INTRODUCTION TO WOMENS STATUS

Bismillah Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem. Alhumdulillah. Peace and blessings on Muhammad (sallalahu alaihi wa sallam), his Noble Companions and Family. Brothers and Sisters, Muslims whose relationship with Allah Azza Wa Jall is one of responsibilities and duties and one of tasks and obligations.... We are in the coming 10 days approaching the month of Ramadhan. A month in which we solidify our will power and we remember those who are powerless. Hunger, thirst and deprivation are in a sense a matter of diminishing physical power and in Ramadhan we celebrate the power of determination over physical and material power. Being that one of the issues that has not been approached from this angle is the issue of women in Islam, we think it is befitting to begin the month of Ramdhan and to go through that month as much as possible trying to make sense out of where the position of women is pertaining to traditions; many of them having nothing to do with the Quran or the prophet; many of them attributed to the Quran and the prophet without any justification or basis- and on the other hand the position of women as a reaction to that in (what is called) modern or westernized society and how that has become to influence our own lives and our own behaviours. We want to begin this with a general overview or approach. Some of you may be aware that women seem to be (the word that is usually used is) discriminated against or oppressed within Muslim society itself or whatever is left of an Islamic society. This discrimination or violation of the status of women has even been expressed very eloquently by those who stand for it. One of these speakers said- now listen brothers and sisters, this indicates to you and me and every listener, the bottling up or suffocating of a womans life- Blessed are the days when a woman was born out of her mothers womb into her parents home to remain there and only to part from there to the home of her husband to remain there and only to part from her husbands home to the grave. This is a silly and a suspicious mentality that expresses these words and these types of ideas. We even find in our Islamic historical and scholarly literature a quote from the Prophet in which his daughter was asked presumably by her father, What is the best description of a woman? Listen to the reactionary, uninformed, and what passes as a hadith statement we have. It is recorded that Fatimah, the daughter of Allahs prophet, said, that she should not see anyone and no one should see her. Then, upon saying that we are told, in this type of literature that the Prophet hugged her and he said, an offspring that regenerates itself, meaning this expresses his view on the matter. Brothers and sister- with Allahs assistance we will be covering this territory in khutbahs to come, but let us first of all say that anyone who follows the meanings of the Quran doesnt find any discrimination or any oppression from men towards women. We challenge anyone to quote for us any ayah in the Quran that will indicate

that there is a second status or a lower position for women in society vis--vis men, and we dont want any quotes to be made out of context, we want them to be placed where they belong. We say first and foremost, that we take innocent pride in the fact that we dont have the Judeo-Christian taint of placing the onus of the first sin of man upon a woman. In this narrative it was Eve who tempted Adam to have of the forbidden fruit in paradise for which we all came tumbling down to Earth. We begin with a fresh, rational and an equal start between men and women, the masculine and the feminine, in life. The ayah of the Quran says, Adam disobeyed His sustainer, consequently he went in the wrong direction but then Allah offered amnesty to him and showed him the correct direction (Surah Taha verse 121) Where is it here that anyone can sense there is an undue burden that is placed on a woman when the ayah is speaking about Adam? We seek not also to take this to an extreme in which we may think that we have some feminists who are going to place the onus and the sin on man in exclusion to women. Both of these approaches are not found in our reliable source of information. Another ayah in the Quran says concerning Adam and Hawa, Adam and Eve, Both of you eat whatever you find in it (meaning in paradise) with a full appetite but do not (Surah Al-Araf verse 19) In English it may not appear because of the failure of the language but in the Quranic Arabic it is clear that Allah is speaking to two, the man and the woman, the male and the female, the masculine and the feminine. See how many times? At least four times in this ayah, there is reference to two or to both of them. We dont have this psychological inferiority that bounces around from society to society and from century to century, inflicting the ignorant and the bias with false information pertaining to the position of women as we honour that position as a function of our submission and obedience to Allah. Let us say also that there is a human nature. We are speaking about a God-given nature that is distributed equally between male and female, to complement each other and the Quran has been observant of this as a matter of justice. In an ayah in Surah An-Nisa, Allah If a woman is found to have committed the sin of adultery, then what is required is the testimony of four witnesses (Surah An-Nisa verse 15) As far as men are concerned, the act of adultery becomes one that can be hidden but a woman, especially in places and times in which there are no (what is called) birth control mechanisms, no pill and no surgery, when adultery is committed, the crime shows because the woman is now pregnant and the man can disappear back into society. But what do you do when this is the case? What is required in this case is the testimony of four reliable witnesses in a court of law (Surah An-Nisa verse 15). What happens here? The evidence is established- the woman is pregnant, but if there are no witnesses, the legal procedure cannot go forward. In order for the legal procedure to go forward there has to be four witnesses and if that does happen then she is

required to stay at home. Now, you tell us why this is not well known among the Muslim public. Of course this is a Mansukh ayah; the penalty for adultery is eventually established, but before that ultimate penalty was established, she was required to, what we say today, be under house arrest or to stay at home. She cant go out into society any longer until one of two things happens: until she expires due to death or until Allah causes a way out for her. There has been much argument pertaining to what is called Al-Nasikh ayahs that have been updated and AlMansukh, ayahs that have exhausted there purpose or outdated ayaat. This may sound a little strange to the novice, the uninitiated and to people not familiar with the growth and development of Islamic society. This is an area in which women, because of their nature, were not considered equal with the way men are to be treated and that is because we said theres a degree of difference between men and women and that degree was meant for each to complement the other, not to oppress or react to the other- behaviours that are preponderant in our societies. The ayaat dont permit oppression and reaction. The Prophet of Allah in a hadith says, women are the twins of men, or the twin equals of men. An ayah in the Quran says, some of you are the extraction and the complements of others (Surah An-Nisa verse 25) This is a reference to men and women. So where do we have these non-sensical developments that have set in like concrete in our societies coming from? Where do we have someone coming and telling us No, the face and the hands of a woman are a Awrah, a private part coming from? It has been established that during the time of Allahs Prophet, women used to show their face and their hands. So where did all of this come from? Why do we now have what is called an Islamic justification for it? (Let us say this a little more slowly and at a lesser pitch), we, meaning the Muslims, dont have a normal relationship between men and women. Its not normal because some of us are consumed with inaccurate information to which we give an Islamic gloss and some of us are anxious to run away from this type of traditional Islamic understanding to another extreme in which we want women to undress, to forget about the Hijab, and what Allah and His Prophet say. These two currents that now devour our human relations have made us in our inter-gender relationships, abnormal and dysfunctional. We even have masajid around the world, in which women are discouraged or forbidden from entering the masjid. Where did this come from? Once again it comes from uninformed opinions. We dont find any basis for this in the Quran or in the Sunnah. To the contrary, theres a hadith that says, dont withhold women subjects of Allah from going to the masajid, to the mosques of Allah. A plain hadith on the authority of Muslim which is one of the highest if not the highest authorities of hadith but then why do we have the attitude among us that tells the woman, you dont have to go to the masjid? In the time of Allahs Prophet, women who were within their monthly cycle or period used to attend the masjid. They used to go to the masjid continuously and no one would tell them you cant be here. They would go to Salatul Eid and participate in every function of Salatul Eid with the exception of the salat. So why do we now have this attitude of discriminating against our mothers, sisters, wives and daughters by telling them- (this is what they say in their homes and one-on-one communication) its better for you to pray at

home than it is to pray at the masjid? Would you think this is a strike at Islamic unity when we say And hold firm to the rope of Allah, all of you and do not be divided (Surah Ahl-Imran verse 103) We sense that in this attitude that prohibits and bars our mothers, sisters, wives and daughters from going to the masjid and being part of an Islamic assembly, Jumuah, and Jamaah is in violation of this ayah which is clear, direct in its meaning. Were going to cover this with more detail if Allah helps us in the Jumuahs to come. This is one area that has to do with power. We can detect our weakness in our divisions. One of these serious divisions is half of our numbers, at least half of us have been paralyzed. The enlightened ones, say, ok you can go to the masjid, but they tell Muslimat, Muminaat, Haafidhaat, Qaanitaat, Thayyibaatin wa Abkarah, Ok if you want to go to the masjid, you cant go to the night salat- Al-Fajr and AlIsha. Go to Al-Dhuhr and Al-Asr; we have no problems with that but dont go to the masjid at night. Where did this come from, we ask once again, when Muslimaat used to go to the masjid at Al-Fajr and Al-Isha in the time of Allahs Prophet. Isnt that the time that we refer to saying this is our Sunna, our model behavior? What happened? Why cant we act normal? Thats all that is required- acting normally and have our Muslim sisters know that we honour their dignity and humanity. But why is it that some of us are unable to do this. A quick answer to this is that we are an inhibited society. Many of our brothers are living in denial of their sexual orientation and needs. Its like there is a struggle going on in them and part of this struggle they or their religious elders calculate, is to keep men away from women. Well if this was the case we would think that part of the 23-year history of the Prophet in Makkah and in Al-Medinah covered this area. If there was going to be a problem, then we shouldve found an echo to what is happening today in those years, but we dont find it. We find that the solution to get rid of this sexual inhibition or repression is marriage. Its a simple thing, you get married and you move on to the higher responsibilities. Were looking at nearly 2 billion people in the world- what do you want to do? Put half of them, 1billion Muslim women, in a lifelong incarceration just because we have a segment of youth who cannot get married?! And why cant they get married? Because they dont have the wherewithal, the finances, the career, gainful employment and whatever it takes to get married. The problem is there. We begin to think about these problems. But they dont want us to open up these issues in the Masjid. Dont speak about economic and financial issues in the Masjid. You see, this is where it all ties in. They say, O brother, youre speaking about politics, wars, corporations, capitalism, and monopoly. These are the problems that come back to haunt you in your social lives when we cant speak and think about them. Look at what is happening to us. We become corrosive internally- this is where we are. Dont speak about these issues- why? There is no Quranic or Sunnatic basis for not speaking about these issues. Show us where Allah and His Prophet tell us we cannot speak about these issues, relate them to each other and trace our problem to where it begins to where it has to end. But they cant. So, when they no longer have the mental ammunition they go to the military ammunition- this is where they are. They

dont have any muscles in their brains and in their heart, so they go to technology and think they have all the muscles there with their military technology to use against us before we can wake up and begin identifying these problems. Some of the instances of women One of the women in the household of Allahs Prophet, heard someone, a man, saying, (we dont want to mention names brothers because when we mention names some people who listen to these khutbahs begin to draw on their stereotypical and biased emotions. We want to avoid that and speak to your minds) that when women wash their head, have to undo their hair to make wudhu. If a woman has her hair tied in a ponytail or whatever they are called, she has to undo it for her wudhu to be valid. Then, one of the women in the family of the Prophet said, Thats not true. I used to perform my wudhu from the same container as Allahs Prophet and I just used to run water over my head and that was it. So this person was trailed with this information, they took this information to him and said what are you saying? He said, Well I heard another person attribute this to the Prophet. And he said, If your information is coming from the Prophets household, then I have nothing else to say. It was a woman in the Prophets family who put an end to a version of things that was not correct. We dont want to say theres a deliberate act of lying. Its just misinformation. Another small example of misinformation- theres an ayah in the Quran which says, you women stay or settle within your own homes.(Surah Al-Ahzaab verse 32-33) You could put it this way, you women are ordered to stay at home. Thats what the words say. Then, they take this sentence and generalize it- Look, women have to stay at home- the ayah says so. This is what happens when they take a sentence out of context because this sentence is speaking to the wives of Allahs Prophet. And then Allah says, O you, women or wives of the Prophet, you are not like other women. And then it says, therefore remain at home. This is a special case that is not to be generalized like we have today. We will find, with Allahs help, that women were conscious of their status in society. They came to the Prophet to ask for advice on selecting their own husbands; the right to choose their own soul mates, the right to abandon that relationship if there is a basis to do so. In other words, they have a right to annul the marriage. They came with these concerns to Allahs Prophet. They participated in social activities, in decision-making and in all activities in life that is compatible with their nature. And there was no one saying to them, What are you doing? You belong at home. Dare you not step out in the real world. Even if our enemies wanted to scheme and plot something that would paralyze half the Muslims, they couldnt come up with something as effective as this. Half of the Muslims now, for one reason or the other, either its traditions or what is called westernization- we have lost many of this potential. Then you can go on to the absurd. They quote a hadith. They say theres a hadith from the Prophet that says, pertaining to women, yes, consult with them but after consulting with them

do the opposite of what they tell you to do. Can you believe something like this still exists and in some circles passes as bona fide Islamic information and knowledge?! The ayah in the Quran, when it speaks about the dissolution or the undoing of the marriage, there has to be a consultation between husband and wife and there has to be satisfaction on what has to be done by both of them. When a hadith is in contradiction to an ayah, you suspend the hadith and follow the meanings of the ayah. Not like some of these people around, who bring all of this hadith literature, some of it true, some of it false, and they want to understand the Quran in light of the hadith. Its the other way around brothers and sisters. We understand the hadith in light of the Quran. We will see and we will try as Allah gives us the knowledge and ability, to look at this issue through a Quranic and Sunnatic mind- an understanding that is extracted from the words of Allah and His Prophet. Brothers and sister, committed Muslims... An issue that has been making waves had been a statement by the Pope visiting his home country, Germany, in which he quotes an emperor back 600 and some odd years ago as having said that Muhammad (may Allahs peace and blessings be upon him) did not bring anything new, (were paraphrasing of course), to this world, and if there is something new he brought, it is evil and inhumane, Astaghfirullah al Adhim wa Atubu Illayh. This is a very injurious, inaccurate statement. As a consequence to this, there have been Muslims around the world who responded, asking him to either apologize for what he said or to explain it in a way that is not defamatory to the Muslims. When this was in the making, we had not heard any statement to that effect, neither from the person who made the statement, nor from the Vatican itself. In the meantime, the Muslims living the conditions that they are living, should feel that there may be some larger plan because of that statement, and that larger plan in light of what has happened in the past, beginning with the Salman Rushdie assault on the Muslims, and recently these cartoons or caricatures in Denmark and the European press and now with this type of statement it would seem or appear for a thinking mind, (beware of a committed Muslims insight because when he sees things, he does so with the light of Allah), that this statement was meant to feed into the military frenzy against Muslims and maybe, knowing that this Pope is going to go to a Muslim country, we may have some evil minds who are thinking about inflicting physical and deadly harm on this Pope, not because they are zealous about the Prophet or Islam, but because they want to plunge the Muslims and the Christians into a clash of catastrophic proportions. You can recall around 25 years ago, when there was an attempt on the previous Pope by a Turk. So is it far away from reason? Turkey is one of the accessible Muslim countries for the CIA, Mossad, MI6, or any of the intelligence services working in their orbit to have a pontiff killed in Muslim lands to bring back ancient animosities and dig up the history of the past, the Crusades, the Conquistadores, the Inquisitions. Who would love to see something like that? The Zionists in Tel Aviv. We dont know the nature of how speeches are prepared for the Pope but we can sense that there is now a dirty hand that is trying to execute a filthy plot and then blame the Muslims so they can go on and on in their propaganda and in their wars doing what

they have been doing in Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, and in other places. This is one issue that we have to keep our Quranically open minds on and not let it pass away and then when the crime is committed go into reactions. This is not the character of a committed Muslim. And just very briefly as an extension to the status of women, you may not know that in the recent past, there was serious consideration by the government in Saudi Arabia to forbid Muslim women from going to the Haram. This fits in very good with the schematic polarization with the Muslims. How do you get away with that? Do we want them to get away with that? We dont know where this issue is going to be decided or when but just by seriously considering telling Muslim women who have been going to the Haram ever since the days of Allahs Prophet, O now you are not permitted inside the Haram., and they will make excuses. Its not a simple issue where they will say we dont want Muslimaat to come around the Kaba. Its not that simple. They will have some justifications like harrassment, courting women around the Haram etc. for it. Some of these things may be happening but the solution to it is not to say, Muslim women cannot come to the Haram. The solution to it is to open Makkah, the Hajj and the Umrah to the months and the years that was meant for Hajj and Umrah and not to squeeze them in like sardines. You squeeze Muslims around the Haram like sardines and theres bound to be moral violations there and the answer to that is not to tell Muslim women you cannot come to the Haram anymore such as is their thoughts.

WOMENS STATUS- PART 2

Bismillah Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem. Alhumdulillah. Peace and blessings on Muhammad (sallalahu alaihi wa sallam), his Noble Companions and Family. Brothers and Sisters, Muslims whose relationship with Allah Azza Wa Jall is one of responsibilities and duties and one of tasks and obligations.... We shall continue, with Allahs help, trying our best to dispel the ignorance and reaction that have taken hold in our selves and our societies, pertaining to the issue of women. We have been living for generations in a psychological duality and a social duality. One side is living in unjustified traditions and another side is living in an artificial modernity. This polarization was more evident in previous generations. In our time there has been something like a less than intense encounter between these two attitudes or social trends. In a moment with Allah, if we can refer ourselves back to Him and relive the guidance and the meanings that are untainted and are not up for a traditional monopoly nor a reaction that has its basis in Western thought and behaviour. If in this moment with Allah, we can refer ourselves to Him, then we can begin a strong, vibrant, confidant, and a forward-moving social and psychological break with both the traditions that we are speaking about and the reactions to them. They say that Islam is unfair to women and that Muslim men abuse women in their societies, families, and even in the husband and wife relationship. We hear much when it comes to mentioning Islam; theres a lot that fills the airwaves about how the Islamic religion, Muslim scholars, the Quran and the Prophet are said to be anti-feminine, anti-women, anti-the gentler sex. With Allahs assistance, we say and we will continue w to say to them that from the Quran, from Allah and from the source of who we are, that they are wrong, they are fabricating this issue and they are accusing us of something that does not belong to our Islamic conviction nor to our Islamic character. In doing this we refer to Allah and the Quran. Notice that with all the fabrications and accusations that are thrown against committed Muslims, they dont refer to the Quran, but we shall. In the first ayah that indicates the equality or the same source of life for both men and women, Allah says Oh people! Take into consideration Allahs corrective measures against you (Surah AnNisa verse 1) This is the gist of the meaning of Ittaqullah. When you are in the midst of lively activities or when you are doing whatever you are doing in the course of the day, always factor in Allahs power in what you are doing. Be vigilant pertaining to your Sustainer, (to be more precise), pertaining to the power of your Sustainer. Jumah is a time when Muslims are to be reminded of

taqwa. In some schools of thought taqwa is a pillar of the khutbah. This reminder of taqwa can be frank and blunt, by using the word taqwa in the khutbah, or it can be indirect by leading you to the conclusion that you should always be aware of Allahs power presence. This has dropped from usage even in the language. In past generations and centuries, when a person would use the word taqwa, he would say, Oh so-and-so, be conscious of Allahs power when it comes to orphans or oh so-and-so, be conscious of Allahs power when it comes to your spouse. The word taqwa was used when theres a discrepancy of power- orphans dont have power and wives are perceived (without the stereotypical of the traditional parts of that perception), are less in power (physically speaking) than men are. So the word taqwa, to interject the power of Allah in the conscious of man, is due and warranted. If we can regenerate this understanding, then we get more out of its meaning when Allah is using this word to remind us. who has created you from one Nafs, one Self, one genetic material that has become life or one human essence (Surah An-Nisa verse 1) These are some of the meanings of Nafs. In this ayah, there is no indication of who came 1st. Was it Man or was it Woman?; and theres no notion of someone coming 1 st. Allah says that He created us- we know who we are as far as gender is concerned- we are male and female. So what He is saying is from one Nafs, so this doesnt give any justification for sexual oppression or sexual exclusion. We dont know where this is coming from. If you find in an Islamic family, community or social order that there is a sense of male superiority (because this is the problem of history and our time, there is this male superiority) where does it find its origins? From where does it draw its notion? Obviously its not from the ayat of the Quran, its not from the words of Allah as we begin to cover this subject. In this ayah, And He created out of this one Nafs its counter sex, its complementary half, its mate, its double, its spouse (Surah An-Nisa verse 1) We still cant find any notion here of a male or a female superiority or inferiority. Where does this come from? And out of them He has spread into being many men and women (Surah An-Nisa verse 1) So at the source of life, (Allah wants us to consider genesis itself, the beginning of life), when we take a look at this beginning through the words of Allah, we cannot detect any tension between the masculine and the feminine. It doesnt exist. So if it doesnt exist here in our mental contact with Allah, how come it exists in real life? Where does this come from? Then Allah says in somewhat of a lengthy discourse or ayaat Of course if we go to the translation of these ayaat, it would be somewhat time consuming so were going to go to the translation of the point that we want to emphasize. After this long introduction in which human beings who are committed to Allah, work our mind on His creation and we follow His prophets and messengers in an active sense, Allah says (when we are on this course)

He responds or has answered to them (Surah Ahl Imran verse 195) Saying what? Allah is saying He will not make lost any effort or any labour, coming from a male or a female, some of you are from others.(Surah Ahl Imran verse 195) In the world of creation- an area we have no access to- creation is Allahs- it uniquely belongs to Him. Anyone who attempts to go into the details of creation becomes demagogic, semantic and theoretic- nothing with evidence or concrete proof except for the evidence that comes to us from Allah because Hes the Creator and knows what goes on in that realm. So, when He says as the Creator we come from each other, that is another way of synchronizing the male and the female. So once again, we come back and we ask ourselves where is this coming from? Where do we get all of this discrimination between a man and a woman? In our understanding of the Holy Tanzeel, we understand men and women to be complements of each other and equal to each other, with a few exceptions. These exceptions are due to the way Allah created us and they do not violate the compatibility and complementary and equal status of men and women. Allah says, Whoever does what is good, be it a male or a female, while they are committed to Allah, they are the ones who are going to enter Jannah (Surah An-Nisa verse 124) When Allah uses the word Ameela, to work or to do things, He says this equally applying it to a man as He is equally applying it to a woman, so how come we get this notion of excluding some women from work? We can listen and hear the response- Ok you want to take a woman out and let her work, well look at the society that she is in. But, these ayaat are not spoken in the context of Jahili societies, ie. societies that refer to a knowledge that is disconnected from Allah or a society that is constructed on the basis of parting with Allah. When we speak these words and express these ideas, we do so in a society that is moulded by the Will of Allah. Brothers and sisters who are listening with your minds, place your emotions away. We concur that women had been mistreated before Allahs Quran and before Allahs Basheer and Natheer, the final Prophet. There are ayaat in the Quran that speak about the condition of the oppression of women. One of the ayat says, and this should take the wind out of the feminine sail. There are some Muslim women who dont have enough Islamic information and think the Quran does not stand up for their rights, so they go looking with non-Islamic and antiIslamic researchers and social scientists for cases to build against Muslim men, and this has nothing to do with Muslim men if these men are committed to Allah. So what does Allah say concerning practices, social trends or what may be called in some cultures social values. He says, And if someone was told the news that you have a girl that has been born to you meaning your wife has given birth to a girl, his face would turn black and he goes into a psychological mode, a type of depression because of that (Surah An-Nahl verse 58)

What does he do? He is running away from society, he doesnt want to see anyone, he doesnt want anyone to see him (Surah An-Nahl verse 59) Why is he running away from society? Because of the bad news that he got. What was that bad news? A girl was born to him. What does he do now? Now hes thinking (Surah An-Nahl verse 59) These are the internal thoughts of these types of people. Were not talking about one individual in history; were talking about a social attitude. Whats wrong with these types of people if they have a girl that is born to them, they begin to think. What am I going to do? Am I going to bury her? Should I bury her? (Surah An-Nahl verse 58) The fact of having a girl invokes these types of thoughts. And then, Allah says There was a time in which parents would think about killing their newborns and most of this would be done towards a baby girl, because society says girls are a burden on the family, they do not offer the strength and the wealth that a boy may offer, so they think about getting rid of them through killing them. Do not kill your children because of scarce economic conditions, economic conditions that are threatening (Surah Al-Isra verse 31) The fact of the matter is there is this rationalization in primitive societies as well as in modern societies that it becomes justifiable due to economic conditions to get rid of the less productive members of society, and the less productive are the dispossessed, the overpowered, the disenfranchised, and obviously at the centre of this are that component of society that is called females. When we take the practice, if this thought runs through our mind in primitive societies as well as in modern societies, what becomes a practice of this thought? Look for girls among others, orphans, gypsies, minorities, etc But one of them is, in practice and in history- well we should get rid of our girls because the economic conditions are tough. Allah is saying, We will provide for them and you, their murder, killing them is a gargantuan mistake (Surah Al-Isra verse 31) Another ayah says, And when a victim of infanticide asks, what was my crime? Why was I killed? (Surah AtTakwir verse 8-9) This is in reference to killing children at the younger age of development, killing infants. Could it be extended also to killing foetuses? This depends on how much we are able to think about the

meanings of this ayah and what are the motivations for it? There is another practice of ignorant societies. Ignorance here is any society or is applicable to any society that is formulated away from the knowledge that comes from Allah. You can have the most technologically advanced society in the world that is disconnected from the guidance of Allah and it becomes a society of ignorance. What is another ayah that is used and repeated in the Quran for us to understand what refers to these types of unwarranted, anti-divine behaviours? They say that whatever that is in the bellies of cattle, (it could be a cattle of camels, cows or goats or whatever), is only for our men and it is haraam on our spouses (Surah Al-Anaam verse 139) Here it is being qualified by the word Rijaalina because Azwaaj without a qualifier is a spouse, it could be a husband or a wife but in this ayah, it has a qualifier. Where does this come from? The Quran is assailing and attacking this type of dietary or nutritional discrimination, whatever their argument may be for it. Do you think when they say things like this and it becomes social values, they dont have an argument for it? Of course they do. Our men are going to go and fight and they need this scarce meat and women, you can do without it, youre staying here at home. Allah is getting at the roots of this discrimination that will take away from the ammunition of this mental argument that they have. Then Allah takes Muslims and Muslim women away from a practice that does not give her her inherited rights. Inheritance is an issue. How do people inherit possessions, property, and wealth? How does that go? Is that left up to you and me? A Jahili society, a society that has science but does not have Allah, comes and improvises its own laws. You can do whatever you want as far as this is concerned. Theres no checks and balances on the flow or the movement of riches and property. One of these instances was there in human history. Allah is speaking to responsible Muslims, not these mechanical types You are not on legal grounds to inherit women or to set women up to inherit them (Surah An-Nisa verse 19) A practice that they were able to do. An example of that is a wife becomes a widow; her husband dies either a natural cause or any other cause, and then his family, the deceased husbands family tells the woman you cannot get married. Why would they do and say that? Because they want to inherit her. They dont want her share of the inheritance to be distributed among another person who may be a stranger who becomes her new husband. This is an example of how mans supervised social values place women in a victims position. This is not tolerated or acceptable. We cant be exhaustive, these are going to be a series of khutbahs, Insha-Allah, to clarify this issue. Allah in many ayat in the Quran brings out the character of women beside the character of men. This is one of the semi-short if not a short surah in the Quran in which Allah is expressing an oath,

By the night and what it engulfs in its darkness. And by the daylight and what it exposes with its brightness. And by He who created male and female. Indeed your striving in life takes on different proportions, directions and pursuits (Surah Al-Layl verse 1-4) So this not only is it an emphasizer of the male character in life and its pursuits, it is also an emphasizer, equally so, of the female character in life and its pursuits. Then Allah says, and this is an ayah we try many times to repeat in the beginning of the khutbah, And it is not a choice of a committed Muslim or a committed Muslimah, when Allah and His Messenger decree an issue, they have no choice but to follow forthwith (Surah AlAhzaab verse 36) So that means when Allah and His prophet decree something, it is binding on both a Mumin and a Muminah. There are no exclusions here. The question is how did we make these exclusions? In a short surah that I hope everyone has memorized Allah says Im sure you probably read this surah many times in your salat or you probably listen to it being read many times in and out of salat, but how many of you have taken a closer look at this surah from a gender point of view? Wouldnt it have been enough to condemn Aba Lahab? Ok- but Allah, because He is looking at the crime and because the crime has consumed both husband and wife, then it is necessary to mention the other part of this crime in which the wife of Abi Lahab, is involved. So the ayat were there- not excluding her from the consequences of what she was doing. This is another ayah in which there is equality; the same type of equality that is given for doing what is good and avoiding what is bad is also the same type of equality that details the crime when it is perpetuated by man and woman equally so, also. Then, there is the ayah in which Allah says, Allah has brought us the example of two women who belonged to two virtuous men of ours, the wife of Nuh and the wife of Lut. And these two wives, betrayed their husbands (Surah At-Tahreem verse 11) Now I want you to think a little more about this. These are two prophets of Allah and the ayah is telling us that the betrayal of their husbands, who are Allahs prophets, was tantamount to kufr. We dont know if Nuh and Lut (alaihima as-salaam) divorced their wives. They say what type of freedom do Muslims honour? What more honour do you want than for prophets maintaining their spousal responsible relationships with the closest person in the world to them. Whos closer to husband than wife? Whos closer to wife than husband? This is the closest relationship that we have in society, and these husbands had what we call in todays terminology, kaafir wives who betrayed them. They were treasonous to their own husbands/prophets. Time collapses here, we are in Al-Akhirah, and it was said to them, You enter the fire with those who are going into it (Surah At-Tahreem verse 11)

On the other hand, Allah gives the example of a woman who stands out for what she said and what she did. The wife of the Pharaoh who said, Oh Allah, build for me a residence where You are and save me from the Pharaoh and what he is doing and save me from an oppressive society. (Surah At-Tahreem verse 12) If there was a type of imbalance in the relationship between man and woman, why is Allah bringing this to us above all written history, (this is everlasting history because this is an everlasting fact). Why is He quoting this, the wife of the Pharaoh, for us? Its enough what the Pharaoh did that would eclipse any mention of his wife. Its just like picking out today the wife of the occupant of the number one superpower in the world. The Pharaoh of this superpower has done so much that it would overshadow whatever virtues his wife may have. But we are not speaking about historians who are writing the facts of time, we are speaking about Allah who registers this feminine position that comes from a woman, so people can appreciate virtue from wherever it comes. We dont know when Muslims are going to be able to communicate and understand what Allah is saying to them, not through the social fabric of their time, but without the social fabric of the time. In other words, we dont want the social trends that we have around us to influence our understanding or our misunderstanding of what Allah has to say to us. And then a final note. An ayah in the Quran says, And it is of Allahs power illustration that He has created from yourselves counterparts (Surah Ar-Rum verse 21) Notice here there is no mention of man and woman. He has created for you from your own selves spouses, mates so that you may settle within them in comfort (Surah Ar-Rum verse 21) This is equally understandable by male and female, vis--vis the other. There is no tipping the balance for man, saying that they find comfort and they settle down in women and there is no tipping it in the opposite direction and saying it is women who would settle down and find comfort in their mates. It is equally so. It is equally applicable, and it was meant to equalize the relationship on both sides.

WOMENS STATUS- PART 3

Bismillah Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem. Alhumdulillah. Peace and blessings on Muhammad (sallalahu alaihi wa sallam), his Noble Companions and Family. Brothers and Sisters, Muslims whose relationship with Allah Azza Wa Jall is one of responsibilities and duties and one of tasks and obligations.... One of the important segments of mankind that has been deemed powerless are our women. It is apt to take a closer look at the status of women through the enlightening information that has come to us from the Creator, the Initiator and the Fashioner of our lives and our interactive behavior in this life. Many times we run into strict and sometimes illogical behavior that camouflages itself in Islam. And sometimes we run into a behavior that is illogical in as far as trying to bend and twist and mal-form Islam to fit what are supposed to be the standards and values of modernity. We invite those who are in a shell of uniformed tradition, those who are exposed to the deviations of modernity and Westernization and ourselves to the table spread of Allah. We will continue to try to place in front of our eyes and in the presence of our mind this information that has come to us from Allah so that we may have enough will power and courage to admit to the rights and to the right position and status of women- our mothers, our sisters and our daughters, among us. First, as a continuation of the previous khutbahs, there is a balance of rights and responsibilities between husband and wife, between male and female. Allah says (this ayah as well as others should be in our minds every time they take target and try to shoot down the values and standards of Allah and His Prophet) regarding the equilibrium of rights and responsibilities pertaining to women, And they, (meaning women), have that which is equivalent to what is in imposed on them, (in other words), they have rights that are parallel to their responsibilities (Surah AlBaqarah verse 228) If we were to look at life as a bundle of rights on one side and a bundle of responsibilities on the other side, it is wrong to give women more rights than their responsibilities and it is equally wrong to place more responsibilities on them than they have rights- if Allah is telling us this, and we look at the rights and the responsibilities of the world around, how come we see an imbalance? Why is it in the majority of cases we find that women have a disproportionate amount or responsibilities and a diminishing amount of rights? This violates this ayah.

There is another issue that is almost always triggered when someone is speaking about social Islam. People who are ignorant or malicious to Islam say, how come Muslim men are permitted to marry more than one wife? Almost always this issue is brought up and they throw it in our face and those of us who have no knowledge of Allah and His Prophet and no thinking relationship with the Quran and the Sunnah, stand exposed- they have no disciplined and principled answer. We say to them that Allah has regulated this issue of multiple equal marriages. This is not an issue of polygamy. They want to draw us into their definition of thingsthis is where a confident Muslim mind and psychology is needed. Allah says, and the ayaat go on but the gist of it is here. The approach here is a social one. If you as a society fear that you are not going to be able to be fair to orphans (Surah AnNisa verse 3) This Islamic society that we are trying to build is like every society on Earth, it has its widows and it has its orphans. So Allah is telling us that if we as a society are fearful that were not going to be able to offer the orphans what is entitled to every other child who has a father and a mother (Surah An-Nisa verse 3) An orphan doesnt have a father- at this time when there is a social fear of this, then a law, a provision or a procedure is opened up. Then you marry what pleases you of women(Surah An-Nisa verse 3) The wording of this ayah is not you marry a second wife or a third wife- Fankihu maa Taaba Lakum min al-Nisaai Ukhraa wa Thalitha wa Rabia. Theres a deliberate sense of equality and fairness. Mathna, meaning your second marriage, with all that went into it of emotions, willingness and without objections. The same thing for the third- a third equivalent and at a same par marriage without any internal objection because when you marry your first wife, there was not another wife to object to it. Here when you marry the second wife, the first one cannot object to it. If she objects it is not going to be, Mathna; and if one or two object, it is not going to be Thulath; and if one, two or three object, its not going to be Ruba. So here, Al-Nisa, women has a qualifier and that is the orphans, which makes women, here, widows- its not just anyone. You dont go and pick anyone you want to marry- just like right now the license is among the general Muslim public who have been alienated from the Quran and its meanings and also from the necessities and the needs of society. They dont understand it from this area and they dont understand it from that. Then, Allah says, if you fear you are not going to do justice to the combination of women together, then you remain with one. (Surah An-Nisa verse 3) There are a couple of indirect meanings that are included in this ayah. The first one is the usage of the word Tuqseetu and then the word Tadeelu. In the un-practicing Muslim mind, these are roughly the same meaning and they are roughly the same meaning but they are fine-tuned and

this is where we fall short. When Allah used the word, Tuqseetu, He was speaking about social justice and when He spoke about, Tadeelu, He was speaking about personal justice. So if we can from now on pay a little more attention to these words in the Quran. Then theres another ayah that says, You will not be able to be able to do justice to women, even if you try your best. (Surah AnNisa verse 3) So this is also a precaution for those who may want to contribute to social justice to think twice before they violate personal justice. But when we are dumped with this issue, do we think out these meanings so that we can confidently plough through this field? Regrettably not many of us can do that. Another issue that is brought to our attention concerning women is the issue of Talaaq, divorce. We look around in our world and we should be proud that Allah has regulated divorce. Our values and our standards eclipse the values and standards of a tormented social fabric around us. Instead of us going on the offensive and taking a look at the way they behave in putting together a family or tearing a family apart, which is what they do, we, (the short-comers) take a look at our own regulation of this and we cannot stand up with confidence and say Allah has given women in the household, when they are married the right of the dissolving of the marriage to be regulated. Its not up to some whimsical husband to come and annul a marriage. Allah says, Divorce is a two-step process. (Surah Al-Baqarah verse 229) It occurs twice which means if this relationship of husband and wife, upon which a society is constructed and consolidated is frail and coming apart, its not done so abruptly and recklessly. It has to stand the test of time. It has to be proven. That is why there is the issue of Idda involved. A woman has been dignified by having an Idda, a concept not known to those who are not privileged with Allah and His Prophet. There is a three-cycle period, (whether they are three full cycles of a womans monthly cycle or whether they are three months without going into these nitty-gritty details which amount to a couple of days difference), when a Talaaq is intended. This Talaaq has to withstand these three cycles and not only once but twice- thats why the ayah says, Divorce is a two-step process. (Surah Al-Baqarah verse 229) Now after this if there is still the emotional thrust and the passionate detachment from each other then Allah says- now both sides have arrived at the defining moment at that time after these emotions have been probed through this time period in their depth, you can resume a merit or each can go their merry way, (as it were) (Surah Al-Baqarah verse 229)

When we read or understand something like this, why do we have some of us feel as if we are the weaker side of social concepts in this world? Its because its an indicator that we ourselves are at a distance from what Allah is telling us. Does a divorced woman have any rights? Is she left to a material society? Is she left to paternalistic tribalism? Or does Allah speak to this area once we have a Mutallaqah, a divorced wife or a widow. What does Allah say, If you had your wives divorced you cannot, (the Quranic word is) muscle them out of reattaching themselves to their husbands. (Surah Al-Baqarah verse 229) Meaning a divorced wife has all the right in the world to return to her divorcee if thats what she wants to do. I will leave it at that. Now, for this divorced wife, what if theres a baby, an infant who is being breastfed? Are there any rights involved here? Allah says, Mothers are to breastfeed their suckling babies two yearly cycles, for those who want to complete the breastfeeding period. And for the man who has begotten this baby, his responsibility is to provide and to clothe in a manner that is relative, pertinent and fair- Bil Maruf (Surah Al-Baqarah verse 233) You cant also tell a father you are expected to spend such-and-such money when that is not within his means. What if theres a decision to be made about when? For those who dont want to go through the two full yearly cycles of breast feeding and they want to cut it short, 12 months, 15 months, 9 months, whatever the case may be, how is that done? Is it done in a dictatorial fashion? We want to know what laws we have on the book today that are equivalent to or parallel with such moral and legal learnings and teachings that we have in front of us here when we are dealing with an infant that cant speak for itself. How is that to be determined? By the mother? By the father? And the answer, dig into the laws and the morals in society around, do you find any satisfying answer for this? Allah has an answer and says, If they want to discontinue breastfeeding, that decision is made as a matter of both husband and wife, father and mothers agreement and satisfaction. (Surah Al-Baqarah verse 233) Then we come to- and this is a little sensitive for some Muslims, (remember were referring here to Allahs words- were not dealing with the scholars, the fine print and the fine tuning)- the issue of a woman, a Muslimah looking good, presentable, fair, even attractive. I know this is sensitive to some brothers and sisters who are going to hear this. What happens if we have some Muslim woman, a wife, whos divorced? Her husband and she have gone through the process and now its finalized. Shes in her own world alone and hes in his. How does Allah speak to this issue? Or even in the case of a widow who has become a widow not by way of divorce but

her husband died, on the warfront, in an accident, whatever the case may be. She now is alone. How is she going to socially present herself? Listen to that- especially the cobweb type of Muslims who cant think. This is an ayah that should be reverberating in our public mind. What is this ayah saying? Those of you who pass on, whove been given their full measure of life and Allah has taken their soul, (so to speak), and they leave behind spouses, their wives, they maintain a suspended time period of four months and ten days, this is the time period in which they cannot marry. Once these widowed wives pass that time period, (around 130 days), Allah says, they carry no misdemeanor or felony if these widowed wives were to present themselves with a picture or an image or a feature that is attractive. But it shouldnt be outlandish, exaggerated or phony because Allah says, Bil Maruf. (Surah AlBaqarah verse 234) Ill repeat this last sentence in the ayah because it is extremely important in bringing down the concrete or the cemented minds that some of us have. Our women should not be excluded from society and they should not be un-presentable. Its their right to be attractive but not attractive to lead to sin- the moderate attraction that will secure for them a husband, Bil Maruf. Because sometimes when we try to get rid of the unthinking minds sometimes we run into minds that have diarrhea. They want to take this and say, Look women can dress and then theyll present their own views on this. Theyll try to legitimize the undoing of the Hijab and undoing the modesty of Muslimaat, Muminaat, Hafidhaat, Muhsanaat. All of these are qualifiers of a woman Bil Maruf. What happens from time to time in society is we have some husbands who are suspicious about their wives, but they cant prove a thing. They dont have evidence or witnesses- they just have a very strong suspicion. If that suspicion is so strong in them, they can bring this matter to court and accuse their wives in court of infidelity or fornication. Allah has given them the right to do that. Ok, if they can do that, what is the position of a woman, the wife? Is she going to be railroaded in court? Listen to this ayah and how the strength of a husbands testimony against his very wife is matched by the strength of the counter testimony of his wife against him. These are Allahs words, And those husbands who accuse their wives, and they have no witnesses and no proof for what they are saying except their own selves, then what is required here is for him to pronounce his accusatory in the form of a testimony four times that he is telling the truth. And the fifth testimony is that Allahs curse and damnation is on him if he is telling a lie. (Surah An-Nur verse 6-7) What happens here? Theres a judge, theres informed public opinion. Heres the part that somehow escapes our man-centered Islam. she will be spared the punishment and the torment of such an accusation if she, the wife herself bears testimony, repeats four times that he is telling a lie and the fifth testimony is

that Allahs curse and damnation is on her if he is telling the truth. (Surah An-Nur verse 89) For those who come and say that in an Islamic society a mans word is above a womans word, you tell them where did you get that from. The information we have in the Quran, in our holy reference is no, their words are equal to each other in a court of law. And then we have the issue of inheritance, this is another accusation they throw against Muslims. Well you Muslims give men twice what women get when it comes to inheriting some deceased person. First of all, theres no doubt about it, the principle of inheritance is there. Men have a share of what is going to become an estate or an inheritance and so do women, (with the same wording). (Surah An-Nisa verse 7) But the problem comes when they come and tell us (and this is also true) that men get two shares and women get one share. And then the ayah says, a male has the proportion that belongs to two females (Surah An-Nisa verse 11) In other words if we are going to look at the total inheritance in thirds, theres one boy and one girl, (to make it simple), the boy gets two thirds and the girl gets one third and this proportion or percentage is the general rule and it applies to any number of children, male or female. But this is a general rule. They come and ask, If you Muslims believe everyone is equal, and we do, then why do you apportion twice as much for a boy, for a brother than you do for his sister? As simple as the answer is to that, as complicated its understanding becomes because we believe in equality of male and female and whichever position in the family that they are in, but we dont believe that a male and a female are equal in a sense that a male is a female and a female is a male. We believe they are equal while they compliment each other. We dont believe their equality is going to come from one of them becoming the other or both of them losing their distinction and becoming something else. And the problem that irritates many people isabsent the complementary nature between male and female, everyones asking wheres equality? If you complement each other you will discover where equality is, but if you dont want to complement each other; youre going to lose sight of this equality. Women participated in the Hijrah. Insha-Allah well come to these issues in the future, drawing on practical events in the time of Allahs Prophet. This is an overview from the Quran about these issues. Are women, our mothers, our sisters, our daughters, going into political asylum, looking for political refuge? Yes, this is an ayah. Do you follow? Those who have been brought to the time of expiration while they were doing injustice or mistreating themselves in this life, they were asked, what were you in when you were in this world? What was your condition? They said we were oppressed in this world. Was

not Allahs land as wide enough for you to seek political, economic or social refuge or asylum somewhere else? (Surah An-Nisa verse 97) So they had no excuse. These people who are feigning the lack of power, as the ayah tells us, they are trying to use that as an excuse. They were trying to use that as an excuse because the answer to them was, well Allahs land is immeasurable. If youre a Mustadaf here, you can go somewhere else, except if you are truly Mustadaf- if youre a man, woman, or child (Surah An-Nisa verse 98) Those women who are not Mustadaf have to feel the duty and responsibility of a Hijra when it is due- it is not just for men. And as I said we will come to these details later. Allah says, O you who are committed to Allah, if committed Muslim women come to you, you test their Imaan by giving them the privilege of the Hijra. (Surah Al-Mumtahanah verse 10) Fantahinuhunna, you test them through a Hijra. Todays way of conventional Muslim thinking says no, no we exempt our sisters from that. Now where do you get that from? No ones exempt from this Hijra when it is due- no brother, no sister, no child except if they are truly Mustadaf. Thats why the exception is mentioned in the ayah. We always use the words, Al Amr bil Maruf wal Nahi an il-Munkar. One of the most testing responsibilities in life is Al Amr bil Maruf and al Nahi an il-Munkar. This is a responsibility now that not even men want to be involved in. The masculine type of Muslim men want to be exempted from Al Amr bil Maruf wal Nahi an il-Munkar. And what is the ayah saying? Committed Muslim men and women are supporters and allies of each other as they do (Surah At-Taubah verse 71) As they do what? Yamuroona bil Marul wa Yanhawna an il-Munkar. This means that the task of Al Amr bil Maruf and al Nahi an il-Munkar needs both men and women in a relationship of Wilaaya. As we try to bring these meanings closer to your memory, theres one of the short surahs that indicates that women were exposed to torture because of their involvement in Al Amr bil Maruf wal Nahi an il-Munkar. In a relatively short surah, in Surat ul-Buruj, Allah says, hopefully this is in your memory. So we find in this context when committed Muslims were brought to torture chambers, this has a history, the torture was immense but it wasnt exclusive. Why? Because Muminoon and Muminaat were involved. Brothers and sisters, committed Muslims. With Allahs supervision and with the words and the knowledge that come with Him, we will keep on pursuing this issue of women and men, so that going to the source material, the book of Allah

and the Messenger of Allah, we will not feel reactive, inferior or guilty when it comes to these issues that are thrown at us as if the people throwing these issues at us are doing justice in their own lives. We can turn this the other way around but we have to be grounded in the book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger.

Brothers and sisters, Committed Muslims Sometime back, they had a segment on one of the satellite TV programs Al-Jazeera in which they featured the Islamic center here in Washington D.C. Towards the end of this one-hour program called Min Washinton, From Washington, they spoke very briefly about the Jumah that has been here in the street for over 23 and years, but the way it was presented in the end was unfair to the matter and to the subject. The program ended by the imposed official, the Imam in the Center saying that we are welcome to go and to pray in the Center. This of course is to an audience of tens of millions of people. The whole truth was not expressed. Its partially true that we are free to go to the Center and pray but is it true that we are free to go and speak to each other in the Center? Thats what they told us we are free not to do. Besides, they have a Bahai Savaki whos in charge of their security in their center. And the interior minister of their country said we are the only Salafi state in the world. Ok you say you have a Salafi state that you are proud of and you have a non-Muslim whos in charge of your security there and at the same time you force Muslims to pray in the street and then you tell millions of Muslims that these Muslims are free to come and pray in the Masjid. This is how they lie. We are not shy from expressing the truth of this matter. We are open to speaking about it without any censorship. In the program that was aired last week, they even censored some of the answers we gave which were very short; they censored an already short answer.

WOMENS STATUS (PART 4)

Bismillah Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem. Alhumdulillah. Peace and blessings on Muhammad (sallalahu alaihi wa Sallam), his Noble Companions and Family. Brothers and Sisters, Muslims of a conscience; a thinking mind and Muslims who are in the service of Allah Azza Wa Jall.... With Allahs aid, and in His company, we will continue to dedicate these khutbahs for a subject and a behaviour that is defined by Allah and displayed by His Prophet who is a model and example for all of us. Let us be frank with ourselves and admit that there is not a measure of justice that accompanies the status of women in our communities, families and societies. The reason for that, once again, is that we have distanced ourselves from Allah and His Prophet. Yet another indicator, as we looked at other indicators before, we can add this one as an additional one of how we have become alienated from Allah and His Prophet .To try to fill in the vacancies, we began and we continue with Allahs words from which we learn and more to the point from which we behave. We have a general Muslim attitude, (we say Muslim here with reservations), that is confused when it comes to the normal behaviour of women in society. Once again, we extract from the book of Allah a snapshot of a social condition that is defined by the following ayah, O prophet! If committed Muslimaat come to you to pledge allegiance to you, provided they do not commit any act of shirk or they do not violate the unity and indivisibility of Allah; they do not steal and they do not fornicate and they do not kill their children and they do not commit a salacious act between their arms or their legs (Surah Al-Mumtahanah verse 12) OK, They come to you O prophet- this is what this ayah is saying and they want to pledge allegiance with you and they steer clear of all the cardinal sins then you do what? The order from Allah to His prophet is to exchange this baiah with them. (Surah Al-Mumtahanah verse 12) How was this done? How did this pledge of this allegiance physically take place? Women in their whole character and their whole beings came to Allahs prophet and said to him that we pledge allegiance to you. Then, here is an area in which we have conflicting information in our reliable books. One version says that the prophet actually shook hands with these women and the other one said No! He did not physically shake hands with them. Either it was placed in a pot of water or it was done over a cloth. Meaning the hand contact was not physically there. We dont want to create an argument out of how this may have occurred physically. What we want to do is we want to have women regain a position in which they can pledge allegiance or vote for or

agree to who the leader is going to be. Remember, this ayah is in front of us and we have Muslim societies 1,400 years later telling women No! you cannot vote and you cannot participate in deciding who the leader in society be. This ayah slaps that attitude in the face. There is a world of a difference between those who want Muslim women excluded from civic rights and responsibilities and the meanings of this ayah. Why do we have Muslims reading the Quran and then why do we have a behaviour of injustice emanating from these readers of the Quran. We cannot say except that tradition and customs themselves have become the religion. Islam is not the mode of behaviour when we have a violation of Allahs words in the social fabric of our lives. Then, women are also included as a reason for warfare. When Muslims go to war, at some junctures in time and history, an unavoidable responsibility Allah teaches us that one reason for that is and these are His words once again from His own book Why do u not wage war for the cause of Allah and for those who lack power, who are powerless (Surah An-Nisa verse 75) OK, who are these who are powerless? The words of the Quran, these powerless include men, women and children. If women, on the same par with men and children when they are powerless and oppressed can become issue for launching war, why do we have a type of physiological war against them when we ourselves are guilty of excluding them from the position that Allah has put them in? Once again, it boggles the mind to read what Allah is saying and we ourselves are doing. We all, (hopefully, probably), heard of mubaahalah, an instance in Islamic history when Christian clergymen came to Allahs Prophet. What occurred between the two sides was a very cordial meeting. One side was not telling the other side you are inhuman or evil. The prophet received them in his own Masjid in Al-Medinah. Some reports say that there was about 60 of them and they spent days literally living in the prophets Masjid. As the discussions went back and forth the issue reached the divinity of Jesus. On this issue there was no agreement and when this issue turned into a polarizing one, we have these ayaat that we read in this context. Now, let us try to put this in context or to give this its range of meaning. Imagine, today, if there was on the highest level, discussions between those who represent Muslims and those who represent Christians and these discussions were fairly proceeding in a friendly manner and then they ran into this obstacle of understanding or defining who Isa (alaihi salaam) was. The initiative from the Islamic side, from the prophet himself was, on orders from Allah- OK, let us invoke a prayer of condemnation to be binding on those who are lying among us. If we are in todays social fabric or behaviour- Muslims, you can see and count for yourselves how many Islamic delegations have met with Christian delegations. In these interfaith or ecumenical meetings or sessions when the discussion became stonewalled, would you think that it would be the attitude of those who represent the Muslims today to say we want to bring our children, our siblings, our women and ourselves into this polarized positions? We havent had that

occur. It seems like all of these types of discussions are the exclusive responsibility of men to the exclusion of women. This is not what Allah is teaching us if we try to understand this ayah and if we try to place it in the really world of today. This is not to speak about the inability of the Muslims to carry the discussion on to the point in which there is a stonewalling attitude. The prophet himself and the Muslims around him were able to develop a discussion, this is true interfaith communication, to the real issue of disparity between Muslims and Christians and in doing so, on instructions from Allah he had all the people who were dear to him involved in this discussion in what is called mubahalah in this ayah. Who are these people right now- you ask yourself and answer yourself- where have you seen this involvement in these types of encounters? Its as if no one is reading these ayaat. Here is where we need to underline wa nisa' ana wa nisa akum. We simply do not have the Islamic social confidence that can display this social behaviour. Why? Because there is a religion of customs and conventions that have placed our women with our participation as men in an inferior position or in a position in which they are excluded from being involved in these types of activities. In this erroneous attitude among we the Muslims of hiding our women and trying to relieve them of many God given responsibilities, then why is it that, in the civil sense of the word, a man and a woman are equal when it comes to the penalties of law? Allah says an adulteress and an adulterer- you whip each one of them one hundred lashes (Surah AnNur verse 2) Here, this frank expression of Allah in which He is equalizing or putting on an equal par the penalty of a man and a woman for committing the same crime. This contrasts with the type of soft touch approach that conventional society treats women with. The same thing is equally applied to both sexes when Allah a thief, man and woman, severe their hands (Surah Al-Maidah verse 38) There is no lesser penalty for someone, there is no lesser penalty for a woman. Why? Because to begin with, shes an equal participant in social and civil life. If she was not equal then the penalty would be lesser then that of men. Then Allah has a woman qualified as a witness. Here, once again, we run into the question that many adversaries sling against Muslims. The longest ayah in the Quran, (Surah Al-Baqarah verse 282) this is the part in the ayah that we are concerned with at this moment- the 1 st thing we have to acknowledge in this ayah is that Allah has placed women in the same category as men when it comes to being witnesses- ie. they may participate in giving their testimony in a court of law; they are not to be excluded because they are women. But here, the usual objection is OK, you have a court of law and you are saying that in this court of law you want to have two witnesses for a financial transaction- this has to do with debt that has a time reference. OK, you say you need two witnesses, then you bring two witnesses to court, but if you cant find two men witnesses then you find one man and what substitutes for the other man is two

women witnesses. Then, the objection stops here, it doesnt follow the ayah which says min man tardawna min ash-shuhadaa- witnesses that satisfy the testimonial requirements, which means you can dismiss a man witness, ie. not any man is automatically accepted to be a witness in this court of law for this issue- there has to qualifications that are met. Because in the usual responsibilities of life, economic or financial transactions are in most of the cases the responsibility of men, not because thats imposed on society but because of the complimentary role that we spoke about between men and women, but, this min man tardawna min ashshuhadaa may also mean more then two men, but this is setting the minimum- shaheedain min rijaalikum. This ayah has to be understood in context the same way with fasting Ramadhan. The ayah that we repeat in the month of Ramadhan, Allah says in this ayah Allah desires your comfort, Allah does not desire to strain you (Surah Al-Baqarah verse 185) We understand this in the context of fasting Ramadhan the same way should understand you bring two witnesses, but if you cant find two men witnesses then you find one man and what substitutes for the other man is two women witnesses (Surah Al-Baqarah verse 282) It is only for the reason in which in the in-experience of one of the women may need the experience of the other to fortify the testimony. We have to understand these in context. Allah desires what you can do within your ability and not what can be done straining your ability (Surah Al-Baqarah verse 185) We cant take this ayah out of this context and when a time of war comes say Im not going to war because this is going to strain me to death and Allah says Allah desires your comfort, Allah does not desire to strain you. Without going far off on this tangent a besides affairs that are not familiar to one of the genders you need another in that case. If we were to reverse this around- lets say in matters of giving birth where men would lack the experience or the familiarity that women have and we needed a man witness in matters of giving birth then we can, (understanding the ayah of debt), we can accept the testimony of one woman but we would need two men in that area. Its not because men is less then a woman and vice versa in the case of financial transactions its not because a woman is less then a man. Allah has calculated that we give this khutbah on a rainy day and because of the weather conditions it is not advisable to extend this with more words, but there is a sexual area between either genders and to some people it seems like one sex is more attractive to the other. There are ayaat in the Quran that tell us that this matter of attraction is equally shared by each side. One of the surahs, Surat Yusuf, that has a number ayaat, in which this attraction is highlighted. Now, in the same traditional mind we have among us, some would say these ayaat are (astaghfiullah) too explicit- no theyre not. The 1st ayah,this is in reference to Yusuf (alaihi salaam) when he was in the mansion of the master.

The wife of that residence tried to negotiate him into a sexual affair or tempt him into an illicit relationship (Surah Yusuf verse 23) If the sexual initiative is only or solely a mans, then why is Allah telling us that it may also be the womens, meaning the women may take the sexual initiative as we are taught here in this instance. Then when the sexual moment of truth was about to unfold the ayah says and she was on the verge of the sexual act of sexually involving him and he was on the verge of sexually involving her (Surah Yusuf verse 24) So, in these intimate moments of attraction and temptation we have an equal gravity by both man and woman. Also, we would think that if Muslims were giving this ayaat a thought, they would find the contradiction between their traditional understanding of sex and the way Allah is representing the issue of sex here. Then we have to take a look at the social role of women. Have women played a social role? Have women, as we read the Quran, have they come into contact direct contact with men? Today, there are some Muslim men who want to put women behind closed doors, hide them behind the curtains and place many barriers between them and contact with society including men in that society. The 1st instance that we have in this we know a woman came into contact with society and men was Hajar (alaiha salaam), the wife of Ibrahim (alaihi salaam) When Ibrahim left his wife and his son, Hajar and Ismaeel in what, (was to become Makkah later on), a barren an arid a desolate part of the world (Surah Ibrahim verse 37) There was nothing, just sand. There was no Zam-zam, there was no water, there was nothing. He left them there, but what was his dua when he left them there? Did he want his wife excluded? No the words of the Quran O Allah render peoples heart to be attracted to them, his wife and his son (Surah Ibrahim verse 38) Thats not the character and feature of many of todays Muslims. This is Abul Ambiya, the patriarch of prophets and he is making a dua that society and people be attracted to his wife and his son- not attracted in the sexual sense, but attracted in the social sense, the same social sense right now that we have thrown many of the barriers of discrimination into. Then, his other wife Sarah (alaiha salaam) the ayah in the Quran says you know when the angels came to Ibrahim where was his wife? We know he was in the company of men or angels who looked like men but where was his wife? Was she hiding behind fortified doors in the back somewhere or peeping from behind curtains? The ayahs say in this context, where there are men and his wife was there in full attention and she laughed (Surah Hud verse 71)

Some of the stiff attitudes and the rigid traditions that we have a woman laughing in the presence of men?! This is an ayah, you all read this ayah. Theres no condemnation of this behaviour in the Quran. Allah is not condemning her for laughing the presence of her husband and the others who were with him. and then we gave her the good news of having a child a baby called Ishaaq and following Ishaaq was to be Yaqub (Surah Hud verse 71) When these, who were looking like men, gave her this news of her, an old lady, going to have a child she said how am I going to have a child (Surah verse 72) Meaning not only was she a listener but she interacted, spoke and expressed herself. No one was telling her you cant talk or you cant say whats in your heart and on your mind. All of these was with the decency and the decorum that came with the personalities that belonged to Allah, men and women. She expressed herself, Am I going to have a child. This is a social behaviour speaking in front of people. Im old and so is my husband, this is very strange (Surah Hud verse 72) Does the ayah close here? No, the social discussion continues. They, the men said When we read Allahs words and when we understand what He is telling us, it strikes us as incompatible with the way we have conditioned ourselves for hundreds of years to exclude women from these positions in life. Then, a final remark this is speaking about the household of Ibrahim, from which Allahs final prophet Muhammed has come and we have some brothers and some sisters who want the word Ahl Al-Bayt to be limited. If you read what Allahs saying, He is not limiting this. Hes extending this historically and socially. Ahl Al-Bayt in the Quran is speaking about Ibrahim and his intimates and his offspring.

WOMENS STATUS (PART 5)

Bismillah Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem. Alhumdulillah. Peace and blessings on Muhammad (sallalahu alaihi wa Sallam), his Noble Companions and Family. Brothers and Sisters, Muslims of a conscience; a thinking mind and Muslims who are in the service of Allah Azza Wa Jall.... In the past weeks, weve been speaking about the issue of women and we have been strictly focusing on the words and the aayat of Allah as they pertain to this delicate issue. With Allahs provisions, we are trying to go back to the source- about which there is no doubt- the book of Allah and the meanings there-in, to try to relieve ourselves of basically two deviations; the first one is characterized by our culture or the cumulative affect of traditions that a have no basis in what Allah or His Prophet said and the other one is the break away and runaway attitude of those who think that modernity and westernization has answers to womens issues and therefore we should according to them adopt the western lifestyle a lifestyle that we see around us so obviously. If we can refer ourselves to Allah and His words and the Prophet and his words, then we will spare our personal selves, our families and our society the rambunctious and turbulent behaviour and attitude that either one of these two trends represent, the unfounded traditions along with the zigzagging western lifestyle. So, dedicating these days of taqwa, (we may remind you that the word taqwa) is used in its original context to stimulate the presence of Allahs power in our life. When we have power we tend to abuse this power on those who are weaker then us and because, on the power structure, women are physically weaker then men there is a tendency to abuse them. Taqwa, this important element in our constitution and in our substantive being puts a damper on this proclivity that wants to demonstrate power to those who have lesser power. We said in the previous khutbahs that we find in the Quran that women were participants in social life. They were not taken out of society and thrown behind closed doors, high walls and opaque areas. We mentioned when Hajar and Ismail (alaihima as-salaam) were left in the forsaken area in Arabia how Ibrahim (alaihi salaam) said Oh Allah cause the hearts of people to be attracted to them.(Surah Ibrahim verse 37) He didnt say Oh no have them excluded in that desolated area; he did not make dua to say Oh Allah have them away from peoples eyes. Thats his wife he said Oh Allah cause the hearts of people to be attracted to them, which is an indicator that there was no reservation in his understanding of Allah and scripture to have his wife which he trusted and left with his only son to come in contact with people and to have people come in contact with her. Then, in another time period we saw that Sarah (alaiha as-salaam), the other wife of Ibrahim, was interactive with the men who were in her household. Interactive- meaning what? Meaning she was speaking to

them and they were speaking to her- we went through that detail. Now, we come to another Prophet at another time period. We take from the life of the Prophet Musa (alaihi salaam) a segment that will teach us how we should behave, we meaning both sexes or both genders. The ayah says The meaning of this discourse of aayat We know Musa was wanted by the pharaohonic authority or the super-power government of the time and he was on the run. While he was on his journey away from persecution he arrived at a source of water in Madyan, a land north or north east of Egypt. As he arrived to this source of water, a well, he found a crowd of people who were drawing water (Surah Al-Qassas verse 23). Now, up until here this is a normal and natural occurrence, but listen to what happens here and take an observing and closer look at Musas behaviour. The ayah says in this crowd of men and people who were drawing water, Musa found two women (Surah Al-Qassas verse 23) Ok. So what did he do? You would think in todays mentality and mens attitude towards women, hed avoid them. Todays mentality is Oh these are women, stay away from them. And, hes a stranger; he doesnt even know who these people are; he just arrived from a far away land. So, the ayah says Musa goes to these two women and he says what is it with you or what do you want (Surah Al-Qassas verse 23) As if he is trying to help them. Now, this is a communication between Musa and these two women and they are speaking freely. The Quran picked this particular moment in human history to have our minds focused on the developments between Musa as a man and these two women. So they answered him. Both of them said, We will not draw water until this crowd clears the area.(Surah AlQassas verse 23) Meaning until they draw their own water and leave at that time we can go and extract this water for ourselves. They wouldnt have had to have said this but they said this because communication was normal. It was not this issue that Musa is a man and these are two women therefore keep your words to the minimum. These two women added something that basically maybe in todays attitude should not have been said. They told him and our father is an elderly senior (Surah Al-Qassas verse 23) So what happens here? So, Musa, himself went and drew water for them (Surah Al-Qassas verse 24)

He did what he could do for them, he helped them out. There was no physiological barrier here saying Oh these are women and Im a man and I cant go speak to them and I cant go help them out. If this was just one of those generous acts of a human being- Musa was a human being and this was, of course, an act of assistance of a generosity of this person- if it was just that, then Allah would not have picked this particular instance in history to have us recite as His holy words until the end of life and time- so there is significance in this, robust significance. then Musa went to the shade (Surah Al-Qassas verse 24) Obviously it must have been a hot day he went to relax in the shade. Oh my Sustainer, I am impoverished to give back to you what you have given to me (Surah Al-Qassas verse 24) That is in reference to his vitality, his strength and his energy- being able to help these two women in their task. And it doesnt end here. The next thing we know from reading these ayaat is after a while one of those two women comes to him walking with the shyness of a women. She said my father is inviting you to compensate you for you your help to us (Surah AlQassas verse 25) These two women are not Prophets, so there may have not been any necessity to mention this follow up, but to teach us that women may have the initiative in talking to men- we learn that one of them comes back to speak to Musa. and one of them came to him walking in a shy manner. Then she said but my father wants you to come so that he can repay you for the good you did to us (Surah Al-Qassas verse 25) Obviously, if we read and understand this ayah there is a discrepancy between the way Musa behaves and the way we, Muslim men, behave today- we do not behave normally, Musa was behaving normally. Allah says about the character of Musa, this is like a privilege statement which means- Allahs saying to Musa I have custom made you for myself. (Surah Ta-ha verse 41) So theres no flaw in character here- someone cant come and say Well this is one of those Prophetic moments in which he did the human thing, he spoke to those two women. No- it was a trendsetter, this lesson is a trendsetter for we, Muslim men and women to act normally towards ourselves. Of course, this is in the overall character of the Muslim men and women. OK, now we part with this occasion and we go to the time of Sulayman (alaih salaam), a Prophet of Allah the son of Dawud (alaih salaam) another Prophet of Allah. We know that there was communication between Sulayman and Bilqees, the Queen of Sheba, in the English language. After this communication, the Queen of Sheba came to Sulayman. Some historical narratives tell

us that that journey was from Yemen, the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula to Al-Quds, Palestine today. Thats quite a journey, especially during those times. She comes and she arrives. We want to pick up the interface or the behavioural conduct of Bilqees and Sulayman because this will give us an image of how men and women behaviour are in their normal deportment. We know, at least some of us know, that Sulayman had brought the throne of Bilqees faster then the blinking of the eye. Her throne was with Sulayman and she arrives. The ayah in the Quran says When Bilqees came she was told is this is your throne?(Surah An-Naml verse 42) She said (now this is a normal conversation, Bilqees was not behind a wall or a curtain, she was in front of Sulayman as far as we know and Sulayman was in front of her, a man is talking to a woman and a woman is talking to a man) she was asked that question, is this your throne? Does this seem to be like your throne? She said as if it is it as if its my throne (Surah An-Naml verse 42) And then, she was told enter this court (Surah An-Naml verse 44) She was told enter this court, now she was looking at something very elaborate way beyond the technology that she had and was used to, so when she was about to step into this area of the court, she thought it was water so what did she do? The ayah of the Quran says she bared or uncovered her legs (Surah An-Naml verse 44) If some of these Muslims today were there, they would have said Astaghfirullah or they would have looked the other way or they would have just gone and left. No-one did any of that. Allah did not tell us that anyone, Sulayman or any of the Muslims who were with him did any such thing. But this lady, what did she do? She exposed her legs- just like when you are going to go into water, what do you do? If you are wearing a dress, what do you do? You pull it up and thats what she did until her legs were uncovered and were showing. Todays mentality of some men, those who are in the traditional mode and smothered in customs that have no basis in the Quran or the Sunnah say Why is this ayah in the Quran? They wouldnt say it with their tongue- they wouldnt express it like that- but their attitude their non-verbal communications and expressions would be we shouldnt even be thinking about this ayah because look, when youre thinking about this ayah you are thinking about womens legs, and to them this becomes almost a step towards pornography. NO. When the Quran speaks here and when it was speaking about the encounter of the first lady of Egypt, almost, at that time when she wanted to tempt Yusuf (alaihi salaam) to have sex with her the same attitude says Oh wait a minute, let us not think of these ayaat. Why? Whats going to happen if you are going to think of these ayaat? What will happen? We are going to have a problem if we have Muslims who are sexually repressed, but, we are supposed to have normal functional Muslims- the problem is not in the words

of the Quran the problem is in the social behaviour that we adopted that is alien to the Qur'an. You see, to todays mind, reading this ayah in Surah Yusuf, the first lady closed the doors and she said to Yusuf Im yours (Surah Yusuf verse 23) The ayah in the Quran says this- but something is wrong in our minds and internal thoughts that we cannot read these ayaat calmly, with composure, thought and understand the normal human behaviour between man and women. So, this is what happened during Sulaymans time- Bilqees came and, then all of a sudden, she thought that this was deep water she was going to go into and she exposed here legs- this is what ayaat are telling us and the ayaat are meant for us to think about not to fantasies about. Remember, all of these are ayaat, no-one is bringing such and such a scholar says or some opinion from whatever source this is Allahs book, the book that formulates our thoughts and our emotions. We move from that time period to the time period of Allahs Prophet. There is an ayah and a Surah in the Quran that is womens specific. This Surah is called Surah Al-Mujaadilah. AlMujaadilah, is a discussant women. It begins by saying..what is this ayah saying? It says, In fact Allah has listened to her, to the woman, who is disputing with you about her husband and Allah has listened to her complaints and Allah is listening to this discussion that is taking place, for Allah is ever hearing, ever listening ever watching (Surah AlMujadilah verse 1) Who would think just a regular woman in the Arabian society is going to become the full subject and the central character in a Surah of the Quran. Once again, we have to compare what Allah did in specifying this issue of a woman who is coming to Allahs Prophet and complaining about her husband. Allah takes this encounter and makes this issue an ayah and a Surah, whereas todays attitude is if there is going to be a wife complaining about her husband oh thats just one of those wives who likes to complain or something along those lines. In other words, the attitude becomes dismissive against a wife who is complaining about her husband. The Quran, Allah and His Prophet were not dismissive about this, this was very serious and therefore we have it in an ayah which means if you are praying you can read Surat Al-Fatiha and then after that, read this ayah- its part of our salaah, our communion with Allah. Now, all of these staggering incidents throughout time, from the time of Ibrahim to the time of Musa to the time of Elsa (alaihi salaam)- we didnt speak about Maryam ibnati Imran, and there is a Surah about Maryam and there are many ayaat in Surat Ahl Imran about Maryam and in the time of the last Prophet we have some principles and some values that are part and parcel of the character of those both the Muslim man and the Muslim woman. The 1st one is to be conservative in our looks. When we look at each other, a Muslim man and a Muslim woman, we dont puncture our eyes with our vision towards each other. When there is this normal behaviour it is done with an air of respect and with the average and the moderate communication that goes on between human beings just like when a man speaks to a man and when a woman

speaks to a woman theres no incursion into their own personal realm. This is outlined in the ayah, Say (Oh Prophet) to the committed Muslim men to un-focus their vision when they are communicating with a woman (Surah An-Nur verse 30) Un-focus this vision means you dont invade a womans privacy with your eyes and to maintain under their control their sexual inclinations. When we speak about normal man to woman behaviour or woman to man behaviour we speak about it in this context with these principles and values. Likewise, equally so, the ayah says And (Oh Prophet) say to the committed Muslim women (the same words), they also should behave when interacting with men with defocusing their vision (Surah An-Nur verse 31) Because the eyes can say a lot, the eyes communicate extensively and in this case there shouldnt be beyond the normal communication that goes on an extra communication by the eyes or even by the sexual emotions inside. All of this has to be under control- were not animals. Now, theres another issue here and thats the issue of, youve heard it and you will hear it again, how much is a Muslim woman allowed to expose of herself. The ayah says and they shall not expose their zeenah, the attractive parts of their body, except for what is naturally exposed (so to speak) (Surah An-Nur verse 31) The majority of Islamic informed opinion about this, throughout the hundreds and thousand years that we are speaking about, is the face and the hands- thats the exception. The rest of the ayah says the way women used to cover their heads in pre-Islamic and pre-Quranic times wasthe cloth that used to cover their heads whatever was extra of it used to be placed behind on their back thus exposing a pocket of flesh in the neck area (and in relation to others in the breast area) so the ayah says let this cover that is this covering the head whatever is of excess let it be placed in this pocket of the neck and the breast (Surah An-Nur verse 31) Then, you have women who should be moving or walking with honour and integrity not walking as if they are hunting for men or trying to solicit the attention and the involvement of men- thats not a principle, a value and a characteristic of a Muslim woman. The ayah says women should not be walking in a way using their (were translating this with some license) using their legs to attract the attention of men (Surah An-Nur verse 31) So that they draw attention to their charms and beauty they conceal- they cant do that. But not doing that doesnt mean were going to take them out of society and tell them you cant speak or talk to men. Lets be careful in what we are doing and understanding. Then, Allah says

women you yourselves should not devalue your communication (Surah Al-Ahzaab verse 32) In other words when you speak be serious about what you say- because some women have a tendency to try to entrap men by the words that they use or by the way they use their words, and Allah is telling them- dont do that. The ayah says to women do not devalue your speech in doing so you will entice some men whose hearts are diseased and when you speak you speak with the measure and the standard of maruf (Surah AlAhzaab verse 32) All of these, brothers and sisters, have been ayaat. We have been looking at women through these ayaat in the Quran and from looking at them we realise that women are the full social human beings that men are. But, that doesnt mean that women are men and it doesnt mean that the men are women. We cant lose the characteristics of each by trying to say we want to equalize them- we cant do that. In the social, dignified sense of human behaviour we are equal in the responsibilities and tasks- we are complimentary and remain equal. We will come to the Prophets ahadith that will fill in some of the areas that we covered, in which in one of them, he says in truth women are the counter parts or the other half or the reflection of men. When we can not only understand this, but make it a behaviour in the full sense of the word, we will have managed to fulfil the taqwa we are here to observe. Brothers and sisters committed Muslims. Dont think that if we are allocating a certain series of khutbahs to a sensitive and misunderstood topic as this, that somehow we are lowering our standards- no. This is an issue that has to do with power and power is the element that is used against us. We have to empower ourselves. We cant do so when, you as a brother, as a man, have your mother, sister, wife or daughter, who dont have any power- how can you feel that you are in power? We cant feel so unless all of us are re-invigorated with these essential meanings that come to us courtesy of Allah and with the fulfilment of the Prophet. Brothers and sisters, recently, one of the major newspapers came up with an article about this Islamic Centre. The Washington Times had on the front page an article about this Masjid and Islamic Centre which we have been excluded from for going on 24 years. They tell us that the bahai savaki agent that has been inside that Masjid for all of these years- he probably came over here when many of the Musalleen were Iranians- now many of them are gone but he still remains inside the Masjid- and the article says that the Saudi administration of the Masjid ordered an audit of this place and they found out that there was $US300,000 that this bahai savaki who has been protecting the salafi saudis for all of these years has been sealing from his masters. Then, The Washington Post ran an article and then buries it on the last page of Section B, also concerning the same news item ie. The thieves inside the Islamic Centre. We have two ranks of thieves inside that centre- the Saudi rank that is stealing billions upon billions of dollars from the resources of the Ummah and then the petty rank of a bahai savaki who is

stealing from the thieves who are stealing from the Ummah. These thieves are the ones running this Centre and we have Muslims who go and pray comfortably with the administration of thieves, crooks and criminals inside this Centre and this has been going on and on and on. Then they throw in a news item- we dont know how much they know, by the way, both of them The Washington Post and The Washington Times conveniently excluded from their talk about this Centre the crime of forcing Muslims out of this Centre for all of these years- as if they know nothing about it. Imagine- being here for coming on 24 years and they are playing deaf, dumb and blind- as if none of this exists. Anyway they throw in a piece saying that it turns out the Saudi administrator of this Centre who gives the khutbah most of the times, his name is Abdullah Khuj, is going to be appointed, according to the article itself, the Saudi ambassador to South Africa. We dont know exactly what they are up to, but we do know that their plans and their strategies are going to fail. They can go to court, we are in a larger court and Allah is our judge and their judge. We will continue with Allahs help and His aid and let them- as criminals are in their nature- fall out with their own selves. Let them expose themselves and let the rest of the Muslims, those who are hiding come out of their hiding positions and those who are watching from a distance take notice of what is happening.

WOMENS STATUS (PART 6)

Bismillah Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem. Alhumdulillah. Peace and blessings on Muhammad (sallalahu alaihi wa Sallam), his Noble Companions and Family. Brothers and Sisters, Muslims of a conscience; a thinking mind and Muslims who are in the service of Allah Azza Wa Jall.... It is sometimes very difficult to realise that some of the issues that we are trying to clarify may have us feel like in a position of defence or in a mode of catching up. Sometimes, these are passing thoughts that come to mind when we are speaking about an issue I dont think we should be talking about. We have lagged behind and have inflicted our own families and societies with particular traditions and a culture and also brought upon ourselves alien ideas and strange behaviour and because of this, we found ourselves compelled to clarify some of these issues. We have begun in the past couple of months a discourse on the status of women. As we reiterate, we speak about this subject because we ourselves are smothered with the ignorance of it. We continue and we try to proceed from where we left. Brothers and sisters- Committed Muslims- you are aware that there is a streak of what is called feminism that dwells in the world around us and that is beginning to penetrate into our own world. Many of us may not be aware of the feminists that began this break away attitude from Islam all together. They werent concerned with looking at the text of the Quran, reviewing the precedent of Allahs prophet and scrutinizing the information that is coming to us from Allah and His messenger and they still remain not to be concerned with any of that. What they are interested in is to try and prove that they are in a struggle with man. This has become their obsession- females in the mode of warfare with males. Now, we ask ourselves, if we are steeped in Allah and His Prophet where did this alien attitude come from- this feminism, where did it come from? We may begin to identify some motivations or incentives for this type of behaviour- some of us (as we said) may not be as old enough as to recall the imagery of those first feminists among the Muslims of the past century when they used to present their lectures and their ideas and their bodies were exposed- their thighs, arms and breasts exposed; smoking cigarettes and puffing away as they are trying to combat their perception of women who are caged in traditions and according to them caged in Islam, itself, so they set out on a liberation course as they tell us. A Muslim women, and if she truly is a Muslimah, she need not feel these types of feelings, react in this type of manner or devise a superficial course of liberation that will lead nowhere as we see in societies that are not Islamic. When do we encounter (just to give you a sample) of how this contorted mind works...

Some of these Arabic speaking feminists came and looked at the Quran- they know and they read the Quran and some of what is being said there, but they can be prejudice and they can be selective when they do such types of things- so they looked and they said wait a minute here look at this Quran it says in reference to Adam (alaihi salaam) that Allah has forgiven Adam. The ayah thus Adam disobeyed His Sustainer and went wayward, subsequently Allah forgave him and guided him (Surah Ta-ha verse 121) You see, they tell us look at the ayah, it is speaking about Adam; it is not speaking about Hawa (alaiha salaam). We are supposed to know that both of them are participants in the mistake that they did- eating of the prohibited tree or fruit. both of them participated in the consumption of that prohibited element (Surah Ta-ha verse 121) So they tell us then why is Allah speaking about amnesty to Adam and not about the same amnesty to Eve? This is how their minds begin to operate. Well, if they were thinking objectively and if they were not on a course that justifies prematurely their own biases, the ayah did not say faasa Adam wa asat Hawwau Rabbaha, the premise is Adam initiated the act of disobedience and that didnt exclude Hawa. Adam also solicited the reward of Allah and that doesnt mean that also Hawa solicited the same amnesty from Allah, but this is what happens when we have prejudice minds and attitudes. They have a fore thought- they already worked out how to interpret these meanings in their own way without being objective about it. They began their deliberations and their discourse and it began to accumulate into books and volumes and even libraries on feminism and womens liberation. They began telling us that al-haya, shyness, being coy or bashful there is a hadith that says this haya is a branch or an extension or a derivative of imaan. These feminists and pro-women liberation movements come with their philosophy and they want to make us try to feel that this should not be a feature of a womens personality. We tell them this is a feature of a mans and a womans personality equally. But when we say someone is hayee or he has hayaa, that doesnt mean that we say someone is passive, indifferent or inferior- it doesnt mean that. I, you, any man or woman can be in possession of hayaa and be as active, revolutionary and sacrificing as is humanly possible- one doesnt exclude the other, but once again we encounter a mindset that wants to interpret things not according to objectivity and understanding what Allah and His Apostle have to say on issues but taking the words and then remoulding them around these types of feminists distorted version and vision of things. This type of language has inundated all around. We have to ask ourselves from week to week and from experience to experience what makes women perceive of themselves in a belligerent position towards men? This doesnt come from nowhere. There has to be something that has motivated this type of behaviour- even though this type of behaviour is going off the deep edge. Theres something there and the something there is that originally this behaviour was a reaction in a non-Islamic environment, to be more

precise in the Euro- American or the Judeo-Christian environment. They, men and women in those types of societies, began to have problems with each other and these problems began to grow and were fed by centuries of inequality and exclusion until a reaction blew up in their own history, but how about us? Did we take this polarisation to that type of extreme that they suffered from? We cant find it. We do find that we, meaning in an Islamic society, in the relations of men with women have our mistakes- theres no doubt about this- but these mistakes do not justify the type of literature and mindset that today is responsible for prostitution being (according to some counts) the 3rd most generating industry of profits, if we take the military industrial complex and the narcotic business (if we call it that). These are the only two that supersede prostitution as far as making money in the world. Today, we have a pandemic of sexual corruption and disintegration in human societies and this attitude of women warfare against men has no basis in the Quran or Sunnah. We covered ayaat in the Quran that speak about the normal and complementary relationship between husband and wife, man and woman and the masculine and the feminine- this is a relationship in which both sides help each other out; they fit together neatly and perfectly but what do we have now? What is the attitude that is trying to circulate among us now, when they take away al-haya? They begin with that, they say that doesnt belong to an average and a healthy human character. When you take away this haya then what do you do? You say Oh we are against couples getting married at an early age. Thats what they tell us, they dont like that, but they are very much pleased with youth at an early age fornicating and committing adultery- they dont have any problems with that. You take it from there We begin to realise that they dont feel comfortable with family relationships- this definition of marriage itself, so take away marriage. So what do you want? They want a consensual live-inpartnership between male and female, so that whenever a person wants to leave may leave and whenever a person wants to stay may stay and they dont care what the consequences of that is, visa-vis any children may come out that consensual adult combination of living in one bedroom without the sanctity of marriage- they dont care about that. So we have families that are coming apart and no longer a husband and a wife being able to maintain their normal relationships with themselves. We dont find any of that root coming from the Quran or the prophet. In defining the relationship between man and woman, Allahs Prophet said, the wording of this, when prophet of Allah used the word shakaik which is the plural of shaki and shakka means split so he is saying women are the split proportion of men meaning at the genetic level- at the level of genesis, both these come from the same material or source and are equally split from each other to come back into life to equally compliment each other. This definitely does not give fuel to the type of verbiage and language that wants to polarize society between male and female, like we have in the world around us today and we have sexual chaos that is brewing behind the scene. From time to time we discover that a certain clergyman, we dont want to give their ranks or their status in society, very high as it were on the religious hierarchy they turnout to be what? Paedophiles or they turn out to be what? Gay homosexuals or they turnout to be what? Perverts in every sense of the word. Why? Because they no longer have

a normal relationship with themselves, their counterparts, the members of their own families and congregations. Why? Because, to begin with, they lost their normal relationship with Allah, their Maker and their Creator. This is where we have to bring them back into the fold. It is our responsibility to set the pace and show the course of movement and action in this regard. When we review, here is a moment for reviewing an ayah, lets take an ayah- weve spoken about some of these ayaat before, let us return to them, but with more thought. When Allah, at the beginning of Surah Al-Qassas, speaks about Musa (alaihi salaam), how does He begin speaking about Musa? He begins by speaking about Musas mother. When Allah wants us to begin to think about Musa, He begins with speaking about how He inspired the mother of Musa if you fear concerning your baby then place him on that water, that deep water, we will cause him, (this was Allahs inspiration to Musas mother) to return to you because in fact he is one who is going to be dispatched with a responsibility and a message from Us meaning from Allah and by Allah (Surah Al-Qassas verse 7) Later, the ayah says the fuad of Musas mother, upon having her baby son taken away from her, became empty (Surah Al-Qassas verse 10) The repository of feelings in a mother was vacated, and then another woman in the life of Musa and that is the Pharaohs wife, she said concerning Musa this baby is a soothing element in our life he may be of great benefit to us (Surah Al-Qassas verse 9) Another feminine, (we dont use the word feminine like the way these other people in todays world use it with the agenda that they have) or feminine figure in the life of Musa was the one who in her own way initiated the marriage process with him. She said to her father when Musa was running away from the super power of the time, (now, if we wanted to translate this word literally) Oh father, rent him, meaning Musa (Surah Al-Qassas verse 26) In other words, bring him and pay him for what he does. (Surah Al-Qassas verse 26) Istajeer- you cannot have a better person in that position then one who is reliable strong dependable and reliable. This is another lady in the life of Musa- his mother, the Pharaohs wife and then his wife. We dont know and we cannot sense- this is a challenge for everyone of youyou go back to this textual source and try to find whether there was some type of misunderstanding along masculine-feminine lines and if there was some type of friction between Musa the man and these women that are mentioned in the Quran- his mother, the wife of the most powerful person in that country and in the world and between him and his wife. Can

anyone detect if there is any tension or friction in this relationship? Absolutely not, because there wasnt and this is the case as it goes on in the lives of all the prophets and in the life in the final prophet. Now, we know that it is very difficult to say with precision the following, but we extract this from history books- it is said that at the time that Allahs final prophet passed on, there was around a 124,000 or 125,000 Muslims at that time- this was the extent of it. We are not talking about millions and we are not talking about what we look at today as a super power structure- we are talking about a life time of 23years of jihad and sacrifice- a struggle and a leadership that resulted in around 124,000 Muslims- now, we have the latitude to give and take a few thousand, lets not be very stubborn about this- out of that, the cream of the crop was about 8,000, these are called in the books of those times and by historians and scholars as-safwa- out of 124,000, we had around 8,000. From those 8,000, what is the number of the women who were in this cream of the crop of this committed Islamic social order? We had around 1,000 women. Thats one eighth of the best and the brightest as it were. That is a significant number, because if you take a look as the radical and the substantial social changes and movements in history up until now, even with the type of revolutions that took place around us, could you point to one eighth of the steering committee of that radical transformation of society as being women? We dare say with confidence there isnt one eighth, one out of eight, we dont find that, even though we had a 1,400 years to grow, develop and mature, we still havent being able to bring into the real activities of life one eighth of the decision making the participants who were participating in all the activities of life. In the battle of Uhud, there was a woman whose name was Umm Ammara. She was defending the prophet when men were running away. That didnt create a problem in society about men and women. She received or her body sustained 13 wounds defending the prophet. The prophet would say I would look right and left, forward and backwards and I would see Umm Ammara all around. No one was telling her you cant participate in the battles- because it is alien to the understanding of Allah, when Allah and the Quran say mobilise whether you are light or whether you are burdened (Surah At-Taubah verse 41) That meant everyone. There was no exclusions here, every able bodied individual is expected to participate. Theres no discrimination here. Where did this all come from? A woman goes up to Allahs prophet and tells him (of course, no one was yelling- this is a khutbah and our pitch of voice may go up) but she goes up to him and she speaks to him and says of course were para-phrasing) men have gotten the good part of you Oh messenger of Allah, we, meaning women, barely have any interaction with you. So he allocated a day a week to speak to women in his Masjid. No-one came and said Oh what is all this about?! Women coming into the Masjid to speak to Allahs prophet?!

Another woman comes to Allahs prophet and says wait a minute here I am listening to these ayaat Compare this with the type of reactive feminists in our time- she comes and says to Allahs prophet I hear all of these ayaat and the overwhelming majority of them are speaking about men. It is said that an ayah was revealed to try to drill in the point that whenever these words that refer to men in the Quran are used are used also to include women. The ayah is in the response to this type of an enquiry from a women who approaches the Prophet of Allah who listens to her then have heavens reply, (Surah Al-Ahzaab verse 35). So when Allah is speaking about any mumeen or any mumeenah any Muslim or any khashee or any qaanit or any mutasadiq- using the linguistic construct referring to a male, Allahs telling anyone who harbour any kind of question like that, that it is also inclusive of females. So, when Allah says Ya ayyuhalladhina Aamanu, this is Oh you men who are committed, it is not Ya Ayyatuhallawaati Aamanna; even though it is said that way it is inclusive of you, women. We dont have that problem. We are surprised to have people think that we have that problem that can be traced all the way back to Allah and His prophet- astafirullah Brothers and sisters- Committed Muslims Obviously we would prefer to speak, in these khutbahs, about the immediate issues that need our attention. We are going through hard times. We are just at the beginning of changing the course of history and correcting the international deviation that has been with us for hundreds of years. There are earth shaking events that we can speak about with a Quranic mind and with a prophetic understanding. There is the issue of a war that is contemplated against Muslims in AlArdh Al-Muqaddasa and Al-Ardh Al-Mubaraka namely in Palestine and its surrounding areas. Do you think we are comfortable here when we know that there are war plans for that sensitive geographical and historical area of ours and we have to speak about a social issue like women? There is a war that is in the making against independent Muslims who do not take their orders from imperialists or Zionists. Do you think we are comfortable delaying our Quranically understood analysis of these events and speaking about how we should correct our thoughts pertaining to our mothers, sisters, wives and our daughters? We are forced to do this because there is a pre-ponderence of ignorance amongst us. We have to go back and reconstruct, at least, in our minds the proper, the courteous and the befitting relationship between men and women so that we can get on with these challenges that are cropping up around us. We want to clear this just, like we tried to clear the issue of sectarianism, we want to try to clear the issue of feminism so that no one can come and haunt us and hunt us with this kind of issue.

WOMENS STATUS- PART 7

Bismillah Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem. Alhumdulillah. Peace and blessings on Muhammad (sallalahu alaihi wa sallam), his Noble Companions and Family. Brothers and Sisters, Muslims whose relationship with Allah Azza Wa Jall is one of responsibilities and duties and one of tasks and obligations.... With Allahs presence and with His power, we shall move ahead shedding some light on the ambiguous areas and on the traditional practices that more or less define our behaviour towards ourselves, which is in need of a long overdue correction. Let us face it- we have an incorrect attitude towards ourselves. We may be repeating this but we have a lot to be desired when it comes to the way we behave towards ourselves, especially, brothers towards sisters. Sometimes it doesnt occur to us to think in the way that Allah presented some of these issues to us but we never cared to look at them as far as a man and a woman are concerned. We know, (at least most of us know), that we do have a ruler in history who has been thoroughly condemned by the Quran. Obviously, that ruler is a man the Firaun in Egypt himself. The Quran has many ayaat that break down and bring down the features of the male ruler. One ayah that may substitute for many ayaat tell us the arrogant, hoardy and contemptible position that Firaun was in. What was he doing? He was virtually going around killing whomever he wants and sparing the lives of whomever he wants. killing their sons and keeping their women alive. Behold he was one of these mufsideen, the person who is responsible for decay, decomposition, chaos and mischief making in the social order of the world (Surah Al-Qassas verse 4) If we want to make up for lost time in the relationship between men and women, it does seem to us like someone is taking this person to task because hes a man. It is a reactionary attitude that looks and tries to evaluate a persons behaviour because of a persons sex. For sure Firaun and Haamaan and their troops were in the wrong (Surah Al-Qassas verse 8) And Firaun says to Musa (alaihi salaam) Ya Musa youre a liar (Surah Al-Ghaafir verse 37) Almost any type of offensive behaviour that comes from this man is condemned in certain words, in certain ayaat and in the certain Quran. On the hand we have the Quran that speaks to us about another ruler and this ruler was a female. From what we know, every word about her is almost the opposite of those words projecting Firaun. Let us take a sample of words about this

female ruler. How does Allah describe a female ruler? Firaun was not a Muslim ruler; he tried to become a Muslim when he was drowning. Bilqees, this queen that is mentioned in these ayaat was not mentioned a Muslimah- so both of these rulers were not Muslims, but how do they behave in their capacities as the ultimate decision makers in their own societies and in their own times? The condemnation of Firaun, the man, is a cascade of negative descriptions in the Quran, yet, here is what the Quran says about this female ruler. We have to emphasize, underline and reiterate that we dont say these words to play into the hands of the type of feminism that circulates in the world today. We are not reacting, we are not chauvinistic men and we are not feministic reactionaries. Both of these extremes do not have any place in our book or in our behaviour. What does the Quran, Allahs words say about this other non Muslim ruler? She is speaking to her public decision makers, I have received correspondence. (Surah An-Naml verse 29) In other words she is not making decisions behind closed doors. Shes up-front with her people, not like the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh had an inner circle (like we know). I have received a correspondence from Suleiman (alaih salaam) and this correspondence is in the name of Allah, the Mercy giver, the Merciful (Surah An-Naml verse 29-30) And, this correspondence from Suleiman to this society to this other society in the southern part of Arabia says Do not come to me with a superior approach but come to me in a submissive state to Allah (Surah An-Naml verse 32) This letter that Suleiman wrote to the queen of Saba is expressive and is a detail of how Muslims in the positions of power behave. In other words he is saying we dont expect you to come to show us your power or force- come to us in normal way- not belligerent, not hostile and not showing us the power that you may have but in a mood that is conciliatory with Allah, that is yielding to the power of Allah and that recognises the dominance of Allah. What did she do? Did she go behind closed doors? No. Once again, she is speaking to a public decision making body of people, Al-mala, the influential body of her society, she says, (literally speaking), give me a fatwa. I am in need of a fatwa, an enlightened or an informed decision, concerning this affair of mine. What am I going to do? In other words, you participate and you let me know what your thoughts are on this matter. She says to them I never made a decision without your presence or participation in it or without your observation of it (Surah An-Naml verse 32) Remember, this is a woman and Allah has chosen from the course of history the correct attitude of the ruler even if that is coming from a woman. What did they say? The political feedback that she received was,

These public advisers of hers said we are a society of force and we are society of awesome power (Surah An-Naml verse 33) Now, telling you how we feel about this give and take between you and Suleiman, we say to you when it comes to the military, the army or fighting power, we have it. Meaning, if you want to take on this other ruler who is corresponding with you we are alert and ready, but then, after that the decision is yours. you make the decision and then you issue the order (Surah An-Naml verse 33) Now, this looks like, at least as in as far as her administration, they were gearing up for a type of confrontation with Suleiman and then what does she say after she reads very closely what Suleiman wrote to her and listens closely to what her consultants, advisers and her public is saying to her, what does she say? When kings forcefully enter another society or social order they corrupt it and they bring down the noble people of that society and humiliate them and that has always been their course of action (Surah An-Naml verse 34) This is a deep understanding of history and it is a sensitive and fair understanding of people who are in possession of awesome power. Sometimes, this ayah or statement is repeated by scholars and people in the talking professions- they repeat this ayah not the one before it or after- they try and make a point against monarchies, kings and hereditary rulers and the listeners, many times dont understand that they are quoting a woman. Allah quotes a woman and we quote Allah who quotes that woman, but somehow we dont absorb the total facts that are relevant to this issue. The point that we are trying to bring home is we have a comparison- when you read Allahs sacred scripture read what He has to say about Firaun, the man ruler, and read what He has to say about Bilqees or the queen of Sheba, the female ruler. The bad reputation of Firaun is scattered throughout many surahs in the Quran. The good reputation of Bilqees is in Surat An-Naml. The way we behave, especially the men in Muslim societies towards the women, what is it there that we have that tells us that Bilqees was out of place in saying what she said and in doing what she did. So, what did she finally do? I am going to send them a gift (Surah An-Naml verse 35) Bilqees says to all these people who were militarily ready I am going to send them a present and then Ill see how they are going to answer this present that I am sending. If you were to take todays average working Muslim mind and you tell them look at Allah and how he speaks very favourably of a woman ruler- if somehow she was out of place and she didnt belonged where she was, then why is this in the Quran and why is it brought to our attention? We can take that as a cue and accompany our thoughts to the time of Allahs prophet and realise that when the prophet of Allah was ordered to go public to the people he was closest to, the ayah in the Quran says to Allahs prophet

and give words of cautionary advice to those who are your close relatives (Surah AshShuara verse 214) So, he stands up and he says O you, the descendants of my great grandfather (so and so); O you, the offspring of my great grandfather (so and so), my worldly possessions and my worldly wealth will not benefit any of you in the least, none of it will benefit you when it comes to Allah. Meaning you have to look out for yourselves. Then he says (several meanings come to our mind when we recall these sentences of the prophet) but what we are concerned with is why mention Safiya, his aunt, and Fatima, his daughter, (radi Allahu anhuma) unless he is trying to make a point and drive home the fact that womanhood in society has to be given full recognition and has to be addressed. We go on- when this wahy, this history making event occurred and the prophet listened to Allahs words for the 1st time, he goes home and he speaks to his wife, Khadijah (radi Allahu anha), and he tells of what happened and she becomes the 1st to commit to Allah. A woman becomes the 1st after the prophet to adhere to Allah. What is this? We cant figure out why we have minds today who try to exclude women altogether when we have these types of examples. Sumayah bint Khabaat (radi Allahu anha), the mother of Ammaar (radi Allahu anhu)- Allah says dont consider those who have been killed on or for a cause of Allah dead, they are alive (Surah Ahl-Imran verse 169) Now, when we think- the best that we can think and if we try to go back to the early years of the prophets life, who was, if not the 1st one, of the 1st to give her life for the cause and on a direction to Allah? Wasnt it Sumayah, a woman? Which means these Muslims didnt have the attitude lets close our women up in secluded rooms or lets hide them in our homes; they cant come out and participate in the social responsibilities of Islam. When the Muslims were confined in Shib Abi Taalib for three years the family- that was an Islamic family- had its men and women there. We dont know of any case in which a Muslim male that knew that Quraish was on a course of economic warfare against the Muslims in Makkah told their women- their mothers, wives, sisters or their daughters no, you stay at home, its our right; we know what they are going to do to us we know that we are going to go through an extended period of severe hunger. They used to chew on leather because of the hunger. They didnt tell their womanhood OK, you stay at home well go and bare the consequences- their own women were out there with them. When the Muslims were forced under the social, political and psychological pressure that came to bare on them in Makkah they went on two waves of Al-hijrah to Africa. We are told that there were about 83 men and between 15 and 20 women. No one was saying Oh no, this is going to be a very long journey, we dont know what the consequences are going to be, or we are going into the un-known, so keep our women out or stay back home. It never occurred. We dont have a scant sentence to that effect in the books of history and seerah. So, how come today, if we have the same pressure coming to bear on us, some of us will say we have to keep our women away from these challenges. That wasnt the case.

When the Prophet of Allah was forced to leave Makkah for Al-Medinah because they wanted to kill him- its just like a president or a leader of a certain country who wants to leave his domicile and go somewhere else- this is considered like top secret information- who knew about this? The women of Allahs Prophet, his family and his relatives knew about this. Fatimah, Aaishah, Asma (radi Allahu anhunna) knew about it. If there was something like Oh, we cant trust women with information, then why did they know about it and why were they actively facilitating his exodus from Makkah to Al-Medinah. Brothers and sisters, something is wrong with todays mentality among the Muslims that want to exclude women from their social responsibilities. Umm Salamah (radi Allahu anha), the Prophets wife, at the time of Al-Hudaybiyah, this was a time of non-belligerency between the Mushriks of Makkah and the Muslims of Al-Medinah. When the Prophet agreed to the stipulations of Al-Hudaybiyah, the Muslims felt offended and the Prophet came up to them and said that they should shave their heads and sacrifice an animal. They wouldnt do it. The Prophet was telling them frankly and candidly what to do, but because they felt so humiliated, they didnt feel like doing what Allahs Prophet was telling them to do. He returns to his wife, Umm Salamah and he tells her what was going on. She, his wife, says to him why dont you- dont speak to them at all- just go and do what has to be done. You want them to shave their heads, just shave your head; and you want them to perform a nahr, slaughtering of an animal, just do it, and, the Prophet did exactly that. He didnt speak to them and he did what he told them to do. Thereafter, every one of them did what he had originally told them to do, but in this case, the little un-noticed detail in history is that the Prophets wife had an input into the social behaviour of the committed Muslims who were reluctant to do what Allahs Prophet, their leader told them to do. On another occasion, Umm Salamah heard the Prophet in the Masjid saying Ayyuhan Naas. She was in her own room and someone was helping her look beautiful, someone was helping her comb her hair and do whatever women do to make them look appealing to their husbands and all of a sudden, she hear the Prophet say Ayyuhan Naas because the Prophets room was next to the Masjid, she heard him in the Masjid say O People, she told her assistant I want to go and attend to what the Prophet has to say. Her assistant said Hes only calling for the people- youre a women, you dont have to go. She said No, when he says O People, that includes men and women and she went to the Masjid to listen to what the Prophet said. How come we have an attitude in todays world where women are told by scholars of Islam- You are discouraged from coming to the Masjid. The Masjid at that time was not something just for a few minutes of worship; it was a hub for the activities of the Muslims. If there was a discussion for a military issue, it was in the Masjid, if there was going to be some type of negotiations with an enemy or another force around, it would be deliberated in the Masjid, even when people wanted to meet, young men and women- this is gone now and if it is back, it is not back in the right manner- if a man and a lady wanted to get married, theyd go to the Masjid so that they could get married; the Masjid was like a gym at times, where there is physical activity. The Prophet, on one occasion, had his wife

look at Al-Ahbaash, these were like African athletes who were performing their own physical or martial arts (as we would say), and where was this done? In the Masjid. When Umar (radi Allahu anhu) said that the dowry that a man gives to his wife upon marriage, as-sadaaq or al-mahr, should not exceed 400 dirhams, a lady stands up and says but that is not right and she quoted the ayah Even if you were to give the bride to be a qintaar, a tonnage of money or silver and gold, theres no limitation to this Surah An-Nisa verse 20) Theres no limitation to this- So, she was objecting to this in the Masjid, in front of everyone. What did the ruler say? He wasnt an arrogant ruler to say Well, silence her or take her out of the Masjid. What did he say? He said most or all the people know more than Umar (radi Allahu anhu). He stood to be corrected. It wasnt like someone was being embarrassed. He didnt take that as coming from a woman, that should embarrass him or bring him down. He was like all those who were in the footsteps of Allahs prophet- waqqafun inda hududillah and waqqafun inda awaamirillah. This was and should continue to be the active role of Muslimaat in the world around us. This is what we should observe without reactions, without being apologetic, without feeling inferior or bouncing around between masculine verses feminine positions. Brothers and sisters, committed Muslims We have an organised and a coordinated attempt to paralyse half of our society. Nothing disturbs the enemy, rather, everything will be a delight to the enemies of Allah if half of the Muslims were paralysed. Our women folk, our nisa are half of our society and where are they? Then, all over sudden when some of them step out into the real world and they may carry explosives on their bodies- we are not advocating this as the first step of having our women be honoured in their full civil character- but circumstances sometimes force members of our society to do things that normally we would not do. 30 or 40 years ago you looked at the Muslim world and populations and you could comfortably say half of them are inactive, stagnant and virtually non-existent and then all over sudden today individuals from that same half of the Muslim women of the worlds are participating in military responsibilities. This becomes scary and it terrifies those who have been keeping a close watch and monitoring the movements of the Muslims. We say to them this is only the beginning, there is more to come. We know that the ignorance- that they have sponsored with their academic programmes- have tied half of us down to secluded quarters, a demeaning niqaab and to the inability of women to share and partake in all the rewards that are available to men. Now, theyre scared, this is big. You do not have to be scared if you are not doing anything wrong. Remember we are doing this in our back-yards (so to speak) not in your backyards. What are you afraid of? Some of you are resigning, some of you are forced out of office and some of you are voted out- these are the distant reactions. You see, they dont want to connect what is happening here with what is happening there, but reason that they are in political free-fall is because the majority of us are in

a military mode to do what has to be done. The process has already began we hope our words that describe our today will become distant history tomorrow and Allah will expedite the resumption of our full potential- men and women- without this segregation, discrimination and this apartheid in this Ummah.

WOMENS STATUS- PART 8

Bismillah Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem. Alhumdulillah. Peace and blessings on Muhammad (sallalahu alaihi wa sallam), his Noble Companions and Family. Brothers and Sisters, Muslims whose relationship with Allah Azza Wa Jall is one of responsibilities and duties and one of tasks and obligations.... May Allah bless a person who shows me the deficiencies of myself. (This myself extends to meaning ourselves). May Allah bless those who show us the shortcomings or fallacies of our ownselves. For this purpose we will continue to help ourselves see where we are lacking or there is room for improvement. As you have been (as the expression has it) tuned in for the past almost a dozen khutbahs or so, we have been diligently trying our best to show that we need to improve on our relationships with each other- our relationships with each other is in reference to men and women, because there is an attitude that is overwhelming and very significant in its manifestations that make our own women -these are not distant people these are close; when we say our own women, these are our mothers, sisters, wives and our daughters. Our behaviour and interaction with them makes them feel as if they are lesser then we are. Theres something wrong with that. When we are supposed to be together in our rights and responsibilities, sharing and caring and holding or moving together at the same pace with a sense of understanding and cooperation, theres a flaw in our social self when our women-folk begin to feel, and continue to feel, that they are of a lesser kind or an inferior type. Theres something wrong in that. We speak values about brotherhood, mercy, equality and justice- we speak values about these meanings, but why is it that after we do our are speaking at the Mimbars and in the Masaajid, when we are interacting with each other, we still are compounded with what appears to be in some cases a complex. Something is wrong and it needs to be addressed and therefore we went to Allahs book and took a close look at some of the ayaat, with open and functioning minds, to see how these ayaat will remedy this issue. We took a look at some of the pages of the seerah of Allahs Prophet and saw how women were treated at that time. Now, with the same spirit and pursuit, we will take a further look and notice in this area. To begin with, we want to say that it is a negative remark on ourselves when we dont have a history that presents us with men and women, especially during the ground breaking years of Allahs Prophet. We had women at that time, but in our mind, as if for petty and sometimes even ridiculous sectarian divisions, we only have in our minds three of four women in the time of Allahs Prophet and the thousands of other women who existed and were active and struggling participants in the making of this critical period of our formative years, its as if in our minds, even the minds of the big wigs, they dont exist. Well give you an example to show you or illustrate what is meant here. Even though her name was mentioned previously, but if you mention some ones name once or twice- and there is a structured set of information- it doesnt

matter. These struggling Islamic women are not around to be noticed. Theres a person by the name of Umm Imarah, Nasiba Al-Ansariyah (radi Allahu anha)- thats her name. Now if someone asks you Whos this figure? Whos this lady? You can scratch your head?! Some of you who may have a library or excess to some sources can dig up the pages and youll probably find her, but who was this female figure, this Muslimah who was at the time and in the company of Allahs Prophet? Who is she- we ask the average, normal Muslim mind out there. If there is no answer or if you dont have the vaguest idea of who she is, this indicates how we (ourselves) cannot honour our ownselves. To begin with, she gave a baiah when the Muslims were in Makkah, at a time of oppression and all the social, political and economic pressure came to bear on the few Muslims who were in Makkah. She was one of them who gave her baiah to Allah and His Prophet during that time of hardships and challenges. She also gave the baiah to Allahs Prophet in what may be called the general assembly of Muslims that anchored an Islamic state in Al-Medinah- in the 1st baiah and the 2nd baiah. This should not be a person who doesnt share a part of our memory, but the fact of history and our current mental condition and consciousness is that shes no where around. Practically no-one has heard of her. Then, we see her once again. Brothers and sisters- this is to illustrate how juvenile we, the Muslims, are when it comes to our ownselves. We notice her at the battle of Uhud. Before we get to the detail at the battle of Uhud, this baiah that we are speaking about, in which committed Muslims come to Allahs Prophet and pledge allegiance to do what has to be done, regardless of the currents or the circumstances- that doesnt factor in- they will do what has to be done. Indeed, Allah was pleased with the committed who pledged allegiance to you under the tree. He knew what was in their hearts and bestowed on them tranquillity and rewarded them with a near victory (Surah Al-Fath verse 18) Verily those who pledged allegiance to you are pledging allegiance to Allah. The hand of Allah is above their hands (Surah Al-Fath verse 10) These are ayaat tutla- ayaat that are going to be sequenced into human life, forever, and these ayaat are inclusive of men and women, so how come we can remember the name of many men and we cant remember the names of the women who were standing and participating with men at these critical moments and sensitive times? What does that indicate about us? What does that say about our own selves? This Umm Ammarah, Nasiba Al-Ansariyah is included in these ayaat. Notice how in these ayaat theres no reference to the female gender, because we have a problem with the western secular and materialist mind-set that says if you are not mentioning women you are excluding them.- but Al-Mumieen and Alladhina Aamanu in the Quran, even though technically speaking refers to the masculine, but it is not exclusive of women- it is inclusive of them. Once again, we have to remind ourselves, because the conditioning has been so long, and recently, its been so intensive that some people begin to entertain doubts about the wording of Allahs book. If Allah says

O you who are Committed to Allah, fasting has been prescribed for you (Surah Al-Baqarah verse 183) The wording of this ayah, pertains to the men or masculine- Alladhina Aamanu; it doesnt say Ya Ayyatuhal Lawaati Aamanna- Lawaati pertains to women, the feminine. But, every time you speak, you cant repeat these two, because if you do, it indicates that we have a problem and Allah wants to second Himself to our problem-thats not the way our relationship to Allah is. Our relationship with Allah is that we mould and condition ourselves to Him, so if He chooses Ya Alladhina Aamanu and by the virtue of the technical, grammatical and linguistic use of the word, it refers to men, that does not mean that He excludes women, rather, it means that He is speaking to men and women together. We see Umm Imarah in the battle of Uhud. What is she doing when men were running away? There were men who were running away from the Prophet- they did not want to face this enemy and fight and potentially kill and be killed- men did not want to do that, but there were women who wanted to do that. This is yet another area that is not developed in our minds and Umm Imarah, this Muslimah, was one of them. The Prophet of Allahs says I could not look right or left except that I would see Umm Imarah defending me. There was an enemy of Allah by the name of Umayah, who wanted to take aim and kill Allahs Prophet and this women, this Muslimah, was the one who took the hit and was wounded in her shoulder and she had her husband and her two sons who were there with her- meaning that she was not in the rear of the Islamic forces. She was not somewhere away from the danger zone. She was in the middle of the life and death war and warfare. She was bleeding when she was hit in her shoulder protecting Allahs Prophet- instead of that arrow or whatever instrument of death it was going to hit the Prophet, it hit her- she took the hit. So, a lady, a women, a mother, a wife, a sister- she was all of that- defends Allahs Prophet. If she didnt take that hit, we dont know how seriously Allahs Prophet would have been wounded. Yet, theres no one around who can remember her from these pages of glorious history. She wasnt alone at this battle of Uhud- there were other women who were in the middle of this battle. The problem is that if we begin to mention some of these names is that we have a sectarian mind and some of you are going to try and process these names through sectarian thinking, so well leave that out and maybe, you can have this as an assignment- you can go and look up the names of women who participated in warfare and discover for yourselves, maybe in the calmness of a non-sectarian setting, how these women were there to equally participate with men when these occasions and responsibilities necessitated it. Theres another Muslimah, her name is Umm Salim (radi Allahu anha)- (well, they refer to her as Umm Salim), her real name was Al-Fuhaysah bint Malihaan. She also was there. If we mention her name, its not going to bring up a sectarian issue, suffice it to know that she was a committed Muslimah who was participating in these ghazawaat, military expeditions by Allahs Prophet. On one occasion, during the time of Al-Khandaq, the trench, that last all-out attempt by the Mushrikin of Arabia to finish off the Committed Muslims. Her husband, his name was Abu Talha Al-Ansari- remember, we are talking about atmospherics of war- he saw her with a knife

or a dagger, khanjar. Whats was this all about? So he, her husband, goes and complains to Allahs Prophet. He says my wife is carrying this big knife with her. So, the Prophet of Allah calls her and asks her a simple question- Why are you carrying a knife? She said so that if I encounter a Mushrik, I will slash open his abdomen a women saying these words. What was the Prophets response to all of this? Did he say O my God! This women is too much or this duty is a mans duty, why dont you give this instrument of war or this killing tool to your husband or brother or another man in your family and let him do that job? No. The words in the books of seerah says in reference to Allahs prophet when she told him- remember we are talking about Al-Khandaq, a siege of an Islamic society and state and the final and all out attempt of the Mushriks and the kafirs of Arabia to finish off the leadership of Allahs Prophet in Al-Medinahin these conditions and circumstances she says I am carrying this weapon so that if I see a Mushrik, Ill slash open his belly or his abdomen. How did Allahs Prophet in those conditions and circumstances respond to that? The books- you can refer to them- unfortunately it doesnt come out enough in the language and the discourse of todays Muslims, especially at this time, when we need to revive our commitment and involvement- the Prophet showed all expressions -through smiling and a form of laughter- of his approval to what she said. Take that home to those who want to exclude half of our existence from all of our responsibilities- take that to them. Theres another Muslimah, her name is Umm Aatiyah Al-Ansariyah (radi Allahu anha) -another women who was contemporary to Allahs Prophet. She participated in seven military expeditions. During six of these times, she was with her husband but one of these times, she went to a military war-front and her husband was not with her. There was no one who came and made a big issue of this, saying Look, this women is going to the war front and her husband is not with her. It didnt occur. We cant find it there. If any of the people who are listening or if any of you in the future listen to these words and find out that there is reliable information that says that a Muslimah needs the licence or the permission of her husband to repel an enemy who is attacking an Islamic society or an Islamic state with a mortal threat, then bring us that information- we dont have it. Theres another Muslimah by the name of Rafidah Al-Aslamiyah (radi Allahu anha) that also, if we say that name, that doesnt mean anything that should divide us. Unfortunately, if we use the names of the closest people to Allahs Prophet, some of you will think that we are trying to score against others, but when we use neutral names that you are not familiar with, that can be a matter of joining or uniting us together. Rafidah Al-Aslamiyah was the 1st to set up a tent, or a place in the Masjid of the Prophet, Al-Masjid An-Nabawi, that served as a clinic for wounded Muslims, on the initiation of a Muslimah, a female Muslim and not a Muslim man. Arent these moments to be honoured? Arent these women of responsibilities and the higher duties that had to be done? There was no one questioning them Why are you doing this? You are a women and you dont belong in these positions? We dont see anyone uttering this. The only thing we realise when reading this history is that the Muslims who were forced to leave Makkah and go to Al-

Medinah realised that the women of Al-Medinah were more assertive than the women of Makkah. Thats the only type of discriminatory remark that we come across when we go back into the details of this history of ours. Yet, we have something in Islamic fiqh, the scholarly reworking of the Quran and the Sunnah called sadd ad-dharaai. Brothers and sisters, we want you to listen closely, because this is where most of the problems that we have inherited, the double attitude that we have come from. We have the very (we want to use the word orthodox and we also dont want to use the word orthodox, but lets use it) orthodox Muslims who represent one side of the issue who have taken traditions and customs and placed them on a par with principles and Islamic values- this is one side. On the other side, we have the seculars who looked at these customs and traditions and then they ran away from Islam altogether. Both of these positions are wrong. We dont try to use the word religion, but those who have made a religion out of customs and traditions and those who have abandoned Islam because of those customs and traditions that have become religion. Both of these are wrong, but we have both of them around us, and much of the reactions, the extremist positions and the perloqial approaches come because of this concept of sadd ad-dharaai which means literally, the obstruction of pretexts or rationalism. To make it simple for the average Muslim, this concept of sadd ad-dharaai, which there is no argument about- no one is arguing the concept- means that any method or means that will lead to the violation of the Quran and the Sunnah is in and of itself prohibited. But here, we have a very wide area that we are looking at. If we mean by sadd ad-dharaai that we are going to pre-empt a sin by avoiding what leads to it, then we accept that. If I refuse to go to a red district area in town, where there are pubs and prostitution, I fear that if I frequently go there, I am going to fall into sin, then it comes from the concept of sadd addharaai that I dont go there. We can understand that, but we cant make whatever is halal, something that is haram because of the concept of sadd ad-dharaai. You see, a lot of very sincere Muslims, we dont want to use certain words that refer to them, we hope you have enough information so that you can fill in the area- these are on the face of it very religious and very pious types of Muslims- these types will come and tell you that excluding women from life is permissible. What do you mean by excluding them from life? Meaning they cant interact or mix with men in the social context of life. This didnt exist in the time of Allahs Prophet. Men and women were mixing with each other. Women were going to every salaah in the masjid. They were going to the war-front. They were there, side by side with men- of course, with their Islamic principles and attire. So, how did it happen that we came and placed women outside of their social context- we sort of privatised women. How did this happen? How did we privatise women? It all begins with the hadith in which the Prophet says there cannot be a women who is alone with a man, and in another extended hadith, except that Shaytaan becomes their 3rd. But this is not social life, were not talking about a man and a woman going to a bedroom together- the hadith is applicable there, but if a woman is participating in the social responsibilities of our communities, societies and states, then how is this hadith interjected into this context? It doesnt belong there, but thats what they did and thats what was done

throughout all of these years. They said we fear a fitnah. But you cant extend this concept of sadd ad-dharaai to exclude a fitnah from the nature of life itself. The ayah in the Quran says We will expose you as a matter of testing you to evil and to good (Surah Al-Ambiya verse 35) This is the nature of life. Its like saying we are going to extend this concept of sadd ad-dharaai to say that you cannot eat anymore, because do you know that when you eat in an exaggerated manner- instead of having one meal, you have two or three meals- its going to cause you health problems. So, we can bring this concept of sadd ad-dharaai and say its prohibited for you to eat- youll die. You want to try to remedy one problem and you create a problem that is worse than the problem that youre trying to solve. This can be said about the relationship between men and women. There is zina in life, some men and women are guilty of zina, adultery. What do you come and say- because there is zina, we dont want marriage anymore?! Thats not the solution. The solution is in trying to put these issues in perspective. After Allahs Prophet passed away, one of his successors- we say this, once again, because there is a sectarian sensitivity out there- these wars that are going on right now have brought up the sectarian issue to such an extent that if you say the name of one of the successors of Allahs Prophet, you are going to be accused of taking sides in an internal Islamic affair. We dont want to look at the personalities as much as we want to look at the behaviour itself. One of these successors to Allahs Prophet heard a women saying poetry at night. Now, this indicates to us that this successor to Allahs Prophet was in the street, among the people; he wasnt excluded and isolated; he was there, listening to what and how his own constituency is living during the night. He hears this one women saying poetry of how she longs for the arms, love and affection of her husband. After that, he begins to dig for the reason as to why is a Muslim women saying this. So, he finds out that her husband has gone out on a military expedition that has lasted for months now. So he asks- hes a man and hes consulting women- hes asking how long can a woman, a wife tolerate the absence of her husband in the sexual and emotional meaning of the word? He was told a few months- four, five, maybe six months. So, there was an Islamic law or legislature that went into effect to do justice to wives because their husbands, in some cases, are at the war fronts when their wives were not with them. What does this tell us? Is there neglect in Islamic societies towards women? Are women 2nd and 3rd class citizens? That no one cares for women in an Islamic social order? None of that- you can deduce or detect in this information that comes to us fresh from Allah and His Prophet. Brothers and Sisters, Committed Muslims, there are, right now, four or five issues that our detractors, adversaries latch onto to try to say just listen, you dont have to do more than that, to what the public airwaves carry everyday against Allah, His Prophet and the Committed Muslims- accusations, defamations and calumny coming at us from all directions. They care not to listen to what we have to say. In this charged atmosphere, we have one of these issues, and

well try to dissipate some of them in these coming khutbahs, even though we are approaching the time of Hajj and it is necessary for us to involve ourselves in the ayaat and the ahadith pertaining to the Hajj, but one if these issues that always comes our way is look at the discrimination in Islam. Theres favour for men over women. They take an ayah from the Quran, of course, they dont take the whole lesson, discourse or picture, and because we are not up as engulfed in the meanings of the ayaat as we should be, they say look at this ayah in the Quran Allah advises you pertaining to your children: for a male, there is twice the share of a female (Surah An-Nisa verse 11) Thats what the ayah says. They take this ayah and say look at the discrimination in Islam, a man gets more than a woman. They dont take a look at the overall picture. The ayah does not say that as the rule in Islam, all men get twice of what all women get. The ayah says Allah advises you concerning your children (Surah An-Nisa verse 11) When it comes to a son and a daughter, the son gets twice of what a daughter gets at the time of inheritance, but this is not the general and all-out applicable rule. Im just going to take one exemption to this rule, and there are several other exemptions to it, in which not all the time a male gets twice what the female gets. Lets take one instance- a man dies and he has one daughter and a father who are going to inherit him. The daughter gets more than the father gets. The daughter gets half of his inheritance and the other half is distributed among the rest of those who qualify for inheriting- whether its a brother, mother or father. How can you come and say in this instance that a man gets more than a woman does when it comes to the laws of inheritance in Islam. But this is our problem- we never took a look at the whole picture. We never cared to think about the meanings of the words of the Quran. Allah didnt say yusikumullahu fi warathatikum- He says fi awlaadikum; and on and on. Its our ignorance, compounded with their animosity that has us face what we are facing today. Brothers and sisters, Committed Muslims The bad press, the vicious propaganda and the unrelenting rumours against us are not going to dissipate. Only people who are in a dream world are going to think that those who are cranking out these wild accusations against us are going to cease what they are doing just because we are going to exert all that we can to show them how civilised we are. To begin with, who are they for us to consider to show them anything? If we are proper Muslims, we are responsible and we answer only to Allah. We dont get involved in triangulating between the media, the government and their financial establishments- running from one corner to the next, trying to please them all. We are only concerned in pleasing Allah. As far as their chickenry, shenanigans and elaborate schemes- Allah is above all of that. We dont know where each or anyone of you have been in the past 20 or 30 years, but we have been living the details of these past 20 and 30 years and there doesnt seem to be even a scintilla of goodwill that is projected by them towards

independent, selfrespecting and Muslims of self-determination in the world. Look at this- you can see for yourself- this is supposed to be the capital of democracy in the world. How many times have we heard- its almost sickening to listen to their numerous usage of the word democracy and elections and from where, in all of the world? Emanating from Washington DC. Look- for almost 24 years, because they want a dictatorial, imposed administration in this masjid- its only a few miles from their departments of state, interior, justice and the white house and congress- where is democracy? Are they speaking the truth? Are they speaking for justice? Any Muslim who wants to open their eyes and ears can see the truth looking them squarely in their eyes and faces. A gargantuan statement that spews out of their mouths, but they say nothing but false words and lies (Surah Al-Kahf verse 5) How much longer is it going to take for us to correct our internal behaviour and how much longer is it going to take for them to see their erroneous ways?

WOMENS STATUS- PART 9

Bismillah Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem. Alhumdulillah. Peace and blessings on Muhammad (sallalahu alaihi wa sallam), his Noble Companions and Family. Brothers and Sisters, Muslims whose relationship with Allah Azza Wa Jall is one of responsibilities and duties and one of tasks and obligations.... With a heavy heart and with the facts and bloodshed that surrounds the Islamic condition in our day and time, it is sometimes difficult to speak about a subject matter when there are other pressing life and death developments that are knocking on our attention and unfolding in front of our eyes. We hope that we can clear this subject of the misunderstandings and the traditions that define the relationships between man and women, husband and wife, which have come to disturb our normal Islamic interactions. With reliance upon Allah, in this khutbah, we will revisit an ayah that has been abused and misunderstood to try to clear the air on how some trouble makers want the general public and the particular Muslims along with them to think that there is a discrimination between a man and a woman in Islam. Theres an ayah that we spoke about previously and right now, we are returning to it. It is the longest ayah in the Quran towards the end of Surah Al-Baqarah; the ayah of debt, ayatud dayn in which Allah says- were not going to quote the whole ayah, you can refer to it in the comfort of your own time. This ayah has been quoted many times to try to have Muslims think that a women is half of a man. When this ayah is used by some conventional Muslims and by some criminal enemies, it is used for the purpose of making the point that it takes two testimonies of a woman in one setting to equal the testimony of one man- this is not what the ayah is saying. 1st of all, the propaganda of our detractors wants us to believe that this statement pertains to court witnesses- it doesnt. The ayah has nothing to do with a court of law. The ayah is zeroing in on a financial transaction in which one person is borrowing money, on whatever terms, from another person. This is stated very clearly in the ayah If there is a debt transaction among you, stipulating a certain time period (Surah AlBaqarah verse 282) The debt would be a year, several months or whatever the time period is, then the order from Allah is to put it in writing, and there shall be a person who shall register this debt transaction with the standards of justice, and there shall be no-one to resist registering this if he qualifies to do so once he is ordered by Allah (Surah Al-Baqarah verse 282)

So, when this financial transaction is taking place, one of the procedures for it is to have witnesses. Here is where Allah says In this case, you call for two witnesses from among your men (Surah Al-Baqarah verse 282) Here is where we have to place the ayah in context and in the particulars of real life. In the particulars of real life, it is more apt that men are involved in these types of financial transactions because one of the definitions of an Islamic life is that it is the primary responsibilities of the man to shoulder the financial transactions of family life, social life or the larger scope of international financial transactions. The primary responsibility is that of a man, but it doesnt mean that women are excluded from this. Because that is the case, there may be conditions in which you cannot find two men who are qualified to understand this financial transaction, so if you cant, in this case, you call upon two women. This is for the purpose of trying to omit the possibility of those who are not versed on these financial details to commit an error. Its because of unfamiliarity and not because they dont qualify, but because in the nature of regulating a cooperative and coordinated life between the sexes and because the proportions of responsibility in the financial segment of life are allocated more to men than they are to women, then as a safety procedure, the ayah says You call upon two women (Surah Al-Baqarah verse 282) This doesnt mean that one women is half of a man or that it takes two women to equal a man. It would mean something like that for people who are taking these ayaat out of context or are withdrawing these ayaat from the realities of life or are dislocating these ayaat from the Islamic definition of relationship and responsibility between men and women in life- thats when the flaw begins. But, it is not upon us or it does not behove us to commit this type of error. If, in the nature of life, it was the primary responsibility of women to bare the financial burden and men were relieved primarily of that responsibility, then this would have been reversed- the ayah would have said fastashidu shahidayni min nisaaikum, fa in lam takun imraatayni fa imraatun wa rajulaan. But when we speak about this, it has nothing to do with a court of law. When it comes to a court of law- lets take an ayah that deals with being present in front of an Islamic judge and in an Islamic court of law- lets take an ayah in that context. An ayah in the Quran says For those husbands or married men who accuse (the word in the ayah is target) their other half, spouses or completing couple (Surah An-Nur verse 6) Heres where we have a court issue or where we go to court. Lets see, if we go to court Islamically- men and women- is there going to be any discrepancies or discrimination? These men who go to court and they are accusing their wives of betraying the marital relationship, this term is called al-liaan in Islamic vocabulary, and they have no witnesses. They may feel strongly and confidently about what they are saying, but it is all their internal thoughts, theres no witnesses, so what are they expected to do in court according to this ayah in the book of

Allah, in Surah An-Nur? What do they do? They testify in front of the qualified Islamic individual or individuals, They state four times, as a testimony, that his accusation of his wife is the truth and the 5th testimony is that may Allah bring down His damnation on him if he is a liar (Surah An-Nur verse 6-7) Then, the ayah says She will relieve herself of the penalty of such an accusation if she herself bears witness four times that he is a liar or is not saying the truth and the 5th testimony is that Allahs wrath be incurred upon her if he is telling the truth (Surah An-Nur verse 8-9) So here we are, a man and a women in court- no one is saying to women that you have to bring another person- your sister, daughter, mother, another women or member of the family structurewith you to build up your testimony; or we cant believe you; or your testimony is half of a man or your husbands- none of that. Why do we have this confusion? People take this issue and now we have international conferences and womens conferences. Why? Because there is some inequality that they feel which is not attributed to the book of Allah and it cannot be attributed to the Messenger of Allah. They attribute these things to what have become local cultures that try to take things, whether they are ayaat or ahadith our of context. We come to what is truly an issue to be dealt with. There is a statement that is taken from one of the ahadith of Allahs Prophet that is mentioned in As-Sihaah, which means that this is not one of the ahadith that you can dismiss very easily. Its one of the hadiths that runs into a type of incongruity with the Quran or you cant fit it into the meanings of the Quran. This hadith of the Prophet says that women are Naqisaatin Aqlin wa deen. Were going to quote this hadith for you because this is probably the one hadith that either cultural traditionalists or secular materialists use to try to make the point that there is within Islam an in-built discrimination between the sexes. Listen to this hadith because much of the imagery about Islam, when it comes to men and women, relates back to this hadith. Were going to quote this hadith for you, verbatim, word by word, it is mentioned in Sahih al-Bukhari, Ahmed, it may be mentioned in Muslim and all of these rest of these very authentic books of hadith. How does this come out? What does this hadith say? Believe us- brothers and sisters- if you listen to this hadith, you will understand some of the difficulties that we are running into. Remember, we have honoured our pioneering sisters- when the Prophets wife, Khadijah (radi Allahu anha wa salaamullahu alaiha) passed away, that year was called Aam Al-Huzn, the year of sorrow. Sumayyah (radi Allahu anha), the 1st martyr in Islam is honoured by the living memories of involved Muslims. How come, we have this notion that hearkens back to this hadith which says the following, (were going to translate this hadith for you): the Prophet of Allah went out to either Salaat Al-Fitr on Eid Al-Fitr or Salaat Al-Adha on Eid Al-Adha. He went out to the Musallah, the congregational area for the mass Muslim prayer and he passed by women and he said (obviously to them) You womenfolk, I have not seen (here is the word Naqisaatin Aqlin

wa deen and here is where the translation becomes tricky, because it can go in both directions, but the translation that is used is), I have not seen incomplete human beings pertaining to their mind and deen as I have seen in you or in the individual of you. And they ask him, Oh Prophet of Allah, what is it that you mean by saying Naqisaatin Aqlin wa deen- inferior when it comes to our mind and deen? This is the type of translation that circulates. Then he says Is it not that the testimony of a women is equal to half of that of a man. They said Yes. He said, then this is proof of your mind being incomplete. Then the Prophet says Isnt it when women have their menstrual period that they do not pray and they do not fast? They said Yes, O Prophet of Allah. He said that indicates how you are incomplete when it comes to your deen. This is a hadith that many Muslims want to accept as an authentic hadith on par with the ayaat of the Quran. There should be a general rule that if there is any hadith in any book, that does not fit into the ayaat of the Quran, then we marginalise that hadith. This should be a general rule; and it doesnt matter what book you are referring to when you refer to a book of hadith, because theres no ayah in the book of Allah and no word from His Prophet that says that any of these books of hadith that we refer to are 100% reliable. The only book that is 100% reliable is the book of Allah and the testimony to that fact is in the words of Allah. Indeed, We have caused this book of consciousness to be revealed and certainly We will preserve it (Surah Al-Hijr verse 9) But theres nothing that says that Sahih Al-Bukhari or Sahih Muslim is preserving the hadiths of the Prophet as they were stated. Yes, we can rely upon the over-whelming majority of hadiths in these reliable books, but when we come across a hadith like this, we have to look at the ayaat of the Quran and how they dealt with the issue of gender or the relationship between man and women in society or husband and wife in family. We see that Allah honours our mothers, wives, sisters, daughters and womenfolk and then we come and see that theres an understanding of this hadith that brings them down from that Quranic standard of esteem and honour, then we have a question mark about the words of the hadith and about the understanding of the hadith. This is a challenge that no Muslim has taken this responsibility upon himself to come and filter in an enlightened way the body of hadiths that we have. Were going to take a look at this hadith a little closer with the time frame that we have. 1st of all, the hadith said that the Prophet went out either Salaat Al-Fitr or Salaatul Adha- so there is a matter of uncertainty at the beginning of the hadith. The person or persons who are narrating this hadith are not sure whether it was during Al-Fitr or Salaatul Adha- thats number one. Number two- the consensus of Muslims- whether they are scholars or laymen- is that the day of Eid is a day of joy and a time of happiness in which the spirits are buoyed and lifted. This hadith, as it is understood and quoted to bring down the character of women in Islam takes this happiness and joy from these women at a time when the Prophet of Allah was telling women in many other hadiths that are narrated to come to the Eid and enjoy the time of the Eid and feel happy and dont be disappointed and dont be grieved and sad but when women listen to this hadith, it is making

them feel sad. It is not bringing joy to their hearts- theres a conflict here, but Allahs Prophet doesnt have a conflict in his personality. Allah vouches for him. Allah says to His beloved Prophet And for sure, you are of a great moral character (Surah Al-Qalam verse 4) But, according to the way that this hadith is worded, understood and traditionalised, it doesnt seem like he is a moral character when he is on his way to the Musallah and he is saying these types of things to women. So, there is a question mark pertaining to the understanding of this hadith. This will bring us to the matter of women in general in the Quran. Allah says The believers, men and women, are allies of one another, they enjoin Al-Maruf and forbid Al-Munkar (Surah At-Taubah verse 71) As far as lifes responsibilities, what is there that is more demanding on man and women and husband and wife than Al-Amr bil Maruf and An-Nahi anil Munkar? When it comes to these common responsibilities, they are co-operating with each other. And Allah responded to them Certainly I will not cause any of your efforts or labours, whether you are male or female to go in vain, for you are from each other (Surah AhlImran verse 195) This is the complementary relationship that we have. This is the accurate understanding of how man and women should behave in families and in societies. But, how come we have the kind of world in which our wives, sisters, mothers and daughters, sisters and wives complain that they feel excluded, inferior or insufficient? If there is any credibility to translating these words Naqisaatin Aqlin wa deen, then it would be that you are at times imperfect when it comes to matters requiring thought or religious obligations. There are exemptions, but not in the area of being deficient or not to mean that you are inferior like in some local cultures or some century long traditions have it- No. This means that you are temporarily imperfect and you can make up for it later on and at the end of the day, men and women are there to complement, supplement and reinforce each other.