Posted by Illuminati on 3/18/2009, 6:44 pm, in reply to "Re: Peace"
97.123.10.201
Amir said:
If a woman marries a {non-} muslim man against the will of her parents then the latter should not resort to violence as this is strictly prohibited in islam.The first thing to do is to invite the daughter's husband to islam.Allah Almighty might will that the husband embrace Islam, in which case, the marriage would be lawful under the Islamic law.If the husband does not accept Islam, the parents should not severe the relationship with their daughteron the pretext that the marriage is against Islamic Law.They should remain on good terms with her and keep exerting their utmost so as to persuade her to return to the right path of Islam. If they are already sincere in their attempts to do so, Almighty Allah will help them and may guide the man their daughter married to the right path."
I made a correction {non-} in the first sentence of your statement to reflect how I understand your statement. I am glad that you, personally, have rejected violence to force women into your idealized pathway.
We can apparently agree that interfaith marriage is usually difficult for both spouses. Therefore, parents have the right to object when their son or daughter becomes serious with someone of another faith. Once they have voiced their opinions, they do not have the right to take further action. They must accept their son's or daughter's freedom to marry whomever he/she wishes.
I disagree with some of the other points you made about women. You said:
"Whether we admit it or not, the woman is (generally) the physically weaker of the couple, and the Muslim man can more often than not enforce his will on his non-Muslim spouse by adhering to Islam. The unbelieving man denies Islam and the Prophet's message. Do you think he would allow a Muslim woman to freely practice her sacred devotion? A Muslim man, however, is required to respect the previous prophets and the scriptures of the Jews and Christians. He will therefore not oppress his non-Muslim spouse (if he follows Islam). A Jew or Christian woman married to a Muslim would have her beliefs respected. A Muslim woman married to a Jew or Christian could be maligned."
The argument about whether women are physically weaker depends upon what aspect of physical strength you are measuring. In many ways, women are the stronger sex. That is why women consistently outlive men. The situation you describe, in which women are inevitably dominated by men, is cultural, not biological. In a free society, a woman can usually hold her own just fine against pressure from a man of a different faith.
Whenever a large majority of Muslims accept people’s freedom to worship God according to their own consciences, much of the friction between Muslims and other people will abate. There are some Hindus and a few Christians who are also intolerant, but generally people are willing to live and let live. Even though there are Muslim individuals like you who recognize people’s right to freedom, as long as a large percentage of Muslims wish to enforce Sharia law on other people, they will be a threat to those people who wish to be left alone to worship God in freedom. Eventually, because so many Muslims are intolerant, there could be a serious backlash against Muslims. Many people who have immigrated from the Middle East have left because they have been persecuted at home. They have no interest in allowing the Muslims to set up the same system of intolerance here.
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