The poetry, the spiritualism, the feminism and all that Islam is kept from us.
We are all aware that many inappropriate labels are attached to Islam , but why are they inappropriate is another matter. In circulation since the years 610 AD, Islam promotes new scientific and technological discoveries, still used in modern times, and claims human rights that our societies today consider inviolable.
While Europe lived a period that is remembered as “saeculum obscurum “[1], the Islamic expansion, that colours on the maps parts of Europe, Africa and Asia, was the guarantor of contact between populations and consequently of exchanges of knowledge that brought gigantic progress in every field of human life.
The dignity of science and knowledge in Islam
Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said, “Allah makes the way to Jannah easy for those who walk the path in search of knowledge.”[2]
Starting from the existence of this Hadith[3] of the Prophet Mohammed ( ﷺ ) and making it clear that the first Ayat[4] revealed to him by Allah (ﷻ) were : “Read! In the name of your Lord who created, he created man from adherence. Read, for your Lord is the Most Generous. He Who taught by the quill, who taught man what he did not know [5]“ it goes without saying the great importance given to knowledge and deepening so that man can raise his own science.
Science is considered an element of human patronage which helps man to understand the divine work and which validates and confirms it. Many, not surprisingly , the scientific phenomena mentioned in the Noble Quran that do not contrast with modern scientific knowledge , among them the stages of embryonic development, the geology of the mountains, the origin of the universe, brain structure commented on by scientists .
“The way it was explained to me is that Muhammad was a very ordinary man. He couldn’t read, he didn’t know [how] to write. In fact, he was illiterate. And we’re talking about twelve [actually about fourteen] years ago. You have someone illiterate who makes profound statements and affirmations and who are surprisingly accurate about the scientific nature. And personally, I don’t see how this can be a simple possibility. There are too many exactnesses and, like Dr. Moore, I have no difficulty in thinking that this is some divine inspiration or revelation that led him to these claims.[6]”
“Go home dirty Muslims”[7]
As is well known, the Middle Ages period is not famous for personal care and public hygiene, but far from it; Focus informs us that “From the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, in Europe the use of water for bathing was discouraged or even forbidden by doctors: water, according to them, opened the pores of the skin through which serious diseases could enter. If a bath was allowed, a day of bed rest was then advised to recover from the alleged weakening of the body.”[8]
Despite the stereotypes of backwardness attributed to Islam and the Arab world in general, we know instead that the muslim Arabs, at the dawn of Islam, had invented modern soap based on caustic soda or vegetable fats and aromatic essences, saving “the Roman tradition of public baths and latrines, as well as the writings of Greek philosophers.”
It is known, in fact, that the Muslim, before the prayer, which is obligatorily observed five times a day, performs the ablution ritual; wodoo .
“O you who believe! When you rise for prayer, wash your face, hands [and forearms] up to the elbows, run your wet hands over your head and wash your feet up to the ankles. If you are in a state of impurity, purify yourself. . If you are sick or traveling or coming out of a latrine or after having approached the women you do not find water, lustration with clean earth, passing it on your face and forearms. Allah does not want to impose anything burdensome on you, but purify and perfect you. of you His grace so that you may be grateful.”[9]
It is interesting and noteworthy that the Prophet (ﷺ) used to use one of the oldest certified dental cleaning tools: the siwak or miswak. Made from a twig of salvadora persica, it is renowned for its benefits on teeth and gums.
Islamic fundamentalism loves women
Islam is misogynistic, it hates women by segregating them on the fringes of society, leaving men to lead it and promoting its patriarchal status quo. This is not quite the case and Islamic “fundamentalism” teaches us exactly this. Let us stop, however, first at the definition of fundamentalism as adherence to the foundations, then by all agreeing on the concept of the “foundation” of a house, we will agree in the same way that the foundations of Islam are its bases and therefore the beginnings of this.
Let’s analyze why the foundations of Islam are guarantors of women’s rights.
In pre-Islamic Arab culture, female infanticide -consisting in burying female daughters alive , throwing infants from cliffs, drowning them in wine or leaving them to be fed to wild animals- was quite widespread and took place for reasons that are still not too clear today, although it is argued that these were barbaric measures of birth control, manipulate the gender ratio or to react to the loss of mothers during childbirth.
“According to the interpretations of the Koran, infanticide was a means for the prevention of poverty and considered a solution for the responsibility of a child. Some sources indicate that males were considered stronger in pagan tribal societies and females constituted an economic burden especially during times of famine because they were less useful. The disappointment of the father and the fear that the female would be held captive by an opposing tribe would have caused shame in the family[10]“
The Hadiths of the Prophet Mohammed (ﷺ), who considered the advent of one or more daughters a blessing and a guarantee of Heaven and a shield from the flames of Hell for the family who had taken care of them with patience[11], and a verse from the Quran[12],whence Allah himself forbids the killing of children in case of famine and invites them to be good parents, intercame to demolish this practice, to say the least nefarious.
In addition to this, the arrival of the Quran and Islam brought with it new guarantees for women; guarantees that there ” were not accorded with equal legal status in the West until many centuries later ” refers Wikipedia according to the attribution in Islam the dowry as a wedding gift, that belongs only and only[13] to the woman herself, and the abolition of the marriage contract “as an immutable status, but rather as a contract, in which the woman’s prior consent remains imperative”.
Another hot potato is the oppressive bandage that wraps and forces the poor Muslim women like mummies from head to toe, while the man can delight and have his infamous four wives.
Again, this is not quite the case. In fact, as the woman is commanded to wear the Hijab[14] and to dress modestly while preserving her purities, in the same way, man is commanded to lower his gaze, not to uncover the parts that go from the navel to the knee, both included, and to observe chastity[15].
As far as it concerns the woman, the hijab is mandatory after the arrival of the first menstruation, but it cannot be imposed , like nothing in Islam, since Allah ( ﷺ
) leaves the humas free to choose . It is important to state that even those who adhere to Islamic rule, have a particular relationship with it – each of them will follow the dictates according to their will and faith, some of them more, some less – as long as it constitutes a unique and individual path for improvement. and total adherence to the rule.
“The most popular forms of clothing in the world today are mainly for exposure and are hardly taken as a cover and protection for the woman’s body. To believing women, however, the purpose is to safeguard their bodies and to regard their private parts as a manifestation of the order of Allah. It is an act of Taqwah (Fear).[16]“
Muslim women then decide to make their body a temple and to preserve beauty for those God has chosen for them.
A religion for men
On his side, the man is allowed four women, as long as the first as well as the last is consenting and as long as he is fair to each of them, in a material, conjugal and affective sense. This Aya descended to safeguard widowed women or more sensitive to society, but the Quran in the next Aya reads “and you will never be right” , so it goes without saying that it is an recommended practice .
The spirituality and Sufi poetry
The close relationship between Islam and spirituality, understood as a path, can be traced immediately in the canonical month of Ramadan, in which we refrain from all passion finding contact with God and with the natural needs of the body through fasting from dawn to sunset; Maghreb.
Food becomes a source of nourishment and water for quenching by fully understanding their importance practicing the art of empathy for those who cannot afford the minimum necessary.
Prayer and meditation, also observed by the Prophet (ﷺ) at the moment of the revelation, on Mount Hira, are an important rituals more than ever in the month of the anniversary of the Quran.
To practice contemplation of the divine and remembering it more than ever is Sufism.
«Sufism in itself is neither a theological-juridical school, nor a schism, nor a sect, since it sets itself above all obedience. It is, above all, an Islamic method of inner perfection, of balance, a source of deeply experienced and gradually ascending fervor. Far from being an innovation or a divergent path parallel to canonical practices; it is, above all, a resolute march of a category of privileged souls, taken, thirsty for God, moved by the shock of His grace to live only for Him and thanks to Him in the picture. of His meditated, internalized, experienced law”[17].
Therefore, nothing more spiritual in the world than what is translation of one’s sensations and analysis of the ego, so Sufi poetry and literature make their way enriching Arab, Persian, Sindhi, Urdu culture. “ In the field of Islamic literature everything that is most universal belongs to Sufism. The spirit of Sufism elevated Arabic and Persian literatures from local lyric or epic to the sublime heights of didactic and mystical literature of universal significance, enriching more than any other Arabic in its prose and Persian in its poetry. Furthermore, many strictly local languages of the Islamic world reached their apogee in the hands of the Sufis, and owe their development and persistence to the genius of Sufi poets.[18]“
The Sufi travels a path of enlightenment structured in 10 stages[19] and 7 degrees[20], where the verses of the Qur’an are of careful study.
“ Rûmî[21] he wrote: “The ways are different, the goal is one. Don’t you know that many paths lead to one goal? The goal belongs neither to disbelief nor to faith; there is no contradiction there. When people get there, the disputes and controversies that arose along the way are smoothed out; and whoever said to each other on the way “you are an impious” then forgets the quarrel, since the goal is only one ».
This is not “overcoming” religion, but “respect” for every religion, as the Koran itself teaches, and the keystone is dialogue. Dialogue has as its purpose the discovery of common values, respect for the values of others, the acquisition of the concept that if we remain each with his own knowledge, we each possess a knowledge, but if we also acquire the knowledge of the other we possess two knowledge. “
Note
[1] “ The term makes use of the traditional concept of light versus darkness in which” darkness “of that era (scarcity of documentation and evidence) was preceded and succeeded by” light “(abundance of documentation and evidence). The concept of “dark ages” originated in 1330 with the Italian writer Francesco Petrarca, who considered the post-Roman centuries to be “dark” compared to the “light” of classical antiquity. [3] [4] The expression was taken up in Latin, as saeculum obscurum , by Cesare Baronio in 1602, to define a tumultuous period in the 10th and 11th centuries . ” {cf. Wikipedia, History}
[2] وعن أبي هريرة رضي الله عنه أن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم قال : ” ومن سلك طريقا يلتمس فيه علما سهل الله له به طريقا إلى الجنة ” ( ( رواه مسلم ) ) . { See . https://sunnah.com/riyadussalihin:1381 ( 241) Chapter : Virtues of Knowledge which is Learnt and Taught for the sake of Allah }
[3] Testimonies of the Prophet’s words or deeds (peace and blessing be upon him) contained in the Sunnah.
[4] Verse of the Koran.
[5] {cf. “The Koran” Sura XCVI Al- ‘ Alaq , The Adherence verses 1- 5, edited and translated by Hamza Roberto Piccardo}
[6] {cf. https://www.islam-guide.com/frm-ch1-1-h.htm- pa rla Dr. TVN Parsaud Professor of Anatomy, Pediatrics, Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba , Canada.}
[7] https://www.ilrestodelcarlino.it/rimini/cronaca/bidello-insulta-bimba-musulmana-1.1504572
[8] https://www.focus.it/cultura/storia/la-storia-delligiene
[9] {cf. “ The Koran ” , Sura V Al-Ma’ida , The Laid Table v . 6 edited and translated by Hamza Roberto Piccardo }
[10] { see . Encyclopedia site : https://it.wikiqube.net/wiki/Women_in_pre-Islamic_Arabia}
[11] { see . https://sunnah.com/adab/4 }
[12] {cf. The Koran, Surat Al- An’am , v 151. Say: «Come, I will recite to you what your Lord has forbidden you and that is: do not associate with Him anything, be good with your parents, do not kill your children in case of famine: we will provide food for you and them}
[13] {cf. The Koran, Surat An-Nisa, v.4 “ And give your wives their dowry [11 ]. If they graciously give you a part of it, enjoy it and let it be propitious to you. ”}
[14] Veil covering the woman’s hair and neck, very different from the Niqab , which leaves the eyes uncovered by covering the face, and from the Burqa which covers the eyes with a net; however the latter, both not mentioned in the Koran and part of a personal decision of the woman or of a cultural heritage that does not concern religion.
[15] {cf. The Koran, Surat An-Nur, The Light, v. 30-31}
[16] http://www.donne-e-islam.it/post.php?idss=73
[17] {cf. Hamza Boubakeur , former rector of the Islamic University of Paris , rector of the Paris Mosque, direct descendant of the first caliph, Abu Bakr }
[18] http://www.puntosufi.it/TEMI12.HTM
[19] The ten stages are: Beginnings, doors, behaviors, virtuous customs, principles, valleys, mystical states, holiness, reality, supreme abodes.
[20] The seven degrees: In the arc of descent, from the macrocosm to the microcosm, from the divine to the soul, they are the divine essence, the divine nature, the world of the informal, the world of the imaginal, the world of perception spiritual, the world of forms, the world of nature and of the human being.
[21] Jalāl al- Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī , ʿālim , Sunni Muslim theologian, and Persian mystical poet, known as one of the greatest authors of Persian Sufi mystical literature .
