Preface:
In the name of Allah, the Extremely Merciful, Especially Merciful
O Nourisher, increase me in knowledge and wisdom. Open my heart so that I may learn and express myself.
The questions are everywhere, and we dodge them, or hide from them, but we cannot make them go away. We should not even try to. That realization hit me one day as my teenage daughter asked me yet another question about equal rights for Muslim women, and I felt myself respond anxiously and defensively. In a blessed moment, this thought came: Was Islam not strong enough for each new generation to wrestle with it, and to find their life’s guidance in it? Did I think Islam was fragile? I was finally able to see what was behind my daughter’s repeated questions and critical analysis. What she was doing was simply trying to make Islam her own, to understand it in the context of modern times, not simply in the context of the past. Yet here we were, mother and daughter, stuck in this tug of war between old and new perspectives, immigrant and American-born views, the generation gap looming like a chasm before us. Would we ever bridge the gap?
It also took me a while to realize that this struggle was not unique to us. As I talked to more and more parents with strong, outspoken, critically thinking daughters in all continents, I came to realize that this was a scene replayed in every home where people think and engage with Islam. My generation was trained to be accepting and obedient, and we simply didn’t see as much conflict between traditional values and modern society. Our children are growing up in diverse societies, in schools that value critical thinking and individuality, and they are not trained to swallow all that we give them hook, line, and sinker. Are we ready to reexamine our faith with them? Or will we stick to the perspective we grew up with, refusing to budge at all?
Islam is for all times, is a statement we have heard endlessly, yet maybe it is up to us to make it true by being able to take the solid, basic principles of Islam, and have the wisdom to understand their application in modern times.
Alhamdolillah for the wisdom of our elders, who studied and wrote tirelessly, lighting the way for us with their piety, dedication, and scholarship. We could not even begin to understand Islam as we do, without their guidance. Yet, we cannot simply take their analysis as the final word. We need to go back to the book of Allah and extract the timelessness from it, using our own critical thinking and good judgment. If we find certain principles to be impractical in modern times, what new principles and limits can we craft for ourselves? If we don’t do this, the danger is that our youth will throw the baby out with the bathwater, and simply do as society teaches them to, and while there are many values in modern times that are worth emulating, in many areas of life, people have left all restrictions behind, falling prey to greed and lust, with devastating consequences.
How can we take the best of our religion and find the best of societal values and see how they complement each other? How can we examine the clashes and contradictions and come to a better understanding about them? This annotation of the chapter of Marriage from Maulana Muhammad Ali’s The Religion of Islam, is one such effort, undertaken in a spirit of sincere seeking.
I owe mountains of gratitude to Allah, the blessed Prophet Muhammad, my parents: Saadat Ahmad and Rifat Ahmad, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Maulana Muhammad Ali, Dr. Zahid Aziz, Aafia and Aarif Ahmad, Samira Ahmad and Habiba Anwar for helping in this journey. Humaira Azhar has been my honest, wise, and fearless companion, sharing her thoughts freely and openly, and helping me see Islam through her young, bold, and discerning eyes. I hope we use this book as the starting point of many productive discussions about the applicability of this beautiful religion in our lives.
The majority of the text is from Maulana Muhammad Ali’s Religion of Islam, which has been abridged by Dr. Zahid Aziz. Only minor changes have been made in the language of this text by Maulana Muhammad Ali. The annotations have been added are in a different font, to distinguish them from the original writing.
The chapter about Ijtihad (logical reasoning), which starts this work, shows how ardently Maulana Muhammad Ali believed in critical thinking and independent reasoning, and how he clearly never saw the pious predecessors as infallible. One can reasonably conclude from Maulana Sahib’s opinions on ijtihad, that he would not consider his writing the final word on any subject as well. He believed in critical thinking. I like to think that he would be happy that his writing was being used as a continual solid foundation for Islamic learning, with minor additions and changes as befit the times, and benefit the public good.
Zainib Ahmad
Austin, Texas
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