The
treatment of women, the station of women is probably the one issue with
which we rise or fall as a species. I believe, whichever society, where
men will manage to take themselves back enough for women to unfold and
blossom, will lead the world into the future. If no society will manage
this, we are all doomed. -
Here is a speech by a wonderful Pakistani lady, describing the station of women in Islam:
I feel a need to discuss the role of women in Islam. I know, that for Muslims it is permitted to have more than one wife and that the wife can be as young as 8 years old.
I also know, that it is almost impossible for any believer to question the laws of the Prophet. This leaves me desperate and with profound inner sadness and resignation. Polygamy is counter to the principle of equality and also from a psychological viewpoint, in my opinion, it is obsolete.
Even more so is the impossible low age for marriage. This is one of the prime reasons, why Islam is viewed with suspicion in the West. (The other reason being the issues of condoning war and the interpretation of Jihad.)
Thirdly it is the punitive approach to people who break the laws, be it simple criminals like thieves or adulterers or, even more extreme, people who challenge the scriptures. These three things erect an invisible wall between Muslims and non-Muslims. I am not sure, how we can handle this, of course, it is not for me to say. I can only implore my dear Muslim friends in the world, to soften their minds and question their conscience, if they want to break out from this stranglehold and allow a more critical approach to their own scriptures.
Some years ago, I had a kind of meditational insight into the effect of divine revelation. When divine revelation happens, it spreads in the subtle realms throughout the consciousness of the whole planet. It is like new software installed on a computer.
However in the gross material world there are people who do not consciously receive the new set of messages, who do not consciously receive the update. They may be to stubborn to let go of their old versions, but on the subtle realms even their spirits are downloading from the new source.
In this way, I believe, the whole world is Muslim. You can see it clearly in their actions.
Christianity preaches non-violence, forgiveness and peace. However, this has been corrupted and God was made into a commodity, forgiveness be sold and taken for granted.
However, God is no doormat, God is not whimp. God can be a warrior, God can take life, God can fight and will win. In Chinese martial arts this is very clear. The practitioner must be able in the end to physically overcome the evil person.
Therefore Islam was the natural amendment to Christianity, not to deny its truth but to complement and complete it. So, if we look at the actions of "Christian" America or even communist Russia and secular Europe, they all go to war and do not even question it. Multiple wives are common in all societies, legal or not. Sex with children is common in all societies, legal or not. The idea of punishment is the guiding factor in all our dealings with breaches of the law. This is not Christian, it is Muslim spirit. However, the Muslims themselves also benefit from the wonderfully humanitarian and loving sides of their scriptures, whereas the rest of the world does not.
To further clarify: I love Islam. I read the Holy Book, I meditated on communication with the Prophet and, most importantly, I have found among Muslims the most gentle, respectful, mature and spiritual people, I have met in my life.
As far back as 35 years ago, I was sitting in a Palestinian home in old Jerusalem and witnessed a discussion of a father with his adult daughter about the station of women. He concentrated on the desire to protect his female members of the household, she concentrated on her need for freedom and independence. But the spirit of the discussion was permeated with love, respect and deep understanding, so superior to anything I was used to from my own culture.
When I was in Iraq during the first gulf war, my best communication was not with the Western members of the peace activists, but with the Iraqi people, even the employees of the government, who had to look after us. I met there also ordinary citizens and I felt we were literally falling in love with each other, on a spiritual and human level.
Even here in Germany, now that the peace demonstrations have started up again, it is the Muslim participants, who feel most close to me, not my own fellow Germans.
A butterfly just flew into my face!
When the Arab spring started, before it was highjacked by the West, I felt clearly, the salvation of the planet will come from the people within Islam. This will be in all future times to come, their great reward and compensation for the years of slander and enmity, they had to endure. For this they will be honored and respected by all of humanity in the future.
It is precisely for that reason that I also feel desperate, because it is so excruciatingly difficult to get around the inability, the fear and the internal prohibition to question the scripture, to sort out the dysfunctional parts of the revelation of the Prophet.
Personally, I have an explanation for this difficulty with the scriptures. It is present with all scriptures, not only with the Qur'an. In my opinion, no scripture is perfect and infallible, but in all religions there are people, who insist on this infallibility. This is a human problem, not a divine problem.
To me this requires of us as humans that we take this leap of faith in our own spiritual nature, our own ability to attune to the source of wisdom within, independent of any outside authority. I believe, this is exactly, how God wants us to be. We are not to be dogmatic, authoritarian, self-righteous and stubborn, but to be rational, humble, open-minded and always aware of our limited perception. We need to be able to recognise the truth, no matter in what book it is written, no matter from whose mouth it proceeds. At the same time, we need to also be able to reject any untruth, even if we find it within our own most holy and revered writings. We are not to be like sheep, blindly following, but be responsible for any concept and guideline we choose to adhere to. We cannot excuse and absolve ourselves with an outside authority, whom we follow. If a soldier receives an unjust and evil command, he is responsible for following it. He cannot defer the responsibility to his superiors.
In a more removed sense, I could even imagine that God Himself prevented any revelation to be perfect, because then people would be tempted again to just follow mindlessly, aside from the fact, that an unawakened mind can never even comprehend the spiritual truth of God, even if it would be put down perfectly in a book. Any revelation is only as good as the minds that receive it.
Here is a speech by a wonderful Pakistani lady, describing the station of women in Islam:
I feel a need to discuss the role of women in Islam. I know, that for Muslims it is permitted to have more than one wife and that the wife can be as young as 8 years old.
I also know, that it is almost impossible for any believer to question the laws of the Prophet. This leaves me desperate and with profound inner sadness and resignation. Polygamy is counter to the principle of equality and also from a psychological viewpoint, in my opinion, it is obsolete.
Even more so is the impossible low age for marriage. This is one of the prime reasons, why Islam is viewed with suspicion in the West. (The other reason being the issues of condoning war and the interpretation of Jihad.)
Thirdly it is the punitive approach to people who break the laws, be it simple criminals like thieves or adulterers or, even more extreme, people who challenge the scriptures. These three things erect an invisible wall between Muslims and non-Muslims. I am not sure, how we can handle this, of course, it is not for me to say. I can only implore my dear Muslim friends in the world, to soften their minds and question their conscience, if they want to break out from this stranglehold and allow a more critical approach to their own scriptures.
Some years ago, I had a kind of meditational insight into the effect of divine revelation. When divine revelation happens, it spreads in the subtle realms throughout the consciousness of the whole planet. It is like new software installed on a computer.
However in the gross material world there are people who do not consciously receive the new set of messages, who do not consciously receive the update. They may be to stubborn to let go of their old versions, but on the subtle realms even their spirits are downloading from the new source.
In this way, I believe, the whole world is Muslim. You can see it clearly in their actions.
Christianity preaches non-violence, forgiveness and peace. However, this has been corrupted and God was made into a commodity, forgiveness be sold and taken for granted.
However, God is no doormat, God is not whimp. God can be a warrior, God can take life, God can fight and will win. In Chinese martial arts this is very clear. The practitioner must be able in the end to physically overcome the evil person.
Therefore Islam was the natural amendment to Christianity, not to deny its truth but to complement and complete it. So, if we look at the actions of "Christian" America or even communist Russia and secular Europe, they all go to war and do not even question it. Multiple wives are common in all societies, legal or not. Sex with children is common in all societies, legal or not. The idea of punishment is the guiding factor in all our dealings with breaches of the law. This is not Christian, it is Muslim spirit. However, the Muslims themselves also benefit from the wonderfully humanitarian and loving sides of their scriptures, whereas the rest of the world does not.
To further clarify: I love Islam. I read the Holy Book, I meditated on communication with the Prophet and, most importantly, I have found among Muslims the most gentle, respectful, mature and spiritual people, I have met in my life.
As far back as 35 years ago, I was sitting in a Palestinian home in old Jerusalem and witnessed a discussion of a father with his adult daughter about the station of women. He concentrated on the desire to protect his female members of the household, she concentrated on her need for freedom and independence. But the spirit of the discussion was permeated with love, respect and deep understanding, so superior to anything I was used to from my own culture.
When I was in Iraq during the first gulf war, my best communication was not with the Western members of the peace activists, but with the Iraqi people, even the employees of the government, who had to look after us. I met there also ordinary citizens and I felt we were literally falling in love with each other, on a spiritual and human level.
Even here in Germany, now that the peace demonstrations have started up again, it is the Muslim participants, who feel most close to me, not my own fellow Germans.
A butterfly just flew into my face!
When the Arab spring started, before it was highjacked by the West, I felt clearly, the salvation of the planet will come from the people within Islam. This will be in all future times to come, their great reward and compensation for the years of slander and enmity, they had to endure. For this they will be honored and respected by all of humanity in the future.
It is precisely for that reason that I also feel desperate, because it is so excruciatingly difficult to get around the inability, the fear and the internal prohibition to question the scripture, to sort out the dysfunctional parts of the revelation of the Prophet.
Personally, I have an explanation for this difficulty with the scriptures. It is present with all scriptures, not only with the Qur'an. In my opinion, no scripture is perfect and infallible, but in all religions there are people, who insist on this infallibility. This is a human problem, not a divine problem.
To me this requires of us as humans that we take this leap of faith in our own spiritual nature, our own ability to attune to the source of wisdom within, independent of any outside authority. I believe, this is exactly, how God wants us to be. We are not to be dogmatic, authoritarian, self-righteous and stubborn, but to be rational, humble, open-minded and always aware of our limited perception. We need to be able to recognise the truth, no matter in what book it is written, no matter from whose mouth it proceeds. At the same time, we need to also be able to reject any untruth, even if we find it within our own most holy and revered writings. We are not to be like sheep, blindly following, but be responsible for any concept and guideline we choose to adhere to. We cannot excuse and absolve ourselves with an outside authority, whom we follow. If a soldier receives an unjust and evil command, he is responsible for following it. He cannot defer the responsibility to his superiors.
In a more removed sense, I could even imagine that God Himself prevented any revelation to be perfect, because then people would be tempted again to just follow mindlessly, aside from the fact, that an unawakened mind can never even comprehend the spiritual truth of God, even if it would be put down perfectly in a book. Any revelation is only as good as the minds that receive it.
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