gentleman we're going to continue with one of as you're well aware sometimes we theme particular programs and we're going to continue with the theme which were on allegations which have been raised against the particular question and that we would return to her question this is kay in london thank you for your question you raise the issue of the special tax known as jersey or on the previous program and i did say we would return to it we are doing that you know how to spend our money is one of the questions which people are also on the more serious point how people who want of the islamic faith feel their money is being used yes i think historically nobody likes to pay taxes and people always question as to how the society but to go with that obviously there are certain conditions that are laid down in society to ensure for instance that there is protection that is given to the inhabitants of a society and when we look at jade's year in a multi faith society then one understands that this is for the protection of the people in that particular society the islamic form of financing this is  so in order for non muslims to remain in a peaceful society and for their protection or was a very minor tax that was levied on non muslims living in the slum and it was for their protection the other thing is that muslims obviously had to do military service in a society for the protection of the nation and muslims again are exempt from this arduous task if you go back to the history of islam look at the conditions of war at that time this was a very tough condition that had to fulfill so non muslims were totally exempt from going out to protect these protected society but there were many exemptions that were given to t if they had property and wealth too had to pay the cop on that aspect so they also had to do military service the most and so there is this difference of actions that they had to do in that respect so that is a very minor contribution that one had to make in order to get the protection that was given to every citizen of a muslim society so in order to promote peace in order for people to live in that peaceful society minor contribution of zero to that respect but there were always exemptions in that respect and the muslim rulers obviously if they felt that other people were deserving of this exemption were always given this exemption and given the protection that a muslim government being in place and this is much the same as a tax system which is then used subsequently to be spent on what for not just the protection but for facilities and the provision of sicily i mean all the facilities that society  provides to its inhabitants has to be brought from somewhere so in order for that to undertake the these systems financial systems worse set in place to provide all these facilities in a minute tease for the use of the inhabitants so that people who are able to actually see the benefits of that society and system and if you look at the early history of islam everybody i mean raises their hats to the islamic forms mean one of the things that talks are so eloquently highlighted is this issue of social justice which prevailed the fact that people were exempt there was a safety net to ensure that people who weren't able to pay certainly weren't compelled to pay so that issue of and then charging them half of everything so she suggests that was almost suggesting a fifty percent income tax there you are there's the land go and farm it but you know what we're going to take fifty percent of the proceeds actually the head the switch she is referring to is about the famous valley of habit which was a jewish settlement a jewish community it was one of the strongholds of the jewish community at that time in the arab society in those days  societies strength was judged based on the number of fortresses that they had and their military strength and that was all present in clabber to a very high degree now in order for us to understand the context and circumstances in which the holy prophet peace be upon him levied this restriction or attacks on jewish community of but we have to put into context the whole historical background of that era and this is something which maybe if i said of my own accord somebody would say that i am biased but western oriental list scholars have also mentioned this in their historical works as well of the holy prophet peace be upon him we have to understand that when the holy prophet peace be upon him came to medina he did not just come and begin taxing everybody the first thing that he did was that he established a charter of rights with three different communities there was a muslim community there was the jewish community and then the idol community all of them had rights to continue living their lives as they so will with no religious restrictions they were free to practice whatever religion they wanted they were free to conduct their lives just as before and through by virtue of this treaty which was the charter of the you know the holy prophet peace be upon him was perhaps the first man who established a charter of human rights and lived and co inhabited with multiple societies as if they were one big society and no historian is oblivious to this fact they admit that the holy prophet peace be upon him conducted justice in medina to such a high degree that perhaps its parallel cannot be found in the world anywhere else before that or after holy prophet peace be upon him came to medina the jewish community of that time which was present in medina began to conspire against the holy prophet peace be upon him they began to hatch conspiracies to assassinate the holy prophet and this is mentioned in books of the deeds and in books of history and oriental the scholars except this i keep stressing that because it's not just us oriental the scholars western thinkers have mentioned this in their works so the holy and not just that there are some narrations where even most muslim women were humiliated in public and that humiliation was far beyond the bounds so it's a system of conflict began to arise in medina the holy be upon him always lean towards forgiveness and leniency and he would always go to the jewish community and say to their leaders and their elders that look we have to live together peacefully so please get ahold of your people who are creating this mischief so that we can continue living in peace but there's narrations that the jewish people of that time would very arrogantly retorts to the holy prophet peace be upon him but who do you think you are will do whatever we want and this was despite the fact that they had agreed based on the charter of rights of medina that everybody would live in peace so the holy prophet peace be upon him had no choice but to say then look if you can live peacefully here then move somewhere else and live so some of the most of the jewish communities moved the which was a very famous tribe of the jews and was present in medina when they left medina they moved to have it and the purpose of them moving there was so that we could have harmony and peace in medina but come to an agreement of peace you have already agreed based on the charter of medina that we should live in peace but if you do not stop then i will have no choice but to send you somewhere else and the jewish community accepted this they said all right and another treaty was drafted in which the jewish community said that all right now if any disharmony or conflict arises we know that our punishment is to leave as a matter of fact the jewish community even knew that there pending their penalty for their conspiracies was execution based on the arab law at that time but the holy prophet took a more lenient course and said look i won't execute you all i request is that now you leave medina and they left medina because they knew that their punishment was far greater than what the holy prophet gave them an exile exile for a tribe of arabia is not a big deal because the arab people were nomadic tribes they would move wherever they could find cattle or water so it wasn't really a punishment for them to move from one place to another place they just continue their farming there as they were doing in medina when they went to medina they continued in their conspiracies not only when they moved to have it they continued the conspiracies and they also began to incite other arab tribes as well to launch secret night attacks upon medina to kill and murder the companions and to assassinate the holy prophet peace be upon him and montgomery want to is a very famous oriental a scholar he has written book called muhammad the statesman and the statesman and the prophet the prophet in the statesman and in that he has clearly mentioned that but did us community was responsible for generating revenues and funds or only for the purpose that it could be given to other arab tribes and to the kurdish so that they could commit atrocities against the muslims and have war so in order to stop that the holy prophet peace be upon him had to travel to put it to put an end to these currents was their punishment and they knew that that was their punishment because the jewish people admitted this but the holy prophet said look all they say is that you keep your land and you stay there fifty percent of your revenues from your crops and your harvest will be given to medina and the only purpose of this was to put an end to the bloodshed and the violence which they had perpetrated in which they were continuing to perpetrate against the muslims so when we put that into context how unjustly and how evil the people of that era were treating the holy prophet when he was already in a state of weakness you see in a arabia there was no good there was no place where you could go to the court and have judge justice administered to you these were barbaric atrocious tribes who spilled the blood of whoever they felt every tribe was independent and western scholars have mentioned that the only way in order to survive in such a society was to take their own defensive measures so the holy prophet did that but even then if we read the history books we see that the holy prophet always lean towards a course of mercy so this is the background of habit and why the holy prophet imposed that the restriction of tax upon  circumstances were and i think that's very clear but she then sort of os question which is in modern day practice it's true you know that you find that when you go to the holy places particularly to mecca in saudi cers we cannot for the saudis it may be for the benefit of the protection of these holy places that they have elected these laws but as far as religiously in talking in terms of the there were different religious denominations who were living in peace amongst each other and there was no question of them not being allowed in fact let's look at the mosque of the pro on came to him and stayed with him to discuss matters of religion and when it was time for them to worship here allowed them to come into the mosque and to continue their worship with their always within their own way to seek refuge there but it criminals wife came to the prophet's a lot and some of them said mohammed my has fled mecca for his safety he was an idolater and she said that what is grandma who then returned to mecca as an idolater so this is the example of the prophets allows him that he even permits and i don't have to come back to mecca and live in peace and guarantees his security as well at that time obviously protection may well be one of them but it's not something that was in any way and when i mean it's you know when you look over history or whatever even the time of the  the over the centuries being very genuine threats from non muslims about the destruction of the car by and so on the god is very dear in that respect that it is the house of our love and we obviously attain attach much significance to keeping the slave in slavery that's the assertion being made here if i could come to you with this it's one of things which we hear constantly which was propagated about islam in terms of the rights islam gave and one of them was to issues but as i always say everything needs to be understood in context isolating one statement or one instance and making a conclusion based on that of course gave us incorrect results if we look at the state of arabia fourteen hundred years ago when slavery was prevalent we would see that slaves were taken in a very unjust manner free people when a tribe would go and pillag plunder somewhere they would make free people into slaves they would take their women and children and use them as slaves and they would also take their free man as slaves as well this was a practice that was so abhorrent to the holy pro peace be upon him and islam that he would always contemplate upon how slaves could be freed and how they could be calm beneficial members of society once again but we must understand that in arabia and in all nations in that era fourteen hundred years ago slavery was prevalent for such a long time that slaves were slaves and then their children when they were born they would directly be born into a life of slavery if a slave had a child his master would consider him to be a slave as well  e child as well so so many generations of slavery upon slavery had common gone that slavery was such that there were many slaves in that era who didn't know anything other than slavery they knew not what freedom was they were born slaves and lived their entire lives it's as slaves and they died in slaves when the holy prophet peace be upon him came he institutionalized something but it definitely wasn't slavery it was the institutionalization of the manumission of slaves freeing slaves but everything needs to be done in such a manner that the results come out to be positive if we follow institution which results in greater harm than good then what use is that situation that institution you see that the holy prophet peace be upon him and many people object and say that well people like abraham lincoln and other reformers came and freed all of the slaves it wants and islam didn't through all of the slaves at once that there's a reason why the holy prophet peace be upon him taught that slaves should all not be freed at once as i mentioned at the time slavery was so prevalent in certain groups of society that if all of the slaves had been freed at once they would have a very negative effect on society because they would become a burden on society so the holy prophet peace be upon them taught that before a slave is freed he should be trained educated taught and so much so that the holy prophet said that a slave if he does not know how to perform a skill or a trade or labor he should be taught that and so that when he is freed he can earn a living for himself for almost hour in them before exactly self sufficient exactly and that's what the holy prophet taught you see there's a very famous statement of jesus christ he says that a tree can be judged by its fruits and if we analyze both of these systems the western system of liberating all of the slaves at once has abraham lincoln and other reformers and we will see that that manumission had a negative effect on society if we historically study the era in which all of these slaves in america were freed they resorted to crime they didn't have an education so they couldn't even earn a living for themselves but let's look at the muslim system of manumission when the holy prophet freed slaves slowly and gradually after training them and teaching them these slaves who were slaves in one era became leaders of the muslims and muslims accepted them as leaders do you know said been who was a slave at one point he was the commander in many military campaigns and great companions were people today follow them and benefit from their guidance so this is why islam taught that slaves should be freed slowly and gradually if the holy prophet ever said that a certain slave should not be freed yet the only reason for that was because that the holy prophet said that perhaps that slave you has at this time not develop the skills which are necessary for him or her to live a beneficial life in society when he or she is freed you know the holy prophet peace be upon him has mentioned something he has said that a person who has a slave and she is a female if that person trains her educates or and frees her and then after she is freed gives her the choice and if she decides to marry her master out of her own free will that person would get a double reward because not only has that person taken somebody and trained that person out of a life of slavery but he has also given that slave a sense of dignity and respect by choosing by accepting to marry that person because in that era slaves were treated very unjustly even if we analyze the manner in which slaves were treated when they were in their state of slavery before they were  will see that the muslims gave them so much love and dignity that other western scholars western thinkers and western societies did not give their slaves that dignity in society for example there is a narration that once has  who was with his slave and took him to the market and he bought two shirts and he said to the slave that these are two shirts pick the one that you like first and the slave picked one and then has a took the one that was left so even to this degree that what ever the muslims chose for themselves or whatever they bought for themselves they gave equal treatment to their slaves as well so even their life of slavery was very wonderful and then slowly when their mental facult developed to such a degree that they could become beneficial members of society the holy prophet instructed that they should be freed and we see that historically it is proven that the companions would go around and spend money to buy slaves just for the purpose of freeing them and the islamic form of governance we've previously touched upon the issue of marriage within islam and how many wives i mean this is quite topical in the modern age as well that as the exception take more than one wife and the question is quoting the relevant verse from the holy qur'an which actually gave that instruction the important facets of treating all your wives justly and  hundreds and the holy koran actually has brought this subject to focus and has actually focus that men have to treat women or wives very justly and very equally and the words of the holy koran that he does quote as regards marrying more than one wife there is a stipulation in this works also that if you cannot treat your wives equally then you should only marry one and then historically  know that the marriage to more than one wife is very in exceptional circumstances and this is not a commandment that is given as if freedom for all to marry more than one wife so that muslims if they are to marry more than one wife number one they have to be very strict in their justice in treatment all their wives and if human be not possible then it is forbidden in fact for them to marry more than one wife so this is something that i think non muslims should under embellishments in the ornaments of this world that i can give you those and you can separate from me but if you would like to stay with me in this austere life of islam and continue to be married to me then that is your had to divorce his wife number one because they were more men in the special status that they had in society they would not have been able to remarry again and to live their life in peace at that time so that not that it would in fact though their goodness please the this is revealed in the seventh after hegira so he was not permitted to divorce any existing wife as they could not have been remarried so this is a law for particular prophet peace be upon him were a means in which he gratified his luxury and lost god forbid but i ask my friends who think of this of the holy prophet in this manner that practically how much time out of a twenty works as a teacher and as a prophet and training his companions or he would be busy defending themselves because of the onslaught of the disbelievers and at night time the holy prophet said the law who was alone would not spend a life of luxury one time there is a narration that has it i showed her the alarm that she woke up in the middle of the night and she found that the holy prophet peace be upon him was not by her side so she turned on the light and she looked and she found the holy pro prostration on the ground he was praying and he would spend almost his whole night praying and supplicating so much so that one day one of his wives asked him all messenger of allah you stand in the night and pray so much that your feet become swollen on the stove for what for their forgiveness of people like me and you for the forgiveness of people who are living a life of weakness and so that he could pray that other people who are not muslims could be guided towards the one truthful god this is what he prayed for so this category this lifestyle of the holy prophet peace be upon him was for which was far from luxury substantiates and establishes categorically that the reason for his numerous marriages was something else and dr side was very beautifully and eloquently mentioned those reasons and another point which also would add to doctors i have wonderful explanation is that the holy pro was a teacher and through his wives he carried out the work of training the women who were muslims there are certain religious injunctions which very difficult which relate directly to women which it would have been difficult for the hol transferred to the women of the muslim community and we see that the reason for this was so that after the demise of the holy prophet peace be upon him his wives could carry on his teaching and his training and we see practically that this happened the holy prophet peace many many years and many great companions would come to her that i should to ask her religious questions and one scholar one a great muslim of that era he says that in knowledge of hades in knowledge of the  in knowledge of laws of inheritance in other knowledge of poetry i have never seen a scholar greater than i show where did she learn all of these things she learned them from the holy prophet peace be upon him and that scholar goes on to say that muslim says that i have never found any question which has been posed to ayesha with regards to religious injunctions for which he has not had an answer so this is why the holy prophet married more than four wives so that the training and teaching of the arab society could be done in a very wonderful manner and we see practically that after the demise of the holy prophet and even in the life of the holy prophet peace be upon him such a grand transformation came in the arabs of that day and age that the results are unparalleled gentlemen that's a very comprehensive detailed again and i think this is contentious issue to a lot of people when they look at it from a particular significance when people sort of specially for almost a when we go to mecca we wish to pray the significance of hodge's well documented but there is still that desire that passion to go to mecca and equally as an empty muslim those is the sort of really just significances their moral strength and put it in these places as opposed to other places well anybody who has read poetry will find that often when a lover is speaking about his beloved he always talks about the places that his beloved lived the house in which he lived or even the streets in the alley where that person used to walk and even that it looked upon with affection and love because it is impossible for you to love something or somebody and not love those things which are also attached to that person and this is a phenomenon which we see in religion as well religion is founded on principles of love and the said that love which we experience in this world for other relations is actually a manifestation of the love of god so love is something which attracts you not only towards your beloved but towards those things which that beloved person was attached to as well and this is why we have significance in our heart the great significance and love in veneration for places like muck and medina and for god beyond because these are where our beloved people came and lived a greater part of their life so there is no doubt that these places have a great significance as far as our emotions and our feelings of love are concerned but one thing which be understood is that also the promised messiah has mentioned that it is a divine custom of a lead the almighty that if a person is beloved in the sight of god all of those things which he is attached to also become send down a spiritual rain of blessings upon that place the city in which he lives becomes bless it the clothes that he wears becomes bless it the people that he touches are also it becomes a source of blessing for those people because he is a manifestation of a lez divine countenance if you will in this world so there are blessings attached to these places and if we go to these places with the intention that this is a place where a very beloved man of god lived and prayed and his prayers were accepted and by my being here and praying to allow the almighty i may also benefit from those divine blessings that this is a very pure and wholesome indeed but we must not take this to a level of shit or polytheism or association with god deal mighty as if those things in themselves are so blessid that they are fulfilling our needs because as far as our nee but as opposed to somewhere else then this means that we have taken god out of the equation and bad god forbid has become our god better is a very wonderful place of great blessings and we can benefit from those blessings but only on the condition that we recognize the fact that if this place is a blessing it then it is also because of the blessings of our love the mighty and if a light is outside of the equation then these physical things mean nothing so our sights and wherever you turn you will find the countenance of god so we can pray and develop a relationship with the almighty anywhere you see the blessings for the khalifa family a muslim community mentioned something very beautiful he said that these places or these things which are bless it only such people can derive benefit from these blessings that they themselves have period here at heart and he gave the example that for example holy prophet they did not benefit from the blessings of those places because they had one one major defect and that defect was a period of their heart because they had decided that no matter what happens we are going to clarity i think it's important point to make yes i think very very clearly very eloquently brought home the significance of as far as i mean it is a special significance not only in the history of islam but in the history of mankind because we believe that it was the first house that was built on earth for the worship of and going from that foundation we really we know and we have seen in the history in the in the history of islam the importance of along began to weep and tears started to flow from his eyes and when he was asked why he was crying he in a very heavy voice he said you started mentioning my gran medina and i began to think that will i ever have the opportunity to go and visit that blessid place where my master prophet muhammad said a lot of them spend so much of his life and then i feel that maybe it will not be possible for me to go there so these are the emotions of the promised me h and he transferred those emotions into each and every didn't believe that was important clarification for the sake of our viewers again we are dealing with specific allegations which are sometimes method is perceived as being cruel unlike the methods in the west particularly when now in the modern age stunning is used islam insists on full consciousness he's saying for an animal before actually performing  you know the the method of making the meat and prescribed slaughtering the more according to islamic methods two elements to this i suppose one is that why is this still used important for muslims to obviously bear in mind as far as stunning is concerned then we have to look at it from all the perspectives and see how stunning is done and whether it does actually reduce the suffering to the animal or whether it increases the suffering to the animal pain is a very difficult subject for a man to understand as far as pain to humans is concerned even more difficult to understand when it becomes animals who obviously cannot tell you that they are in pain as such the practice of standing actually was introduced not to minimize the suffering to the animal but to protect the slaughterhouse the last off from the animal who is being slaughtered so that is the background to why the animals w are several ways of stunning large animals and small animals and the stunning actually can either be done with a blow to the head or a boat to the head and that actually gives a shock and the concussion to the brain so that there is loss of consciousness at that time nobody has actually said that reduces the pain to the animal just because you physically cannot see that the animal and then a rod or a wire was passed into the brain to actually sort of kill off the brain at that time and that actually was very cruel and has been has been outlawed in many countries pitching as such then there is electrified water for smaller animals whose whose necks are sort of immersed in this and that i mean causes drowning of the possible drowning of the animal to that degree so all of these things are supposed to make it less painful for the animal but it is debatable that this is this is the case the other thing that we are not sure about is whether the animal actually because of the electrical shock the blow or the water does actually the card there is cardiac arrest the animal is killed by that before the animal is slaughtered if that is the case then of course that is a dead animal that you are stalking and we would be against eating that the other thing is physical pain and mental pain these are two big pain spheres that we know about psychologists know about and it is also well documented that animals suffer psychological mental pain after they have been stoned so we may be we