my dear brothers and
sisters thought you know what let's
dedicate
tonight's in terms of how Islam
liberated women and how Islam brought
freedom to women and I was busy
preparing for the
IM I didn't have too much time to
dedicate to this but I still gathered
together some of the points now one of
the things that's very important to keep
in mind as a Muslim that when you
research a topic you cannot just take an
isolated Hadith and isolated Ayah and
say hey this is what Islam says about
the topic but rather what whatever topic
you speak about Islamic or non-islamic
you want to try to bring together all of
the relevant verses Hadith you know
statements of Scholars and so on and so
forth put those together and that is how
you formulate an opinion similarly when
you analyze and judge an individual you
know a person can have a slip of the
tongue he can make a mistake and he can
make several mistakes but you're not
going to judge a person based upon those
several mistakes what you judge them
upon is the vast majority of how they
conduct themselves so similar
methodology needs to be you know
presented when we judge and analyze and
assess individuals as well so I want to
bring together some of the verses and
Hadith where Allah subhana wa taala
talks about the roles and
responsibilities of women and what Allah
subhana wa taala actually says about
them so the first verse we bring
together is the verse in Surah TBA verse
number 71 where Allah subhana wa tala
says
that the believing men and believing
women are allies of one another they
enjoy what is right and forbid what is
wrong and establish prayer and give
zakah and Obey Allah and his messenger
sallallahu alaihi wasallam those people
Allah subhah wa ta'ala have mercy upon
them indeed Allah subhana wa tala is
exalted in might and is wise a very
similar verse to this is verse number 35
in where Allah subh wa
says Allah subhana wa tala says indeed
the Muslim men and Muslim women the
believing men and the believing women
the obedient men and the obedient women
the truthful men and truthful women the
patient man and patient women The Humble
men and humble women the charitable men
and charitable women the fasting men and
the fasting women The Men Who guard
their private parts and the women who do
so as well and the men who remember
Allah often and the women who do so for
them Allah subhana wa taala has prepared
forgiveness and great reward so Allah
subhana wa tala in these two verses he
establishes a sense of equality and this
is very important to understand what
this equality is actually referring to
this is equality in terms of opportunity
so in terms of attaining forgiveness
from Allah subhana wa taala in terms of
opportunity of attaining Paradise in
terms of opportunity of attaining the
mercy of Allah subhah wa ta'ala men and
women have equal opportunity with Allah
subhanahu wa'ta'ala so they are not
deficient in any way they're not lacking
in any way when it comes to their
opportunity pertaining to Allah subhana
wa taala now what is unfortunate is that
certain mindsets have understood these
verses and have said that Allah subhana
wa tala has made men and women equal in
each and every sense now obviously this
cannot be possible this cannot be
possible because equality when it is
achieved can only be for those matters
and those things where equal capability
is present right men and women will only
be equal in those things where equal
capability will equal with where equal
capability is present so for example in
terms of strength the average man will
be stronger than the average woman when
it comes to attention span the average
woman will have a longer attention span
than the average man when it comes to
interaction naturally the average woman
will be more social than the average man
so when Allah subhana wa ta'ala created
man and women so different how can we
say that there would be equality in all
aspects of life and this is why Allah
subhana wa tala he tells us in the
Quran that the man is not like the woman
the man is not like the woman so now
does this mean that women automatically
become inferior and man becomes Superior
or does it mean that women become
Superior and man becomes inferior no not
at all what it means is you just can't
compare two things that are so
completely different right you cannot
compare two things that are completely
different men and women have two
completely different responsibilities
and therefore they will not be equal
since Allah subhana wa tal has has given
them two different responsibilities you
know the general PR saying in English is
you cannot compare apples with oranges
and when you try to do so this is where
the problem occurs that an orange will
never never be like an apple right you
can never make orange juice out of
apples and likewise you can't make apple
pie with oranges it just doesn't work
Allah subhana wa tala created them for
two completely different things and
these two different rules one is not
Superior than the other we just need to
recognize the rule rules that Allah
subhana wa tala gave us and stick to
those
rules you know there's a a modern day
thinker that's what I like to refer to
him as by the name of Dr Abdul Hakim he
said men and women are not equal but
rather they are mutually Superior men
and women are not equal but they are
mutually superior meaning that they're
mutually mutually Superior in their own
rights so equality cannot be achieved in
two things that are completely different
now with that having been said what is
the role and attitude of men towards
women what should it be what does Islam
actually tell us and dictate towards us
the messenger of Allah Sall alai wasam
he tells
us he tells us that with these fragile
vessels that Allah subhana wa tala has
given us we meant to be the utmost
gentle be as soft as possible Allah
subhana wa tala he tells us in the
Quran and and stay with them and treat
them and conduct with them in the utmost
best way possible now the term marof
over here generally it comes from social
norms so they would say that treat your
wife treat the woman of your household
according to the social norms of society
but in an Islamic context it just
doesn't mean social norms of the society
but it means the good social norms of a
society so if a social Norm is to be
abusive towards women Islam would not
accept that but rather you take the good
social norms of that society and that is
what Islam would accept and that is
what actually means several times
throughout the Quran as it's mentioned
that you take the good social norms and
you try to conduct them towards the
women of your household now one of the
most beautiful Hadith pertaining to the
rights and responsibilities of men
towards women and this is something that
is often forgotten is where the
messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi
wasallam he says I am the best of you
and the more Fe most fearing of Allah
subhah wa ta'ala amongst you I am the
best of you and the most fearing of
Allah subhah wa ta'ala amongst you and
the best of you are those people that
have the best manners and the best of
those that have the best manners are
those that are best to their women folk
and those that are best to their women
folk so now I want you to understand
this over here that the messenger of
Allah sallallah alaihi wasallam he puts
two things together in the first part of
the Hadith the of Allah subhana wa taala
and being best towards the people that
the higher your level of tawa is the
naturally the nicer the gentler the more
merciful the more compassionate you will
be towards the slaves of Allah subhah wa
ta'ala and the less tawa you have the
naturally that will diminish just as
well so here the messenger of Allah
sallallahu alaihi wasallam is saying
that if you want to look at the example
of what an ideal man is supposed to look
like in terms of the way he interacts
with his women folk you look at the
messenger of Allah alaihi wasallam and
then he says that after trying to
achieve the best of manners you will
know that you've achieved the best of
manners by knowing how you treat your
women folk in the house and this is a
true test of you know an individual's
character when a man is with his friends
his friends can easily say you know this
brother is very generous he loves to
pray in the Masid you know I see him
doing all of these good deeds and he'll
naturally be there but the the woman
folk they get to see what the man is
like at home how is this man when he's
trying to wake up for Sal you know how
does he react to that is he like leave
me alone let me sleep how is he when it
comes to you know paying bills and you
know spending on the woman is he like
the stingiest guy on the planet or will
he actually spend on his woman folk how
often will he buy her her gifts and the
kids gifts and buy her clothes and you
know shower her with with love you know
how is he when he loses his temper when
things are difficult how is he when he
is constantly being annoyed you know by
perhaps the children how will he re
react it is the woman that knows that
and that is why in Islam when you want
to judge a man's character stronger than
the evidence of a friend will be the
evidence of a woman of the woman folk in
his house because the woman folk will
get to see what this man is truly like
inside of the house now coming back to
the example of the messenger of Allah s
was said and there's dispute on the
authenticity of the
Hadith that the messenger of Allah
sallallah alaihi wasallam he never
lifted his hand towards a woman or a
child he never lifted his hand towards a
woman or a child and while this Hadith
may be disputed the Hadith of is never
disputed where he said that I served the
messenger of Allah
s from a very young age for up to 10
years and never once did the messenger
of Allah sallallahu alaihi wasallam say
of to me never once did he say of to me
meaning that not only did he not get
angry not only did he never you know hit
the servant of his even when you know
you find various narrations of anus just
messing around you know anus he was sent
by the messenger of Allah wasallam to go
do an errand time is going by anus never
came back the messenger of allaham goes
out what's anus doing he's playing the
equivalent of soccer and football you
know with his friends now shows you the
true character of the messenger of Allah
what could he have done at that time he
says unas go do your task he says unest
you know what you're in big trouble the
messenger of Allah wasallam he starts
playing soccer or football with anas
showing the true nature of the messenger
of allahi wasallam again that example of
of gentleness loving and caring so this
is how the messenger of Allah s alai
wasallam truly was
and she describes the messenger of Allah
sallam that he was always in the service
of his family that he used to milk his
own sheep and goats he used to mend his
own shoes you know if there was food in
the house he would eat if there wasn't
he wouldn't make a big fuss about it so
he was always in the service of his
family and this is how the messenger of
Allah sallallah alaihi wasallam
was now what I want to get into now is
certain elements of society before Islam
came and how that affected women so I've
come up with a list of nine and I hope
you can help me add to this list so that
when we do this lecture on the bigger
scale uh we have you know more
references for this number one is that
prior to Islam and even after Islam the
vast majority of the Christian world did
not recognize the woman to have a soul
she was considered soulless meaning that
when she died she didn't go to J or
Janam she just disappeared this is how
the vast majority of the Christian world
even a little bit after Islam even a
little bit after Islam considered the
woman that she was absolutely soulless
but when it came to Islam Islam gave her
equal opportunity that she has the equal
opportunity to attain Paradise she is
just like a man an individual that has a
soul a soul that will be held
accountable for the good that it does
and the evil that it does whereas the
vast majority of Christianity did not
recognize the soul of the woman number
two when it comes to seeking knowledge
women were not considered worthy of
being taught meaning that they were
considered second class citizens that
didn't deserve an education but through
Islam when Islam came Islam recognized
that in order to raise successful
Generations you have to make sure that
the woman has an education because the
woman is responsible for the thery of
the children and this is not something
that we impose upon the mother but this
this is something rather that Allah
subhana wa tala naturally instilled
inside of the mother you look at the
relationship between a child their and
their mother and a child and their
father the mother will always be more
merciful the mother will always be more
CR uh more caring but you look at the
relationship of the father and the
father's like okay I'm going to spend
five minutes a day with you and the rest
of the time he's always like criticizing
the children you know why isn't your
hair made why is there a mess all over
your face you know why don't you know
how to read and write you're already 2
years old you know these sort of things
that that is the mentality of the father
so the mother naturally has this
nurturing relationship inside of her
that Allah subhana wa tal instilled
inside of her and Islam recognized that
and in order for that to reach its
highest level the messenger of Allah
sallallahu alaihi wasallam
said that the seeking of knowledge is
compulsory and mandatory upon every
Muslim man and every Muslim woman so the
woman here is specifically mentioned
that she us to seek knowledge here as
well that it is something which is
mandatory upon her why because she is
responsible for herself and for her
family and that can only be done when
she seeks knowledge number three how
women were treated in the time of
menstration how women were treated in
the time of menstration if you look at
Jewish theology when it comes to Jewish
theology the Jewish faith and right now
it's just limited to certain sexs not
Judaism as a whole but the Judaism that
was present at the time of the messenger
of Allah sallallahu alaihi wasallam when
a woman was used to have her menstrual
cycle she would be given her own living
quarters meaning that she couldn't live
in the same household as the man because
it was considered extremely filthy
considered you know extremely gener
degenerative and that is why a man
couldn't be in close proximity of a
woman so they would live in two
different living quarters sleep in two
different living quarters but when Islam
came Islam said you know what yes this
is something which is impure but this
impurity doesn't transcend the human
being meaning the human being is still
pure it's is just the menstration that
is impure so the only thing you're not
allowed to do is to have intimacy at
that time but in terms of the way that
you interact in terms of the way you
sleep in the same bed in terms of the
way you eat together all that will stay
exactly the same and this is what Islam
came to change that this was unknown
during that time number four when it
comes to the issue of inheritance when
it comes to the issue of inheritance
prior to Islam women were not allowed to
inherit that a family member dies that
was it the the money went to whoever the
the person said it went to and it never
went to women because women were not
worthy of receiving this inheritance but
then you look at the way Allah subhana
wa tala addresses inheritance in the
Quran and you know one of the
allegations that's always brought
against the Muslims is that when it
comes to inheritance Islam is very
unfair because it gives twice the amount
of inheritance to the man that it does
to the woman and Subhan Allah you know
here this is where you see the
corruption in people's hearts or their
intentional ignorance because if you
were to read the verses that talk about
inheritance Allah subhana wa T makes it
extremely clear you look
inah in verse numbers 11 and 12 Allah
subhana wa T
says that Allah subh advises you ACC in
according in order of your children that
in in terms of
inheritance that every male child will
have twice the amount of the female
child and this is what vast majority of
people will quote you literally just
need to continue the Ayah and it's a
long ay you continue the Ayah Allah
says that Allah subhana T he says and if
there are two daughters only then they
have 2third of The Inheritance meaning
that if a man has two daughters only he
has no male children and perhaps he
might have a brother he might have you
know a father in this situation the the
two daughters they will get 2third of
The Inheritance and that onethird is
divided between the other male relatives
and if she's only one daughter there's
no other you know daughters or Sons
present at that time then she will have
half of the inheritance and this is just
one example if you take all of the
examples that are mentioned in the
Islamic inheritance and I forget the
number it's either 13 or 18 of them
where you know different ways that a
woman can inherit you will find that the
vast majority of them the woman will
have more than the man the woman will
have more than the man one of the few
times where a woman will have less than
a man is when a man has male and female
children when a man has male and female
children in this situation the man the
male children will receive double the
amount of female children now how is
this Fair how is this just this doesn't
require much thinking at all my dear
brothers and sisters because when we
mentioned the the beginning of this talk
you need to take all of Islam
holistically you can't just take part of
Islam and say it is oppressive Allah
subhana wa ta'ala made it mandatory upon
the man and this is a point that we're
going to come up to that it is the
mandatory responsibility of the man that
he buys or take provides shelter for his
wife that he buys bu food for his wife
he buys clothing for his wife and each
and every single thing that is a
necessity it is the man's responsibility
to provide for her so in this situation
where a man needs to spend more money
that is why Allah subhana wa tal this is
just one of the reasons why Allah subh
tala gave the man double the amount of
share in that situation where they're
both male and female children but in a
case where it is only female children
and no male children then you forget
about the brothers you forget about the
uncles for about the grandfathers and
the fathers the female uh children at
that time will have half or more up to
2/3 up to two3 of The Inheritance
whereas in other than Islam they would
receive nothing at
all number five in terms of issues of
modesty in terms of issues of modesty
prior to Islam and this is something you
know uh I would say particular to the
Arab peninsula women used to walk around
completely uncovered that you know the
top half of their body would be
completely uncovered completely
uncovered and there was no shy of
immodesty no one felt you know bad about
it this was just the societal Norm that
this is how women would walk and now
when Islam comes into play Islam
requires for them to cover their beauty
so what does Islam actually Implement at
this fact over here that now when a
woman is being looked at she's being
assessed she's not being judged based
upon her physical appearance but she's
being looked at and judged upon what she
has to offer and contribute to society
because you can imagine that when a
woman is walking around and this is you
know a Frank and open lecture right now
when a woman is walking around
completely naked what is a man's you
know thought process going to be it's
not going to be a very nice pleasant
thought process right and that was
reflective in the way that men used to
treat women at that time when we talk
about the issue of marriage that there
was no real concept of marriage that a
lot of the times multiple men would
sleep with the same woman and there
wasn't that concept of marriage and if
there was marriage then a man would
marry multiple wives you know tens
hundreds of wives right this was the
case but Islam brought down hijab to
exemplify and to manifest the dignity
and respect that is meant to be given to
woman that we don't judge a Woman based
upon her physical appearance but just
like a man we judge her based upon her
contributions and her efforts in society
when it comes to property women were not
allowed to buy property before Islam and
this is you know one of the strong
evidences that the Hani Scholars use
when it comes to nikah that they said
that in Islam a woman can buy and Trade
property as she pleases and she doesn't
need a represent representative for her
when she does business transactions so
why is it that when it comes to a
marriage contract that she needs a male
representative at that time this is one
of the evidences that they use and this
shows us that women had the freedom to
interact and to purchase property and to
purchase all sorts of things but prior
to Islam the vast majority of the world
did not Grant females the right to own
anything can you imagine that you don't
have the ability to own anything what a
miserable life that would be number
seven the concept of individuality and
let me share a story with you over here
so my parents came to Canada in 1981
literally 10 days before I was born
that's when my parents came to Canada
and they had to apply apply for
immigration papers and you know a whole
bunch of other stuff and the time
finally came where they got their
permanent residency and they're getting
their citizenship now and my mother goes
to apply the citizenship form and she
both my father and mother they're
presenting their citizenship forms and
the lady at the counter she's like why
and this in cubec by the way just so you
get a proper context of it um they're
like why are your last names different
and my my mom couldn't understand what
that meant she's like a different father
he has a different father you know
that's why we have last name different
last names but she's like no no no you
know part of cubec Law and this is real
by the way in 1981 the woman had to take
the Man's last name this is a part of
their law now what exactly does this
represent at in 1981 it probably didn't
represent much but what have represented
throughout a large portion of History my
dear brothers and sisters is that when a
woman got married she lost her
individuality she became the property of
her husband
whereas in Islam that's not the case
she's always had her individuality that
regardless of her getting married she's
never the property of her husband where
that you know she can just be bought and
sold and you know abandoned as as he
pleases no once the marriage takes place
they have mutual responsibilities and
rights towards one another so woman is
still entitled to her individuality
number eight Islam granted her the
sanctity of life now again this is not
something that is properly understood in
our times but when Islam came it
developed rules and laws of Ethics uh
pertaining to war so when Muslims would
engage in battle there are certain no no
that you know had to be kept into tact
from those no no that are not allowed in
in war when Muslims are engaged is that
they're not allowed attacking priests
and rabbis and you know people of uh of
various faiths and religions like their
their clergy number two they're not
allowed burning farms and force this is
not allowed number three is that women
and children have sanctity that women
and children are not to be killed women
and children are not to be killed and
number four religious institutions are
also to be protected religious
institutions are all to be protected so
if you have a synagogue you have a
church and there's a war going on those
places are meant to be protected now you
look at the modern day context of what's
happening in terms of War particularly
in the lands of the Muslims with all
these drone attacks that are happening
with all the bombs that are being you
know thrown in our Alliance where is the
ethics at that time women and children
become coll they what they call
collateral damage and just literally you
know millions of children in Iraq have
been killed without a you know a second
thought taking place whatsoever in Islam
something like that will not be allowed
altogether something like that will not
be allowed altogether women have
sanctity that even in times of War you
don't touch a woman you do not touch her
in that state number nine in terms of
wealth Islam protected the wealth of
women how so it protects the wealth of
women that if a man and woman are
married she is working she is not
required to contribute anything to the
household and if the man wants money
from her he has to seek permission from
her he can't just take any of her wealth
so Islam came to protect the wealth of
women as well whereas before when the
woman got married any wealth that the
woman had it naturally became the man's
this is not the case when Islam came and
those were the list of nine things that
how Islam protected the rights of women
and Liber liberated women and the
biggest of all of these things is that
this is something that is mutual to both
men and women Islam freed the people
from becoming slaves to their own
desires to becoming slaves of Allah
subana wa tala for those of you that
were on my Facebook page I posted a
status today that the ultimate
expression of freedom is to be a slave
of Allah subhana waala and the ultimate
expression of slavery is to be a slave
to your own desires Islam came to free
us from the shackles of our own desires
that we don't just live a life of eating
sleeping and drinking and you know
having relations for the sake of
fulfilling our desires but rather each
of those acts now have a purpose that we
will eat drink and procreate for the
sake of the Allah subhana wa tala for
the sake of having an um for the sake of
you know being a good Nation so now I
want to take a t some time over here to
get some feedback from you guys are
there any other things that you guys can
think of that Islam changed uh you know
know over time and Islam liberated women
with go
ahead to have voice politics fantastic
if I can B you
repent so yeah having a voice in
politics having a voice in politics and
this is the third thing we will address
being a leader for a woman okay a voice
in politics
fantastic what
else the bual of girls
or the children that are female you know
that them what bury them excent
excellent so they used to bury the women
without any sin they used to consider
them not worthy of
living go ahead same thing Mah testimony
in court testimony in court so they
weren't allowed to testify but now they
are okay anything else that anyone can
think of a Muhammad come on guys you
guys are University students
man
I have a question why no questions right
now we're going to take questions at the
end because I know there's going to be a
lot of questions inshallah but I'm
looking for contribution okay think of
something if anyone thinks of something
you can raise your hand and let me know
the next section we move on to is
understanding those narrations that seem
um chauvinistic and misogynistic so
chauvinism meaning that the male is
superior misogynistic meaning that hates
women and you know is suppressing
towards women the first Hadith that
comes to mind is that they will say that
Allah's messenger sallallahu alaihi
wasallam said that women are nakas in
their Dean and deficient in their
intellects and deficient in their
intellects and that the majority of
women will be in the
Hellfire now I want to work on this
Hadith backwards in terms of the
majority of women being in the Hellfire
this Hadith is actually misunderstood it
means that the majority of people in the
Hellfire will be women now what exactly
is the the difference between the two
the first part the if you were to
understand it the first way that the
majority of women in the hire meaning
that percentage wise that you know six
out of 10 women are going the that's
technically what it means but that's not
what the Hadith is saying what the
Hadith is saying that if you were to
look inside of the Hellfire the vast
majority of inhabitants inside of the
Hellfire will actually be women the
difference between the two the
difference between the two my dear
brothers and sisters is that when you
look at other narrations particularly
narrations that talk about the ends of
times there are narrations that mention
that at the end of times one man will be
responsible for up to 40 to 50 women and
that shows you the great disparity in
terms of genders and even look you know
in our times for every male child that
is born I can think of at least two
female children that are being born
Subhan Allah and this is something that
is happening in in my you know front of
my own eyes my own friends when they
have you know and this is something very
strange in the in our Montreal Community
but everyone's having like twins and
it's not like a boy and a girl or two
boys but they're having like two girls
Subhan Allah and like three of my
friends this has happened to so it shows
that over time the female population is
going to increase and they're not just
going to double triple quadruple we're
talking about 40 to 50 times more than
the male population So based upon that
that is why there will be more women
than M men in the Hellfire just due to
the statistical number and not due to
any Act of Disobedience the messenger of
Allah wasallam did mention what is a
primary cause in terms of a woman you
know being thrown into to the Hellfire
and he mentioned it is the acts of her
tongue it is the acts of her tongue now
let's move to the first part of the
Hadith where the messenger of Allah Al
wasallam mentions that they are
deficient in their intellect and
deficient in their faith this Hadith is
authentic there's no dispute about this
that the messenger of Allah wasallam did
actually say this but again as we
mentioned that when you want to
understand something from Islam or from
any person or from any way of life
everything has to be understood
holistically you cannot take individual
and isolate ated cases and make that the
generative Norm those are always going
to be the exceptions to the rule so when
the messenger of Allah sallallah alaihi
wasallam made this statement it was
being referred to and in reference to
how Allah subhah wa ta'ala has lightened
the burden upon women how Allah subhah
wa ta'ala has lightened the burden upon
women how so Allah subhah wa ta'ala
lightened the burden upon women in two
ways as the messenger of allahi wasallam
said that when he said deficient in Dean
that during their times of ministration
they do not have to pray now I want you
to think about this and this is a very
human response how many times have you
you know been trying to wake up for f
and you just wish oh Allah please just
give me a day off today right that's all
you wished for that's all you wanted but
Allah subhana wa tala didn't give you
that day off whether you like it or not
you have to pray fa right whereas when
it came to women Allah subhana wa ta'ala
he gave them you know up to a week off
Subhan Allah a whole week of not just
not waking up for
but you're not responsible for Allah
subhah wa ta'ala gave them a break this
is a concession from Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala but obviously this concession
comes with consequences as well that
while you're not required to pray don't
expect the reward for prayer at the same
time so the man will have a greater
opportunity of reward just because he is
praying and as for the woman ask for the
Sunnah prayers her na prayers if she was
in the habit of praying those things
then when her menstrual cycle comes
she'll still get the reward of that
because that she was doing extra and
because she can't do it in this state
she's still being rewarded for it
because it is uh an impediment that is
beyond her control it is an impediment
that is beyond her control so it was a
concession number two when the messenger
of Allah wasallam defined deficient in
their intellects he said that Allah
subhana wa ta'ala made their testimony
half of the testimony of a man what
exactly does this mean if you were to
look inside various cases you will see
that testimony is required pretty much
in each and every single allegation in
each and every single allegation someone
steals something you require testimony
someone committed Zena requires
testimony someone you know says
something bad about another person this
requires testimony right now this two
types of this type of testimony that the
messenger of Allah sallah am is
referring to is the most common type of
testimony who knows what the most common
type of testimony is in Islam besides
sad what is the most common type of
testimony or testification in Islam who
knows
this decides I want someone else to give
me the
answer for Z for zena how many people
are commenting Zena that you need to
testify against them no that's not the
case but good response good guess sorry
good guess but that's not it what were
you saying brother money transferring or
something Financial transactions
excellent this Hadith is referring to
financial transactions this Hadith is
referring to financial transactions when
it comes to issues of testifying against
Zena testifying against stealing then a
woman's testimony is equivalent to a man
in that situation but when it comes to
financial transactions Allah subh
required two women rather than one man
and one woman why is this the case
this is the case my dear brothers and
sisters because Islam didn't want to
burden the woman to always having to go
to court and if she did have to go to
court then she would have the support of
another woman with her since this was
such a frequent type of testimony that
would take place so to avoid putting in
a woman to avoid putting a woman in a
situation where she would have to
testify in court you would require
finding two women and one man in that
situation whereas it would have been
easier just find two men andas you have
your two witnesses to the contract and
it makes it easier so that is how this
is just one of the ways this Hadith can
be understood there are many many other
ways that this Hadith can be understood
but the key Focus I want to make is that
in order to understand any Hadith of the
Prophet again don't try to understand it
from an individual perspective try to
take a holistic approach look at all
thei andat that come in the Quran and
Sunnah and then in collaboration
understand it number two the
Hadith that if there was ever to be a SJ
in this world to the creation it would
be the S of the woman to the man let us
look at the context of this this is an
authentic Hadith as well nared in the
mus of IM Ahmed
that who just came back from a trip and
as he comes back from this trip as soon
as he sees the messenger of Allah
sallallahu alaihi wasallam he prostrates
down to the messenger of Allah
sallallahu alaihi wasallam the prophet
is is flabbergast he's like mu what are
you doing you know you're supposed to be
my representative of
you know he sent him to Y he's like
teach the people and here you are making
s that to me he was you know
flabbergasted for lack of a better word
he's like oh messenger of Allah you know
I saw the the Christians bowing down to
their priests and and you know to their
to their leaders so I thought you more
deserving of this you're the messenger
of Allah wasallam and then the messenger
of allahi wasallam he said oh mu there
is no s to anyone other than Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala and if there was it
would have been for a woman to the man
so here's the emphasis number one is
that there is no s to the man even if
he's the ultimate husband on the planet
even if he's the messenger of Allah S no
s to the creation whatsoever now the
second part of it that if there was a s
to a man it would have been the S of the
woman towards the man what exactly does
this mean how do we understand this
statement number one it needs to be
understood in light of what was
mentioned previously that there is no
sjah or command of sah but number two if
there was what does it mean
my dear brothers and sisters Islam came
as a very practical religion right it
came to maintain society and one of the
things that we're taught is that in each
and every situation there has to be
leadership the messenger ofam said that
let none of you travel in groups of
three except that you have appointed a
leader in from amongst you and likewise
in an household where you have a normal
family the man the woman and the
children Allah subhana wa tala he tells
us
that the men are respon the men are
responsible for women now what is
important to understand over here is
that any time Islam gives anyone any
form of authority they also are given
the responsibility and burden of
accountability that there is no
Authority without accountability so a
man even though he may have authority if
he abuses it this is his you know one of
the ways he goes to the Hellfire if he
uses it in good then this is one of the
ways that he achieves Paradise as well
so there's no such thing as Authority
without accountability and in the state
of a household Allah subhana wa taala
and his messenger sallallahu alaihi
wasallam he gave that responsibility to
the man as long as he's doing it
properly and he's handling the household
this uh verdict is for him that final
say is for him he is the Amir of the
household he makes bad decisions he is
the one that is going to be held
accountable in front of Allah subhanahu
waala so here when it comes to that
concept this is what is being referred
to that the man he has that Authority he
has that extra responsibility of
providing for the women and for the
children and then if there was a s it
would have been to him but there is no
such thing there is no such thing so
don't you know OV exaggerate this number
three is the issue of female leadership
the issue of female leadership where the
messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi
wasallam said that no nation that has a
woman at its head will be successful no
nation that has a woman at its head will
be successful now this Hadith while it
is authentic has been a cause for much
discussion does this mean that women
cannot have any role of authority
whatsoever or does this mean that just
beinga she cannot be the Khalifa at that
time and in all honesty if you look at
the opinions of the scholars they go
towards the second that women are
allowed positions of authority however
they're not allowed to be the Khalifa
and let us look at the reasons why so in
terms of positions of authority what is
she allowed to do she wants to run her
own business that's perfectly fine she
wants to be MSA president that's
perfectly fine she wants to be you know
a local mayor and Governor that's
perfectly fine a woman is allowed to do
all of those things can she be Khalifa
of the um no she can't why not one of
the responsibilities of the khif is to
give the and lead the Salah who's going
to lead the Salah when the sister is
having her menstrual cycle how is she
going to give the J and all the men are
are are just there're like staring at
her in front of in front of them and
there's no women at the J either you
know what what type of situation are you
going to create at that time right so in
that situation Allah subhana wa taala
again did not burden the woman to be the
Khalifa of the umah because if she's not
there to lead them in prayer how is that
Nation going to be successful and that's
what you need to understand from the
Hadith that if the woman is not there to
lead them in prayer how is that Nation
going to be successful and that is how
that Hadith is understood now I want to
conclude and on to the last section of
our discussion tonight and what is
Islam's attitude towards Define uh
towards two things number one towards
feminism now what is Islam's you know
reaction to feminism how do we treat
feminism now this is something
that mentions not in terms of feminism
per se but in terms
of that terminology that is innovated
that you know was not known except until
recent times and he says that in order
to pass any judgment on these
terminologies that are innovated and
introduced in later times we cannot pass
judgment upon them until they're clearly
explained what they mean and what they
stand for so for us to outright say that
Islam is against feminism this is
completely incorrect likewise to say
that the prophet wasallam was you know a
feminist at the same time is incorrect
as well up until you define what these
terms mean we can't pass judgment on
them and when you judge this sorry when
you look into this issue of of feminism
you'll find that just like the vast
majority of movements feminism is not
homogenous and is not monolithic but
rather you will have different strands
of feminism that stands for various
things you'll have one strand of
feminism that says you know what we
stand up for women's rights that they
shouldn't be beaten Islam will
completely support this 100% you have a
separate woman you know feminist right
where they burn their bras in public and
you think I'm making this up no this
happened in history they burned their
bras in public
right this is something that Islam
wouldn't stand for right so when it
comes to issues of feminism we ask the
person what do you mean by this what are
you referring to and only then can I
tell you what Islam's you know approach
or you know opposition or support of
this matter is but until you define it
for me I can't make any comment about it
and that is the approach that should be
taken that is the approach that should
be taken so when you see when someone
asks you know what does Islam say about
feminism your natural reaction should be
can you please define it for me and
based upon your definition I can give
you a response so there are certain
things that Islam will accept from
feminism yes women should not be beaten
they should be protected they should be
loved they should be cared for they
should be supported they should be given
equal opportunity these are the things
that Islam supports should women have
the right to you know take off their
clothes should women have the right to
consider themselves above the laws of
Allah subhana wa taala then no this is
not something that Islam would support
so we ask what does it mean number two
what does Islam say about chauvinism and
misogyny chauvinism meaning that men are
superior misogyny meaning that women are
meant to be oppressed and suppressed and
again the same thing except that
chauvinism and misogyny have pretty much
said definitions you know we understand
what they mean right there's no such
thing as a chauvinistic movement that is
fighting for men's rights for being
oppressed you know there's very few
cases at least where you know men are
being beaten up in their houses and
stuff like that so in those cases you
know we don't really address the
definitions but in terms of what they
stand for we would say that look in
Islam men and women are given equal
opportunity and they have different
responsibilities no gender is superior
over the other in terms of misogyny then
this is something that is completely not
allowed women cannot be emotionally
abused they cannot be psychologically
abused they cannot be physically abused
this is not something allowed Islam you
know reprimands this a man is to be held
accountable if he does such things in
fact during the time of the messenger of
Allah wasallam a woman came to the
messenger of allaham and she
says I have a a proposal from Two Men
and she mentions two men the messenger
of said don't take any of those
proposals as for the first he beats his
men his women and then number two that
he's very stingy he's very stingy so
here the Meer ofam shows that this
concept of of beating women is
considered a deficiency in a man that
you're not a man if you beat up your
women folk you're not a man if you beat
up your women folk so this is something
that islamically is clearly not allowed
it's clearly not allowed now let me
conclude with one final statement and
I've mentioned the story many many times
just due to how beautiful it is
returning back to the example of the
messenger of Allah sallallahu alaih
wasallam imar he has a chapter inside
sari called the anger and jealousy of
women that is the actual chapter heading
now one of the first courses I prepared
was an explanation of sah alkari and I
came across this chapter I'm like man
how am I supposed to teach this chapter
but you actually read the Hadith about
it and there's such beautiful Hadith
Subhan
Allah
um she says that I was one day with the
messenger of Allah and this is the very
first Hadith mentioned in the chapter
she says I was sitting with the
messenger of Allah wasallam and he says
Oh Come here so here you learn Point
number one from the messenger of Allah
that the messenger of allaham when
dealing with his women folk he dealt
with them with the utmost love he called
her with a name of endearment not even
her name he called her you know as a as
a as a nickname for her a term of
endearment he says come here I have
something to tell you and he brings her
close and he whispers something into her
ear so even though there's no one in the
room he creates a sense of intimacy a
sense of love with his wife and he says
something to her he says I know when
you're angry with me and I know when you
are happy with me and she says I became
surprised that how does the messenger of
allaham know when I'm angry and when I'm
happy number two you learn from this or
sorry this point number three now that
you learn from from this is that the
messenger of Allah wasallam paid
attention to the emotional needs
of he knew when she was angry and she
knew when she was happy so she responds
oh messenger of Allah how am I when I'm
angry how am I when I'm happy he says
when you're angry you say by the Lord of
ibraim such and such will happen and by
the Lord of ibraim you will do such and
such and when you're happy you say by
the Lord of Muhammad such and such will
happen and by the Lord of Muhammad you
will do such and such
so here we learn Point number four now
that the anger
of was not cursing was not beating up
was not throwing dishes at her husband
it was doing something in Anger which
was Halal that she took away the
messenger of Allah and replaced it with
the name of
ibraim right so this shows you the Halal
type of implementation of anger that you
don't become obscene you don't become
vulgar you don't become destructive
right now we get to
how responds and this teaches us a very
valuable lesson in
interaction she responds oh messenger of
Allah and this you know again she refers
to him as messenger of Allah not by his
first name terms of respect terms of
recognition that's something important
to look at she says oh messenger of
Allah even though the name may change on
my tongue my love for you will always be
in my heart my love for you will always
be in my heart
end of theith what you learn from this
the woman will always have the last word
end of
story we'll conclude with
that