Muslim women and the ummahâ is a topic of great importance to us in this time and era, because the issue of Muslim women has become the central issue by which Islam is attacked. Most of those who speak ill of Islam do so from the perspective of Muslim women. Therefore, it is very important for Muslim women to be conscious of their role in the ummah today. The role of women is clearly defined in the Quran and sunnah but how many of us know about these roles? What are they and how can we implement them in our lives? Listen to this lecture to find out inshaAllah.
Bilal Philips – Muslim Women and the Ummah
AI: Summary ©
The discussion on the importance of men and women in Western civilization is highlighted, including the natural roles of women in the natural order of family life and the natural importance of men in the natural order of family life. The speakers emphasize the need for men to specialize in gynecology and learn the necessary knowledge for the community to function properly. The importance of women in political and cultural roles is also emphasized, as it is required for men to specialize in gynecology to serve the needs of the Muslim community. The importance of practicing proper family planning and not using birth control to avoid potential harm is also emphasized.
AI: Summary ©
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operations due to a law and laws Peace and blessings on the last prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and all those who follow the path of righteousness until the last day.
The topic, Muslim woman, and the oma
is a topic, which is of great importance to us
in this time in this era,
because
the issue of the Muslim woman has become the central issue by which or from which Islam is attacked.
Most of those who speak ill of Islam who speak against Islam, do so from the perspective of the Muslim woman.
And
it is it is very important for Muslim women to be conscious of their role islamically in the oma today, because these ideas, these attacks seek to change the Muslim woman's role from the role that was understood
from 1400 years ago, when prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam came with the Quran, where the role of women was clearly defined in the Quran.
In this one now,
Muslims lived without questioning about the role of women. Now, there are some issues, which Muslim woman asked the Prophet sallallahu Sallam about gaining information to clarify their responsibilities, etc. In certain particular legal matters. But the overall role of women was understood, because it's the Islamic teachings do not bring a new role to women, which wasn't already known by the whole of the world at that time.
What Islam did was where that role was distorted, where it was corrupted, where women were looked down upon Islam corrected, replace,
gave new laws to protect the rights of women.
But the general role of women
as part of the family,
the basic unit of society, that role was known.
And that role remains the same in most of the world.
However, in the 20th century,
and the 21st century,
a change has taken place in that role in western civilization.
The change began as a female
rights seeking movement,
women's liberation movement, the suffragette movement, there are different names for it, were women, initially sought equal pay for equal work.
And Islam is perfectly in favor of that.
The two people do the same work, they should be paid equally. That is fair. However, that movement evolved into something else. A movement which sought to make men and women
equal in all respects.
And here is where the role of women in western civilization changed.
Women who are now considered half of the workforce. So any society, which would not promote, its women going out and working as a whole, they are hampering the development of the nation, because half of the workforce is not operational as a new perspective, where women now competed with men for jobs, which were traditionally men's jobs,
putting men out of work. And of course, when men are out of work, then it affects the family structure, when a man can no longer provide for his family, his wife and his children, he can no longer do that, then the family structure starts to crumble.
So these changes, which continued and the women's liberation movement, actually, in the later stages became a lesbian movement, a movement which hated men.
They wrote against men and the oppression of men all through history, and homosexuality, lesbianism became a norm among many of those women who call at that stage now to equal or equality between men and women. So that movement
sought after liberating itself in North America, they felt it was their duty to go and liberate the rest of their sisters around the world.
And they have succeeded in many of the countries that we know of the other countries, even outside of Europe, and America,
and basically the last frontier for them, and for that movement is the Muslim woman.
She is the only one today who does not enjoy the freedoms, as they put it, the freedoms of Western cultural liberation of women.
So, you as women have become their target.
They write, they hold conferences, they speak, they project images, on the television, in the magazines, whatever they are promoting this particular unnatural agenda.
From the Muslim, the Islamic perspective,
the types of issues that
we find Western feminists and others raising
our issues which,
when taken out of the context of the Islamic Society and the Islamic
culture, they may seem strange to them, for example,
inheritance.
If the father dies, he leaves a son and a daughter, the daughter gets one third, and the son gets two thirds. In Western civilization, it's 5050 5050. If the man has not left the will.
And of course, in western civilization, if the man who dies, leaves a will, saying that all of his wealth
is to be used to look after his dog.
None for his son and daughter, then that's how the will is applied.
That's a point to keep in mind when they like to project this issue of men and women. Because they look at wealth as being the personal property of the individual. This is capitalism view to do with as
He or she pleases. So there are many cases.
This example I'm giving you is not something, which is far from reality. There are many cases of many famous personalities, who left their wealth for their cats, for the dogs,
for their canaries, birds, and left nothing for the children, wives, children, etc. There are many cases.
And those families fought in court and they lost, because that is the law in the West. So the issue that they raise, why shouldn't the male get the same as the female? Why should it be two thirds for the male, one third, for the female?
The issue is that that is a question for them, they have a problem with this issue. Why, because when a male or female young person reaches the age of puberty, and a bit above that 1516, then they are expected to go out on their own, and look after themselves.
no distinction is made between the male and the female, both have to go out and look after themselves. So naturally, if both have to go out, and look after themselves, equally, then if wealth is to be shared, it makes sense that it is shared equally.
So that is Western civilization. However, in Islam,
the view of responsibility in terms of the male and the female is different.
Though a male may be expected to go out and look after himself once he reaches his late teens, etc, is graduated, the female remains the responsibility of the Father. Until she marries,
it's different.
She remains the responsibility of the Father until she marries. If she marries, and divorces or her husband dies, she becomes the responsibility again of the Father. So males in Islam have responsibilities that males in Western society do not have.
Furthermore, if the father dies,
then the brother becomes responsible to look after his sister. That's Islamic law. So he has a responsibility that in western civilization, males do not have. So it is based on this added responsibility.
Whereby males are responsible for females, as stated in the for an original, our Mona Lisa, that males are in a position of authority and responsibility for women. So based on that added responsibility, then Islam, after dividing the wealth 5050 between the male and the female, the additional responsibility becomes another portion. And that's why we end up with two to one. So it is based on a system a system of responsibility. It is not based on men being looked at as being better than women.
Or more important than women. It has nothing to do with that. It has to do with the natural order of family life in Islam, which is based on these principles of responsibility.
Similarly, you find the issue of The Guardian, a woman needs to get married.
With a guardian with the consent of her guardian, her father
of the father's dead or brother.
Whereas in the West, again, because they follow the principle,
we call it the bird principle,
that bird principle is that
when the bird hatches the egg,
that little bird is fed by
the mother and the father, they bring food and feed that little bird. As soon as the urn grows feathers, and learns how to fly, the bird is then kicked out of the nest,
trying to go
that bird cannot come back and say, Listen,
I still need some food, you know, I haven't figured it out yet. No, it's got to go. She has to go. That is just how it is in nature, leaving the nest. So because Western society looks at human beings, as fundamentally animals, no different from other animals. So they took this principle and this one they applied in the family relationship. So people are kicked out, as we said, before, the male and the female are equally kicked out of the nest, time to go look after yourself.
So does it make sense now that that female after she has been kicked out, she has to go and work and look after herself or studies etc. She gets older time to get married. And she has to get her father's permission now to get married. This makes sense. father wasn't taking care of her, those lots of parts of her life. She's taking care of everything herself.
So that's what she would say, what does my father have to say?
This is my business. I'm taking care of myself. My father doesn't shouldn't have any right to tell me no, you get married.
So that's their logic based on their society. But again, in the Muslim society, the fathers guardianship
is for protection of the female,
not to oppress her, and deny her the right to decide who she wants to marry. Now, this is not to say that in some cultures, some Muslim families etc. Fathers force their daughters to marry people who they don't want to marry. This is wrong. Islam is not permissible. where a woman came to Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu sallam, and told him that she was married off by her father without her consent.
But the problem I'm
sorry, no, he said,
you want to cancel the marriage, or let it go on?
She said,
I can let it go on. I just wanted to confirm that the decision was mine.
That's the evidence that the father does not have the right to force his or his daughter to marry anyone.
If he does force her, she has the right to allow the marriage cancel that marriage.
So the point of the Guardian from the Islamic perspective, he is there to protect the interest of
his daughter or his sister,
or his granddaughter, whatever, who he is the guardian for,
to help her in making the right decision. Because somebody might propose and for her, she might think he's fine. He's okay. Everything is okay. But she doesn't have the means, or maybe even the concern to go and check out his background. But the father, knowing men, he would then go and find out about that individual to confirm whether that individual is
Genuine, is he capable of handling marriage, etc, he goes in, he checks him out. So if he finds him unsuitable, he's not capable, not because he belongs to another tribe. Because again, that's nonsense. If it is, his objection is because he doesn't belong to our tribe, you know, our family, then this is not acceptable. islamically This is not acceptable. islamically technically speaking, if a woman wants to get married, and the father is objecting, simply because of tribal reasons, then the woman has the right in Islam, to go to the court and raise the issue to the judge. And the judge seeing that it is a tribal issue, which is against Islamic teachings, he can then take away the
guardianship from the Father, and act as the guardian of that woman and see her marriage. That is Islamic law.
Now, I'm not saying you may not have issues about a chair in Somaliland, maybe you do. I don't know all that goes on in the courts here. So I'm not going to say it's a perfect, you know, situation here. It may be issues, but this is the fact I'm just giving you what are the Islamic facts, and so on and so forth. Anyway, the point is that these issues which are raised, and I just gave these two examples, for you to understand, the areas where the West, our Western women, the feminist movement, Western civilization, tends to focus on Muslim females, in Muslim societies come raising issues about their being oppressed. And, as I said, this is the primary area that they focus on.
So our basic answer to virtually all of the questions which they raise, go back to the natural order of human society, that Islamic law
matches the natural way that families function around the world as a whole.
And laws take into account the natural differences between males and females.
Now, if we go to the issue of work,
women, Muslim women in the oma, this is an issue today, the issue of work.
Some people say women shouldn't work, they should just stay at home.
And they may quote a verse from the Quran,
where Allah, addressing the wives of the prophet, SAW Selim, advise them to stay in the home
in general,
but it didn't mean stay in the home and never go outside because they used to go and pray in the masjid.
They used to go to the marketplace in purchase things cetera. They taught others. So it didn't, it wasn't like an absolute stay in the home, lock the door. You know, when the husband comes back, you know, she's supposed to be inside the house having not set foot outside of the house? No, this is not what Islam
is calling for. So the issue of work, we know that in Medina,
in the time of the Prophet sallallahu, wasallam, there were women working in the marketplace, Muslim women,
Jewish women,
pagan women, worked in the marketplace, and so did men.
So the issue of women working outside of the home is not one that really needs to be debated.
Because it is already established in the time of Prophet Muhammad wa sallam that they did so and no one has the right to come along today and say, No, they should not.
Because our basic rule, and this is a general principle to keep in mind
when looking at
Modern issues and understanding how do we tackle these issues? According to Islam, the basic principle
is that
anything
which is not purely worship,
purely specified as worship, anything
is considered fundamentally halaal.
On less clear evidence comes to show that it is haram.
They say in Arabic, an apostle, Phil Attia, Alibaba, that is how they express it, that the original state of things normal things which are apps,
business,
human social interaction, all of it is halaal. Unless a specific text from the Quran or the Sunnah comes to forbid that statement up social interaction, etc. That's the basic law.
In the case of a Bada, acts of worship, which are purely, fundamentally acts of worship, the law is the opposite.
All forms of worship
are Haram,
except those which have been specifically designated as halaal, by prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam, or Allah subhanaw taala in the Quran,
that is the basic law and the reason why
the
religious acts are all considered Haram, except those which are specifically
permissible.
This is in order to preserve the authenticity of the religion.
Without this principle, then Islam would end up like Christianity.
What Christianity is today is completely different from what the Messenger of Allah, Jesus, the son of Mary brought,
they change, they modify, they added, until they ended up with another religion, which they called Christianity. And Jesus never called
the religion which he taught Christianity.
This is the important point.
Most Christians don't even realize it. But Christianity,
term Christianity was never used by Jesus, it cannot be found even in the distorted texts, which the Christians have today, called the Gospels.
So this principle is there.
When religious matters in order to keep it, pure from innovation, and the Prophet sallahu wa sallam, he expressed that principle in the famous statement, man, after Sufi, I'm Rena Malaysia, Melissa Minh, who for whom, whoever brings anything new in this affair of ours, the religion of Islam, which was not a part of it, it is not acceptable to God.
So that's where that principle comes from. So back to the issue of women working.
Even if we didn't have the example in the time of the Prophet sallallahu Sallam of women working in the marketplace of Medina.
We would could still say women working is permissible
because work is not a bad idea.
It is either
either meaning common, practice,
common custom.
So the issue of women working is a non issue in terms of halal and haram those who say it is not permissible. Our
Go have gone to an extreme, because there are now forbidding things which were permissible in the time of the Prophet sallallahu wasallam.
So, the issue of women working, it is okay. However, we have to ask ourselves,
when we talk about women leaving the home and working? Is it the primary role of the woman to work? Or is it a secondary role? That's the question we have to ask.
If we ask in terms of the man, is it a primary role for him to go out in the work? Or is it a secondary role?
What role is it for the man it's a primary role,
because he is responsible for the family.
When the province Salatu, Salam spoke about the rights of the woman and the rights of the man,
the responsibility of the man and the woman, he said that the man was responsible to look after the family means he is the one who first has to go out and provide for the family. So that's his primary role. In the case of the woman, it is not her primary role, her primary role is to look after the children in the home to look after the home that is her primary role, if she has no children,
or her children have grown up,
and she has taken care of the needs of the home, then we can say for her to go out and work, no problem,
no problem here, with the husband agreement etc. There is no problem here. However, if she has children.
Now, we have to say her primary role is to look after those children.
Now, in the West, what has happened is we have the existence now of nurseries.
In the past, where women might need to leave the home, and you had an extended family, then the sister or the mother of the wife, or the mother of the husband would look after the child was the mother was the wife stepped out of the home for a particular need.
Now, what happens because families have become
a small unit
or unit of just husband, wife, child, that is your basic family, the nuclear family of Western civilization.
So nobody else is going to take the responsibility for that child. So what we had evolving to fill that gap were the nurseries,
crushes,
where caregivers now will take care of the children so that the women can go out and work.
Now this situation is the beginning of the imploding of Western civilization's family structure.
The family is crumbling now, because those children psychologists, child psychologists will tell you that those early years when the children are being put in nurseries and crushes, etc, are critical years for the development of the child's personality. It's,
it's,
you could say it's emotional state, etc. Between the ages of three and five critical years.
They say that the personality form then becomes a personality for the rest of their life.
Critical years, years when the bond between the mother and the child is a critical bond to create a bond of love.
What we see in western civilization, America being the biggest represent
To diff
we see in the last
30 years 20 to 30 years when crushes and nurseries have now become widespread found everywhere, every city, every town, we see a new phenomenon happening amongst children. What is that?
The phenomenon of children upset
coming to school, with weapons, shooting the classmates and the teachers. What we see in western civilization, America being the biggest representative
we see in the last
30 years 20 to 30 years when crushes and nurseries have now become widespread found everywhere, every city, every town,
we see a new phenomenon happening amongst children. What is that? The phenomenon of children upset
coming to school,
with weapons, shooting their classmates and the teachers and the principals of their schools.
Before 30 years, this was unheard of. It never happened.
But now it is a regular occurrence in America every year, it is happening more and more.
Why? Where did these crazy kids come from all of a sudden, it's a product of the nurseries.
They talk about Nursery Rhymes they should talk about nursery crimes.
Because research done in nurseries, where they have put cameras in the nurseries so they can record what is going on. I've caught both caregivers abusing the children
abusing them. Why? Because you are being paid to look after these children.
No matter no matter how big your heart you think you have.
If you have
15 kids, or 10 kids to look after.
Initially, you can handle hug, Pat case, put back to sleep.
Change nappies. But now the day when all 10 of them
poo in their nappies. At the same time.
How do you handle it,
your big heart becomes quite small,
it becomes very, very tough. And so you find the caregivers hitting the children, shouting at them, all kinds of things, these have been recorded.
So this is what is happened. This is the consequence.
Because nobody can look after the child like its own mother.
And it's not to say, I mean, this is a general principle I mentioning, it's not to say that there are some mothers out there who are not good mothers
and others who are not mothers who could do better.
that exists to but as a general principle, the mother is the best one to look after that child. So that's her primary role.
So as Muslim women in the oma
the woman should not leave the home, having children who are at an age that those early years where it is critical for her to develop that bond, the bonding between herself and the child, the bond of love, etc.
And that bond of love means what they call feeding the child on demand. Whenever the child demands sheet that child should be fed.
The
what they call it, that plastic thing they stick in the mouths of kids what's called
pacifier right? Yeah, I forgot the name. They have different names for it.
Anyway, the pacifier,
that pacifier is a crime.
Sticking that piece of rubber in the child's mouth,
when the rights of the child is not the piece of mud of rubber, but what the mother has, and nobody else has.
You are denying your child the right.
Of course, you know, the very first time you put that pacifier in the mouth of the child, it spits it out. And you have to push it back again, and it spits it out and you push it back and you spit them till eventually you are forced the child to accept it.
And then it gets used to it. That's what's happening
islamically this is not
correct.
It is the right of the child
to be breastfed for two years,
how lany carmellini
that is their right? And we should give them that right.
So
we say then, with regards to women in the workforce, this is a secondary
role for women.
In some cases, it may be a primary role, for example, where a woman is trained as a gynecologist,
and there is a need for gynecology in the society. It becomes a primary role for that woman.
And I would encourage
women here to go into that field, because as I always say to students, university students who are studying especially those in the medical profession, I tell them, that for men to specialize in gynecology is haram.
I tell them that it's Haram.
Every doctor will learn something of gynecology for emergency situations. But for men to specialize in gynecology is fundamentally Haram.
So when I say that's fundamentally haram for men, what does it mean? It means it is obligatory for women.
It is obligatory that women get trained in this profession, to be able to fulfill the need of the Muslim community, the Muslim Ummah, in this regard, to protect her sisters, from
exposure to males, which is not permissible, fundamentally in Islam.
So when we are choosing our professions, the area that we're choosing to work in as a secondary role, or what may be a primary role, where it is an absolute necessity, we have to keep this in mind. The roles which are most appropriate for women, the professions which are most appropriate for women. That is, because our work should be according to the need, the need of the society, the need of the community, how beneficial This is, it should not be, well, my husband is not making enough money for us to have some of the luxuries of life. So I'm gonna go out and work so we can get more money. No,
that's not right. It's not about going out and getting more money. It's about benefiting the society. That's why Prophet Mohammed Hassan Ahmed said, higher on us, and far homeliness, the best of people are those who are most beneficial to people.
So we choose our professions based on the benefit which comes from it to the society. And that benefit varies according to the need, that the society have for that particular profession. So these are the things we have to keep in mind when we are looking at going out and working
in terms of education, because of course, education has to be in place for people to be able to go out and work in the first place. Islam again,
makes the seeking of education seeking of knowledge to educate oneself
an obligation, a religious obligation on every Muslim woman and man, fallible me for either Allah, Allah Muslim, you all know this idea.
seeking knowledge is obligatory on every Muslim. That knowledge, of course begins with knowledge of Allah.
That's where we have to begin because that is the most important aspect of our lives. So knowledge of a law, knowledge of Islam,
then knowledge of the various fields of learning necessary for the society to function properly.
Those become compulsory areas of knowledge on the community as a whole knowledge of a law, knowledge of Islam is compulsory on every individual,
on every individual Muslim, male or female.
But the other areas of knowledge which are necessary for the community, community, obligatory knowledge, they call this foreign
key fire, foreign key fire.
Meaning that if nobody in the community gets this knowledge, the whole community is in sin.
As long as some members of the community get the knowledge, then the obligation is removed from the others.
So these are the areas whether it's gynecology, or dentistry, other fields, which are compromising fields,
because dentistry is another one and I'm not saying I'm going to say to men, it's haram for you to study dentistry No.
Because then it's dentistry is the same for men and women. But in terms of the practice of dentistry,
in the Muslim society, there should be female dentists, for females, and male dentist for males.
Because no matter how much you want to say, He is the dentist, he No, he is not considering the situation that you are lying on a couch.
And he is looking in your mouth. His nose is only two inches away from your nose. He is not thinking about you as a woman. He is just a dentist, believe me.
Men are men.
There are so many cases in America right now. Where male dentists, you know male doctors etc. are barred from their profession kicked out of the profession fined etc for molesting women.
Yes, they made the Hippocratic oath in order to uphold the principles of Medicine and Dentistry, but they broke them.
Many, not just one or two many. So know that as a female used primarily you should be going to a female dentist, but then you say but there are no female dentists.
What do I do now? Okay, this is necessity. If you've got a bad tooth, it needs to be fixed. You have no female dentist, you're forced.
Right? Islam is practical. So under those circumstances, yes, it's permissible, but
the community is insane.
For forcing you to have to go to a male dentist, the community is carrying the sin of not having produced female dentist. So you had the option.
So this is how we should look at our profession professions and there are other professions I could go and list many others but I just brought these two as a basic example in terms of our choosing of our areas of study and work. So
having understood that the need for knowledge in general of a law and Islam is their primary, secondary, the need for knowledge of the various fields necessary to
provide
for the needs of the community and for yourself.
I would then say that
whatever profession you choose to go in,
don't forget the primary knowledge that you must have, that you should have.
So even though you're studying in one of the various fields,
you should not say I don't have time to study Islam,
to study about the law, I'm busy right now,
when I graduate,
then I will try to find some time.
This is wrong.
This is wrong, because no one knows whether she or he will graduate.
You don't know what's happening tomorrow.
Only Allah knows. And what's obligatory on you today? Is that you know, about a law.
You know, who Allah is.
You know what Islam is.
Because that knowledge of Islam will then help you guide you in fulfilling the role of a Muslim woman in the Muslim Ummah, in the world, global
society.
That is essential.
So whatever profession you choose, you should also be learning Islam at the same time
learning it and understanding it, not just merely saying, Well, okay, I memorize Quran
or I memorize so many hobbies,
sat in so many circles in Arabic. But now if I asked you what did this Quran actually mean? What did these Hadees actually say? What did you actually learn from the circles?
You can quote me Arabic statements, but you don't know you haven't understood.
It is about understanding the deen and practicing it. That is what is primary, the primary responsibility of each and every one of you. And
towards that end,
I set up a university known as the Islamic online university
where people can study Islam.
On a diploma level general diploma for free,
you go to www Islamic online university.com you can register tonight and start studying courses on Islam in English, for free.
absolutely free, no hidden costs
110% free
so nobody here in the room has any excuse to say, I don't have access to that knowledge, the access is there for you. The internet was a blessing from Allah to the oma.
And it is a blessing to you to make this knowledge accessible to you at such an easy way.
Furthermore,
we also have
a BA in Islamic Studies in shediac
combined with other modern studies of psychology, education,
business administration, information technology etc. are the courses connected to it important courses, we have this available at virtually free
at $80 per year $40 per semester to study a full university course at $40 per semester two semesters in a year $80 a BA degree for $320
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accessible to you to choose not necessarily the full course you may take some courses from it. You don't have to take the full curriculum of six courses every semester you can take three you could take two
and the degree issued by it is
And accredited degree, we have a license here and our Giza and Sharla. We're getting a license from South Somalia from Mogadishu also. So it is internationally recognized. We have also recognition from other universities in Indonesia, in Gambia and other parts of the world. So we are offering this
accredited degree for this incredibly low cost, because the goal of the university is not business. It is about spreading Islam, making authentic Islamic knowledge available to you to the oma on the widest scale that we possibly can. As a result of that, in the five years since we started the free diploma program, we now have over 100,000 students studying in that program from all around the world. And the BA program we started in 2010, we now have over 3000 students studying full time. I should mention also that in the Islamic online university.
Of those working in our administration, 60% are women.
We have women professors who are teaching some of the courses,
our top 10 students every semester has consistently been 80% women
enough that this is available for you.
We have an office in the city in Hargeisa and you can get the details from the website. We do have
Unfortunately, our
team didn't bring enough brochures but we have about 20 brochures here. So at the end of the lecture, we have to go for Salah in another few minutes. Those who would be interested in joining the Islamic online university, we also should I should mention also that in our office in which is in a building
housing the Pacific College, where they have five computer labs with with regular internet connection for those people who have problems of internet accessibility etc, they can access the computers from the same building for free.
So no excuses.
It is there for you. These 20 go to the first 20 people that come to get it after the lecture.
So including
Muslim woman and the oma, we said that
Muslim women
are in fact the most liberated women
in the world today
as a whole,
not to say that they may not be oppressed in some places and others on some aspects and others in general. They are the most liberated women
in the world today, what the West has to offer.
We have to take the good
and be careful, be wary and leave the evil
they have a different perspective that we have. And we need to know what our perspective should be. So we can understand where they're coming from.
Many of you may be working with non Muslim NGOs or whatever in different capacities. And you should be wary, be conscious of what is being said. Many people come here to Hargeisa
doing charitable projects etc. etc. But
the hidden agenda is
me missionary work their hair on a mission. This is reality and you need to be conscious
and if
You see rules being broken, then you need to report it.
Those people who have issues and you try to bring them to others in authority, who can answer the issues that they're raising, etc, and deal with it. Because, as I said, many of them are here on a mission.
Not everyone, there may be some that are truly here on a charitable basis with no other agenda. I'm not saying that to say that about everybody, but
many have this other hidden agenda. And it is about changing your point of view, how you're looking at yourself, as a Muslim woman, etc, you know, to look at yourself now, as an oppressed Muslim woman, a woman who is not getting her rights and a woman who is denied and Islam is this and that, be where you your best protection, is to know Islam yourself. If you have understood and known Islam, then these types of subjects, suggestions, etc, cannot affect you, because you know your religion. But when you're ignorant of your religion, you don't understand the principles behind certain requirements of the religion, etc, then you can be easily swayed. So beware, this is just my
general advice, know that the right to work, you do have it where you don't compromise your primary responsibility.
In order to fulfill a secondary
responsibility or goal,
the children, raising of the children is our responsibility. And to do it successfully, you also need to have knowledge. This is where the issue of knowledge comes in. Again, don't just raise the kids the way you were raised. Because maybe your parents didn't do a very good job. This society helped get you through it. So you came through in one piece, but
they weren't really doing the things they were supposed to do. They're doing traditional things. Some of them have nothing to do with Islam at all, we have to be careful about these things. If we want to raise children properly, then we need to know about child rearing, child welfare, squaring from an Islamic perspective, as well as from what is being said from the west. What is useful from what they're saying, to take from it and benefit and what is not again, leave it. And as I said, education is the absolute need of the day in order for you to fulfill your Islamic role as Muslim women in the oma
shoot for people purchasing caught leaving this country and going into Ethiopia. Can Can Somaliland afford to be giving away
half a million to a million dollars a day? Of course it can't. That money should be used to develop your society. In fact, instead of it being used to destroy your society, so as women, when we talk about the role of the Muslim Ummah, the women in the Muslim Ummah,
when problems are celebrated, said that nikka nice food in marriage is half of the religion. It's talking about the responsibility of the wife, and the responsibility of the husband. And if the husband is not doing what he should do, then it is the responsibility of the wife to do it. And that's why the prophets I seldom praise the woman who sprinkles water on her husband, when he doesn't get up for fudger. If he's lying, they're sleeping, rather than saying poor thing, let him sleep. She sprinkles water on him, causes him to get up and make goes to fudger. The prophet SAW Selim praised her and Allah blesses her. So if the men aren't doing it, then it is on you as the
women of the oma here to take whatever steps are necessary whatever steps you can to try to remove this evil from our society here.
Okay, written question does the Muslim woman
Oh is it permissible for Muslim women to date?
Are there any etiquette? You know, is there any etiquette to follow in dating?
Well, if we're talking about dating as it is known in the West, then there is no such thing in Islam. Right.
What some societies follow?
I know, it is a custom. I've met it in the in the Gulf.
Excuse me, sisters, can you be quiet? Please?
Can we have silence here? If you have something to say we have a mic, share it.
There is a practice of dating in the Gulf, where what the young men and women do is that they get married, they do the niqab.
But they call it only engagement. So they call it
the walima is not done. And they don't consummate the marriage. Right? This time for consummation is set at another date later on.
And everything later on. So just the contract is written up. At the time of that contract. From that point onwards, of course, then the male and female can date
because technically there are husband and wife. So that kind of dating, though it wasn't the practice of the Prophet Muhammad wa salam in his companions, that is permissible.
But dating, were a male and female, go out alone, not married without a chaperone, then that is not allowed in Islam. Okay, that's one written question. Can we take?
Life question?
No, there the issue is not a matter of eight or 15 kilometers.
If she travels to work, her travel doesn't involve
a day and a night. She's not traveling, she's just going, driving whatever to work. I mean, we use the term in English traveling. This is loose usage. Because what defines a traveler, a traveler is one who leaves the boundaries of his or her city. First, with the intention for travel
with the intention for travel, meaning that you take your toothbrush, your bag with clothes, you're actually traveling that's traveling. But if you just drive, have a meeting, come back again, you're not a traveler.
Okay, traveling outside of one city for this purpose. Basically, islamically is not permissible for the woman to travel without a maharam. But if it is a situation of survival of the family, there is nobody else who is going to provide the system here does not have a means to provide for women whose husbands are not working etc. And that's her only choice, then again, this in any scene that is involved, any responsibility that's there falls on the society falls on her husband falls on her immediate family who should have helped her out so she wouldn't be put in that compromised situation.
Okay, back to written questions.
If I'm a woman,
that
is work is employed in a in an environment where there are males and females both Muslims or non Muslims.
What is the etiquette and correct characteristics
that I need to fulfill? Well the main issue where
one is working in a situation where there may be males present, the main issue is that one should not be in a situation where you and the male are alone behind closed doors, this is called halwa. So that is the main principle that is to be avoided, that you don't end up like
A Secretary you go into your boss's office, the door is closed behind you, you know, that situation is not permissible.
If the door is open, where anybody passing by can hear what is said they can see what's inside, you know, then it is permissible
otherwise, in terms of etiquette, how does a woman and man In a circumstance, work circumstance conduct themselves? Well, they should conduct themselves in a business like fashion, that
you communicate where it is necessary, and you do so, for in a businesslike fashion. You know, this is what would avoid fitna in that kind of circumstance islamically speaking for a male to give female salams to a female, this is from Islam. If a man says to a woman or a woman returns the Salam Alaikum Salam
because the giving of Salaam is not specifically meant to men women to women, it is Muslim to Muslim. However, how we give this alarms and how we return this alarms This is now where proper etiquette has to be followed because you can respond saying waalaikumsalam or you can say what a concern.
These are two both of them are waalaikumsalam but one has a flirtatious kind of sound to it. And the other one is business and a while a comes along.
So this is what we have to be conscious of Be careful of that we don't send messages, which we should not be sending.
Okay, live question
the woman
what is the most appropriate job for a woman?
Okay, the first question
What is the
main role for an unmarried female, an unmarried female, the main role because she will be within a home circumstance
looked after by her father or brother etc. Her main role will be to help out as someone is looking after you to help out back in the family circumstance. That's her main role. Maybe you have a sister who is married who has children to help that sister within the home circumstance, that's the main role, secondary role would be to find work, you could do that where it is beneficial to the society. And I would just say in terms of primary responsibility, I would say primary responsibility is to gain knowledge
while serving in your role within the home, etc. to gain knowledge where it requires you to leave the home while doing your part in the home
gaining knowledge of Islam
and as well other fields which may be beneficial to society, I would say that would be primary for you.
In terms of your second question, which was about
okay appropriate job for Muslim woman. As I said, this is going to vary. I cannot say the appropriate job. I can talk about some inappropriate jobs, but to say any job which is beneficial to the society, especially beneficial to women, these are the most appropriate jobs. So without,
for example, teachers to become a teacher and the other fields which are women related fields which don't require women to be surrounded by men. You know
Engineering, for example,
I would say though engineering is an important field. But most engineers are men. So if a woman becomes a field and an engineer, she ends up in a job circumstance or work circumstance where she's surrounded by men. And though we say yes, islamically, you know, it's not it's permissible for her to learn engineering. But that work circumstance is not a good circumstance for a woman. Right? Because whenever men are the majority, they're the, you know, and the woman is by herself, or only one or two in the restaurant, men, women get harassed. That's the bottom line that happens everywhere, regardless of what the rules are, whatever Islam says, law, you know, we have nature,
in our natures of people, which don't necessarily follow the rules, when they should.
So any job situation which is going to put you as a woman, by yourself in the midst of men, I would say that is not an appropriate job for you.
Back to written the last written question here,
outside of the subject, if women
fail to do natural family planning, what is the suitable method that she can use with the consent of her husband,
any form of family planning or contraception, which is not harmful to the woman, or if it's not established, it is something harmful to her, it is permissible to do it on a temporary basis. What's not permissible is to use contraception on a permanent basis where you tied to jobs and things like this, which stops a woman ever from being able to have children, those types of contraception are not permissible, unless the medical profession states that if you have a child, it can kill you. You are in a situation you had so many kids, physically your situation has changed, and your life is now being threatened at this time to tie tubes to prevent that possibility is permissible.
Question life
the issue of learning something learning a skill, something beneficial to society, and then to not use it anymore. Of course, this is something displeasing to Allah.
Unless there are circumstances connected to that particular skill, where in fact you are doing something displeasing to Allah with it.
So you stopped it to avoid displeasing Allah, you stopped it in order to seek a lot of pleasure. So in that circumstance, then there's, it's perfectly legitimate, but where you learn this skill, which was benefiting the society, and then you abandon this skill for no good reason.
Then of course, it is something displeasing to Allah, it is something which may be harmful to the society. So, when we learn good skills, which are beneficial, we should try to practice them and make them beneficial to society.
a written question I am a doctor who does surgeries.
Question. I am a doctor who does surgery.
And we wash our hands and arms before and it is obligatory to uncover your arms above the elbow, till you enter the operating room and cover yourself later
on.
All in all, men are there and we are not covering fully our body because of the necessity, though I do not practice
appropriate a job
in real life.
How does Islam see my situation? And
I guess what advice would you give? Well, first and foremost, if you said that you don't practice a job in real life, that's what's most important. You know, why worry about your elbows and your arms right now when you're not practicing your job, otherwise
priority, my advice would be for you to bring hijab back into your life, which is what is pleasing to Allah Subhana Allah, which is what is obligatory on you as a Muslim woman to maintain proper a job.
Having said that, or having done that,
in terms of a doctor, where you are working in an environment, where you are forced to expose parts of your body, because that is the system that is being followed in that particular country, then my advice is that you leave that country, and you go to where you can practice your profession without having to compromise your Islam?
Because I'm sure there are places here, I know in Malaysia, they don't follow that rule where they require the women to expose their bodies.
Okay, the question has been explained to all of you so you know what it means.
What we have to respond to this statement with is the role of women in the time of the Prophet sallallahu wasallam. If women taught, we know, the fourth most prolific narrator of Hadith teacher of the Sunnah of the Sharia was Ayesha de la Anna, and after her was on Salama, and other leading female companions, and there were female companions amongst the,
amongst the who taught others who taught the Sahaba there were amongst the teachers of Imam Malik and others, female Hadith scholars etc. So if we have that history of, of Muslim women contributing in the society in this manner, who ended up in the battlefields nursing and ended up working, etc, if they were not prevented in that time, by that Hadith, that statement of profit, or solemn, then it means that the understanding that people are having of it today is obviously incorrect.
So, we say, to understand
the statements of the Prophet sallahu, wa Salaam, we have to look to the practice of the Prophet sallallahu wasallam, the Sahaba and the early generations of Muslims.
So this is how I would answer it without, you know, going into the details of,
you know, the witness and the to two witnesses for females equal to one and all these other things, you know, that mean, they're also further discussion that can, one can go into to clarify the, the differences in this regard, but it is sufficient for us to simply state that women played had a full role in Muslim society in the past. And that's how Muslims of the past understood
the teachings of Islam the statement of Prophet Mohammed Salah.
I hope that's clear.
For the one who asked the question in Arabic,
it is permissible for a woman to be a lawyer.
With as again, I would suggest, with the
principle as we said, where she avoids circumstances where she is surrounded all the time by men. There are elements different aspects of, of law, which she can practice without having to compromise her situation, ending up in Hollywood and these kinds of things. So I would suggest that you practice those elements of law, which would avoid putting her in compromising situations. Now in terms of the law of the land, where one may be forced to learn
on Islamic laws, and in any case, when we're studying law, it is important to know the legal systems
have others while knowing what Islamic legal system is. So we studying from a comparative perspective, and we know what's better. But if at the same time the non Islamic laws are in force, then one has to work within that framework.
And the the practice of law should be to ensure that people get their rights. That's what the practice of law should involve, to ensure that people get their rights to defend people who have been deprived of their rights, etc. The type of law where you now defend criminals,
right, people who you know, are criminals, they have done evil, and you are fighting to defend them. And know from the law, this form of law, this practice of law is not acceptable for a Muslim, whether male or female.
Question, some of the women like to work, and there is no reason forcing them to work, because their husbands can pay
for them, I guess, you know, is this something?
Does Islam allow this?
Yes, Islam allows her to work if she is not
compromising her primary responsibility, if she has a skill has knowledge, etc, that she wants to utilize in the society she likes to work. There is no harm. Islam doesn't say that you cannot work simply because you like to work and you don't need to work. No. If there is benefits from your work, then it is permissible for you to work.
I the second question I'm not clear on
Oh, shake hands of men.
Okay.
And I've just been instructed, we'll have two more questions. And then we'll be closing the session in Sharla.
The first question, can a woman be a judge?
Technically, yes, she could be a judge.
But again, we have to look at the issues of
male dominated circumstances and compromise.
A woman be a judge. And as I mentioned, it is possible but it has we have to look at again, the context, is she going to be in a male dominated circumstance? You know?
So will her Islam become compromised? Will she be harassed these kinds of things? If that is the case, then it's better she should not be put herself in that circumstance, but just technically speaking, yes, she could be a judge. The second question was, what again?
Oh, shaking hands. Men and women we know Prophet Muhammad SAW Solomon said that it would be better for a man or a woman to have an iron spike driven into their head than to touch a man or woman who they could marry.
So Islam forbids the shaking of hands between males and females who can marry, but if they are maharam, then it is permissible.
platform momentum ti
and
ti
inshallah Tada.
Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.