Many in India may not know who Sheikh Anjem Choudhary is.  He is the founder of the radical Islamist group ‘Islam4UK’. His main aim is “to convince about the supremacy of Islam thereby changing public opinion in favour of Islam in order to transfer the authority and power [...] to the Muslims in order to implement the Sharee’ah”. …

Traditional Islamic law contains a number of gender specific rights, duties and norms pertaining to the legal the political/governmental, educational, ritual, juridical spheres and in terms of general personal conduct. A woman’s share from the inheritance is half that of a man. If a woman apostatizes from Islam, she will not be killed as in the case of a male apostate and still has to perform her daily prayers and obligatory fasting. Only man has the right to unilateral divorce. In case of divorce the husband automatically has the custody over children. ...

This piece of misinformation has led to the wrong view that child marriage has the sanction of Islam. It must be noted that establishing the authenticity of Hadiths, the narrators’ circumstances and the conditions at that time have to be correlated with historical facts. I would like to present some arguments in favour of the fact that Hazrat Aisha was at least 18 years old when her Nikah was performed and at least 21 when she moved into the Prophet’s house to live with him. ...

How to understand Qur’an is an important question. Generally we pick and choose a verse to prove our point. Then the commentators also ell us that some verses were cancelled out (mansukh) And that some verses replaced them (nasikh) and this creates further confusion in the minds of common Muslims. Thus different Muslims are different positions in understanding verses of Qur’an. There is nothing wrong in different understandings but his at the same time should not lead to anarchy....

This theology, in my understanding of it,  holds that humans are considered to experience the Divine most readily and immediately through their interactions with other human beings rather than by contemplating abstractly on the Divine , observing the nature  or engaging in various spiritual exercises ( i.e. ritual). As a result purist theology shuns religious pluralism, endorses various forms of gender inegaliterianism favouring the prevalent social and cultural customs and conditions of the time of the religious traditions formation and makes forceful theologically exclusivist claims. ....

How often do we listen to or read talks and articles telling us that the Quran or the Sunnah stance on issue X,V or Z is such and such ? Most of the time the arguments used to substantiate these claims are based on few Quranic verses or Hadith (if we are lucky we might also get some contextual information regarding these). ...

There is nothing wrong with different understandings but this should not lead to anarchy. There has to be a methodology so that the Quran, despite different ways of understanding it, should be understood under certain guidelines. There should be uniformity in the principles of understanding. These are illustrative examples and not exhaustive. If we use this kind of methodology to understand the Quran, many of our problems can be easily resolved; it would be easier to arrive at more comprehensive meanings of the Quranic verses, and many objections hurled at the Quran by non-Muslims can be easily dismissed. -- Asghar Ali Engineer

To be more explicit, there is an urgent need for a major paradigm shift in Islamic religious thoughts and the scope and curriculum of traditional madrasas: they should be converted to universal houses of learning like the Western missionary schools with the same curricula and education system as in civil schools – with the addition of a Religion class. The Muslim students may be taught the fundamentals of the Qur’anic message and the non-Muslims, the fundamentals of their faith.

This definitely sounds radical if not revolutionary, as it purports to relegate the Hadith, now regarded as an eternal component of Islam like the Qur’an,  into its historical slot and bring to the fore, the Qur’anic message in its rightful place as a complete, universal, pluralistic and eternal font of guidance. What the Muslim elite and scholarship should be concerned is the truth – and this article has attempted to capture the truth in a very logical, systematic, unbiased and faithful manner drawing on most authentic resources. Hence it is worthy of serious evaluation and consideration. -- Muhammad Yunus, NewAgeIslam.com

Are Muslims being hoodwinked? Yes, with reference to Quran we are. 10-37, Say (to them), “of your partners is there any that can give you guidance-(yahdi) - towards the ‘Truth’? Say, it is God only (lillah) who gives guidance towards the truth”. These two are Maulana, colloquially called Mullahs and a loftier one Mufti. The later is more widely used in the Muslim world and is sometimes bestowed by the governments.  In the Book both the titles are reserved for only God (lillah) and that is its ‘spirit and essence’ of unity of the Creator. Logically because, when these titles are applied to humans, they elevate humans to godliness. On this basis the above verse then proceeds to argue: 10-37, “Is then He (God) who gives guidance to the truth more worthy to be followed or he (the human) who finds not guidance himself unless he is guided? What then is the matter with you, how judge you?”-- Rashid Samnakay, NewAgeIslam.com

“The Shari’ah is all justice, kindness, common good and wisdom. Any rule that departs from justice to injustice… or departs from common good (maslaha) to harm (mafsada)… is not part of Shari’ah even if it is arrived at by literal interpretation.”I came across the above statement byIbn Qayyim al-Jawziya, a famous and well known student of Ibn Taymiyyah, from his work ‘I’ilm al-Muwaqqin an Rabb al-Alamin’. -- Hameed Choudhury

A leading barrister has called for the UK to become more Sharia-literate, while arguing that Islamic law can be compatible with the toughest human rights legislation. But Kadri, a barrister and contemporary of Barack Obama at Harvard Law School, stresses the ability of Sharia to adapt and change. -- David Shariatmadari

"I felt totally numb and dead inside. But that was the only option left to reclaim my two sons, “she says.”Moreover, the Maulvi sahib had warned me that no one would participate in my funeral procession and my family would be ostracised if I flouted the Shari’a’s command. "  Jalal, Rubiya's "husband" for one night, was not particularly bothered about her turmoil. He was there for a purpose - to help his close friend salvage his marriage. A night after the Nikah and the mandatory consummation, he divorced Rubaiya without a fuss.  It has been seven years since Rubaiya got back with her first husband, but the horror of Halala has stayed on. "I feel as if the man I married died the day someone else defiled my body,” she declares with vehemence. Her only concern now is to ensure somehow that her sons never get to know about the humiliation their mother faced, for "it would shatter them, or worse, they may blame me for the episode". -- Manjari Mishra

The aspect of distribution of wealth must be important in Quran since on the very first page of the main text, chapter two verse three (2-3) there is a condition laid out for momin- Believers to follow, given as ينفِقون-- “and (the believers) spend out of what We have provided for them”. This is also reaffirmed in verse 4-39 as a requirement. The word yunfiqoon and its derivatives appear in the book over seventy times, give or take one or two. Salaat and Zakat are the two faces of the one coin in the Book, yet in 2-3 Zakaat is replaced with Nafq as a basis of the principle of distribution of wealth. Otherwise the combination of Salaat and Zakat remains, without mentioning the quantum figure for the later. -- Rashid Samnakay, NewAgeIslam.com

The establishment of Imarat Sharia has not only set a glorious example of implementing the Islamic Shariah in the collective life of the Muslims but has also presented a model for emulation by the people of many pluralistic societies of the modern Muslim world. The establishment of Imarat Shariah also made it clear that Shariah and tariqat were not separate ways but the convergence of the two can become a vibrant truth as the first emir of the Imarat Shariah was the Sajjada Nashin of Khanqah-e-Majiriah, Phulwari Sharif to whom all the elder experts of Shariah and religious scholars paid allegiance.  -- Prof. Akhtarul Wasey (Translated from Urdu by NewAgeIslam Edit Bureau)

Until now, no final decision has been made on the use of interest in monetary affairs under Islam, which alone feeds the confusion. The Islamic value system in economic life is a moral code for economic and social progress. For instance, when a “Muslim” applies Islam’s rules in work, science, justice, investment, construction and diligence etc, and when a “Muslim” rejects what Islam prohibits, such as fraud, injustice, ribba (profit without labour), ignorance, overspending, manipulation, monopoly etc. Sharia rulings make it essential to answer this key question: Is every “bank interest” considered forbidden ribba, in light of the evolution of the Western economic view of banking interest, on the one hand, and disagreement among Islamic scholars about bank interest, on the other? -- Taha Abdel Alim

According to the Quran, apostasy is a major sin. God has warned the apostates of grave torments in the Hereafter. The Quran says that an apostate invites the wrath of God, and the curse of the angels and all the creatures on the earth. They are destined to live in the hell for ever because by denying the existence and oneness of God they join the ranks of the non-believers. God loves human beings a lot and so expects man to renunciate kufr and shirk and take refuge in Him. “Verily, those who believe, then disbelieve, then believe (again), and (again) disbelieve, and go on increasing in disbelief; Allah will not forgive them, nor guide them on the (Right) Way.“ (Al Nisa: 137)-- S. Arshad, NewAgeIslam.com

For Muslim women worldwide, the 21st century is the age of progress and setbacks. The progress is made possible by women themselves; the setbacks are largely courtesy of some vocal clerics and self-appointed representatives, such as the terrorist group al-Qaida, both of whom often masquerade as the "saviours of the Ummah". This obsessive interest could be a clumsy, if not downright idiotic, reaction to the global push for women's rights, or it might simply be a reflection of such "representatives'" own bizarre mental universe. Either way, the result is humiliating for Muslim women who, after all, are the most pious and caring part of the community and as such deserve more respect. -- Nushin Arbabzadah

Sharia law, a religiously based approach to legislation, is a scary term for many of us in the US. We often associate it with a conservative, oppressive, and perhaps brutal form of governance that subjugates the rights of the people. In a few years we may look at a map and see these Middle Eastern countries as not only Islamic, but also as welcoming and democratic nations. We have to understand that Sharia law is essentially an ethical groundwork for governance, not a direct set of codes and prohibitions. -- Ryan Bennett

"It is time Muslim scholarship takes cognizance of the dichotomy of Islamic faith between its primary scripture, the Koran and its theological corpus (traditions and Sharia laws): one appearing at a point in time in history as an epicenter of faith, and the other evolving in its second century onwards – as the ripples of the initial surge of faith. The former is constant, eternal and independent of history. The latter inevitably shaped by historical factors: pre-Islamic faith of the incoming converts, state of civilization, theological orientation and scholastic methods of the era. If Islam is equated with the 'religion' (or worldview) espoused by the Koran – regardless of whether it came from God or Muhammad made it up, it is universal, tolerant, balanced, gender-neutral, inclusive, non-political, pluralistic, flexible and open ended – albeit within broad boundaries, and emblematic of justice, liberty, equality, and other universal secular values. -- Muhammad Yunus, NewAgeIslam.com

Did an Islamic cleric ban women from touching bananas and cucumbers? True or false, Asra Q. Nomani writes, fatwas have become ridiculous. See her list of the 10 most outrageous ones.

This past week, an email pinged around the world, claiming that a Muslim cleric "residing in Europe" issued a, well, interesting fatwa, or religious ruling, banning Muslim women from touching bananas or cucumbers: “He said that these fruits and vegetables ‘resemble the male penis’ and hence could arouse women or ‘make them think of sex,'" according to a report in a supposed Egyptian website, BikyaMasr. The Times of India ran the story: "Islamic cleric bans women from touching bananas." "If women wish to eat these food items, a third party, preferably a male related to them such as their a father or husband, should cut the items into small pieces and serve," the cleric supposedly dictated. The fatwas used to carry the authority of divine ordination. But the years since have revealed that, indeed, there is nothing to fear—or revere—about the fatwa. In fact, nowadays, you can get a fatwa to validate any point you want to make. I call it "fatwa shopping."-- Asra Q. Nomani

This was not so in the seventh century Arabia through to the pre-modern era, when i) women’s expenses were almost entirely met by their male guardians – father, husband, brother etc. or from inheritance; ii) the avenue and frequency of expenses and financial role and responsibilities of women were far lower and iii) siblings were many. The Qur’anic inheritance ratios - notably 2:1 in favor of a son, 2/3rds collectively if only daughters (1/2 if only one daughter) (4:11), and 1/8th for a wife - when there are children as well (4:12) was favorable to the female gender for a broad span of human civilization dating from the seventh to mid twentieth century – as women had no share in the inheritance in practically any other major civilization in that long time bracket. -- Muhammad Yunus, NewAgeIslam.com

Then we have a view-point that Quran and Sunnah if properly understood are already liberal in nature (Liberal Sharia). This is also a popular form of Liberal Islam, and understandably so, promoted these days by Javed Ahmad Ghamidi and the likes of him. It is also, however, the most vulnerable to attacks of conservative-minded scholars, as the proponents generally struggle against the well-developed orthodox theology with all the references to Koran and Hadith and Sunnah worked out in detail. -- Awais Aftab

Bigamy/Polygamy are allowed only under exceptional and legally justifiable circumstances. These Qur’anic illustrations clearly demonstrate that the Qur’an espouses monogamy as a social norm. This view was propounded as early as the third century of Islam and is shared by many eminent Islamic scholars, notably Yusuf Ali [1], and Ameer Ali [2]. Muhammad Asad and Husayn Haykal refer to the conditional clause of the verse 4:3 and observe that such plural marriages are allowed only in ‘exceptional circumstances.’[3,4]