Our Announcements

Not Found

Sorry, but you are looking for something that isn't here.

Archive for category Islam: The Universal Message of Peace

GLOBAL PERSECUTION OF MUSLIMS: Myanmar Must Explain Rohingya Ethnic Violence: Asean

Posted by Dr. Manzer Durrani in Islam: The Universal Message of Peace on July 30th, 2012

Rohingya Muslims stage a protest outside the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand on Monday, July 23, 2012 to call for support from international community to pressure the government of Myanmar for better treatment of Rohingya ethic minority following communal violence in western Myanmar, in which Muslim Rohingyas were killed, rape and physically abused. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)Rohingya Muslims stage a protest outside the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand on Monday, July 23, 2012 to call for support from international community to pressure the government of Myanmar for better treatment of Rohingya ethic minority following communal violence in western Myanmar, in which Muslim Rohingyas were killed, rape and physically abused. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Roland
4:30pm Jul 28, 2012

IN regards of a few posters who underline that Rohingya are Muslims – I think to all – please see them first as humans who are terribly mistreated (and that since a very long time) and then second in regards to their religious affiliation.

I tried to read myself into the actual cause for the problem on hand and it seems that Rohingyas as a ethnic group have seen since a very long time a string of abuse and human rights violations – it is NOT an issue which just started in the very recent past. Basically it seems that for the region between Myanmar and Bangladesh which the Rohingyas called their home there is basically no place for them as they had been originally “imported” for (slave) labor. The U.S. had it with African-Americans, Indonesia with the Chinese…ahh, what a miserable world we are living in.

I hope with all my heart that this violence stops but seemingly neither Myanmar (as not really expected) nor Bangladesh care all to much for them.

dimsumcapcay
9:58am Jul 27, 2012

Muslim drawing conflicts? What a nonsense. They live peacefully as the minority (South Thailand, South Philippines, Assam, South China, etc) and very tolerant as the majority (Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, etc). We Westerners are only looking for their fault because we Westerners are retarded and immoral. 

The Association of Southeast Asian Nation is seeking an explanation from member state Myanmar about recent ethnic violence targeting minority Rohingya group. 

The ongoing violence has driven the Rohingyas from their homes in Myanmar’s northern and western states, and seen them turn up in waves as asylum seekers and refugees in neighboring Southeast Asian countries, including Indonesia. 

“There will be a full explanation from Myanmar because this is an important and critical issue for Asean as a community,” Asean Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan said on Wednesday. 

The explanation, he said, would be given at the United Nations headquarters in New York in September on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. 

Surin said the Asean Secretariat had conducted talks with Myanmar Foreign Minister U Wunna Maung Lwin but added “we haven’t heard anything specific or concrete on the matter.” 

Predominantly Buddhist Myanmar does not recognize the Muslim Rohingyas as citizens, arguing that they migrated from Bangladesh during British colonial rule. Bangladesh has also disavowed the group, calling it Myanmar’s problem. 

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday called for laws to protect the rights of the country’s ethnic minorities in her inaugural address to the fledgling parliament. 

Additional reporting from AFP

No Comments

Why Is the World Ignoring the Ethnic Cleansing in Myanmar?

Posted by Dr. Manzer Durrani in Islam: The Universal Message of Peace on July 30th, 2012

Last spring, a flowering of democracy in Myanmar mesmerized the world. But now, three months after the democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi won a parliamentary seat and a month after she traveled to Oslo to belatedly receive the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, an alarm bell is ringing in Myanmar.
‘Aung Suu Kyi, though not as powerful as the military officers who control Myanmar’s transition, should not duck questions about the Rohingyas.’
In the villages of Arakan state, near the Bangladeshi border, a pogrom against a population of Muslims called the Rohingyas began in June. It is the ugly side of Myanmar’s democratic transition — a rotting of the flower, even as it seems to bloom. 
Cruelty toward the Rohingyas is not new. They have faced torture, neglect and repression in the Buddhist-majority land since independence in 1948. Myanmar’s Constitution closes all options for Rohingyas to be citizens, on grounds that their ancestors didn’t live there when the land, once called Burma, came under British rule in the 19th century (a contention the Rohingyas dispute). Even now, as military rulers have begun to loosen their grip, there is no sign of change for the Rohingyas. Instead, the Burmese are trying to cast them out. 
The current violence can be traced to the rape and killing in late May of a Buddhist woman, for which the police reportedly detained three Muslims. That was followed by mob attacks on Rohingyas and other Muslims that killed dozens of people. According to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, state security forces have now conducted mass arrests of Muslims; they destroyed thousands of homes, with the impact falling most heavily on the Rohingyas. Displaced Rohingyas have tried to flee across the Naf River to neighboring Bangladesh; some have died in the effort. 
The Burmese media have cited early rioting by Rohingyas and have cast them as terrorists and traitors. In mid-June, in the name of stopping such violence, the government declared a state of emergency. But it has used its border security force to burn houses, kill men and evict Rohingyas from their villages. And on Thursday, President Thein Sein suggested that Myanmar could end the crisis by expelling all of its Rohingyas or by having the United Nations resettle them — a proposal that a United Nations official quickly rejected. 
This is not sectarian violence; it is state-supported ethnic cleansing and the nations of the world aren’t pressing Myanmar’s leaders to stop it. Even Suu Kyi has not spoken out. 
In mid-June, after some Rohingyas fled by boat to villages in Bangladesh, they told horrifying stories to a team of journalists whom I accompanied to Cox’s Bazar, a Bangladeshi city near the border. They said they had come under fire from a helicopter and that three of six boats were lost. Some children drowned during the four-day trip; others died of hunger. Once in Bangladesh, they said, the families faced deportation back to Myanmar. But some children who were separated from their parents made their way to the houses of villagers for shelter; other children may even now be starving in hide-outs or have become prey for criminal networks. Border guards found an abandoned newborn on a boat; after receiving medical treatment, the infant was left in the temporary care of a local fisherman. 
Why isn’t this pogrom arousing more international indignation? Certainly, Myanmar has become a destination for capital investment now that the United States, the European Union and Canada have accepted the government’s narrative of democratic transition and have largely lifted the economic sanctions they began applying after the massacre of thousands of democracy protesters in 1988 (measures that did not prevent multinational companies from doing business with the regime). Still, when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Myanmar late last year and welcomed its first steps toward democratization, she also set down conditions for strengthening ties, including an end to ethnic violence. 
The plight of the Rohingyas begins with their statelessness — the denial of citizenship itself, for which Myanmar is directly responsible. Suu Kyi, though not as powerful as the military officers who control Myanmar’s transition, should not duck questions about the Rohingyas, as she has done while being feted in the West. Instead, she should be using her voice and her reputation to point out that citizenship is a basic right of all humans. On July 5, the secretary general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, appealed to her to speak up to help end the violence. 
To be sure, Bangladesh can do more. Its river border with Myanmar is unprotected; thousands of Rohingyas have been rowing or swimming it at night. But even though Bangladesh has sheltered such refugees in the past — hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas live here now, legally or illegally — it has been reluctant so far this year to welcome them, out of fear of encouraging an overwhelming new influx. 
Already, such fears have aroused anti-Rohingya sentiment among some Bangladeshis and initially Bangladesh’s government tried to force the refugees back without assisting them. After some villagers risked arrest by sheltering refugees, the government began to offer humanitarian aid, before sending them back on their boats. Bangladesh should shelter the refugees as it has in years past, as the international community is urging. 
But the world should put its spotlight on Myanmar. It should not so eagerly welcome democracy in a country that leaves thousands of stateless men and women floating in a river, their corpses washing up on its shores, after they have been reviled in, and driven from, a land in which their families have lived for centuries. 
The New York Times 
Moshahida Sultana Ritu, an economist, teaches at the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh.

No Comments

REBUTTAL TO REP PETER KING : U.S. Muslim Servicemen who Have Died in the Service of Our Country : Crescents Among the Crosses at Arlington Cemetery

Posted by Dr. Manzer Durrani in Islam: The Universal Message of Peace on July 28th, 2012

Not a single Hindu American has died serving America!

In American  Congress, a new Joseph McCarthy appears every decade. This mantle is nowadays donned on by a Jewish American Congressman from New York, named Peter King. He opposes every effort by the State Department to build bridges with the Islamic World. He carries a grudge, which is unfounded and has no precedence in history, except, that of Stephen Solarz of New York, some years ago. The American Muslim community’s defence is led by James Zogby, who has done a remarkable job. But, the mainstream Muslim community organizations like ISNA and ICNA are involved in their own parochial battles to defend Muslims against Rep.Peter King’s repeated attacks. He has become an anti-Muslim Joe McCarthy of sorts.  The mainstream Jewish and Muslim communities get along very well in America, except, for a handful of zealots. But, America has a core of people, who are moderate and critical thinkers. They do not espouse such views as Rep.King does. So, because this topic of baiting and hating Muslims wins votes from the fringe and creates fear in the general American public is a favorite of Rep.King. He has dishonored the memory of U.S. Muslim Servicemen who have died in the Service of Our Country.

This information is from a Jewish Owned Newspaper, the New York Times *

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/09/us/09muslim.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2

U.S. Muslim Servicemen who Have Died in the Service of Our Country

Posted on January 11, 2011

 

Crescents Among the Crosses at Arlington Cemetery

Source: ThinkProgress.org

“As of 2006, some 212 Muslim-American soldiers had been awarded Combat Action Ribbons for their service in Iraq and Afghanistan, and seven had been killed,” the New York Times reported in 2009. On Memorial Day, 2008, the organization Muslim Military Members asked that the Muslim soldiers buried in Arlington Cemetery after dying for their country be remembered:

When you wander the cemetery grounds that overlook Washington, DC, you’ll notice the grave of Army Captain Humayun Khan, who lured a suicide car bomb away from the men in his charge, saving their lives but giving up his own. You might also come across the grave of Army Spc. Rasheed Sahib, an American Muslim from Guyana who was killed in Iraq as well, under mysterious circumstances. And then there’s Army Spc. Omead Razani, a son of Iranian immigrants who also died in Iraq. Also, Marine Staff Sgt. Kendall Damon Waters-Bey was killed in a helicopter crash on his way to duty in Iraq. In fact, you’ll find the graves of fallen Muslim soldiers and Muslim veterans in military cemeteries all over the United States, from Hassein Ahmed (Army, WWII) to Ibrahim Muhammad (Navy, WWII), from Mahir Hasan (Army, Korea) to Abul Fateh Umar Khan (Air Force, Korea).

Source: New York Times and Muslim Military Members

And yet more than 3,500 Muslims have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Defense Department figures provided to The Times. As of 2006, some 212 Muslim-American soldiers had been awarded Combat Action Ribbons for their service in Iraq and Afghanistan, and seven had been killed.

Too many Americans overlook the heroic efforts of Arab-Americans in uniform, said Capt. Eric Rahman, 35, an Army reservist who was awarded the Bronze Star for his service in Iraq at the start of the war. He cited the example of Petty Officer Second Class Michael A. Monsoor, a Navy Seal and practicing Christian of Lebanese and Irish descent who was awarded the Medal of Honor after jumping on a grenade and saving at least three team members during a firefight in 2006, in Ramadi, Iraq.

Yet Petty Officer Monsoor will never be remembered like Major Hasan, said Captain Rahman.

Regardless, he said, Muslim- and Arab-Americans are crucial to the military’s success in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“Take a look at these conflicts,” he said. “We need those skill sets, we need those backgrounds, we need those perspectives.

Related Articles

But, We would ask any sick American, who treated them in the hospital? Who was the surgeon, who performed your open heart surgery? Have they not heard of the most popular doctor in America, Dr.Mehmet Oz, who is a Turkish Muslim. There are so many Pakistani Physicians and Surgeons treating Americans, that they have their own Association, APPNA:

http://www.appna.org/

Thousands of Muslim men and women physicians and surgeons minister to the health of American, irrespective of race, religion, class, gender, or national origins.  Jewish Hospitals have Muslim physicians and Surgeons.

http://www.imana.org/

http://amwpa.org/

 

It’s 4am, your child has just fallen out of bed and injured his head and arm.  An ambulance arrives and rushes you and your son to a hospital.  The ambulance doors open, and you are greeted by a team of medical professionals wearing beards and hijab.  Your son is wheeled into the emergency room and instead of screams, you are soothed by the sound of Quranic recitation and the fragrance of frankincense and myrrh.  

You’ve not entered the twilight zone, instead you have entered a Muslim American hospital—a medical center that combines cutting edge modern “western-medicine” with alternative medical approaches of the East, including At-tib unnebuwia, ancient techniques used by the Prophet Muhammad (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him).  

Such a medical facility does not exist, at least not for now.  However, there are significant numbers of Muslim physicians.

Available data suggests that the number of Muslim physicians may be even over-proportionate to our community’s total population in the U.S.

According to the American Medical Association (AMA), as of 2006, there were 921,904 U.S. physicians.  The AMA does not report on the religion of its members.  However, it is known, that 113,585 or 12% of US physicians in 2006 were Asian and 32,452 or 3.5% of physicians were African American.

In addition, a 2006 Association of American Medical Colleges study entitled “Diversity in the Physician Workforce” indicates that Indians and Pakistanis account for the largest population of Asian physicians.  And while many Indian physicians may be Hindus, the Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America boasts a membership of 7,000 current and retired physicians.

Looking at the African American population, the US Census bureau reports that there are an estimated 40.2 million African Americans.  U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee testimony given on October 14, 2003 suggests that as many as 2.4 million Muslims are African Americans, 5.9% of the total African American population.  Based upon this figure, one can extrapolate that there are approximately 2000 Muslim physicians who are African American.

An analysis of all the above data suggests that more than 10% of American physicians are Muslim, while Muslims make up less than 3% of the total U.S. population.  “Thus, it is safe to say there is number of Muslim physicians is above average,” says Dr. Salim Aziz, a prominent heart surgeon with offices in Maryland and the District.

And why no Muslim hospitals?

“The question of building hospitals bring you to the issue of finances as well as the issue of whether we have the will and focus to build institutions in general,” says Dr. Aziz, a 30-year veteran of the medical profession.

Dr. Aziz states “If you look at the Jewish community for example, they got started by investing in academia.  By giving money to non-Jewish colleges and universities, they [the Jewish community] paved the road for themselves to gain a foot-hold in teaching hospitals.  This [involvement] gave them the experience to [eventually] launch their own hospitals.  As a community, we have not invested in academic institution-building.”

To address this problem, our leaders must become more sophisticated and begin developing long-range plans for our masjid communities, opines Dr. Aziz.  Next, Dr. Aziz asserts that Muslims must look beyond our ethnicities and work together as a single community.  With the planning and collaboration, our community should be in a better position to grow our resources and then begin wisely investing these resources by building colleges, hospitals and other institutions, advises Dr. Aziz.

One such effort at cross-ethnic Muslim institution-building is evident in the Association of Muslim Health Professionals (AMHP).  In 2004, this group started as a listserv merely to connect Muslim health professionals and students from various disciplines across North America. According to AMHP’s website, the purpose of the listserv was to serve as a forum for discussion on healthcare issues as well as a networking tool.  The listserv allowed Muslims in the health care fields to unite and put an end to the fragmentation that had previously existed in the community, AMHP historical documents suggest.

The group’s first organizational meeting was held in conjunction with the 2004 Annual ISNA Convention in Rosemont, IL. Today, we have 1200 members says AMHP spokesperson Janice French, a Muslimah based in Maryland who works in the social work field.  “At this point, we’re focused on research and assisting Muslim communities in forming “free” clinics.” These clinics are designed to serve both Muslim and non-Muslim patients alike who have no or little health coverage, states French.

According to French, there are less than a half dozen Muslim “free” clinics including one associated with the Muslim Community Center, a masjid community located in Silver Spring, MD.  The MCC Clinic has been open for nearly five years now and was founded with a particular focus on serving patients who were here in the country on visitor visas states Iman Romodan, MCC Clinic General Manager.  Since the clinic is also open to Muslims and non-Muslims, it employs Muslim and non-Muslim doctors, 18 in total, notes Romodan.  In addition to treating patients themselves, Romodan states “the MCC Clinic also refers patients to a network of radiologists and other healthcare providers whose fees are reasonably priced, since many patients are quite frequently without medical insurance.”

AMHP’s French believes that Muslim clinics like the MCC “free” clinic can provide our community with the experience needed for us to eventually build Muslim hospitals.

“At this point, there are no Muslim hospitals, just many Muslims in Hospitals,” French acknowledges.  However, as we start to work together more and overcome issues that separate us, we’ll begin to see Muslim owned hospitals and other institutions, states French.

Through greater Muslim unity, Muslim hospitals may be over the horizon and just in time to treat that Muslim child who injures himself by falling out of bed.

Coutesy:http://www.shawuniversitymosque.org/JTaqwa/modules.php?

name=News&file=article&sid=1698

 

 So, Rep. Peter King, Muslims are doing nation building in America.

No Comments

Equality of Men and Women The Quran makes it clear that Women and Men are equal in the eyes of God

Posted by Dr. Manzer Durrani in Islam: The Universal Message of Peace on July 27th, 2012

Equality of Men and Women

The Quran makes it clear that Women and Men are equal in the eyes of God

One of the most misunderstood areas in Islam is that of the position of women in the religion. The general perception in the West is that Muslim women are subjugated and almost seen as property. While not all Muslims deal with women as inferior, this is unfortunately true in some segments of the Muslim world and this treatment is supposedly justified by the religion. However, when we look at the basis of the religion, the Quran, we see a very different picture. In the Quran God makes it very clear that men and women are equal.

[3:195] Their Lord responded to them: “I never fail to reward any worker among you for any work you do, be you male or female – you are equal to one another. Thus, those who immigrate, and get evicted from their homes, and are persecuted because of Me, and fight and get killed, I will surely remit their sins and admit them into gardens with flowing streams.” Such is the reward from GOD. GOD possesses the ultimate reward.

[4:124] As for those who lead a righteous life, male or female, while believing, they enter Paradise; without the slightest injustice.

Guaranteed Happiness Now and Forever

[16:97] Anyone who works righteousness, male or female, while believing, we will surely grant them a happy life in this world, and we will surely pay them their full recompense (on the Day of Judgment) for their righteous works.

 

Equality of Men and Women

[33:35] The submitting men, the submitting women, the believing men, the believing women, the obedient men, the obedient women, the truthful men, the truthful women, the steadfast men, the steadfast women, the reverent men, the reverent women, the charitable men, the charitable women, the fasting men, the fasting women, the chaste men, the chaste women, and the men who commemorate GOD frequently, and the commemorating women; GOD has prepared for them forgiveness and a great recompense.

[40:40] Whoever commits a sin is requited for just that, and whoever works righteousness – male or female – while believing, these will enter Paradise wherein they receive provisions without any limits.

The Only Criterion For Distinguishing Among The People

[49:13] O people, we created you from the same male and female, and rendered you distinct peoples and tribes, that you may recognize one another. The best among you in the sight of GOD is the most righteous. GOD is Omniscient, Cognizant.

How is it that such clear verses can be ignored? Why are women treated so poorly in some Muslim communities? The answer lies in the fact that those communities take other sources besides the Quran as the basis of their religion. There are many Hadith that denigrate women. Also the pre-Islamic cultures of much of the Muslim world did not value women and had little use for them. The following verses demonstrate this fact:

When one of them gets a baby girl, his face becomes darkened with overwhelming grief. Ashamed, he hides from the people, because of the bad news given to him. He even ponders: should he keep the baby grudgingly, or bury her in the dust. Miserable indeed is their judgment.(16:58-59)

When one of them is given news (of a daughter) as they claimed for the Most Gracious, his face is darkened with misery and anger! (They say,) “What is good about an offspring that is brought up to be beautiful, and cannot help in war?” (43:17-18)

Such attitudes can still be seen among some Muslims. Contrast this with the attitude and practice of the prophet Muhammad himself as demonstrated by his willingness to debate with a woman about her husband:

GOD has heard the woman who debated with you about her husband, and complained to GOD. GOD heard everything the two of you discussed. GOD is Hearer, Seer. (58:1)

One does not debate with someone who is inferior, you simply tell him or her what to do. Muhammad also spoke with his wives as equals, though they were not always worthy of his trust:

The prophet had trusted some of his wives with a certain statement, then one of them spread it, and GOD let him know about it. He then informed his wife of part of the issue, and disregarded part. She asked him, “Who informed you of this?” He said, “I was informed by the Omniscient, Most Cognizant.” (66:3)

It is clear from these verses that Muhammad dealt with women equitably, in spite of the culture that surrounded him. Thus, in his own life he demonstrated the equality of men and women just as he preached it from the Quran.

As culture affects the way women are perceived and treated in Muslim communities, it affects things in the Western world. It is significant that in the Bible God is referred to with the masculine pronoun and called Father. No wonder that in the West God is thought of as being masculine. This is not the case in the Quran, however. God is without gender in the Quran. Why should God have a gender when all He needs do is say “Be” and it is?

In Appendix Four of his translation Quran: The Final Testament, Dr. Rashad Khalifa indicates that perhaps one of the reasons God chose to reveal the Quran in Arabic is the very fact that “he” and “she” do not necessarily imply natural gender. This is similar to the use of pronouns in Spanish. Thus, though the masculine pronoun may be used to refer to the sun in Spanish as el sol, that in no way makes the sun a male. This same principle is true in Arabic.

And there is another more dramatic example of how the Quran demonstrates women’s equality in contrast to Biblical tradition. In the Quran it is clear that Adam and Eve are equally guilty for listening to Satan. The fall of mankind from the Garden of Eden is not blamed on Eve. This is shown more than once in the Quran (2:34-36, 7:19-22, 7:27). Here is just one example:

The devil whispered to them, in order to reveal their bodies, which were invisible to them. He said, “Your Lord did not forbid you from this tree, except to prevent you from becoming angels, and from attaining eternal existence.” He swore to them, “I am giving you good advice.” He thus duped them with lies. As soon as they tasted the tree, their bodies became visible to them, and they tried to cover themselves with the leaves of Paradise. Their Lord called upon them: “Did I not enjoin you from that tree, and warn you that the devil is your most ardent enemy?” (7:20-22)

Throughout these verses, God refers to both Adam and Eve as being tempted by and giving in to Satan. Thus we see that God makes it clear that men and women are equal. He directly tells us in verses, He shows us in examples from the Quran of His prophet, and He counteracts the cultural bias of language and tradition. For those who read the Quran there is no excuse—men and women are equal.

 

Ref:http://www.submission.info/perspectives/women/equality.html

 

No Comments

WOMEN IN ISLAM:First Lady of Islam, the Boss of The Holy Prophet (PBUH), the First Martyr of Islam, The Women Path Finders of Islam

Posted by Dr. Manzer Durrani in Islam: The Universal Message of Peace on July 25th, 2012

 

An Interview of the Author of a Book on The First Lady of Islam

Khadija, The First Lady of Islam: An Interview with Maxine Meilleur

 

“Khadija was adorned beautifully as she rode a white, she-camel on her way around the city. Resting
upon Khadija’s head was a floral tiara, and her hair was threaded with blue ribbons and strands of
lustrous pearls. She wore bracelets of agate, coral and rock crystal, and she held a jeweled fan in her
hand. A team of Nubian slaves carrying flambeaus marched in front and on the right and the left sides of
the she-camel.

Mohammad also rode a horse, and he, his uncles, the young men of Bani Hashim and their guests,
returned in the evening to the house of Abu Talib in the same panoply as they had gone earlier that day
to the house of the bride.”

Khadija, The First Lady of Islam, is a recently published jewel of Islamic historical fiction that eloquently
narrates the entire life of one of the most honored women in Islam–an exquisite testimony to her life
and her contributions to the religion. Delicately crafted by Maxine Meilleur, this comprehensive, well-
researched work is a must-have for Muslim and non-Muslim history buffs, book lovers, and Khadija
admirers.

Read on about the author and her journey in writing Khadija (RA), The First Lady of Islam.

Because Khadija (RA), The First Lady of Islam, is a detailed, flavorful account of the life of this mother of the believers, from birth to death, it is bound to raise the reader’s curiosity as to what is fact and what is fiction. What sources formed the cornerstone of your research?

The idea of exploring Khadija came when I was in Kuwait. My family is Shi’a so we know a lot about
Fatimah (RA), Zaineb (RA), Ali (RA), etc., but I was taken by Khadija (RA). No one knew much about her and this made me
zealous to study what her life was probably like.

“To recreate Khadija’s life and bring her back to life, the author had to read between the lines of the
historical record and thoroughly research the culture and society that existed at the time of Khadija…The
sources that do exist for Khadija’s life are obscure, confused and very often contradictory. History more
often than not ignores women or relegates them, even the women titled “The Great”, into the permanent
shadow of men.”

While writing about the life of the first revert to Islam, Khadija, have you encountered criticism on the caliber of your work or even the authenticity of your faith?

So many people are afraid that I will be the subject of a fatwa [a legal opinion or ruling by an Islamic
scholar]! Others absolutely refuse to discuss or even consider what Khadija’s life was like. I agree that
she is a revered person and [presenting] her in a bad light would be problematic, but what’s wrong with
talking about the history of Islam? It will help [us] to appreciate the Prophet and his family more if we can visualize the [day-to-day] details of their lives.

What sort of “clearance” did you need from Muslim scholars in order to write this book? .

I went to several people, from the conservatives to the liberals. While some of the conservatives refuse
to discuss or allow such a work to progress, I at least got their opinion and their arguments. I still asked
them for guidance and what NOT to write – what would be offensive. I asked the liberals what areas they
wanted to read about and then [returned] to the conservatives and told them what the liberals [had] said
and got their opinion on it. I tried to find something that everyone (or most people) would agree on.

In spite of the shameful pre-Islamic Arabian practice of female infanticide, the relationship
between Khadija(RA) and her monotheistic father, Khuwaylid, is portrayed as one of love and respect
in your book.

“Taking the babe from her mother’s arms, Khuwaylid gazed upon its elegant face saying and
repeating, “Praise be to God, Praise be to God, Praise be to God,” his attention totally captured by the
newborn girl’s strangely generous and calming aura.

“What is her name, my husband?” Fatimah(RA) asked, to which he replied, “Khadija (RA), a noble, elegant and
generous name for a noble, elegant and generous girl.”

Are parallels of this relationship seen in the one she had with Mohammad (PBUH)?

[The first man a woman comes to know in this era is her father.] Women’s ideas of men are thus formed
based on their relationships with their fathers. Khuwaylid must have been a caring, sharing man.

Given your military background, having served in the U.S. Army for almost a decade, readers of
Khadija (RA), The First Lady of Islam, will be looking for a second treat, perhaps a historical account of Nusaibah bint Ka’ab or Khawlah bint Al Azwar, both admired Muslim women warriors. Is this an endeavor you have already entertained?

No, I was thinking about Noor Jehan, the woman behind the Taj Mahal, but I’ve taken to liking Khadija (RA) instead.

Although many Muslims use Khadija’s role as a successful business woman to argue for Muslim
women’s participation in the work force today, her pre-Islamic days are generally not used as
basis for rule making. How did you tackle that in your book?

The politics of some countries limit women in the workforce today. Khadija inherited a business when
there was probably no other woman in the caravan business. So, she no doubt faced a lot of bias and
institutional discrimination against women in business. But some women in Khadija’s time engaged in
weaving and other crafts, food preparation, herbal medicine, midwifery, etc. They had to have traded
amongst themselves and sold their goods. Some people today can’t get their minds around the fact that
Mohammad married and loved a woman so accomplished. After his marriage, he continued to support
her work – her business.

Ms. Meilleur is the author of “Khadija, The First Lady of Islam,” and the successful owner of Kuwait’s only used bookstore Better Books, a literary haven ten years in the making that offers visitors thousands of books of all genres, tea, plush reading space and even the occasional yoga class. When asked if she would consider an adaptation to film of her book by the right filmmaker, Ms. Meilleur answered with a resounding yes!

 

The Pioneering Role Of Women Under The Umbrella Of Islam

(Original Source: http://www.55a.net/firas/english/?page=show_det&id=127&select_page=2 )

By Dr. Nazmy Khalil Abulata

Translated by: Yasmine Muhammad Moslim; Revised by: Magdy Abd Al-Shafy Abd Al-Jawad

Edited by: Defending-Islam staff

Studying the History of Islam and the holy history of the Life of Prophet Muhammad (Salla Allahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) in a careful and objective way – despite the misunderstandings of some Muslims today – one will be introduced to the pioneering role of Muslim women. Such a leading role was emphasized through protecting the Call to Islam, martyrdom for the sake of God, sacrifice, consultation, medical treatment, struggle, giving opinions, learning, and bringing up children, all of which are proved by events, facts and true reports of the Sunna [1] and Islamic History.

1. Khadija (Radhia Allahu Anha) is the first believer in Islam:

When Muhammad (Salla Allahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) returned from the Cave of Hira for the first time, he went to Khadija (his wife) (Radhia Allahu Anha) and said: “Cover me! Cover me! (out of fear as he had already saw the Angel Jibril (Alayhi Salaam).” She covered him until his fear was over and after that he told her everything that had happened and said, “I fear that something may have happened to me.” Khadija replied: “Never! By Allah, Allah will never disgrace you. You keep good relations with your kith and kin, help the poor and the destitute, serve your guests generously and assist the destitute and calamity-afflicted ones.” Khadija then accompanied him to her cousin Waraqa bin Naufal, who was an old learned man. Khadija said to Waraqa: “Listen to the story of your nephew, O my cousin!” Waraqa asked: “O my nephew! What have you seen?” Allah’s Apostle described what he had seen. Waraqa said, “This is the same one who keeps the secrets (Angel Jibril) whom Allah had sent to Moses.”[2]

Imam Ahmad has reported that Prophet Muhammad (Salla Allahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) said (about Khadija): “She believed in me when others disbelieved in me, she affirmed my faithfulness when others accused me of lying, and she supported me with her money while others deserted me”.

The pioneering role of Khadija (Radhia Allahu Anha):

Khadija (Radhia Allahu Anha) played a pioneering role. She never abandoned the Messenger of God (Salla Allahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) during his troubles.  Furthermore, Muhammad (Salla Allahu Alayhi Wa Sallam), as a man, never devalued the opinion of Khadija (Radhia Allahu Anha), as a woman. He never ignored her advice. Instead, he accompanied her to her erudite cousin where she started the discussion and showed leadership, which was not disapproved by Prophet Muhammad (Salla Allahu Alayhi Wa Sallam). Also, he never felt ashamed that he was weak at the beginning of (receiving) the Divine Revelation while she coped well with the situation. This is, actually, a lesson for male degree holders, as today some of them degrade women and their role.

2. Sumaya Bint Al-Khayat (Radhia Allahu Anha), the first martyr in the History of Islam:

She encountered the polytheists with the strength of a female believer who had a firm will and died of excruciating torture.

 

Although the unbelievers used to beat her belly and her private parts with a steel bar as they became filled with rage at her pioneering attitude and resistance, and in spite of her slavery and torture, she was strong and venerated. On the contrary, in spite of the pretended mastery of the polytheists, they were very humble before her.

What a heroic role! What great honour a Muslim woman had when she became the first martyr in the history of Islam! O slaves of manhood, wake up! O those who have a complex about womanhood, I wonder which man did as Sumaya (Radhia Allahu Anha) did.

3. Asma’ [3] (Radhia Allahu Anha) was the first one to have risked her life for Islam (commando) in the History of Islam:

She played the role of commissariat for the Immigrants’ Army and the role of an intelligence agent as she used to transmit necessary information of the enemy. It has been narrated in Sahih Muslim that when Al-Hajjaj crucified her son, Abd Allah Bin Al-Zubair (Radhia Allahu Anhu), and sent his messenger to her, she refused to attend his court. So, Al-Hajjaj came to her himself. “How do you find what I did with the enemy of God?” Al-Hajjaj said. “I find that you ruined his life, while he ruined your life in the Hereafter.” she replied. “I have been informed that you call him: the son of the Woman of the Two Belts. I swear by Allah, I am the Woman of the Two Belts; with one of them, I suspended high the food of the Prophet (Salla Allahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) and Abi Bakr, making it out of the reach of pack animals. The other is the necessary belt for a woman . The Prophet Muhammad (Salla Allahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) told us that, in the Thaqif Tribe, there would be born a great liar and a great assassin. We have seen the liar,(Mussailama), and I do think the murderer is none but you.” Thereupon, he (Al-Hajjaj) stood up and never replied to her.

These are only some glimpses of the courage of Asma (Radhia Allahu Anha) a woman who was one who confronted the tyrant, Al-Hajjaj – a man who was a case in point- and supported reformers and prophets – the Prophet Muhammad (Salla Allahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) and the Immigrants with him (Radhia Allahu Anhum).

4. Umm Salama (Radhia Allahu Anha), a woman who rescued Muslims from ruin:

On the day of Al-Hudaibiya Treaty, people disobeyed the Prophet Muhammad (Salla Allahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) and therefore the Muslims were about to be ruined [4]. Allah protected them with the wisdom of Umm Salama (Radhia Allahu Anha) and her good advice. Imam Al-Bukhari has reported: “when the Prophet Muhammad (Salla Allahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) concluded the Al-Hudaibiya Peace Treaty with the Quraish Tribe, he said to his Companions:  ‘Get up and butcher your sacrifices, then have your heads shaved’. By God, no one did so although he repeated his order three times. When none of them got up, he went to Umm Salama (his wife) and told her about what the people had done. She said: ‘O Prophet of Allah, do you want them to follow your order?

 

Go out, do not speak to any of them until you butcher your she-camel (sacrifice) and call your barber to shave your head’. He got out and did not speak to anyone until he did that, i.e. butchered his sacrifice and called his barber to shave his head.

 

When Muslims saw that, they got up, butchered their sacrifices and shaved the heads of each other”. [5] It is the fraternity of Islam appearing in how Umm Salama (Radhia Allahu Anha) rescued Muslims from the disobedience of their Prophet (Salla Allahu Alayhi Wa Sallam). Furthermore, he (Salla Allahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) never devalued her advice, as some men do nowadays with their wives. Instead, he followed her advice. I wonder if men today try to draw a lesson from that.

5. Umm Atiya (Radhia Allahu Anha) defended men:

Imam Al-Bukhary reported that the husband of Umm ‘Atiyya participated in twelve military campaigns (Ghazawats) with the Prophet Muhammad (Salla Allahu Alayhi Wa Sallam). Umm Atiya accompanied him in six of them. Imam Muslim narrated on the authority of Umm ‘Atiyya, the Ansarite, who said: I took part with the Messenger of God (Salla Allahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) in seven battles. I used to stay behind in the camp of men, cook their food, treat the wounded and nurse the sick. [6]

On the day of the Battle of Uhud, when men ran away, she resisted and defended the Prophet Muhammad (Salla Allahu Alayhi Wa Sallam). So, she used to stand up for Muslim men and the Prophet Muhammad (Salla Allahu Alayhi Wa Sallam).

6. The first military field hospital established by a Muslim woman:

It is mentioned in the history of Islam that Raffida (Radhia Allahu Anha) set up the first mobile military field hospital in the History of Islam. She pitched a field tent where medical care was provided for the wounded.

In short, if we try to mention the glorious feats of women in the History of Islam, we would find that such pioneering feats are countless. I wonder how far women nowadays tread in the steps of those of the early age of Islam.

Remarks

(1) Sunna: The deeds, sayings, and silent approvals of the Prophet Muhammad (Salla Allahu Alayhi Wa Sallam); this constitutes the second source of Shari’a (Islamic Law). It is obligatory for Muslims to follow the Sunna as well as the Quran.

(2) Al Jaami` Al-Saheeh, Vol.1, No.1-3  and Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Number 0301.

(3) Asma’ bint Abi Bakr (died 73 A.H.): A meritorious female Companion, she was one of the first to adopt Islam. She was called “the Woman of the Two Belts” because she split her belt to bind the food carried for Abu Bakr (Radhia Allahu Anhu) and the Prophet (Salla Allahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) on their Migration journey. She composed good poetry, and was the last woman immigrant to die.

(4) When the disbelievers agreed to the Treaty (of Hudaibiya), one of the things stipulated was that the Prophet (Salla Allahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) should return to them (i.e. the pagans) anyone coming to him from their side, even if he was a Muslim; and would not interfere between them and that person. The Muslims did not like this condition and got disgusted with it. The disbelievers would not agree except with that condition. (Al Jaami` Al-Saheeh, Vol.3, No.3-874).

(5) Al Jaami` Al-Saheeh, Vol.3, No.3-891

(6) Sahih Muslim, Book 19, Number 4462

 

Women in Islam

Allah has created every living being in pairs, male and female (51:49).

In islam a woman has a distinct and separate identity. Islam has given her the right to own property. She is the owner of her earnings. She can dispose of her earnings and property as she wishes within the bounds of halal (lawful) and haram (unlawful). Islam has given women a right to inheritance. She has a claim on the property of her dead father, husband or childless brother.

A woman has a right to develop her talent and seek employment within limits of Islam.

Women have a very important place in Islamic Society. Unlike a number of other religions, Islam holds a woman in high esteem. Her importance as a mother and a wife has been clearly stated by Prophet Muhammed (SAW).

Some of the famous sayings of the Prophet (SAW) are:

‘Paradise lies at the feet of your mothers?

Once a person asked the prophet who deserves the best care from me? The prophet (SAW) said your mother (3 times), then your father and then your closest relatives.

He (SAW) also said “Fear Allah (SWT) in respect of women; and, the best of you are they who behave best to their wives; and, a Muslim must not hate his wife, and if he is displeased with one bad quality in her, let him be pleased with one that is good; the more civil and kind a Muslim is to his wife, the more perfect in faith he is.”

These sayings clearly prove the important position given to women in Islam but there are still people, especially in the West, who have misgiving’s about the status of women in Islam. To these people, the Muslim women is seen almost as a prisoner in the four walls of the house, a non-person and someone who has no rights and is living always under the domination of a man.

These nations are totally wrong and are based on ignorance rather then knowledge of Islam. One of the rites of Hajj is a fast walk between As-Safa and Al-Marwah, which is observed to remember the event of Hajar; mother of Prophet Ismail, who ran between these two Hills to find water. This is another proof of the importance given to two women by Islam.

Why are man and woman not Equal?

Allah (SWT) has made man and woman identical, so it would be against nature to try to have total equality between a man and a woman .

That would destroy the social balance. Society would not prosper but would instead have insoluble problems such as broken marriages, illegitimate children and the break up of family life. These problems are already in Western society. Schoolgirl pregnancies an increase in abortion, divorce and many other problems have copped up because of permissive outlook and the so called freedom of women.

 In Islam, Eve (RA) and Adam(RA) were equal in disobediance, which led to their exile.

Women in other religion and societies

In order to judge the false ideas held by Western people, it would be useful to look at the attitudes to women in different societies in the past. During the Roman Civilization, for example, a woman was regarded as a slave. The Greeks considered her a commodity to be bought and sold. Early Christianity regarded women as temptress, responsible for the fall of Adam. However, women according to the Qur’an is not blamed for Adams first mistake. Both were jointly wrong in their disobedience to food both repented and both were forgiven.

In India, the Hindus until recently considered their women worse then death, pests, serpents or even hell. A wifes life ended with the death of the husband. In the past, a widow had to jump into the flames of her husbands funeral pyre.

In the pre-Islamic state of Arabia, a women was regarded as a cause for grief and unhappiness and baby girls were sometimes buried alive after birth.

 

“And when the female (infant) buried alive ?is questioned for what crime she was killed” (Qur’an 81:8-9).

Among the sayings of prophet Muhammed (SAW) in this regard are:

“Whosoever has a daughter and he does not bury her alive, does not insult her, and does not favour his son over her, god will enter him into paradise”

“It is generous (in character) who is good to women and it is the wicked who insult them”.

In France, 587 CE, a meeting was held to study the status of women and to determine whether a woman could truly be considered a human being or not. Henry VIII in England forbade the reading of the Bible by women and brought out the middle ages the Catholic Church treated women as second ?class citizens. In the Cambridge and Oxford uni, male and female students were not given the same right until 1964. Before 1850, women were not counted as citizens of England and they did not have any personal rights until 1882.

If we keep this picture in mind and look into the position of the women in Islam liberated women from the dark age of obscurity 14 hundred years ago.

Islam is a religion of common sense and is in line with human nature. It recognises the relatives of life. This does not mean it has recognised equality of man and woman in every respect. Rather, it has defined their duties in keeping with their different biological make up.

Islamic Marriage

The family in Islam is a unit in which a man and woman unite to share life together according to the rules and regulations laid down by the Shari’ah.

A great deal thought is necessary therefore before the couple decide two marry piety should come before all other consideration.

Prophet (saaw) said: “Do not marry only for the sake of beauty, maybe the beauty becomes the cause of moral decline. Do not marry even for the sake of wealth; maybe the wealth becomes the reason of disobedience; marry rather on the grounds of religious devotion”

Is marriage obligatory

When a man marries, he has fulfilled half of his religion, so let him fear for the remaining half.

Marriage should not be put off or delayed if one has the means to do so.

Prophet (saaw) said: ” Marriage my tradition who so ever keeps away there from it is not from amongst me”

.  In Islam, women are equal to men in the sight of God but they have in some respects different roles in life to men because of their different natures.

Women differ psychologically, physiologically, and biologically from men. This makes them more suitable than men for certain responsibilities and less suitable than men for others.

Islam recognises these differences.

For Muslim men and women – for believing men and women, for devout men and women, for true men and women, for men and women who are patient and constant, for men and women who humble themselves, for men and women who give in charity, for men and women who fast (and deny themselves), for men and women who guard their chastity, and for men and women who engage much in God’s praise – for them has God prepared forgiveness and great reward.

back to Top

.  Oppression of women is the result of removing their rights. There are some ‘Islamic’ countries where women’s rights are being stepped on, but this is the law of the people, it is not the religion of Islam.

Islam gives men & women rights that are different in some aspects to those they have in the western world. The main difference in the way these rights came about is also important. In the West, rights became part of the law only after women had been through great political struggles and also partly due to the necessity of women working in factories during wars.

 

. .

In a truly Islamic society women have the following rights in Islam:

  • The right and duty to obtain education.
  • The right to have their own independent property.
  • The right to work to earn money if they need it or want it.
  • Equality of reward for equal deeds.
  • The right to participate fully in public life and have their voices heard by those in power.
  • The right to provisions from the husband for all her needs and more.
  • The right to negotiate marriage terms of her choice.
  • The right to obtain divorce from her husband, even on the grounds that she simply can’t stand him.
  • The right to keep all her own money (she is not responsible to maintain any relations).
  • The right to get sexual satisfaction from her husband.
  • and more…

back to Top

. The Qur’an has much to say both about women, and to  women. One Surah  (Chapter in the Qur’an) is called `Women’, another is named after Maryam the mother of Jesus (peace be upon him). Women appear in many other parts. In stories of the prophets we have:

  • – Hawwa (Eve) the wife of Adam, no longer the temptress who leads Adam to sin but a partner jointly responsible with him and jointly forgiven by Allah soon afterwards.
  • – There is the wife of Nuh (Noah) (peace be upon him) who betrays her husband and is held up along with the wife of Lot as an example of a disbeliever (66:10-11).
  • – There is the wife of Ibrahim (Abraham) (peace be upon him), who laughs at the news the angel brings, of the baby she is to have in her old age.
  • – the wife of Pharaoh, who saves the infant Musa (Moses) (peace be upon him) and, along with Maryam, mother of Jesus, is one of the two female examples of the good believer held up in Surah 66:10 & 11.
  • – The wife of Aziz, who tried to seduce Yusuf (Joseph)(peace be upon him), is nevertheless treated with some sympathy, when she shows her friends how handsome he is and they all cut themselves with their knives because they are distracted by his beauty;

It is noteworthy that the four women mentioned as examples are presented to both male and female Muslims to show how it is possible to be true believers in difficult circumstances, and disbelievers in favourable circumstances.

– The two good examples believed in spite of the attitudes of those close to them, Pharaoh’s wife saving Moses from her husband’s wicked command to kill all the Hebrew firstborn sons, and Maryam confronting accusations of immorality when she brought home her baby after the virgin birth.

– The two bad ones disbelieved in spite of being married to prophets of Allah.

In neither case do these examples show the traditional picture of the `submissive’ woman.

Then there are the contemporary women of Prophet Muhammads (peace be upon him) household, his wives and daughters. One of his wives, Umm Salamah, complained to him that the Qur’an was addressed only to men, and then a long passage was revealed to the Prophet* addressed clearly to men and women in every line, which states clearly the equal responsibilities and rewards for Muslim men and women.

.

Aishah,  Prophet Muhammad’s wife, caused a scandal when she went out into the desert to look for a necklace she had lost there and got left behind by the caravan. She was rescued by a young man and came back with him and rumours spread that she had been dallying with him. This caused great pain to her and to the Prophet and it was a long time before they were relieved by another revelation (24:4), demanding that people making such accusations against chaste women must produce four eye witnesses to the act or suffer a flogging themselves and have their evidence rejected ever after.

There are passages specifically addressed to the wives of the Prophet as a group. For example:

“O Consorts of the Prophet! Ye are not like any of the (other) women. If Ye do fear (Allah) be not too complaisant of speech, lest one in whose heart is a disease should be moved with desire, but speak Ye a speech (that is) just.

And stay quietly in your houses, and make not a dazzling display, like those of the former times of ignorance, and establish regular prayer, and give zakat (welfare due) and obey Allah and His Messenger. And Allah only wishes to remove all abomination from you, Ye members of the family, and to make you pure and spotless.

And recite what is rehearsed to you in your houses of the Signs of Allah and His Wisdom, for Allah is All-Subtle, All-Aware.” (Qur’an 33:32-34)

.

Other verses of the Qur’an were revealed in answer to questions from ordinary women, like the one concerning the practice of divorce by abstinence within the marriage (zihar). A woman complained to the Prophet about this practice, which left the woman with no sexual satisfaction, but still not free to marry another husband and a verse was revealed condemning this practice.

“Allah has indeed heard (and accepted) the statement of the woman who pleads with thee concerning her husband and carries her complaint (in prayer) to Allah…”(Qur’an 58:1)

Another passage was revealed in answer to a woman’s complaint about the way her husband wanted to have intercourse with her (2:223).

So the Qur’an is a book which has a lot to say TO women and ABOUT women. It does not condemn all women in the image of Eve as Christianity has been known to do; that it is often on the side of women who complain about injustice, in marriage, divorce and in false accusation.

 

Women are made of the same soul as men. Their capacity for good and evil is identical with that of men. In 49:13, of the Qur’an we find that it is good deeds and awareness of Allah which make the believer, male or female, noble in the sight of Allah:

Indeed the noblest of you in the sight of Allah is the most pious. (Qur’an 49:13)

and also in the Qur’an:

Whoever does right, whether male or female, (all) such will enter the garden (Qur’an 40:40)

The works of male and female are of equal value and each will receive the due reward for what they do:

“Never will I suffer to be lost the work of any one of you, male or female…”(Qur’an 3:195)

“Whoever works righteousness, man or woman, and has faith, verily to him will We give a new life that is good and pure, and We will bestow on such their reward according to their actions.” (Qur’an 16:97)

The same duties are incumbent on men and women as regards their faith:

“For Muslim men and women – for believing men and women, for devout men and women, for true men and women, for men and women who are patient and constant, for men and women who humble themselves, for men and women who give in charity, for men and women who fast (and deny themselves), for men and women who guard their chastity, and for men and women who engage much in God’s praise – for them has God prepared forgiveness and great reward. “(Qur’an 33:35)

back to Top

 

Under normal circumstances women are allowed to do all the things that men do. Women are given exemption from certain duties, some of which are:

  • – Fasting when they are pregnant or nursing or menstruating,
  • – Praying when menstruating or bleeding after childbirth, and
  • – The obligation to attend congregational prayers in the mosque on Fridays.
  • – They are not obliged to take part as soldiers in the defence of Islam, although they are not forbidden to do so.
  • – Even when they are menstruating, on special days, like the two Id festivals, they are still allowed to come to the Id prayers, and menstruating women can take part in most of the actions of the Hajj pilgrimage.

.

Islamic law makes no demand that women should confine themselves to household duties. In fact the early Muslim women were found in all walks of life.

The first wife of  Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), Khadijah, mother of all his surviving children, was a businesswoman who hired him as an employee, and proposed marriage to him through a third party; women traded in the marketplace, and the Khalifah Umar, not normally noted for his liberal attitude to women, appointed a woman, Shaff’a Bint Abdullah, to supervise the market.

Other women, like Laila al-Ghifariah, took part in battles, carrying water and nursing the wounded, some, like Suffiah bint Abdul Muttalib even fought and killed the enemies to protect themselves and the Prophet and like Umm Dhahhak bint Masoud were rewarded with booty in the same way as the men.

The Qur’an even speaks favourably of the Queen of Sheba and the way she consulted her advisors, who deferred to her good judgement on how to deal with the threat of invasion by the armies of Solomon:

She (the Queen of Sheba) said, “O chiefs, advise me respecting my affair; I never decide an affair until you are in my presence.’ They said, `We are possessors of strength and possessors of mighty prowess, and the command is Thine, so consider what thou wilt command.’ She said, `Surely the kings, when they enter a town, ruin it and make the noblest of its people to be low, and thus they do. And surely I am going to send them a present, and to see what (answer) the messengers bring back.” (Qur’an 27:32-35)

A much vaunted Hadith that the Prophet said, `A people who entrust power to a woman will never prosper’, has been shown to be extremely unreliable on several counts. It is an isolated and uncorroborated one, and therefore not binding in Islamic law, and in addition there is reason to believe it may have been forged in the context of the battle which Aishah the Prophet’s widow led against the fourth Khalifah Ali. In view of the examples set by women rulers in history, it is also clearly untenable and false.

To sum up, the qualifications of women for work of all kinds are not in doubt, despite some spurious ahadith to the contrary. Women can do work like men, but they DO NOT HAVE to do it to earn a living. They are allowed and encouraged to take the duties of marriage and motherhood seriously and are provided with the means to stay at home and do it properly.

back to Top

.

The Muslim woman has always had the right to own and manage her own property, a right that women in this country only attained in the last 100 years. Marriage in Islam does not mean that the man takes over the woman’s property, nor does she automatically have the right to all his property if he dies. Both are still regarded as individual people with responsibilities to other members of their family – parents, brothers, sisters etc. and inheritance rights illustrate this.

The husband has the duty to support and maintain the wife, as stated in the Qur’an, and this is held to be so even if she is rich in her own right. He has no right to expect her to support herself, let alone support his children or him. If she does contribute to the household income this is regarded as a charitable deed on her part.

Because of their greater financial responsibilities, some categories of male relations, according to the inheritance laws in the Qur’an, inherit twice the share of their female equivalents, but others, whose responsibilities are likely to be less, inherit the same share -mothers and fathers, for instance are each entitled to one sixth of the estate of their children, after bequests (up to one third of the estate) and payment of debts. (Qur’an 4:11)

For parents a sixth share of the inheritance to each if the deceased left children; If no children, and the parents are the (only) heirs, the mother has a third; if the deceased left brothers (or sisters) the mother has a sixth…

Women are thus well provided for: their husbands support them, and they inherit from all their relations. They are allowed to engage in business or work at home or outside the house, so long as the family does not suffer, and the money they make is their own, with no calls on it from other people until their death.

Women are NOT expected to do the housework. If they have not been used to doing it, the husband is obliged to provide domestic help within his means, and to make sure that the food gets to his wife and children already cooked. The Prophet (peace be upon him) himself used to help with the domestic work, and mended his own shoes. Women are not even obliged in all cases to suckle their own children. If a divorcing couple mutually agree, they can send the baby to a wet-nurse and the husband must pay for the suckling. If the mother decides to keep the baby and suckle it herself, he must pay her for her trouble! This is laid down in the Qur’an itself,

The mothers shall give suck to their offspring for two whole years, if the father desires to complete the term, but he shall bear the cost of their food and clothing on equitable terms…If they both decide on weaning, by mutual consent, and after due consultation, there is no blame on them. If Ye decide on a foster-mother for your offspring, there is no blame on you, provided Ye pay what Ye offered on equitable terms …(Qur’an 2:233)

 

Nevertheless the womanly state in marriage is given full respect in Islam. No Muslim woman could feel ashamed to say she was only a housewife. She is the head of her household, although the husband has the final say in major decisions. According to a Hadith:

The ruler is a shepherd and is responsible for his subjects, a husband is a shepherd and is responsible for his family, a wife is a shepherd and is responsible for her household, and a servant is a shepherd who is responsible for his master’s property. (Hadith: Bukhari)

The wife must defer to her husband in respect for the fact that he maintains and protects her out of his means (Qur’an 4:34), but not if he tries to make her break the laws of Allah. If the husband wilfully fails to maintain his wife, she has the right to divorce him in court.

Women are also entitled to respect as mothers. Allah says:

And we have enjoined on man (to be good to his parents: in travail upon travail did his mother bear him…(Quran 31:14)

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said:
Paradise lies at the feet of mothers…
and in another Hadith the Prophet (peace be upon him) told a man that his mother above all other people, even his father, was worthy of his highest respect and compassion.

Although the Islamic marriage contract is a civil agreement between the two parties, not a sacrament like the Christian one, it is not just a relationship of material convenience. The words used to describe marriage in the Qur’an are poetic and beautiful:

And among His signs is this: that He created for you mates from among yourselves, that Ye may dwell in tranquillity with them, and He has put love and mercy between your hearts, verily in that are Signs for those who reflect. (Qur’an 30:21)

They are your garments and Ye are their garments (Qur’an 2:187)

Love, mercy, intimacy and mutual protection and modesty are the qualities expected of an Islamic marriage. Even in Paradise marriage remains as one of the great joys:

Verily the Companions of the Garden shall that day have joy in all that they do; they and their spouses will be in groves of (cool) shade reclining on thrones of (dignity); fruit will be there for them, they shall have whatever they call for; `Peace’, a word (of salutation) from a Lord Most Merciful. (Qur’an 36:55-57)

Husbands are expected to treat their wives kindly during marriage and even during and after divorce. Allah says:

… Live with them on a footing of kindness and equity. If Ye take a dislike to them, it may be that Ye dislike a thing, and Allah brings about through it a great deal of good. (Qur’an 4:19)

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “The most perfect believers are the best in conduct and the best of you are those who are best to their wives.” (Hadith: Ibn Hanbal)

 

To conclude, these are the ideals to which Muslim women can aspire and frequently have done in the past. In a truly Islamic society, they are guaranteed:

  • – personal respect
  • – respectable married status
  • – legitimacy and maintenance for their children
  • – the right to negotiate marriage terms of their choice
  • – to refuse any marriage that does not please them
  • – the right to obtain divorce from their husbands, even on the grounds that they can’t stand them (Mawdudi)
  • – custody of their children after divorce
  • – independent property of their own
  • – the right and duty to obtain education
  • – the right to work if they need or want it
  • – equality of reward for equal deeds
  • – the right to participate fully in public life and have their voices heard by those in power

and much more! Is there any other religion that offers such rights for women?

..

No Comments


© 2025, All Rights Reserved by Pakistan Think Tank.