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Disclaimer: Views expressed are not necessarily shared by editorial committee.
Responses (positive or negative) up to 250 words are welcome.
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IS THE MUSLIM WIFE SUPPOSED TO OBEY THE HUSBAND?
Q and A:

[To a sister who wants to know about wife's obedience to the husband. She has written a long, sad, at times incoherent and illegible, letter in Urdu. An Urdu translation of the answer will be sent to her]

Answer by Kaukab Siddique:

Dear sister: asalamu alaikum
There is no such thing as "obedience to the husband" in Islam. Islam teaches Shoora between believers, be they spouses or members of the community. ALL MUSLIMS MUST CARRY OUT SHOORA TO ARRIVE AT DECISIONS. See chapter titled SHOORA (mutual consultation) in the Qur'an. A wife is not a child that she should be "obedient." Muslims are equals, with Taqwa [Allah-conscious behavior] as the standard of merit.

It is wrong to just pick up a verse from the Qur'an or a Hadith and build a whole theory on it. A person should not talk about the Qur'an unless he/she knows that:
i. The Qur'an was revealed over 23 years, not all as one book.
ii. Chapters of the Qur'an are marked MAKKI and MADANI with reference to Hadith. Thus application in correct context is important. Compare sura Tauba with sura al-Kafiroon.
iii. It's the scholar's task to study the situation and then apply appropriate verses of the Qur'an.
iv. One who does not know the rules of NASIKH wa MANSUKH [the abrogating and the abrogated] verses should not give Islamic rulings. For instance compare 4:34 to Sura Noor on what the husband can do.
v. Same way with Hadith: Don't just pick up a Hadith and start building all kinds of things on it.
vi. Are there other Hadith on the same issue? If so, put them together.
vii. Is the hadith accepted by Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim?
viii. If not, what is its quality of narrators, chain of narration? What else is narrated on that subject?
[For English readers:ix. Muhsin Khan has made mistakes in the translation of Bukhari. Check the translation with a scholar of Arabic. Same errors occur in same Urdu translations.]

As for husband's "authority," that's SHIRK, the biggest sin in Islam. The Qur'an says: INNIL HUKMU ILLA LILLAH. "Authority belongs to Allah alone."

Inshallah, more later.
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WILL SIRAJ WAHHAJ TRY TO UNDO THE DAMAGE HE HAS DONE TO THE CAUSE OF ISLAM in the case of Dr. OMAR ‘ABDEL RAHMAN?

As leader-wanna-be Siraj Wahhaj, ought to abandon this womanly behavior, and speak out first and foremost for Dr. Sheikh Omar Ahmed Abdel Rahman, who continues to be held political prisoner by the U.S. This will perhaps undo some of the damage done by Siraj's complete and utter silence as one of the "leaders" of the New York area's Majlis-e-Shura throughout the duration of Dr. Abdel Rahman's railroading.

Nadrat Siddique
Original Convenor
Committee to Free Shaikh Omar ‘Abdel Rahman
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2003-07-28 Mon 17:16ct