Through Force or Faith? — Page 292
?— A Reply to Pope Benedict XVI 292 ْمُتْفِخ اَّلَا اْوُلِدْعَت ًةَدِحاَوَف َو ْنِا ْمُتْفِخ اَّلَا اْوُطِسْقُت يِف ىٰمٰتَيْلا اْوُحِكْناَف اَم َباَط ْمُكَل َنِّم ِءٓاَسِّنلا ىٰنْثَم َو َثٰلُث َو َعٰبُر١ۚ ْنِاَف And if you fear that you, the society, may fail to do jus- tice in matters concerning orphans in the aftermath of war then marry women of your choice two or three or four. And if you fear you will not deal justly, then marry only one ( S u rah an-Nis a’ , 4:4). One wife in Christianity: Before Islam, women had no right to get a divorce. Jesus said, ‘What God has joined together, let not man put asunder’ (Matthew 19:3-12). In contrast, the Holy Prophet gave equal right of divorce to men and women ( Bukh ā r ī , Kit a b at-Tal a q, Chapter: Divorce inititated by a woman and its process, Tradition No. 4868). Today, in the laws of the Christian world men and women have been given equal right to divorce, but in this respect, the Christian world is following the teachings of Prophet Muhammad s as and not that of Jesus which proves its equanimity and perfection. In religions before Islam, a divorced woman was considered to be of a lower stature. Therefore, the Bible forbade the priests to marry a divorced woman (Leviticus 21:7); and Christianity also gave the edict that if a woman divorced her husband and married another during his lifetime, she would be committing adultery (Romans 7:3; 1 Corinthians 7:39). Islam did not impose any such stigma on divorced women. The Prophet s as himself set an exam- ple by marrying Zainab bint Ja h sh, a divorcee, and proved that a divorced woman was as respectful as any other woman. ( Abū Dāwūd, Kit a b at-T a ’mah, Chapter: Regarding the recommenda- tion for holding a wedding feast, Tradition No. 3252; ibn M a jah,