Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Sharia Law documentary on Hilla

Hasan Mahmud, the author and producer of the Docu-Movie “Hilla” is driven by justice in general and justice for women in particular, a fundamental value of Islam. Indeed, if Islam were to be defined in one word, it would be Justice.
There were a lot of practices that Islam had negated but continue within a few societies. Culture runs deeper than religion, and some of the primitive practices like honor killing, female genital mutilation, and instant divorce without the consent of the wife continue till this day, even though Islam prohibits it.
Hilla is one such instrument; a deviant deterrent for men and women not to rush to divorce. If they do, the woman had to marry another man and fully consume the marriage and then if that other husband divorces her, she can come back and re-marry the first husband. What an agony! Even business is carried in such temporary marriages. Darn, that is again without her consent, the prophet liberated women and said, if a woman is unhappy with the marriage she can initiate divorce, it was a feminist idea in the 7th century while women were considered chattel everywhere in the world including Europe.
The Sharia laws like all other laws were devised to serve regret free justice. However the implementers have been men and mis-application of the law continues where ever there are divorces. Indeed, no society is free from the misapplication of laws including our own U.S of A. We have put many innocent people on Electric Chair in Texas.
This Docu-Movie is about dealing with Hilla marriage under Sharia law. The dialogues and characters of the Imam, father, bride, the teacher and college educated girl are authentic and are set in tiny Bangladeshi town. The language is Bengali with English subtitles. I have lived in a small village and a town and I can relate with the originality of the screenplay. I was absorbed and watched the 90 minute movie in one sitting.
When the movie Lagan was released, I wondered who is going to watch three hours of Cricket and the guys hitting the balls and fielders chasing it. But the movie became a classic and I have seen it twice and it’s been shown all over the world including Latin American resorts.
This documentary is gripping and dialogues are fascinating.
The Imam and the adopted father of the woman (her departed father’s friend and the Village-chief) want the marriage restored, as the husband, inadvertently uttered the words Talaq (divorce) three times inadvertently; it means the end of marriage, the divorce is final. What an oppressive tool!
They gather in the public square and bring all the books on Islamic jurisprudence, the Sharia books to read through to find solutions. It is a very powerful scene; the fact that so many books were to be read with different opinions will open up the eyes of those who are entrenched with a singular view. The local Imam asks the reader to read Imam Abu Hanifa and Imam Shafii opinion as well. This deliberation needs to become a part of the culture to bring about a positive change. At the end the Quran wins in restoring Women Rights. A happy ending to the tension the viewer endures.
Hasan has subtly introduced a new norm in a small town environment. It encourages research and truthfully portrays the differences in opinions, it opens up people’s hearts and minds to do the basic thing; Justice.
Please watch and share
Scroll down for each one of the 15 parts of about 6 minutes each.
# # #
Mike Ghouse is a speaker, thinker, writer and a frequent guest on Hannity show and nationally syndicated Radio shows and Dallas TV, Radio and Print Media. He presides America Together Foundation and is committed to building a cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. Over 1000 articles have been published on Pluralism, Interfaith, Islam, India and cohesive societies. Two of his books are poised to be released this fall on Pluralism and Islam. He is available to speak at your place of worship, work, school, college, seminars or conferences. His work is encapsulated in 27 blogs, four websites and several forums indexed at MikeGhousedotnet.

Muslim women and Gender issues in Mosques

At a school in Canada, the volunteers put a temporary barrier between high school boys and girls within the same cafeteria space for the Friday congregational Prayers. A Canadian Muslim organization is plugging the gender issue here to complicate the matters. You cannot tag that as a gender issue if you understood the culture of not only Muslims, but Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Zoroastrians. Full story at- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ghouse/muslim-women-and-gender-i_b_896904.html

Mike Ghouse is a speaker, thinker and a writer on Islam, Pluralism, interfaith and cohesive societies – All his work is indexed at www.mikeghouse.net

Saturday, July 16, 2011

SHARIA ISSUES IN 2012 AND SOLUTIONS.

www.ShariaLaws.com

Sharia will become a dominant theme in the 2012 Presidential Elections; the one who speaks the loudest earns the tea party support. I am not sure if we the Americans would gulp down their rhetoric or would have the time to question the veracity of the comments made by the candidates.



The responsibility falls squarely on us, the American Muslims to become contributors and participants in the well being, peace and prosperity of America. Muslims together, we can do it.
We are considering a Sharia conference in every major city in the US, it will be professionally developed with the help of our Imams and Scholars and those who have problems with it. We have to answer every possible question answered in the power point presentation each time a question gets asked.

If you have the will, it’s easy to do it.

Muslims together can work and build a safer and secure America for every one of the 301 Million Americans. This is your conference in your town, organized and managed by you. I hope all of us can call ISNA, CAIR, ICNA and other national organizations to take this project up.

We can do this for under $ 5000.00 per city. I have done over 40 events including the ones over 600 attendees within that budget. We should not expect the national organizations to put this event out, we have to do it on our own with their supervision to standardize the event. You’ll have to raise the funds locally- 100 Muslims $50/each or other combinations will do it. The question we have to ask is, are we willing to do it or find it comfortable to talk about our love of Islam without doing a thing.
I am a volunteer and will be happy to assist anyone anywhere.
Together we can come up with great plans and just do it.
For the starters, I have pulled a few key articles together; there are much better articles out there, Insha Allah, we will gather them all and urge Muslims to post on their sites, the more places it is published, the better off we are.

10 ARTICLES

The articles range from simplicity for a lay person to understand ( Sumbul, Nezar , Nasim, Amjad and Mike’s articles) to Mainstream press writing ( Amy Sullivan and Justin Elliott), to Scholarly presentations ( Dr. Yusuf Zia Kavakci and Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq) . I hope to gather articles that are critical (Plenty) of Sharia as well. If you know a great article, please share, together we can complete the spectrum and add value to its understanding. I further request that you post this on your site or ask those who have a site to post. The more it shows up in search engines, the better off we are collectively.

As American Muslims we are committed to the safey, security and prosperity of every American. That's a pledge we take and act upon it.
------ ------
Sharia in one Gulp by Mike Ghouse
Sharia in its simplest form is a how-to manual based on the Qur'an and the Hadith (Prophet Muhammad's sayings). It is a human effort to understand the concept of justice enshrined in the Qur'an for day-to-day living.

-
http://sharialaws.blogspot.com/2011/07/sharia-in-one-gulp.html
-
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ghouse/sharia-law-not-in-america_b_653250.html

------ ------

What Sharia law actually means – Justin Elliott

Sharia is more than simply "law" in the prescriptive sense. It is also a methodology through which a jurist engages the religious texts to ascertain divine will. As a jurist-made law, the outcome of this process of ascertaining divine will is called fiqh (positive law), which is the moral and legal anchor of a Muslim's total existence.
http://sharialaws.blogspot.com/2011/02/what-sharia-law-actually-means.html

------ ------

Who's Afraid of Sharia? – Sumbul Ali Karamali

Hasn't the whole notion of shariah in America gotten a bit out of control? No, it hasn't -- it's gotten hugely, obscenely, ignorantly out of control. Aha! The six principles must be about killing infidels, veiling women, stoning people for adultery, honor killings and female genital cutting, right? Nope.


------ ------

Sharia the law system inspired by the Quraan - Wikipedia

Sharia is often referred to as Islamic law, but this is wrong, as only a small part is irrefutably based upon the core Islamic text, the Koran. Correct designations would be "Muslim Law", "Islam-inspired", "Islam-derived," or even "the law system of Muslims."This is well known to most Muslims, yet Sharia is always referred to as "based upon the Koran", hence it is the "will of God."http://sharialaws.blogspot.com/2011/03/sharia-law-system-inspired-by-quraan.html

------ ------

Sharia is Not what you think it is – Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid

When some American pundits call sharia, "a growing threat to the United States," Muslim Americans wonder what in the world are they talking about. Sharia is overwhelmingly concerned with personal religious observance, not with constitutions and laws.


------ ------

The Myths of Sharia Law in America – Amy Sullivan

If you are not vitally concerned about the possibility of radical Muslims infiltrating the U.S. gove
rnment and establishing a Taliban-style theocracy, then you are not a candidate for the GOP presidential nomination. In addition to talking about tax policy and Afghanistan, Republican candidates have also felt the need to speak out against the menace of "sharia."
http://sharialaws.blogspot.com/2011/07/myths-of-sharia-law-in-america-httpwww.html

------ ------

Sharia Value – Dr. Mohamed Omar Farooq

"While Islam under the leadership of Prophet Muhammad brought liberation and freedom from human bondage and ushered in scientific, technological, economic and cultural progress as part of a dynamic civilization, the Shariah as it is being presented today seems to do (and probably promise more of) just the opposite. Why? In this essay, it is argued that one pivotal problem has to do with some fundamental misunderstanding about Islam and Shariah.


------ ------

Sharia, Fiqh and Islamic Law – Imam Dr. Yusuf Ziya Kavakci Dr. Kavakci is one of the 500 most influential Imams in the world
Sharia recently became a hotly debated subject. Archbishop of England made a statement at the middle of many statements, that has given the opportunity of Islamic law and Shari to be discussed and debated by westerners and some times the discussion apparently was taken out context. It is, as I believe, a fact that Sharia, Fiqh in its early stages got established and developed in the wide area of the world, mainly where Roman law was dominant.
http://sharialaws.blogspot.com/2011/07/sharia-fiqh-and-islamic-law_15.html

------ ------

Demystifying Sharia - Nasim Rehmatullah and Amjad Mahmood Khan

Shariah is a misunderstood and misused concept. Critics of Islam frequently employ terms like "creeping shariah" to stoke fear amongst the masses. The Park 51 controversy and the increasing media focus on Islam provide an opportunity to educate Americans about the true teachings and practices of Islam concerning shariah.http://sharialaws.blogspot.com/2011/07/demystifying-shariah.html

------ ------

Sharia law is not a threat – Nezar Hamze, Cair


You can’t turn on the news these days or pick up a newspaper without seeing or reading about Islam, Muslims or Sharia law. Unfortunately, most of what you hear is from politicians with a religious viewpoint or media outlets creating an illusion of an enemy.

------ ------
LINK TO THIS ARTICLE: http://sharialaws.blogspot.com/
------ ------

Mike Ghouse committed to nurturing the pluralistic values embedded in Islam. More about him at www.MikeGhouse.net

Monday, July 4, 2011