gazing out of the window 

(not from the perspective of a complex theologian!) 

FORGIVENESS (Part 1) 

Have you ever had one of those shopping 

trolleys with a faulty front wheel? Wherever 

you push the trolley, it veers off in another direction! 

It is hard work trying to navigate its 

course through the supermarket. In many ways, 

our lives can feel that way at times. We try to do 

good, and try to be the best version of us we 

possibly can. But we fail constantly. The pathway 

to perfection seems impossible at times. In 

the Bible, the prophet David prayed to Allah and 

said: “Teach me thy way O LORD, and lead me in 

a plain path” (Psalm 27:11). A plain path — a 

simple way, a pure way, an uncluttered way — a 

way full of righteousness and uprightness! 

What a great prayer. What a great prayer for us 

to make also! 

So what do we do when we stumble, when 

we trip, or when we just simply mess up? Just 

like wrestling with the trolley wheel that has 

taken us in a different direction, how do we take 

control of the situation and get back on track 

when we have said or done things that dishonour 

Allah, or hurt others? In one word — Forgiveness! 

We need to go to Allah and ask for forgiveness. 

I was sitting in a mosque one day and heard 

a sermon from an Imam that took me by surprise. 

He said: “Only in Islam can we speak directly 

to God and ask for forgiveness. In Christianity, 

you cannot do that. You have to ask a 

Priest to forgive your sins.” As soon as I heard 

that, I realised that the Imam was genuinely 




misinformed or quietly confused. I am a follower 

of Jesus myself, and have never needed a 

religious Priest to forgive my sins. I prefer to go 

to the Bible scriptures to inform me of what I 

must do. 

The first thing I notice is that we need to be 

accountable for our own actions. Nowhere in 

the Bible does God ‘let us off the hook’ and allow 

us to blame others for our mistakes and failings. 

We can’t even blame a devil or shaytan for our 

actions. The buck stops with us! In Genesis 4:7 

we read how Allah calls to the heart of Cain, who 

is having murderous thoughts towards Abel. He 

is feeling angry, and very jealous towards his 

brother. Allah calls to him and says: “Sin is 

knocking at the door of your heart. YOU MUST 

HAVE MASTERY OVER IT!” We learn here that 

we have strength to overcome our temptations. 

We are accountable for our own actions. Sadly, 

Cain caved in, and murdered his brother. He did 

not choose the way of Allah. 

Similarly, the prophet Ezekiel taught us that 

we need to be accountable for our own actions. 

He said: “The soul that sins, it shall die. The son 

shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither 

shall the father bear the iniquity of the son” 

(Ezekiel 18:20). We stand before Allah as individuals, 

and need to admit our faults to Him. We 

cannot blame our actions on others. 

When the first followers of Jesus walked 

this earth (in the early days) there was no such 

thing as a ‘New Testament.’ The only scriptures 

they had were what we commonly know today 

as ‘The Old Testament.’ So their teaching would 

be based naturally on these writings. What do 

we learn about the pathway to forgiveness in 

these scriptures? 

Wow! We learn what an amazing God we 

serve! Rather than Allah being the one ready to 

pounce on us when we fail (like a cheetah chasing 

and killing its prey), Allah is described as the 

one who is “good, and ready to forgive; and 

plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon 

thee” (Psalm 86:5). Nehemiah too, reminds us 

that Allah “is a God ready to pardon, gracious 


and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness” 

(Nehemiah 9:17). 

The prophet Isaiah describes Allah as the 

one who will “abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:7). 

So how do we get forgiveness? Just ask Allah 

for it! “I acknowledged my sin to you, and my iniquity 

have I not hidden. I said, I will confess my 

transgressions to the LORD; and you forgave my 

iniquity” (Psalm 32:5). So we need to confess to 

Allah, to be honest with him, to tell him openly 

and freely that we have done wrong. But there 

is something else we must do also. 

Just as a bird needs two wings to fly, so too 

there are ‘two wings of forgiveness’ that enable 

us to fly up to the throne of mercy. The first wing 

is confession. But the second wing is repentance. 

2 Chronicles 7:14 informs us of this by 

saying: “If my people, which are called by my 

name, shall humble themselves and pray, and 

seek my face, AND TURN FROM THEIR WICKED 

WAYS, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive 

their sin.” 

I often think of circus trapeze artists swinging 

and leaping from swing to swing high up in 

the air. There is a safety net below them to catch 

them if they fall. But the safety net was never 

designed for the trapeze artists to willingly and 

deliberately keep jumping in to. In the same 

way, we are never to take Allah’s forgiveness 

lightly, thinking we can just sin and get away 

with it again and again. Yes, the safety net of forgiveness 

is there, but there must always be a 

genuine heart of repentance, a turning away 

from what is wrong. “Let the wicked forsake his 

way, and the unrighteousness man his thoughts, 

and let him return to the LORD, and he will have 

mercy upon him; and to our God, For he will 

abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:7). 

How are you doing? Are you in need of forgiveness? 

Do you long for your heart to be as 

pure as the purest snowflake? Just as footprints 

on the beach can be washed away by the oceans, 

so too can your sins be washed away through 

the amazing power of forgiveness. Confess and 

repent and fly towards the throne of mercy! To 

be continued … (Return to contents) 

Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at Islam Lahore 

Founders of the first Islamic Mission in the UK - established 1913 as the Woking Muslim Mission. 

E-mail: editor.thelight@aaiil.uk 

Websites: www.aaiil.org/uk | www.ahmadiyya.org | www.virtualmosque.co.uk

The Light February 2020 02

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