By Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer on 5-8-2011 2:51

A friend wrote to me that I write whether Islam is compatible with socialism as for many the very word socialism means an atheistic philosophy and hence not acceptable in any case. Very core of Islamic teachings is belief in one God so how Islam and socialism can go together. This, I think, is not correct view.

 

Thus Qur’an is unmistakably in favour of the weaker section of society and it predicts leadership (though not dictatorship) of proletariat.

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By Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer on 8-4-2011 2:51

 A progressive Muslim is one who is firmly grounded in the Qur’anic values of truth (haq), justice (‘adl), compassion (rahmah), wisdom (hikmah) and does service to others rather than being served by others. A progressive Muslim does not believe in sectarian Islam (sunni or shi’ah or Isma’ili or Deobandi or Barelvi or ahl-e-hadith or salafi Islam but rises above all these sects and gives importance to Qur’an above everything else.

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By Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer on 9-2-2011 5:04

 

Though there is no concept of priesthood in Islam yet a class has come into existence which is known as ‘ulama or called clerics in English. In Islam any person, if he/she has adequate knowledge can perform all the functions and rituals be it related to marriage, death or other obligations for Muslims. Alim (plural ulama) means one who knows. Thus whole emphasis is on knowledge of Qur’an and hadith irrespective of class, caste, race or nationality. Since knowledge is central this class came to be called ‘ulama.

 

Now the question is what knowledge should be imparted to these persons who are supposed to guide the community. The Ulama often quote a hadith that since Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is the last prophet the ulama are like stars after him and Muslims should seek guidance from them as stars guide and become source of light in darkness of night and ignorance is like darkness.

 

Now in those days when the tribe of ‘ulama began to come into existence the most important...

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By Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer on 13-10-2010 7:13

There is great misunderstanding both among believers and non-believers about what it means to be religious. For most of the believers religion is a set of rituals, appearance or even a set of dogmas and superstitions whereas for non-believers (rationalists and empiricists) it is nothing but irrational beliefs, dogmas and superstitions which impede human progress and also cause of violence and destruction. Even terrorism, they believe, is due to religion.

 

Then the question arises why millions of people believe in religion? The rationalists maintain it is because of illiteracy and irrationalism. But then many highly educated people also believe in religion so it is not easy to assign it only to illiteracy alone. And all those who believe in religion are not superstitious. Many of them are quite rational and even accept science and scientific methods without reservation. Sir Syed even maintained that there cannot be contradiction between word of God (Qur’an) and work of God (Nature and...

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By Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer on 7-6-2010 3:40

After the fatwa from Deoband (some of the Deobandis deny that fatwa was ever issued) that Muslim women cannot work with strangers from amongst the men and that in that case her earnings will be haram (prohibited) to her family, a debate is raging on the need for ijtihad (creative reinterpretation of law) and it is often suggested that gates of ijtihad were closed after sack of Baghdad in 1258 and that these gates be reopened.

 

First of all we would like to point out that there is no church in Islam and no single authority and hence no one can issue a dictat to close the gates of ijtihad. Or re-open it. When Ibn Taymiyyah issued the fatwa on jihad after sack of Baghdad he went against the authority of his own Hanbali School and gave fatwa on his own authority. Hanbali school requires submission to the ruling authority.

 

Before we proceed further we would like to point out that ijtihad has been the very part of process of law making in Islam. The root meaning of ijtihad...

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By Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer on 3-5-2010 10:02

The title might come as a surprise for many readers as the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) has been very frequently projected as the Prophet of violence by media and religious extremists. A Danish cartoonist even showed bombs in his turban. But here in this paper I want to show the Prophet (PBUH) was indeed a Prophet of non-violence. For this I would not fall on traditional sources as Maulanas and muftis (who give religious opinion) but use Qur'anic values and discuss circumstances in which the Prophet lived. And on these grounds there are no disagreements among Islamic scholars.

First of all a question what is non-violence and is absolute non-violence possible? It is crucial to discuss these questions if we want to form opinion about any personality whether he is violent or non-violent. Also, in order to be non-violent what are crucial pre-conditions? Can non-violence be practiced in any given circumstances? Also, can non-violence depend on one person's philosophy?

Let us take these questions now. What is non-violence? Non-violence is not mere act of non-aggression. A meek or a person totally lacking courage can also apparently be non-aggressive but this meekness or lack of courage becomes a store of aggression within him or her and strikes in devious ways including conspiracies and even can deliver mortal blow. Thus absence of violence cannot be treated as non-violence.

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