Ingrid Mattson – Women of Islam 4 of 4
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Social programs that compensate
for women's,
women falling behind men
in order to have, to be,
have a strong,
economic,
and financial kind of nest egg or or
to be strong financially.
This is what the Quran is recognizing
and and and giving that
obligation to to men in their family to
take care of of, the women of their
household.
Now what some men have said is that
this verse says that men,
have authority over women in all society. And
they use that verse to say that means
that women shouldn't work,
that women shouldn't take public office,
that women,
should not take any position of of governance
or leadership in society.
And that is a huge,
over extension
of this verse to these other,
to these other situations
that is denied, in fact, by the very
example of the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon
him. Because when we look in his society,
we see that in fact,
he appointed women
to be in positions of authority,
that he,
that he accepted and encouraged women to be,
economically
strong and independent,
and that
he himself,
praised women
who were,
putting themselves forward in the public sphere. People
like Nusayba,
who was a great
warrior, who in fact
defended the prophet Muhammad in the battle of
Uhud with her own body and her own
life. And she was highly praised by the
prophet Muhammad and by Alda Hulafa
after him,
who allowed her
to continue to fight with the Muslims in
the battles.
The prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, accepted
Nusayba's
beya
in the pledge of Aqaba.
So she was a representative,
one of the representatives
of the people of Medina.
So
she she made that oath of allegiance as
did other women
on her on behalf of herself, her husband,
and none of the husbands
of the Sahaba
made the oath of allegiance for their wife.
The women had to come and make the
oath of allegiance themselves
as individuals,
but also,
Nulsaiba
was one of the women who also was
a representative
of the community as a whole.
So we see that unfortunately,
there are men who will use the Quran,
who will
selectively
take verses
and make an over extension and use that
to put women in a lesser position than
men.
Unless we
we deal with that,
then unfortunately, many women who don't have a
lot of knowledge
of the Quran
and of Quran interpretation and a fiqh will
be taken in by that and feel that
Islam requires them
to occupy a lesser position in society.
What is the meaning of hijab
and its function in Islam?
Well,
what the Quran,
asks for women to do is is to
take their khimar. The Quranic word word is
khimar. Khimar means a headscarf. This is in
Surat An Nur.
Take it and to use it to cover,
to cover the jib.
A jib is is like an opening in
the neck, that would allow you to pull
a shirt over your head.
Now of course, we have buttons and things
like that, but in that time you would
just simply have an an opening in the
neck. So what the Quran asks is for
is for,
the believing women to take their head coverings
and to, you know, cover the the neck
and the chest area.
Also,
the Quran,
asks Muslim women
to take their jalabib,
their
outer garment
and
to wear it in a way so that
they will be known as Muslim women. So
what does that mean? That means that taken
together,
the Quran and the sunnah of the prophet
Muhammad, peace be upon him,
says that that there should be a way
for Muslim women to identify themselves,
in public as Muslim women
and that this dress should, should include a
head covering,
and,
you know, a modest
covering of the body.
Now some people think that that is there
are certain specific garments that should be
worn,
but scholars
and the practice of Muslims throughout
history
has been
that as long as a woman wears clothes
that functionally provide this kind of identification
and covering,
that that is sufficient, that she's fulfilling the
purpose.
Unfortunately,
there are many people who don't read the
Quran. So they things say things like,
the Quran requires only women to dress modestly.
I'm not sure what verse they're referring to
and I would like to ask those women
or those men, you know, what what verse
in the Quran are they talking about.
The Quran, in fact, does require
a specific kind of cover,
but it also requires men
to
to do something as well. And in fact,
in Surah Tanur, men are asked even before
women to lower their gaze. So this is
a reciprocal
obligation.
This is an obligation of men
to be respectful of women, to not leer
at women, to not sit by the roadside
and stare at women, not sit in coffee
shops,
and make women uncomfortable while they're walking back
and forth.
In fact, there's a there's a hadith where
the prophet Mohammed,
peace be upon him, explicitly said,
and ordered men not to sit by the
roadsides because it would make,
it would make those passerby's uncomfortable.
But if you have to sit by the
road,
then give those who are passing by their
rights. Unfortunately, the culture in many in many
Muslim societies now is that
men are lining the roadsides,
lining the roads and cafes and others staring
at whoever
walks by.
So it's very important that men also fulfill
their obligation
and that if they are sitting,
you know, outside,
that they should not be staring at the
women who are passing by no matter how
they're dressed.
That's their obligation.
So this is a reciprocal obligation. It's a
mutual obligation
to have a wholesome society. To have a
society
in which
men and women can work together,
can interact together
in in a way that is that is
chased, that is,
conductive to,
supporting families,
that are that are functioning well.
And
that is the the the whole purpose of
the hijab.
As a Muslim American,
what responsibility responsibility
do you feel you have in building bridges
of understanding and peace among cultures and religions?
You know, there's so many misunderstandings,
about Muslims and about Islam in American society.
And that's something that I spend a lot
of time doing is to try to correct
those misunderstandings.
But it's not just a question of
of ideas.
It's also
incumbent upon the Muslim American community
to,
show in their actions that they're part of
this society,
that that we care
about,
our neighbors
no matter what their religion, whether they are
are people of faith or no faith.
We have obligations
to contribute to the welfare of this society.
We have obligations to all children, whether they're
the children of Muslim families or not.
We cannot simply withdraw our children
into
Muslim enclaves,
Muslim schools,
and forget about,
all of the children who are in public
schools and getting poor education.
If we choose to put our children in
Islamic schools, then we also have to make
sure that with our voting
and with our,
our, the policies that we support, that those
children who are in public schools have an
excellent education,
that they have health care, that they
are are in an environment that is that
is,
that is,
healthy for them. Because
our children are our first obligation, but they're
not our last obligation.
So Muslims
have to demonstrate with their actions that they
care about all people.
At the same
time, Muslim Americans
have have
a have a,
responsibility
to try to convey to our
Muslim brothers and sisters in other parts of
the world
that America is much more complicated than they
than they think it is.
And,
and it's painful
for American Muslims
to,
who are part of this society,
to
have the sense that there there are some
Muslims in other parts of the world that
would like to see this country harmed.
We we agree. I think all American Muslims
would agree that there have been,
terrible tragedies,
and there have been policies that have been
harmful, not just to Muslims, but to other
people, to other vulnerable people in the world.
But this is our country, and
and we're working to improve it. And we're
working with those of other faiths to improve
this.