Is Islam liberating or oppressing women?
How did the status of women within pre-Islamic Arabia and other regions, change after the spread of Islam?
What kind of rights have Islam entitled to women?
Can women have an active role in the Islamic society?
All these questions and more will be discussed by Sr. Alima Ashfaq, in another interesting talk of our ongoing Islam Awareness 2015.
This lecture was delivered at the Edward Herbert Building, Loughborough University on February 12, 2015.
In a model for speaking of sentiment.
So when we discuss the topic of Muslim women in Islam, or generally when we discuss the topic of men and women, the stock image that comes to mind is generally an bearded man, a bearded guy that is controlling, and he's controlling to women, and he's generally quite harsh, or the current narrative that is being portrayed in the media is that Muslim men may be deemed as extremists and terrorists. And that's why whilst I was making the presentation, I wanted to put up the picture of the three young Muslims that were murdered yesterday, because they are the image of a majority of if not all, all of a majority of Muslims. They're young, they're vibrant, and they're dynamic. They're, they're
just normal people. And when we look back within the Muslim community, and when we look at our Muslim community, we realize that being the topic of women, that there are opportunities available for women to flourish, there are opportunities available for women to study, for example, an S have a University in Cairo, it has a women's college period. We have many madrasahs in the UK, and many other offices around the world that are open to women. But we also acknowledge that we as a Muslim community, we have some issues, and we have some problems, not because of Islam, because there are cultural values that exist. And they are, they backtrack us. And it's very important when I discuss
this topic, that we acknowledge this, especially when we have Muslims and non Muslims in the audience. And I'm talking and they're like, Well, what about this? Or what about that. So it's very important from the beginning to acknowledge that we have an amazing history, and I will go over our history, I will go over amazing men, I will go over amazing women that have literally been inscribed, they have been immortalized within Islamic history, and they change the world. And let alone we have some of
the Liberator. That's what he was for, for men and women. And inshallah, we will discuss that it's quite in depth, I may not cover everything, but inshallah we didn't cover that. And in the, in the UK, we can, we'll cover that within the talk, and inshallah, I want to use contemporary examples. And so we understand that when it comes to women, it's not us just being inspired over due to the past, we can be inspired by examples here and now. And I work with amazing women. I work with a woman that has an amazing Islamic education. She's the head teacher of an Islamic school, she's going out and she's there. And she's still amazingly modest, you know, federal example. So we'll
touch upon that. Going back to the cultural barriers, we have a contemporary scholar by the name of Dr. Ackerman Dudley, and some of you may have heard of him, and Mashallah, he's literally changed the face of how we view women, due to his deep Islamic Studies in a female oriented. And he made a an amazing statement statement. He said, our traditions have grown weak, and our people are weak. He's acknowledging the problem. Before we solve a problem, solve an issue, we acknowledge that we have it, they grow and our community they go, they grow, cautious. And when they grow cautious, they don't give them women freedom. So let us acknowledge that we have an amazing history. But at this
moment of time, in the UK and around the world, there are certain problems that exist. But this is what's so amazing. When we discuss this topic. We're not discussing trends. We're discussing a religion, we're discussing our way of life that gives us the solution standard. So even me bringing up how women are treated around the world, how women are objectified, it's not that Islam, you know, it's not that you know, Muslim women were here, we don't save you. It's not about that it's about Islam. It's about understanding that Islam is there to give us a spiritual solution. Islam is there to teach us that there is a purpose to life. And we have to make sure and I want to begin with this.
We have to make sure we don't get sidetracked by the topic of women in Islam. It's just it's it's an issue, but it's not everything. And that's why many people they go down the route of feminism. Many people become dissatisfied with Islam, because they see one thing they may not do much research
And it affects everything. And that's why I'm an English teacher. And one thing I teach at an Islamic school. So what we do, and why I do is, every week we have a youth club, it's very important that these girls are going to Islamic school that we prepare them for the real world, we prepare them that, you know that they have to go out and they have to learn how to interact with the opposite gender, they have to go and they have to be vibrant, dynamic, assertive women who are going to make a difference. And I had a young girl and she came to me, she's like, I'll come to Islamic school, I come to this one school, because my parents her. You know, they wanted me to comment on
it, I and then I ended up liking it. However, from a young age my father would be, he's like, he would beat my mother. And I want to ask you a question. Is my mother allowed to divorce him? And how long have you father been abusing your mom? in tears, like 18 years, your mother should have gotten out of bed when she was, you know, beaten up, and she's like, I don't pray. I don't even I blame Islam for for the problem. And she's like, but now after attending this club, after seeing how the teachers are, and after seeing an alternative reality, my whole perception of Islam has changed. So we call don't judge it by how a certain country treats women and become an Islamic country. Just
because we have Islamic countries does not necessarily make, you know, make them Islamic. It doesn't mean they're following the Quran and Sunnah. And we have that foundation. And we have to ensure when we speak about liberation, we stick to the foundation. That's what makes us so special. That's what makes Islam so strong, because we have that foundation. And the way is not the way the Quran sorry, the way the Quran was collected. It's profound, the way the Hadees have been preserved. It's profound. We are so particular of who we take our narrations from. And going back to email narrated, it's known that there were many fabricators that were men, you know, Dr. Clement, every he makes it
really clear that there's no one woman that was a fabricator, you know, so many heads are collected for no woman is known to be a fabricator, you know, and he points that out, because he brings it up that when it came to scholarship, the men respected the women. So inshallah I'll go over that, first of all, I want to discuss the situation of pre Islamic Arabia, you know, during the time of the Prophet peace be upon him, how will How will we mistreated? You know, how would they perceive, and we know, and many of us have heard this, that young girls, young babies were buried alive, because they were women. And that still happens. Now, by the way, you know, you go to certain countries, a
woman is buried, a young baby is buried alive, because she's, she's ashamed for the community, she has no earning power, she can't defend the family. And we learn that or someone Holly's, let us know he was only blessed with the children I lived was only blessed with daughters in our bodies, let us change our perspective. And I go back that for some of these letters, when he was living in a time where women were the underclass of society, they had no values, they were not treated. Well. They, you know, they were seen as essential to society, you know, they were used for their reproductive system. And that's it. So kind of love we know. And it's well know that women were young babies were
buried alive. It's not well known that the Arabs had another way of dealing with their women. And it was the more humane way to handle life. It's amazing how they can come up with ways of being humane. What the Arabs some arms would do is if their wife had a baby girl, they lived in tents, if their wife had a baby girl, they would build a tent, and next door to them. And they'd leave that why fair, and they'd leave their child there and then abandon her. They would not give her no attention. And this is where marriage comes in. By the way, marriage and being good. Having a good, amazing marriage is by being there for each other. Emotionally, it's being there for each other financially.
It's being there for each other physically. It's an array of different things, they will deprive their women of any emotional support. And that for a woman is literally it's heartbreaking. You can break a woman down by not giving her that image
All support, so that Arabs thought they were being humane, but they do pride, health, emotions, and they deprived her of feelings. And that's pretty powerful. And there's an article that I read recently, why do women need the men they love. And the recent while a majority of women, they said is that we need the men we love, because they don't give us that emotional support. Is it justified, Allah knows best. You know, it's, that is something where the professionals and the couple comes in. But you learn that as
soon as he gave them, he gave them many rights, which I will, I will touch over there or something while somebody said, he thought he gave them about worth, he gave them that status. He allowed them to be treated as women, as individuals with emotions, individuals with feelings, and I'm going to be very careful how I treat you because you're important. And understand, even now you read these personal development books, you read, and you go to marriage counseling, or I'm not sure about all of you, if a majority of you are not married, you go to a lot of Islamic marriage courses. Even though I think a lot of Islamic marriage courses, do a lot of injustice, I went to many before I was
married. And they do injustice, because they focus so much on the rights of men, they focus so much on the rights of women, and we totally believe love of the picture. They totally leave having fun out of the picture, you learn from the life of Ross O'Malley. So let us know that his marriage was full of romance. His marriage was full of the women that actually being at times women and the men being men that they there were times where they would have fun. There were times where one of his wife, she would get so jealous, she actually caused a big issue, you know, it's been normal. So multiselect is when he didn't have a comma, and he didn't treat them badly. So Molly's letter slim
is never known to have touched his women. He never touched them. He never said a bad word to them. And that's powerful, because we have not only within the Muslim community, these are universal issues. oppression is a universal issue. Whoever makes it a Muslim issue is being very limited in their thoughts. It's a it's and this is why media comes in. We have a lot of media bias at this moment of time. Now we have a lot of media bias, and somebody will read one newspaper and like all women are oppressed, have a look at the bigger picture. So somebody said that
there was a narrative that was being inscribed, and we symbolize metal, Scott was fixing it. He was fixing the crops, and it was providing an alternative narrative. And that's why we learn that, and I'll move up now that you know the issue of gender, it's so important for us to discuss. It's important because the way men and women treat each other and the way women treat men, this is why we're being realistic. By the way. It's not only men treating women, badly, I had a sister contact me. And she mentioned that there's a woman and she's married and she's treating her elderly
quite badly. She's like, you know, what advice do you have? Do you have for her? So we have to make sure we don't fall into too much of the victim mentality. It's us, us, us. You know, this is where in Islam, there is no competition. It's not men versus women. It's that men and women will work together to create a really harmonious society, you know, we will work together to and we will set goals, we will have a vision together, and we will make a difference. This is what
I was doing. This is why there are example, within his life where he encouraged his wife. As Pamela. I'll bring this example of a teacher of the law and she was wealthy, she was known to be very attractive. She was known to support her family. So that is, you know, financially for Somalis letters of the Prophet. Peace be upon him that never came and said, I feel really
what's the word? I feel. I don't feel like a man because these have to be alone and it's providing for me financially. We know that she provided for him during the hardest time. That way when she passed away. Not only was he heartbroken, but he knew that financially the Muslim community will suffer for someone who is not Islam. The Prophet peace be upon him changed the perception of men and women. It's not that I feel inferior because a woman is too educated to be unhappy. She was from the wealthiest of society. She was financially providing for somebody that didn't feel inferior.
due to high earning power, and this is the narrative we're constantly being told. This is the narrative we are attempting to the universities. And we have to understand even scholars, by the way, or have social bias, I'm currently going through monilinia studies, even scholars have social bias. That's why there's a need for female scholars. And that's why we had so many female scholars before. That's why we had HIV alone. And she gave another perspective, not only the female perspective, but she gave another perspective, and it was essential for, you know, accepting and appreciating that this is how women feel. And that's why you read books on purification, and you
read books on, you know, law, and you realize that these are essential, you know, women are essential in creating these women are essential in writing history. And there are some artists like to stand he played a football court, when women had no rights. When women were treated correctly, when women were looked at purely is being you know, there is mothers that say, women were very limited in their roles, their only role was you there, we're going to use you are going to abuse you. And then it's gone. Even though I am very, I'm sure that there were examples within the Slavic Arabia, where there were men and women, there were men that weren't like that. So we know that we
can't generalize. We're always complaining about generalizations about the Muslim community, we have to make sure we are not generalizing women, and we are not generalizing men, that will always be good out there. And we have to recognize it. So moving on, one thing I want to mention is, you know, what kind of rights did is last Nevada, and what kind of rights did he send to Somalia for women, and one of them is that a woman is equal to men in the sight of God, a woman is equal to men in the sight of God. And in some areas, her status is even higher. And I'm going to bring up a point I will go to bring it up. But I will, is, you know, we know that when it comes to motherhood. And, you
know, for us Omani sweaters when he told us that it's so important, it motherhood is absolutely essential. And at this moment of time, I'm expecting, so you know, when you have those cakes from your child, and you, you feel your child inside of you, you understand that loves that developed, you understand the importance of me and my husband, at this moment of time, we're planning, we're planning, we go to the to this, we want to bring up an amazing child, we want to dedicate to our child, for the sake of the last part of the handout, we want to do this, we want to do that. So motherhood is it's so essential and so small, and responsiveness to the status of a woman is higher.
We don't ever hear the brother think that that's unfair. You know, why did Allah, Allah give women such a higher status, that's the way our last kind of how they did it. In his wisdom, we accept that. Similarly, there are some things where a last kind of Alex's, the husband is the one is the leader of the household, financial power, meaning he was he is, needs to be distributed in the family, if the woman wishes to earn, and she has the right to earn, that that's her money, and her money does not have to be financially distributed. And that's the wisdom of the last part of ohana. And that's the way we did it. And as my husband is completely emic, I can feel his training. You
know, when you get married, you worry about it. We need to buy a house, I need to provide for my children. And that's a big strain on the husband. So sometimes we when we see that the men have these rights, that's not fair. And we are unable to appreciate the realistic element to it. You know, being number one, being the leader, it's not a privilege. It's a responsibility. Being a Muslim. It's not a privilege. It's a responsibility for Somali. So that was totally changing the way we perceived our roles. He ensured as he reminded us, and he made it very clear that women, men and women are equal in the sight of a law standard. And I know many girls and I teach young girls, they
feel like men that the man has been created better than them, not because the last part of the island sees it. It's because how sometimes their family and the community treat them and this
Here's where we go back to the foundation. And this is why our foundation is so powerful in bringing, bringing a change in society. And so going back to the right, a woman has, she's equal in the sight of God that she is celebrated and she's appreciated, men are celebrated and they are appreciated. Number two, is that the right to educate in secular Islamic Society, as well as to teach men and women. And I'll give you examples of women who taught in the masjid of Somalis LED lamps, the prophet has been on him, and it was okay. And it's so important that we do halabi in Islam, we make gender such a big issue. It's like a economist speak to the opposite gender because
it's an issue not in Islam, sorry, some Muslims and even me being, you know, we lend our Somalis with Islam and a last primatologist, who just wants to get by gender interaction, that be professional, be passionate, it's as simple as that. Don't complicate it be professional. I've worked in the workplace. I'm expected to be professional and working with a male colleague, I'm expected to hold up certain values and act in a certain way. That's exactly why Islam seems don't overcomplicate it. You know, Islam is not about companies that negation, if Islam was about company segregation, then in the Prophet's mosque, there would have been a barrier, there was no barrier,
they just had separate interests is in hedge, the men and women go around the car together, you know, there are rules in place, for example, number one, make interaction purposeful, be purposeful, in your interaction, be respectful, respect each other's face. These are the principles that are within, within Islam, to just to make life easy for us to protect us. So we need to make sure that
as women we understand and as men, we understand these principles, and that we studying is so important. It opens your mind. And that's why as Muslims By the way, you know, we are expected to know the basics of Islam. This falls into a fifth what is the fifth is, you know, everything that goes on in our daily in our daily lives, the basic fifth, we are expected to know why. We just expect it is supposed to make our life easy for us. It is supposed to help us live a fulfilling life pleasing God, that safe going back to the purpose of life, taking women out of the picture, because then just one aspect we do to Muslims, and at times, so Muslims treating them badly and YouTube,
media bias, media bias or we have to acknowledge things, a lot of media bias. For example, the niqab issue, the face covering how much of the Muslim community in in Britain wear the niqab, even less than 1%. It was on the front of us, how is a niqab, a woman and we go on about Sweden. You know, I love I'm from Britain, I hardly go back to where my parents are born. You know, I, I like being here. This is my country. How much what problems do we have in the UK, housing is a woman woman harming anyone in society, how many in the hobby a woman actually choose to work, they make that choice that they don't, they don't want to work, it should be a choice. niqab should be a choice. If
the niqab is being forced on a woman dies on Islamic to begin with. But it went an issue that we have the media that come in, we have a very irresponsible media that demonizes certain communities, and one of them is Muslim. And that's why we have an outpour of abuse against the Muslim community. And you only have to go on The Daily Mail on the on the comments section. You only have to check out a few mediums on Facebook. And it's there. It's not an IOC this we as Muslims. And you know, generally anybody any society that has been abused, it's not about seeking sympathy is an honorable, dignified individual. I dislike seeking sympathy from from people. Don't feel sorry for me. Don't
feel sorry for the Muslim community. Don't feel sorry for women. Acknowledge you have a problem. So innocent people are not a threat and innocent people are not harmed, not about being the victim. It's about seeking a solution and fixing it. So going back to the right is that women are encouraged to be dynamic, assertive, and become virtuous within their personality, a lot kind of guy that, you know, he wants us to be dynamic. He wants me to
habit, he wants you to have a personality, he wants you to have a personality. We know that even Muslim men, sometimes they stop practicing Islam, and they leave everything. Like I have to be so linear, no dynamic, you You're, you're humorous, you have such an amazing sense of humor, you know, you're assertive, you're confident, be everything. Just be dedicated to God. That's it simple. And even your struggle in being a good person. That's just a lifelong struggle. And we have I'm big on personal development. By the way. I read personal development books all the time. My my library is pretty big. It's universal, that you want to improve yourself. Islam is literally all about personal
development. It's about personal development. It's about being better. And a Lost Planet. Allah has given us the solution to be better. We just follow it. And I haven't covered a bunch, right. But finally, a woman is seen and perceived in a positive light. She was a blessing and not a burden. And she was a vocal part of Islamic societies and essential to the growth and development of societies. We know that women were jurists. We know that women, they were leaders, they weren't judges, they were an honorable, hardtop. And you know, a Hungarian photographer, they are loving these with him. He is the seventh Khalifa, I'm going to bin Hassan is known within some circles, to be really rough
to be really tough. And we've done injustice to on the behalf of the law. And the reason why we've done injustice, we know that he was he was very principled, but to paint him in a rough way, allows harshness to occur in our circles. Palmerston, Hertzog allocated a woman to look after the marketplace. She was the market Inspector, founder of in Qatar was the one who was very full of women being modest women, and being quote unquote, professional, he was very for it for honorable hotel had no problem in allocated a woman to be the market Inspector, because 100 hubs of wind using gender as the thermometer, he went the measuring stick for him, it was skilled, and I've worked in
Islamic organizations, where some of them may have been cultural. And all the the and this was at the beginning, by the way, the beginning 100 I changed it change because we came in and we're like, you know, we can't have it like this, where the brothers, they said that, you know what, they have to be the head, the brothers have to be the heads, because they're brothers because they're guys. And when I call them a second, and we said fine, it's okay. But over time, you realize that the organization wasn't doing very well, because they put gender on the pedestal, and they put skills number two. So if you're going to put skills number two, your your your organization will suffer.
And this is where we learned that a woman was she was essential to the growth of society. She was constantly helping, and for it to develop. And that's why recently in the news, you may have seen the Manchester scientist that passed away who saw that story. Okay, a Manchester site, she I believe she came up with a new way of growing crop. She was at Derby, a scarf wearing a Muslim scientist, she had a PhD, her father was known to be a prominent figure, I believe from Sudan. So we have contemporary figures that we can look up to, that our women can look up to. And we can learn that you can be very Islamic, you can be a good Muslim woman, but you don't have to be limited in your
roles. And that's been what we learn. And I won't go over the rights much screenshot of life in the q&a, and they come up and brilliant for roadmap going forward in women in Islamic history. Everybody loves examples, right? So one thing we learn is that women have played a big role.
Okay, so the mean, so we'll just go over these women and then inshallah we'll continue there. So
women have made a, an important a vocal role in defusing the rating, teaching, critique, critiquing, and basically issuing rulings within the Muslim community. And one thing we'll note by the way, these are not anomalies. These aren't odd example, one from the one from the one from where it was a tradition that women were part of scholarship. It was tradition, it was very normal. Somehow I think about it now, the male scholars at that time and the female scholar
was at that time would be shocked to learn the state of our community now, they will be shocked. They were traditional scholars. And we learned that the men in their lives, meaning the female scholar, or the female activists, the men in their lives were there to support them. They were there to encourage them, meaning their fathers were the moms, the whole fathers, and the jurists of society. They were the conservative men of society, but they were there to encourage that their women, they were there to support them. They weren't there to help them fulfill their dreams, and to fulfill their vision. And it's my as Muslims. You know, the, the what happened recently, and his
brother was CME released an amazing video, that the center of a lot of optimism, and we've lost that center, you know, when I'm optimistic that I really want to do something amazing in my life is a man is a woman is a member of the Muslim community, I wanted to meet an amazing legacy behind that the way they were thinking especially is, you know, you as university students, or whatever professions, you have a lot of Allah, He expects you to be amazing. He expects you to be great for somebody. So with Islam, he was inscribing, a history of high standards. And they followed them and these examples of that for us. So the first example, and I'm going to be really,
they're not up there, but I'm going to mention it mentioned it quickly, the mother of Mary and it said a name was Hannah, Marian, having said that her father was Iran. He was a prophet of a lot, a prophet of God, the mother of mathematics, that she had a vision, she wanted a child, and she wanted a child that would be dedicated to a lot and have her husband was still alive. But tragically, her husband passed away from Iran. And then she's like, Okay, I'm going to have a child. And insha, Allah, Allah, Allah bless them. And I'm going to dedicate my child to Allah, and it's going to be your voice. And I'm going to cut over quite a bit, but a lot of kind of bad. I've left her with a
girl. And she asked, it's just like, I've had a girl, you know, that's really strange. I expected the last kind of toddler to give me a boy, because I wanted him to be a leader of the community. A lot of Alison, I'm all knowing, you know, I know. And I know better than you, I know why I've given you. And throughout we learned that gender doesn't matter when it comes to making the difference we learn by and these are just inspiring lessons I want to throw out before I go into these sci fi sit in the wife of federal, and, you know, Molly Smith, and he spent this length of the law, he he shared her example with us because as he was married to an oppressor, she was married to an
oppressor. However, due to her accepting Islam, he disagreed, because he had a certain perception of himself very arrogant. You know, for him, everything has been about faith. And you realize that NCR incident was not defined by her husband, as he on insulin was defined by how she perceived herself, fame and money money set up in the Quran, she's not known is the mother of a son, the mother of Jesus. But again, honey syrup is known for our worship. She's known for her being, she's known for the change she has made in society. And that's why the symbols of change, you know, this, that the powerful symbols that unforgettable legends, we can never forget them, we appreciate them. And
regardless of whether you're Muslim or not, you look at these live their lives and learn lessons that are not defined by anybody. I'm not defined by my family. A lot of Muslims come from non practicing families, that parents may not be praying or their parents may be a certain way. You're not defined by your parents, you love them, you respect them, because they deserve that respect, but you're not defined by them, I'm still going to go out there, I'm still going to be a good listener, I'm still going to make an effort. We are defined by a situation with what's happening around the UK and quite relevant, we are not defined by the actions of a few Muslims who are committing apostasy
when I say the word but who are committing terrible acts around the world, one of them devices, we are not defined by them, and we will never be defined by them, because we have them because we have the plan and because we have this enough, and they are powerful enough for us, but I won't mention this, I leave a copy of the talk. One thing I'll do is I'll email out to you, that can be a very in depth, I've missed out a lot of things. So whoever wants the notes and inshallah you can have them and going back, we have the example of
Xena is Tamil, she passed away in 740 kG 740 years after either the hater of the Prophet peace be upon him meanings, they women was still going strong men are still going strong. And she is was a hanbali of Damascus that was her method. And she transmitted popular and major word such as Sahil, the highly personal and the motor of a Momeni going back in, and the tutor, he received a gesture from her. And, you know, for his book, you know, women were given a Jesus, it was a big thing. I mean, the women will have such a high level of scholarship that will, regardless of whether they were men or women, they were, they were giving them ages. And that's how you learn that we have
examples of the
shih tzu. And even though my one who was asleep at that time, there was nothing that I can't learn from women, the women were there, we just know there is our society. It's just like, I worked in an organization. My boss, my employer had no problem coming up to me and saying to me, okay, I'ma you know, what do you think about this, it was a normal part of society. It all existed within Islamic history. But we have to be willing to look past the current narrative that is being pushed down our throats are being taught to us, or the example is Secretary of Labor by example. She's a distinguished hedgies scholar in the sixth century of Asia, she was the daughter of the hottie, yaku
instalay. Man, she had her studies of Hades, under the guidance of her grandfather and her brother. And then she educated women and men for a long time, meaning, it was never about competition, it was never about limiting and opening it up. Now, it was never about limiting the woman to the role of motherhood and white coat. It was never made out into the opening rows for a woman. It was never that being a Muslim and wife is the only way to go to Jenna. We know St. Ali Salam was not a mother, we know a Chateau de la and was not a model. We know that. And we still push it, you know that those are your only roles. There are four roles, you know, to be a wife and to be in love and to be in a
good, healthy, happy marriage. It's absolutely beautiful. You know, Mashallah, I will say that, but to limit the women, the woman, just to that is an injustice on her. Trust me, women get depressed, when they are surrounded by two to three crazy kids driving them mad. You know, they need, you need a vision they need to grow. And we need to make sure by the way, us as women, sometimes we do this, and this men don't belittle the role of motherhood, it's tough. I see my sister in law, and I'm like, I don't know how to do it. You know, it's hard. It's sometimes we we respect professional women so much, that we belittle the role that a woman has made the choice to have herself, if a
woman has made her goal that I want to look after my household, I want to look after my husband, I want to look after my children, good for you. That's your choice. 100 a lot, you know, so we're balanced, we balanced in the way we perceive women, we're balanced in the way we perceive each other. And we're balanced in ensuring that, you know, we have the respect. So one thing I'll do is
I missed that quite a bit that I wanted to cover beige, Allah, I'll send out the notes. So I'm hoping that this has given you an you know, some form of desire that you want to go out there and I'm hoping I've changed your perspective. And so in a nutshell, and hopefully I've inspired you will ensure that you go out you see each other in a different light. And you know, your last dollar you know, blessing that. So I end up with the
issue and, and really, anything good has been from a lot of data and any mistakes I have made I apologize for and the pharmaceutical industry. So to express our sincerest gratitude towards
snam awareness season. Just before we go into a q&a session, I'm going to deliver a short closing statement season,
which will conclude tonight without subtracting too much time from the q&a. I just like to express our gratitude to all
of my team and
helping us to have this together for everybody here today. And I hope you will benefit from this event. And for all those who have in attendance or activities and it's also the last week as well.
But there is more to come in next Tuesday, you may have heard Up to
now, we have some special coming down from the US that isn't to park himself. If he if he was to come down
with
a member of this group, that means outlaws Napoleon is coming down next week Tuesday, if only the slides stay, they're supposed to
distribute very thing on the 17th day is 7pm we'll be delivering an inspirational talk on his transformation of going from a lifestyle of
fame.
Having wealth seeking glory, attention, and then taking a radical transformation towards one that was a little more comical as a submissive Muslim force of law. This is a tunity. And I would say to everybody in this room today,
while sitting in front of you, because we don't we do not come across this too often, particularly, or someone of his caliber stick hits would be available. And you can drive folder, please join me after the talk. That price that 10 pounds, that's just a cover of breaking down here. But to make it seem a little more reasonable for all of you providing a middle common form of the lambdas to extend it rather than tight. So it's truly an event that is going to live long in the memory and is beginning to capitalize upon. I'm going to introduce my friend we saw in his conducting a study
hoping to recruit participants with psychology students
in the preferred insurance awards.
Hello. So I'm going to 30 psychology students who said and my dissertation study is also in kind of similar, it's my reference, these talks are relevant to the talk which is which has had some impacts of the media. Also, I can't admit that some of the impacts of the media towards attitudes towards
me,
right. Okay, so I'm 30 a second edition. My dissertations relevant with regard to the court just said some of the impacts of the media towards attitudes towards listeners. So, in my study, I want fresh Muslims and non Muslims male or female, anybody ready
to take part
to simply bother with the demographic questionnaire receives an actual media footage and kind of this implicit
attitude attitudes of experts attitudes that has, so that experts attitudes is basically kind of what you say you believe in? So there's a question I hope so to fill out. Implicit attitudes is kind of a computer program where he kind of measures the attitudes you may be expressed to others, but you hold inside. So kind of this this computer, it's quite simple, easy to do takes five minutes, but it's kind of interesting to kind of make distinguish that should you actually know an answer to expresses a different kind of that's what kind of hope to find out. In addition to that there's also a focus group.
It's kind of picking up have any group of teachers, you
want a bit bit discussions about issues of the media, Muslims and Islamic conflict or some kind of issues, or
only some forms of defense and literally, if you are interested, doesn't declare kind of indefinitely, and just of interest. So name, their contact email, I can provide further information. And now I'll be sticking around. So if you have any questions, just give us
a hope we can move constantly towards another set by participate within the study. As we mentioned, there'll be signup sheets here at the front.
Just for you to declare them insurance isn't necessarily any real commitment towards the study itself. We'll move on to the q&a session now, if anybody has questions, but yet may not want to sign up,
express them and you can just scribble them down on a piece of paper, pass them to the fun, there's anything interesting academic dress. So questions.
So we know that Islam provides true sense of liberation.
For women,
and we've got examples in this blank text of things that women did and women's bodies. Why do you think it is that over time, we've deviated so much from the principles of Islam that give women rights and stages? So much so that now Islam has somehow become the face of Buddhism?
Okay, so the question is that
yeah.
So the question is that I'm paraphrasing, so,
remind me if I forgotten is that within Islam, we have examples of liberation, the prophet peace be upon him, you know, he, he liberated women. However, why is it over time that we as a community have deviated
from from his message without covenant?
Okay, so the reason why is there are many reasons. One is there was an influence of the
Roman texts within the Muslim community community, as the Muslim community became fragmented, it was affected by different things. So one of those was is, for example, Islam. Islam went into certain countries that had,
where we were mentioning, names in in cases found like home, I'm generalizing This, however they went. A lot of individuals became less than doubled from certain cultures, as they embrace Islam, they bought their culture with them. And due to the lack of knowledge that they had, they were unable to differentiate growth. So what liberates us it's knowledge, knowledge liberates us more liberated, the prophet peace be upon him was the revelation from a lot from reality, knowledge is everything. So they lacked knowledge. So their perceptions of women were bought in the way they treated them. Another thing is, when Muslim, the Muslim community became fragmented. Here's the
thing that and I mentioned, the state of that Dr. Ackerman, as he said, is that when our traditions become weak, when there is a lack of female scholarship, when there is a lack of study, then men become and the community and as many women that are very oppressive, they become cautious, and in turn, they deprive the women of freedom. So number one is lack of knowledge. Number two, it's the influence of their culture, and being unable to differentiate. And number three is the lack of female scholarship, women have a great impact on, you know, Islamic Studies, if there are a lot of women, then you will have male scholars now that are affected by their social circumstances. So they
are literally they're going to say what they have been taught, and what they see, is it their fault. Remember, as an Islamic scholar, if you gave a ruling, that's correct, you are rewarded. If you give a ruling, that's incorrect, but it's been based on your research, then you still
you're still rewarded. But as long as it's not harmful to society, for example, I was going to do an Arabic book, and you have sent in the vocab is very anti women. And our teacher made it very clear. It's like, we've got a scholar here, who Yes, he was very
knowledgeable, but when it came to his perception of women, he wasn't. And that's what we need to realize. We have scholars that are amazing aqidah, they are amazing. But that does not make them experts in women. We have to differentiate when it comes to that. But we still respect our scholarship. What we've done is a lot of women have gone down the route and a lot of individuals have gone down the route they have made, you know, all our scholars and scientists, you can't do that. Because our scholarship is rich, you have to differentiate. And Mashallah we have I mean, you you realize these women that are the scholars, their fathers were very happy and they want to them
to contribute. So I would say there's more to it. But that's that's a quick overview. And, yeah.
Soon as I've started,
various aspects, and so on, so they weren't nominees.
I will just say,
so people can find a platform to
save some
time for themselves.
If the question is those have not heard is that I mentioned that the women in the past they will not anomalies? And how can we create that change within the oma to make that difference? Here's the thing, last kind of as I just wanted us to focus on what's in our control. So that's number one. And it's very important that we have that principle. Because if we don't, we'll become depressed. We'll be like, you know, what about the Muslims in Iraq? What about, and remember, we as Muslims, it's our faith, we do not put Muslims on a pedestal and forget everybody have other friends, you know, who doesn't have the face of Islam? We take everyone into consideration. So how should I make a change
over there? How should I make a change? And so you, brother, you, if you live in North America, and if you live in this community, you analyze your community around you? How can I support? How can I change the perception of men? You've come to this talk, I will send the notes to the rather, how can I you know, what can you share on social media? What can I share with my messages? You will obviously it's a very difficult but you know, what can I share with my family, you don't know the effect you can have on your family, you have no idea what change you can bring. Sometimes, we become so frustrated with our families that we just can't focus on everyone else, change the way your
family is perceiving everything, and on a larger scale. And Dr. Ackerman nettv, he has his book and he said, you know, ensure that people are reading that book, there are many lectures out there, and Mashallah, there is a movement, there's movement taking place where women are becoming more active, we just need to make sure that we take into consideration the spiritual aspect. It's not we are focusing so much on equality, which is so essential that we forget that the number one thing that matters, and it matters for us is spirituality. How is my connection with Allah? You know, so focus on air quotes on everything. So number one, focus on what's in your control, share the knowledge
that you have only say that, so you don't feel like you know, how can I make a big difference? Number two is if some of you have a goal, if this is your goal, you know, I want to raise the status, I want to bring equality within the community, then go back and do some research, use, do research and start sharing get something as simple as using this information, creating a few fliers and sharing them on social media, giving them to msgid. It's very, it's very small, but it's very effective. So do certain actions like this, and focus on your systems if you have sisters, and if you have family members Focus, focus on ensuring that they have all the opportunities to you know,
to be women to be dynamic to be amazing. And insha Allah to be amazing worshipers of a lot. You know, that should be our aim. Our aim should be, you know, insha Allah with me last time. I want him to be happy to have you with me.
Afternoon.
No, no, of course.
We should have a community goals. We should we should have family goals, community goals. This this is the way I did it. When I few years ago, I have my my my own personal goals. I have community goals. I have national goals. And I have International goals. That's me as canalys and I was reading my journal and I'm like, Oh my God, I've actually achieved a lot of them. So yes, you have that scope. And it can this can be one of your goals. We need to and you all need to set goals for yourself. Have that scope. be optimistic. They say that if you don't set goals, what are you going to make docile? So set your goals? No, the last kind of Tada, you know, he, he can do anything. So
if your goal is so vague, that it's unachievable, then bring it down, then it'll be a bit unrealistic because you're dealing with a loss of the honor and when we've got a lot harder to Allah and answering that, and we can do anything we want to do. So that's a vote on however big you want. It's a good thing.
Something
you know, a few days ago, the Islamic Society organized a talking speech. Okay, we're discussing modernity, and Islam, which I think is relatively interlinked with some of the points that you've made. Now, one of the things that the brother mentioned
a couple of days ago, that I thought was really, really important, was the concept of Orientalism, studying the east. And basically, he, he discussed a lot of a lot of imports of photography that relies on the church, oppressing the people, the people wanting to basically read the themselves of the authority of the church. And then eventually, a lot of the kingdoms, basically vanquishing the love of the kingdom, and establishing secular states throughout Europe. Now, the important part of this was that there were certain ideals, that the people at the time agreed upon one of them being freedoms. Now, my personal opinion, I think absolute freedom is as true as a Tuesday. I don't think
he exists. And I think this is explicit within some of the discussions that have been taking place within France and the hypocritical nature of them. Now, you mentioned a certain point about liberation, and about the need for women having freedom. Now, one of the points that was interesting that I think is linked to the point that you made, the point that brother majority that he made a few days ago, was there was a movement within Europe, to study Islam, and these people who are called orientalist, but the purpose of the study of Islam was not to study Islam for what it is, it was to study Islam, so you could close your eyes, okay. And you can not just realize the the
physical resources have realized the ones as well. And this whole notion of a Muslim woman is oppressed, and she has to be liberated. Now, I think as an owner, we've just generally got problems all over, okay, men have women. And that's just the case. But to come from this notion of this angle, that the Muslim woman has somehow oppressed and needs to be liberated. In my humble opinion, this is a view that has been propagated past and present by Orientalism, and to even have this discussion within these parameters is itself an oppression of oneself. So do you have any thoughts on that?
point, I was just trying to remember everything.
But brilliant point, going back is sorry, that was another thing that brother mentioned it for me is that it was the effect of certain Western countries that we want to liberate women. So they came and they put certain they, they sold a certain paradigm to Muslims, that actually was more harmful to society. And that's why I never went into it. That, you know, how can Islam, you know, how can Islam benefit us in the UK? How can the rulings that Allah, Allah gave, you know, what can we learn from them? Why are we having this discussion? Because, and not that there's a need for it? Because one is Islam Awareness Week. Number two is because we have, there's a paradigm and there's a narrative that
is gold, that Muslim women are oppressed. And that's why I made it very clear in this talk, that for me, it's going back to the basics. It's about showing that Islam is the solution, not necessarily just for women issues, because we're doing an injustice to the topic. So women in Islam, we're not, we're not oppressed, we don't need to be liberated. But there are certain communities around the world who happen to follow the Islamic faith who are in need to have coming back to Islam. So those are my comments. That wasn't really a question that I could answer that is a good a good point. So I hope, a comment. Well, come on, Your Honor. The only issue I have with that is if you're allowing
someone else to set the parameters of the discussion. That is the discussion, even your own unique discussion with someone else opposing it, I think is dangerous. Okay. And in one way, what we're doing is we're fighting fire with fire. We are when we were putting out a fire, which in reality, we shouldn't be here in the first place. But we are we have to do what's in our control. Otherwise, what what solution do you suggest?
What solution do we have? If we're not going to if I as a speaker I'm not going to do what I am doing right now is just coming here and sharing something with you. If the ISOC is not going to hold this talk to change the misconception with fighting fire with fire standard
But what are the solution at this moment of time do we have at the best we can do. And a lot of data will only ask us about what I had the ability to do what you had the ability to do, and what difference we made anything out of that. We're not going to be questioned about it. So you're right. But just Let's do our best.
And actually, I've taken from everything that's happened over the last many, many years, I've been searching for a very long time. And the changes that I've seen come and I can tell there's now a lot of things that haven't been easy. And what's nice about the students, I think we need to see these as opportunities. And I think we have to be very honest. And I think we need to be very upfront, you said that there are things happening
around the world, and different will continue to move as well. They're actually happening very much here, in the name of Islam. And when something is wrong, as Muslims, we have a duty to God tell us how to correct those things. Otherwise, what are you doing with that message? What are you doing with that knowledge and what you're doing dynamic? We shouldn't become defensive about these things and say, why should we stand here and say, as long as the moment I absolutely agree, that, you know, in the sight of others comes out in sight of God Almighty.
Otherwise, I wouldn't be a Muslim. Otherwise, I reject it. But I believe it elevates me. And it raises me and you know, it makes me a much better human being whether I'm a male or female, but at the same time, we should take these things is bombarded with economic as an opportunity to right the wrongs that have been committed in Linux. And they are mandated and we should not put our heads in the sand and say, Oh, no, this is all the media and this is always trying to have a go. Okay, Yes, they are. Yes. But then there is a lot of wrongdoing committed in their guts and being committed In the name of Allah subhanaw taala, there was a lot of wrongdoing committed with an M homosassa than
she was the most gentle, most humble, most caring, most compassionate person, he was sent also, he was sent to the mercy. And if you look at what's happening in the Muslim community, what is missing communities around the world, they are devoid of mercy, or they are devoid of compassion. And we need to take the opportunity that these things have been highlighted. Don't look at them as bombardments and take the defense to deal with the reality as Muslims, this is our duty, this is our job. It only says for why do we have to stand up and make a case for this. This is an opportunity. I like to write this is what I think that the optimism is a lost center. It is everything, everything.
And this is why whenever I've given a talk on the topic of women in Islam, but I love the topic of spirituality. Whenever I give a talk on spirituality, I remind the men and women that Allah that in life, you will go through hardships, you will. But last kind of Tada, you know, he's allowing you to fold so you can pick yourself up again. And we as Muslim community, we are literally picking up pieces, but we will be rewarded for every single piece that we pick off and put back in its rightful place. That's why they say hypno wisdom, and linguistically it means putting something back in its right place. That's what we're doing. So you know, Mashallah, both. good points. And it's nice to
hear that you are concerned and sharing your thoughts.
In terms of stripping away part of the question. That's the
sisters that are shy, we are the brothers.
This work of addressing this question is you mentioned that Muslim women need to act as professionally as the fineness ie
the bid according to Islamic laws. So these have rules, but you can have to act according to our laws, rules about how we're
going to allow laws rules, despite the mixing. Okay. How do you define the medicine? You know, everybody has different standards. So we have to go back to principles, you know, you'll have someone come and say to you, you're free mixing right now, you know, you're too close to each other. You know, so everybody has different standards. We go back to the standard that Allah has said, there are and they always fit my mind. There are 10 guidelines to gender interaction, which are absolutely amazing. One is make the interaction purposeful, when you are University, make digital change, interaction purposeful, respect each other's
space, sorry. That's when we know that as men and women, we are a tool by law.
Tada, don't touch a woman that's not related to you. And so respect each other space, make sure there's no touching involved.
And
they always it slipped my mind is that make the interaction purposeful, respect each other's face, make sure there's no follow up, make sure you're not alone with each other. And I'll send them to your post them up. So as long as you follow these principles, then it's fine. How How, how deep Do you want to go? How much do you want to segregate? We know that our marine hataoka didn't know, he was still concerned about gender segregation. But I do know and had no problem. And it's recorded in the vocal Dr. Nedley. And he's done much deeper research, and he's a better scholar than a lot of us over here, you know, all over here is better. So sometimes when I give a name, when I stroke, the
law, I'm gonna have a brother, you'll have a sister, like, Where did you get that from? You know, and that doesn't make sense. We have to respect our scholarship, he he was there, and she followed the principles, and it was fine. So make sure you respect each other. And if you need to interact, interact, and However, if here's the thing, if you're interacting with someone, and you haven't, you know, you feel like you're developing feelings or something, or you have that nature is then you have two options. Either one, if she if you wish to, or if you wish to further your relationship with her, then approach her respectfully, if you don't wish to further your relationship with her,
then don't waste your waste her time in the first place. So there are solutions there. And I know many examples of sisters and brothers who have led each other on, and then later on, they're not interested. It's very unfair on that person to do that to them. But that's from a I always bring this up from a university perspective, because
that's what concerns you, a lot of you. But that's actually a really follow the agenda interruptions and Jeff agenda principles. And as long as you stick to them in the final, here's the thing, you'll always go up and down. But as long as you're true to yourself, as long as you treat a loss, other than you'll always pick yourself up again, number one thing that the Prophet peace be upon him taught us was respect, respect, if you wouldn't want something done to your sister, if you wouldn't want something done to your mother, then don't do it to anyone else. Stan, it's simple as that. Yeah.
I don't think the brother said that.
The question was, but I'm still need for cutting you in. But one thing is where the system mentioned that you said that the talk should be organized, I don't have a theme I've ever said the purposes that have been laid down, the boundaries have been laid down, or appear to be orientalist in nature. So maybe we should shift the goalposts in regards to the discussion. That's completely different to saying that taking place. But
I just want to say that
from Nonis.
It makes you aware about what the other perspective is we just talk about even today, even though the data breaches caught up.
And it's not
the point of view.
It's good to actually hear about it, because we want to argue for security. And we need to know.
And I think I think it's so amazing that you can you know anybody who's non slim here, I applaud you for coming in the first place because to actually come to a talk of another faith, and just for the sake of learning information. And that's why we always tell them, it's good and we should encourage our non Muslims and non Muslim friends to come just so they can learn an alternative. Remember, Islam is not all about confessional. Islam is about this is why we say about that. My husband is the Tao school in town every Saturday, and I raised you know, it's, it's not about conversion. It's about sharing an alternative reality. So insha Allah we have we don't have problems with each other,
the Messenger of Allah peace be upon him, lived for 10 years in Mecca, and in a non Muslim community, and we can learn so much classes. You know, there was a time when he went to the non Muslims for help, because he was being oppressed so badly, you know, his own uncle with with a non Muslim and he loved
To do it, and until the day he passed away the Prophet peace be upon him would go to him, he would treat him lovingly, you know, I'm going to add Alba karate, and his mother was a non Muslim and he was like, you know how my mom's non Muslim you know, what should I do? And the messenger all of these people have like three high respect for the three her well she is your mom in regardless of your faith. So we need to remember these things into perspective that we are here to share the message of this family to people who are Muslim or not and we hope inshallah, that we can portray a good message. So thank you.