Comments on: Dr. Amina Wadud

By: Al-Muhajabah

Al-Muhajabah — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I read those articles too and I pretty much agree with your take. It’s possible to be politically moderate and religiously orthodox at the same time. Unfortunately, some commentators especially in the West seem to want a sort of “Reform Islam” along the lines of Reform Judaism. If that’s what they want, I’m afraid they won’t like me.

By: Sharizal

Sharizal — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I must add that the Sister in Islam campaign is really more about pro-monogamy, rather than anti-polygyny (I was told that polygyny is more politicaly correct term) because Islam does allow men to marry more than one, albeit within certain guidelines.

SIS aims to educate the Malay masses into thinking that polygyny in Islam is not a right but a responsibility and men should attempt to treat it as such by consulting with his wife(s) rather than eloping with another to Thailand.

Having said that, when men do decide to have a polygynous marriage the syariah law must also recognise that some women are emotionally affected by it and must make necessary provisions and enforcements so as to be fair to all parties.

By: m

Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

am not sure but brother esack was probably referring to the surrender of one of the IIU’s students to the US authorities a while back (at the start of the ongoing malaysian chapter of the ‘war on terror’). probably. but i could be dead wrong.

By: Bin Gregory

Bin Gregory — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

m, you’re probably talking about Ahmed Ibrahim Bilal, one of a sorry bunch of Oregonians who tried unsuccesfully to get to Afghanistan after the war started to help the Taliban. Bilal had enrolled in IIU and was hoping for asylum. He didn’t get it and was deported back to the US in Oct. 2002. Given Esack’s leanings, I’m guessing he wouldn’t hold a grudge against IIU for that. Neither do I, for that matter.

CBS has coverage of the affair.

By: artemis

artemis — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

OH MY GOD GREGORY, YOU HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHAT HORRORS HAPPEN INSIDE THE INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY. AS A CAUCASIAN MUSLIM CONVERT, YOU WILL NEVER EVER BE ALLOWED TO WITNESS A LOCAL MALAY STUDENT GETTING ‘FLOGGED’ EMOTIONALLY JUST BECAUSE A HUGE MAJORITY OF THE MALAY STUDENTS THERE SUBSCRIBE TO A CERTAIN BRAND OF HOLIER-THAN-THOU ATTITUDE AND ARE ALWAYS ON THE LOOK OUT FOR OTHER STUDENTS’ ‘SINS’ WHEN THEY THEMSELVES ARE WROUGHT WITH WRONGDOINGS. WORSE, THESE ‘HOLY’ ONES CITE SOME QURANIC INJUNCTION OR THE SUNNAH TO PIN OTHER STUDENTS DOWN WHILE THEY FEEL THAT THEY THEMSELVES ARE ABOVE THE LAW. THEY ARE ALSO INFESTED WITH THE NEGATIVE SYNDROME OF PERASAAN HASAD DENGKI OF THE WORST TYPE. HYPOCRITES, ISLAMIC VOGUES, AND WHAT NOT – ALL OF THEM ARE A CONTRADICTION IN TERMS, OXYMORONS AND PLAGUES OF THE MUSLIM AND MALAYSIAN COMMUNITY. I CAN’T EVEN BEGIN TO EXPLAIN HOW BAD IT IS. IT IS THE MOST SICKENING THIN THAT CAN HAPPEN TO A PERSON DURING HIS FORMATIVE YEARS. IIU ITSELF IS CONCEIVED ON A VERY BEAUTIFUL CONCEPT AND ITS FACILITIES ARE ADMIRABLE. ALAS, THE PEOPLE HOUSED IN IT ARE NOT READY FOR SUCH GRAND IDEAS. THE ORIGINAL CONCEPT NEVER TOOK OFF AND IT REMAINS IN THE SORRY STATE THAT IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN IN SINCE THE BEGINNING. AS SUCH, FOR NOW AT LEAST, IIU’S MOTTO ‘GARDEN OF VIRTUE AND KNOWLEDGE’ COULD BE BEST MODIFIED TO ‘GARDEN OF ASKEWED KNOWLEDGE AND IMPOSED VIRTUE’.