Ein, hassad and other things .... An interesting discussion with an Imam

"Al'ein" was the topic of today's friday prayer preaching. The imam was differentiating between "ein and hassad", saying that ein could even change "kada2 and kadar" and, quoting a saying from prophet Mohamed (PBUH), that it's the secound cause of death after destiny (alkada2 walkadar). He said that the only cure for it, according also to Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) is that one uses the water of the washing (ma2 al 3'osl) used by the one who caused "Al'ein" to wash the one suffering from it.

Great !! I felt so infurated that I thought I must speak with the Imam after the prayer and tell him that this topic, despite its possible authenticity, is not suitable for us as a foreigner islamic community living in Germany. We need to know how to behave so that we as moslems give good examples to the community we are living in. If a German "hasadny" would I ask him to wash and give me this water as a cure, or would I give him this water if I caused this to him? The topic is completely absurd for people like us living in such a community.

His deffence was that this event (hassad) happened between 2 muslims living in our city and lead to lots of troubles between them (!) ... he was insisting that this is what Prophet Mohammed said (PBUH), that "al'ein is 7aq" and is accordingly part of what we moslems should believe in.

I then turned his attention to a previous preaching, where he said that we should not say to non muslims "Assalam alikom", also based on a saying for Prophet Mohmmed (PBUH). I said that, as far as I know, which I cannot prove by concrete stories, that this same greeting was the reason why some converted to islam, because they found it very great. I told him about my Mexican friend who used to greet me with "assalam alikom" and how he liked and appreciated this word, and how this gave a good impression about islma. He asked me, do you think prophet Mohammed (PBUH) didn't know this before he said we shouldn't great them with "assalam alikom"?

He then quotes Ali ibn aby Taleb saying that if islam is to be taken logically, then during "almas7 3ala al7'of" one should wash the sole, as it is in contact with the ground, and not the upper part of the foot. However, we wipe the upper part of the foot as Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) did. He, the Imam, meant one should not use his mind to analyse things, as long as we know prophet Mohammed said or did something.

I asked him (with the intention to point out that some things which prophet Mohammed did cannot be done now anymore), during the prophets time, prisoners of war were considered slaves, as it was the case in all mideavel wars, would we do the same now? He said, the answer of Sheikh Kishk to this particular question was that in case there's a Khalefa and that the war is "fe sabil allah", only in this case, then the prisoners of war can be considered as slaves (!!!!). I asked him and what is your opinion? He said there are no personal opinions in islam, unless one has a certain level of knowledge, until then, there is no personal opinion.

I have to mention that this imam is from Cote d'ivore. He speaks arabic quite fluently. He didn't learn islamic sciences in some college, but probably through personal readings. He is good hearted, always smiling and generally gives a good impression. He's not fanatic, but speaks with (his) logic and tries to convince others.

However, as you see, it's not possible to argue with what he is saying. Although I don't claim to have read about those prophet's sayings, I don't doubt thta his resources are good ones (he is quite honest in searching for good references and usually quotes where to find the saying). However, regrding taking war prisoners as slaves, greeting non moslems with "assalam alikom", or using the "ma2 al3'osl" as a cure I just feel there's something wrong about all of this. Not only that it's a waste of time and effort to defend such ideas, but also to bother about them when we have worse problems to care about.

The problem is that I cannot see a solution to this. The worst thing about belief is that it is not connected to logic. That's true for all types of belief, including athiesm. And since it is not related to logic, one cannot use mind and reason to change a belief. I'm afraid the only way is secularism, a separation between religion and life, otherwise we'll have "ma2 al3'osl" as a cure for diseases, and you cannot deny it, otherwise you are denying what Prophet Mohammed said (!!).