Abortion
Submitted by Ikram.
Abortion is hot topic issue in every U.S. election and a major right-left divide exemplified by the protests last week when honorary doctorate was conferred on President Obama at Notre Dame University http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgJoM_7zo4c. The main argument for anti-abortion movement, which is primarily a Catholic view, is that life starts at conception.
Quran addresses early life as children, which could be extended to include intrauterine period. As far as killing and maltreatment of children is concerned, Quran is very clearly against it e.g.
17:31. And do not kill your children for fear of want. It is We Who provide for them as well as for you. Indeed, the killing of them is a great sin.
6:137. Just (as their associate-gods turned the polytheists away from Allâh) so did they make (even so monstrous a deed as) the killing of their children seem fair to a large number of the polytheists, with the result that they ruin them and that they obscure for them their religion. And if Allâh had (enforced) His will they would not have done so, so leave them alone and that what they forge.
6:140. Certainly, they suffer a loss (those) who kill their children in folly (and) ignorance, and forbid (themselves) what Allâh has provided for them; forging lies in the name of Allâh. They have indeed gone astray and they are not rightly guided.
And Quran goes even further by decreeing to prevent unwanted children by banning indecencies, which Christian world protects as a right:
6:151. Say, `Come, I will rehearse to you what your Lord has made binding on you; it is that you shall associate not any thing as partner with Him, and that you shall be good to parents, and that you waste not your children because of poverty. It is We Who make provisions for you as well for them too. (Allâh has also enjoined upon you that you) approach not indecencies, whether open or hidden, and that you kill no soul which Allâh has made sacred, except in the cause of justice.’ This has He enjoined you with, so that you may (learn to) abstain (from evil).
But, where Quran differs from Catholic point of view is that it defines start of life after embryo has reached a certain level of maturity and is a separate entity from the mother tissue as follows:
23:12. We create a human being from an extract of clay;
23:13. Then We reduce him to a drop of sperm (and place him) in a safe depository;
23:14. Then We form the sperm into a clot; then We develop the clot into a lump of flesh; then We fashion bones out of this lump of flesh, then We clothe the bones with flesh, thereafter We evolve him into another being. Therefore blessed be Allâh the Best of Creators.
At a molecular level, the Catholic doctrine implicitly defines start of a new separate life when the nucleic acids of both parental gametes mix. But this is a flawed argument. Mixing of different nucleic acids happens all the time e.g. when a virus infects a human cell, it embeds into the host DNA. Viral nucleic acid mixing with the host DNA is commonly called infection. And subsequently as part of host defenses there is constant shedding of such infected cells (with nucleic acids from two different sources) from the body, which cannot be termed as abortion.
As to what is that embryonic stage of another being (23:14) referred above, I would let an embryologist comment on it. By common knowledge it is probably at about a month old embryo.
[The Holy Quran – Translation by Allama Nooruddin]
From rashid:
Ikram writes:
“And Quran goes even further by decreeing to prevent unwanted children by banning indecencies, which Christian world protects as a right:”
I think Holy Quran (HQ) goes beyond this. In HQ basis of belief are not based on irrational dogma as is the case with Christianity and other religions. As a result Islam continues to be effective in Muslim societies, and consequently works as force that checks indecencies in society. This has resulted in keeping institution of marriage intact in Muslim world. A quote from British newspaper Guardian reflects end result of non-Muslim societies:
“How Britain is coming to terms with growing old
A dramatic ‘age quake’ is shaking Britain as the country grows older – for the first time ever, the number of people over 65 exceeds those under 16.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/may/17/ageing-population-retirement-saga-housing
In my opinion for Caucasian race to survive and avoid being extinct, it has only one option: Accept Islam as its religion.
From Bashir:
You should translate 33:40 and 4:69. I would love to read Noorudins thoughts on these verses.
I think more ahmadis should focus their time on translating more books into the english language.
From rashid:
Hazrat Maulana Noor ud Din Holy Quran Translation:
33:40
Muhammad is no father to any man among you but (he is rather) the Messenger of Allâh and the Seal of the Prophets. Indeed Allâh has full knowledge of all things.
4:69
And those who obey Allâh and this perfect Messenger, it is these who are with those upon whom Allâh has bestowed His blessings (in this life and the Hereafter) – the Prophets, the Truthful (in their belief, words and deeds), and the Bearers of Testimony (to the truth of the religion of Allâh by their words and deeds), as well as the Martyrs, and the Righteous (who stick to the right course under all circumstances), and how excellent companions they are!
You can read online:
http://www.islamusa.org/OnlineTrans/index.html
http://www.islamusa.org/index.old.html
From Rashid:
Muslim Demographics
An interesting video on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-3X5hIFXYU
I think this will become reality if Muslims present Islam as rational, peaceful, tolerant, inspiring and non-sectarian religion to their future generations, especially in Europe. Otherwise as Rasul Allah SAWS said: Dust of Dajjal will not even spare Momins.
From T. Ijaz:
a better translation of ‘clot’ alaqa is ‘clinging entity’. in Arabic this word means a leech, which clings as a parasite. In fact, that is what an embryo is. It even looks like a leech at that stage. A text book on embryology we used in medical school actually referred to the Quran on the morphology of the developing embryo.
From Zahid Aziz:
You can consult Hazrat Maulana Nur-ud-Din’s interpretations of the Quran from the compilation of his statements and writings entitled Haqa’iq-ul-Furqan on the alislam.org website.
For 33:40 see this link.
He gives two meanings of khatam-un-nabiyyin. (1) The seal of prophets, such that without his seal there is no command of the Shariah that can be in force. (2) All qualities of prophethood reached their culmination with him.
He goes on to say that it is on the basis of this verse that the words “I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and His messenger” were added to “There is no god but Allah”, to construct the Kalima.
Regarding 4:69, there is nothing reported in this compilation. But under the verse in Sura Fatiha “the path of those upon whom Thou hast bestowed favours” he mentions the four groups Salih, Shaheed, Siddiq and Nabi. See this link.
He describes these as four degrees of doing work, as follows.
Salih: those who do their work up to their skill and ability (salahiyyat).
Shaheed: Those who further speed up their work when the boss is around (i.e. they are witnessed).
Siddiq: Those to whom work is given as independent subcontractors (outsourced?), so that they take their own responsibility for the work, and are keen to ensure that there is no fault in it, and do it very honestly.
Nabi: To absorb yourself so much in a particular task that it becomes a part of your nature to do it, and to do good deeds without tiring or slowing down just as a machine operated by an engine.
You see, the great Ahmadiyya elders often gave practical advice to benefit their hearers, rather than dry, technical, legalistic, theological definitions. A person will benefit far more by trying to attain the quality of nabi mentioned above, than by trying to have true dreams.
From Usman:
Can it have some thing to also do with the stage when the entity in the womb “acquires” a soul…..and becomes human in the spiritual sense. Is that the same as as “….We evolve him into another being” in 23:14?
From Nicolas Krebs:
“Muslim Demographics
An interesting video on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-3X5hIFXYU” (Rashid)
See a debunk of this faked video (although funny, especially the 8.1 children/woman fertility rate of Muslims in France) in Tiny Frog, Muslim Demographics, 2009-05-03, http://tinyfrog.wordpress.com/2009/05/03/muslim-demographics/ , and Duncan Macleod, Muslim Demographics on YouTube Abuse of Statistics, 2009-05-11, http://www.postkiwi.com/2009/muslim-demographics-on-youtube-abuse-of-statistics/ .