A Sad Tale of Law

Have you ever wondered why it is that Islamic law is not implemented fully in anywhere in the world? Even in Saudi Arabia where they claim that Islamic law is followed word to word, you find such clear deviations from Islamic principles that Islamic law in itself has become a laughing stock. For all those who actually do laugh at the implementation of Islamic law, I won't pass judgment on you; you are excused.

People say, how barbaric is Islam? How can a law, any law, sentence a person to be stoned to death just for having sex with someone other than his/her spouse? How can premarital sex be punished with 100 lashes from a whip? People don't know that for a person to be whipped or stoned, there has to be FOUR just and honest witnesses who saw the sexual act with their own eyes. No circumstantial evidence is accepted. If there were four witnesses who would bear witness to having seen an act of illicit sex, and one of them were to back out, the three people who claimed to have seen an illegal sexual act would be convicted for the crime of fabrication.

Funny, punishing a rape victim in Saudi sure doesn't seem to be in line with that!! Nor does abandoning God's law for man-made laws whereby fornication is applauded, or given a blind eye at best.

When young girls are given as child brides in parts of the Arab world, people of closed minds and unthinkable short vision love to mention that Aisha, wife of the Prophet (pbuh), (and may Allah be pleased with her) was only 7 or 9 when her hand was given to the Prophet in marriage. What they don't consider is the fact that where the Prophet's marriage to Aisha made her a source of Islamic law and Prophetic tradition, marrying of young girls to old tribal chiefs kill any dreams they have of a good education and a prosperous career. And, seriously, when did we start putting chieftains in the same category as the blessed Prophet (peace be upon him)??

With all due respect, any Muslim scholar who believes that women don't have the right to vote needs to go back to Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. Okay, so no woman voted the Prophet (pbuh) as leader of the Islamic state in Madinah. No one voted. As believers in the Prophet all the companions were unanimous in their decision to follow every order he made. But the Prophet himself consulted his wives at different stages of Islamic statehood. His caliphs (may Allah be pleased with them) had women in their company when they discussed policy. Now conisder the irony when Muslims read the Qur'an and look through compilations of Hadith and decide women can't vote!!

Before Muslims go out on the streets raging that someone said that Islamic law cannot be implemented in this age and time, they should look at themselves. Islamic law is under-developed. God gave us a law. He gave us the Holy Qur'an. He sent us the Prophet (peace be upon him) and ordered us to follow his traditions. But God gave us minds too. But Muslims, for the most part seem to have forgotten this God-given mind of ours.