God is Great…Man, not so Much
Welcome to Religion Today on Cairo Cable. Today Egyptian Mufti, Ali Gum’a, shares with us his insights into faith and belief:
I support killing [adulterers], but killing them if certain conditions are met. These conditions should not be neglected…. There must be four witnesses to testify against the adulterer. They must testify that they saw them having sex…. This cannot happen unless someone is weary of living and decides to confess.”
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Interviewer: “Is a man permitted to have four wives?”
Ali Gum’a: “This is permitted in all religions.”
Interviewer: “No, not in all religions…”
Ali Gum’a: “This is permitted in all religions except Christianity.”
Interviewer: “In Judaism, a man is permitted to have four wives?”
Ali Gum’a: “Of course! Moses has four wives, and so did Abraham…”
Interviewer: “But today, it is not permitted.”
Ali Gum’a: “Today, yesterday…what’s the difference?
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“But in Islam, Allah permits us - just like in all religions - to marry several wives, and have things done out in the open.
“For whose benefit is all this? For the benefit of the woman, because a woman who is taken as a mistress remains in the shadows, and loses all her rights. The man does not owe her anything. But since [Allah] permits marrying another wife, she gains respect, status, and rights. Therefore, becoming a second wife reinforces the status of a woman….”
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“Social violence is the result of the secularists’ attempt to impose their principles upon society, instead of explaining them. They tried to impose their principles on society, and the result was social violence. The people refuse to deny Allah, and to allow our God to be cursed. The people were brought up on the holy, while the secularists want the profane.”…
Interviewer: “What about Muhammad Atta and Al-Zawahiri…”
Ali Gum’a: “Those operations were all carried out by people brought up in the West….
Interviewer: “But bin Laden and Al-Zawahiri were not brought up in the West.”
Ali Gum’a: “But the one was an engineer, and the other was a doctor. They were brought up on Western methodology, and not on religious methodology…. Even Omar Abd Al-Rahman is the exception that proves the rule. He himself never participated in terrorist acts. Even when his ideology became deviant he did not participate in acts of terrorism.”
Thank you, Muft. You made me laugh.