Islam: Judaism's True Reform Movement
By Maria Hussain <togethertalk@...>

Jewish-owned newspapers, magazines, films, and TV shows often obsess
on Islamic cultural practices and beliefs, from the veil and polygamy
to the virgins of paradise promised to suicide bombers. The Islamic
religion is considered uncivilized, demeaning to women, and sexually
perverted. Ironically, the medieval Muslims were also very fascinated
with the sexual practices and superstitions of Jews that they
considered backward. Much of Islamic scripture [ahadith] reveals the
intimate nature of conversations early Muslims had with nearby Jewish
tribes about how they did things. They would then come to the Prophet
to get his ruling on each issue. The Prophet Mohamad's reasoning
behind either allowing or forbidding each Jewish tradition is
discussed in great detail in the formulation of Islamic Laws. Most of
the Islamic code of family law is based on, or else exists in direct
confrontation with the then-existing Jewish Law.

For example, a man came to the Prophet and said, "The Jews claim that
coitus interruptus is minor infanticide." The Prophet said "The Jews
have lied, the Jews have lied. If Allah wished to create a child, you
would not be able to prevent it." On these grounds, Islam allows
birth control.

One can gain a lot of detailed insight about medieval Muslims'
attitude towards Jews in the Middle East, as painstakingly recorded
in their oral tradition. There exists a deep familiarity, while at
the same time thinking of them as "Other." There is definitely some
animosity there but it is an ethnic tension borne of daily social
interactions. It is not blind animosity growing from the fear of the
unknown. I think Jews today are largely unaware of how much Muslims
know about their ancient history and traditions. Unlike the prevalent
Jewish intellectual attitude towards Muslims today, the attitude of
early Muslims regarded the Jews living in their midst as fully human
and worthy of deep respect. But, they could also be wrong.

When one of their women had her period, the Jews used to put her out
of the house, and they would not eat, drink, or sleep with her in the
house. The Prophet was asked about this and he said, "Be with them in
the house, and do everything except for intercourse itself." When the
Prophet himself wanted something from one of his wives who was on her
period, he put a cloth over her private parts, caressed and fondled
her and did whatever he wanted.

The Jews said: "This man wants to leave nothing which we do without
doing something different." The Asyad ibn Hudair and Abbaad ibn Bishr
came to the Prophet and said: "O Messenger of Allah, verily the Jews
say such-and-such, should we not then have sexual intercouse during
menstruation?" The Prophet's face changed such that they thought that
he was enraged with them, so they left. As they were coming out, they
saw a gift of milk being brought to the Prophet. The Prophet then
sent someone after them to give them a drink of milk, so they felt
that he was not actually angry with them.

In relation to the Jewish menstruation question, the Prophet Mohammad
was inspired with this Quranic verse: "They ask thee concerning
women's courses. Say: They are a hurt and a pollution: so keep away
from women in their courses." The Quranic prohibition against sex
during menstruation seems to be worded in concern for the woman's
health and physical comfort. Blood flow out of the vagina is not
supposed to be blocked and pushed back into the body because it
contains impurities that the body is in the process of shedding. The
Prophet then commanded in relation to a man who enters his wife while
she is on her period as follows: "Let him give one dinar in charity,
or one half dinar."
One dinar is just 4.25 grams of gold.Therefore Islam seems to have
taken the stigma and misogyny out of the menstruation taboo, while
still honoring the Jewish tradition by keeping it as a small sin.
Likewise, Islam honors the Jewish prohibition against sodomy, while
otherwise allowing complete freedom of marital intercourse.

The Ansaar [the Muslims of Medina], who had been polytheists, lived
with the Jews who were people of the book. The former viewed the
latter as being superior to them in knowledge and used to follow
their example in many things. The people of the book would only make
love to their wives from the side, this being the most modest way for
the woman, and the Ansaar had followed their example in that. These
people from the Quraish [Meccans], on the other hand, used to expose
their women in an uncomely manner. They took pleasure in them from
the front, from the back, or laid out flat. When the Meccans came to
Medina at the time of Hijrah, [when the Muslims fleed from Mecca
under attack by the ruling pagan government], one of them married a
woman from among the Ansaar, and began doing that with her. She
disapproved of it and told him: 'We used only to be approached from
the side, so do that or stay away from me!" This dispute became very
serious until it reached the ears of the Prophet. Another time, the
Prophet's companions came to him saying, "The Jews used to say that
if a man entered his wife in the vagina but from behind her then
their child would be cross-eyed!"

So after that, Allah revealed the verse: "Your wives are a tilth unto
you; so approach your tilth when or how ye will." Thus, Islamic Law
reformed the Jewish Law by legalizing every sexual position as long
as it used the entry which produces children. No wonder the Jews
thought Mohammad was a terrorist!

In the Islamic viewpoint, Jewish Law is deeply flawed because it was
rewritten by the hands of men over the course of thousands of years.
Therefore it is regarded as sacred yet suspect. The Jewish Law had
become so ritually complex and difficult for anyone to comply with
that the majority of Jews simply gave up and became "secular," or
else they would create loopholes to get around the law.

The Quran talks of some Jews who broke the Sabbath by putting their
fishing nets in the water on Friday afternoon and coming back on
Sunday morning to get the fish. God cursed them as pigs and monkeys
because their greed had caused them to lose their humanity. Due to
previous widepsread non-compliance with the holy commandment, God in
his great Mercy, cancelled the Sabbath. Again, Islamic Law revised
the Jewish Law. Now, all that God requires is a mid-afternoon prayer
in congregation, after which one is welcome to work until midnight,
if one so chooses.

So God, through the Quran, called the Jews to transcend their tribal
rituals for a universal faith with laws that were much more lenient
and made more practical sense but retained the same basic ideas of
the previously revealed sacred law. Mohammad in Islam is the Last
Prophet. He is the only person with the permission from God to reform
the Jewish Law that originated from the pre-Mohammadan Muslims of
Judea. The ancient Jewish rituals were purified of superstition,
simplified and made such that a relaxed person follow them.



* Shaykh Muhammad Naasir-Ud-Deen al-Albaani: The Etiquettes of
Marriage. Ipswich, U.K: Jam'iat Ihyaa' Minhaaj Al-Sunnah, 1998.



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