The custom of holding the Holy Quran above the bride’s head during rukhsati is a bizarre one. Not only does it not have any basis in Islam, it also does not make sense at any level. Apparently it is done so that the bride can gain blessings. In reality, blessings are gained by reading the Holy Quran and acting upon it.
The recitation of the Holy Quran and acting upon it brings numerous benefits. Holding the Holy Quran above the bride’s head during rukhsati does not have any benefit. Furthermore, it only goes on to show the ignorance of Muslims these days.
While customs such as dowry are taken from Hindus, I do not know how and from where this custom originated. As far as I know, Hindus don’t pass their brides under their holy book, so I am left to wonder how this custom took its roots.
As Muslims, we need to be very careful where we are heading with respect to the use of the Holy Quran. The Holy Quran is to be used with utmost respect. The misuse of the Holy Quran in qirat competitions is well known. Now we don’t need this.
There is a desperate need among Muslims to get rid of such bizarre customs that reek of ignorance.
During the preislamic era “jahiliah” prohets PBUH companions who converted to islam had to fight there families and relatives who were in kufr to bring the change. Eventhough people of mecca had some resemblance from the religion of ibrahim they would go around the kabbah and beleive in god. however as the time past there ancestors started the tridition of worshiping idols and placed idols in the kabbah. so if the legacy set by your ancestors is wrong it needs to be changed for the coming generations so they can learn from it.
we are going back in to the same age as preislamic era where people had so many traditions and islam is fading away from our lives.
unfortunately the books written by early scholors were in the time of killafah and the leaders at time had a firm imaan. Therefore its hard to find alot of information on mecca era whereas you can find tons and tons of information about the time in madina after migration.
Stand up for the right thing because a small action can take you a long way and might change the lifes of so many people. one might not be aware of it in this life time but on the day of judgement a copy of there good deed will be presented in front of you.
isalm is the way of life.
change the legacy of ancestors if you have to climb mount everst and follow the rightous path and learn the seerah of our real role models.. Prophet PBUH, abu bakr Ra, umer bin khattb Ra, Uthman bin affan and last not least ali bin abi talib the lion of islam.
I dont have the answer to wheather you can put the quran over your head or not but go back in time and learn the history and there life style of these beloved people of prophet PBUH and inshallah you will get the answer and your heart will lead you to the right answer.
I’d learnt that the practice of holding the quran above the bride was a form of bidah at an Islamic lecture. I mentioned this to the girl I was supposed to be marrying and it caused such an argument with her. I wasn’t aware that her family did this (and wouldnt have stopped them) but it lead to her saying my views of Islam are just so different to hers and that I’ve become brainwashed by going to such lectures.
I also made the mistake of mentioning that I’d learn that Angles will not visit the house of someone who has photos on display…that didnt go down well either. I wasn’t trying to come across as being a preacher, I’m by far a perfect Muslim. All in all, this has resulted in the girl changing her mind and not wishing to proceed with our proposed marriage. Such a shame.
According to her we should concentrate on quran/namaz etc first and foremost before looking into other bits and pieces. Reading quran and namaz etc alone wont get you to jannah, we have no idea how short our time on this world is so we should try and use the time as wisely as possible and do the best we can?
@Zunaid: Allah SWT has given every human being the choice to decide between good and bad, right and wrong, etc. Indulging in unacceptable practices, whatever they may be, and then saying that Allah SWT has pre-planned everything is obviously wrong. As far as this practice is concerned, people can hang upside down from a tree before rukhsati if they want to, just don’t use the Holy Quran to promote jahalat.
@YUSHA:: i am not yet able to understand, why there is devision in every field namely MUSLIM n NON-MUSLIM…………. ??????
and we all strongly believe that the universe n everything, every creatures on the earth is created by Almighty Allah(S.A.W.).. then how his creation can be non-muslim???? my presonal belief is that happenings all around is pre-planned by almighty, and so the rituals , practices , customs etc. is nothing non-muslim……………
@Zunaid: According to Ahadith, Muslims are not supposed to indulge in practices of non-Muslims. Hence, applying sindoor is wrong for Muslim women. I agree that people should be free to do what they want, but it has to be within a limit. Rituals are fine, as long as they don’t involve the use of the Holy Quran. Also, following a custom is one thing, but doing so thinking that is has religious benefits is quite another.
I agree dowry system has many disadvantages, and it needs to be abolished. But there is nothing such this context.
Muslim ladies in eastern part of India, particularly in Bihar, Bengal and Bangladesh apply SINDOOR…………. islam mein sindoor ki koi Ahemiyat nahin hai. At the same time, Islam unhe aisa karne se rokta bhi nahin hai….
<<<<< “Retarded practices like these have made a laughing stock of Muslims in the subcontinent”>>>>>
let others do whatever they wanna do. its their mind setup, and we are not gonna change them. THINKING LEVEL OF A PERSON IS IDENTIFIED BY WHAT HE LAUGHS AT. if one makes fun of my my my rituals i am not gonna give up mine. Already there are many unwanted practices going on in our society, on which people need to be made aware……… why to target someone’s ritual which causes no harm to society??????????????
@Nomesser: Dowry originated in upper caste Hindu families. If only those Muslims practiced it whose ancestors had converted, we would only have a minority among Muslims practicing dowry. However, the majority of Muslims indulge in this custom. The only difference is, Hindus sit and demand dowry while Muslims give it willingly. As far as the downright retarded practice of holding the Holy Quran above the bride’s head is concerned, we can’t leave it alone in the name of culture. In fact, it is practices like these that tarnish culture.
@Zunaid: It is a simple and straightforward post. Hurting people is not my intention, but at the same time I can’t care less. Retarded practices like these have made a laughing stock of Muslims in the subcontinent. All kinds of jahalat is prevailing and we sit back and don’t talk about them for fear of hurting people. Let’s take dowry for instance. Tens of thousands of daughters are burnt alive or killed in some other manner. Should we keep quiet over that too for fear of hurting people who indulge in this satanic practice? At the same time, thank you for your comment and for taking an interest in my post.
resected author, i could not understand why you have published such an article which has no sense…….. further, i has all such points which aim at hurting those who practice this culture…….
“While customs such as dowry are taken from Hindus”
i m not able to understand, whatever mal-practice which runs in our society, are taken from hindus. Did our ancestors adopt good practice from hindus???????
as far my knowledge is concerned, most of the practices in our festivals, and other type of ceromony has essence of its origin in Indian Sub-cotinent, which makes it clear that our ancestors kept practicing their original culture than those adopting the Arabic way….
yusah
“While customs such as dowry are taken from Hindus”
This is wrong.
1. Dowry is not a Hindu religious practice. It is a cultural practice prevalent since ancient times in the Indian subcontinent.
2. Muslim’s did not per say copy the practice from Hindus.
3. It is practiced by those Muslims whose ancestors converted from Hinduism to Islam and thus still carry the cultural practices of their ancestors.
4. The practice of holding Quran over head is also a cultural practice. In Hindus also Gita is held in a similar way. So you can say that this is a Hindu practice.
“There is a desperate need among Muslims to get rid of such bizarre customs that reek of ignorance.”
Why? Do think that a religion should steamroll culture? Let me remind you that many of the practices you call as ‘Islamic’ are also cultural practices from Arabian region. So aren’t you a little confused here by wanting to selectively get rid of cultural practices of your ancestors and instead adopt those of Arabian people. An example could be the struggle within Iran…Persian culture v/s Islamic culture.
My advise to you is to stop being fussy about small things…don’t shun culture because culture sustains civilizations as well as religion…follow Islam by all means but separate the true meaning and aspects of it and merging them with your own cultural practices. Don’t throw away the legacy of your ancestors.