Resilience and Qur’an

The dictionary meaning of resilience is an ability to rise from a fall or the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties. And in the context of society or community, Resilience is defined as:

Community resilience is the sustained ability of a community to use available resources (energy, communication, transportation, food, etc.) to respond to, withstand, and recover from adverse situations (e.g. economic collapse to global catastrophic risks). This allows for the adaptation and growth of a community after disaster strikes.

I tried to look for an Ayat in the Holy Qur’an which captures the concept of resilience. I found the following Ayat quite pertinent.

{ وَلَا تَهِنُوا۟ وَلَا تَحۡزَنُوا۟ وَأَنتُمُ ٱلۡأَعۡلَوۡنَ إِن كُنتُم مُّؤۡمِنِینَ }
[Surah Âl-`Imrân: 139]

Do not lose heart and do not grieve, and you are the upper-most if you are (true) believers.

This Ayat was revealed as a consolation for the Muslims after the defeat of Uhud. Which is further elaborated upon in the next Ayat.

{ إِن یَمۡسَسۡكُمۡ قَرۡحࣱ فَقَدۡ مَسَّ ٱلۡقَوۡمَ قَرۡحࣱ مِّثۡلُهُۥۚ وَتِلۡكَ ٱلۡأَیَّامُ نُدَاوِلُهَا بَیۡنَ ٱلنَّاسِ وَلِیَعۡلَمَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّذِینَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَیَتَّخِذَ مِنكُمۡ شُهَدَاۤءَۗ وَٱللَّهُ لَا یُحِبُّ ٱلظَّـٰلِمِینَ }
[Surah Âl-`Imrân: 140]

If you have received a wound, they have received a similar wound. Such days We rotate among the people, so that Allah may know those who believe and let some of you be martyrs – and Allah does not like the unjust.

Battle of Uhud was the point in Islamic History when Muslims were down and out and then they rose up again to a better position than before showing resilience.

Another point was the sacking of Baghdad from which the Muslims again rose up.

But after the subjugation of Colonialism we have yet to see the revival of Muslims as a nation.

SIDE CHANNEL ANALYSIS ATTACKS

ORIGIN AND HISTORY
Side channels emerge because computation occurs on a non-ideal system, composed of transistors, wires, power supplies, memory, and peripherals. Each component has characteristics that vary with the instructions and data being processed. When this variance is measurable by an attacker, a side channel is present. Power consumption, RF and electromagnetic emissions, sound, vibration, execution time and even heat give away information about secret computations.
Intelligence agencies have often relied on side channel attacks to monitor their foes. In one clever incident, the Soviet Union provided a large wooden seal to the American consulate in Moscow.

The wooden seal with bug being presented at the UN

The US ambassador proudly hung it in his office after it had been examined for covert transmitters. It appeared to be clean. Unbeknownst to the ambassador, the seal contained a carefully designed cavity that vibrated in response to sounds in the room. The spies transmitted a radio beam at the seal, measured the beam’s modulation, and recreated the conversations in the room. This listening method went undetected for years.[1] The US complains about this incident in the UN.

SIDE CHANNEL ATTACKS
A side-channel analysis attack takes advantage of implementation specific characteristics, divided into two groups as
(1) Active (tamper attacks): the attacker has to reach the internal circuitry of the cryptographic device
(a) Probing attack: inserting sensors into the device
(b) Fault induction attack: disturbing the device’s behavior
(2) Passive: The physical and/or electrical effects of the functionality of the device are used for the attack
We will discuss the Passive Attacks only as Active attacks require physical intrusion and complete device access.

PASSIVE ATTACKS
If physical and/or electrical effects unintentionally deliver information about the key, they deliver side-channel information and are called side-channels.
Four groups according to the side-channel information that they exploit:
1. Timing attacks (TA)
2. Power attacks (PA)
3. Electromagnetic attacks (EMA)
4. Acoustic (sound) analysis

1. TIMING ATTACKS
Timing attacks are carried out by carefully measuring the amount of time required to perform private key operations. Actual systems are potentially at risk, including cryptographic tokens, network-based cryptosystems, and other applications where attackers can make reasonably accurate timing measurements. To counter this attack either input can be carefully scrambled with random data or the timing could be made uniform and independent of the input by adding random delays.

Power Analysis of Smart Cards (Courtesy: Smartarchitects)

2. POWER ATTACKS:
Power analysis attacks are based on the notion that power consumption of cryptographic hardware is not constant during execution. There are two types of power analysis: simple power analysis recovers information directly by observation of the power consumption of a device; differential power analysis recovers information by exploiting statistical correlations between the power consumption of the hardware and the data being operated on. For countering the case of simple power analysis, it is generally enough to ensure no conditional branches depend on secret data. Preventing differential power analysis is more complicated. For public-key algorithms, it is possible to blind the secret data to achieve the desired defense. Aggressive Physical Shielding and Noise addition in the power consumption signal can also reduce the chances of PA attacks. Power consumption balancing techniques can also be used to counter SPA and DPA. Dummy registers and gates should be added on which (algorithm-wise) useless operations are made to balance power consumption into a constant value.

3. ELECTROMAGNETIC ATTACKS:
Any movement of electric charges is accompanied by an electromagnetic field. The currents going through a processor can give valuable information about the operation being performed according to its spectral signature. Electromagnetic attacks, exploit this side channel by placing coils in the neighborhood of the chip and studying the measured electromagnetic field. To prevent EMA, one has to make the execution flow as constant as possible, or, in other words, independent of the manipulated data. Preventing a program from taking different path depending on the data is therefore useful to make EMA more difficult.

VAN ECK PHREAKING
Van Eck phreaking is a form of eavesdropping in which special equipment is used to pick up side-band electro-magnetic emissions from electronics devices that correlate to hidden signals or data for the purpose of recreating these signals or data in order to spy on the electronic device. Side-band electromagnetic radiation emissions are present in and, with the proper equipment, can be captured from keyboards, computer displays, printers, and other electronic devices.[2]

4. ACOUSTIC ATTACKS:
The electronic components of power supplies vibrate and produce corresponding acoustic noise. This noise is correlated with the ongoing computation; therefore it leaks information about what applications are running and what data they process. To counter this attack sound absorbing enclosures may be used.

NATO TEMPEST STANDARDS
TEMPEST is a National Security Agency specification and a NATO certification referring to spying on information systems through leaking emanations, including unintentional radio or electrical signals, sounds, and vibrations. Protecting equipment from spying is done with distance, shielding, filtering, and masking. The TEMPEST standards mandate elements such as equipment distance from walls, amount of shielding in buildings and equipment, and distance separating wires carrying classified vs. unclassified materials, filters on cables, and even distance and shielding between wires or equipment and building pipes. Noise can also protect information by masking the actual data.
Many specifics of the TEMPEST standards are classified, but some elements are public. Current United States and NATO Tempest standards define three levels of protection requirements:
1. NATO SDIP-27 Level A (formerly AMSG 720B) and USA NSTISSAM Level I
“Compromising Emanations Laboratory Test Standard”
This is the strictest standard for devices that will be operated in NATO Zone 0 environments, where it is assumed that an attacker has almost immediate access (e.g. neighbouring room, 1 m distance).
2. NATO SDIP-27 Level B (formerly AMSG 788A) and USA NSTISSAM Level II
“Laboratory Test Standard for Protected Facility Equipment”
This is a slightly relaxed standard for devices that are operated in NATO Zone 1 environments, where it is assumed that an attacker cannot get closer than about 20 m (or where building materials ensure an attenuation equivalent to the free-space attenuation of this distance).
3. NATO SDIP-27 Level C (formerly AMSG 784) and USA NSTISSAM Level III
“Laboratory Test Standard for Tactical Mobile Equipment/Systems”
An even more relaxed standard for devices operated in NATO Zone 2 environments, where attackers have to deal with the equivalent of 100 m of free-space attenuation (or equivalent attenuation through building materials).
Additional standards include:
• NATO SDIP-29 (formerly AMSG 719G)
“Installation of Electrical Equipment for the Processing of Classified Information”
This standard defines installation requirements, for example in respect to grounding and cable distances.
• AMSG 799B
“NATO Zoning Procedures”
Defines an attenuation measurement procedure, according to which individual rooms within a security perimeter can be classified into Zone 0, Zone 1, Zone 2, or Zone 3, which then determines what shielding test standard is required for equipment that processes secret data in these rooms.[3]

CONCLUSION:
These Side Channel Attacks are highly effective in extraction of Encryption keys of known algorithms. And these attacks have been successfully demonstrated on small devices such as RFID tags, FPGAs and embedded devices as well as Laptops and PCs.
But these attacks are only feasible when some information regarding the algorithm and operation being performed is available a priori. Also they need the process of de/encryption running on the target device, to function. In addition what they can decipher from this Side Channel Attack is only the encryption key; they cannot eavesdrop on the actual data residing on the system. So the scope of these attacks is very limited, and the countermeasures to these attacks are highly infeasible.
What we need to look into with grave concern are the techniques to remotely access data on the system without pervasive intrusion. These techniques come under the general name of Van Eck Phreaking.
The NSA and Department of Defense have declassified some TEMPEST elements but most of it is still classified and whatever is declassified is highly redacted. But nonetheless those declassified standards can be studied and useful information be used in devising a comprehensive Emanation Security Policy.

[1] V.P.S. Nikitha Peddada, Kartheek B.N, “Attacking of Embedded Systems by Using Simple Power Analysis”

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Eck_phreaking

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempest_(codename)

Ilam ud Din v. Emperor, 1930 Lahore

Ghazi Ilam Din Shaheed

Ilam ud Din v. Emperor
A.I.R. 1930 Lahore 157
Ilam Din murdered Rajpal, the publisher of the pamphlet “Rangila Rasul”, on April 6, 1929. Ilam Din was sentenced to death on May 22, 1929. Mohammed Ali Jinnah and Farrukh Hussain filed an appeal to the Lahore High Court against the death sentence. Following is the All India (Law) Reporter record of the case.
A.I.R. 1930 Lahore 157
BROADWAY and JOHNSTONE, JJ.
Ilam Din—Accused – Appellant.
v.
Emperor—Opposite Party.
Criminal Appeal No. 562 of 1929, Decided on 17th July 1929 from order of Sess. Judge, Lahore, D/- 22nd May 1929.
Penal Code, S. -302—That murderer is 19 or 20 years of age and murder prompted by veneration for founder of religion is not extenuating circumstance.
The mere fact that the murderer is only 19 or 20 years of age and that the act was prompted by feelings of veneration for the founder of his religion and anger at one who had scurrilously attacked him, is a wholly insufficient reason for not imposing the appropriate sentence provided by law: A.I.R. 1928 Lah 531, Ref.
[P158 C1, 2]
Mohammd [sic] Ali Jinnah and Farrukh Hussain—for Appellant.
Ram Lal and J.L. Kapur— for the Crown.
Broadway, J.—Ilam Din, son of Talia Mand, a Tarkhan of some 19 or 20 years of age, and a resident of Mohalla Sirianwala, Lahore City, has been convicted of having caused the death of one Rajpal on 6th April 1929, and, under S. 302, I.P.C., has been sentenced to death. He has appealed, and the case is also before us under S. 374, Criminal P.C.
The deceased was a Hindu book-seller having a shop in the Hospital Road. Some little time back he had given grave offence to the Muslim community by the publication of a pamphlet entitled “Rangila Rasul.” He had been proceeded against under S. 153-A, I.P.C., in connexion with this publication, and after a protracted trial, had been convicted in January 1927. His conviction was, however, set aside by the High Court in May 1927.* [Rajpal v. Emperor, A.I.R. 1927 Lah. 590.] The pamphlet was a scurrilous production and had wounded the susceptibilities of certain members of the Muslim community to such an extent that his acquittal was followed by two abortive attempts to murder the author, with the result that it was found advisable to afford him police protection.
It seems that he had recently gone on a visit to Hardwar and, during his absence, the guard was removed. He returned from Hardwar on 4th April and whether the guard had not yet been restored or had been temporarily absented himself (the point is immaterial) he was murderously attacked in his shop at about 2 p.m. on 6th April.
That his assailant intended to cause death is established by the medical evidence which shows that he received no less than eight wounds, seven being incised and one a punctured one. The nature of these injuries also show that Rajpal endeavoured to defend himself, for four of the incised wounds were on his hands. He received a wound on the top of his head that cracked the right parietal bone, two incised wounds above the spine of the left scapula and a punctured wound in his chest. This last pierced the heart cutting the fourth rib and caused almost instantaneous death.
The case for the prosecution is that the appellant purchased a knife from Atma Ram (P.W. 8) on the morning of 6th April, proceeded to the ship of the deceased at about 2 p.m. and attacked him as he was sitting on the gaddi in the outer verandha writing letters. The assault was witnessed by Kidar Nath (P.W. No. 2) and Bhagat Ram (P.W. No. 3) employees of the deceased who were in the shop at the time, the former sitting at work in the inner verandah and the latter standing on a ladder in the outer verandah or room arranging books on the shelves. They raised an alarm, threw books at the appellant who dropped his knife and ran out. He was pursued by Kidar Nath and Bhagat Ram who were joined outside by Nanak Chand (P.W. No. 4) and Parma Nand (P.W. No. 5). The appellant turned into a woodyard belonging to Vidya Rattan, who had seen the pursuit from his office door and who hastened into the woodyard and seized the appellant, being assisted by the pursuers who were on his heels. The appellant is then stated to have repreatedly [sic] and loudly proclaimed that he was neither a thief nor a dacoit but had “taken revenge for the prophet.” Ilam Din was taken to the deceased’s shop, the police were notified and took over the appellant and the investigation.
A very brief report was made by Kidar Nath who said nothing of the assertions made by Ilam Din when he was captured, and did not mention the name of his fellow servant.
On the following day as a result of a statement made by Ilam Din to the Police, the shop of Atma Ram was discovered, and on 9th this Atma Ram picked out the appellant at an identification parade held under the supervision of a Magistrate as the man to whom he had sold the knife found in Rajpal’s shop.
There can be no doubt that Atma Ram could have sold the knife as he had several of identically the same make and pattern, two of which have been produced as exhibits. He stated that he bought these knives at an auction sale of Medical Stores.
M. Jinha [sic] has attacked the prosecution story on various grounds. He urged that Kidar Nath was not a reliable witness because (1) he was an employee of the deceased and therefore, “interested;” (2) he had not stated in the First Information Report (a) that Bhagat Ram was with him, and (b) that the appellant had stated that he had avenged the Prophet. As to Bhagat Ram it was contended he, as an employee, was interested, and as to the rest that there were variations in some of the details.
Objection was taken to the admissibility of the statements made to the police which led to the discovery of Atma Ram, and Atma Ram’s identification of Ilam Din and his testimony regarding the sale of the knife to Ilam Din were characterised as untrue and improbable. (His Lordship after discussing the evidence held that the guilt had been established and proceeded as follows.) Mr. Jinnah finally contended that the sentence of death was not called for and urged as extenuating circumstances, that the appellant is only 19 or 20 years of age and that his act was prompted by feelings of veneration for the founder of his religion and anger at one who had scurrilously attacked him.
As was pointed out in Amir v. Emperor (1): [A.I.R. 1928 Lah. 531.]:
“the mere fact that the murderer is 19 or 20 years of age, * * * * is a wholly insufficient reason for not imposing the appropriate sentence provided by law.”
The fact that Ilam Din is 19 or 20 years of age is not, therefore, a sufficient reason for not imposing the extreme penalty and I am unable to see that the other reasons advanced by Mr. Jinnah can be regarded as affording any excuse for a deliberate and cold blooded murder of this type.
I would, therefore, dismiss the appeal and confirm the sentence of death.
Johnstone, J.—I concur.
V.B./R.K. Appeal dismissed.

*The scanned images of the court order are here

English Translation of Surah Saaffat

1. by those Angels who (for worship or for the audience of the God) stand in rows.

2. then by the angels who chastise (the clouds to move them from one place to another)

3. then by those Angels who recite the Reminder( the Holy Quran)

4. verily your God is one

5. ( the evidence of his Oneness is that) he is the Sustainer of Heavens and Earth and whatever is in between the two and the sustainer of all the rising places and setting places ( of the sun or the stars)

6. We have beautified the nearest heaven( from earth) with the adornment of stars.

7. and (with the same stars) We have protected (this heaven and the divine decrees therein) from every rebellious satan (Jinns)

8. these (satans) cannot hear (what is being talked about in) the Higher Council (of Angels, since no Satan comes near the nearest heaven out of fear of being beaten, but if anyone comes near) they are hit (by fire) from every side.

9. for (their) running away and for them is a perpetual torment (in the Hereafter)

10. Except (the Jinn) who steals some news from the Heavens, a bright flame chases him (and burns him to death)

11. So you (O Muhammad) ask them (who deny  the Resurrection), are they difficult to create (according to them) or what We have created? (which has been described in the previous verses) (Actually you are very easy to make as) We created you with sticky clay (when your father Prophet Adam alaihis salaam was created)

12. But (O Muhammad) you are perplexed (at their disbelief after so many signs) and they make fun (of the Resurrection)

13. and when they are admonished they do not contemplate.

14.and when they see some sign (of your prophethood) they mock at it.

15. and they say (about the sign that) it is nothing except a manifest magic.

16. (They ask) Is it when we were dead and became dust and bones, will we be resurrected?

17. and will our forefathers (be resurrected) too.

18. Say (O Muhammad) yes (definitely all of you will be resurrected) and you will be disgraced.

19. So it (the Resurrection) would be a single blast (the second blowing of the Horn) then instantly ( because of the blast they would become alive and) they would start looking (around)

20. and they will say, Woe unto us, this is the day of Recompense

21. (it would be said to the disbelievers) This is the Day of Judgement which you used to reject

22. (angels would be ordered that) Round up those who have oppressed (themselves with assigning partners to Allah) and their partners (in oppression) and whatever they worshiped.

23. (worshiped) other than Allah. So guide them towards the path of Hell.

24. and (then it will be ordered that) Stop them, they are to be questioned.

25. (so they will be asked) What happened to you? Why do you not help each other (to avert this predicament of Hell)?

26. Rather on that Day they would submit themselves (disgracefully)

27. and they will face each other (and), start questioning (and rebuking) each other.

28. They (the followers) will say (to the leaders, who lead them astray) “It was you, who used to come to us from the right side (with promises and weighty arguments to impress upon us the validity of your falsehood)”

29. They (the leaders) will say, “Rather you (yourselves) were not going to be believers

30. and (you are blaming us unjustly) we did not have any power over you, rather you (yourselves) were a transgressing people.

31. So the word of our Lord has been established upon us (due to our disbelief) that we all will have to taste (the torment)”

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31. Our Lord’s word has become true for us, we are surely going to taste (the torment).

32. So We lead you astray, (because) we ourselves were astray.

33. So they all would share (accordingly) in the torment ( of Hell)

34. In the same manner We deal with the sinners.

35. They were those when it was said to them (that) there is no god except Allah they behaved haughtily.

36. And they say “Shall we really leave (worshipping) our gods for (the sake of) a delusional poet?”

37. (This is not true) rather he ( the Prophet) came with the Truth and he affirmed all the messengers (who were sent before him)

38. Verily you shall taste the Painful Torment.

39. You shall not be recompensed except for what you had been doing.

40. Except the chosen bondsmen of Allah (they would not taste the Painful Torment).

41. They are the ones for whom there is a known provision.

42. (Provision of different types of) fruits. And they would be respected.

43. (They are) in the gardens of pleasures.

44. (They are sitting) on couches while facing each other.

45. And they would be presented with a cup of flowing wine.

46. (The wine is) white colored, delicious for the drinkers.

47. Neither headache is present therein (i.e. in the wine) and nor would they become drunk due to it.

48. And with them would be beautiful eyed women restricting their gaze (to their husbands)

49. Like they are hidden eggs (due to their unspoiled beauty)

50. So some will face others and start asking each other.

51. A talker among them will say, “I had a companion”

52. He would say, ‘Are you from among those who affirmed (the messengers)?’

53. ‘Is it when we die and become dust and bones, will we be (resurrected and) recompensed?’

54. He (the Paradise dweller) will say (to his companions in Paradise), ‘Why don’t you have a look? ‘

55. So he will have a look and see him in the middle of the Hell (being tormented)

56. He (the Paradise dweller) would say, ‘By Allah, you were about to destroy me ( if I followed you)’.

57. And if it was not for the blessings of my Lord, I would definitely have been among the herded people (brought forth for the punishment).

58. (He will exclaim in awe) Are we then not going to be dead

59. other than our first death (in the world) and will we not be the tormented?

60. This is, indeed the greatest success.

61. For this kind (of success) strivers must strive.

62. Is this (the Paradise) a better feast or the tree of Zaqqoom? (which is in the Hell)

63. We have made this (tree) a test for the oppressors (the Mushrikeen, as they laugh at the impossibility of a tree growing in the fiery Hell)

64. It is a tree that sprouts from the base (depths) of the Hell.

65. Its fruits are like they are heads of devils (due to them being hideous)

66. So they (the dwellers of Hell) have to eat from it (its fruit despite it’s hideousness) and they have to fill their stomachs with it (due to extreme hunger)

67. Then there is on top of it (i.e. after consumption of Zaqqoom) a drink mixed with (super) hot water.

68. (After such an agonizing feast) then there return is to the (fire of) Hell.

69. Indeed they found their forefathers astray.

70. And they were hastening along their (forefathers’) footsteps.

71. And before them, from among the people of yore, many have gone astray (too).

72. We had (also) sent among them the Warners.

73. So see, how (bad) was the end of (those who were) Warned.

74. except the chosen servants of Allah (since their end was good).

75. Nuh had called upon us (for help) and (We accepted his prayer, since We are) the best of repliers.

76. We extracted him and his people from the Great Grief (the drowning in the Deluge).

77. And We made (only) his progeny to be the remaining ones (i.e. the humankind sprang forth from only the progeny of Nuh).

78. We left (good word) for him in the later people.

79. (which is) Peace be upon Nuh among (the people of) the worlds.

80. This is how We reward the ones who do good deeds.

81. Verily he (Nuh) was from our believing servants.

82. Then, we drowned the others (who disbelieved).

83. And verily from his (Nuh’s) group was Ibrahim.

84. (It is worth remembering) when he came (i.e. paid attention) to his Lord with a pure (from Shirk) heart.

85. (It is also worth remembering) when he said to his father and his people, “What is it that you worship?”

86. Do you intend (to worship) false gods other than Allah.

87. Then what do you think about the Lord of the worlds?

88. Then he (Ibrahim) cast a gaze at the stars.

89. and said, I am sick.

90. So they turned away from him.

91.

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English Translation of Surah Yaseen

1. Ya-Seen.
2. By the Qur’an (which is) full of Wisdom.
3. You (O Muhammad) certainly are from the messengers.
4. (and are) upon the right path.
5. (This Qur’an is) sent down by the All-Mighty and the Compassionate.
6. so that you admonish (from Allah’s Punishment) those, whose forefathers were not admonished, so they are unaware (of the message of Islam).
7. The word (in Allah’s Knowledge) has been established about most of them that they are not going to believe.
8. We have placed collars in their necks which extend up to (their) chins so (due to which) their faces are upwards (so they cannot see the right path).
9. we have erected a wall in front of them and a wall behind them and we have covered them (completely) so (due to which) they do not see (the right path).
10. It is all the same for them, if you admonish them or you do not admonish them, they are not going to believe.
11. You can only admonish the one who heeds the advice and fears the Most Merciful without seeing (Him), so give him glad tidings of forgiveness and noble reward.
12. We will certainly resurrect the dead and we are writing what they have sent ahead (their deeds) and what was left behind by them (the effects of their deeds), and we have enumerated everything in a manifest book.
13. and tell them (the disbelievers) the story of the people of the town, when the messengers came to it.
14. When we sent two (of the messengers) to them, they rejected them both, then We strengthened the two with a third (messenger), so they all said “we are indeed messengers (of Allah, sent) towards you”.
15. They said “You are none but only (ordinary) men like us and the Merciful has not sent down (revealed) anything; You are but lying (about your claim of being a messenger)”.
16. They (the messengers) said “Our Lord knows that verily we are sent (as messengers) towards you.”
17. “Nothing was incumbent upon us except to deliver clearly (the message).”
18. They said “We deem you ominous, if you don’t refrain (from preaching) we will stone you, and a painful torment will surely befall you from us”.
19. They (the messengers) said “Your evil omen is with you, just because you were admonished (you think we are cursed), rather you yourself are transgressors”.
20. and a man came running to them from the farthest end of the town (and) said “O my people, follow the messengers.”
21. “Follow those who do not ask you for reward and they are on the right path”
22. “What is my excuse that I do not worship the One Who has created me and to Him everyone will be made to return.”
23. “Shall I take other than Him (as) gods, (that) if the Merciful decides (some) harm for me, their intersession will not avail me anything and neither will they (be able to) wrest me (from this harm).”
24. “(if) I (take them as gods), then, indeed am in a manifest error.”
25. “I have indeed believed in your Lord so listen to me (and believe in Him)”
26. (instead they killed him, no sooner had they killed him) it was said (to him), “Enter the paradise.” He said “if only my people had known
27. that my Lord has forgiven me and made me from amongst the honored (people)”
28. And We did not send down on his people after him an army (of angels to punish them) from the heavens and neither were we going to send down (the army, since we did not need it)
29. It was nothing but a terrifying shriek (of an angle, upon listening to it) they all were instantly extinguished (killed).
30. Woe unto the people, no messenger came to them (except) they mocked him.
31. Did they not see how many generations before them have We decimated, that (because) they did not come back (from their false religions) to them (the prophets)
32. and indeed (in the Hereafter) all (of them) will collectively be brought before us.
33. And a sign (of our power of creation) for them is the dead earth, We resurrected it (by rain) and We brought out grain (of different crops) from it, so from it they eat.
34. and We made in it (in the earth), gardens of date palms and grapes and caused to gush forth in it from (several) springs.
35. so that they eat from their fruit; and their hands did not produce it (the fruit), then will they not thank (the One Who created these fruits).
36. Pure (from every imperfection) is the One Who created pairs of everything from what the earth grows and (created pairs) from among themselves (man and woman) and from those they do not know.
37. And a sign for them is the night, We skin the day off of it, so instantly they become engulfed with darkness.
38. and (another sign is the) Sun, (it) is moving towards its appointed destination, this (destination) is appointed by the All-Mighty and the All-Knowing.
39. and (another sign is the) Moon, We have appointed for it phases until (after much waning) it returns to (a shape) like an old branch of date palm (since that branch is thin and curved)
40. Neither can sun catch the moon (when it is glowing in the night) nor the night can come before the (appointed end time of the) day and all of them (sun and moon) are floating in their (respective) orbit.
41. and a sign for them is that We boarded their progeny in a laden ship (as people would send off their sons for business)
42. and We created for them from among its (ship’s) like, on which they ride (camels, horses etc)
43. and if We want We can drown them, then there will be no responder to their cries, nor will they be salvaged.
44. except (as) a mercy from Us and a benefit until an appointed time (We give them respite)
45. And when it is said to them, ” Guard against (the Punishment) which is in front of you (about to fall upon you in this world) and which is behind you (the Punishment in the Hereafter) so that mercy is shown to you” (they do not heed)
46. And never does a sign from the signs of their Lord come to them except they turn away (from it)
47. And when it is said to them, “Spend (on poor and needy) from that (wealth) which Allah has given you.” The disbelievers say (mockingly) to the believers, “Shall we feed those, if Allah wanted, He would have fed them; you are indeed in a manifest error.”
48. And they (the disbelievers) say, “When will the Promise (of Resurrection) happen, if you are truthful?”
49. They are not looking (waiting) except for a single terrifying shriek (the first blow of the Horn) which will seize them while they would be squabbling.
50. so they will not be able to make a bequest and neither will they (be able to) return to their families (for they would die instantly)
51. And (again a second time) the Horn will be blown, then from their graves they would start walking hurriedly towards their Lord.
52. They will say, “Woe upon us, who has woken us from our sleeping place?” (The believers will say) This is what the Merciful had promised and the messengers had told the truth (about it but you did not believe)
53. It (the second blow of the Horn) will be nothing except a single terrifying shriek (from which) instantly they all would be brought before us.
54. So on this Day no one would be oppressed a bit and you will not be recompensed except for what you had been doing.
55. Verily the people of Paradise on that day would be engaged (with the blessings of the Paradise and) happy.
56. They and their spouses would be in shades, sitting on thrones, reclining against pillows.
57. They will have (all kind of) fruit therein and they will have whatever they demand.
58. “Peace (be upon you)” is the word (said to them) from the Compassionate Lord.
59. (It will be said to the disbelievers on the Day of Judgment) “Separate yourselves (from the believers) today, O Sinners.”
60. O mankind (and Jinns) did I not get a promise from you that you will not worship the Satan, he is your manifest enemy.
61. and that you worship me (alone), this is the straight path.
62. and he (the Satan) had misguided a large number of creation from among you, (and the resultant torment of their disbelief had been told to you by the Messengers), so did you not reason? (that if you disbelieve you will meet the same end)
63. (So now) this is the Hell which was (on the account of disbelief) promised to you.
64. Today, enter it (the Hell) because of your disbelief.
65. Today we will seal their mouths and their hands will talk to us and their feet will bear witness to whatever they had been doing.
66. If We want we can erase their eyes (take away their eyesight) then they would scramble to find the way, but how would they see (without their eyes)
67. If We want we can (as a punishment for their disbelief) disfigure their faces (turn them into pigs and monkeys) at their places (cripple them) then they will not be able to go forward or go backwards.
68. And whomever we age (in years) we reverse his physical condition (in old age all physical and mental abilities become weak and child-like), do then they not understand (that the One who can convert your physical condition is also capable of converting you into animals; so disbelievers should use their mind and stop disbelieving)
69. And We have neither taught him (the Holy Prophet) the poetry nor is it befitting for him, it (the revelation which disbelievers called as poetry) is not except a reminder and an oft-read book that explains (everything necessary for life in this world and the Hereafter).
70. So that it (the Qur’an) admonishes the one who is alive (i.e. has an understanding heart) and so that the word (of torment) is established upon the disbelievers.
71. And did they (the disbelievers) not see that We have created for them, from among the things that We made with Our hands (without any helpers) cattle, and then they become their owners?
72. and We have subdued them (the cattle) for them. So from among them (some cattle) are their transport and from among them (some) they eat.
73. and for them (the disbelievers), there are benefits and drinks (of milk) in them, so do they not then thank (Allah for these blessings).
74. and they take other than Allah as gods (thinking) they might be helped (by those false gods)
75. they (the false gods) are incapable of their help (rather they are unable to help themselves) and they (the disbelievers) are an army for them brought forth (to help the false gods in the face of any aggression towards them in this world).
76. So their words (of you being a poet or a magician) should not sadden you. We certainly know what they hide and what they make public (We will recompense them accordingly)
77. Did not the Man see that We have created him from (a drop of) semen, then instantly he became an open disputant (to Us)
78. and he gave a similitude for Us (that he compared Our power with his power) and forgot his creation, and said “Who will resurrect the bones once they have decomposed?”
79. Say (O Muhammad), “He who created them the first time will resurrect them and He knows all of the creation.” (therefore He knows where every particle of the body is)
80. (He will resurrect them) Who has made fire for you from the green tree, so that you kindle (your) fire from it.
81. Is not the One who created the heavens and the earth, capable of creating likes of them (the deniers of the Resurrection)? Why not? (He can easily create them), He is the All-Knowing Creator.
82. Verily His way (of creation), when He decides (to create) something, is that He says to it “Be” and it comes into being.
83. So, Pure (from every imperfection) is He Who has the dominion over everything and to Him you shall be returned. 

(27 Ramadan, 1441 AH, 21 May, 2020 – 6 Shawwal, 1441 AH, 29 May 2020)

Age of Aisha Razi Allahu Anha at her Marriage

There is a lot of hue and cry these days, about the age (6 years) of Aisha Razi Allahu Anha at the time of her marriage with the Prophet Sallallaaho Alaihi Wasallam. Orientalist writers as well as certain Muslim scholars criticize this event of Islamic history. Orientalists present this event to malign the image of the Prophet Sallallaaho Alaihi Wasallam. While those Muslim scholars, unable to mitigate the effect of this criticism, begin to attack the very foundation of the event and claim it to be untrue, so as to ‘disinfect’ the character of the Prophet Sallallaaho Alaihi Wasallam. Their inability is due primarily to their application of contemporary ideas about morality to a society fourteen hundred years away from theirs. This is called Presentism [*] (which is a mode of historical analysis in which present-day ideas, such as moral standards, are projected into the past.). The practice of Presentism is regarded as a common fallacy in historical writing.[1]

This phenomenon of accusing the Prophet Sallallaaho Alaihi Wasallam marrying a minor is rather new if we compare different allegations raised against him throughout the history of Islam. His detractors used every possible slur to belittle him and his mission but did not even consider this to be a sign of moral ‘degradation’ as some would have us now believe; otherwise they must have raised the heavens about this behavior. This allegation surfaced only in the beginning of Twentieth Century in the writings of certain Orientalists.

“The first condemnatory note comes in Mohammad and the Rise of Islam (1905) by the British orientalist David Margoliouth. He calls Muhammad’s marriage to Aisha an ‘ill-assorted union… for as such we must characterise the marriage of a man of fifty-three to a child of nine.’”[2]

This was, perhaps because their moral values were also undergoing a sort of Renaissance regarding the age of consent; the age of consent for girls was 13 years before it was raised to 16 in 1885.[3] But before the Twentieth century there is not a single instance of this accusation, which proves beyond doubt that marriage with a minor had never been a sign of moral turpitude across the cultures.

In the beginning the western authors who wrote about the Prophet’s Sallallaaho Alaihi Wasallam life “tended to adopt either condescending or condemnatory tones; the latter increased in the frequency and stridency as the twentieth century wore to a close….. These authors were writing before hysteria about child sexual abuse had taken hold in the American imagination. By the last decade of the twentieth century and especially the first decade of the twenty-first, Aisha’s age had become a favorite argument of anti-Islam polemicists, especially but not exclusively online.”[4]

Also the interpreters of Hadith, who have left no stone unturned in explaining the Ahadith in such a manner that is befitting to the immaculate character of the Holy Prophet Sallallaaho Alaihi Wasallam, have done nothing to explain away the Hadith of Marriage Aisha, rather they report scholarly consensus about marriage at early age[5]; had marrying a minor an ugly prospect in the society and a sign of depravity, they must have done everything to explain away this so-called discrepancy.

I would like to address one observation of the deniers of any tradition/Hadith about early marriage of Aisha Razi Allahu Anha that if marriages of minors were a cultural norm and tradition, why we don’t see many examples of such marriages. I say they are ignorant or oblivious of Islamic History, and they are arguing from their ignorance. If one doesn’t know something, it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. Here below I mention several instances of early marriages from the Islamic History.

1. Amr bin Al Aas became father of Abdullah bin al Amr in the age of eleven years.[6]
2. Abdullah bin Aamir bin Kuraiz became father at the age of thirteen years.[7]
3. Hazrat Muawiya bin Abi Sufyan married his daughter Hind with the same Abdullah bin Aamir bin Kuraiz when she was nine years old.[8]
4. Hisham bin Urwa bin Zubair married his cousin Fatima bint Munzir bin Zubair when she was nine years old.[9] Hisham is one of the main narrators[10] of the Hadith of age of Aisha, so his acting upon this Hadith is a clear sign of the authentication of the Hadith.
5. Imam Laith bin Sa’ad narrates that Abu Saalih told him that a person told him that his daughter is pregnant at the age of ten.[11]
6. Abu ‘Aasim Zahhaak bin Makhlad said, “My mother was born in 110 AH and I was born in 122 AH”.[12] Which means his mother was twelve years old when he was born.
7. Imam Laith bin Sa’ad narrates that Abu Saalih told him that a woman became pregnant in his neighborhood at the age of nine.[13]
8. Umar bin Al Khattaab married Umm Kulsoom bint Ali bin Abi Taalib while she was a minor.[14]
9. Abu Bakar Jassaas Razi narrates that the Prophet Sallallaaho Alaihi Wasallam married Salamah the son of Umm e Salamah with the daughter of Hamza while both were minors.[15]
10. Ali bin Abi Taalib married Umama bint Abi Al ‘Aas [grand-daughter of the Prophet Sallallaaho Alaihi Wasallam] when she was around twelve years of age, give or take two years. As the Prophet Sallallaaho Alaihi Wasallam once prayed while she was sitting on his shoulders; she was a toddler,[16] and this happened after Hijra in Madinah. Ali married her[17] right after the death of his wife Fatimah who died in Ramazan 11 AH.[18]

First six instances were taken from an article by Mufti Muhammad Saeed Khan from his magazine Al Hamid printed in 2011 [Jamadi us Saani, 1432 AH].[19] These instances, as they have been recorded without any scruple or qualm on the behalf of the concerned writers, are a testimony beyond any doubt that marriage of minors was a norm in the Arab culture.

Not only in Arab but it was a norm across cultures, which have been practiced by some cultures up until very recently. “Whether in India, China or Eastern Europe, in the pre-industrial period (and in many areas, even today) marriage age for women tended to be in the mid-teens, immediately after puberty. Shah Wali Allah married at fourteen, and when a scholar in fifteenth-century Damascus raised eyebrows by becoming a father at eleven it was because folk at the time were impressed, not outraged. In some US states, such as Georgia, the legal age of consent for women was as low as ten well into the twentieth century.”[20]

Another way of tackling with this so-called conundrum has been developed during the twentieth century. That Shaikh Wali ud Deen Khateeb, the author of Mishkaat ul Masabeeh has narrated that  Hazrat Asmaa was 10 years older than Hazrat Aisha, and she died in 73 AH at the age of 100. So at Hijrah her age would be 27 and Hazrat Aisha’s age consequently would be 17. Maulana Syed Sulaiman Nadwi has thoroughly answered this flimsy argument in his book Seerat e Aisha. [21]

—————————————————————————————————–

[1] Historian’s Fallacies by David H Fischer, 1970, p. 137

[2] Misquoting Muhammad by Jonathan A. C. Brown, p. 384

[3] Politics of Sexuality – Identity, Gender and Citizenship by Terrell Carver, Veronique Mottier, p. 24

[4] The Lives of Muhammad by Kecia Ali, pp. 115,116

[5] Fathul Baari by Ibn Hajar, v. 9, p. 96

[6] Siyar A’laam un Nubala by Zahabi, v. 3, p. 79

[7] Siyar, v. 3, p. 19

[8] Tareekh Al Dimashq Al Kabeer by Ibn ‘Asaakir, v. 74, p. 138

[9] Al Kaamil fi Zu’afaa ir Rijaal by Ibn ‘Adi, v. 7, p. 256

[10] Mutoon e Hadith Per Jadeed Zehan Kay Ashkalat by Dr Muhammad Akram Virk, p. 324, Eighteen different chains of this narration have been enumerated by the writer, one of them contains Hisham bin Urwa.

[11] Al Kaamil, v 5, p 343

[12] Siyar, v. 9, p. 482

[13] Al Kaamil, v. 5, p. 343

[14] Tabaqaat by Ibn Sa’ad, v. 10, p. 429

[15] Ahkaam ul Qur’an by Jassaas Raazi, v. 2, p. 344

[16] Tabaqaat, v. 10, p. 39

[17] Tabaqaat, v. 10, p. 18

[18] Tabaqaat, v. 10, p. 29

[19] Kamsin Bachon ki Shaadiyan

[20] Misquoting Muhammad, p. 392

[21] Seerat e Aisha, p. 272

[*] Q: Arguing from presentism invites this challenge: if we shouldn’t evaluate historical epochs through today’s morality, then why should we impose “their” standards on this age?

A: Morality in Islamic parlance is derived from the Quran and Sunnah, which makes it absolute.

Which means even if something from the moral standards is changed by a certain community e.g. same sex marriage etc. it doesn’t supercede the Islamic morality.

What the West profess is a volatile moral standard which is still evolving; after same sex marriage and gender identification to be only a function of mind, they have yet to overcome the hurdle of legalization of incestuous relationships.

So volatile cannot be used to criticize the absolute, since whatever is legal today no one knows if that would be legal in the future.

What e are talking about here is the changing standards of morality. Any order from Allah transcends man made subjective moral standards.

For example death on apostasy can not be waived off just because today’s moral standards dictate freedom of Religious association.

Forty Ahadith about Qualities of Jumua

I thank Allah Ta’ala for giving me the opportunity to translate the book ‘الاربعين في خصائص الجمعة’ and for thus enabling me to emulate, to a certain degree, the prestigious efforts of the scholars who collected forty Ahadith of the Prophet Sallallaaho Alaihi Wasallam, such as Abdullah bin Mubarak, An Nawawi, and Ibn Hajar. [You can download the translated book from: Qualities of Jumua.] The tradition of collection of forty Ahadith among the Muhadditheen has its roots in the Hadith: “Whosoever memorizes and preserves for my people forty hadith relating to their religion, Allah will resurrect him on the Day of Judgment in the company of jurists and religious scholars.” In another version, it reads: “Allah will resurrect him as a jurist and religious scholar.”

This translation was not an easy task; as translators know, quite very often the meaning is lost in the translation, and when it is the matter of the sayings of the Prophet Sallallaaho Alaihi Wasallam, utmost care is needed in their translation since any misrepresentation or misquotation of the Holy Prophet Sallallaaho Alaihi Wasallam may land one in Hell fire as narrated in the famous Hadith, ‘Whosoever lied upon me knowingly, should make [Hell] fire his abode.’ But this difficult task was somewhat eased by the already extant English translations of Sihah Sitta (The Famous Six Ahadith Books i.e. Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmazi, Abu Dawud, An Nasaa’e, Ibn Majah).

I am very grateful to my teacher and mentor, Maulana Fazlullah Shamzai Daamat Barakaatuhum for giving me the opportunity of translating his book as well as showing confidence in me that I could do it. It was his constant reminders that kept me on my toes and made this translation possible, which had a bleak chance of completion given my inherent procrastination.

Extra care has been taken to translate the book and the Ahadith, but since it is a human endeavor, errors might have crept in, so this would be highly appreciated if someone finds any error and informs the translator.

In the end I have to profess that whatever error in the translation or otherwise is found in the book is from me only, and whatever good there is in the book is from Allah alone.

May Allah Ta’ala accept this humble endeavor and make this an asset of Akhirah for the translator, the proof reader and whosoever helped in any way in its publication. Aameen.

Muhammad Imran Khan

mikhan76@gmail.com

24^th April, 2016

Leaders and the Idea of the ‘Other’

Keeping in view the Pareto principle, generally speaking any group of people comprises of 20% of leaders and 80% of followers. This ratio may vary but not very drastically. The followers will always be much greater in numbers than the leaders; this is how the distribution pans out, even historically. And there is a further distribution among the leaders, about half of them are good and the other half are evil. Whichever half seizes the power, it just have to control the other half and the rest 80% would follow easily. This is true for any group; political, religious, sectarian or ethnic.

These leaders good or evil, once they seize power, need to perpetuate their power dominion, albeit via different approaches. On the internal front, the leaders try their best to neutralize or suppress the other half through any means possible. But to counter the perceived external threat to the group’s existence, they employ radically different strategies. The good leaders always bring out the commonalities with the other perceived enemy groups provided that the other group is not led by the evil kind. But the evil leaders accentuate the differences of their group from the ‘other’ groups. This creates the concept of ‘other’, which is a legitimate target and a fair game, just because they have different attributes than yours, even if the commonalities between the two groups are manifold than the differences. This image of ‘other’ is created by the evil leaders who are in power through constant propaganda and indoctrination at the grass-root level education.

Example of nations led by evil leaders would be Germany (Hitler), US, Israel, UK, India etc. They silent any internal dissension through brutal force or connivance, while for ‘other’ nations they always carve up an image with accentuated differences to justify any aggression. Statements like they are uncivilized barbarians, they are undemocratic, they need to be liberated, they are against our liberty, are hammered into the global consciousness so vociferously that certain element among the ‘other’ start to speak up against the group.

Example of nations led by good leaders is the Muslim nation led by the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and the four rightly guided caliphs. They brought forth the commonalities with the other groups [1] like in the case of Negus, the king of Ethiopia and Maqooqus of Egypt. But when they encountered evil leaders, they fought with them to rid their respective groups from the tyranny of those evil leaders like in the case of Kisraw of Persia and Heraclius of Rome. In this regard, an answer of a companion, Rabee’ bin Amir who was sent as an envoy to Rustam, is worth mentioning, when Rustam asked him, why had they come to their land. He said.

“Allah has sent us forth to take Allah’s servants out of the service of humans and put in the service of Allah, and deliver them from the confinement of this world to the vastness of the Hereafter, from tyranny of religions to the justice of Islam.” [2]

Allah Ta’aala in 9:12 explains the same phenomenon of evil leaders misguiding their groups and to maintain amicable relationship with other groups the good leaders must fight the evil leaders.

“But if they violate their oaths after their covenant, and taunt you for your Faith,- fight ye the chiefs of Unfaith: for their oaths are nothing to them: that thus they may be restrained.”

[1] 3:64 – Say: “O People of the Book! Come to common terms as between us and you: That we worship none but Allah. That we associate no partners with him; that we erect not, from among ourselves, Lords and patrons other than Allah.” If then they turn back, say ye: “Bear witness that we (at least) are Muslims (bowing to Allah’s Will).
[2] Ibn Katheer, Al Bidayah wan Nihayah, v 7 p 39.

Church Attack – According to which Shariah?

The attack on a church in Peshawar was termed as according to Shariah by the Taliban spokesperson, even though they did not participate in the attack, he says. This requires some scrutiny as to which Shariah they are professing to follow. If they abide by the Shariah that emanates from the Quran and Sunnah, they must be out of their minds to attribute such a big lie to the Shariah which they have no knowledge of and they must be prepared to answer Allah (swt) in the Hereafter.

Then those who forge the lie against Allah, after all this, __ they are the transgressors. [3:94]

Let’s have a look at the Quran and Sunnah, what they say unequivocally about the rights of non Muslims in a Muslim state. Allah (swt) says in the holy Quran:

….. Had Allah not been repelling some people by means of some others, the monasteries, the churches, the synagogues and the mosques where Allah‘s name is abundantly recited would have been demolished. Allah will definitely help those who help Him (by defending the religion prescribed by Him.) Surely Allah is Powerful, Mighty. [22:40]

Imam Qurtubi says in the explanation of this Ayah:

“Ibn Khuwaiz Mandad said: This Ayah entails the prohibition of the destruction of the synagogues, churches and the houses of fire of non Muslim citizens of a Muslim state.” [Al Jami’ li Ahkam il Quran, Al Qurtubi, v14 p410]

Is this the Shariah they aspire to follow? Let’s see what Sunnah says about this matter:

Rasoolullah sallallaaho alaihi wasallam killed a man from Muslims who had killed a non Muslim citizen, and he said “I am most worthy of acting upon our agreement with non Muslims.” [Musannaf Ibni Abi Shaibah v9 p290]

“… that Nabi sallallaaho alaihi wasallam killed a Muslim for (killing) a non Muslim citizen” [Fathul Qadeer v23 p186]

Rasoolullah sallallaaho alaihi wasallam conquered Khaiber and kept the populace on their worshipping places which were there and he did not destroy them. And because the Companions conquered a lot of cities but did not destroy any of the worshipping places there. [Ahkaamu Ahliz Zimmah p225]

And this is what Hazrat Umar bin Abdul Aziz said in a letter to his governors:

“Don’t destroy churches, synagogues or houses of fire on which they have made pact with us as citizens.” [Musannaf Ibni Abi Shaibah v12 p343]

In Fiqah Hanafi this is clearly stated that the worshipping places of those non Muslims who are citizens of a Muslim state would not be destroyed, even when attacking the non Muslim territories people in the churches etc would not be killed:

In Siyar al Kabeer it is written that no Ascetic in his church will be killed, and nobody from the dwellers of synagogues will be killed who don’t join the combatants. [Mirqaatul Mafateeh v12 p101]

The first Caliph when he was dispatching Yazeed bin abi Sufyaan he advised him thus:

“… in the near future you would pass by some people who would be in their worshipping places, they would have shut themselves in those places, you should leave them as they are …” [Sunan Saeed bin Mansoor v2 p148]

Imam abu Yousuf al Qazi says in Kitab ul Khiraaj:

“… that Abu Ubaida al Jarrah made a pact with the people of Syria when he conquered it that he would leave their churches and synagogues unharmed.” [Kitab ul Khiraj p138]

Allama Shami in Raddul Muhtar says:

“… Churches which are present in the Muslim State as of now apart from Jazeeratul ‘Arab, all of them should not be destroyed.” [Radd ul Muhtar v16 p201]

This is what Shariah based upon Quran and Sunnah dictates, and attributing the recent attack to be according to the Shariah is preposterous and amounts to slandering it. May Allah guide us to the Right Path. Ameen.

Hudood Ordinance: A Misconception Regarding the Rape Victim

The other day I happened to see Munawwar Hasan, who is the leader of a mainstream religious party in Pakistan – Jamaat e Islami, cornered by a host of some TV program about Hudood Ordinance. And mind you it was not a good feeling for me to watch the president of a religious party being grilled over an issue of Islamic Law, as I happen to have some knowhow in the Islamic Law. He should have directed the host to someone well versed in the Islamic Law rather than showing arrogance to hide his ignorance of such intricate legal matter.

The question raised by the host loosely put was that according to Hudood Laws if a victim of rape approaches the court with a plea against the rapist but could not prove her accusation, she would herself be liable to punishment of adultery/Zina, isn’t it unfair, as a lot of women are suffering in jails owing to this illogical law.

Let us discuss different important parts of this question. Firstly, it implies an assumption that since a woman is claiming a rape, while the accused is denying it, it confirms at least admission of adultery/Zina on her part. But this assumption arises from the ignorance with the Law and especially Islamic Law. Since when a woman is claiming rape she is in effect admitting that she was not a willing party to the act. So how can a court of law take such an illogical decision of condemning her to jail, let alone a Shariat court, which has clear injunctions regarding the rapist and the raped in the Quran[1], Sunnah[2], and Fiqh[3] and precedents in the Sunnah of Khulafa I Rashideen[4].

Secondly, this question claims that many women are suffering in jails due to this law; this is one of the most hackneyed rhetoric of liberals in Pakistan who want to repeal the Hudood Ordinance[5]. Answering this Justice (Retd.) Mufti Taqi Usmani in his Pamphalet titled “Kia Hudood Ordinance main Tabdeeli Mumkin Hay?” writes,

“I incidentally had been presiding over the hearing of Hudood Ordinance case for seventeen years, first in Federal Shariat Court and then in the Shariat Appellate Bench of Supreme Court. In this long span of my job I don’t remember any case in which a woman came with the complaint of Zina bil Jabar (rape) and she was awarded the punishment for Zina bil Raza (adultery) while the man went scot free.”[6]

So this rhetoric of liberals is a misconstrued apprehension if not a deliberate lie. It would be enlightening to see if they can come up with real concrete statistics along with court order to substantiate their rhetoric.

[1] 24:33. …. But force not your maids to prostitution when they desire chastity, in order that ye may make a gain in the goods of this life. But if anyone compels them, yet, after such compulsion, is Allah, Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful (to them),

[2] Narrated Abu Juhaifa ra, “Prophet sallallaaho alaihi wasallam avoided the Hadd (punishment) from a woman who had been compelled (raped)”, narrated by Tabarani. (Majma’ uz Zawaaid v6, p270)

[3] “If a woman is raped there is no Hadd on her, and there is Hadd on the rapist. …. And this is the opinion of Abu Hanifa, Ibrahim Nakhai’ and our Fuqaha in general” Muwatta Imam Muhammad p309.

[4] “A slave used to take care of the slaves of Khumus(Treasury). He raped a slave girl from those slaves. Umar bin Khattaab ra lashed him and banished him, but did not lash the slave girl on the grounds of her being raped.” Muwatta Imam Muhammad p308, Muwatta Imam Malik p350.

[5] Nadeem F. Paracha tows the same line in his article in Foreign Policy, “Secular or moderate Islamic scholars can distinguish between what the Prophet Mohammed taught, and the more modern laws that condemn blasphemers to death or the hudood laws that have imprisoned thousands of women in jails for rape. Their rape. ” Just look at the word ‘thousands’ how conveniently the learned journalist uses this figure to bring out sympathies of his unsuspecting readers against the Hudood Ordinance without a hint of remorse for being a liar of highest degree.

[6] Mufti Taqi Usmani, “Kia Hudood Ordinance main Tabdeeli Mumkin Hay?”, p7

The Purpose of Life

The time was passing away quietly and so was my life. I would have passed away quietly, unheard of, had it not happened. This was not an accident, not an incident but a shock wave, which wreaked havoc with my mind. It was like a bolt of lightening. I wanted to suppress the thought but it was so overwhelming that I was helpless.
It has been about three or four years that I started the quest for truth. As you know that in this causal world, there is no effect without a cause, therefore there had to be something that triggered this thought process in my mind. It was the view of the road that did this. I saw people moving, some in their cars, others on their bicycles, some young and some old. They were all sorts of people. I had been seeing this same scene since my childhood but on that particular day it had a different impact on me. It dawned upon me that the way these people lived their lives was useless.
Whenever, you see a person standing in front of you, he has got a whole history behind him. It is not that he has been alive only for that particular instant that he was in front of you but the fact is that he has spent many years in this world before this instant. So all these people moving on the road made me look at their past. I looked at a very aged person and I said to myself that after some years he is going to die. So what exactly would he have done in his entire life? The more I thought, the more I realized that for all probability, he would have done nothing extraordinary. He would have been born at some point in time and space. He would have grown up, would have gone to school, might have topped his class. After his education, he would have got a job with a company. Later he would have got married. He would have had children. In the meantime, he also might have risen to the highest post in his company. Then he would have retired. Then he would have arranged the marriages of his children and finally, after sometime, he was going to die.
So this was the whole history of this man, pretty normal it would seem. But that was what started the thought process in my mind. I said to myself “So this is life, but is it really life?” This was a very odd question indeed. First, I had to validate this question. I had to find out whether this question was worth asking or not. And as I kept thinking about it I realized that this was the worthiest question to be asked.
I’ll give an example to illustrate this. Let us consider a donkey. He is born at a particular date. His mother teaches him everything she knows and he also learns from experience. He also gets married, and has offspring. He also earns his living by carrying weights or doing other manual labor. In the end, he will also die and so his life cycle is going to come to an end. Comparing this with the life of a man as stated above, the obvious question would be, “what is the difference between the life of a man and that of a donkey?”
The answer to this question was very vital for me because if I could not find it, it would mean that I’m as important or in other words as useless as a donkey. With the grace of Allah (Subhana-hu-wa-Ta’ala), after a lot of effort I found the answer to it. The difference between a human life and that of the donkey is Islam.[1]

If a person is acting according to Islam, he is superior to all the creatures, but if a person is not acting according to Islam, he is like a donkey or even worse than that. Allah (Subhana-hu-wa-Ta’ala) says in the Holy Quraan:
“Many are the Jinns and men we have made for Hell: They have hearts wherewith they understand not, eyes wherewith they see not, and ears wherewith they hear not. They are like cattle,- nay more misguided: for they are heedless(of warning).” ( 7.179)

PS: (This article was written almost fifteen years back, and the idea behind it was a real life changer for me. Later I found something to that effect in “The Preaching of Islam” by Thomas Arnold where the author narrates an incident about the Tartars entering Islam. A Tartar prince asks a Muslim Shaikh if this dog is better or you? The Shaikh replied if I die on the faith that I profess then I’m better otherwise the dog is better then me. The Prince was impressed, and asked about the faith and accepted it and after sometime when he become the king professed it, and so all the Tartars entered Islam.)

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[1] “I did not create the Jinns and the human beings except for the purpose that they should worship Me.” (51:56)