Wasim Kempson – The Knowledge – Polygamy In Islam

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			boom, boom, afternoon, gentlemen, we're gonna take you to afternoon. Trafalgar Square, please.
valgus. Great. Okay, sure how long it will take to get it might take about 25 minutes, hopefully if
there's not too much traffic. Okay, and you've started to meet already, then
		

			we'll have to be fair, don't I?
		

			I see that you're a Muslim? You guessed right. Yeah. Okay. Did you know that?
		

			You're from Jamaica. Right. I am from Jamaica. Yeah, you're not the only one. giving things away as
I
		

			did my first couple of questions. Yeah, go ahead. Okay. I've just been, I'm quite new in the faith.
And
		

			what I'm not understand is why is it permissible for a man to marry more than one wife? But the wife
got a woman kind of the same? Why is that? Yeah, you know, I think you'll agree with me that men and
women are very different.
		

			You know, Islam recognizes that, that men have certain qualities. And when women have certain
qualities, there is a distinction between the both. Even though you know, some modern cultures, or
modern ways of life make absolutely no distinction between men and women in terms of their gender,
who they are, they want them to be the same. They don't want to recognize any difference, okay?
Islamically, we do recognize that.
		

			And, you know, we recognize also that the revelation from God from Allah, that he knows what is best
for us. And he pits permits a man to marry up to four. Okay, it's not a must, that when you become a
Muslim, you have to marry four women, that's not the case. You can marry up to four. If you can be
just and you can be fair with them. If you can't treat them fairly the time and money, then you
should only marry one. Okay. And bear in mind that we're in the UK. In so you're only permitted,
you're only allowed to have one wife, otherwise, you'll be a big mess to get is that legally have
one wife? Yeah, of course, legally. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. So as a Muslim in England, you can
		

			only marry you can only have one wife? Well, in the UK, you illegally you can only have one wife,
you can have 10 Girlfriends, if you like,
		

			you know, and you don't give them their rights. And you can treat them badly. And yeah, but that's
acceptable. Okay. But you know, you can only have one wife, where Islamically you know, when you do
get married? Yes, she has full rights. She has to be looked after. You can't mistreat her. So you
know, when you have an agreement with another woman in the form of marriage, she has full rights,
even if you marry again. Okay, she has just as much rights as the first family. Okay. So that's what
Islam gives. It's unfortunately, this sacred kind of commitment isn't
		

			valued as it as it should be, really. And then you, on the other hand, you can have girlfriends, and
you can mistreat them and do what you like. So does that mean, can you have four Islamic wives
		

			in the UK? Or is it only one Islamic wife? Is it UK law? Or is it maybe share Sharia law? Or how
does it you know, the Sharia law isn't something that you know, the country of this land rules by
Lee loose rules by the law of English and Welsh law. And that has its own regulations where it
doesn't recognize the Sharia? Yeah, there are some things where, you know, maybe like, they're very
similar in terms of certain justice, and even sometimes in divorce laws. You know, there's some
similarities where in English law, if a man divorces his wife, then they go through a period where
they wait, yeah. Similarly, in Islam, that if a woman is divorced, that she has to go through a
		

			waiting period as well. So there are some similarities. And there are, of course, some some big
differences. As for the finer details, as to you know, Islamically marrying them, of course, that
I'm not sure how that really works, to be honest with you. Okay, so it is possible to have, because
if you had Islamic marriages, and you had more than one, would you still be a big mess, or is it is
if you guys have the law? Yeah.
		

			The UK law does not recognize Islamic marriages. Okay, yeah. But then this is something which may be
unregulated. And sometimes, you know, a lot of abuses they take place. And sometimes people are
mistreated. So I would recommend that if anyone wants to get married, that they should go through
the correct you know, the correct means and
		

			ensure that they're not breaking the law. And in terms of the, the jealousy element, do you know any
men that have two wives and how do they deal with the jealousy element? Because, you know, men can
be prone to jealousy, we have the guidance of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, and that he
had more than one wife. And likewise, this was implemented and still until this day now implemented
in many Muslim countries. When
		

			and have more than one wife.
		

			And sometimes, you know, it is successful. And other times it's not so successful. You know, there's
times when it's not so successful.
		

			More often than not, you'll find that there's an element of oppression or injustice, towards one of
the one of the party's
		

			initial issues of jealousy Well,
		

			I guess
		

			that will be present. But it's the responsibility upon the husband, to ensure that he tries to treat
his wives the best possible way, so that this feeling doesn't fester within them. And that they feel
as though that they're being oppressed or treated unjustly. Ultimately, it's part of Islamic law.
And it's not for us to you know, say it doesn't exist. It's all wrong. Because you know, the
revelation of God Almighty, we believe to be the most wise, and that what is best for mankind? It
doesn't mean you have to implement that doesn't mean you have to do that. But that option, is there
within the correct environment. Yeah. So in Islam, is there a minimum age limit and get married for
		

			a woman because of her the Prophet mode or girl of nine?
		

			This is something that people talk about a lot, actually. Okay? The fact that the Prophet Muhammad
peace be upon him, married, one of his wives. In fact,
		

			the contract was done when she was six years old. Right. And when she became a woman, at the age of
nine, they began living together. Now there's many accusations towards the Prophet Muhammad peace be
upon him on this issue. And from as well as Muslims, and you may come across this now, brother, but
this question may be posed to you, you know, what do you say? And how do you answer this?
		

			Now, it's very important for us to remember that, you know, cultures around the world, they differ
from one place to the next, you know, and also, what people accept as are widely accepted as normal,
from one place to the next also can differ. Now, we're talking about Arabia, we're talking about
more than 1400 years ago, that was something that culturally was widely accepted. And if it was
deemed wrong, or inappropriate, the first people to attack the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him,
would have been those people who are living there in the city, they would have accused him of, you
know, abusing a young girl. But that was something was totally acceptable at that time, even though
		

			in the year 2016. Now, in Western countries, now that, you know, culturally, is not acceptable, it
doesn't mean that that was wrong. I mean, according to you, and the culture that you live in, it may
not be acceptable. But in that, in that environment, it was acceptable.
		

			It was It wasn't Islam, it was the environment, it was the culture, it's allowed you and once a
woman reaches a certain in a reaches the age of adulthood, she would be permitted, like the man
		

			to marry, there are some countries, which and even if Muslim countries which put the law of marriage
at a particular age, and you know, you would be bounded by the law of the land at that time,
		

			or that country to to marry at that age wouldn't be permitted to marry any earlier than that. Okay?
I remember, I think in the 13th or 14th century, there was an English king, his name's Richard the
second, he actually married a six year old girl.
		

			He's an English king, and he married a six year old girl, I think it was about 29 or 30. And when
those people, you know, start accusing the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him of, of such behavior,
then this is something at that time was culturally acceptable, right? Okay. So it's important we put
things into context is important, we understand the situation and everything that goes with it, it's
not acceptable, that you know, people are in order to understand the nuances of what happened at
that time, you need to understand the dynamic, this is how it worked, then it was okay. All right.
I'm not saying you know, the way that you're living is, is superior. And everything we do is right,
		

			yeah.
		

			It may be one, you know, in the future, we may look upon ourselves in 2016, and think we were quite
backward. We were quite intolerant. We were quite ignorant in, in looking at other people's, you
know, ways of life.
		

			And people can quite easily fall into things like that, when they start judging other people or, you
know, judging other cultures, usually, that's based upon biased within themselves, you know,
preconceived ideas, ignorance, but as Muslims, you know, 100, you know, Praise to Allah that, you
know, when we have answers, we can explain things, there isn't things which are natural, you know,
Islam doesn't push you in a direction or tell you to do things which causes people to be, you know,
doing the wrong thing or, you know, bringing about, you know, vices or ills in society. You know,
you do at the same time, look at the, the environment, the law of the land that we're living. Yeah,
		

			you know, this is very, very important. It's one of the flexible things that you find in Islam that
it can adapt to all places and all times. I'm a, you know, new Muslim and why is it that often
		

			When Western women think they're much freer than women who wear like a hijab, they think that, you
know, because they can wear short skirts, they feel that they're free. Yeah, and Muslim women, women
who may wear hijabs or I think the face mill, that they're oppressed. Why do you think? Why do you
think, yeah, women, because I think they look at things in a very, very simplistic way.
		

			And they see, for example, that you have to wear this clothing, you have to cover yourself up, and I
can wear whatever I like. So I'm free, and you're oppressed. But when you actually look at the
reality,
		

			that when they believe that they can wear whatever they like, in actual fact, you will find that
they restrict themselves so much in what that they can wear, because they have to follow a certain
fashion. But they have to wear a certain color, they have to wear a certain garment has to be a
certain way. Otherwise, they will be looked at, in a particular way, they won't buy cheap clothing,
they want to buy the best. So there's lots of pressures on them to uphold a certain image. So this
so called freedom that they think that they have that they can wear what they like, in fact, is the
complete opposite. In fact, they have to spend lots of money, many get locked into debt. Some of
		

			them are, you know, compare their bodies to other people to so many pressures that, that they fall
into. But they've been tricked into thinking that they're free, whereas the Muslim woman isn't a
slave of the fashion isn't a slave of trying to impress people by what she wears. Rather, what she
wears is a choice that she makes to serve God Almighty, not to please the people, not to say that
the people can say to her, Oh, that's a really nice dress, or you look really nice today. She wears
that garment as a protection for herself, to display her modesty. And this is real freedom, that
she's not been locked into this worldly life, and being influenced by everything, that she's made a
		

			conscious decision or an informed decision to submit to the One who created her. This liberates her.
So in fact that the reality is the complete opposite. I guess it follows the idea if something's
valuable, you cover it up. You kind of you don't put it on display for everybody to kind of grab a
trigger on the thing. You know, where do you find the crown jewels, you find on the corner Street,
the crown jewels, you have to pay money to go into a castle and then go through like a machine or a
metal detector before you can actually see those Crown Jewels, which you're not permitted to even
take photographs of, you know, so things which are valuable to people, they want to value and look
		

			after them. And likewise, a Muslim woman is something very valuable. It is not something that she
should adorn herself and display herself for everybody.
		

			You know, she is a person who first and foremost is a servant and serves her lord. She says submits
to, to Allah. And this will make her a Muslim. And then, you know, she keeps What beauty that Allah
has given to her for the person whom she's happy to display herself, like her husband. And likewise,
the man he used to preserve his modesty isn't all about women recovering themselves, a man has to
cover himself. Of course not with the hijab. Men are different from women.
		

			But rather, a man has to dress in a modest way. He shouldn't wear things which you know, are tight
on his body. So modesty goes both ways. Boom,
		

			boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.