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Salamun Alaykum brother Joseph,

I read with some interest your article on Shortening of the Prayers. However, my counter-question is that does not that serve as a proof that ritual prayers are prescribed (i.e.- why would the Quran ask us to shorten the prayer in fear/danger if the form was fluid anyway)? What relevance do the verses of Shortening the Salah have for us today, does it simply mean that whatever regular form we are indulging in can be shortened when it becomes necessary to do so, or does it provide a clue to the importance of the Sunna ?

Salamun Alaykum brother Joseph,

I read with some interest your article on the issue of Slave Women, and this invoked in me the curiousity to know your opinion regarding whether the Prophet (sws) married Mariyah the Copitc or not ? The traditional understanding, afaik is that he did not need to marry her as sex with slave-women was permitted, and further the verses 33:50-52 do not make any mention of allowance for him to marry slave women. Or do you mean to say that the exception mentioned in 4:24 overrides the categories of women permitted for him (sws) ?

I would be grateful for your opinion on the same, and also whether there is any historical record of the Prophet having married Mariyah.

[not]

Salam,
I was going through the interesting articles on your site, and while I agree that Sunna is distinct from Hadith, and is often conflated with the latter by traditional Muslims, I would also like to know your opinion on the following:

Do you feel that the Sunna (the practice of the early community) is binding on future generations of Muslims, particularly if it is not contravening any Quranic command?

As you may be aware, Javed Ghamidi is one scholar who answers this is in the affirmative, but then he also restricts Sunna to being only religious practices of the Prophet in nature (ie- not inclusive of all his practices). In fact, Ghamidi's teacher, Amin Ahsan Islahi who was a profound scholar from the subcontinent, critiqued the Quran-aloners with the argument that they are reducing the Prophet to be similar to a mere postman who delivered the Quran and went away in history.

I would be grateful for your opinion on the same, and the reasons thereof in either case (yes or no to my question).