Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera – Qur’anic Reflections Allah’s Special Mention of Women
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Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.
Let us start with a verse of the Quran. That will be la Jimenez
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these are verses of Surah earlier in Milan, and we're going to be
discussing the last portion of them. But I read from the
beginning because that's where the theme and the content of that
begins. And essentially what's happening is that Allah subhanaw
taala is speaking about how in the heavens and the earth are in the
creation of the heavens and the earth and the and the changes of
the night and day is all a sign for the people who have
intelligence for the people who have intelligence. And these are
such intelligent people that Allah subhanaw taala is speaking about
here are those he defines as in verse 191, of sort of the surah is
those who remember Allah subhanaw taala, standing, sitting and on
their sides, and they are reflecting over the creation of
the heavens in the earth. And then eventually I guess they're forced
to say or they're compelled to claim to proclaim our Lord you've
not created any of this redundantly and glorified IU
protect us from the hellfire. So they get from there and and they
ultimately remember hellfire and say, protect us from the hellfire.
And then there's a series of doors our Lord,
the one you enter into hellfire, then you have disgraced him,
you've humiliated him. And there are no helpers for those who are
oppressive. And then our Lord, we heard the quarter. And this is the
interesting part. That Well, it's all interesting, but this is the
pertinent part here that our Lord, we heard the quarter according to
faith, that bring faith
with your Lord. And thus, we embrace Islam, you know, we
accepted Allah and we brought faith in Him, our Lord,
forgive for us our sins, and remove our evils from us our
misdeeds from us, and give us death with the righteous ones.
And then Allah subhanaw taala
says,
again, there's another da which is our Lord, and give us your grant
us what you have promised us
on the tongue of your messengers, and do not disgrace us on the Day
of Judgment, and you never, you will never go against a promise.
So then
the Lord accepted of them this applications and answered them,
and then he said, Never will I allow to be lost
the work of any of you never will I allow the work of any of you any
deed that any of you have done, to go in vain, to not be credited for
to not be evaluated and taken into
I can't be you male or female. And this is the point that I want to
mention here. So, essentially what this passage is doing this last
portion here, the verse 195 of this, I started reading from
earlier but verse 195, it's speaking about,
or just before that it's actually speaking about believers invoking
Allah subhanaw taala from the depths of their heart and really
just laying it out in front of Allah subhanaw taala that we heard
your call calling. And we accepted it, we believed in you. And then
there's a series of doors, which obviously, people make to Allah
subhanho wa Taala after they have taken faith. So our Lord Verily We
have heard the call of one of the prophets calling to faith, saying,
believe to your in your Lord, and we have believed so now our Lord
grant us what You promised to us through your messengers, and do
not disgrace us on the Day of Resurrection for you never break
your promise. Now, that's a very significant point because then
Allah subhanho wa Taala said that Allah subhanho wa Taala festa
Jabba whom Allah responded to them, Allah accepted it from them,
right? And then Allah subhanho wa Taala said very clearly, not only
am I accepting it from you, I'm actually telling you that never
will I ever let go
to waste or unregarded any deed that you have done, and then be
you male or female. After he said this, I mean, anybody reading this
is going to assume that these are men speaking, because it was
probably men who said this, right? And this is what Allah subhanaw
taala has taken into consideration at the beginning, right, because
all of the verbs etc, all the pronouns, they refer to men. So I
mean, you know, you'd be forgiven to be thinking that this is
referring to man, it's a man who called and who said this and
submitted this plea to Allah subhanaw taala. And Allah subhanaw
taala accepted from them. However, Allah subhanaw taala makes a very,
very pointed reference to women as well. Right to make sure that
women are included here. And nobody ever misunderstands this,
that this is only for men, and this is not for women. Right? So
Allah subhanaw taala did not disregard women in his response,
even though that the supplication here was made by women. And that's
why he said, I mean, the current owner, right law OD or ama
dynamin. Men comb men who are carrying Alonza, Allah subhanaw
taala made it a point to say that separately, and that just shows
Allah subhanaw taala has boundless mercy on both men and women. In
his response, is he Allah subhanaw. Taala is the creator of
both men and women. He is the creator of both of them. And he
has affection for each one of them. For every one of them in the
same measure, in equal measure. There's nothing that we can learn
of anywhere in our Sharia, right, which shows that ALLAH SubhanA wa
Tada, which even implies that Allah subhanaw taala loves men
more. Right?
And this is something that we just need to dispel. Right? Allah
subhanho wa Taala accepts the supplications of both men and
women equally, right, equally, I mean, for whatever purposes is not
just because somebody is a man that he's going to maybe accept
the supplication more, or for less of a reason, or anything like
that. Allah subhanaw taala shows that he appreciates the sacrifices
and the deeds and the efforts done by both men and women. Right. And
then he gives equal reward to both men and women. So they both have
an equal share in receiving Allah subhanaw taala is mercy. And this
is done without any kind of reservation, without any kind of
preference given to one over the other. That's Allah subhanaw taala
for you. Now, I know people may misunderstand this, there are, you
know, because men and women have complementary roles. And men get
to do some of the leading the leading, like, for example, be an
Imam, and so on. You know, people think that that's discrimination,
but that's just coming from a different perspective. That's not
what Allah subhanaw taala created the roles for, based on Allah
subhanaw taala an idea of what each of these roles are, what
roles men are playing, and what roles females are playing. That
there's those are complementary roles for the continuation of
humanity in this world and for the continuation and systems of the
world. However, in terms of their contact with Allah, access to
Paradise, and becoming close to Allah subhanaw taala doing deeds,
they're both exactly the same and that is why women should also give
thanks to Allah subhanaw taala just as mentioned, give thanks to
Allah subhanho wa Taala for Allah subhanho wa Taala has given them
men can be admonished and men can be told off, to have disregarded
and neglected for you know, different times in history in
different places in the world to have to have neglected women,
right. Disregarded women,
subjugated women, not given them their rights, essentially not
treated them well enough and this is still the case in many parts of
the world. Right. Men can be admonished for
that, right? Because men tend to be the stronger physique tend to
be stronger and the more dominant kind of
gender. And that's why maybe that, you know, that's one of the
reasons that that can happen. However, Allah subhanho wa Taala
will not overlook that any injustice done to women, Allah
subhanaw taala will not overlook, just like he will not overlook any
other injustice to anybody else, right? So, in Allah subhanaw taala
scheme of things, though, and this is what we need to understand put
into perspective that men and women are interdependent, they are
complementary to one another. And our social life is composed of
both sexes, right. And in that sense, they're inseparable. You
just can't have just men in this world, right? As much as any man
might even want that you can't just have all women in this world,
right? Even if that's what some women want, right? Or may want
both our social life our survival in this world is composed of both
sexes, and in that case, they have to be inseparable.
So the the Burstow is not just talking about the life of this
world when it says that Allah subhanaw taala is never going to
let any deed of any male or female go to ace, it's not talking about
just this world, it's talking about the hereafter as well, which
is even more important. So it's referring to both, that they will
get their full reward, just like men will get their full reward,
right, for any good that they've done in this world. And the
knowledge that they've acquired in this world and any hard work that
they put into this world, they both are going is meaningful,
coming from both of them. And this reward is not deferred until the
Hereafter they get a straight reward in this world first, you
know, we get reward for the deeds that we do. Right? For many of the
deeds that we do, we get a reward, either by the removal of a
calamity or some other blessing in our life are some of the opening
in our life, some of the comfort in our life, some of the increase
in our life, and both men and women get that men and women, both
men, in some cases, I said in some religious vocations, men have
dominated and men have that position, right? For example, it's
just easier for men to have participated in fighting in the
jihad. And, for example, to go and pray Salah that night, you know,
that's just sometimes easier for men, right? Or too fast, maybe
more regularly. But Subhanallah I mean, women are not behind in that
regard. You know, there may be some other things where men just
find it easier because of maybe their social role that they play
or whatever the case is. But that doesn't mean that the women cannot
do that.
Subhan Allah, Allah subhanho wa Taala gives you see, there's a
hadith in Bukhari, which says, from our shot of the Allahu anha,
which says that the reward, your reward that you get is based on
the effort that you put into it. So if women find something more
tough, because they have the role of bringing up the children and
dealing with that, which is a very taxing position, taxing role, then
they will get extra rewarded for that, because Allah subhanaw taala
just doesn't give on a mere action, that this is how much
reward you get. But there's all these multiplications and bonuses
that you receive, based on the effort, the sincerity, and the
benefit, and the hardship, and everything that's associated with
Allah subhanaw taala is a very, very sophisticated system of
rewarding and then of course, punish punishment as well. So
nobody will feel cheated on the Day of Judgment. Now let's look at
another verse. And this time, it's actually from the chapter of
women, the chapter on women and certainly saw a whole chapter on
Surah Nisa, which is a very, very important chapter. I'm going to
read I'm going to start from the beginning. And these are the
beginning verses the opening verses of Surah Nisa.
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Oh mankind, oh people. Be, be dutiful to your Lord. It the Quran
can be dutiful, be conscious of your Lord gain taqwa and acquire
Taqwa for your Lord, the One who created you from a single person.
Right? And from him, he created his wife. Now he's talking about
how men and women came into this world. So Allah created Adam
Allison first and then from him he created his wife, and then it
carries on says, and from them both he created many men and women
and fear Allah, through whom your you demand your mutual rights
through Allah whom you And fear Allah, through whom you demand
your mutual rights, and the wombs, basically meaning and do not cut
the relationship of the wombs, which means kinship. Surely Allah
is Ever
a watcher over you. So what Allah subhanaw taala is saying here
briefly, is first have taqwa and be conscious and be fearful of
this Lord Who has created you. So this is the description of Allah.
This is the description of our Lord that he's the one who created
you from a single soul. And then after that he created from that
single services or the Madison created his wife, and then from
there, Masha, Allah, Allah subhanaw taala has spread so many
people, we came literally just from two people, right, and today,
the billions of humans in the world, and the billions that have
passed and the billions that will come, they've all come from Allah
subhanaw taala is creating one man and one woman. And then Allah
subhanaw taala also says that Be careful and fear Allah subhanaw
taala with regard to kinship, because you share with one
another, this is who you are, right? This is what your inter,
you know, your inter family relationships are you must observe
them and you can't break them because that's who you are. That's
your social life. That's your social fabric of your society.
Allah subhanaw taala is ever watchful over you, Allah subhanho
wa Taala says, So now,
again, this sort of underscores the important status accorded to
women in Islam. And I guess I mean, it's, it's an obvious point.
So why do we say this? And why do people mention this? The reason we
have to keep mentioning this is because we've had major
disparities in human civilizations. So before Islam,
you know, we had time of Jamelia, and in other traditions, for, you
know, for a very, very long time, you had where the women were
considered to be completely inferior, they had no rights, they
couldn't own their own. They couldn't own their own properties,
and so on and so forth. And
then after that you've got today where the Western liberalism has
gone to such a degree that it's gone well beyond any kind of
boundary, and thus, where Islam was championing this whole cause.
Now, it's made to seem as if it is subjugating women, because it
doesn't want to give unbridled rights to both men and women.
Right. So there's a bit of confusion in that. And that's why
we have to keep talking about that the Quran speaks about the
important states and but it does speak about them, it does singled
them out for discussion in that regard. So Allah subhanaw taala,
in this particular verse speaks about the mutual roles, right, the
complementary roles, the mutual roles, and their obligations,
right, and the fate of mankind Subhanallah mark these words, the
fate of mankind is actually is interlinked between men and women,
right? There are two parts of the same body. They differ obviously,
slightly, and there is a physical appearance, etc. However, all of
this has been, you know, even the differences between men and men,
women, what's really interesting about that is that that's been
done to facilitate their pleasant relationship, and for them to be
able to fulfill the purpose and the role for which each one has
been created. Right? Most of the objectives of both of them are the
same, but in some men are better at it. And women are better at
some other things. So what's really interesting here is that
everybody came from a single soul, which is Adam Alayhis Salam that's
just amazing from a single sword that was at the mighty Salaam and
then from Eve from how are Alayhis Salam and
Masha Allah, men and women are fellow travelers in this
particular phase of life, this world is dunya. And they account
for the multiplication of the human life. Can you imagine it,
that Allah subhanaw taala blessed the companionship of Adam Ali
salaam, and how it has Salam infused them with love for one
another, right, gave them love for one another. And as a result, they
grew into the 1000s and then presently into the billions Subhan
Allah just because of that love and affection that comes from
there, this we must get an understanding of this guidance
from this for our own marriages, that at the end of the day, a
marriage is based on love. And that is the love that Allah places
there, if you do things to destroy that love to put a barrier not to
carry out that love, both husband and wife and you don't do that,
then you are going against God's plan. And that's why it's
important for us to carry that carry that on. Now. This the Quran
is probably the first book to show how humans are so interlinked,
it's probably was a radical idea to show that were so
interdependent, right. And
basically, you can't have some humans who are completely an
absolutely masters of others, right, in a sense that they don't
have any really a responsibility towards the others. Allah subhanaw
taala system in this world is such that if there's a ruler, then
while they have to demand obedience, at the same time, they
also are responsible for providing services just to look at a
teacher, student relationship. The teacher is there in the higher
position of imparting knowledge, but then their responsibility is
to nurture the student to mark the assignments to make sure they
learn. There's a responsibility attached. You cannot have an if
there is anybody in this world and there are people who seek to have
that kind of dominance.
It dominance in this world, which is completely unbridled, no
responsibility towards anybody else, they want to just suck from
everybody else and become the controller's of everything. That
is not Allah subhanaw taala is planned for this world. And that
will fail that does not work that way. Right? You just can't have
that we are interdependent. Yes, we can have positions of
authority, but they are positions of responsibility. They're not
positions of absolute dictatorship, when nobody where we
don't owe something back to people. And that is one thing that
we must keep in mind. And so likewise, it's the same thing men
cannot lead or on another point here, men cannot lead a natural,
happy life without women. And similarly, it's true of women that
they cannot happily lead a life without a male partner.
Eventually, there comes a time in life where people regret this. I
know, people who didn't marry because they were really into
their teaching or studying or some other vocation, but eventually,
they always feel lonely. There are feminists who have given up having
children, having a husband, or being able to maintain a husband,
and now they are lonely, they are lonely, and they are recounting
many of the arguments that they would put forward before.
But remember, this society can only be successful according to
the name of Allah subhanaw taala, because that's the name through
which that's whom we come together by, he's our Creator. And it's for
his sake, that we do this. And that's why Allah subhanaw taala
tells us based on this to maintain our kinship, which means our
family ties, and focus on that. That's why Allah subhanaw taala
has given us rewards, promise rewards versus hours on his
promises, rewards for maintaining ties of kinship. Those who break
the ties of kinship are considered to be condemned in this world,
they lose Baraka, they lose blessing, right? And those who do
good, they are given longer life, they are given blessing in their
life, they're given
better quality in life, these are all the these are all the
promises.
You have to remember the husband wife relationship is such that it
is marked, it sometimes becomes many times actually becomes much
stronger than a relationship of a with with one's parents, right? It
becomes much stronger because there are certain characteristics
of relationship with the wife. It's so intimate. There's no other
relationship that is that intimate. It's intimate in every
sense. There's a frankness, there's a transparency, there's a
naturalness. And that's just inconceivable in some cases, even
with one's parents. So that's why this is something that needs to be
invested in to do well in as Allah subhanaw taala has told us and of
course, the other thing which we're told in the Quran is
universal law quantumly Basler, when that they are your garments,
and you are their garments, right, which is a really important
metaphor to show that you cover one another, you protect one
another, and that is the role that we are speaking about. So Allah
subhanaw taala
shows in the Quran, that women are equally as important as men and
men cannot survive without women and women cannot survive without
men. In fact, the human race cannot continue and that is part
of Allah subhanho wa Taala is desire design. And the main point
is that both are equal in the sight of Allah subhana wa Taala
that they that they can worship Allah subhanho wa Taala and draw
as close to Allah as each as each other. May Allah subhanahu wa
taala allow us to draw close to Him and allow us to encourage one
another to do the same thing. And may Allah not allow us to be an
obstacle in this in this regard. Allah subhanaw taala bless you
all, and bless us all. Jazak Allah here, keep us in your dewasa Salam
aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.
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