Muhammad West – Gender Series #7 – GBV, Rape and Solutions

			audible Amazon Aurora James Miller man Rahim al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen wa Salatu was Salam ala
COVID mursaleen satana Mohammed Ali he was a marine My beloved brothers cinema saramonic Marfa la he
obrigado al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil aalameen always in for it will begin with a praise of Ilana Chateau
La ilaha illa Allah who will witness that none has the right of worship besides Allah. And we send
our love and greetings and salutations, beloved Nabi Muhammad, and his pious and pure families
companions, and all those who follow his suit not only enough time, my last pilot grant is to be
amongst them. I mean, Al Hamdulillah Al Hamdulillah. But we pray that you are well, in this very
		

			windy day here in Cape Town this past week. So bit of reflection, we had some strange phenomena, we
had weather that was quite strange and of storming out of character. And then of course, early in
the week, there was something of a tremor, parts of Cape Town felt what felt like an earthquake. And
in fact, it was so hard to keep us safe. In times like this, we have a pandemic we have so many
hardships in so many dangers around us in it's only through the grace and the protection of Allah
subhanaw taala that we are kept safe my last fight Allah, keep us safe and keep us in his k amin Al
Hamdulillah, insha Allah today we'd like to conclude our series on gender. So for the past couple of
		

			weeks, we've discussed the issues pertaining to gender related matters in Islam. And this of course,
in the context of, of what we see in our country, in our society with so many of the women folk in
this country, I live in fear of victims of abuse, and this is something that has to stop and it's
something that has to change. And for us as Muslims we should be first and foremost in championing
the cause of women folk because our our Deen our Sharia is one that preserves the rights of all and
in particular, the rights of our women folk. Over the course of these past couple of weeks, we
discuss many different issues individually. And it's just a summary we spoke about. I think, for me,
		

			what is important is to is to address this common misconception that is Islam the problem. So in
many times, when you look at a gender based violence, people raise the question, you know, when they
say of the reasons why these gender based violence, religion is commonly suggested, as one of the
causes of gender based violence, and Islam in particular, is singled out the Sharia is singled out
as something which is backwards, something which is patriarchal, something which is oppressive to
him, inherently oppressive to women. And I think for me, what was important not just to defend the
rights of women, and to defend the honor of our female folk, it is also defending the honor of Islam
		

			and the Islam, Islam, for Indeed, this religion, and what Islam has brought to the world to
humanity, and specifically to people that are placed, and to women and children. This is what was
revolutionary. And if we looked at the before and after, in Arabia, before Islam, before the Quran
was revealed, women were nothing more than then been treated like animals, they were commodities
they were bought, they were sold, they were even buried alive. So a lot of the people we know the
mean of JD would be the daughters alive. So you found this was the most backward societies in the
world. As bad as our society is today, the society and the treatment of women was so much worse. And
		

			then Islam came and showed in a period of just 23 years, short period of 23 years, we had women that
were being inherited, women that were being buried alive, to being transformed to be leaders, having
rights of our own, having the ability to choose our own our own destiny, being able to marry
whoever, whichever man she wanted divorce that man, if she wasn't happy with him, giving her rights
to property, giving her rights to inheritance, all these things behind Allah, we're lightyears ahead
of any other civilization on earth. And we even went into detail over the past couple of weeks
comparing Islamic rights, the rights of the Sharia that it gives to our sisters, versus the rights
		

			that modern Western societies give. And we saw that Islam is many, many hundreds of years, you know,
more than a millennia ahead of time. One of the points we raised we said in 1869 was the very first
time women went to university 1816 150 years ago was the first time women were able to attend
university in England, even later than that in America in America, our iq 1930 was the first time
women went to Harvard University. So not less than 100 years ago, women in America were not allowed
to attend universities compared to the Islamic civilization. We were the first university that was
set up was by a woman 860 live in more than 1000 years ago, our sisters were sitting up
		

			universities, let alone be able to study we know for example, it is commonly said that 1/3 of our
Sharia comes from when it comes from a shadow of the law and how that our Islamic jurisprudence, so
much of it is based on on females in my Shafi having over 100 female teachers. You look at the
Hadith corpus so we know that the Islam is derived from the Quran and the Sunnah, and assuming that
comes from the Hadith. If you look at the narrator's of Hadith, the most prolific narrator one of
the most prolific writers is Ayesha, and the fact that she's a female doesn't make any difference.
You know, knowledge is knowledge, as Pamela Islam was so revolutionary for its time and Islam and
		

			brought and already honored the status of women. In fact, say Norma Dillon himself, he sees this as
a halifa. He says that before Islam, we didn't care
		

			About our women we didn't, how we treated them. It didn't matter we did as we please. And then Allah
came and Allah guided us. And he taught us and gave the rights to our women and revealed what he had
revealed about them, meaning in the Quran and the Sunnah, what Allah subhanaw, taala had mentioned
about about women, and the society transformed as a SubhanAllah.
		

			For me, it's very important that we understand that this Deen Islam, in fact, is a solution. And
whenever we find problems in the Muslim community, because sadly, even though Islam is this perfect
framework, what we see in Muslim communities, and literally when talk about Muslim countries, in the
Middle East, or other parts of the world, where things are so much worse for women, then we have
here in this country, when it's not an issue with Islam morality issue with with Muslims, not
following the teachings of Islam. And there are so many lows even. But, you know, through the
series, I wanted to highlight that the laws, which Islam has even gone beyond what is recorded in
		

			Western societies, for example, it's currently constantly raised, that,
		

			you know, women are economically disenfranchised. And it is true that one of the reasons for abuse
is that women are, are a weak financially compared to many, many societies. And so she's dependent
on a man and therefore, if a man was treated, there's nothing she can do, because she's stuck in
this in this marriage. Islam, of course, one of the things it did was it gave her rights to our own
wealth to our own own resources, our own assets, and therefore she could become independent
financially. So by giving her rights economically, it gave her a means to move forward. And so
therefore, Islam, you know, offered her that she can no issue offer ensure that she had a dowry that
		

			she had inheritance, or whatever she earned was hers. And then of course, the financial obligation
is on the husband in terms of Nevada. And if you if he was deficient in that novocherkassk he could
actually take without his permission, what was what was a heart There are even things more, you
know, revolutionary Spanner, for example, you have insulted talaq, talaq,
		

			the 65th surah, Allah Subhana, Allah says that a woman that gives suckling that a woman that
breastfeeds her children, she's entitled to receiving a salary for that, give them the due payment,
almost Francis, this is the sixth, I have sort of color, I don't think there's any person in the
world that really pays his or his wife, or even if they are divorced, Subhan Allah, that he pays her
to breastfeed the children, so many women raised this, this thing that, you know, because I've
sacrificed my career to help my family I've been at home. And so economically, I'm completely
disenfranchised. And I get no financial security. Islam says that you should be compensated span
		

			Allah for for the work and the chores that you do, if you if you choose to do so it doesn't say that
you have to do so. But I mean, something as basic as breastfeeding that you would expect is a is an
obligation of a woman, Allah span says that she should receive a douchey of the financial benefits
that the husband received. So while he's working for her to be at home and to take care of his or
his family, that is something which which needs to be compensated for. And of course, as I said,
many, many times, Islam does not say, who must work and who must, you know, make them reality. And
this is something which Islam leaves to the couple, the two of them can decide what works best for
		

			them so long that it is fair, Allah uses the term model fair, it is fair and equitable. in whichever
decision not not, no one person should carry all the burden, and the other one carries none of the
burden. The point of this is to show how forward thinking Islam is in many of these rules that even
though instance Western world needs to catch up, and therefore, for us as Muslims, you know, one of
the one of the common areas in which Islam is being attacked, and many young people, you know, being
disillusioned with Islam is the issue with gender and, and is this misconception that Islam is
backwards that Islam is oppressive. Rather, it is us not understanding our religion, and of course,
		

			feeding into misinformation, the people that mean our religion to harm, and it is one of the ways in
which Islam is degraded. So it is important for us to recapture what it means and the rights which
Islam has given our sisters and we should be the first people first and foremost, to to really live
these values as panela. I've said this many, many times that these always distinction between men
and women, there are always certain things that men want, versus what women want. And this is it's
common it is in all societies. And that is why when they gave that amazing final sermon on on Hajin
arafa, his farewell sermon, one of the points he raised was this issue between the dynamic between
		

			men and women, but always always the stress and the the key focus is on the main that first Allah
subhanaw taala speaks to the main before we talk about your rights as a husband before we talk about
your honor as a husband, Allah speaks about your obligations as a husband. And this is a way we must
admit from a society perspective, and specifically to the Muslim community. Have we performed our
obligations as husbands? And the problem really, as we said is not the issue with Islam is rather
with our with the Muslims and specifically
		

			Muslim men Falcons, when we talk about violence, how is its panel locked? How is it? How is it that
a man that prays for a man that testifies to the caliber, he bashes his wife or his kids are you
verbally also handled or sexually abuses that women around him
		

			when we know that this is a form of operations, vandalia this is what we rounded to his people, this
is what all the titans of the world are harming the weak This is the of the highest of sins is the
sin of oppression. So when a man comes and he put his family and those around him in fear, because
of his of all, you know, you know, assert his dominance over them. And Subhanallah This is a kind of
this is definitely an operation, an operation, and many of the things that we see around us the
problems, the harm that we see in the world is as a consequence of oppression. And so when we talk
about gender based violence, and how do we how do we really fix this for us as Muslims it is to
		

			return to the guidance from Allah subhanaw taala and Allah has instructed us as Amina, how should we
live with women who spoke in one of the lectures, the kind of husband the Prophet Salam was, if we
go back to the Quran, one of the ayat was pantalla season of His Signs is that he created for you in
peace, that you may live in tranquility with one another, you may live in peace with one another,
that you should bring comfort to each other, if you as a husband, cannot bring comfort to your wife,
if you as a husband cannot bring happiness to her then why she married to you then what what the
what function have as unika done for her and of course, it goes vice versa that assistance as well.
		

			You should also bring comfort and tranquility for your husband, and also what your Albania kumada
Rama was placed between new love and mercy, that at the worst of days, we should be mercy we should
always be understanding and Kay never should have one abuse the other Allah subhanaw taala assists
the framework whenever you guys are
		

			making a decision or you come into an argument it's normal that all human beings argue when you do
something we're actually always love, in equity in kindness with each other. And of course, that
beautiful analogy we're overseas that she is a garment for you and you I common for her that you are
a protector of one another. And again, if you if you think about this, how is it that you are the
one that causes her mental and physical harm? How are you the one when you are the garment the one
that covers the one that keeps a woman the one that conceals her faults? The one that is the most
intimate person to her, you are the one that brings about the misery and Subhanallah This is one of
		

			the greatest sins that one could do from the sooner prophets of Salaam reminds us that the most
perfect believer is the one who shows the best treatment to his women for your Eman is really judged
in the kind of husband, the kind of son the kind of brother you are to the females and the sisters
in your life. This is really the measure of you as a man How do you treat the women around you? The
Prophet Salaam, as I said that if you've take him as your example and remember, as much as you
follow his Salah, you follow his heart, his clothing. Remember, the professor said, Never ever I
shall see is struck a child. He never struck a woman he never struck a servant. In fact, he never
		

			struck an animal except in the case of jihad when he had to fight that is the only time he raised
his hand. And so what kind of Muslims what kind of Muslims are we that we say we hear you say the
kalama Muhammad Rasulullah sallallahu yet we go against his sooner when we harm anyone and but in
particular, we have our our women folk remember, only one that the dying advice that obeso salaam
died on a Monday. The last advice he gave was the day before Sunday night he was 24 hours. The last
advice he gave was not on. You know, the other things which we take as a priority in our life, the
only things we think as priorities. But there are other things that he stressed was to keep our
		

			Salah safe and to look after our women the last in fact the last thing he said was to take care of
your women look after your women Subhanallah this shows you this shows you the importance and we
what we should really prioritize we should be we should be making this a key focus area within our
oath in our discussions.
		

			When a man asks the officer, how should I live with my wife of the Prophet Allah reminded him that
whenever he eats, he needs to make sure his wife as her needs of food has been filled, that whenever
he buys himself something when he clothes himself she should be given equal or better Subhanallah
even though she has 10 pairs of shoes, and you're going to buy yourself another pair of shoes, make
sure that she her needs are also being made, that you should never ever raise your hand or beater
and that you should not even revile I should not even treat her mistreat her even if she has done
something wrong. You don't miss Rita, but in a nice way Subhanallah that we know that the prophets
		

			of Allah, he when he heard and this must be made mentioned that the society it takes a lot It takes
a while to transform. So remember before Islam, they were burying the daughters alive after the 23
years, that Alhamdulillah that is when things that the society accompany
		

			Literally transformed in your head Ayesha leading an army you had hafsa, who was in charge of the
only Quran on Earth, the master copy of the Quran was entrusted to her mother hafsa rajala Jermaine,
but in between there was some transitional period and so it came to light to the resource and I'm so
we have examples in the in the in the cylinder of men who were accused of many that that were
complaint against, because they were known to beat the women on the property. I mean, I share in
particular, when she would hear that a woman was struck that she would complain to their abusers
from them and say that so and so was struck, and that the Prophet Salim would then speak out against
		

			and so the prophets, Allah given sermons he gave us as much as he speaks about, you know, a
performing musalla and, you know, fasting and all these wonderful things he spoke about, and he said
to the men, what kind of men are you what kind of men are you that you would cite your women in the
date like an animal like you would beat your camel, and then you want to be soft and intimate with
her in the evening, that of course, this is this.
		

			This is this is this is evil. And he says that only a, an honorable man a man of honor a man of
dignity, he treats his woman with dignity, and a despise the speakable person, treat a woman treats
women poorly. And so again, it is also once again, the prophets Allah is measuring you as a man that
you as a man is dependent, your your manliness is really dependent on how you're able to treat those
around you, those, those your children, your women, those that you think you are in a position of
dominance, how you treat them, that is really the measure of you your quality as, as a man, we have
a very beautiful example of that is mentioned Muslim. A lady comes to the salon, and she complains
		

			that her husband has physically abused the he has harmed physically. So the officer said to her,
tell him that you are under my protection, meaning that if he harms you again, then he has harmed
me. And he's basically taken up opposition to me. So the lady winked, and she comes back after a
while and says, the husband did it again. He basically didn't believe that the Prophet Salam is
gonna stand up to her. And so the Prophet solemn cuts off a piece of his own shirt, and the sleeve.
And he says, Take this to him and say that this is from the Prasanna, I am protecting you. And so
she sent it to the husband a third time, she comes back and said, he once again struck me. And so
		

			the process invoked to do it, and it's very rare that you'll find that abuses and I'm actually
cursing someone with a DA because of what they were they had done and so remember one, that this
form and you know, we all lose our temper This is there is no person that does not lose the temper,
but as a man, it is not sufficient to cycle angry I she did what she did, there is never an excuse
to raise your hand. There's never an excuse to verbally abuse any other person to sway to say
hurtful things. And particularly as men, we know that if you utter the word of talaq, for example,
in anger, it falls on its binding. And you can cry to the Imam of the MDC and say, Look, I made a
		

			mistake. It was in a moment of anger. There's a lot of Excuse me, I was angry. No, it does not
excuse you. And so there's never an excuse to raise your voice in a in a in a disrespectful way.
Isn't ever an excuse, of course, let alone raising your hands to handle. And so this is where you
look here. This man was cursed because he harmed with Prasanna medic, you know, invoke the curse
upon him, because he struck is he is his wife, how many means Pinilla would fall in the same
category. And so we need to think about this panel, even if she has done something wrong. This is
you've taken up opposition, you've taken a war with Allah subhanaw taala. When you when you do this,
		

			a lady comes to the police from them and she says I've been proposed to by number of men, and who
should I marry the prophecy the one person is financially not able to get married. This is quite a
poor man. So don't marry him You won't be able to look after you financially. And when he wins it
about another man don't get married to this one. Because the stick never leaves his arm meaning that
he has been known to be physically abusive. And so to the ladies, the problem is advising you avoid
marrying someone that is known to be a as a violent streak as an anger issue. And if your husband
has this thing in and he has shown a repetitive
		

			habit of being violent and you feel for yourself, then the Prophet is advising to leave such a
person this person is is harmful for you. So in terms of gender based violence people also what is
Islams position that it is very clear the jurors unanimously agree all the jurors agree Shana Jaffe
is that if a man you know physically harms a woman with a cheesy his wife with his sister, they and
she complains against him, then the punishment will be upon him but he'll be lashed. He will be
there'll be a zeal upon him. Of course, if the injury is permanent, then as with a low of an iPhone
Island, then similar punishment would be dealt upon him. And if someone like he was to take a life,
		

			when the head is very clear, then this person would fall be liable for execution SubhanAllah. And so
this is very, very strict language within the Sharia that a man that harms a woman in this manner,
then the punishment will be fully dealt upon him as well as Pinilla. It's not just about physical
harm. It's even a verbal abuse.
		

			In surah, Mugello, Surah mogera, Allah, which basically means the lady that comply with the 58th
surah of the Quran will also Scott a semi Allah that a lady comes to complain to the professor lamb
that her husband verbally abused so he didn't hit her or anything like that, but he insulted her
verbally. So she comes to the reason to complain about her husband, and before they can respond to
her complaint. Allah says, I have heard her complaint certainly has Allah heard the complaint of the
lady who has come to you to complain, a case concerning her husband, and she has directed her
complaint to Allah. So Allah is saying that I tell her that I am the one that has heard her
		

			complaint. And then Allah punishes or rather, Allah subhanaw taala reprimands the husband for what
he said, and as a punishment for what he said. He verbally abused, that Allah commanded him that he
should free a slave. And if you could not afford to free a slave, then he needs to fast 60
consecutive days consecutive days, meaning that if you force 5758 days and then you you slipped up
when you start from the beginning, so this being the punishment for verbal abuse, against against a
wife, it shows you how serious Allah Subhana Allah takes of this matter. And again, it wasn't from
the prophets of Allah, Allah had in Chinese in the Quran, the lady came to complain to you and Allah
		

			heard the complaint, and then Allah Spangler pretty much reprimands the husband, we need to know how
many times have we verbally abused our women folk and to think that Allah says, I hear what what is
being said, and this is very displeasing to Allah subhanaw taala questions people ask, what is the
Islamic view of *, very, very clear that if one person were to have a person or to * another
person, the head punishment must be applied upon them meaning execution of x, we should execute
rapists within the context of the Sharia. This is the command of the Sharia. And we use an example
insulted me the
		

			way a lady went to the masjid. And on our way home, she was assaulted, and she was raped actually.
And she screamed, and when someone came to assist her, the * ran away. And the man who came to
help her, he got arrested. And he was accused of the crime. And so the matter went to the Prophet
sallallahu sallam, and the lady she was confused, was dark, she didn't know who it was. And she
actually blamed the man who came to assist her. And, and so you cross found guilty and he was about
to be executed. But just before he was executed, the * came forward and said, You know, I raped
this woman. And obviously what I did I know was wrong. But I don't want someone to be executed on my
		

			car. I don't want this to be placed on my head as well. And so he confessed. And when, when the
officer
		

			was made aware of this new evidence, the proximate love spoke to the lady. He said soft words to
her. Very importantly, he did not blame her. But of course, she made a mistake in her testimony. The
browser lamp did not say okay, after today, because the roads are dangerous. Women can't come to the
masjid. The prophets. Allah didn't accuse her we were you. What were you waiting? Why are you
walking alone in the street at the evening, nothing like that. And also he did not there was no
reprimand upon her for giving mistaken testimony. Of course, this was done in error. And of course,
she was it was dark, and he was confused. There was no punishment upon her for that. What's also
		

			very interesting, the only evidence she had was her word against the other man's word. And this was
taken. So it was clear that she was harmed. And and she made testimony, and she pointed the finger
at this man. And so it was it was it was sufficient for this man to be made to be to be found
guilty. This shows you again, the testimony in the Sharia court. Many people have this perception
that, you know, a lady's testimony is deficient in any way, in spite of love. This is not like not
the case for any legal matters in terms of crime and those kinds of situations. There is one area we
sit in transactions, and it's a different discussion altogether. But if a lady comes forward, and
		

			she and she says she was harmed, the Sharia court, you know, takes a statement like you could take
the statement of a man. And so the lady was was sent away in kindness. The man who was, you know,
was was wrongfully arrested, as a professor spoke to him nicely as well, because he also came to a
sister, and he was under a lot of stress. He thought he was going to be executed as a problem, said
some nice words to him and let him go. As for the *, the promises of them said, obviously
because he came forward and he confessed, and he made these tober that's between human Allah and
Allah Subhana, Allah insha Allah will forgive him, whatever crimes we do who make repentance, Allah
		

			will that's in the, the judgment of Allah to forgive. But in terms of the law, he committed the
crime, he raped the woman and so he was he was executed. And so this hammer shows you the stickiness
in the Sharia that Islam has taken this as a very serious matter. Another incident of * that we
have from our tradition, a lady who was basically dying of thirst was forced into sleeping with a
man so that he could give a water. And so when this matter was raised to say, normally this lady
slept with a man in exchange of water, Should she not be punished. Instead, the man was punished for
it because this was coercion that she was being coerced say not what I said earlier. In fact, that
		

			was the judge on this and he
		

			See that is basically the ruling is if you force anyone with a, with a knife or with a gunpoint,
there's other forms of coercion of financial coercion. And so this man was actually accused accused
of of *. And so the punishment was placed on him and the lady, there was no punishment upon him.
When we talk about
		

			something I've learned this week i doing some research on this matter. When we look at Islamic law,
and the reasons why, you know, what's happening, the evidence, the clear evidence that Islam is the
as a means of prediction for our sisters, Islam, the problem lies not with Islam, rather, in the
application, in the way we as Muslims live, that Islam is that in unlike any other society in the
world, that when
		

			a lady is in distress, a Muslim lady, her husband, abused or harmed based on medical issues doesn't
even have to be it doesn't even actually reach the level of abuse. It's just disagreement with some
sadness in the marriage. The one of the first port of call usually is for the sister to run to the
mob, the first place she goes to is the Imam. Now, why would this is the go to him to the Imam, if
the if she believed that Allah or you know, we're biased, or if she believed Islam was against her,
she wouldn't go to the to the Imam. But because our sisters, even if he's not highly qualified in
the Sharia, she knows that Islam will protect her, she believes in our heart that if, if she has a
		

			valid concern, Islam, Allah Subhana, Allah has given her rights and the Sharia will protect her. And
if the Imams and orlimar fulfill that obligation, when she will find the recourse and no other
society that no other religion like that. Women don't run to the priest or the rabbi, as the women
in Muslim societies and whether it is from Africa with a symptom back to wherever it might be.
Muslim women turn to the Sharia first in terms in terms of, of marital discord, to look for a
solution. And this to me, is enough of an evidence to show you that it is in our in our minds that
Islam is rather some Islam easy to predict. And it does. And it's not it's not a problem, as many
		

			people are raised. And so in terms of solutions, and we do we move forward as a society, what can we
do to protect
		

			our women and to help our society move forward?
		

			The most important thing is for us, as we said, Islam is is really it is it is a solution. And it's
for us to return back to our Islamic values. as men and women, we need to return back and learn what
it is Islam says how we should treat one another. It's not about leaving traditional values and
taking important values. That is that is we going in the wrong direction. We need to be more in the
madrasa. We need to understand what is happening, what Islam says, when you intend to Anika? What
are your rights, what are your obligations, so we need to go back to those to those values of the
deen. And once we change someone's values, you will if he if he loves Islamic values, you will never
		

			raise his hand. You will never harm anyone, you will never be an abusive person. You will follow the
Sunnah in being that kind, wonderful person. And number two, of course, education is so important
especially for us as, as as orlimar. Many, many of us when we started that room we started it Are we
slamming universities, we were trained in terms of counseling and mediation. And so this is
something we need to admit to ourselves as the alumni body, but we are the first line of defense the
first time someone has an issue, they will come to us. And so we will we need the skills on how to
counsel how to mediate how to assist people. And if someone is in in distress, as someone who's been
		

			emotionally or physically harmed, we should not have this onset of cyber and make it easy knows part
of it is our duty and our responsibility to protect that lady, as much as we say we need to predict
all the oppressed people in the world whether it's throwing the people of Palestine, Syria, Malawi,
easy for all of them, I was just as I'm being abused here, and we don't take a strong enough stance
and so we should we those people have been accused of, of harm. I mean accused of of harming the
wife or the family, we should be the first ones to pick up the phone and phone, the police, we
should make sure that we have zero tolerance in our community. You know, in the Muslim community, we
		

			have zero tolerance for any man that is amongst us that abuses his his woman folk, we should push
them out, we should make it known that this is something that is detestable from an Islamic
perspective. And so we need to take this as it might be not in our field of expertise, and therefore
education for for us as the first line of the responders to make this known. We should also make it
easy for our sisters to come to the masjid as a place of sanctuary every single person you know, not
just from a from a gender based violence. Any person who's going through some kind of hardship,
whether it's financial, you've lost your job, the most you should be your sanctuary as it was the
		

			time of peace or love that any person who is struggling should find comfort in the masjid should
find it comfortable to approach the Imam and consult with the Imam and the Imam will do what he was
in his or her. They might be anything in his power to assist the person in distress. And so the
victim in particular, it's very difficult for a
		

			A victim of sexual abuse of gender based violence to come forward. We find as we sit in Surah
mogera, Allah, Allah, Allah says, Oh sisters, that if you feel the need to voice your concerns,
Allah is the one that he is. And so do not feel any form of shyness, do not feel any awkwardness to
take your case forward to the allameh. And to speak about it, and you will have a yearning, insha.
Allah, for us, as well, it's really important that, you know, that as, as we did the series, a few
people, you know, raise certain concerns and the certain nice tension between as we see traditional
Islam and traditional values, maybe the Allah ma believer established dilemma, and more modern
		

			contemporary movements for for, for, for feminist
		

			for the rights of females, both these groups, both these camps want the same thing, both these camps
want to see that the crisis that's on the ground comes to an end that our women can live in safety
and security, we all have daughters, we all have wives, we fear for our daughters in school, walking
in the roads panela. So we all want the same thing. And therefore, even though we disagree on the
finer details, and certain certain interpretations we can disagree with, and that's fine. They
should not be this divide between these groups. And each one can contribute. We can learn from as
you know, or llama and as Islamic leaders learn from these different groups in terms of modern means
		

			that how to address the how to be better in our in as as leaders and community community supporters.
And of course, when it comes to the Sharia and understanding the Sharia, when these modern groups
needs to understand that it is the orlimar that that understand the deen the best and everyone I
mean, everyone is entitled to, to discuss and to learn and to voice the concerns. But ultimately,
the Sharia is the Sharia. And it's not for any one of us to change the Sharia, there are certain
problematic or awkward areas, whether it's polygamy, whether it is awfully needed things of a man,
these things are enshrined in the Sharia, it is not something that any alien can change. And so it
		

			is having these dialogue and working together rather than venting against each other and to to to
use these things as as to a our agendas when our community is suffering. And so these groups need to
work together and stick to the area of expertise for the betterment of the of the community. One
area which is very, very dear to me is that we as you know, we should make a concerted effort to
facilitate divorce in times of in where a marriage is really not not working. And you know, husband
or the wife is in this race for the man it's very easy with the law to exit a marriage for the
sisters as well. They should we should facilitate it and Ibiza Salam did not make divorce so
		

			difficult. And so we should also change the way in which we facilitate divorce, make it more
accessible, we should make our structures whether it is the masjid committee, the orlimar
fraternity, we should have more representation with the with the females and why, you know, it's the
type of
		

			eyeshadow there are so many of the mothers of the believers, many of the sisters they will they will
part of the discussion. They were part of major discussions, politics wolfy the opinions were heard.
And we've almost gone backwards that you know, many marriages are men only only find the Buddhists
and there's no no sisters on the committee. Of course we talk about women, it is not right that only
men talk about women rather the sisters themselves should be consulted and they should be have a
say. And so every machine every organization should look at your committees, is it properly
constituted? Do we have enough old people, young people, people of different genders, people of
		

			different social backgrounds, so that we can be representative of the of the community imagine in
particular, it doesn't belong to one group of people, it will also the entire community. And when
you find that it is only dominated by one type of person, you know, only men or only people from a
certain background, then of course this this tells you that there's a bias in the way this machine
is being run. And so all of us you know yet but much Brownlee slam as well something that we look at
is is properly constituted with every different demographic that we have. And so we should make our
structures more accessible. And so many areas as part a lot we can only conclude on this and to say
		

			that this is a struggle with our struggle. Allah Subhana Allah has placed those of us in a position
where we can you know, every family, we should look at our families. If we are not Alhamdulillah you
know, you are not the perpetrators as when you're not abusing your wife. You're not financially or
physically abusing your wives. They look at the rest of your family and look at you know whether
it's your brother whether it is your friend, and we should not keep this hidden I know it is it is
very easy, shameful. And that is why that is why it's been swept under the rug. But each and every
one of us have a responsibility. It is not just for all of our to do their part or the you know the
		

			government to do its part but every single person, if you find that your neighbor is being harmed
and abused and you need to speak up, and you need to take the matter forward, because so long as we
are silent, we perpetuate the cycle. And tomorrow it could be your child it could be your daughter
and Allah protect our, our our families. What we want is we want to live in a society with the
rights of every single person is respected, that every life is respected. And we can walk in the
streets simple things we can walk in the street we can go to school with come back from school,
without any fear that we will be molested or harmed.
		

			The only way it changes is when it starts with ourselves. So each and every one of us. As we know
from the Heidi, if if you see something wrong, Vinnie, you are the one that has the responsibility
to change with your hand, do something about it. And if you can't do that, at least speak up at
least found someone at least contact the email or at least make a complaint. And if you can't even
do that, then at least we should only make into our last part, Allah forgive us and bless us and
keep us safe. May Allah grant all of us the goodness, this, as I said, was a very controversial area
of discussion, and Alhamdulillah at least we're having a discussion, and we can of course disagree
		

			with one another in kindness. I feel that if anyone has specific concerns, we welcome your comments.
And we welcome any discussion in sha Allah Melis private offer give us where we faltered. If anyone
has been offended, I asked him off. Whatever good we've said, is only a small step forward in a
discussion that needs to be of utmost importance in our community and Allah Subhana Allah bless all
of us. I mean, also Pacino Mohammed Ali wasapi Osama senior army