By Husam Dughman
Religions seem to be riddled with claims, made largely by some of their adherents, which do not appear to be borne out by the evidence from the original sources of those religions. Islam is no exception. One comes across a good number of those claims not only in Muslim writings, but also when interacting with Muslims in general. Those misleading claims are not only significant because they are not backed up by scriptural evidence, but also because they can have a negative impact on relationships between individuals and communities across the globe. Let’s now look at some beliefs that numerous Muslims hold in spite of their lack of corroborating evidence in the Quran or hadith (sayings by Muhammad), starting with the matter of democracy and that of female equality.
There are many Muslims who assert that the idea of democracy can be found within early Islam. They cite a couple of Quranic verses to support their view (Ash-Shura 38; Aal Imran 159). It is not clear why those Muslims think that those verses talk about democracy, given the fact that they mention the idea of consultation instead. One of the Quran’s most prominent exegetes, Al Qurtubi, states that the former verse was revealed in reference to Al Ansar, i.e., those who lived in the city of Yathrib- later called Madina- who converted to Islam and subsequently provided welcome, hospitality, and support to Muhammad and his followers after they had fled from Mecca, allegedly because of persecution at the hands of Muhammad’s tribe, Quraish. Since before Muhammad’s arrival in Madina, Al Ansar had apparently conducted their public affairs on the basis of consultation with one another, and that practice was extolled by the Quran in the said verse. The latter verse urges Muhammad to consult with his followers, although Muslim scholars have differed as to the need for such a consultation, with many of them (e.g., Al-Hassan Al-Bassari, Al-Dhahak, Ash-Shafi’i, Qatada, and Ibn Ishaq) claiming that Muhammad did not actually need to consult with others, given that he was revealed to by God, but that he was encouraged to do so in the Quran mainly in order to win people’s hearts, show respect for their opinions, establish harmony amongst them, and set a good example for subsequent Muslim generations to follow. While the two aforementioned verses seem to counsel consultation with the notables of the community, they do not appear to do so with regard to every adult, as in a democratic system. Here, there is no conception of “rule by the people”, especially since the source of political legitimacy in Islam is God, not the consent of the people. Islam’s history bears that out.
The first caliph (successor to Muhammad) was Abu Bakr As-Siddeeq. He was chosen only by some Muslims, largely from among Al Muhajiroon, or Muslims who emigrated to Madina from Mecca when Muhammad did. The Ansar, on the other hand, mostly supported Sa’ad bin Ubadah. Neither party could agree with the other. Somebody, reportedly Al-Habab bin Al-Mundhir, then proposed two rulers, one for Madina and one for Mecca. The matter escalated and ended in a violent confrontation between Al Ansar and Al Muhajiroon, which was resolved in favour of the latter. The second caliph, Omar bin Al-Khattab, was appointed by Abu Bakr. The third caliph, Othman, was appointed as a result of consultation among only six Muslim notables, namely Abdul-Rahman bin Ouf, Ali bin Abi Talib, Talha bin Ubaydullah, Zubair bin Al-Awwam, Sa’d bin Abi Waqqas, and Othman bin Affan. The fourth caliph, Ali, was chosen by some Muslims, but others chose Mu’awiya bin Abi Sufyan instead. The contest between the two ended in a bloody battle called Siffeen which left the outcome unresolved. Ali had earlier participated in the Battle of the Camel where his opponents had included some prominent Muslim figures, including Aisha, Muhammad’s wife, who rode on a camel for moral support, although she did not herself take part in the actual fighting, and he later fought the Kharijites in the Battle of Nahrawan. It is worthy of note that three of the first four caliphs- Omar, Othman, and Ali- were assassinated. The fact remains that since its inception in the seventh century, Islam did not see any stable democratic Muslim-majority countries until Turkey in the twentieth century and Tunisia in the twenty first century. Due mostly to the authoritarian personality of Erdogan and that of Qays Sa’eed, both Turkey and Tunisia appear nowadays to be quasi-democracies. In a nutshell, while there is no reason why a Muslim-majority country cannot become democratic, the concept and practice of democracy cannot be said to be found within the Quran or the structure and conduct of Muslim states in centuries past.
Another claim made by numerous Muslims refers to what those Muslims regard as the equality between men and women in Islam. Islam, we are told, freed women, made them equal to men, and gave them rights that they had never had before. This claim does not seem to be borne out by the available evidence. Some parts of the world, even before Islam emerged, had witnessed matriarchal societies, such as the Middle Eastern Elamite civilization and the European nations of the Sitones. The North American Hopi and the Iroquois Confederacy have been known to give women equal participation in the running of society. The worship of goddesses in the ancient world seemed to be a manifestation of strong female influence in those societies, and the fact that some women actually ruled their nations, e.g., the Egyptian Nefertiti and Cleopatra, suggests that women were not as totally oppressed or marginalized as some Muslims would have us believe. In the Arabian Peninsula itself, even before Islam, women did not appear to be completely disempowered. Bedouin females, for instances, had a significant role in the running of their families and communities. Even in cities, women seemed to have more weight than what is generally assumed. It is said that Omar bin Al-Khattab once commented that the women of Madina had more freedom and a stronger impact on their families and communities than those of Mecca. But even in Mecca, women were not entirely helpless. Muhammad’s first wife, Khadija bint Khuwaylid, was wealthy, largely through inheritance from her family. She actually employed Muhammad as a trader in her business, and she apparently later laid down the condition that if Muhammad was to marry her, he could not marry a second wife while she was still alive. Muhammad obliged. He began to marry more than one woman only after she had died.
Furthermore, within Islam itself, there are elements that point to some glaring inequality between men and women. For example, a man can marry up to four women (An-Nissa’ 3), but a woman can marry only one man. A man can marry a woman from the People of The Book (Christians, Jews, and Sabians) without the need for her to convert to Islam (Al-Ma’idah 5), but a woman cannot marry a man from those religious communities unless he converts to Islam first, although this is not explicitly mentioned in the Quran. A man can divorce his wife (Al-Baqarah 229-232), but a woman cannot divorce her husband. A man’s inheritance is twice that of a woman (An-Nissa’ 11). In financial matters, especially those involving loans and debts, a man’s testimony is worth that of two women (Al-Baqarah 282). Interestingly, the inequality between men and women in Islam is not confined to this world but extends to include the hereafter. The Qurans mentions the existence of breathtakingly beautiful female virgins in paradise (e.g., An-Naba’ 33; Ad-Dukhan 54; Al-Waqi’ah 36-37). The Quran does not specify the number of those virgins that a Muslim man can get, but hadith does. According to one hadith, a Muslim man who goes to heaven shall have two of those virgins (Sahih Muslim, Kitab Aj-Janna, No. 2834), while another states that if a Muslim man dies a martyr, he shall have seventy more of those virgins, making a total of seventy-two of them (Sunan At-Tarmadhi, Kitab Fadha’il Aj-Jihad, Bab Fi Thawab Ash-Shaheed, No. 1663). But, we may ask, what does a Muslim woman get when she goes to heaven? Incredibly handsome males? Apparently not. Although the Quran does not seem to comment on that, Muslims by and large believe that such a woman will have only one man in heaven, namely her earthly husband. No one else.
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Husam Dughman is a Libyan Canadian political scientist, religious thinker, linguist, and an expert on immigrants and refugees. He received his formal education in Libya and the UK. Mr. Dughman later worked as a university professor of political science in Libya. Due to confrontations with the Qaddafi regime, he resigned from his university position and subsequently worked in legal translation. Mr. Dughman has been working with new immigrant and refugee services in both Canada and the US since 2006.
Husam Dughman has published a book entitled Tête-à-tête with Muhammad. He has also written numerous articles on politics and religion. He has just completed the full manuscript of a book which he hopes to have published in the near future. The new book is an in-depth examination of Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and the non-religious school of thought.
