Hi, recently I made a post on this subreddit and browsed around a bit, and it seems like a lot of the negative things about Ahmadiyya are very similar to Sunni Islam.
So I wanted to ask ex-Muslims who are ex-Ahmadis:
Why did you leave? Were there theological problems that are exclusive to Ahmadiyya, or were they things that apply to Islam as a whole?
Or was it the caliphate?
Hi! For context, I am not an Ahmadi. I am, however, a questioning Sunni Muslim, and I wanted to know:
How does the caliphate work in Ahmadiyya, considering they have no political power? Are they essentially powerless figureheads?
Also, are they chosen by God (similar to the divine right of kings)
Who elects the Khalifa, and are women included ?
What's their excuse or reasoning?
Muhammad's own wife went to war.
Posting this the second time because it got deleted last time
Because it was not Friday
Quran.com translates وَكَوَاعِبَ أَتْرَابًا as “full-bosomed maidens of equal age.”
However, I’ve heard people claim that it actually means something more like “prominent/beautiful companions of equal age,” and its gender neutral
Because the Quran never says hurs are female
And hur is a gender neutral word.
and that the sexual interpretation was added by later male scholars who “twisted” Islam.
I’ve also heard that if you said this phrase to a modern native Arabic speaker, they wouldn’t understand it as referring to breasts at all.
Is any of this true?
I don’t speak Arabic, so I’d really appreciate input from native Arabic speakers or people knowledgeable in classical Arabic. I’m especially interested in what كَوَاعِبَ (kawāʿib) would actually mean to an Arabic speaker, both literally and in the context of Qur’an 78:33.
I stumbled across this hadith just now:
Sunan Abi Dawud 4106
Chapter: A Slave Looking at the Hair of His Mistress
Narrated Anas ibn Malik:
The Prophet (ﷺ) brought Fatimah a slave whom he gave to her. Fatimah was wearing a garment which, when she covered her head with it, did not reach her feet, and when she covered her feet with it, it did not reach her head. When the Prophet (ﷺ) saw her struggling, he said: "There is no harm to you. Here are only your father and your slave."
So, could male slaves see the hair of their mistresses?
And was this permission only for the hair, or did it apply to other parts as well? Was a woman's awrah different in front of her male slave?
I was talking to my friend, and they compared the Biblical story of Adam and Eve with the Islamic version. They showed her that the Islamic version is less misogynistic because:
- Eve isn't the one who is tempted.
- Eve isn't blamed.
- Both Adam and Eve eat the fruit.
- There is no concept of original or eternal sin.
- There is no punishment of painful childbirth or "man ruling over woman" because of eating the fruit.
- There is no mention of woman being created from Adam's rib; that idea comes from “ Man Made ”
hadiths influenced by Christian and Jewish traditions, according to their argument.
So, what's your opinion on this?
Is it actually less misogynistic/sexist?
I am not talking about a married woman who was captured in war, whose previous marriage was annulled. I am talking about a slave woman who, with the permission of her master, married someone.
Can the master still have intercourse with her?
From what I understand, all four Sunni schools say that a master may only have sexual relations with an unmarried slave woman. The only exception is when she was already married at the time of her capture, since that previous marriage is considered dissolved.
However, in Sahih al-Bukhari, Book of Nikah, Chapter 25 (on Sunnah.com), it says:
"And Anas said regarding: 'And [also forbidden are] married women...' That is, free women who have husbands are forbidden, except those whom your right hands possess (female captives/slaves). He saw no objection to a man taking back his slave-girl from his own male slave."
On Sunnah.com this passage is only in Arabic, but when translated using Google Translate or ChatGPT, it reads like the translation above.
Doesn't this seem to contradict the ruling of the four Sunni schools?
Also, is Anas saying that this applies to any married slave woman, or only to your own female slave who is married to your own male slave?
Finally, when he says that a man may "take back his slave-girl from his own male slave," does he mean that the master may end the marriage and reclaim her, or does he mean that the master may continue to have sexual relations with her while she remains married?