When a holy book (The Bible, the Quran, Hadith, etc) speaks of the culture of that time ...?

Question

Does that mean that we should have the same culture now, behave in those same ways, as described in those books?

For instance, if a book says "Men have beards and women wear skirts." Does that mean that all women of all time need to wear skirts or dresses? Men must never shave their beards? or is that just backdrop for where the story took place?

If the book says "Women are often beaten, and men taken as slaves", is that social commentary or instruction?

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People often defend their books by saying "that was 2,000 years ago, that's just what their culture was", while others seem to treat those passages as commands as to how they should live their lives.

So how are we to take those passages? As descriptions or guidelines?

I am trying to keep this generic and do not mean any disrespect to anyone of any religion.

I am merely curious about those passages which do not state "do this". Those that are not clearly commands.

Answer 1

be ur self. read more about Islam, Quran and hadith!

Answer 2

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Not necessaily - because of a lot of the details given to us in the Bible about the cultures of the past detail a lot of the problems inherent in the cultures; hence WHY they needed a Savior to begin with. Virtually every negative human condition is detailed in the Bible, again - reason being - to show us just how hapless the human race is without the help of God.


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It all depends on the context. It is unclear whether or not the beards and skirts are socially acceptable in this quote. Don't think of it is terms of merely beards and skirts only. It's unlikely that the quote you provided is addressing skirts and beards specifically. More likely, it's a commentary on women's attire and men's grooming in general. Again, whether or not this is a positive or negative commentary cannot be determined because not enough of the quote is provided, but I hope you get the point.


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Take the Bible for example. Like I said before, the Bible details virtually every negative aspect of the human condition. Why? So that we will hopefully come to realize just how much we need God's help in order to improve things.

There mere fact that a holy book may contain the phrase "Women are often beaten, and men taken as slaves" most likely is not mandating woman should be beaten and men should be taken as slaves.


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This is a valid defense. Biblical authors wrote more for their contemporaries than they did for posterity. This does not mean we can't derive proper theological understanding from Biblical texts. All it means is that it might take some work to interpret it properly.


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Again, it all depends on the context. There wasn't enough context provided with the quotes to tell out-right what they meant, but that just goes to show how important context is.

Answer 3

Let's take it as a given, for this discussion, that these books are for instruction. Look through them and you'll find clear passages where they say 'Do this..." or "do not do this..." if you can find a passage where it says a man should never shave his beard, then you should assume that is an instruction, but if it only says men had beards, then it is only descriptive. The same would apply to any particular item, would it not? Depending on the book in question, I'd say that for the large part, most of the things you've brought up are only descriptive, not instructive.

Answer 4

That depends wholly on the religion. For example, Paul in the bible discusses hair length for men and women. However, he then writes that "we have no other teaching" - in other words, "this is the only way we know", not "this is the only acceptable teaching". It is clear that he is not *demanding* here, only *recommending*.

As for the specific line, "Men have beards and women wear skirts.", it seems clear to me that this is simply a commentary on the culture of that day. Your example does not say "men *must* maintain beards" or "women are not allowed to wear anything in public other than skirts". It does not even say "should". It merely states the way that things are at the time. I would say that the same is true for your 2nd example, "Women are often beaten, and men taken as slaves". This is not an instruction, "beat your women frequently, and make slaves of men." It is simply a statement describing the situation in that culture at that time.

One good answer mentioned that in Islam, Muslims are to look to the Prophet as an example. The same is true for Christianity and Jesus. However, there are exceptions. For example, Jesus was an itinterant preacher, what Christians of the time called an "apostle", or "one sent" to spread the "good news". Paul makes it clear in his letters that not all Christians are called to be apostles, and that different Christians have different things to contribute to Christian society, and that these things are all at the behest of God. In other words, though Jesus is our prime example, a good Christian does *not* have to do *all* things as Jesus did.

This reminds me of a Mark Twain story, in which a cat jumps onto a hot stove lid. Twain goes on to say that we should not be like the cat, and we should learn no more from a lesson than it has to teach us. The reason? The cat, after such an experience, will never jump onto a hot stove lid again. However, the cat will never dare jump onto a cold lid, either.

Jim, http://www.jimpettis.com/wheel/

Answer 5

You've heard the word "context" enough in this arena. It also includes literary genre. The genre of the written word is the style or form which the text was written. As a cookbook has a certain format and a poem, say, Shakespeare, has a certain format; you cannot read the one like the other. You probably don't even know about genres, but you automatically switch your thinking to the one that you are currently reading.
This is one of the huge problems with the Bible. It is written in dozens of genres (narrative, wisdom, law, poetry, etc....) and this leads people to not give credence to much of what it says for they just don't understand it.
It also does not help that it was written over 2000 years ago and one must cross that bridge of time to put context into the words.
We have a hard enough time understanding each other TODAY, let alone going back through time barriers, language barriers, cultural barriers, sexual barriers........
This is the biggest reason that people argue over the Word of God. The Bible is not an "easy read". If you are looking for the truth of God in one reading - you're not going to find it.

Answer 6

Well, depending on which religion, if the prophet of whichever says that God wants women to wear dresses and men to have beards, and it does not mention it's only for a specific time period then it should be followed through.


My *future* school(I HOPE!) has a strict dress code that is based mainly from my church's dress code.

Men

A clean and well-cared-for appearance should be maintained. Clothing is inappropriate when it is sleeveless, revealing, or form fitting. Shorts must be knee length or longer. Hairstyles should be clean and neat, avoiding extreme styles or colors, and trimmed above the collar leaving the ear uncovered. Sideburns should not extend below the earlobe or onto the cheek. If worn, moustaches should be neatly trimmed and may not extend beyond or below the corners of the mouth. Men are expected to be clean shaven; beards are not acceptable. Earrings and other body piercing are not acceptable. Shoes should be worn in all public campus areas.

Women

A clean and well-cared-for appearance should be maintained. Clothing is inappropriate when it is sleeveless, strapless, backless, or revealing; has slits above the knee; or is form fitting. Dresses, skirts, and shorts must be knee length or longer. Hairstyles should be clean and neat, avoiding extremes in styles and colors. Excessive ear piercing (more than two per ear) and all other body piercing are not acceptable. Shoes should be worn in all public campus areas.


It's pretty basic. Keep your appearance up, dress modestly, and try to keep your body the way God gave it to you. It's been that way for over 175 years

Answer 7

You are right. Think before you follow. There is a widespread mis-conception about Sunnah of the holy prophet SAW.

Some people mindlessly criticize others on using modern
dresses or fashions. Anything that is not against Islam is allowed. But insistance on one dress or the other is not required. It should provide you full cover, must be modest and not tight or revealing.

Sunnah are those blessed habits of holy prophet which must be followed by all true believers. Like:

1. Sincerity
2. Patience
3. Piety
4. Truthfullness
5. Fear of God
6. Sympathy
7. Helping the needy
8. Consistancy in prayers
9. Resilence in adversity
10. Unshakable Trust in the Almighty
11. Love for all

These are the blessed sunnats of Hazrat Nabi Akram and we
all will be judged by our adherence to them.

Those who want to impose old dresses mindlessly use
cars and planes which He never used. We have to carry forward his noble habits and character, not articles of use.

Javed Kaleem

Answer 8

Interesting question, I hope I could be of some benefit to you:
Growing the beard for men in Islam (quran, hadith) is part of the Sunna. Sunna deeds are the deeds that Prophet Mohamad did and recommended Muslims to do. it is not mandatory though you'd find some that strongly disagree. As for women in Islam, they are to cover their bodies in a way that their figures are not shown to strangers(non-brothers, husband, father, uncle, etc).
If what you asked in your questions was true, then we are to use camels, donkeys, horses for transportation these days and not use cars, planes, etc. There is no slavery in Islam, women are not beaten like its often stereo typed. from my travelling to the middle east, I learned that Islam is not what the media shows it to be. If you wish, I could send you some books if u 'd like, that talk about islam, or you may check out this site "www.islamway.com" or "www.islamicity.com" and there are so many others sites that are you could trust as a good source of info.
good luck to you

Answer 9

I think God knows that every time has its own culture, right?

If God was did not create a holy book that will be suitable for all times he would need to update the holy book time to time and that would be ridiculous, right?

So I think that God knows what is better for us more than we do... You should discover what Holy book is the wright one and don't contain human additions and modifications..

Answer 10

WELL YOU WILL HAV TO TRAVEL THROUGH THE INNER MEANINGS OF THE CONTENTS OF THESE BOOKS, FRIEND... YOU WILL HAV TO READ EACHA ND EVERY BOOK AND ACCEPT THE BEST AND GOOD OF THEM WHILE REJECTING THE BAD. IF YOU ARE GOING TO TAKE EVEN THE BAD ONES SERIOUSLY I GUESS YOU KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN.

IF A BOOK SAYS "WOMEN ARE ALWAYS BEATEN AND MEN TAKEN AS SLAVES IT DOESN'T MEAN THAT ONE SHOULD ACCEPT IT AND CONTINUE IT..

Answer 11

hi
i advise u to go to this website and read the book about the society and culture

http://www.hizb-ut-tahrir.org/
it contains all answers any one can think in

feed me back