Ingrid Mattson – Women of Islam 4 of 4

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.