polite_gandalf wrote on Jan 16
th, 2018 at 2:24pm:
Why are they necessarily interpreted as demonstrating God's law applicable to any time and place? They shouldn't, IMO
I refer you to 5:3, which states: "Prohibited to you are...... This day I have perfected for you your religion (i.e. being Islam) and completed My favour upon you, and have approved for you Islam as religion...."
Doesn't this verse indicate, being one of the final revelations during the prophethood of Mohammad, that the religion of Islam is 'perfect', which means that its tenets and ayats are applicable for all time, and are universal??? If you argue that the Quran is contextual, then it can't be perfect, can it?
polite_gandalf wrote on Jan 16
th, 2018 at 2:24pm:
Its a contention that Christians don't have to worry about - because unlike Muhammad, Jesus didn't have the responsibility of running a state.
Ah, but this is thing. Jesus had a choice - he could've become a leader and succumbed to the realities of politics, or he could've become a martyr and sacrificed himself. He chose the later. Muhammad chose the former. That tells me a huge difference in character between the two. Once chooses sacrifice and humiliation; the other choose glory and power.
polite_gandalf wrote on Jan 16
th, 2018 at 2:24pm:
Not sure what you are referring to specifically,
I refer you to 4:11: "God instructs you concerning your children: for the male, what is equal to the share of two females. But if there are [only] daughters or more, for them is two-thirds of one estate. And if there is only one, for her if half. And for one's parents, to each of them is a sixth of his estate if he left children...."
This indicates a law of inheritance. See?
polite_gandalf wrote on Jan 16
th, 2018 at 2:24pm:
Specifying this minimum was important in a society in which women hitherto had literally nothing - but was probably unrealistic to go straight to full equality.
Which is why I mentioned the term 'progressive revelation'. It's all good and well to say that Muhammad made reforms to women's rights compared to the time (and I agree); but there's no theological basis to say that 'evolution' or 'progress' should continue, given that the revelation ended with Muhammad's death.
The religion was perfected in Surah 5, which means that no other progress is needed or accorded. Do you get my drift?