Ask the Imam.

September 14, 2001 8:57 PM

Ask the Imam. Now that Mr. Blue has left Salon, send your questions to an authentic Islamic Mufti. He will analyze your problem in relation to Sharia and issue the appropriate fatwah or legal opinion. I've been stuck on this site for hours...check out the question at http://islam.tc/ask-imam/view.php?q=2476 Comments on your favorite fatwah, anybody?
posted by username (12 comments total)

What are women's rights regarding divorce if they are domestically abused by their husbands?

My Husbund is hot tempered. Sometimes he is assaults me physical also. Tell some dua to make to change his temper.
posted by gd779 at 9:10 PM on September 14, 2001

At http://www.islam.tc/ask-imam/view.php?q=3056 the Imams seem in agreement that homosexuals must be killed, but the method is in dispute. Some say stoning, others say set them on fire, but dropping a great wall upon them has that UBL flair for the dramatic. One compromiser says drop them off the wall, then stone them after.

Who was that saying the problem is that we don't understand these people? I may not be an expert, but think I understand plenty.
posted by username at 9:15 PM on September 14, 2001

PS: Can somebody tell me how to make the links work in the comments?
posted by username at 9:18 PM on September 14, 2001

ctrl-shift-a to link, or regular html formatting. Other shortcuts are listed below the comments box. (If you put your email in your profile, other users will be able to email you stuff like this without talking to the whole group.)
posted by gd779 at 9:21 PM on September 14, 2001

My favorite (so to speak) is here: Is Bin-Laden un-Islamic, or what?
posted by raysmj at 9:28 PM on September 14, 2001

Top Ten Signs You Need New Glasses: I'd read this as "Ask the Iman." Because, ya know, supermodels have *all* the answers! :D
posted by metrocake at 9:46 PM on September 14, 2001

From 9/11:

Mufti saheb Assalam-o-Alaikum. Mufti saheb Assalam-o-Alaikum. Please interpret my dream islam.I saw: It is around 1 to 2 pm.I finish my work in kitchen and come to bedroom (as usual).My husband and both sons are already asleep.(elder son is quarter to 3 years and younger is 4 months old).My brother-in-law also comes there to take his blanket and pillow (it's dailyu routine).Suddenly shutter of our window rolls upwards(opens).We see outside are clouds and a pale yellow light(even at night).Fast wind blows to move our curtains and we hear in loud voice someone recites"Innallaha...."(i can't remember ayat).And at that moment we all 3 adults realize that it is dooms day(qiyamat).Then I wake up trembling with fear and regret.I'm still disturbed and want you to interpret it and tell some du'aa.Jayaakallah

http://www.islam.tc/ask-imam/view.php?q=3710
posted by brantstrand at 10:10 PM on September 14, 2001

q=3512http://www.islam.tc/ask-imam/view.php?q=3512
posted by sadie01221975 at 11:33 PM on September 14, 2001

Are these links being cited in order to increase our (those of us who are not Muslim) understanding of Islam, or in order to feel sarcastically superior to the believers who write in to "ask the Imam"? Personally, I dislike religious fundamentalism of all stripes; the sorts of answers given on this web site do not seem to me any worse (nor any better) than what I would expect to hear from Jerry Falwell or from ultra-Orthodox Rabbis. I am Jewish and I certainly would not want to be under the rule of the Rabbis who have disproportionate political power in Israel, any more than I would want to be under the rule of Falwell or the Imams of Iran or of the Taliban. But this thread makes me very uncomfortable, because I do not think that fundamentalist narrowness does justice to the rich traditions of any of the world's great religions, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, or whatever.
posted by Rebis at 11:34 PM on September 14, 2001

if it's foolish, it deserves to be mocked.

and it's a nice reminder; usually all we know of fundamentalist islamic doctrine is what we've heard second-hand from the western media, or from islamic clerics posturing for our benefit. so it's nice to see that when speaking for the benefit of muslims, they really aren't that different from falwell and his ilk; we're all the same when it comes to a capacity for hatred and repression.

but it is a mistake to construe this imam as speaking for all of the islamic world.
posted by dreamless at 12:30 AM on September 15, 2001

The advice dispensed at this site is foolish, and it deserves to be mocked, but this thread strikes me as pretty tasteless at a time when we don't yet know if the whole country will tilt towards a pretty perverse degree of racial profiling and intimidation against American muslims (based on caricatures such as you'd form if you took this site as a good source for what most muslims think about anything).

FWIW, Islamic notions of divorce are a lot more liberal than those of (New Testament) Christianity or virtually any other religion predating the 1960's.
Of course, the realities of Middle Eastern customs (among all people of long heritage there, i.e. Christians too) make life for women apart from some male family too problematic.

If the point were really order to increase our (those of us who are not Muslim) understanding of Islam, instead of pointing to unwitting self-caricature (and I confess I have earlier stumbled on ask-an-imam and gotten my chuckles from it), we might plug Huston Smith's excellent book on the big ideas of the major world religions.
posted by Zurishaddai at 2:08 AM on September 15, 2001

The Imam is about as representative as the Reverend: the Reverend Falwell that is. At another time this would be pretty funny, in the same way the Falwell is pretty funny, but right now it's not, any more than the 700 Club was earlier this week.

Incidentally, this is why the editorial cartoons were crap: there's just no humour to be had ouf of this right now.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 3:44 AM on September 15, 2001