Zia Sheikh – Ramadan Khatira Day 4
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Alhamdulillah, salatu wasalamu ala rasulullah.
Last night we completed a large portion of
surah An-Nisa.
An-Nisa means the women.
And this surah, it deals with a lot
of issues related to women.
The rights that they were deprived of in
pre-Islamic times.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in this surah
gives them those rights.
For example, the rights of inheritance.
Prior to Islam, they had no right of
inheritance.
Islam gave them the right of inheritance.
The right of getting their rightful mahr, their
dowry, that was promised to them at the
time of marriage.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala obligated that upon
the husbands that they had to pay that
mahr as soon as possible when it was
demanded.
In addition to many other things which are
related to the rights of women.
Now in this day and age, we have
a huge issue of women that say that
they are fighting for women's rights or women's
equality.
The problem with that is, Islamically at least,
that men have been given a different status
and different responsibilities and different qualities and women
have been given different responsibilities and different status
and different reasons for being honored.
Islam for example, it gives a woman respect
and dignity from many perspectives.
If you look at the fact that Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala or the Prophet ﷺ
and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the
Quran talks about the importance of the parents
and specifically the mother.
Prophet ﷺ was asked by a person who
is more rightful of my respect and good
treatment.
The Sahabi asked, the Prophet ﷺ responded, Ummuk,
thumma man, then after that who?
Ummuk.
Thumma man, then after that who?
Ummuk, your mother.
Three times the Prophet ﷺ said, your mother.
And then thumma man, the fourth time the
Prophet ﷺ said, Abuuk, your father.
So from this we see the respect that
is given to the mother.
The scholars say that the Prophet ﷺ mentioned
this respecting of the mother three times because
of the three difficulties that she has to
endure during the childbirth, carrying the child for
nine months during the childbirth and then weaning
the child and looking after the child for
two years.
These three difficulties give her the rightful respect
that she deserves.
And that's why the Prophet ﷺ three times
said, your mother.
So the mother is given that dignity and
respect.
And then the daughter is given the respect
also.
The Prophet ﷺ said in a hadith that
a person who has three daughters and raises
them, educates them and then marries them off
into a good household, gives them a good
tarbiyah, the Prophet ﷺ said Allah promises Jannah
for that person.
And imagine just having daughters, just the fact
that a person has daughters, it gives him
this opportunity if he raises them right and
treats them right and gives them a good
education, then he will be worthy of paradise.
And even according to a hadith, two daughters.
This is not mentioned about the sons.
The Prophet ﷺ himself, he had four daughters.
His male children, they used to be born
and they used to pass away.
So the fact that the Prophet ﷺ had
four daughters himself, this shows that the daughters
have a special place.
The Prophet ﷺ said, حب النساء الطيب والنساء
I love perfume and women.
And this mentioning of the women and saying
that he loves them was not because of
any kind of womanizing reason or any perverted
reason.
The reason was because in those days the
women were downtrodden, they were not respected and
they were treated in a bad way.
Daughters were buried alive.
So the Prophet ﷺ wanted to raise the
dignity of the women by saying that I
love the perfume and I love women.
So you should love the women and you
should respect them and treat them carefully too.
So again and again we see that each
and every aspect of a woman is respected
and dignified in Islam.
And the problem is that when women are
saying that they want to be equal with
men, then inadvertently they are admitting to their
own inferiority by saying that we are not
equal to men.
This is basically what is happening.
But if we look at it from the
Islamic perspective, if a woman is satisfied with
her own status and a man is satisfied
with his own status, then there is no
problem with that.
There is no fighting over who is better
and who deserves more pay or who deserves
XYZ treatment.
There is no issue because each and every
person has his own status, his own responsibility
in Islam.
And that's why one of the verses in
Surah An-Nisa, it's a very beautiful verse.
Allah ﷻ says, وَلَا تَتَمَنَّوا مَا فَضَّلَ اللَّهُ
بِهِ بَعْضَكُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ Do not wish for
the status that Allah ﷻ has given you
over each other.
What does that mean?
The status that men have been given over
women and the status that women have been
given over men, we should not be wishing
for that, we should not be aspiring for
that.
So for example, probably nobody does that, but
a man cannot say that I want to
have a baby, I want to become pregnant.
Nobody wants to do that, but just in
case it crosses somebody's mind.
No, women have only been given the honor
of having children.
So a man cannot aspire to do that.
So this is what is meant here.
وَلَا تَتَمَنَّوا مَا فَضَّلَ اللَّهُ بِهِ بَعْضَكُمْ عَلَىٰ
بَعْضٍ Men have been given their own status,
women have been given their own status, none
of you should aspire for the status of
each other.
And then the ayah goes on to say,
لِلنِّسَاءِ نَصِيبٌ مِّمَّا اكْتَسَبْنُ لِلرِّجَالِ نَصِيبٌ مِّمَّا اكْتَسَبُ
وَلِلنِّسَاءِ نَصِيبٌ مِّمَّا اكْتَسَبْنُ For the men, there
is a status that they earn, and for
women is the status that they earn.
وَاسْأَلُوا اللَّهَ مِن فَضْلِ Ask Allah ﷻ for
a status.
Ask Allah ﷻ for a blessing.
So this is what Islam teaches.
That you have been given different responsibilities, but
each one is loved and cherished in the
eyes of Allah ﷻ, and you should appreciate
that.
And then after that Allah ﷻ tells the
men what their responsibility is.
الرِّجَالُ قَوَّامُونَ عَلَى النِّسَاءِ بِمَا فَضَّلَ اللَّهُ بَعْضَهُمْ
عَلَى أَعْبَاظٍ وَبِمَا أَنْفَقُ مِنْ أَمْوَالِهِمْ The men
have been given the responsibility over the women.
And many people take this verse out of
context, and they kind of try to make
it look like the men are in charge
of the women or the bosses of the
women, but the scholars say that this order
here is لِلتَّقْلِيف وَلَيْسَ لِلتَّشْرِيف تَقْلِيف means that
it's a responsibility that is being given to
the men here.
It is not an honor or a status
that is being given, it's a responsibility that
is being given to the men.
What is that?
That they are responsible for the women.
Why?
Because بِمَا فَضَّلَ اللَّهُ بَعْضَهُمْ عَلَى أَعْبَاظٍ because
of the status that they have been given,
meaning they are physically more strong, mentally more
strong, so therefore they go out and work
while the woman stays at home and takes
care of the children, which in itself is
a very honorable responsibility.
And then وَبِمَا أَنْفَقُوا مِنْ أَمْوَالِهِمْ because of
the fact that they spend from their wealth
upon the women, that's why this status has
been given to the men.
So the men need to understand that this
is a responsibility and on the other hand,
we have certain situations where the women, they
earn a living, so the men have no
right to take the earnings of the wife.
Remember that.
Because the woman is not responsible for providing
for the household.
If she chooses to do so, if she
wants to do so, then that's her right,
but otherwise the man cannot demand that she
pays towards the household costs.
This is the responsibility, the sole responsibility of
the man and nobody else's.
Because he is the one, he is the
breadwinner, and Allah SWT has given him this
responsibility and order.
And this also goes, this is the answer
to the question that people have about the
issue of inheritance, which is also mentioned in
this surah.
Allah SWT says, وَلِذَّكَرِ مِثْلُ حَضِّ الْأُنثَيَينِ that
the women, they get half of the inheritance
that men get.
Now remember that this is not always the
case, that the women get half of the
inheritance.
In certain situations it's equal.
وَلِأَبَوَيْهِ لِقُلِّي وَاحِدٍ مِّنْهُمَا سُدُسٌ Sometimes when the
child passes away before the parents, and he
leaves an inheritance, both the parents have an
equal share, one-sixth each.
But sometimes, or in most cases, it is
half of what the males get, the females
get.
And the reason for this is, that the
women, whatever they get from any inheritance or
any earnings, they get to keep it all.
Whereas the men, whenever they get any money
from anywhere, they have a responsibility to provide
for their household, to provide for their children,
to provide for their women.
That's why in their inheritance they get more.
That's the reasoning behind it.
So in any case, the summary of these
verses is, that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
has given men their own status, women their
own status, each should be satisfied with their
own status, and be happy with what Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala has ordained for them.
Going on, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala He
says in one of the verses at the
end, of what we recited yesterday, talking about
the issue of istihzaat in religion, ridiculing religion,
which has become a very common thing nowadays.
That a person, you know, whenever there's a
majlis, there's a gathering or anything like that,
the people that are ridiculed the most are
the scholars or the bearers of the religion.
Any person who practices the religion, any person
who has a beard, any person who tries
to practice the sunnah, they become the target
of jokes and ridicule.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala He says, وَقَدْ
نَزَّلَ عَلَيْكُمْ فِي الْكِتَابِ أَنْ إِذَا سَمِعْتُمْ آيَاتِ
اللَّهِ يُكْفَرُ بِهَا وَيُسْتَهَزَّؤُ بِهَا فَلَا تَقْعُدُوا مَعَهُمْ
حَتَّى يَقُودُوا فِي حَدِيثٍ غَيْرِهِ Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala has ordained, He has ordered in
the book, that whenever you hear the verses
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, that kufr
is being done with them, meaning they are
being disrespected in any way, shape or form,
or they're being ridiculed, they're joked with, then
do not sit in that majlis.
Do not sit in that gathering.
إِنَّكُمْ إِذَا مِثْلُهُمْ If you do that, then
you are just like these people.
The people that are engaging in that talk,
the people that are engaging in that activity,
you are exactly like them, and you'll be
treated like them by Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
إِنَّ اللَّهَ جَامِعُ الْمُنَافِقِينَ وَالْكَافِرِينَ فِي جَهَنَّمَ جَمِيعًۭا
So, basically what the ayah is saying is,
that this attitude of ridiculing religion, ridiculing Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala, ridiculing the ayat of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the verses of
the Quran, the hadith, the bearers of the
religion, this is the work of the disbelievers
and the munafiqeen.
So if you want to be counted amongst
those people, then this kind of majlis is
the majlis you'll find yourself in.
So if you cannot defend the religion in
that majlis, and if you cannot speak up,
then you have to leave that gathering, and
you should not be part of it, otherwise
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will count you
amongst those people.
With that we finish, inshaAllah, I pray that
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives us tawfiq
to understand and practice what has been said
and heard.
Al Fatiha.