Zakariyya Harnekar – Womanhood in the Quran

Zakariyya Harnekar
AI: Summary ©
The title "Okayla wa'te" is often overstated and is viewed as a reference to "Okayla wa'te" in Islam. The definition of "olderity and manhood" in the Quran is also discussed, as it is often stated that men and women are different categories of men and women. The discussion on the difference between men's and fifers' roles in the Quran is also discussed, as it is often stated that men's roles are for women and women are for men. The title of "verbal sex" is not a consideration for men or women, but rather a category of behavior. The discussion on the use of "by" in the Arabic language is also discussed, as it is used to establish a principle and make points.
AI: Transcript ©
00:02:33 --> 00:02:34

I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed

00:02:34 --> 00:02:34

Satan.

00:02:35 --> 00:02:36

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious,

00:02:36 --> 00:02:36

the Most Merciful.

00:02:37 --> 00:02:38

All praise is due to Allah, Lord of

00:02:38 --> 00:02:38

the worlds.

00:02:38 --> 00:02:40

And peace and blessings be upon His noble

00:02:40 --> 00:02:42

Messenger, and upon all his family and companions.

00:02:43 --> 00:02:45

O my Lord, open my heart and ease

00:02:45 --> 00:02:46

my affair, and release my tongue from my

00:02:46 --> 00:02:47

mouth, so that it may understand my speech.

00:02:48 --> 00:02:51

O Allah, make our deeds pure for Your

00:02:51 --> 00:02:52

Face, and do not make in them any

00:02:52 --> 00:02:52

harm to others.

00:02:53 --> 00:02:54

And peace and blessings be upon our Master,

00:02:54 --> 00:02:56

our Prophet, and us, Muhammad, and upon all

00:02:56 --> 00:02:57

his family and companions.

00:02:58 --> 00:02:59

And all praise is due to Allah, Lord

00:02:59 --> 00:03:00

of the worlds.

00:03:00 --> 00:03:02

As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

00:03:25 --> 00:03:26

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:26 --> 00:03:26

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:26 --> 00:03:26

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:26 --> 00:03:26

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:26 --> 00:03:27

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:27 --> 00:03:27

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:27 --> 00:03:27

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:27 --> 00:03:27

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:27 --> 00:03:27

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:27 --> 00:03:27

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:27 --> 00:03:27

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:27 --> 00:03:27

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:27 --> 00:03:27

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:27 --> 00:03:27

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:27 --> 00:03:28

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:28 --> 00:03:28

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:28 --> 00:03:28

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:28 --> 00:03:28

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:28 --> 00:03:28

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:28 --> 00:03:28

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:28 --> 00:03:28

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:28 --> 00:03:28

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:28 --> 00:03:28

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:28 --> 00:03:28

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:28 --> 00:03:29

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:29 --> 00:03:29

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:29 --> 00:03:29

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:29 --> 00:03:29

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:29 --> 00:03:29

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:29 --> 00:03:29

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:29 --> 00:03:31

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:31 --> 00:03:32

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:32 --> 00:03:32

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:32 --> 00:03:32

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:32 --> 00:03:32

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:32 --> 00:03:32

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:32 --> 00:03:32

كيف حالكم؟

00:03:32 --> 00:03:34

ك praise because he's perfect in and of

00:03:34 --> 00:03:37

himself and grateful or gratitude an expression of

00:03:37 --> 00:03:40

gratitude because in addition to him being perfect

00:03:40 --> 00:03:42

and worthy of praise in and of himself,

00:03:42 --> 00:03:45

he chooses to use his perfection to benefit

00:03:45 --> 00:03:47

us in every moment and every time.

00:03:48 --> 00:03:50

Thereafter, we send salawat and salam upon our

00:03:50 --> 00:03:53

beloved Nabi Muhammad salallahu alayhi wasalam Allahumma salli

00:03:53 --> 00:03:56

ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala ahli Sayyidina Muhammad

00:03:56 --> 00:03:59

kama sallayta ala Sayyidina Ibrahim wa ala ahli

00:03:59 --> 00:04:02

Sayyidina Ibrahim fil alameena innaka hamidun majeed We

00:04:02 --> 00:04:05

send these prayers of blessings and peace and

00:04:05 --> 00:04:08

salutations upon our beloved Nabi Muhammad salallahu alayhi

00:04:08 --> 00:04:11

wasalam For it is through his every action

00:04:11 --> 00:04:14

his every statement His every state his every

00:04:14 --> 00:04:17

approval that Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala taught us

00:04:17 --> 00:04:19

how to be in this life Such that

00:04:19 --> 00:04:21

we can attain the best of this life

00:04:21 --> 00:04:23

and the next it's not a compromise of

00:04:24 --> 00:04:26

This life for the next life rather in

00:04:26 --> 00:04:29

the way of Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wasalam We

00:04:29 --> 00:04:31

find the best of this life and the

00:04:31 --> 00:04:35

best of the next life Thereafter in thinking

00:04:35 --> 00:04:39

about what to speak about To be honest

00:04:39 --> 00:04:42

with you I didn't Actually have a lot

00:04:42 --> 00:04:44

of mind space to dedicate to to my

00:04:44 --> 00:04:47

topic today, and so I thought to Present

00:04:47 --> 00:04:50

or speak about something that I recently researched

00:04:50 --> 00:04:51

for a talk that I did in Durban

00:04:52 --> 00:04:54

And I thought since it was beneficial there

00:04:54 --> 00:04:56

I thought it would be beneficial for this

00:04:56 --> 00:04:58

congregation as well, and it's a topic that

00:04:58 --> 00:05:02

I think is extremely important and Perhaps one

00:05:02 --> 00:05:04

that's not oft looked into and that is

00:05:04 --> 00:05:06

womanhood in the Quran now.

00:05:06 --> 00:05:07

You may be thinking.

00:05:07 --> 00:05:10

Oh, there's mostly men in the masjid Why

00:05:10 --> 00:05:13

womanhood in the Quran and I think these

00:05:13 --> 00:05:14

conceptions?

00:05:15 --> 00:05:19

that That we create around the message of

00:05:19 --> 00:05:22

Islam is important for both males and females

00:05:22 --> 00:05:25

It's important for a male to have the

00:05:25 --> 00:05:29

right conception about womanhood in Islam and if

00:05:29 --> 00:05:30

it's in Islam then it stems from the

00:05:30 --> 00:05:33

Quran and similarly it's important for females to

00:05:33 --> 00:05:35

have the same conception of men or manhood

00:05:35 --> 00:05:38

in the Quran and in Islam and It

00:05:38 --> 00:05:41

is in this understanding that we can create

00:05:41 --> 00:05:46

a harmonious society but if we simply take

00:05:46 --> 00:05:50

our narratives or our understandings of Womanhood and

00:05:50 --> 00:05:52

manhood and gender roles and all of those

00:05:52 --> 00:05:57

you know, whatever gender ideology Gender ideology exists

00:05:57 --> 00:05:59

out there today then we will be waylaid

00:05:59 --> 00:06:02

and ideas will be imposed upon us from

00:06:02 --> 00:06:07

outside of our own paradigm and That's a

00:06:07 --> 00:06:11

point that cannot be You know overstated we

00:06:11 --> 00:06:13

live in a world wherein there is a

00:06:13 --> 00:06:16

huge thought battle Some of the greatest battles

00:06:16 --> 00:06:19

that that Muslims face in our time is

00:06:19 --> 00:06:21

not material challenges Yes, of course, there are

00:06:21 --> 00:06:23

material challenges that pervade our society.

00:06:23 --> 00:06:25

We're one of the most unequal societies in

00:06:25 --> 00:06:28

the world But in addition to that there

00:06:28 --> 00:06:33

is a there is an extreme and Rabid

00:06:33 --> 00:06:39

onslaught on truth and Ideas that inform our

00:06:39 --> 00:06:41

understanding of the world and so it behooves

00:06:41 --> 00:06:43

us to go back to the Quran and

00:06:43 --> 00:06:46

to see What is it that Allah subhanahu

00:06:46 --> 00:06:48

wa'ta'ala informs us of certain?

00:06:48 --> 00:06:51

Seminal things in our time certain important matters

00:06:51 --> 00:06:53

in our time so that our mind can

00:06:53 --> 00:06:55

be framed correctly in relation to these important

00:06:55 --> 00:06:58

questions and we can journey ahead as Allah

00:06:58 --> 00:07:01

subhanahu wa'ta'ala intends for us rather than

00:07:01 --> 00:07:05

via ideas that are imposed upon us Right

00:07:05 --> 00:07:07

such that we perhaps take our idea of

00:07:07 --> 00:07:12

womanhood from you know Femme feminism or we

00:07:12 --> 00:07:14

take our idea of masculinity from the Red

00:07:14 --> 00:07:16

Bull movement or whatever the case may be

00:07:16 --> 00:07:18

rather we look to our sources the Quran

00:07:18 --> 00:07:21

our book of guidance from Allah subhanahu wa'ta

00:07:21 --> 00:07:24

'ala and we gain our understanding from them,

00:07:25 --> 00:07:28

so the reason I chose to speak about

00:07:28 --> 00:07:30

this topic in Durban in the first place

00:07:30 --> 00:07:35

is that Oftentimes women do get the short

00:07:35 --> 00:07:38

end of the stick in Islam and That

00:07:38 --> 00:07:41

usually stems from wrong conceptions or a lack

00:07:41 --> 00:07:45

of education around the actual Quranic narrative and

00:07:45 --> 00:07:49

so This talk the paradigm or the framework

00:07:49 --> 00:07:50

from which I want to approach this topic

00:07:50 --> 00:07:54

is Womanhood in the Quran the paradigm or

00:07:54 --> 00:07:56

the the framework is what is provided to

00:07:56 --> 00:07:57

us by the Quran.

00:07:57 --> 00:08:01

I'm not taking from any Modern ideology or

00:08:01 --> 00:08:02

anything like that to try and inform this

00:08:02 --> 00:08:06

topic rather The idea was to look into

00:08:06 --> 00:08:10

the ayat of the Quran and the Quran's

00:08:10 --> 00:08:15

treatment of women as You know like as

00:08:15 --> 00:08:25

a category and also And And also female

00:08:25 --> 00:08:28

personalities in the stories that the Quran tells

00:08:28 --> 00:08:31

So to have a type of ta'seel

00:08:31 --> 00:08:33

if you want to to look at the

00:08:33 --> 00:08:36

matter in an original way by looking at

00:08:36 --> 00:08:39

the Quran so This was something new to

00:08:39 --> 00:08:39

me.

00:08:39 --> 00:08:41

I never you know looked into this topic

00:08:41 --> 00:08:45

very much before I Done some research into

00:08:45 --> 00:08:47

the idea of masculinity and manhood in the

00:08:47 --> 00:08:49

Quran because of the spaces that I find

00:08:49 --> 00:08:51

myself in and the Audiences, but this is

00:08:51 --> 00:08:53

a bit of a new topic for me

00:08:53 --> 00:08:55

And I came to find in the narrations

00:08:55 --> 00:08:59

in the hadith That pertain to the verses

00:08:59 --> 00:09:01

that speak about this topic that the idea

00:09:01 --> 00:09:06

of women feeling Lesser or lesser represented in

00:09:06 --> 00:09:07

the Quran is not a new one It's

00:09:07 --> 00:09:10

something that existed even amongst the sahabiyat even

00:09:10 --> 00:09:13

amongst the wives of Rasool Allahi Sallallahu alayhi

00:09:13 --> 00:09:14

wasallam, and I'll mention some of those narrations

00:09:14 --> 00:09:17

a little bit later, so it's not necessary

00:09:17 --> 00:09:20

that if we find Muslim females in our

00:09:20 --> 00:09:24

time feeling underrepresented or you know lesser addressed

00:09:24 --> 00:09:27

that we should take this as a Necessarily

00:09:27 --> 00:09:28

bad thing.

00:09:28 --> 00:09:30

It's something that existed even with the wives

00:09:30 --> 00:09:36

of Rasool Allahi Sallallahu alayhi wasallam and Before

00:09:36 --> 00:09:38

getting into the Quranic narrative of the Quran

00:09:38 --> 00:09:40

I think there's an important point to understand

00:09:40 --> 00:09:42

in relation to the Quran statement of this

00:09:42 --> 00:09:46

topic One is that the Quran was revealed

00:09:46 --> 00:09:48

in a specific context and that context was

00:09:48 --> 00:09:50

the context of Jahiliyyah in the Arab world

00:09:50 --> 00:09:54

and there Were other civilizations around it The

00:09:54 --> 00:09:58

primary civilizations were the Roman civilization and the

00:09:58 --> 00:10:01

Persian civilization But there was also an Indian

00:10:01 --> 00:10:04

civilization a Hindu religion that they had existed

00:10:04 --> 00:10:07

for a long time Buddhist traditions etc amongst

00:10:07 --> 00:10:11

others and what we find is that in

00:10:12 --> 00:10:15

all of those contexts In all of those

00:10:15 --> 00:10:18

contexts women were looked down upon to a

00:10:18 --> 00:10:22

great degree To the extent that in some

00:10:22 --> 00:10:26

traditions The question one of the big questions

00:10:26 --> 00:10:28

was do women even have a soul?

00:10:28 --> 00:10:31

Do they even possess a a soul or

00:10:31 --> 00:10:33

are they simply like other animals?

00:10:34 --> 00:10:36

That are created for the service of men

00:10:38 --> 00:10:41

There were There were practices that existed in

00:10:41 --> 00:10:44

some Hindu societies if a male Passes away,

00:10:44 --> 00:10:50

then his wife is cremated with him And

00:10:50 --> 00:10:53

They were There were discussions about whether women

00:10:53 --> 00:10:55

had the right of ownership of assets of

00:10:55 --> 00:10:59

property and these you know span like I

00:10:59 --> 00:11:01

said the the Christian tradition at the time

00:11:01 --> 00:11:04

the Roman tradition and the the Hindu tradition

00:11:04 --> 00:11:06

and Even in the Arab society to which

00:11:06 --> 00:11:09

the Quran was revealed children female children were

00:11:09 --> 00:11:13

being born alive What you're saying they were

00:11:13 --> 00:11:17

they were buried alive yes Right simply on

00:11:17 --> 00:11:19

account of the fact that they were Little

00:11:19 --> 00:11:21

girl babies, and I don't know how that

00:11:21 --> 00:11:23

was possible because I don't know if you

00:11:23 --> 00:11:25

see a little baby You have to be

00:11:25 --> 00:11:27

somewhat heartless to do any harm to them

00:11:29 --> 00:11:32

so Those are like the type of prejudice

00:11:32 --> 00:11:35

prejudices that existed in the society at large

00:11:36 --> 00:11:38

In relation to women and so the Quran

00:11:38 --> 00:11:40

was revealed in this context into a society

00:11:41 --> 00:11:44

And the world that had all of these

00:11:44 --> 00:11:47

prejudices, but when we look into the Quran

00:11:47 --> 00:11:51

we find that the Quran Yes in instances

00:11:51 --> 00:11:53

it speaks to some of those things Allah

00:11:53 --> 00:11:58

subhanallah mentions how the Polytheists they lament when

00:11:58 --> 00:12:00

they are when they have a girl child

00:12:01 --> 00:12:03

But they attribute to Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala

00:12:03 --> 00:12:07

daughters and the Quran Laments how these people

00:12:07 --> 00:12:10

Would bury their daughters alive and they will

00:12:10 --> 00:12:11

be asked be a them in cookie that

00:12:11 --> 00:12:12

Allah will ask these children on the day

00:12:12 --> 00:12:14

of Table for what sin were you were

00:12:14 --> 00:12:14

you killed?

00:12:16 --> 00:12:18

but really the Quran doesn't really ever treat

00:12:18 --> 00:12:21

the topic of males and females as you

00:12:21 --> 00:12:27

know as a topic that Requires the scrutiny

00:12:27 --> 00:12:29

that other civilizations were giving to it.

00:12:29 --> 00:12:32

It's as if the Quran simply treats males

00:12:32 --> 00:12:36

and females as Complementary in say in some

00:12:36 --> 00:12:39

senses and equal in other senses from the

00:12:39 --> 00:12:41

girl from the get-go Despite it being

00:12:41 --> 00:12:43

revealed into a society with these prejudices and

00:12:43 --> 00:12:45

a world with these prejudices the Quran treats

00:12:45 --> 00:12:49

them as complementary and in some cases equal

00:12:51 --> 00:12:53

From the get-go and I think that's

00:12:53 --> 00:12:55

very important because the Quran was a book

00:12:55 --> 00:12:58

that was revealed not necessarily to change everything

00:12:58 --> 00:13:02

that existed But in relation to this topic

00:13:02 --> 00:13:06

the Quran was somewhat revolutionary in that it

00:13:06 --> 00:13:10

ignored all of those discussions and Just address

00:13:10 --> 00:13:12

males and females as equals in some sense

00:13:12 --> 00:13:14

and complementary in others And I think that's

00:13:14 --> 00:13:17

very important about the narrative of the Quran

00:13:17 --> 00:13:20

in relation to the topic of women So

00:13:20 --> 00:13:22

like I said how I looked at the

00:13:22 --> 00:13:25

topic in my research was looking at Allah

00:13:25 --> 00:13:28

subhanahu wa'ta'ala having addresses to females in

00:13:28 --> 00:13:34

general like using female pronouns general female pronouns

00:13:34 --> 00:13:36

in the Quran and the second thing that

00:13:36 --> 00:13:38

I looked into was when the Quran when

00:13:38 --> 00:13:43

the Quran narrated stories of female personalities, right

00:13:43 --> 00:13:49

and so When we look at The general

00:13:49 --> 00:13:51

ayat that speak to matters that pertain to

00:13:51 --> 00:13:54

women not stories of of females because you

00:13:54 --> 00:13:55

know I have some remarks to make about

00:13:55 --> 00:13:57

that a little bit later, but matters that

00:13:57 --> 00:13:59

pertain to women then we find that the

00:13:59 --> 00:14:06

Quran treats them as Similar or equal in

00:14:06 --> 00:14:10

some senses and different in other senses right

00:14:11 --> 00:14:15

But oftentimes the differences when the Quran treats

00:14:15 --> 00:14:20

them Then by and large it comes down

00:14:20 --> 00:14:23

to matters of fiqh not matters of virtue

00:14:24 --> 00:14:28

matters of fiqh not matters of virtue and

00:14:28 --> 00:14:31

anybody that objectively reads the Quran will recognize

00:14:31 --> 00:14:34

that at times Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala Mentioned

00:14:34 --> 00:14:37

certain laws for males and certain laws Perhaps

00:14:37 --> 00:14:40

additional for females or perhaps not mentioning a

00:14:40 --> 00:14:42

law for male but mentions a law for

00:14:42 --> 00:14:44

a female So anybody that looks into the

00:14:44 --> 00:14:46

Quran objectively will recognize that that in relation

00:14:46 --> 00:14:49

to matters of fiqh the Quran at times

00:14:49 --> 00:14:53

differentiates between males and females in relation to

00:14:53 --> 00:14:55

certain laws But generally you will find that

00:14:55 --> 00:14:58

in the Quran it does not distinguish between

00:14:58 --> 00:15:02

males and females in relation to virtue the

00:15:02 --> 00:15:04

only thing that you might ascribe to virtue

00:15:04 --> 00:15:08

is when the Quran speaks about prophets and

00:15:08 --> 00:15:10

Conveying the message and then you will find

00:15:10 --> 00:15:13

that all of the narrations of human beings

00:15:13 --> 00:15:16

who are charged by Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala

00:15:16 --> 00:15:18

With conveying the message to the broader society

00:15:18 --> 00:15:21

that those are all stories of males in

00:15:21 --> 00:15:25

the Quran but as for matters of you

00:15:25 --> 00:15:28

know purity of heart as for matters of

00:15:28 --> 00:15:31

wisdom of strength of courage of bravery of

00:15:32 --> 00:15:35

Intellect of all of those things the Quran

00:15:35 --> 00:15:38

makes no distinction between males and females in

00:15:38 --> 00:15:41

fact The stories in the Quran that exist

00:15:41 --> 00:15:45

about females Don't only exist for males to

00:15:45 --> 00:15:46

derive this or females to derive lessons from

00:15:46 --> 00:15:49

they exist there for males and females equally

00:15:49 --> 00:15:51

to derive lesson from just as the stories

00:15:51 --> 00:15:54

of the Example the the perseverance or the

00:15:54 --> 00:15:57

sabr of males exists for both males and

00:15:57 --> 00:15:59

females to take lesson from It's not as

00:15:59 --> 00:16:01

if the stories of females in the Quran

00:16:01 --> 00:16:03

are for females and the stories of males

00:16:03 --> 00:16:07

in the Quran are for males No All

00:16:07 --> 00:16:08

of the stories in the Quran exists for

00:16:08 --> 00:16:12

everybody to take lesson from But in relation

00:16:12 --> 00:16:14

to fiqh like I said there are differences

00:16:16 --> 00:16:18

So general verses that use masculine and feminine

00:16:18 --> 00:16:24

pronouns you'll find in surat al-tawbah Allah

00:16:24 --> 00:16:29

subhanahu wa'ta'ala mentions Different groups of people

00:16:29 --> 00:16:32

and yeah in this surah specifically and you

00:16:32 --> 00:16:33

know I had to start with this one,

00:16:33 --> 00:16:37

but Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala is talking about

00:16:37 --> 00:16:43

hypocrites, and then he says وَالْمُنَافِقُونَ وَالْمُنَافِقَةُ بَعْضُهُمْ

00:16:43 --> 00:16:46

مِّنْ بَعْضٍ The male hypocrites and the female

00:16:46 --> 00:16:47

hypocrites.

00:16:47 --> 00:16:50

They are from each other and a few

00:16:50 --> 00:16:57

verses later Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala says وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ

00:16:57 --> 00:17:00

وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتُ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَاءٌ The believing males and the

00:17:00 --> 00:17:07

believing females they are They are protectors Protectors

00:17:07 --> 00:17:08

is not really an apt word to translate

00:17:08 --> 00:17:11

the word awliya, but they are friends helpers

00:17:11 --> 00:17:14

and protectors of each other And so it

00:17:14 --> 00:17:20

juxtaposes these two things Against each other hypocrisy

00:17:20 --> 00:17:24

and belief but it's specific make specific address

00:17:24 --> 00:17:28

to both males and females and I think

00:17:28 --> 00:17:29

this is important in terms of the narrative

00:17:29 --> 00:17:32

of the Quran because oftentimes when you when

00:17:32 --> 00:17:37

you start from a solid foundation When you

00:17:37 --> 00:17:39

start from a like a state of brokenness

00:17:39 --> 00:17:41

if you take somebody for example who is

00:17:41 --> 00:17:42

in a state of illness They have an

00:17:42 --> 00:17:45

illness Then what you do is you usually

00:17:45 --> 00:17:47

treat them in an abnormal way They have

00:17:47 --> 00:17:49

to take medicine that they're not usually gonna

00:17:49 --> 00:17:51

drink or they have to eat a certain

00:17:51 --> 00:17:53

diet That they wouldn't that wouldn't normally be

00:17:53 --> 00:17:54

healthy, right?

00:17:55 --> 00:17:56

Maybe they have to exclude certain things from

00:17:56 --> 00:17:58

the diet or include certain things in their

00:17:58 --> 00:18:00

diet But you're not treating them in a

00:18:00 --> 00:18:02

normal way And so the Quran doesn't start

00:18:02 --> 00:18:05

from from that point of abnormality and therefore

00:18:05 --> 00:18:08

the Quran doesn't treat You know The idea

00:18:08 --> 00:18:10

of womanhood in the Quran with kid gloves

00:18:10 --> 00:18:13

such that the Quran only speaks good about

00:18:13 --> 00:18:14

females because it's driven by a certain narrative

00:18:15 --> 00:18:19

The Quran treats the topic From a place

00:18:19 --> 00:18:23

of purity of knowledge and wisdom and Therefore

00:18:23 --> 00:18:26

the Quran speaks like it speaks about good

00:18:26 --> 00:18:30

males and bad males Virtuous males and an

00:18:30 --> 00:18:33

unvirtuous males the Quran so to speaks about

00:18:33 --> 00:18:37

virtuous females and unvirtuous females and good women

00:18:37 --> 00:18:40

and bad women Because the Quran doesn't start

00:18:40 --> 00:18:44

from the premise of this prejudice and that's

00:18:44 --> 00:18:48

extremely You know that's telling in terms of

00:18:48 --> 00:18:49

how we should look at the subject we

00:18:49 --> 00:18:52

should not look at a Sikh society To

00:18:52 --> 00:18:54

take our conceptions from rather we should go

00:18:54 --> 00:18:57

to the pure Quran To get our conceptions

00:18:57 --> 00:18:59

there from and that will give us a

00:18:59 --> 00:19:03

more balanced view of the world Time is

00:19:03 --> 00:19:07

flying subhanallah, but So I'll just run through

00:19:07 --> 00:19:10

for example in certain matters of fiqh, right?

00:19:10 --> 00:19:12

You will find that the Quran gives certain

00:19:12 --> 00:19:15

rights to The male and not the female

00:19:15 --> 00:19:19

and the Quran gives certain places of resort

00:19:19 --> 00:19:23

to the female and not the male For

00:19:23 --> 00:19:27

example in terms of the one that stands

00:19:27 --> 00:19:29

out to most people's minds is inheritance in

00:19:29 --> 00:19:34

inheritance a male gets There's the one I

00:19:34 --> 00:19:36

don't have listed here, but it's coming to

00:19:36 --> 00:19:39

my mind now But in inheritance Allah subhanahu

00:19:39 --> 00:19:43

wa'ta'ala mentions لِلذَّكَرِ مِثْلُ حَضِّ الْأُنثَيَيَنِ Right

00:19:43 --> 00:19:45

for a male child that is double that

00:19:45 --> 00:19:47

of a of a female for a son

00:19:47 --> 00:19:49

is double that of a of a daughter

00:19:49 --> 00:19:53

But again, usually that comes back down to

00:19:53 --> 00:19:56

the fact that in most circumstances the male

00:19:56 --> 00:20:00

is responsible financially for For a greater portion

00:20:00 --> 00:20:03

of society than the females are in terms

00:20:03 --> 00:20:05

of how they are Assigned those duties by

00:20:05 --> 00:20:09

Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala However, if one looks

00:20:09 --> 00:20:11

at inheritance law holistically you'll find that there's

00:20:11 --> 00:20:15

many cases where that's not necessarily a consideration

00:20:15 --> 00:20:17

and then The male and female receive equal.

00:20:17 --> 00:20:19

For example, if a person dies, they have

00:20:19 --> 00:20:21

children, but they also have their mother and

00:20:21 --> 00:20:24

their father Normally the mother and the father

00:20:24 --> 00:20:26

will get exactly the same amount So the

00:20:26 --> 00:20:29

male and female counterpart get the same amount

00:20:29 --> 00:20:30

both of them get the sixth You don't

00:20:30 --> 00:20:32

say no because the father is a man.

00:20:33 --> 00:20:34

You must get double that of the mother.

00:20:34 --> 00:20:36

It doesn't work like that, right?

00:20:37 --> 00:20:41

so The Quran takes into account all of

00:20:41 --> 00:20:43

these nuances and the responsibilities that should exist

00:20:43 --> 00:20:46

in a holistic society Similarly in a marriage

00:20:46 --> 00:20:48

it is the responsibility of the male to

00:20:48 --> 00:20:51

make nafaka of his wife and his children

00:20:52 --> 00:20:54

And it's not this it's not the responsibility

00:20:54 --> 00:20:56

of the wife to make nafaka of her

00:20:56 --> 00:20:59

husband to spend, you know on her husband

00:20:59 --> 00:21:00

She doesn't have that financial responsibility.

00:21:00 --> 00:21:03

Similarly these differences in how the Quran addresses

00:21:03 --> 00:21:07

hijab and divorce amongst other things However, when

00:21:07 --> 00:21:09

the Quran speaks about virtue even in general

00:21:09 --> 00:21:11

terms not speaking about female personalities, but when

00:21:11 --> 00:21:14

the Quran speaks about You know virtues then

00:21:14 --> 00:21:17

you will find that at times women are

00:21:17 --> 00:21:20

single out for virtue Right.

00:21:20 --> 00:21:23

The topic may be addressing both males and

00:21:23 --> 00:21:26

females But Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala singles out

00:21:26 --> 00:21:27

the female for praise.

00:21:27 --> 00:21:29

For example when Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala says

00:21:29 --> 00:21:34

be dutiful to your parents Right, وَبِالْوَالِدَيْنِ إِحْسَانًا

00:21:34 --> 00:21:36

in all of the places where Allah mentions

00:21:36 --> 00:21:39

that we should be dutiful to our parents

00:21:41 --> 00:21:43

The only Allah says be dutiful to your

00:21:43 --> 00:21:45

parents then almost in telling you why you

00:21:45 --> 00:21:47

should be dutiful to them Allah says your

00:21:47 --> 00:21:53

mother carried you with difficulty upon difficulty right

00:21:53 --> 00:21:57

or in a state of uneasiness upon states

00:21:57 --> 00:22:00

of uneasiness in one verse Allah subhanahu wa'ta

00:22:00 --> 00:22:02

'ala used the word وَقُرْحًا in the other

00:22:02 --> 00:22:03

verse Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala used وَهْنًا in

00:22:03 --> 00:22:05

states of weakness upon weakness So Allah's telling

00:22:05 --> 00:22:07

you be dutiful to both your mother and

00:22:07 --> 00:22:11

your father But the only praise Allah gives

00:22:11 --> 00:22:14

us to the mother and it's almost as

00:22:14 --> 00:22:16

if be dutiful to your father by extension

00:22:17 --> 00:22:22

right because he's You know Also perhaps spending

00:22:22 --> 00:22:24

on your mother and looking after etc But

00:22:24 --> 00:22:25

the Quran singles out for praising.

00:22:26 --> 00:22:29

Sometimes the Quran mentions them equally in terms

00:22:29 --> 00:22:30

of virtue For example in the verse where

00:22:30 --> 00:22:32

Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala speaks You know, we

00:22:32 --> 00:22:38

created from us for us spouses لِتَسْكُنُوا أَزْوَاجًا

00:22:38 --> 00:22:42

وَمِنْ آيَتِيَنْ خَلَقَ لَكُم مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ أَزْوَاجًا لِتَسْكُنُوا

00:22:42 --> 00:22:45

إِلَيْهَا وَجَعَلَ بَيْنَكُم مَّوَدَّةً وَرَحْمَةً Some ulama say

00:22:45 --> 00:22:49

that the word زوج can refer to a

00:22:49 --> 00:22:51

husband and a wife equally The word زوج

00:22:51 --> 00:22:54

though it's a masculine word can refer to

00:22:54 --> 00:22:56

the husband and the wife equally And so

00:22:56 --> 00:22:59

the سُكُون or the tranquility that one derives

00:22:59 --> 00:23:01

from the partner The male must derive it

00:23:01 --> 00:23:02

from his wife and the female must derive

00:23:02 --> 00:23:05

it from the husband as well and so

00:23:05 --> 00:23:06

the Quran mentions them equally in terms of

00:23:06 --> 00:23:10

that virtue and then Like I said before

00:23:10 --> 00:23:13

there is no case of virtue where in

00:23:13 --> 00:23:15

the Quran treats the female as inferior.

00:23:15 --> 00:23:20

In fact If we look at the verse

00:23:24 --> 00:23:26

Okay, there's one slide that I had but

00:23:26 --> 00:23:28

it requires a little bit of explanation If

00:23:28 --> 00:23:30

you look at two surahs surah al-shams

00:23:30 --> 00:23:34

and surah al-layl, we know them In

00:23:34 --> 00:23:36

the one Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says

00:23:36 --> 00:23:42

وَالْلَيْلِ إِذَا يَخْشَاهَا وَالنَّهَارِ إِذَا تَجَلَّى وَمَا خَلَقَتْ

00:23:42 --> 00:23:46

ذَكَرَ وَالْأُنْثَى Yeah, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala

00:23:46 --> 00:23:49

is speaking about the خَلْق The physical creation

00:23:49 --> 00:23:50

and Allah makes a distinction between male and

00:23:50 --> 00:23:53

female But in surah al-shams, Allah says

00:23:53 --> 00:23:58

وَالْشَمْسِ وَضُحَاهَا وَالْقَمَلِ إِذَا تَلَاهَا وَالنَّهَارِ إِذَا جَلَّهَا

00:23:58 --> 00:24:02

وَالْلَيْلِ إِذَا يَخْشَاهَا وَالسَّمَاءِ وَمَا بَنَهَا وَالْأَرْضِ وَمَا

00:24:02 --> 00:24:07

طَحَاهَا وَنَفْسِ وَمَا سَوَّاهَا In this surah, it's

00:24:07 --> 00:24:11

almost as if the oaths are equal There's

00:24:11 --> 00:24:13

a congruence between the oaths that are taken

00:24:13 --> 00:24:14

in surah al-layl and surah al-shams

00:24:14 --> 00:24:16

But when it's speaking about the physical Allah

00:24:16 --> 00:24:25

mentions He just mentions He doesn't mention female

00:24:25 --> 00:24:30

souls and male souls He just mentions By

00:24:30 --> 00:24:33

the soul and the one who apportioned it

00:24:33 --> 00:24:35

and created it So Allah doesn't make on

00:24:35 --> 00:24:38

that level Sheikh Sha'rawi, he points us

00:24:38 --> 00:24:40

out that on that level Allah doesn't make

00:24:40 --> 00:24:42

a distinction But in relation to the physical

00:24:42 --> 00:24:45

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala draws a distinction

00:24:45 --> 00:24:47

Similarly in the Quran, if you look at

00:24:47 --> 00:24:49

the treatment of some words, this is just

00:24:49 --> 00:24:52

one example The word umm is mentioned in

00:24:52 --> 00:24:54

the Quran 19 times and the word ab

00:24:54 --> 00:24:57

is mentioned in the Quran 117 times However,

00:24:58 --> 00:24:59

in some of the usages of, I think

00:24:59 --> 00:25:01

about in two of the usages of the

00:25:01 --> 00:25:02

word umm, it's not referring to a mother

00:25:04 --> 00:25:07

Like for example, ummuhu hawiya, it's referring to

00:25:07 --> 00:25:13

a place of return In terms of its

00:25:13 --> 00:25:15

treatment like that, the Quran also treats them

00:25:15 --> 00:25:20

fairly equally And I think I'll end on

00:25:20 --> 00:25:27

this point This idea of equality or equality

00:25:27 --> 00:25:30

in virtue between males and females, rather than

00:25:30 --> 00:25:35

equality in terms of fiqh Because equality requires

00:25:35 --> 00:25:38

sameness And I already mentioned if the Quran

00:25:38 --> 00:25:41

recognizes physical difference, then it should take that

00:25:41 --> 00:25:44

into account when creating its laws Otherwise, it

00:25:44 --> 00:25:47

would be treating two dissimilar things in the

00:25:47 --> 00:25:50

same way The same, which in and of

00:25:50 --> 00:25:53

itself is generally a type of oppression So

00:25:53 --> 00:25:55

any type of law requires categories in which

00:25:55 --> 00:25:59

to operate Otherwise, it cannot create just laws

00:26:00 --> 00:26:02

But in terms of virtue, they're the same

00:26:02 --> 00:26:05

So in Suratul Ahzab, verse number 35, some

00:26:05 --> 00:26:08

of the wives of Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wasallam

00:26:08 --> 00:26:11

According to An-Nasai and Ahmed, they narrate

00:26:11 --> 00:26:14

that Umm Salama came to Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi

00:26:14 --> 00:26:20

wasallam And she said, What's the matter with

00:26:20 --> 00:26:21

us women that we are not mentioned in

00:26:21 --> 00:26:22

the Quran like the males are mentioned?

00:26:24 --> 00:26:25

And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala revealed

00:26:25 --> 00:26:30

this verse According to Tirmidhi and Tabarani, they

00:26:30 --> 00:26:31

say that another lady by the name of

00:26:31 --> 00:26:34

Umm Ammara al-Ansariyya She came to Rasulullah

00:26:34 --> 00:26:37

sallallahu alaihi wasallam and said, I don't see

00:26:37 --> 00:26:39

the women mentioned much in the Quran Or

00:26:39 --> 00:26:42

mentioned at all in the Quran Similarly, it's

00:26:42 --> 00:26:45

narrated by Ibn Jarir and Al-Wahidi That

00:26:45 --> 00:26:48

some women came to the wives of Rasulullah

00:26:48 --> 00:26:49

sallallahu alaihi wasallam and they complained and they

00:26:49 --> 00:26:52

said that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has

00:26:52 --> 00:26:56

mentioned the males in the Quran But we

00:26:56 --> 00:27:00

are not mentioned at all And they said,

00:27:00 --> 00:27:02

and if we had virtue and if we

00:27:02 --> 00:27:04

were good as well, then we would have

00:27:04 --> 00:27:07

been mentioned And in relation to that, this

00:27:07 --> 00:27:14

verse was revealed Ibn Ashur says that this

00:27:14 --> 00:27:18

verse of the Quran, verse number 35 of

00:27:18 --> 00:27:21

Surah Al-Ahzab Is the verse that establishes

00:27:21 --> 00:27:25

that in general, when the Quran refers to

00:27:25 --> 00:27:28

the Muslims and the believers Even if just

00:27:28 --> 00:27:30

by the masculine form, the address refers to

00:27:30 --> 00:27:34

both males and females Even whether you want

00:27:34 --> 00:27:36

to use a construct of analogy, whatever the

00:27:36 --> 00:27:37

case may be Or just look at the

00:27:37 --> 00:27:39

pronouns and say that in the Arabic language,

00:27:39 --> 00:27:41

the masculine pronoun can include the females He

00:27:41 --> 00:27:44

says that this ayah establishes the principle that

00:27:44 --> 00:27:47

when the Quran makes an address That it

00:27:47 --> 00:27:50

in general refers to both males and females

00:27:50 --> 00:27:53

Unless there is some specifier that indicates that

00:27:53 --> 00:27:55

it only applies to males or it only

00:27:55 --> 00:27:59

applies to females As opposed to other religions

00:27:59 --> 00:28:02

that existed prior For example, Ibn Ashur mentions

00:28:02 --> 00:28:04

the example of the Tawrah Where the laws

00:28:04 --> 00:28:07

would only apply to the male unless there

00:28:07 --> 00:28:09

is no way of understanding it except as

00:28:09 --> 00:28:12

applying to females Rather in the Quran, it

00:28:12 --> 00:28:14

applies equally to males and females except where

00:28:14 --> 00:28:17

there is a specifier that indicates otherwise And

00:28:17 --> 00:28:17

what verse is this?

00:28:18 --> 00:28:33

Allah says وَالْمُتَصَدِّقِينَ

00:28:33 --> 00:28:38

وَالْمُتَصَدِّقَاتَ وَالصَّائِمِينَ وَالصَّائِمَاتَ وَالْحَافِظِينَ فُرُوجَهُمْ

00:28:38 --> 00:28:42

وَالْحَافِظَاتَ وَالذَّاكِرِينَ اللَّهَ كَثِيرًا وَالذَّاكِرَاتَ أَعَدَّ

00:28:42 --> 00:28:45

اللَّهُ لَهُمْ مَغْفِرَةً وَأَجْرًا عَظِيمًا You can hear

00:28:45 --> 00:28:47

already, even if you didn't understand the Arabic,

00:28:47 --> 00:28:49

but you can hear in this verse there

00:28:49 --> 00:28:51

is a type of itnab Allah subhanahu wa

00:28:51 --> 00:28:52

ta'ala is like going at lengths to

00:28:52 --> 00:28:55

make a point Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala

00:28:55 --> 00:28:57

is like spelling out everything, at times the

00:28:57 --> 00:28:59

Quran is very brief, but here Allah is

00:28:59 --> 00:29:02

spelling out everything to make a point And

00:29:02 --> 00:29:03

what is Allah saying?

00:29:03 --> 00:29:06

Allah is mentioning like listing a whole plethora

00:29:06 --> 00:29:09

of virtues And Allah is saying the submitting

00:29:09 --> 00:29:11

males and the submitting females and the believing

00:29:11 --> 00:29:13

males and the believing females And the devout

00:29:13 --> 00:29:15

males and the devout females and the truthful

00:29:15 --> 00:29:17

males and the truthful females And the patient

00:29:17 --> 00:29:19

and perseverant males and the patient and perseverant

00:29:19 --> 00:29:22

females and the humble males and the humble

00:29:22 --> 00:29:24

females, and the charitable males and the charitable

00:29:24 --> 00:29:26

females, and the fasting males and the fasting

00:29:26 --> 00:29:29

females, and the chaste males or the males

00:29:29 --> 00:29:32

who preserve their chastity, and the females who

00:29:32 --> 00:29:34

preserve their chastity, and the males who remember

00:29:34 --> 00:29:36

Allah in abundance, and the females who remember

00:29:36 --> 00:29:39

Allah in abundance, Allah has prepared for all

00:29:39 --> 00:29:41

of them forgiveness and a great reward.

00:29:42 --> 00:29:44

And so the itnab in this verse, the

00:29:44 --> 00:29:46

going, you know, the spelling everything out in

00:29:46 --> 00:29:48

this verse, it serves the purpose of establishing

00:29:48 --> 00:29:50

a principle that in general the Qur'an

00:29:50 --> 00:29:53

treats, in terms of virtue, males and females

00:29:53 --> 00:29:53

equally.

00:29:54 --> 00:29:55

Then in relation to the stories of the

00:29:55 --> 00:29:56

Qur'an, we don't have time to get

00:29:56 --> 00:29:58

into that now, but what I can tell

00:29:58 --> 00:30:01

you is Allah mentions all types of females

00:30:01 --> 00:30:03

in the Qur'an, just like Allah mentions

00:30:03 --> 00:30:04

all types of males in the Qur'an.

00:30:05 --> 00:30:06

And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala highlights in

00:30:06 --> 00:30:10

males and females both virtues of bravery, intellect,

00:30:11 --> 00:30:12

wisdom, just as Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala

00:30:12 --> 00:30:15

highlights in them aiding in sin and ignorance

00:30:15 --> 00:30:19

and all types of other bad things.

00:30:19 --> 00:30:20

But there's a slide in there that mentions

00:30:20 --> 00:30:22

some of the stories of the females, you

00:30:22 --> 00:30:22

can check it out later.

00:30:23 --> 00:30:24

But for now, I think we will end

00:30:24 --> 00:30:24

there.

00:30:25 --> 00:30:27

وَاجْزَاكُمْ لَهُ خِرًا وَآخِرُوا دَوَانًا الحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ

00:30:27 --> 00:30:28

الْعَالَمِينَ May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make

00:30:28 --> 00:30:31

us a harmonious society, a complementary society, a

00:30:31 --> 00:30:35

society that doesn't look to use our advantages

00:30:35 --> 00:30:37

that we may have over others to oppress

00:30:37 --> 00:30:40

them, just like whether it be male or

00:30:40 --> 00:30:42

female, rather we should use our strengths to

00:30:42 --> 00:30:45

aid each other, and we should cover for

00:30:45 --> 00:30:45

each other's weaknesses.

00:30:45 --> 00:30:47

And it's only in that way that the

00:30:47 --> 00:30:49

Ummah can be unified and the Ummah can

00:30:49 --> 00:30:50

actually be strong.

00:30:50 --> 00:30:52

If we have a Ummah that's constantly trying

00:30:52 --> 00:30:54

to destroy itself, whether it be males destroying

00:30:54 --> 00:30:57

females and vice versa, or it being different

00:30:57 --> 00:30:59

groups destroying each other, the Ummah will never

00:30:59 --> 00:31:00

be strong.

00:31:00 --> 00:31:01

May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala guide us.

00:31:01 --> 00:31:03

وَاجْزَاكُمْ لَهُ خِرًا وَآخِرُوا دَوَانًا الحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ

00:31:03 --> 00:31:05

الْعَالَمِينَ As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

Share Page