Arab News translates an interesting piece from the Saudi Arabic economic daily Al-Eqtisadiah commenting on the phenomenon of child marriages in Saudi Arabia. The writer is correct in assuming that stories about such marriages make it into the ‘believe it or not’ columns of foreign newspapers. The stories do challenge belief. Saudi Arabia is supposed to be (and promotes itself as) an at least modern country, so when it is seen to condone practices that, for most people, went out of date centuries ago, it boggles the mind.
Stories like that do much to feed the imaginations of those who prefer to see the Kingdom as a relict culture in dire need of shaking up. It also calls into question the role of the religious police who, ostensibly, are there to enforce moral behavior. If they can somehow look at paying for a 10-year-old wife as moral, you have to wonder. They seem to constrict themselves beyond reason by adhering to what’s written or not written, completely abrogating any role for human reason or compassion. I have pity for the daughters of men who find this behavior acceptable.
We need a law for mercy
Abdullah Bajubeer I Al-EqtisadiahIS it right, or is it at all possible, to have a law or a set of regulations for mercy similar to the regulations that monitor the financial market, traffic and the real estate industry?
Is it apt to make such a law while our religion is a religion of mercy and our God, Allah Almighty, calls Himself the Merciful? Is it suitable to have this kind of a law when the Holy Qur’an speaks in many of its verses about mercy and the Prophet’s tradition is replete with calls for mercy?
I am almost tempted to call for such a law to protect our children from the cruelty of their parents and to prevent the marriage of our 10-year-old girls to men in their 60s and 70s.
I have felt sick reading such stories in our newspapers and asked: Who can save our innocent and pure children from abuse? I feel that such news would be published in foreign newspapers under the “Believe It Or Not” category.
Then came the news that the Wadi Hashbal police released a Saudi citizen who was detained for marrying his 10-year-old daughter to a man in his 70s.
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August:13:2008 - 09:16
[...] John) [...]
August:13:2008 - 09:16
They seem to constrict themselves beyond reason by adhering to what’s written or not written -
But hey, at least if they are merciless they can’t be accused of being “bad Muslims”, can they?
August:13:2008 - 09:16
Solomon do you believe that being Muslim is synonymous with being merciless? I disagree…it is the individual’s choice and beliefs that make them merciless or merciful. It is not a right of passage in Islam that a Muslim should deem themselves merciless. We should not mix barbaric culture with Islam.
Concerning constricting I find there is much contradiction concerning what is written….
There is contradiciton concerning what is not written…
People back then married young. People back then did not marry their young off for such high prices to buy luxury cars. People most likely married their young off for survival and we need to keep in mind the life expectancy was shorter.
August:13:2008 - 09:16
do you believe that being Muslim is synonymous with -
I don’t think that what I believe matters here. I’m asking if, by being “merciless”, the authorities are thus avoiding the social stigma of being labeled “a bad Muslim”. If so, the deeper question is if they would be more inclined to be merciful if their society evaluated people differently.
We should not mix barbaric culture with Islam.
I shudder whenever somebody uses the word, “should”. It usually means there is a big disconnect between what is desirable and what is actually happening and seems unlikely to change for the better any time soon. I’ve spent time with non-Arab Muslims who assure me that Arabs are the barbarians in Islam, and with Arab Muslims who insist that Islam “is our religion, and we can do with it what we want.” And all too often, it seems, what is wanted is to seek power, wealth, and “dignity” at the expense of others, rather than through mutual gain.
August:13:2008 - 09:16
Well stated and good questions…for the first part of your response. Muslim societies in general do need to start viewing people differently shall we say a more merciful light.
I have met many arrogant Arab Muslims like you have commented on in your second part that is why I am saying we “should not” (not a good idea) mix barbaric culture with Islam.
There are arragont Jews like the Muslims you described especially orthodox Jews who can be very tied down more by culture and who are driven more by greed than by mutual gain?
August:13:2008 - 09:16
I am an Orthodox Jew, and I know a number of other Orthodox Jews, even one or two criminals (now in jail), but I don’t know think I know any Orthodox Jews who have used, or contemplated using, their religion or observance as a pretext, justification, or instrument for illicit or un-mutual gain.
August:13:2008 - 09:16
Solomon2 most Orthodox Jews I have ever encountered didn’t really care to care about anything other than themselves in terms of “who cares what Muslims are doing, thinking, believing etc.” It is all about me me me and those like me me me whatever goes on in the secular world has nothing to do with me me me.
I don’t like making generalizations but what I am saying is that within every religion we can find groups or sects who believe they are diviner or better than the others…
August:13:2008 - 09:16
I tend to like Reform Jews more. Sorry no offense to you. They are friendlier. I am from Pittsburgh.
“The Pittsburgh Platform is a pivotal 19th century document in the history of the American Reform Movement in Judaism that called for Jews to adopt a modern approach to the practice of their faith. The Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) adopted it in 1885.
This founding document of what has come to be called “Classical Reform” ideology was the culmination of a meeting of Reform rabbis from November 16-19, 1885. It explicitly called for a rejection of those laws which have a ritual, rather than moral, basis. An example of a ritual rejected by the Pittsburgh Platform is kashrut, or the observance of Jewish dietary laws. These ritual laws were seen as detracting from Jewish life in the modern era by placing undue emphasis on ritual, rather than ethical considerations.
Instead of a nation, the Pittsburgh Platform envisioned Jews as a religious community within a nation. For this reason, there was an explicit rejection of Zionism, which was viewed as unnecessary because American Jews were at home in America. The Pittsburgh Platform also calls for a recognition of the inherent worth of Christianity and Islam, although it still held that Judaism was the “highest conception of the God-idea.”
The Pittsburgh Platform helped shape the future of American Reform Judaism by calling for American Jews to engage in acts of social justice. Today this principle is adopted by the Reform Movement among others through their commitment to Tikkun Olam (the repair of the world).
There were many early leaders of the “Classical Reform” ideology, including Rabbi Kaufmann Kohler, Isaac Mayer Wise, and David Marx.”
August:13:2008 - 09:16
Also the reform Jews invited me to study with them. The orthodox Jews basically closed the phone on my face and said they couldn’t help me!
August:13:2008 - 09:16
Interesting how we’ve moved away from the topic of this post…
I think most Jews I know, like most Americans, are primarily concerned with their own families, not running the lives of others. Americans generally care greatly about how they are perceived. However, I think many Jews, especially Orthodox Jews, are convinced after many attempts to demonstrate otherwise that most Muslims judge them by their religion and creed rather than by their deeds and character. That makes some apt to greet Muslims, when meeting for the first time, with a hard and wary edge that would not be experienced by a non-Muslim in the same situation.
That does not mean, however, that Muslims are not recipients of charity from these Jews, that Muslims are not judged by Jews without mercy, or that Muslims and Jews can’t do business together for mutual profit. Because many Jews decide to engage in good deeds and conduct regardless of how Muslims think of them, simply because their gut tells them it is the right thing to do. At the same time, there may be resentment that these efforts are not returned in kind, or acknowledged. Am I making sense here?
August:13:2008 - 09:16
I understand what you are saying.
All I am saying is a little introspection (into our own beliefs) is called upon every now again especially when we are having a go at someone else.
I got your drift concerning your point of merciless being a cover to protect them, so they won’t be called or looked upon as bad Muslims. However, like I said the notion of being mericless is not a concept of Islam and is more a product of culture…like the honor killings.
King Abdullah has shown his mercy time and time again. The only way to change this notion is through more good examples like him and from other good people.
August:13:2008 - 09:16
I tend to like Reform Jews more. Sorry no offense to you.
Been there, done that.
They are friendlier…the reform Jews invited me to study with them. The orthodox Jews basically closed the phone on my face and said they couldn’t help me!
Don’t take it personally, if you were seeking to study Torah or Talmud with the Orthodox, they would probably refuse because of the rabbinical prohibition forbidding Muslims to study these subjects with Jews (Christians are permitted). If I recall correctly, the ostensible reason is because Muslims can’t approach these books as “holy” in the way Jews and Christians can, and thus study with Jews and Christians might damage a Muslim’s belief in monotheistic religion.
Of course, one effect of this prohibition was that in Muslim countries it became difficult to charge Jews with trying to convert Muslims to Judaism – a capital offense – if Jews themselves prohibited Muslims from studying with them. Reform Judaism, having been established in Europe a mere 300 years ago and lacking much dangerous exposure to Islam, naturally takes a more relaxed and open view of such matters.
King Abdullah has shown his mercy time and time again. The only way to change this notion is through more good examples like him
A good ruler can be a fine thing, but Americans didn’t build this country and its freedoms through trusting the mercy of princes.
August:13:2008 - 09:16
Solomon2 thank you for your explanation. The whole idea of putting someone to death for trying to convert Muslims needs further study and the whole idea of putting someone to death for leaving Islam needs to be studied as well.
That aspect of Islam never sat well with me. Like “Now we have you, you can never leave us or death to you” I think God wants us to be sincere to ourselves and not puppets because what will that count for in the end? I would be living a lie. It needs to be debated and studied further in the Muslim community. I think John brought that point up too.
If I need to change my mind one hundred times that is my prerogative and who knows it might lead me back to where I started (that is real faith). Although I believe I am always learning and growing and am learning to see and appreciate the beauty in other faiths and spiritualities.
August:13:2008 - 09:16
Thank you for this discussion, Sparky. I’ve thought a lot about Muslim-Jewish dialogue, and a lot about how Muslims need to change to make this possible. Not until now did I realize that there was something Jews should consider changing to facilitate this.