“Why do you say the cause of the bird escape is the bird’s, not the owner?”
Though we could put the blame on the owner, the root of the cause is still to understand the nature of the bird. It is always easier to point a finger at someone rather than reflecting the mishap on oneself. This leads to the normality of classifying people within their characters. An example was given that when we meet a stranger, one of the first questions that we would ask is his or her occupation. Why? We are inclined to know his or her character, and a job description attributes to that of a person’s personality.
Although it is much more convenient to learn the behavior of an individual from where he or she belongs to, the generalization however could create fitnah (chaos). This is because regardless of where one belongs to, he or she develops own personalities by which we are supposed to distinguish individually. Hence, the concern on the second most used word in the Quran; knowledge. Knowledge is an asset to oneself. It is knowledge that we measure a person’s height of a character, and it is knowledge that we signify the beauty of a person.
The explanation on how a picture of the prophet Muhammad as a boy was developed in Iran was intriguing. No portrayal of the Last Prophet should exist, ever. But there was, and this occurred somehow to simplify his traits; pictures are worth a thousand words. However it is not by picture that one’s trait is deciphered, thus the misjudgment. This misjudgment was the focus on the cultural defense related to the topic lectured. It is important to note that not just the law, but personality varies because Westerns are not Eastern, and Americans are definitely not Arabs.
Furthermore, in the Islamic court (non-Arabic countries; Malaysia, Indonesia, etc.), women won cases 90% of the time. How did this happen when it is said that Islamic Law is one-sided? It is not the women who are winning but it is the kinsman. It is not the women who are triumphant but it is their status in society; higher status does not bring up cases in public. Moreover, women have won partially and the legal system is favoring them these days. How so? Knowledge. As time moves on, women are more educated. Those were the days, when the judge would say the decision to child custody case would be in the best interest of the child. The girl will follow her mother, while his father’s kinsman will take the boy – women winning the case.
The connection between this lecture and that of the in-class lectures is, perhaps the knowledge to clarify Islam. Take the recent reading on The Autobiography of Malcolm X; Chapter 17, Mecca and Chapter 18, El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, Malcolm saw the lack of racial segregations in the Islamic world during his pilgrimage. He made a claim that Islam can be a medium to help Americans redefine their understanding of race, but he also reclaimed his notion to build up black power rather than expanding both whites’ and blacks’ perceptions. Justifications were made on the account of cultural defense.
Muslims believe in the six articles of faith, one of which is to believe in the Day of Judgment. On this day, you are before God as yourself. Thus, it is fair to say that justice in the context of Islamic Law is to be treated in equality.
Note: review on Professor Lawrence Rosen of Princeton University's lecture, Islamic Law and Justice: Cultural Defense. Remedy, perhaps to my worthy-of rants' hiatus.
