Nouman Ali Khan – Why does the testimony of two women equal one man in the Quran- Q&A
AI: Summary ©
The conversation delves into the issue of women's testimony in the Q hangs and the problem of men's testimony in the Qurvi. The speakers discuss witness intimidation, where women are seen as a minority and men as a dominant figure. The use of witness intimidation in court proceedings, including the potential loss of a woman if she doesn't comply with court orders, is also discussed. The speakers encourage viewers to sign up for a YouTube video and join them for a journey on bay prep.com to learn the Q Front.
AI: Summary ©
Most business transactions were being conducted by men.
That was just the nature of that society,
okay?
And in that context, sometimes, even if women
were present, they weren't paying attention, they weren't
part of the deal.
So now there's a court ruling, and you're
bringing a woman who's saying, yeah, I was
there, I think that's what they said, or
she gets nervous.
So Allah said, women, in a sense understood,
if they don't have the background, there should
be another one to help them in case
they get confused.
Some of our non-Muslim colleagues ask about
why the Qur'an says that two women's
testimony is equal to one man's testimony.
So I'll say a few things about that.
Let's start with our hadith tradition.
In our hadith tradition, one of the most
learned from a hadith come from Aisha radiallahu
anha, who is one woman, and she's testifying
that she heard the Prophet say, especially salallahu
alayhi wasalam, in situations where there's nobody else
around, it's just her and her husband, right?
So if the Muslims thought that the testimony
of a woman across the board is only
half that of a man, then we would
have to apply that to the mother of
the believers too, like Aisha radiallahu anha.
So that would be a problem.
In our hadith tradition, there are women that
were teaching scholars hadith also, not just sahabiyat,
other women.
There's a list of them.
Those of you that are interested, there's a
book called Al-Muhaddithat, it's been translated into
English also, by the author himself, Dr. Akram
Madui.
He collects a list of, I think, 2
,500 Islamic scholars, women across Islamic history, whose
testimony in report collection is something that's part
of our tradition, right?
So the idea that somehow Muslims thought that
women's testimony is half that of a man,
it doesn't hold true historically.
But that still doesn't answer the question, why
is that in the Qur'an?
What's in the Qur'an is actually a
few things.
In the Qur'an, a woman comes to
the Prophet ﷺ and complains that my husband
does this, this, and this.
Okay?
She complains about her husband.
And the Qur'an came to her defense.
The Qur'an didn't come to the Prophet
ﷺ and say, wait, if a woman comes
to you, tell her to bring one more
woman before she testifies to anything.
You don't see that in the Qur'an.
You actually see one woman saying something and
it's completely acceptable.
In fact, acceptable to Allah Himself.
Acceptable to Allah Himself.
So already within the Qur'an, you're seeing
that this is not a consistent rule.
Now let's come zoom in on the ayah
itself.
The ayah is actually talking about witness intimidation.
It's talking about two things, witness intimidation and
it's talking about prior knowledge.
So what happened in Arabian society, you might
know the vast majority of people were not
literate.
The vast majority of people did not know
how to write and read and write.
That was a minority.
And in that ayah, in that same ayah,
this is the longest ayah of the Qur
'an.
In that ayah, Allah made it a responsibility
for the few people who know how to
read and write to show up when a
loan document is being signed so they can
take dictation from both sides.
It's kind of like jury duty, right?
So it's because the citizen's responsibility to provide
this public service, right?
And it's the same or it's like being,
it's not like being drafted in the military
but being drafted for public service because you're
one of the few people that is able
to provide this public service, okay?
فَلْيَكْتُبْ مِمَّا عَلَّمَهُ اللَّهِ From what Allah has
taught them, that person should document.
Fine.
So now we're talking about the minority situation
where only some people are capable of documenting
these kinds of things.
Now, the next component of that is most
business transactions were being conducted by men.
That was just the nature of that society,
okay?
And in that context, sometimes even if women
were present, they weren't paying attention.
They weren't part of the deal.
So now there's a court ruling and you're
bringing a woman who's saying, yeah, I was
there.
I think that's what they said or she
gets nervous.
So Allah said, women, if they're in a
sense understood, if they don't have the background,
there should be another one to help them
in case they get confused.
Now the other thing is the ayah never
said if they forget.
It didn't say, أَن تَنْسَى إِحْدَاهُمَا فَتُذَكِّرَ إِحْدَاهُمَا
الْأُخْرَى It said, أَن تَضِلَّ إِحْدَاهُمَا If one
gets confused, if one gets lost, the other
can remind her.
So being confused is not the same as
being forgetful.
Here's another interesting component, witness intimidation.
So ذِلَّى can also be used as a
woman's being told, hey, if you testify, then
it's not gonna be good for you.
You know what I'll do or you know
what can happen to you.
So because they were in a greater threat
or when you leave this place, you'll see
what's gonna happen.
So Allah essentially kind of provided somewhat of
a cover by having two women come and
testify in those kinds of situations.
Meaning two women are being pulled into court.
You can't just pull one woman into court.
Two have to come.
If you can't come up with two, then
don't bother them.
Right?
So it's easier to draft men into a,
like get a letter that they have to
have a court appearance.
And it's twice as hard for a woman
to be called into a court appearance actually.
So that's the original context of the ayah
in question.
It can in some societies.
Yeah, I think in some societies it can.
And I think it can, its application can
be used in the context of witness intimidation.
You know, you have for example, what do
you call those restraining orders?
Right?
Restraining orders, right?
It's usually not men that are getting restraining
orders from women.
That happens too.
But it's most of the time women getting
restraining orders from men.
Right?
It's the other way around.
So there's a physical danger.
It was an interview I was listening to
from a police officer, a female police officer
who carries extra weapons.
Right?
She has like a knife in her sock
and she has like all kinds of stuff.
And she was like, look, the fact of
the matter is as the female of the
species, I'm walking around next to people that
are potentially capable of killing me with their
bare hands.
Right?
So like there is a biological fact to
the, you know, the * of the male
over the female physically speaking.
Right?
So that intimidation is a reality in society.
It's not something that can be ignored.
You know, as much as we want to
pretend men and women are equal in every
way, that's just pretend.
There are some things in which women are
given an advantage, other things men are given
an advantage.
And clearly a physical advantage is there.
Now, if you want to bring up Vanessa
Williams as an example to beat me up,
you can.
But the exception proves the rule.
Right?
I hope you guys enjoyed that video clip.
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