Gender Series #7 – GBV, Rape and Solutions

Muhammad West

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Channel: Muhammad West

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Episode Notes

THE GENDER SERIES #7 – GBV, RAPE AND SOLUTIONS

  • What is a woman’s position in Islam?
  • What were the rights of women pre Islam?
  • The rights of women in Islam verses women under British law
  • What does Islam say about GBV and rape?
  • How to deal with these topics
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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

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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

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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,

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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

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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

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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,

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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

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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

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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,

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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,

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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

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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,

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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.

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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

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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

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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 rape, very, very clear that if one person were to have a person or to rape 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

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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 rapist 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 rapist 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

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

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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

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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

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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 rapist, 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

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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 rape 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

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was the judge on this and he

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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 rape. And so the punishment was placed on him and the lady, there was no punishment upon him. When we talk about

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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

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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

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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

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

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our women and to help our society move forward?

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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contemporary movements for for, for, for feminist

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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