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July 23, 2019
Zakaah has been made obligatory upon four categories of wealth: 1) Grains and fruits produced by the earth, 2) Grazing or herding animals which feed freely from the earth, 3) Gold and silver, 4) And inventory (stock) with which one does business. For each of these categories, there is a specified amount under which Zakaah is not obligatory (termed as ‘nisaab’).
Fruits and Grains
The nisaab for fruits and grains is 5 ‘wasaq’, and one wasaq is equal to 60 saa’ measured during the time of the Prophet (). This amount, measured according to the saa’ during the time of the Prophet (), such as dates, raisins, wheat, rice, barley, and their likes, is equal to 300 saa’ according to the saa’ during the time of the Prophet (). [One saa’] is equal to 4 handfuls of an average sized man.3 The amount which is due upon fruits and grains [if it reaches the nisaab] is 10% if the date‐palms or plants relied upon natural means for water, such as rain, rivers, flowing streams and their likes. If they relied on unnatural means for water, such as using animals to water or machines which lift water or their likes, the amount which is due upon them is 5%, as has authentically been reported by the Messenger of Allah ()4.
3 One saa’ is equal to about 3 kilograms of rice. 4 In a hadeeth narrated by al‐Bukhaari: “The amount due upon that which is watered by the sky or streams, or was.. is a tenth, and what was fed by (manual) watering a twentieth.”
Grazing Animals
The nisaab for camels, cattle and sheep which fed from natural grazing has been detailed in various authentic hadeeth of the Messenger of Allah (), and one who desires knowledge about this may ask the scholars about them. If it were not that we seek not to lengthen [this treatise] we would have mentioned them in order to gain the most benefit.
Gold and Silver
The nisaab for silver is 140 miskals. In the currency of Saudi Arabia, this is equal to 56 riyals. The nisaab for gold is 20 miskals, which is equal to 11 3/7 pounds, equal to 92 grams. The amount which is due upon them is 2.5 % of the total amount if it reached the nisaab and was in his continuous possession for a period of one [Hijri] year. Profits must be calculated with the original stock, and it is not a condition that they be in a person’s possession for a period of one year, just as the newborns of herding animals are totaled along with the animals. If the original amount [of gold and silver] has reached the nisaab, it is not condition that the profits be in one’s possession for the period of one year (i.e. Zakaah must be paid on the whole amount).
Paper Currency
The paper currency and coined money which people use today come under the ruling of gold and silver, whether they be called Dirhams, Dinars, Dollars, or anything else. If its value reaches the nisaab of silver or gold and it is in a person’s possession for a period of one year, Zakaah becomes due upon it.
Jewelry
Gold and silver jewelry also comes under the [general] ruling of gold and silver. If its weight reaches the nisaab and it is in possession for a period of one year, Zakaah becomes obligatory upon it. This is the case even if the jewelry was actually worn by the owner or lent to others [and not just stored for later use or profit] according to the correct of the two opinions which the scholars hold. This is due to the general wording of the Prophet () when he said: “No owner of gold or silver who does not offer its due right (Zakaah) except that in the Day of Judgement, plates of fire will be flattened for him…” …as mentioned previously. It has also been confirmed of the Prophet () that he saw two gold bangles on the hand of a woman and he said: “Do you offer the zakaah for this?” She replied, “No.” He said, “Are you pleased that Allah encloses you with two bangles of fire on the Day of Judgement?” So she threw them and said, “They are for Allah and His Messenger.” (Abu Dawud and an‐Nasaa`i with a Hasan chain of narration) It has authentically been reported of Umm Salamah () that she wore some gold jewelry, and so she said, “O Messenger of Allah! Is this regarded as hoarded wealth (al‐Kanz)? He () replied, “Whatever had reached the amount liable for Zakaah, and then Zakaah is paid upon it, it is not regarded as hoarded wealth (al‐kanz).” There are also other hadeeth mentioned in this regard.
Inventory (Stock)
Inventory is the total amount of those commodities which are in one’s possession for the purpose of sale. One must total his inventory at the end of the year, and 2.5% must be paid from its value, whether its value was equal, greater than, or less than its price. Samurah narrated: ›› ﻛﺎﻥ ﺭﺳﻮﻝ ﺍﷲ ﺻﻠﻰ ﺍﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻭﺳﻠﻢ ﻳﺄﻣﺮﻧﺎ ﺃﻥ ﳔﺮﺝ ﺍﻟﺼﺪﻗﺔ ﻣﻦ ‹‹ ﺍﻟﺬﻱ ﻧﻌﺪﻩ ﻟﻠﺒﻴﻊ “The Messenger of Allah () would order us to give Zakaah for our commodities which we own in order to sell (to trade with).” (Abu Dawud) Some examples of commodities which are included in this ruling are as follows:
1. Land which one buys and sells,
2. Buildings,
3. Cars,
4. Machines which lift water,
5. All other commodities which one owns in order to sell.
As for the buildings which one owns and gives out on rent but does not sell, Zakaah is due upon its rent, if it is in his possession for a year [after having reached the nisaab]. As for its value, there is no Zakaah upon it, for it is not owned in order to sell.
Also, there is no Zakaah on one’s personal cars, or taxis, either (or rental cars), if they are not owned in order to sell, for the owner only purchased them for their use. If the taxi owner (or rental car owner) saved an amount of money which reaches the nisaab, he must pay Zakaah upon it if a year passes and it is in his possession, with disregard as to why he saved it, such as daily expenditures, marriage, purchasing land, returning a loan, or anything else. This is due to the generality of the legislative proofs indicating the obligation of Zakaah in the likes of these cases. Also, the correct stance from the statements of the scholars is that one is not excused from paying Zakaah if he is in debt, due to what we mentioned above. Zakaah must also be paid for the wealth of orphans and the insane, according to the majority of the scholars, if the amount has reached the nisaab and it is in their possession for the period of one year. The guardians must pay it on their behalf after the completion of one year due to the generality of the evidences, such as the statement of the Prophet () in the hadeeth of Mu‘aadh when he sent him to [teach] the people of Yemen: ›› ﺇﻥ ﺍﷲ ﺍﻓﺘﺮﺽ ﻋﻠﻴﻬﻢ ﺻﺪﻗﺔ ﰲ ﺃﻣﻮﺍﳍﻢ ﺗﺆﺧﺬ ﻣﻦ ﺃﻏﻨﻴﺎﺋﻬﻢ ﻭﺗﺮﺩ ﰲ ‹‹ ﻓﻘﺮﺍﺋﻬﻢ “…that Allah has made Zakaah obligatory on their wealth, which should be taken from their rich and given to their poor.” (Abu Dawud)
Those who have right over Zakaah
The Zakaah is a right of Allah, and one should not prefer those who do not have right to it over others. A person should not try to benefit in any way from it, nor should he use it to avoid some personal harm. He should not seek to protect his own wealth through it, nor should he seek to ward off any blame. Rather, what is obligatory is that a Muslim give Zakaah to those who have right over it and deserve it and not for any ulterior motive. He should do so joyfully and sincerely for Allah in order that he is not held responsible for it and receives abundant rewards. Allah () clarified in His Noble Book the categories of people who have a right over the Zakaah. Allah () said: ﴿ ِﺇﻧَﻤﺎ ﺍﻟﺼَﺪﻗﹶﺎُﺕ ِﻟﻠﹾﻔﹸﻘﹶَﺮﺍِﺀ َﻭﺍﻟﹾَﻤَﺴﺎِﻛِﲔ َﻭﺍﻟﹾَﻌﺎِِﻣﻠَﲔ َﻋﻠﹶْﻴَﻬﺎ َﻭﺍﻟﹾُﻤَﱠﺆﻟﻔﹶِﺔ ﺍﻟﺴِﺒﻴِﻞ ﻓﹶِﺮﻳَﻀﺔﹰ
ﻗﹸﻠﹸﻮُﺑُْﻬﻢ َِﻭﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﱢﺮﻗﹶﺎِﺏ َﻭﺍﻟﹾَﻐﺎِﺭِﻣَﲔ َِﻭﻓﻲ َِﺳﺒﻴِﻞ ﺍﻟﱠﻠِﻪ َِْﻭﺍﺑِﻦ ﴾ ِﻣَﻦ ﺍﻟﱠﻠِﻪ َﻭﺍﻟﱠﻠُﻪ َِﻋﻠﻴﻢ َِﺣﻜﻴﻢ “The Sadaqaat (here it means Zakaah) are only for the Fuqaraa´ (poor), and the Masaakeen (the poor) and those employed to collect (the funds); and for to attract the hearts of those who have been inclined (towards Islam); and to free the captives; and for those in debt; and for Allah’s Cause (i.e. for Mujaahidoon ‐ those fighting in the holy wars), and for the wayfarer (a traveler who is cut off from everything); a duty imposed by Allah. And Allah is All‐Knower, All‐Wise.” [Surah at‐Tawbah (9):60]
Allah reminds His servants by concluding this verse with these two Great Names of Allah, that He is All‐Knowledgeable of the conditions of His slaves; He knows who exactly deserves Zakaah and who does not. He is All‐Wise in his Legislation, Will and Measure; He does not do things except in a manner which is perfectly suitable, even if some of the secrets of His Wisdom may be unknown to some people. In this, His slaves find peace in His Legislation and also submit and surrender to His Wisdom. We ask Allah that He grant us and the Muslims Tawfeeq in His religion, and Truthfulness in our relationship with Him, and that we race to that which pleases Him, and that He keeps us safe from those things which earn His Anger; indeed He is All‐Hearing and Near. And may the Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon His slave and messenger, Muhammad, and upon his family and companions.
Selected Verdicts regarding Zakaah
Zakaah on Salaries Q. I am an employee who earns a good salary, all praise is for Allah, but I do not know how I should offer Zakaah for it. Should I offer it for every month, or should I select a certain month and offer Zakaah for whatever I have in my hands, whether I earned it from my work or otherwise? Also, if I spent all my money and then earned some more which reaches the nisaab, should I start calculating the year from the date I received the first amount which finished, or from the date I received the new amount? A. Whenever you obtained a certain amount of money, you should start to calculate the year from that date you receive the new amount [if it reached the nisaab]. Whenever you obtain money, you should make a chart mentioning this. When a year passes on this new amount [which has reached the nisaab], you should offer its Zakaah. Zakaah should be offered for what you obtained in Muharram in Muharram [of the following year], what you obtained in Safar in Safar [of the following year], and what you obtained in Rabee’‐ul‐Aakhir in Rabee’‐ul‐Aakhir[of the following year]5, etc. But if you paid 5 If the salary of one month does not reach the nisaab, then the calculation starts when it does reach the nisaab. So if it takes three months to reach the Zakaah for the last amount before hand along with the first, paying it before its time, it is fine and you are thanked. So if you have received a salary for Muharran, Safar, Rabee’‐ulAwwal, Rabee’‐ul‐Aakhir, etc., and you have recorded all of them, and then you pay the Zakaah for all of them beforehand along with Muharram, there is no harm in this. You will be paying the Zakaah for all of them when a year passes on the first amount. There is no harm if you do this, rather this is better and preferable6. But what is obligatory upon you is that you pay the Zakaah when its time comes; whenever a year passes upon a certain amount [which has reached the nisaab], you must pay what is due upon it according to your records and time. And if you paid what was due upon some portion of that wealth before its actual time along with [the payment of nisaab, this is the date on which the calculation should start. The next amount will be recorded the next time the amount reaches nisaab, which may be a few months later. So the person may not necessarily be paying Zakaah for every month he received a salary, but rather he is paying it on that amount which has been in his possession for a period of a year since the time it reached the nisaab. 6 The reason it is preferable is that it is extremely difficult to record all the money which comes into a person’s hands and leaves them, and this may lead a person to improperly offer his Zakaah. If a person pays the Zakaah for the remaining 11 months when a year passes on the first amount which reached the nisaab, then he will have surely paid what was due on all his wealth for that year. Although he was unsure whether the remaining 11 months actually will have remained in his possession for a total year, whatever extra he pays is regarded as charity. Zakaah on the wealth] before it, then there is no harm in this as we mentioned. (Majmoo’‐ul Fataawaa, Abdul‐Azeez ibn Baaz, v.14, p,138) Q. I am an employee who earns a salary, and every month I save a portion if it. There is no certain percentage which I save, so how should I pay the Zakaah due upon this wealth? A. It is obligatory upon you to pay the Zakaah of every portion which you have saved if a year passes with it in your possession and it had reached the nisaab. If you paid the Zakaah for all the amounts beforehand at the time a year passes on the first amount, this is sufficient. In this case, the Zakaah on the later amounts would have been paid beforehand before a year passes upon it, and paying Zakaah before a year passes upon wealth is permissible, especially in cases where there is a need and a legislative advantage in doing so. (Majmoo’‐ul Fataawaa, Abdul‐Azeez ibn Baaz, v.14, p,143)
Zakaah on Loans.
Q. By the Grace of Allah and his Guidance, I worked for twenty years, and I saved three sums of money. I lent a relative of mine an amount for a fixed time period, and time is passing and I have no hope of reimbursement. The second amount I lent to another relative in order to do some business, but years have passed without him doing anything with it. The third amount is in my possession. What is the ruling regarding the Zakaah on the amount which was not reimbursed, the amount which was given for business purposes but was not used, and the amount from which I personally spend? Enlighten us, may Allah enlighten you. A. You must pay Zakaah for the amount which you have in your possession as well as the amount which is with your relative for business but did not use it whenever a year passes upon it, except if your relative spent the amount you gave him [for business] for some personal need and is unable to return it. In this case there is no Zakaah upon it until he reimburses you and a year passes with it in your possession. As for the amount which is with your first relative, the matter requires some further clarification. ‐ If he has wealth and is able to pay you back, you must pay Zakaah upon the amount whenever a year passes upon it. There is no harm in delaying the Zakaah until he reimburses you and paying for all the previous years, but it is safer and better that you pay it every year as a precaution against forgetfulness or death. ‐ If he is unable to reimburse you, or he is able but is constantly deferring payment or is refusing to pay, it is not obligatory upon you to pay the Zakaah according to the correct of the two stances of the scholars, until he reimburses you and a year passes with it in your possession. Zakaah is meant as a consolation (to the poor), and this consolation is not obligatory upon wealth which you do now know whether you will obtain. (Majmoo’‐ul Fataawaa, Abdul‐Azeez ibn Baaz, v.14, p,42)
Interest-based Dealings with Banks and its Zakaah
Q. Many people deal with banks, and it may be that they get into impermissible dealings like interest. Is Zakaah to be paid on this amount, and how is to be offered? A. It is impermissible to deal in interest, whether with banks or anything else, and all the profits gained from interest are impermissible. They are not considered his wealth, and if he took possession of it knowing the ruling of Allah in its regard, it is obligatory that he disposes (of that wealth) by giving it to charitable purposes. If he has not taken possession of it, he is only allowed to take back his capital amount, as Allah () said: ﴿ ﺍ ﺃﹶﻳَﻬﺎ َﻳﺎ ﺍﷲ َ ﱠِﻟﺬﻳ َﻦ ﺁَُﻣﻨﻮﺍﹾ ﺍﺗﻘﹸﻮﺍﹾ َﻭﺫﹶُﺭﻭﺍﹾ َﻣﺎ َِﺑﻘَﻲ ِﻣَﻦ ﺍﻟﱢَﺮﺑﺎ ِﺇﻥ ﻛﹸﻨُﺘﻢ ﻣْﺆِِﻣﻨَﲔ * َﺗﻔﹾَﻌﻠﹸﻮﺍﹾ
ﻓﹶِﺈﻥ ﱠ ْﻟﻢ ﺍِﷲ
ﻓﹶﺄﹾﺫﹶُﻧﻮﺍﹾ ِﺑَﺤْﺮ ٍﺏ ﱢﻣَﻦ َﻭَﺭُﺳﻮِﻟِﻪ َِﻭﺇﻥ ُُْﺗﺒْﺘﻢ ﴾ ﻓﹶﻠﹶﻜﹸْﻢ ُﺭُﺅﻭُﺱ ﺃﹶْﻣَﻮﺍِﻟﻜﹸْﻢ ﻻﹶ َﺗﻈﹾِﻠُﻤﻮﻥﹶ َﻭﻻﹶ ُﺗﻈﹾﻠﹶُﻤﻮﻥﹶ “O you who believe! Be afraid of Allah and give up what remains (due to you) from interest, if you are (really) believers. * And if you do not do it, then take a notice of war from Allah and His Messenger. But if you repent, you shall have your capital sums. Deal not unjustly (by asking more than your capital sums), and you shall not be dealt with unjustly (by receiving less than your capital sums).” [Surah al‐Baqarah (2):278‐279] If he had taken the interest before knowing the ruling of Allah in its regard, he may keep it and it is not obligatory upon him to dispose of it, as Allah said:
“Allah has permitted trading and forbidden interest. So whosoever receives an admonition from his Lord and stops eating interest shall not be punished for the past; his case is for Allah (to judge); but whoever returns [to dealing in interest)], such are the dwellers of the Fire ‐ they will abide therein.” [Surah al‐Baqarah (2):275]
The person must pay Zakaah on that portion which is not from the profits of interest, as he does for all his other wealth upon which Zakaah is due. But if he did not have knowledge of its impermissibility, Zakaah must also be paid upon the profits made from interest before, for it is like the rest of his wealth due to the verse mentioned above, All Guidance to Correctness is from Allah. (Majmoo’‐ul Fataawaa, Abdul‐Azeez ibn Baaz, v.14, p,153)
Giving Zakaah to Islamic Centers
Q. There is a charitable center for teaching Qur`aan to women which will soon be open, by the Will of Allah (), and this center, like other charitable projects, needs much money to meet its expenditures, like salaries for the teachers, office furniture, buses for the teachers and students, etc. Is it permissible, O respected sheikh, that Zakaah be spent on this center? A. It is not permissible that Zakaah be spent on it except on those teachers who are needy and whose husbands do not spend on them, and those who have no well‐to‐do guardians which are able to spend upon them. Salaries should be only be given [from the Zakaah] to those of them who require money for their necessary expenditures. As for office furniture and buses, money other than Zakaah should be spent on them, like charitable donations, endowments, and general charity.
July 23, 2019
All Praises are due to Allah alone, and may the Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him (Muhammad ) after whom there is no Prophet, and upon his family, companions. To proceed: I wrote this treatise in order to sincerely advise and remind [the Muslims] about the obligation of Zakaah, a matter in which many Muslims have been too careless and lenient. Many do not offer their Zakaah in accordance to what has been legislated in the religion, despite its greatness and its being one of the five pillars of Islam without which it (Islam) cannot stand. The Prophet () said: “Islam has been built (by Allah) upon five: The testimony (Shahaadah) that none has the right to be worshipped except Allah, and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah (Laa ilaaha ill‐Allah, Muhammad‐urRasoolullaah); establishing Salaah, giving Zakaah, Fasting (Sawm) the month of Ramadan, and performing Hajj to the House [of Allah] (the Ka’bah).” (Bukhari and Muslim) The fact that Zakaah is an obligation upon the Muslims is one of the most apparent indications of the beauty of Islam and the concern it has for its adherents. The benefits of Zakaah are indeed numerous, and [it has been made obligatory] due to the dire need of the poor amongst the Muslims.
From its benefits are the following: 1. It strengthens the bonds of love between the rich and the poor, for it is from human nature that a person shows affinity to those who treat them well. 2. It purifies and cleanses the soul and distances it from greed and avarice, as indicated in the Noble Qur`aan when Allah () says: ِﺑَﻬﺎ ﴿
﴾ ُﺧﺬﹾ ِﻣْﻦ ﺃﹶْﻣَﻮﺍِﻟِﻬْﻢ ََﺻﺪﻗﹶﺔﹰ ُﺗﻄﹶﱢﻬُﺮُْﻫﻢ َُﻭﺗَﱢﺰﻛﻴِﻬْﻢ “Take Sadaqah (alms) from their wealth in order to purify them and sanctify them with it.” [Surah at‐Tawbah (9):103]
3. It causes Muslims to grow accustomed to performing acts of generosity, hospitality and empathy towards those who are in need. 4. It brings increase and blessings to one’s wealth, and Allah replaces it (the wealth given as charity with something better), as Allah () said: ُﻳِْﺨﻠﻔﹸ ُﻪ ﴿
َﻭَﻣﺎ ﺃﹶْﻧﻔﹶﻘﹾُْﺘﻢ ِﻣْﻦ َﺷْﻲٍﺀ ﻓﹶُﻬَﻮ ﺍﻟﺮﺍِِﺯﻗَﲔ
﴾ َﻭُﻫَﻮ َْﺧﻴُﺮ “And whatsoever you spend of anything (in Allahʹs Cause), He will replace it. And He is the Best of providers.” [Surah as‐Saba´ (34):39]
In a Saheeh (authentic) hadeeth, the Prophet () said:
“O child of Adam! Spend in charity and We (Allah) will spend on you.”1 There are numerous other benefits that may be found in the legislation of Zakaah. A severe warning has been issued to those who do not offer Zakaah out of greed as well as those who fall short in doing so. Allah () said: ﴿ َﻭﺍﱠِﻟﺬﻳَﻦ َﻳﻜﹾِﻨُﺰﻭﻥﹶ ﺍﻟﱠﺬَﻫَﺐ َﻭﺍﻟﹾِﻔﻀﺔﹶ َﻭﻻ ﺍِﷲ ُْﻳِﻨﻔﻘﹸﻮَﻧَﻬﺎ ِﻓﻲ َِﺳﺒﻴِﻞ ﻓﹶَﺒﱢﺸْﺮُْﻫﻢ َِﺑﻌﺬﹶﺍٍﺏ ﺃﹶِﻟﻴٍﻢ* َﻳْﻮَﻡ ُﻳْﺤَﻤﻰ َﻋﻠﹶْﻴَﻬﺎ ِﻓﻲ َﻧﺎِﺭ َﺟَﻬﻨَﻢ ﻓﹶُﺘﻜﹾَﻮﻯ ِﺑَﻬﺎ َِﺟﺒﺎُﻫُْﻬﻢ َﻭُُﺟﻨﻮُﺑُْﻬﻢ َﻭﻇﹸُﻬﻮُﺭُْﻫﻢ َﻫ َِﻷ ﺬﹶﺍ َﻣﺎ ﻛﹶَﻨُْﺰْﺗﻢ ْﻧﻔﹸِﺴﻜﹸْﻢ ﻓﹶﺬﹸﻭﻗﹸﻮﺍ َﻣﺎ ﴾ ﻛﹸُْﻨْﺘﻢ َﺗﻜﹾِﻨُﺰﻭﻥﹶ “And those who hoard up gold and silver [al‐kanz: the money, the Zakaah of which has not been paid], and spend it not in the Way of Allah, ‐ announce unto them a painful torment. * On the Day when that (al‐kanz: money, gold and silver, etc., the Zakaat of which has not been paid) will be heated in the Fire of Hell and with it will be branded their foreheads, their flanks, and their backs, (and it will be said unto them): ‘This is the treas
1 Narrated by as‐Suyuti in ‘Al‐Jaami’ as‐Sagheer’. Declared saheeh by AlAlbani
ure which you hoarded for yourselves. Now taste of what you used to hoard’.” [Surah at‐Tawbah (9):34‐35]
Any type of wealth from which Zakaah has not been offered is regarded as hoarded up treasure (al‐kanz) for which one will be punished on the Day of Judgement. This has been indicated in the saheeh hadeeth in which the Prophet () said: “No owner of gold or silver who does not offer its due right (Zakaah) except that in the Day of Judgement, plates of fire will be beaten out for him, and they will be heated in the Fire of Jahannam (Hell) and their flanks, foreheads, and their backs will be branded with them. Whenever they will cool, it will be done again to them, on a Day of which its length is fifty thousand years, until [Allah] judges between all [His] slaves. He will see his path, either to Jannah (Paradise), or to Jahannam.” (Muslim) The Prophet then further mentioned (in the hadeeth) that one who owns camel, cattle, and sheep and does not offer the Zakaah due upon it will be punished through them on the Day of Judgement. It has also been authentically reported of the Messenger of Allah () that he said: “Whomever Allah has provided with wealth and does not offer the Zakaah due upon it, on the Day of Judgement it will be made into a baldheaded poisonous male snake with two black spots over the eyes. The snake will encircle his neck and bite his cheeks and say, ‘I am your wealth, I am your hoarded treasure!’ The Prophet () then recited Allah’s saying: ﺍﷲ ﴿
َْﺧﻴ ُ َﻭﻻ َﻳْﺤََﺴﺒﻦ ﺍﱠِﻟﺬﻳَﻦ َْﻳﺒَﺨﻠﹸﻮﻥﹶ ِﺑَﻤﺎ ﺁَﺗﺎ ُُﻫﻢ
ِﻣْﻦ ﻓﹶِْﻀﻠِﻪ ُﻫَﻮ ﺮﺍ ﴾ ﻟﹶُْﻬﻢ َﺑﻞﹾ ُﻫَﻮ َﺷﺮ ﻟﹶُْﻬﻢ َُﺳﻴﻄﹶﻮﻗﹸﻮﻥﹶ َﻣﺎ َﺑِﺨﻠﹸﻮﺍ ِﺑِﻪ َﻳْﻮَﻡ ﺍﻟﹾَِﻘﻴﺎَﻣِﺔ ‘And let not those who covetously withhold of that which Allah has bestowed on them of His Bounty (Wealth) think that it is good for them (and so they do not pay the obligatory Zakaah). Nay, it will be worse for them; the things which they covetously withheld shall be tied to their necks like a collar on the Day of Resurrection.’ [Surah Aali ‘Imraan (3):180]”2
Monday, May 6, 2019
Thursday, October 11, 2018
featured
There are about 22,000 deni madaris in pakistan. and about 17,000 are registed by government of the pakistan. and about millions students are getting islamic education.
Madrassah is an arabic word which mean's "an instition" where Education is imparted. Madrassah word is used for that institution where islamic Education is giving according sunnah and Hadith. The words like jamia, Dar-ul-ilm, Taleem-ul-Quran are also
used for Madrassah as well. The institute where get Education females called as Lil-Banat or Madarsa-tul-banat and males institute called Lil-baneen or Madarsa-tul-baneen. The head of Madrassa called Nazim/Muhtamim/Principal. Male teacher's
Known as Mu'allim and female teacher's know as Mu'allima.
October 11, 2018
There are about 22,000 deni madaris in pakistan. and about 17,000 are registed by government of the pakistan. and about millions students are getting islamic education.
Madrassah is an arabic word which mean's "an instition" where Education is imparted. Madrassah word is used for that institution where islamic Education is giving according sunnah and Hadith. The words like jamia, Dar-ul-ilm, Taleem-ul-Quran are also
used for Madrassah as well. The institute where get Education females called as Lil-Banat or Madarsa-tul-banat and males institute called Lil-baneen or Madarsa-tul-baneen. The head of Madrassa called Nazim/Muhtamim/Principal. Male teacher's
Known as Mu'allim and female teacher's know as Mu'allima.
featured
We are trying to give the best oppertunities to all people. The Prominent features of our institution are following :
1
Teachirg the Quran Education with tajveed-o-Qiraat in different accents.
2
We hired the best teacher's who are highly Qualified in the Courses like Hifz-e-Quran, Mufti and Alim.
3
we have a large number of books in our library which help to the students as well Teacher's in their research and helps their to increase knowledge.
4
Our institution giving free accommodation , books , 3 times meal and all basic necessities to the Student's.
5
We are providing health facilities an a large scale .
6
Our Madrassah, therefore play an important role in imparting education from grass root up to higher level.
https://sites.google.com/view/womenonlinequran/home
October 11, 2018
1
Teachirg the Quran Education with tajveed-o-Qiraat in different accents.
We hired the best teacher's who are highly Qualified in the Courses like Hifz-e-Quran, Mufti and Alim.
we have a large number of books in our library which help to the students as well Teacher's in their research and helps their to increase knowledge.
Our institution giving free accommodation , books , 3 times meal and all basic necessities to the Student's.
We are providing health facilities an a large scale .
Our Madrassah, therefore play an important role in imparting education from grass root up to higher level.
https://sites.google.com/view/womenonlinequran/home
Wednesday, October 10, 2018
women
Jews. The same genocide of the Bosnians occurs fifty years later by the same people who started the UN. They are unable to stop their own from this matter, and with this I come to my final point, that I would like to leave you with. Islamic civilization unlike any other civilization is based, of course on revelation, but it is in its essence supported and founded by women. The first person to believe in Prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam) was his wife Khadeejah, and it was through her money and through her support of him, her financial backing, and also her encouragement that the prophet was able to spread the message of Islam in his first year of prophecy. The pagans did not have the ideas of freedom of religion, that you can take your own beliefs. This was not practiced by the pagans of Arabia - they saw this as an insurrection, they saw this as a changing of their ways, so they sought to stop it out by torture, by killing and by all other means that they could. And likewise, they tried to stop the Islamic revelation, this tradition, when the prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam) converted only the people of Arabia. But as you know there are about one billion Muslims in the world. They are in every single continent of the world, even in Beijing where the UN was convening. There was a mosque there which is over a thousand years old. And the neighborhood that lives there is about forty to fifty thousands Muslims. Now the king’s palace, the forbidden city in front of Tien Anh Man square which many of you have heard of, is only 500 years old. This shows how the growth of Islam and the sprit of Islam is not just a Middle Eastern phenomenon or an Arabian phenomenon but extends to all people and races throughout the world.
Where is this teaching from, of course when prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam) died after twenty three years Islam only spread in Arabia. This religion of Islam was basically spread by four or five individuals who had the most in teaching. One of them was the prophet's wife `Aa’isha. She is among the most to have narrated his statements and likewise she is amongst the three, four, five who have mostly given religious pronouncements, who have given religious verdicts, explained what these verses in the Qur'an meant or what the words of the prophet meant.
Look at any other civilization in the history of humanity, you will not find a women playing a role in its establishment where it can be attributed to her efforts for its establishment. The Greeks - look at the philosophers Plato, Aristotle and others - all were men. The early church fathers writings were basically men and until today the idea of women scholarship is limited in some areas of the church. The French writers at the French revolution and Voltaire and the Russians were men. The founding fathers of the United States were men, and also other civilizations are basically based upon men. Islam is the only civilization which is known by humanity where a leading input in terms of its transmission and establishment was based upon the efforts of women. Central - and this is an historical matter which is not open to interpretation, it is a fact these are the people who transmitted these teachings these are the people who supported it hereafter. Those are just some thoughts and impressions concerning how Islam uplifted women.
October 10, 2018
Where is this teaching from, of course when prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam) died after twenty three years Islam only spread in Arabia. This religion of Islam was basically spread by four or five individuals who had the most in teaching. One of them was the prophet's wife `Aa’isha. She is among the most to have narrated his statements and likewise she is amongst the three, four, five who have mostly given religious pronouncements, who have given religious verdicts, explained what these verses in the Qur'an meant or what the words of the prophet meant.
Look at any other civilization in the history of humanity, you will not find a women playing a role in its establishment where it can be attributed to her efforts for its establishment. The Greeks - look at the philosophers Plato, Aristotle and others - all were men. The early church fathers writings were basically men and until today the idea of women scholarship is limited in some areas of the church. The French writers at the French revolution and Voltaire and the Russians were men. The founding fathers of the United States were men, and also other civilizations are basically based upon men. Islam is the only civilization which is known by humanity where a leading input in terms of its transmission and establishment was based upon the efforts of women. Central - and this is an historical matter which is not open to interpretation, it is a fact these are the people who transmitted these teachings these are the people who supported it hereafter. Those are just some thoughts and impressions concerning how Islam uplifted women.
women
Men and women both participate in that publicly. Likewise, we have a verse which shows that the social contract between men and women is the same in Islam. This verse might be translated as the following: "And the believing men and women are," what we might translate as, "awliyaa" - the word in Arabic for friends or allies or supporters of one another, "they" - meaning men and women - "bid to that which is correct" i.e. they commend that which is correct, "and they forbid that which is evil". And this is a corrective process in society, removing evil and commending that which is good. And then "they perform the prayer", both men and women, "they pay the alms", or the charity to the poor, "and they obey God and His Messenger." And then God shows them the reward and that they are those upon whom God will have mercy and God is Almighty and All-Wise.So in this verse, we find that the social contract between men and women, as individuals in the society, is the same, that they both go for the highest goal of bidding or commanding that which is correct, forbidding that which is evil, and that they share in the two major acts of worship, which are the prayer and giving charity. They share in the beliefs and obedience to God and obedience to the Prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam) and likewise, they share in the reward in the end of obtaining Allah's mercy. This is a very important concept, which is in contradiction with what the western tradition is upon today, and that is as I said as a result of the initial extreme of the Greek philosophers that women did not share in humanity. As the result of that extreme another extreme occurred - at least the Muslims consider it extreme - that there is no difference between men and women.
So therefore, the idea of having genders - this is a term which is not used in a biological sense, as we might use the word sex in a biological sense for male and female, but the understanding today is that the traits that define maleness or femaleness, the social traits and so forth are determined by upbringing, culture, and environment and that there is no inherent difference in the way men and women think or act or what their make up is and so forth. And that is why they use the term gender.
This extreme resulted from the initial extreme that occurred 2000 years ago, when the Greek thought that the women did not posses humanity. So as a result of this 2000 year processes we now come to another extreme at least this is what Muslims would say - this extreme now is that men and women are the same, that there is no difference.Islam, although confirming that men and women do share in the same essence of humanity, also confirms that men and women are different. But does this difference mean that men are inherently good or women are inherently evil? No. And this is why when you look at one of the verses in the Qur'an that sheds light on this aspect, God says, recounting His creation, that He is the One Who created the night, as it envelops, as it comes - if you look at the horizon, it comes like a sheet enveloping the horizon - and He is the One Who created the day as it comes bursting, shining, - that is how Sun rises and He is the One Who created male and female. And then the next verse says, verily, what you strive for - human beings are into different ends, diverse ends - some strive for God's pleasure, some strive for disobedience of God, some strive to do good to humans, some strive to do harm, different ends. But what is the example here? God mentions night and day and then mentions male and female. The understanding is, yes, night has a purpose, and in the Qur'an you always find verse after verse, describing that night has a wisdom behind it. And also it tells humanity that had it been only night and no day human beings could not live on earth. And this is now shown scientifically that if it was only night and there was no sunlight, certain hormones of body would not be able to reproduce and human beings would die. Life as we know it on earth would not exist. And likewise, day has its wisdoms behind it. But can one argue and say, that night is good and day is evil? No, and no Muslim would believe that. And can one argue and say that day is good and night is evil? No. Likewise, male and female also have their roles to play. But can one say that the role of men is inherently good and the role of women is inherently evil? No. And can one say the opposite to that - the role of women is inherently good and the role of men is inherently evil? No. But they both have a role.This is the main contention now between western thought and Islamic belief. Western thought has basically accepted, except for maybe some few corners perhaps in the Vatican or so, that men and women share in their humanity and that they are the same. Muslims have believed this for 1400 years. But the difference is that in western thought, as a reaction to the initial thought that women did not share humanity fully, the argument is that the roles of men and women in society are only defined by culture, environment and upbringing, therefore there is really no true role for men and no true role for women and that we can switch this, if we just teach the society correctly. But in Islam there is a defined role for men and a defined role for women. Who is the one who defines this role for men and women? It's their creator. This is the major, if you want to use the term philosophical, even though it is an inaccurate term in that sense, but we can just use if for the lack of better term, philosophical, ideological or theological difference between the two opposing arguments. Now with that said, it is important to understand that when Islam gave these roles to men and women alike, it put responsibilities equal to obligations to both. I will give you an example for that: Islam senses that women have the nature of mother not by cultural tradition or by sociological system but inherently are better in providing and taking care of the offspring, that there is a bond there which goes beyond tradition. A psychological bonding, a physical bonding, something which is more than just traditions of human beings. As a result of that it has placed greater responsibilities upon women towards their children are then those of men.
At the same time, the obligations that children have towards their mother in Islam is greater than they have towards their fathers, and this is why when the prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam) was asked by a man one was his companions "Who should I befriend in this world?" The prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam) replied "your mother." And then the man asked a second time, and the prophet replied your mother, and then a third time, and again he replied your mother, and on the fourth time, he said "your father". Likewise in the Qur'an we find that it tells human beings that your mother bore you from one hardship to the other hardship, talking about the labors and difficulties of pregnancy and childhood, and then fed you for two years, suckled you, and tells us to be kind to our parents and reminds us of our mother first before our fathers. The point is that even though it has defined a role for women with the children which is different than the role of the father, at the same time it gives women honor and respect from their children which is greater than that received by the fathers. The fathers do receive respect and their honor, they are not just thrown out of the picture, but it is given to them and according to the degree of their responsibility. And likewise, because the mother inherently, not just because of cultural tradition, has something inherent which makes that bond greater between her and her child then the male. She receives a greater honor and respect from the child and at the same time she is required to give a greater obligation.
I only gave that as an example to show you that while Islam recognizes differences between the sexes, it does not accept the concept that gender is just an issue of upbringing or cultural traditions, for there are inherent differences in males and females, and as a result of that the obligations and responsibilities of each of the two sexes are together. Imported from that is another matter that even though men and women are different, they are not in opposition to one another, which is the basis of much of the western thought and especially of feminist traditions. That there's a struggle between men and women, "There is a battle of sexes", as it is sometimes said in the popular sort of designation. This doesn't exist in Islam. Men and women work in tandem, just like day and night revolve, and you live in day time and you live in night time. You cannot live only in night, and you cannot live only in day, likewise, men and women are not against one another, they are not pitted against one another but rather they share in the same aim, the same purpose of being, the same humanity. They have different roles, but these roles complement one another and are needed by one another in order for the success of humanity, not in this world, but also - of course since Muslims believe in the hereafter- in the hereafter, which is the ultimate goal for Muslims.Now, I would like to make one final comment and then I'll leave it open for questions. Let's look at the applicabilities of both of these programs. We discussed a lot of ideas, thoughts and beliefs and historical concepts, but when they are actually applied, which of the two view points is more successful. Which brings more bliss to humanity? Is it the secular western view or is it the Islamic view? And I have a concrete example which I'd like to share with you. When I was in Beijing this last summer for the UN 4th world conference on the women, there was a platform for action which was being discussed by the different nations and organizations there. The aim of the platform for action was to upraise, uplift, and to embetter the status of women around the world, which are of course noble and correct aims, there is no contention concerning that. The platform for action was divided into different areas of concentrations, such as poverty, health, finances, conflicts and violence and so forth, and one of it was the girl child. The 12th issue of the 12 concerned areas for the platform for action, the girl child, the status of girls - future women - in the world today. The country which was hosting the conference, China is known for the practice of killing girls. The reason why is because of their population. You can only have one child per couple and Chinese by their tradition view males as fewer then females and so as a result they will usually kill the female child, in hope that the wife gives birth to a boy. This is an issue which exists and because the hosts were the Chinese, the United Nations didn't really want to get into this issue. They didn't want to talk about it because it was not politically correct to address that issue in China. Moreover, even though they might have passed certain regulations, platforms for actions and certain commitments which they have required of citizens of the world to follow, they at the end will see that perhaps in twenty-five to fifty years the status of the world child will not have markedly improved.We can see from other things, one of the major issues which the United Nations was created for after World War II, was the slaughter of so many million human beings, six million Jews in Europe, and yet fifty years later, in the year of the fiftieth celebration of the UN, a genocide has taken place in Europe of the Bosnians. All the human rights, all of the declarations in the last fifty years has not been able to change anything on the ground. Now when the prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam) was sent to the Arabs, the Arabs had the same practice. They used to kill their girl children. The Arabs killed their girls for a number of reasons, most of the time due to poverty. Being a desert people without industry or any sort of means of trade, existence was very minimal. And as a result, out of fear of poverty they would kill their girl children, and they would bury them alive. This is a fact which is mentioned in the Qur'an and was well known during the time of the prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam). God condemns in the Qur'an with verses, the idea of killing of the girl child, the burying in the ground, and also the attitudes of the Arabs towards girls. One verse in the Qur'an says that "when he is given the good news that his wife is given birth." God calls it a good news, " - to a female child, a girl - his face becomes blackened and he becomes ashamed. Will he hide the fact "that he has given birth to a girl and not tell the people, because he feels it as a shame. "Or will he bury it in the ground", this is a condemnation of the practice of the people. And likewise the companions of the prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam) before they accepted Islam, many of them killed their girl children. One man came to prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam) and said I killed ten of my daughters in my lifetime, will I receive paradise? For will God accept my repentance for this sin, now that I have left this pagan religion of before, worshipping idols and killing girl children and so forth. Within one generation, within 23 years this was how long the prophet was amongst the Arabs, the practice of killing girls ended. It no longer existed in Arabia. And likewise, it didn't just stop like that, but a change in attitude came towards women, in educating them and making morally upright people.
People receive no other reward, but paradise. Again that is the greatest aim for the Muslim and that is their motivation and reason of being. So Islam not only tried removing the negative aspect of murdering girls, but also included the positive aspect of educating girls and raising them in society, and this brings me to my final point. This is something of course which we can look at the previous declarations of human rights or whatever, irrespective of whether these being true or false, but they have not been able to achieve the aims which they have stated. As the example of human rights and the UN in Bosnia shows.Fifty years after the creation of the UN, there is no change in Europe, the same land which killed six million......
October 10, 2018
So therefore, the idea of having genders - this is a term which is not used in a biological sense, as we might use the word sex in a biological sense for male and female, but the understanding today is that the traits that define maleness or femaleness, the social traits and so forth are determined by upbringing, culture, and environment and that there is no inherent difference in the way men and women think or act or what their make up is and so forth. And that is why they use the term gender.
This extreme resulted from the initial extreme that occurred 2000 years ago, when the Greek thought that the women did not posses humanity. So as a result of this 2000 year processes we now come to another extreme at least this is what Muslims would say - this extreme now is that men and women are the same, that there is no difference.Islam, although confirming that men and women do share in the same essence of humanity, also confirms that men and women are different. But does this difference mean that men are inherently good or women are inherently evil? No. And this is why when you look at one of the verses in the Qur'an that sheds light on this aspect, God says, recounting His creation, that He is the One Who created the night, as it envelops, as it comes - if you look at the horizon, it comes like a sheet enveloping the horizon - and He is the One Who created the day as it comes bursting, shining, - that is how Sun rises and He is the One Who created male and female. And then the next verse says, verily, what you strive for - human beings are into different ends, diverse ends - some strive for God's pleasure, some strive for disobedience of God, some strive to do good to humans, some strive to do harm, different ends. But what is the example here? God mentions night and day and then mentions male and female. The understanding is, yes, night has a purpose, and in the Qur'an you always find verse after verse, describing that night has a wisdom behind it. And also it tells humanity that had it been only night and no day human beings could not live on earth. And this is now shown scientifically that if it was only night and there was no sunlight, certain hormones of body would not be able to reproduce and human beings would die. Life as we know it on earth would not exist. And likewise, day has its wisdoms behind it. But can one argue and say, that night is good and day is evil? No, and no Muslim would believe that. And can one argue and say that day is good and night is evil? No. Likewise, male and female also have their roles to play. But can one say that the role of men is inherently good and the role of women is inherently evil? No. And can one say the opposite to that - the role of women is inherently good and the role of men is inherently evil? No. But they both have a role.This is the main contention now between western thought and Islamic belief. Western thought has basically accepted, except for maybe some few corners perhaps in the Vatican or so, that men and women share in their humanity and that they are the same. Muslims have believed this for 1400 years. But the difference is that in western thought, as a reaction to the initial thought that women did not share humanity fully, the argument is that the roles of men and women in society are only defined by culture, environment and upbringing, therefore there is really no true role for men and no true role for women and that we can switch this, if we just teach the society correctly. But in Islam there is a defined role for men and a defined role for women. Who is the one who defines this role for men and women? It's their creator. This is the major, if you want to use the term philosophical, even though it is an inaccurate term in that sense, but we can just use if for the lack of better term, philosophical, ideological or theological difference between the two opposing arguments. Now with that said, it is important to understand that when Islam gave these roles to men and women alike, it put responsibilities equal to obligations to both. I will give you an example for that: Islam senses that women have the nature of mother not by cultural tradition or by sociological system but inherently are better in providing and taking care of the offspring, that there is a bond there which goes beyond tradition. A psychological bonding, a physical bonding, something which is more than just traditions of human beings. As a result of that it has placed greater responsibilities upon women towards their children are then those of men.
At the same time, the obligations that children have towards their mother in Islam is greater than they have towards their fathers, and this is why when the prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam) was asked by a man one was his companions "Who should I befriend in this world?" The prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam) replied "your mother." And then the man asked a second time, and the prophet replied your mother, and then a third time, and again he replied your mother, and on the fourth time, he said "your father". Likewise in the Qur'an we find that it tells human beings that your mother bore you from one hardship to the other hardship, talking about the labors and difficulties of pregnancy and childhood, and then fed you for two years, suckled you, and tells us to be kind to our parents and reminds us of our mother first before our fathers. The point is that even though it has defined a role for women with the children which is different than the role of the father, at the same time it gives women honor and respect from their children which is greater than that received by the fathers. The fathers do receive respect and their honor, they are not just thrown out of the picture, but it is given to them and according to the degree of their responsibility. And likewise, because the mother inherently, not just because of cultural tradition, has something inherent which makes that bond greater between her and her child then the male. She receives a greater honor and respect from the child and at the same time she is required to give a greater obligation.
I only gave that as an example to show you that while Islam recognizes differences between the sexes, it does not accept the concept that gender is just an issue of upbringing or cultural traditions, for there are inherent differences in males and females, and as a result of that the obligations and responsibilities of each of the two sexes are together. Imported from that is another matter that even though men and women are different, they are not in opposition to one another, which is the basis of much of the western thought and especially of feminist traditions. That there's a struggle between men and women, "There is a battle of sexes", as it is sometimes said in the popular sort of designation. This doesn't exist in Islam. Men and women work in tandem, just like day and night revolve, and you live in day time and you live in night time. You cannot live only in night, and you cannot live only in day, likewise, men and women are not against one another, they are not pitted against one another but rather they share in the same aim, the same purpose of being, the same humanity. They have different roles, but these roles complement one another and are needed by one another in order for the success of humanity, not in this world, but also - of course since Muslims believe in the hereafter- in the hereafter, which is the ultimate goal for Muslims.Now, I would like to make one final comment and then I'll leave it open for questions. Let's look at the applicabilities of both of these programs. We discussed a lot of ideas, thoughts and beliefs and historical concepts, but when they are actually applied, which of the two view points is more successful. Which brings more bliss to humanity? Is it the secular western view or is it the Islamic view? And I have a concrete example which I'd like to share with you. When I was in Beijing this last summer for the UN 4th world conference on the women, there was a platform for action which was being discussed by the different nations and organizations there. The aim of the platform for action was to upraise, uplift, and to embetter the status of women around the world, which are of course noble and correct aims, there is no contention concerning that. The platform for action was divided into different areas of concentrations, such as poverty, health, finances, conflicts and violence and so forth, and one of it was the girl child. The 12th issue of the 12 concerned areas for the platform for action, the girl child, the status of girls - future women - in the world today. The country which was hosting the conference, China is known for the practice of killing girls. The reason why is because of their population. You can only have one child per couple and Chinese by their tradition view males as fewer then females and so as a result they will usually kill the female child, in hope that the wife gives birth to a boy. This is an issue which exists and because the hosts were the Chinese, the United Nations didn't really want to get into this issue. They didn't want to talk about it because it was not politically correct to address that issue in China. Moreover, even though they might have passed certain regulations, platforms for actions and certain commitments which they have required of citizens of the world to follow, they at the end will see that perhaps in twenty-five to fifty years the status of the world child will not have markedly improved.We can see from other things, one of the major issues which the United Nations was created for after World War II, was the slaughter of so many million human beings, six million Jews in Europe, and yet fifty years later, in the year of the fiftieth celebration of the UN, a genocide has taken place in Europe of the Bosnians. All the human rights, all of the declarations in the last fifty years has not been able to change anything on the ground. Now when the prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam) was sent to the Arabs, the Arabs had the same practice. They used to kill their girl children. The Arabs killed their girls for a number of reasons, most of the time due to poverty. Being a desert people without industry or any sort of means of trade, existence was very minimal. And as a result, out of fear of poverty they would kill their girl children, and they would bury them alive. This is a fact which is mentioned in the Qur'an and was well known during the time of the prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam). God condemns in the Qur'an with verses, the idea of killing of the girl child, the burying in the ground, and also the attitudes of the Arabs towards girls. One verse in the Qur'an says that "when he is given the good news that his wife is given birth." God calls it a good news, " - to a female child, a girl - his face becomes blackened and he becomes ashamed. Will he hide the fact "that he has given birth to a girl and not tell the people, because he feels it as a shame. "Or will he bury it in the ground", this is a condemnation of the practice of the people. And likewise the companions of the prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam) before they accepted Islam, many of them killed their girl children. One man came to prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam) and said I killed ten of my daughters in my lifetime, will I receive paradise? For will God accept my repentance for this sin, now that I have left this pagan religion of before, worshipping idols and killing girl children and so forth. Within one generation, within 23 years this was how long the prophet was amongst the Arabs, the practice of killing girls ended. It no longer existed in Arabia. And likewise, it didn't just stop like that, but a change in attitude came towards women, in educating them and making morally upright people.
People receive no other reward, but paradise. Again that is the greatest aim for the Muslim and that is their motivation and reason of being. So Islam not only tried removing the negative aspect of murdering girls, but also included the positive aspect of educating girls and raising them in society, and this brings me to my final point. This is something of course which we can look at the previous declarations of human rights or whatever, irrespective of whether these being true or false, but they have not been able to achieve the aims which they have stated. As the example of human rights and the UN in Bosnia shows.Fifty years after the creation of the UN, there is no change in Europe, the same land which killed six million......
women
most pious with God." [49:13] This verse in the Qur'an teaches that humans come from a single male and a single female. The indication here is that the male and female in terms of their human nature are at an equal level. Likewise another verse, from a chapter which is known in the Qur'an as the chapter of Women because most of the issues discussed there are laws dealing with women - starts off with a verse which could be translated as "O humanity! Verily We have created you from a single soul, and have made from it its mate," this is a reference to Adam and Eve, "and have made from both of them many people, men and women, and scattered them throughout the earth." [4:1] So here again is the issue of men and women and all human beings coming from a single source, a single family, a single set of parents. This shows that women share in full humanity with men.Likewise in the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam) - which is the second source of the Islamic religion - we find that the Prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam) said in a Hadith that indeed verily women are the twin halves of men. The Arabic word shaqaa'iq, which I translated as twin halves, means taking something and splitting it in half. The understanding is that there is a single humanity, a single essence which is shared, and there are twin halves of that - one is man and one is women. This is repeated often in the Qur'an. The words of the Prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam) also emphasize this. As I said, this is a very important concept to understand when one reflects on how traditional western civilization looked at women as not being full partners and not sharing in humanity. Although now, we might not find much surprise to that because it is a given perhaps that men and women are full human beings. But this is something that is a late occurrence in western traditions.Let us take it to another step, what is the aim of humanity? What is the purpose for which human beings exist on earth, to what ends do they strive? What will occur to them if they strive to those ends and what will occur to them if they did not strive to those ends? Since Islam is a religion which sees itself as revelation from God and the truth, Muslims would feel that human beings have a set purpose here on earth; that in everything of God's creation there is wisdom. There is nothing of God's creation that does not have any wisdom. There is nothing for sport or play and so therefore human beings have a purpose, and that purpose has been elucidated for them in the teaching of Islam. They were created to worship God. A verse from the Qur'an says that God says that He has not created human beings except to worship Him. So therefore, the essence of humanity is the same between male and female, and they also share the same aim and that is to worship God. And that is the most important issue in the Islamic culture and civilization. You know that the Islamic culture and civilization is rooted in religious belief. American civilization is rooted in what? In the writings of the founding fathers of the United States of America. It is rooted in the Declaration of Independence, the ideals which were placed therein. It is rooted in the Constitution of the United States. It is rooted in some of the arguments between monarchy or democracy which were written by some of the early writers or founding fathers. So it is rooted in a political thought. Yes, it might have some traditions which go back further and extend to certain ideas like in parts of Christianity and so forth, but in its essence it is a political thought, unlike Islam which is a religion in its essence.The civilization of Islam - a civilization which is 1400 years old - is one which is rooted in religion. For a Muslim the greatest aim is to serve God, to worship God alone, and that is what the word Muslim means.Muslim is not a racial description, it is not an ethnic category, Muslim means one who submits. Islam means submitting to the will of God - the voluntary submission to God - so Islam is a religion of submission. Therefore, in the most important aspect of the Islamic religion, we find that men and women share in the same aim and are expected to have the same responsibilities, in that men and women are both required or obligated to testify that there is none worthy of worship but Allah alone - God alone - and that Muhammad is His Messenger. Men and women are both obligated to pray five times a day, which is the second pillar of Islam. They are obligated to fast the month of Ramadan. They are obligated to make pilgrimage to Makkah. They are obligated to give charity. They are obligated to have the same beliefs. They are obligated to have the same type of morality and the same type of code of conduct and behavior.Men and women share these essential ingredients of Islamic behavior, which define a Muslim from a non-Muslim. And this is of extreme importance because it breaks from the tradition of religions. For instance fifty years before the birth of the prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam) who was born around 560 CE we find that there was a gathering of bishops in France to discuss whether women possessed souls or not, and that, if they do possess souls, what would be their purpose on earth? Was it to worship God? And if they worshipped God, would they go to paradise? In the end it was decided that, yes, women do possess souls - which was a break from previous tradition - but that their purpose was not just to worship God, but also to serve men.
In Islam, however, the basis of submission is not that women are submitting to men, but that men and women together submit to God. So therefore, when you read the passages of the Qur'an, it becomes very clear that the obedient from among both the believing men and women receive paradise, which is the greatest aim and objective in a Muslim's life, and the basis of that civilization. Likewise, those who are disobedient and who are renegades, and who do not want to worship God also receive the same punishment whether they are male or female. This is why throughout the Qur'an you find the wording addressed to both males and females. The Arabic language like French has two types of verbs, one representing the feminine and one the masculine. So in the Qur'an you'll find both categories of the human race, both sexes, being addressed. This you find over and over and over. There is no need to now recite all these passages, but they are there if anyone wants to know.In summary we found three bases: that they share the same humanity, that they have the same aim on this earth, and also, they expect the same reward, which is the goal which they are working for collectively as human beings. And this is a break as I said from the previous religious traditions and also political and social understanding prevalent among the philosophers before the coming of Islam. And as a result of that, we find that Islam accorded women rights which perhaps we take for granted now, but were given by God to men and women some 1400 years ago. These rights like the right to own property, the right to dispose of property according to their own wishes as long as they follow the laws of the religion of Islam, which apply the same for men or women and the right to certain what we would call now political rights, like the right to enter into a treaty with combatant, are something very recent relatively speaking in the West.
One of the rights given by Islam in the time of the prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam) was that if a woman gives a treaty to a combatant from a non-Muslim attacking force - her treaty would be considered as was the case with a female companion of the Prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam). In the Christian church these companions would be called disciples for instance, the disciples of the Prophet Muhammad are the companions as they are called. They were in the hundreds and thousands not just twelve as with Jesus Christ, and there are both men and women amongst them. When the prophet Muhammad came to Mecca, one of the women companions by the name of Umm Hani, who was an inhabitant of Mecca and a believer in the Prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam), accorded certain relatives of hers protection that they would not be harmed. Her brother who was one of the main companions of the Prophet Muhammad and married his daughter, Ali Bin Abi Talib, wanted to execute two of these men who were known for harming the Muslims and fighting against them. So Umm Hani went to the Prophet Muhammad and complained that she had accorded them protection and the Prophet recognized her giving protection to those two individuals.This is what we might call, in the classification and terminology that we now use, a political right. In the sense of according protection for another person during the state of war is something which is relatively new in the West and was a known tradition in the Islamic world 1400 years ago. Likewise, in terms of what we might call public participation, there are certain acts of worship which are public acts of worship in Islam, and there are certain acts of worship which are private. One of the public acts is the pilgrimage, when men and women all make pilgrimage, and this is one of the pillars of Islam. Likewise another public act of worship is the two `Eid prayers which occur twice a year, once after the pilgrimage and once after the pass of Ramadan.
October 10, 2018
In Islam, however, the basis of submission is not that women are submitting to men, but that men and women together submit to God. So therefore, when you read the passages of the Qur'an, it becomes very clear that the obedient from among both the believing men and women receive paradise, which is the greatest aim and objective in a Muslim's life, and the basis of that civilization. Likewise, those who are disobedient and who are renegades, and who do not want to worship God also receive the same punishment whether they are male or female. This is why throughout the Qur'an you find the wording addressed to both males and females. The Arabic language like French has two types of verbs, one representing the feminine and one the masculine. So in the Qur'an you'll find both categories of the human race, both sexes, being addressed. This you find over and over and over. There is no need to now recite all these passages, but they are there if anyone wants to know.In summary we found three bases: that they share the same humanity, that they have the same aim on this earth, and also, they expect the same reward, which is the goal which they are working for collectively as human beings. And this is a break as I said from the previous religious traditions and also political and social understanding prevalent among the philosophers before the coming of Islam. And as a result of that, we find that Islam accorded women rights which perhaps we take for granted now, but were given by God to men and women some 1400 years ago. These rights like the right to own property, the right to dispose of property according to their own wishes as long as they follow the laws of the religion of Islam, which apply the same for men or women and the right to certain what we would call now political rights, like the right to enter into a treaty with combatant, are something very recent relatively speaking in the West.
One of the rights given by Islam in the time of the prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam) was that if a woman gives a treaty to a combatant from a non-Muslim attacking force - her treaty would be considered as was the case with a female companion of the Prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam). In the Christian church these companions would be called disciples for instance, the disciples of the Prophet Muhammad are the companions as they are called. They were in the hundreds and thousands not just twelve as with Jesus Christ, and there are both men and women amongst them. When the prophet Muhammad came to Mecca, one of the women companions by the name of Umm Hani, who was an inhabitant of Mecca and a believer in the Prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam), accorded certain relatives of hers protection that they would not be harmed. Her brother who was one of the main companions of the Prophet Muhammad and married his daughter, Ali Bin Abi Talib, wanted to execute two of these men who were known for harming the Muslims and fighting against them. So Umm Hani went to the Prophet Muhammad and complained that she had accorded them protection and the Prophet recognized her giving protection to those two individuals.This is what we might call, in the classification and terminology that we now use, a political right. In the sense of according protection for another person during the state of war is something which is relatively new in the West and was a known tradition in the Islamic world 1400 years ago. Likewise, in terms of what we might call public participation, there are certain acts of worship which are public acts of worship in Islam, and there are certain acts of worship which are private. One of the public acts is the pilgrimage, when men and women all make pilgrimage, and this is one of the pillars of Islam. Likewise another public act of worship is the two `Eid prayers which occur twice a year, once after the pilgrimage and once after the pass of Ramadan.
women
Assalaamu `Alaykum Wa Rahmatullaahi Wa Barakaatuhu
Al hamdu lillaah was salaatu was salaamu `alaa rasoolillaah, `amma ba`d:
The topic that I was asked to discuss here at McGill University is the elevation of the status of women in Islam. Many, upon hearing the title of this lecture, might assume it to be an oxymoron because the prevalent idea - at least in the West - is that Islam does not elevate the status of women, but that Islam oppresses and suppresses women. So people might find the title in itself to be shocking or a curiosity at least.
In discussing this topic - since it appears to me that this is a mixed audience of Muslims and non-Muslims I'd like to make my remarks and comments brief. I will take no more than thirty to forty five minutes, and then allow you an opportunity to ask your questions. Perhaps the question and answer session might be more fruitful in addressing specific accusations, understandings or misunderstandings regarding the status of women in Islam.As we all know, in the world today, there are - for the overwhelming majority of humanity - basically two world views. These two views are often in conflict - not only on the personal level where individual human beings are making choices, but also on the international level in terms of the debate over the authenticity and correctness of these two world views.The first world view, which I am sure most of us are aware of, is the Western liberal view. A view which claims to draw its roots from the Judeo-Christian tradition that probably, upon investigation, is more well rooted in the ideas that appeared after the reformation; ideas that are rooted in secularism and the world view that appeared thereafter during the 'era of enlightenment'.The second view is that of the Muslims - the Islamic world view, and this view says that its roots and ideas lie in the revelation given by God (or Allah in Arabic) to the prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam). Those who proclaim this view say that it can be used by humanity during all ages and times, and that its relevance and benefit is not restricted to a certain period of time, geographic area or certain race of human beings. Likewise, the adherents of the first view, that of
Western secularism and the liberal tradition, believe that their world view, ideas, culture and civilization are the best for humanity. Some of you might have read a book that came out a few years ago by an American author of Japanese decent (Francis Fukuyama) called "The End of Time". He basically put forth the theory that human development in terms of its ideas has concluded with this final period of liberal secular thought and nothing more will come to humanity. However in his book he adds that that the only part of the world which has not adopted this secular human view is the Islamic world and proposes that there will be a conflict in terms of this ideology in the Islamic world.With that brief introduction, one of the topics of contention between these two worlds views, that of the secular liberal humanist in the West and the Islamic tradition, concerns women. What is the position and status of women? How are women looked to? Are women elevated in one culture and oppressed in another?
The Western view is that women are elevated only in the West and that they are getting more and more rights with the passage of time, while their sisters - they say - in the Islamic world are still being suppressed. The Muslims who they encounter say that in actuality it is the Islamic system that provides the true freedoms for men and women alike, and women in the West as well as men, are deceived into an idea of freedom which really doesn't exist. What I'd like to discuss this evening is exactly how Islam looks to women. And therefore my discussion will be more upon - what we might say for the lack of a better term - the philosophical basis, rather than the individual practices which vary from one country to the other. How women are understood in Islam cannot be properly understood - and this is more significant, I feel - unless one understands exactly what we might call the philosophical basis or ideological understanding - since this is really a theological concept.First, let's review how exactly women were thought of and understood in the western tradition, to compare and contrast perspectives. We know that the western tradition sees itself as the intellectual inheritors of the Greek tradition that existed before the prophet Jesus Christ (peace be upon him), and so therefore many of the intellectual traditions of the West are found to some degree in the writings of the early Greek philosophers like Aristotle, Plato and so forth.How did they look towards women? What were the ideas of Aristotle and Plato towards women? When one reviews the works of these early Greek philosophers, he finds that they had very disparaging views of women. Aristotle in his writings argued that women were not full human beings and that the nature of woman was not that of a full human person. As a result, women were by nature deficient, not to be trusted and to be looked down upon. In fact, writings describe that the free women in many aspects of the Greek society - except for the very few women of the elite classes - had positions no better than animals and slaves.
This Aristotelian view of women was later carried on into the early Christian tradition of the Catholic church. Saint Thomas of Aquinas in his writings proposed that women were the trap of Satan. The issue of Adam and Eve added a dimension to the earlier Greek ideas of Aristotle; women were the cause of the downfall of man and therefore were Satan's trap and should be looked at with caution and weariness because they caused the first downfall of humanity and all thus evil precedes from women. This type of thought was persistent within the writings of the Church fathers throughout the Middle Ages. In their writings we find this theme proposed in one aspect or another. However, after the Protestant reformation Europe decided to free itself from the shackles and chains of the Catholic church. Ideas which have been entitled as the Age of Enlightenment or thought of as such, caused them to feel that they needed to free themselves from many of these ideas. Some of these ideas were scientific in nature, that the earth goes around the sun, instead of the sun going around the earth; theological in nature, as in the writings of Martin Luther; and also social in nature, like the position of women in society. However, the writers of the Enlightenment still carried this basic theme that was not much of a switch - women where not full human beings. French writers during the revolution, like Rousseau, Voltaire and others, looked at women as a burden that needed to be taken care of. This is why I believe it's Rousseau in his book "Emile", which he wrote concerning the education of women, proposed a different form of education for women based upon the fact that women were unable to understand what men were able to understand. This is the tradition that the West inherited and thereafter we find in the 1800's the first writings appearing by women and some men calling for the change of these ideas. And with this we have the origins of the first feminine movements. One of the first books written was the "Vindication for the Rights of Women" by Mary Walsencraft which appeared in the 1800's. Thereafter the tradition of women receiving certain rights came. The first of these were basically legal rights because until the 1800's women were not able to own property and were not able to dispose of their wealth as men did. It is very well known that the first laws that allowed women to own property in the United States or in Europe appeared only in the last couple of decades of the 1800's.The Industrial Revolution caused another impetus, another search, to this feminist movement. Women in theIndustrial Revolution, especially England, were forced to labor for many hours in the coal mines and so forth, and would receive no pay whatsoever compared to men. So therefore the first calling of the movement was that people who work the same amount of hours deserved the same amount of money or pay.Finally a break occurred in this century of basically all which is understood from the Western tradition. Coming from the latter feminist movement which appeared after World War II, a new movement called for the emancipation of women not only in terms of legal rights, but it also questioned some of the morals of society and called for greater sexual freedoms for women and men alike. It contended that basically a lot of problems were caused by the institution of marriage and the ideas of family and so forth. People wrote concerning the need to break from these.And finally in the 1990's, the prevalent argument in the West is that we should discuss genders, not sexes. This idea was expressed recently in a book which came out a year ago called "The Age of Extremes". The author discusses the idea that there is no difference between male or female and that gender is so only due to environment. So therefore we can change the environment so that men could take the roles of women and women take the roles of men by changing the education and climate. This is where it has ended up now. So we find in this 2500 year old western tradition, we come from the first extreme which was expressed by the Greeks, where women were denied their essential humanity, to this extreme expressed today where there is no differences between the sexes and it is an issue of gender, climate and environment. This is, of course, a very brief summary of the first world view. I didn't do justice to those 2500 years in just those few minutes, but it just gives us an idea.The other view which I would like to talk about in more detail is the Islamic view. How does Islam look at the issue of women? Well, first of all, we should understand that Muslims unlike, for instance, the Greek philosophers or the French writers after the French revolution, do not feel that their concepts, ideas and beliefs are those of fellow men. But rather they believe that what they are taught, what they believe, what they practice, and all that is tied to this, is part of a divine revelation given to them by God. And so, its truth and veracity is not questionable because of it being revelation from God. The argument is that God knows best that which He created. He created human beings, He is a God of wisdom, and a God of all knowledge and so therefore He knows what is best. And He decrees that which is best for humanity, His creatures. Therefore, Muslims try to live by a code of law which is an expression of that belief.Now I don't want to discuss the various details of the code of law because that, I feel, would not really benefit us in this lecture. Although perhaps some of that might come out in the question and answer session and I'll be glad to entertain any questions you might have. But what I would like to discuss is how does Islam look at women, i.e. what is womanhood in Islam? Did Muslims believe like the early Greek writers or early church fathers that women were not full human begins? Did they feel that women where Satan's trap, so therefore should be shunned and looked at as something evil and dangerous? How did they perceive women? Upon investigating into the traditions of Islam which is, as I said, based on revelation known as the Qur'an, we find that it becomes very clear that Muslims are taught that men and women share a single humanity - that they are equal in their humanity and that there is no difference in the amount of human nature in them. We might now take that for granted, but as I explained, the initial western civilization was based on the fact that women were not full human beings.
So this being something that was taught 1400 years ago was a revolutionary idea in the sense that it is only within the last 100 years or so that the issue of women being full human beings has come to be accepted in western intellectual circles. Initially, women were not considered full human beings.The Qur'an in describing the origins of human beings tells them, the translation of which would be something like "O humanity! Verily we have created you from a single male and a single female, and have made you into tribes and peoples so that you may know one another. Verily the most honorable of you are those who are
October 10, 2018
Al hamdu lillaah was salaatu was salaamu `alaa rasoolillaah, `amma ba`d:
The topic that I was asked to discuss here at McGill University is the elevation of the status of women in Islam. Many, upon hearing the title of this lecture, might assume it to be an oxymoron because the prevalent idea - at least in the West - is that Islam does not elevate the status of women, but that Islam oppresses and suppresses women. So people might find the title in itself to be shocking or a curiosity at least.
In discussing this topic - since it appears to me that this is a mixed audience of Muslims and non-Muslims I'd like to make my remarks and comments brief. I will take no more than thirty to forty five minutes, and then allow you an opportunity to ask your questions. Perhaps the question and answer session might be more fruitful in addressing specific accusations, understandings or misunderstandings regarding the status of women in Islam.As we all know, in the world today, there are - for the overwhelming majority of humanity - basically two world views. These two views are often in conflict - not only on the personal level where individual human beings are making choices, but also on the international level in terms of the debate over the authenticity and correctness of these two world views.The first world view, which I am sure most of us are aware of, is the Western liberal view. A view which claims to draw its roots from the Judeo-Christian tradition that probably, upon investigation, is more well rooted in the ideas that appeared after the reformation; ideas that are rooted in secularism and the world view that appeared thereafter during the 'era of enlightenment'.The second view is that of the Muslims - the Islamic world view, and this view says that its roots and ideas lie in the revelation given by God (or Allah in Arabic) to the prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam). Those who proclaim this view say that it can be used by humanity during all ages and times, and that its relevance and benefit is not restricted to a certain period of time, geographic area or certain race of human beings. Likewise, the adherents of the first view, that of
Western secularism and the liberal tradition, believe that their world view, ideas, culture and civilization are the best for humanity. Some of you might have read a book that came out a few years ago by an American author of Japanese decent (Francis Fukuyama) called "The End of Time". He basically put forth the theory that human development in terms of its ideas has concluded with this final period of liberal secular thought and nothing more will come to humanity. However in his book he adds that that the only part of the world which has not adopted this secular human view is the Islamic world and proposes that there will be a conflict in terms of this ideology in the Islamic world.With that brief introduction, one of the topics of contention between these two worlds views, that of the secular liberal humanist in the West and the Islamic tradition, concerns women. What is the position and status of women? How are women looked to? Are women elevated in one culture and oppressed in another?
The Western view is that women are elevated only in the West and that they are getting more and more rights with the passage of time, while their sisters - they say - in the Islamic world are still being suppressed. The Muslims who they encounter say that in actuality it is the Islamic system that provides the true freedoms for men and women alike, and women in the West as well as men, are deceived into an idea of freedom which really doesn't exist. What I'd like to discuss this evening is exactly how Islam looks to women. And therefore my discussion will be more upon - what we might say for the lack of a better term - the philosophical basis, rather than the individual practices which vary from one country to the other. How women are understood in Islam cannot be properly understood - and this is more significant, I feel - unless one understands exactly what we might call the philosophical basis or ideological understanding - since this is really a theological concept.First, let's review how exactly women were thought of and understood in the western tradition, to compare and contrast perspectives. We know that the western tradition sees itself as the intellectual inheritors of the Greek tradition that existed before the prophet Jesus Christ (peace be upon him), and so therefore many of the intellectual traditions of the West are found to some degree in the writings of the early Greek philosophers like Aristotle, Plato and so forth.How did they look towards women? What were the ideas of Aristotle and Plato towards women? When one reviews the works of these early Greek philosophers, he finds that they had very disparaging views of women. Aristotle in his writings argued that women were not full human beings and that the nature of woman was not that of a full human person. As a result, women were by nature deficient, not to be trusted and to be looked down upon. In fact, writings describe that the free women in many aspects of the Greek society - except for the very few women of the elite classes - had positions no better than animals and slaves.
This Aristotelian view of women was later carried on into the early Christian tradition of the Catholic church. Saint Thomas of Aquinas in his writings proposed that women were the trap of Satan. The issue of Adam and Eve added a dimension to the earlier Greek ideas of Aristotle; women were the cause of the downfall of man and therefore were Satan's trap and should be looked at with caution and weariness because they caused the first downfall of humanity and all thus evil precedes from women. This type of thought was persistent within the writings of the Church fathers throughout the Middle Ages. In their writings we find this theme proposed in one aspect or another. However, after the Protestant reformation Europe decided to free itself from the shackles and chains of the Catholic church. Ideas which have been entitled as the Age of Enlightenment or thought of as such, caused them to feel that they needed to free themselves from many of these ideas. Some of these ideas were scientific in nature, that the earth goes around the sun, instead of the sun going around the earth; theological in nature, as in the writings of Martin Luther; and also social in nature, like the position of women in society. However, the writers of the Enlightenment still carried this basic theme that was not much of a switch - women where not full human beings. French writers during the revolution, like Rousseau, Voltaire and others, looked at women as a burden that needed to be taken care of. This is why I believe it's Rousseau in his book "Emile", which he wrote concerning the education of women, proposed a different form of education for women based upon the fact that women were unable to understand what men were able to understand. This is the tradition that the West inherited and thereafter we find in the 1800's the first writings appearing by women and some men calling for the change of these ideas. And with this we have the origins of the first feminine movements. One of the first books written was the "Vindication for the Rights of Women" by Mary Walsencraft which appeared in the 1800's. Thereafter the tradition of women receiving certain rights came. The first of these were basically legal rights because until the 1800's women were not able to own property and were not able to dispose of their wealth as men did. It is very well known that the first laws that allowed women to own property in the United States or in Europe appeared only in the last couple of decades of the 1800's.The Industrial Revolution caused another impetus, another search, to this feminist movement. Women in theIndustrial Revolution, especially England, were forced to labor for many hours in the coal mines and so forth, and would receive no pay whatsoever compared to men. So therefore the first calling of the movement was that people who work the same amount of hours deserved the same amount of money or pay.Finally a break occurred in this century of basically all which is understood from the Western tradition. Coming from the latter feminist movement which appeared after World War II, a new movement called for the emancipation of women not only in terms of legal rights, but it also questioned some of the morals of society and called for greater sexual freedoms for women and men alike. It contended that basically a lot of problems were caused by the institution of marriage and the ideas of family and so forth. People wrote concerning the need to break from these.And finally in the 1990's, the prevalent argument in the West is that we should discuss genders, not sexes. This idea was expressed recently in a book which came out a year ago called "The Age of Extremes". The author discusses the idea that there is no difference between male or female and that gender is so only due to environment. So therefore we can change the environment so that men could take the roles of women and women take the roles of men by changing the education and climate. This is where it has ended up now. So we find in this 2500 year old western tradition, we come from the first extreme which was expressed by the Greeks, where women were denied their essential humanity, to this extreme expressed today where there is no differences between the sexes and it is an issue of gender, climate and environment. This is, of course, a very brief summary of the first world view. I didn't do justice to those 2500 years in just those few minutes, but it just gives us an idea.The other view which I would like to talk about in more detail is the Islamic view. How does Islam look at the issue of women? Well, first of all, we should understand that Muslims unlike, for instance, the Greek philosophers or the French writers after the French revolution, do not feel that their concepts, ideas and beliefs are those of fellow men. But rather they believe that what they are taught, what they believe, what they practice, and all that is tied to this, is part of a divine revelation given to them by God. And so, its truth and veracity is not questionable because of it being revelation from God. The argument is that God knows best that which He created. He created human beings, He is a God of wisdom, and a God of all knowledge and so therefore He knows what is best. And He decrees that which is best for humanity, His creatures. Therefore, Muslims try to live by a code of law which is an expression of that belief.Now I don't want to discuss the various details of the code of law because that, I feel, would not really benefit us in this lecture. Although perhaps some of that might come out in the question and answer session and I'll be glad to entertain any questions you might have. But what I would like to discuss is how does Islam look at women, i.e. what is womanhood in Islam? Did Muslims believe like the early Greek writers or early church fathers that women were not full human begins? Did they feel that women where Satan's trap, so therefore should be shunned and looked at as something evil and dangerous? How did they perceive women? Upon investigating into the traditions of Islam which is, as I said, based on revelation known as the Qur'an, we find that it becomes very clear that Muslims are taught that men and women share a single humanity - that they are equal in their humanity and that there is no difference in the amount of human nature in them. We might now take that for granted, but as I explained, the initial western civilization was based on the fact that women were not full human beings.
So this being something that was taught 1400 years ago was a revolutionary idea in the sense that it is only within the last 100 years or so that the issue of women being full human beings has come to be accepted in western intellectual circles. Initially, women were not considered full human beings.The Qur'an in describing the origins of human beings tells them, the translation of which would be something like "O humanity! Verily we have created you from a single male and a single female, and have made you into tribes and peoples so that you may know one another. Verily the most honorable of you are those who are
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Assalaamu `Alaykum Wa Rahmatullaahi Wa Barakaatuhu Al hamdu lillaah was salaatu was salaamu `alaa rasoolillaah, `amma ba`d:
The topic that I was asked to discuss here at McGill University is the elevation of the status of women in Islam. Many, upon hearing the title of this lecture, might assume it to be an oxymoron because the prevalent idea - at least in the West - is that Islam does not elevate the status of women, but that Islam oppresses and suppresses women. So people might find the title in itself to be shocking or a curiosity at least.
In discussing this topic - since it appears to me that this is a mixed audience of Muslims and non-Muslims I'd like to make my remarks and comments brief. I will take no more than thirty to forty five minutes, and then allow you an opportunity to ask your questions. Perhaps the question and answer session might be more fruitful in addressing specific accusations, understandings or misunderstandings regarding the status of women in Islam.
As we all know, in the world today, there are - for the overwhelming majority of humanity - basically two world views. These two views are often in conflict - not only on the personal level where individual human beings are making choices, but also on the international level in terms of the debate over the authenticity and correctness of these two world views.The first world view, which I am sure most of us are aware of, is the Western liberal view. A view which claims to draw its roots from the Judeo-Christian tradition that probably, upon investigation, is more well rooted in the ideas that appeared after the reformation; ideas that are rooted in secularism and the world view that appeared thereafter during the 'era of enlightenment'.The second view is that of the Muslims - the Islamic world view, and this view says that its roots and ideas lie in the revelation given by God (or Allah in Arabic) to the prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam). Those who proclaim this view say that it can be used by humanity during all ages and times, and that its relevance and benefit is not restricted to a certain period of time, geographic area or certain race of human beings. Likewise, the adherents of the first view, that of Western secularism and the liberal tradition, believe that their world view, ideas, culture and civilization are the best for humanity. Some of you might have read a book that came out a few years ago by an American author of Japanese decent (Francis Fukuyama) called "The End of Time". He basically put forth the theory that human development in terms of its ideas has concluded with this final period of liberal secular thought and nothing more will come to humanity. However in his book he adds that that the only part of the world which has not adopted this secular human view is the Islamic world and proposes that there will be a conflict in terms of this ideology in the Islamic world. With that brief introduction, one of the topics of contention between these two worlds views, that of the secular liberal humanist in the West and the Islamic tradition, concerns women. What is the position and status of women? How are women looked to? Are women elevated in one culture and oppressed in another? The Western view is that women are elevated only in the West and that they are getting more and more rights with the passage of time, while their sisters - they say - in the Islamic world are still being suppressed. The Muslims who they encounter say that in actuality it is the Islamic system that provides the true freedoms for men and women alike, and women in the West as well as men, are deceived into an idea of freedom which really doesn't exist. What I'd like to discuss this evening is exactly how Islam looks to women. And therefore my discussion will be more upon - what we might say for the lack of a better term - the philosophical basis, rather than the individual practices which vary from one country to the other. How women are understood in Islam cannot be properly understood - and this is more significant, I feel - unless one understands exactly what we might call the philosophical basis or ideological understanding - since this is really a theological concept.
First, let's review how exactly women were thought of and understood in the western tradition, to compare and contrast perspectives. We know that the western tradition sees itself as the intellectual inheritors of the Greek tradition that existed before the prophet Jesus Christ (peace be upon him), and so therefore many of the intellectual traditions of the West are found to some degree in the writings of the early Greek philosophers like Aristotle, Plato and so forth. How did they look towards women? What were the ideas of Aristotle and Plato towards women? When one reviews the works of these early Greek philosophers, he finds that they had very disparaging views of women. Aristotle in his writings argued that women were not full human beings and that the nature of woman was not that of a full human person. As a result, women were by nature deficient, not to be trusted and to be looked down upon. In fact, writings describe that the free women in many aspects of the Greek society - except for the very few women of the elite classes - had positions no better than animals and slaves. This Aristotelian view of women was later carried on into the early Christian tradition of the Catholic church. Saint Thomas of Aquinas in his writings proposed that women were the trap of Satan. The issue of Adam and Eve added a dimension to the earlier Greek ideas of Aristotle; women were the cause of the downfall of man and therefore were Satan's trap and should be looked at with caution and weariness because they caused the first downfall of humanity and all thus evil precedes from women. This type of thought was persistent within the writings of the Church fathers throughout the Middle Ages. In their writings we find this theme proposed in one aspect or another. However, after the Protestant reformation Europe decided to free itself from the shackles and chains of the Catholic church. Ideas which have been entitled as the Age of Enlightenment or thought of as such, caused them to feel that they needed to free themselves from many of these ideas. Some of these ideas were scientific in nature, that the earth goes around the sun, instead of the sun going around the earth; theological in nature, as in the writings of Martin Luther; and also social in nature, like the position of women in society. However, the writers of the Enlightenment still carried this basic theme that was not much of a switch - women where not full human beings. French writers during the revolution, like Rousseau, Voltaire and others, looked at women as a burden that needed to be taken care of. This is why I believe it's Rousseau in his book "Emile", which he wrote concerning the education of women, proposed a different form of education for women based upon the fact that women were unable to understand what men were able to understand.
This is the tradition that the West inherited and thereafter we find in the 1800's the first writings appearing by women and some men calling for the change of these ideas. And with this we have the origins of the first feminine movements. One of the first books written was the "Vindication for the Rights of Women" by Mary Walsencraft which appeared in the 1800's. Thereafter the tradition of women receiving certain rights came. The first of these were basically legal rights because until the 1800's women were not able to own property and were not able to dispose of their wealth as men did. It is very well known that the first laws that allowed women to own property in the United States or in Europe appeared only in the last couple of decades of the 1800's. The Industrial Revolution caused another impetus, another search, to this feminist movement. Women in theIndustrial Revolution, especially England, were forced to labor for many hours in the coal mines and so forth, and would receive no pay whatsoever compared to men. So therefore the first calling of the movement was that people who work the same amount of hours deserved the same amount of money or pay.
Finally a break occurred in this century of basically all which is understood from the Western tradition. Coming from the latter feminist movement which appeared after World War II, a new movement called for the emancipation of women not only in terms of legal rights, but it also questioned some of the morals of society and called for greater sexual freedoms for women and men alike. It contended that basically a lot of problems were caused by the institution of marriage and the ideas of family and so forth. People wrote concerning the need to break from these. And finally in the 1990's, the prevalent argument in the West is that we should discuss genders, not sexes. This idea was expressed recently in a book which came out a year ago called "The Age of Extremes". The author discusses the idea that there is no difference between male or female and that gender is so only due to environment. So therefore we can change the environment so that men could take the roles of women and women take the roles of men by changing the education and climate. This is where it has ended up now. So we find in this 2500 year old western tradition, we come from the first extreme which was expressed by the Greeks, where women were denied their essential humanity, to this extreme expressed today where there is no differences between the sexes and it is an issue of gender, climate and environment. This is, of course, a very brief summary of the first world view. I didn't do justice to those 2500 years in just those few minutes, but it just gives us an idea. The other view which I would like to talk about in more detail is the Islamic view. How does Islam look at the issue of women? Well, first of all, we should understand that Muslims unlike, for instance, the Greek philosophers or the French writers after the French revolution, do not feel that their concepts, ideas and beliefs are those of fellow men. But rather they believe that what they are taught, what they believe, what they practice, and all that is tied to this, is part of a divine revelation given to them by God. And so, its truth and veracity is not questionable because of it being revelation from God. The argument is that God knows best that which He created. He created human beings, He is a God of wisdom, and a God of all knowledge and so therefore He knows what is best. And He decrees that which is best for humanity, His creatures. Therefore, Muslims try to live by a code of law which is an expression of that belief. Now I don't want to discuss the various details of the code of law because that, I feel, would not really benefit us in this lecture. Although perhaps some of that might come out in the question and answer session and I'll be glad to entertain any questions you might have. But what I would like to discuss is how does Islam look at women, i.e. what is womanhood in Islam? Did Muslims believe like the early Greek writers or early church fathers that women were not full human begins? Did they feel that women where Satan's trap, so therefore should be shunned and looked at as something evil and dangerous? How did they perceive women? Upon investigating into the traditions of Islam which is, as I said, based on revelation known as the Qur'an, we find that it becomes very clear that Muslims are taught that men and women share a single humanity - that they are equal in their humanity and that there is no difference in the amount of human nature in them. We might now take that for granted, but as I explained, the initial western civilization was based on the fact that women were not full human beings. So this being something that was taught 1400 years ago was a revolutionary idea in the sense that it is only within the last 100 years or so that the issue of women being full human beings has come to be accepted in western intellectual circles. Initially, women were not considered full human beings. The Qur'an in describing the origins of human beings tells them, the translation of which would be something like "O humanity! Verily we have created you from a single male and a single female, and have made you into tribes and peoples so that you may know one another. Verily the most honorable of you are those who are
October 10, 2018
The topic that I was asked to discuss here at McGill University is the elevation of the status of women in Islam. Many, upon hearing the title of this lecture, might assume it to be an oxymoron because the prevalent idea - at least in the West - is that Islam does not elevate the status of women, but that Islam oppresses and suppresses women. So people might find the title in itself to be shocking or a curiosity at least.
In discussing this topic - since it appears to me that this is a mixed audience of Muslims and non-Muslims I'd like to make my remarks and comments brief. I will take no more than thirty to forty five minutes, and then allow you an opportunity to ask your questions. Perhaps the question and answer session might be more fruitful in addressing specific accusations, understandings or misunderstandings regarding the status of women in Islam.
As we all know, in the world today, there are - for the overwhelming majority of humanity - basically two world views. These two views are often in conflict - not only on the personal level where individual human beings are making choices, but also on the international level in terms of the debate over the authenticity and correctness of these two world views.The first world view, which I am sure most of us are aware of, is the Western liberal view. A view which claims to draw its roots from the Judeo-Christian tradition that probably, upon investigation, is more well rooted in the ideas that appeared after the reformation; ideas that are rooted in secularism and the world view that appeared thereafter during the 'era of enlightenment'.The second view is that of the Muslims - the Islamic world view, and this view says that its roots and ideas lie in the revelation given by God (or Allah in Arabic) to the prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam). Those who proclaim this view say that it can be used by humanity during all ages and times, and that its relevance and benefit is not restricted to a certain period of time, geographic area or certain race of human beings. Likewise, the adherents of the first view, that of Western secularism and the liberal tradition, believe that their world view, ideas, culture and civilization are the best for humanity. Some of you might have read a book that came out a few years ago by an American author of Japanese decent (Francis Fukuyama) called "The End of Time". He basically put forth the theory that human development in terms of its ideas has concluded with this final period of liberal secular thought and nothing more will come to humanity. However in his book he adds that that the only part of the world which has not adopted this secular human view is the Islamic world and proposes that there will be a conflict in terms of this ideology in the Islamic world. With that brief introduction, one of the topics of contention between these two worlds views, that of the secular liberal humanist in the West and the Islamic tradition, concerns women. What is the position and status of women? How are women looked to? Are women elevated in one culture and oppressed in another? The Western view is that women are elevated only in the West and that they are getting more and more rights with the passage of time, while their sisters - they say - in the Islamic world are still being suppressed. The Muslims who they encounter say that in actuality it is the Islamic system that provides the true freedoms for men and women alike, and women in the West as well as men, are deceived into an idea of freedom which really doesn't exist. What I'd like to discuss this evening is exactly how Islam looks to women. And therefore my discussion will be more upon - what we might say for the lack of a better term - the philosophical basis, rather than the individual practices which vary from one country to the other. How women are understood in Islam cannot be properly understood - and this is more significant, I feel - unless one understands exactly what we might call the philosophical basis or ideological understanding - since this is really a theological concept.
First, let's review how exactly women were thought of and understood in the western tradition, to compare and contrast perspectives. We know that the western tradition sees itself as the intellectual inheritors of the Greek tradition that existed before the prophet Jesus Christ (peace be upon him), and so therefore many of the intellectual traditions of the West are found to some degree in the writings of the early Greek philosophers like Aristotle, Plato and so forth. How did they look towards women? What were the ideas of Aristotle and Plato towards women? When one reviews the works of these early Greek philosophers, he finds that they had very disparaging views of women. Aristotle in his writings argued that women were not full human beings and that the nature of woman was not that of a full human person. As a result, women were by nature deficient, not to be trusted and to be looked down upon. In fact, writings describe that the free women in many aspects of the Greek society - except for the very few women of the elite classes - had positions no better than animals and slaves. This Aristotelian view of women was later carried on into the early Christian tradition of the Catholic church. Saint Thomas of Aquinas in his writings proposed that women were the trap of Satan. The issue of Adam and Eve added a dimension to the earlier Greek ideas of Aristotle; women were the cause of the downfall of man and therefore were Satan's trap and should be looked at with caution and weariness because they caused the first downfall of humanity and all thus evil precedes from women. This type of thought was persistent within the writings of the Church fathers throughout the Middle Ages. In their writings we find this theme proposed in one aspect or another. However, after the Protestant reformation Europe decided to free itself from the shackles and chains of the Catholic church. Ideas which have been entitled as the Age of Enlightenment or thought of as such, caused them to feel that they needed to free themselves from many of these ideas. Some of these ideas were scientific in nature, that the earth goes around the sun, instead of the sun going around the earth; theological in nature, as in the writings of Martin Luther; and also social in nature, like the position of women in society. However, the writers of the Enlightenment still carried this basic theme that was not much of a switch - women where not full human beings. French writers during the revolution, like Rousseau, Voltaire and others, looked at women as a burden that needed to be taken care of. This is why I believe it's Rousseau in his book "Emile", which he wrote concerning the education of women, proposed a different form of education for women based upon the fact that women were unable to understand what men were able to understand.
This is the tradition that the West inherited and thereafter we find in the 1800's the first writings appearing by women and some men calling for the change of these ideas. And with this we have the origins of the first feminine movements. One of the first books written was the "Vindication for the Rights of Women" by Mary Walsencraft which appeared in the 1800's. Thereafter the tradition of women receiving certain rights came. The first of these were basically legal rights because until the 1800's women were not able to own property and were not able to dispose of their wealth as men did. It is very well known that the first laws that allowed women to own property in the United States or in Europe appeared only in the last couple of decades of the 1800's. The Industrial Revolution caused another impetus, another search, to this feminist movement. Women in theIndustrial Revolution, especially England, were forced to labor for many hours in the coal mines and so forth, and would receive no pay whatsoever compared to men. So therefore the first calling of the movement was that people who work the same amount of hours deserved the same amount of money or pay.
Finally a break occurred in this century of basically all which is understood from the Western tradition. Coming from the latter feminist movement which appeared after World War II, a new movement called for the emancipation of women not only in terms of legal rights, but it also questioned some of the morals of society and called for greater sexual freedoms for women and men alike. It contended that basically a lot of problems were caused by the institution of marriage and the ideas of family and so forth. People wrote concerning the need to break from these. And finally in the 1990's, the prevalent argument in the West is that we should discuss genders, not sexes. This idea was expressed recently in a book which came out a year ago called "The Age of Extremes". The author discusses the idea that there is no difference between male or female and that gender is so only due to environment. So therefore we can change the environment so that men could take the roles of women and women take the roles of men by changing the education and climate. This is where it has ended up now. So we find in this 2500 year old western tradition, we come from the first extreme which was expressed by the Greeks, where women were denied their essential humanity, to this extreme expressed today where there is no differences between the sexes and it is an issue of gender, climate and environment. This is, of course, a very brief summary of the first world view. I didn't do justice to those 2500 years in just those few minutes, but it just gives us an idea. The other view which I would like to talk about in more detail is the Islamic view. How does Islam look at the issue of women? Well, first of all, we should understand that Muslims unlike, for instance, the Greek philosophers or the French writers after the French revolution, do not feel that their concepts, ideas and beliefs are those of fellow men. But rather they believe that what they are taught, what they believe, what they practice, and all that is tied to this, is part of a divine revelation given to them by God. And so, its truth and veracity is not questionable because of it being revelation from God. The argument is that God knows best that which He created. He created human beings, He is a God of wisdom, and a God of all knowledge and so therefore He knows what is best. And He decrees that which is best for humanity, His creatures. Therefore, Muslims try to live by a code of law which is an expression of that belief. Now I don't want to discuss the various details of the code of law because that, I feel, would not really benefit us in this lecture. Although perhaps some of that might come out in the question and answer session and I'll be glad to entertain any questions you might have. But what I would like to discuss is how does Islam look at women, i.e. what is womanhood in Islam? Did Muslims believe like the early Greek writers or early church fathers that women were not full human begins? Did they feel that women where Satan's trap, so therefore should be shunned and looked at as something evil and dangerous? How did they perceive women? Upon investigating into the traditions of Islam which is, as I said, based on revelation known as the Qur'an, we find that it becomes very clear that Muslims are taught that men and women share a single humanity - that they are equal in their humanity and that there is no difference in the amount of human nature in them. We might now take that for granted, but as I explained, the initial western civilization was based on the fact that women were not full human beings. So this being something that was taught 1400 years ago was a revolutionary idea in the sense that it is only within the last 100 years or so that the issue of women being full human beings has come to be accepted in western intellectual circles. Initially, women were not considered full human beings. The Qur'an in describing the origins of human beings tells them, the translation of which would be something like "O humanity! Verily we have created you from a single male and a single female, and have made you into tribes and peoples so that you may know one another. Verily the most honorable of you are those who are
October 10, 2018
We set out on the return journey back to our village. By Allah, my donkey was so fast that none of those of my colleagues could catch up with her. Surprised at this, they said, "Daughter of Abu Dhu' ayb! Was this not your donkey on which you set out with us?!" I said, "Yes, by Allah, she is!" They then said, "By Allah, there is something about her!" When we arrived at the land ofBanu Sa'd and before that, I did not know a land more barren that our land - my sheep would graze and then come home satisfied and full of milk. We would milk as we liked, and none of our neighbors could be able to have even a drop of milk from their own sheep. Their sheep would go out grazing and would come home with empty stomachs. They would then tell their shepherds, "You should consider where the sheep graze." Yet their sheep would come back with empty stomachs while mine would come home satisfied, and we would milk as we liked. So, Allah continued to show us the blessings that we could clearly perceive.
The boy, Muhammad ~), then reached age two and he had been growing up in a way different from that of other kids. By Allah, he had hardly reached the age of two that he had already had strong skin. We took him back to his mother, though we were consumed with griefthat we would be losing the blessing he had brought to our household. When his mother saw him, we told her, "Please let our son stay with us for another year. For, we fear for him the epidemic ofMakkah." We continued pleading with her until she released him to us. Two or three months after we brought him back, an incidence occurred. He and his foster brother were in the back-yard with our sheep when his brother hurriedly came to us and said: ''That my Qurayshi brother was visited by two men, clad in white garments. They laid him on his back and opened his belly." His stepfather and I rushed to him. We found him standing while his colour has changed. His father embraced him and said: "My son, what happened to you?" He said, "Two men in white garment came to me. They laid me down and opened my belly. They removed something out and took it away. They then returned it as it was." We took him back home. His father said: "I;laleemah, I fear that my son has been touched by (the Jinn). So, let us take him back to his family before what we fear can appear."
I;laleemah continued: "So we took him to his mother. When she saw us, she exclaimed, 'What brought you back, foster parents?! You had been taking an excellent care of him! , We said, 'By Allah, nothing has happened. It is only that Allah has helped us pay our debts and we fear that some harm or unforeseen things might happen to him. That is why we brought him back.' But his mother did not believe us. She insisted that we tell her the truth and when we told her what had happened, she said, 'So you fear that he might be touched by Satan?! No, by Allah! Satan will never be able to find his way to him. By Allah, there is something great about this son of mine. Shall I tell you something about him?' We said, 'Yes.' She said, 'When I was pregnant with him, I never felt carrying anything that was lighter than him. I saw it in my dream that
a light came out of me that illuminated the palaces of Syria. And when I gave birth to him, his delivery was different from that of other babies; he came out, supporting himself with both hands and raising his head up to the heaven. So, leave him alone.'"
Thus did Lady I:Ialeemah part with her great nursling. The Messenger of Allah ~) later in his life, talked about this unique childhood in which he extraordinarily understood things, pictures and names while he was at the dwellings of Banu Sa'd. A number of his Companions may Allah be pleased with them narrated the events of this childhood.
At the end of the Battle of I:Iunayn, when the Messenger of Allah ~) got properties and captives from Hawazin as spoils of war, a delegation from Hawazin, who had already embraced Islam came to him at a place called Ji'ranah. They said: "Messenger of Allah, we are a tribal people who had been touched with an afiliction that is not unknown to you. Please grant us favor, Allah will grant you favor." There was among the captives, his foster sister, Shayma'. So she came, begging him to show compassion. She reminded him of how he bite her on her back (while he was still a nursling at the dwellings of Banu Sa'd). When the Messenger of Allah (~) heard this, he laid down his garment for her and made her sit down beside him. The spokesman of the delegation, Zuhayr ibn Sard then stood up and said: "Messenger of Allah, your aunts and foster mothers who took care of you are among the captives that are inside the enclosures. Ifwe had nursed Ibn Abi Shammar or Nu'man ibn Mundhir and then what happened to us from your part had happened to us from theirs, we would definitely hope in their reciprocal kindness and sympathy. And you are the best ofthose nursed by any foster mother." He then recited a poetic passage in which he implored the Prophet ~) to do
favor to his foster people. The Messenger of Allah (~) then said, "As for that which is for me and the children of' Abdul-MunaJib, it is all for Allah and for you."
The An~ar (the Helpers) then said, "Whatever belongs to us is for Allah and His Messenger!" That day was, indeed, a day of reciprocal kindness; and the stand took on that day was a stand that represented greatness and excellent moral quality!!!
Muhammad went back to the warmness of his mother's bosom and unto the compassionate care of his grandfather, 'AbdulMunalib. He had then become a young boy in whose noble face lights were illuminating, whose appearance brought splendor, whose heart was filled with signs of guidance and transparence and whose tongue was characterized with tenderness and sweetness. For, he was being nurtured by Allah, the Exalted. Ammah would hug and embrace her beloved son. She would feel a unique warmness that she used to have while she was pregnant with him; and she would perceive this extraordinary and indescribable warmness all over her body.
His grandfather, 'Abdul-Mu!talib - the chief of Qurayshcould not bear Muhammad's absence, and he would never be tired of looking at him. He would visit him at Aminah's apartment every morning and evening, and at all times. He would ask her, "How is my son Muhammad?" And he would hold him and fondly hug him. He would see in Muhammad the picture of his son 'Abdullah who died while he was still a bridegroom and whose death brought him unparalleled sorrow. He would see in his grandson amazing characteristics that increased him in compassion and love for him. When Muhammad (~) reached the age of six, his mother sought permission from 'Abdul-Munalib to go to Yathrib with her son in order to visit the grave ofher beloved husband 'Abdullah and to spend some time with his maternal uncles, Banu Najjar. He gave her permission to go and advised her to take care of herself and her son. Aminah set out with her son, Muhammad and in the company ofher maid-servant called Barakah, who served her and took care of her son. Muhammad (~) loved Barakah and regarded her as a member of his household and family. Aminah felt a great pain and sorrow when she stood beside the grave of her beloved husband, shedding hot tears with her son, Muhammad on her side on whose noble cheeks drops of tears that looked like pearls were rolling down - out of compassion for his sorrowful mother and in sadness for death of a father he never saw. It appeared that the fever of Yathrib had affected Aminah before she left the city. But she did not know of this until she was on her way back to Makkah. Her condition worsened, and while at a village called Abw;i', she succumbed to her illness and breathed her last. Muhammad (~) wept bitterly and the Angels of the heaven also wept in sympathy with him.4 They cried for him because of his losing of both his parents while he was in so young an age. His orphanhood was, no doubt, the most painful one! The page ofhis mother, Aminah bint Wahb was then closed!! The young boy, Muhammad ~) was then grabbed and taken back to Makkah by that young woman, Barakah, who was a freed slave ofhis parents.
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