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but nobody
must be forced to marry someone they cannot love. As
incompatibilities do not always become apparent until
after some time, Islam permits divorce after all efforts
of reconciliation have failed.
With certain quite strict conditions, it also
permits a man to marry more than one woman - limiting the
total number of wives he may have to four - so as to
protect a wife from being abandoned in favour of another.
The moral outrage at this by modern secularists is
hypocritical, as they do not at all limit the number of
side-step partners a person may have outside marriage,
but do not afford any of them proper rights as a
partner.
Islam insists that where a man has more than one
wife, he must treat them financially and with regard to
the time he spends with and the care he gives each of
them equally, emphasising that this is an almost
impossible task. No woman should simply be used for the
sexual gratification of a man without any obligation for
her upkeep and continuing welfare. Whilst there is a
conditional acceptance of polygamy in Islam, a woman may
not have more than one husband, as this would make it
extremely difficult for a child to know who his or her
father is.
Unlike feminism, which claims to improve the
situation of women by forcing them to compete with men,
Islam holds both men and women in equal esteem and
emphasises their equal worth before Allah, but recognises
that they are physically and emotionally different and
play different parts in society. Whilst a woman may work
or conduct her own business, she is not obliged to cater
for her husband and family. She comes under the husband's
protection who must provide for her according to his
means. Women and men have their own circles and social
gatherings and further interact with each other in the
extended family setting. The Islamic concept of gender
relations can be described as complementary rather than
competitive.
REFORM AND JUSTICE...
What has been described so far is, of course,
the Islamic ideal, and it would be dishonest to pretend
that Muslim practice at all times corresponds to this.
Muslims, like all people, are fallible and have
shortcomings. Traditions often develop over time which
may have been influenced by many other, usually cultural,
factors and are perceived by a society as Islamic norms
when they have no basis in the original guidance provided
by the Qur'an and the example set out by the Messenger.
Like any other society, Muslim society is also in need of
constant reform.
The Islamic legal code, known as the Shari'ah,
takes account of this. Islamic law is made up of some
unchangeable principles based on which solutions are
found for legal problems, taking changing circumstances
into account. There are various methods for arriving at
such solutions, for example analogy, where a situation is
compared to a similar one for which an answer already
exists. Islam also acknowledges that the ideal solution
can't always be found, and therefore uses a method of
reconciling various options by weighing up their benefits
and disadvantages. This flexibility on the one hand, with
a permanent value system on the other, ensures that Islam
is neither so fluid that it can mean all things to all
people, nor so rigid that it does not keep up with new
challenges as time progresses.
The Islamic world view does not look for
perfection on earth. This means that there is always room
for improvement, implying an ongoing process of reform. A
society which stops reforming itself and trying to get
closer to its ideals will become stagnant and will have
to give way to more dynamic forces taking it over. Even
though Islam is based on the complete revelation of
Allah, valid for all times to come, Islamic society is
continually in need of regeneration - a commitment which
does not leave room for complacency. The recent decline
of Islam in the world during the era of Western
colonialism shows the consequences of failing to realise
that Islam is a process and not a state. The post
colonial revival of Islam in our own times, however,
shows equally that the sources of Islam are intact and
capable of generating the dynamics required for
rejuvenating the Islamic message and
practice.
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