case, say opponents of the Quran, who point to the inferior position women have been allotted in Islamic society. They then cite the fact that the testimony of two women is equated in law with that of one

discrimination between the sexes—but rather allowances being made for the inferior memorizing ability of women. What is alluded to is a biological fact—that women are not as adept at

is the book of God. It has been preserved in its entirety since its revelation to the Prophet of Islam between 610 and 632 CE. It is a book that brings glad tidings to mankind, along with divine admonition

When he sees that no device of his has been of any avail, he will say, ‘Alas! I should not have done what I have done! I should have adopted the way of one who surrenders to the Truth instead of the way of

will not be reprieved. (15: 6-8) The addressees of the Prophet Muhammad suspected him of being mad. What was the reason for this? The reason for this was his declaration that he was a representative of God;

The same is true of Islamic history, in which all the incidents of armed conflict were due to the circumstances prevailing in that age, rather than to Islamic teachings. Islam had launched its missionary

unavoidable part of Islamic history. Nowadays, with this factor eliminated, the possibility of such wars has also, in principle, come to an end. Those who are unaware of this aspect of Islamic development tend

course, to tenets of Islam; they fail to appreciate that they resulted from external circumstances rather than from the internal features of Islam itself. In modern times, Islam’s aggressive image can

I recognized my Lord by failing to execute my will. ― Ali ibn bin Abi Talib, the fourth Caliph of Islam. THIS is a simple formula of Ma’arifat or God realization. All human beings undergo such experiences

area of the Kabah. According to Sahih Bukhari, as recorded in the books of Hadith, the Prophet of Islam once said to Hazrat Ayesha, “Have you not seen that when your people built the Kabah, they made it

Prophet said, “If your people had not entered Islam recently, I would have done so.” (Sahih AlBukhari, Hadith No. 1583) This saying of the Prophet of Islam has been explained thus by Ibn Hajar Al Asqalani:

character in the eyes of the people. They do not tolerate even minor changes in it. If the Prophet of Islam had made changes in the building of the Kabah, it was to be expected that the people would not be

MISTAKEThe Prophet of Islam said that every human being is a sinner and the best sinner is the one who regrets his mistake. (Musnad Ahmad, Hadith No. 13049) This shows that what is wrong is not making

repetition or elucidation of certain earlier passages of the Quran. Annoyed by this interruption of what he momentarily regarded as a more important endeavour, the Prophet “frowned and turned away” from

opportunities, equal freedom, equal right to development and progress. Equality has an absolute value in Islam. Muhammad was a Prophet of God, but in terms of equality, the Quran did not differentiate between

if that means finding another place where opportunities present themselves. When the Prophet of Islam was in his early prophetic period, he lived in Makkah for a period of 13 years. There he found some

took no retaliatory action. Nor did he become determined never to leave Makkah at any cost. Instead what he did was to quietly leave Makkah for Madinah. It was a matter of changing his place of action.

prediction, and in the end, things turn out quite differently from what people had initially expected. To take an example from Islamic history, in the year 6AH the Treaty of Hudaybiyah was signed between

of Islam is a clear proof of this fact. Before the peace agreement of Hudaybiyyah was signed, Islam seemed to be trapped in a blind alley. But after the Hudaybiyyah Agreement, the Prophet of Islam and

endeavoured to avail of all those opportunities that had been opened up to them and within two years, Islam had spread all over the Arabian peninsula. This principle covers all of human life—family life, social