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Women’s Rights

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Ever Merciful

Contents of this Article:

Introduction: The State of Muslim Womens Rights
Women and Men as Allies
Khadija r.a. an Ally of the Prophet s.a.
A Misogynistic Bukhari Hadith
Umm Salma r.a. and the Treaty of Hudaibiyyah
Who is More Honourable?
The Jilbaab (Outer Covering) and the Khimaar (Head-Cover)
Relations Between Spouses
The Woman is Right!
Conclusions

[1] Introduction: The State of Muslim Womens Rights

Some male muslim leaders, scholars, and others, become defensive when the teachings of Islam on women’s rights are questioned, and respond by saying that Islam gives ‘similar’, or even ‘equal rights’, and status, to women, comparable to men (e.g. mirza masroor ahmad sahib, current elected caliph of the ahmadiyya community). They cite the case of Aisha r.a., wife of the Prophet Muhammad s.a., as an erudite Muslim Woman Scholar whom the male Companions (Sahaaba) r.a. of the Noble Prophet Muhammad s.a. used to consult for insight and guidance on religious matters, as per the following hadith:

Abū Musa r.a. narrated:

مَا أَشْكَلَ عَلَيْنَا أَصْحَابَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ حَدِيثٌ قَطُّ فَسَأَلْنَا عَائِشَةَ إِلَّا وَجَدْنَا عِنْدَهَا مِنْهُ عِلْمًا

i.e. Never was a hadith unclear to us, the Companions (ra) of the Messenger of Allah s.a., and we asked ‘Aishah (ra), except that we found knowledge concerning it with her.” (Tirmidhi, Vol. 1, Book 46, Hadith 3883)

Sexual Assault

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Ever Merciful

Contents of this Article:

Introduction: “What is sexual assault”
A Letter of Concern
The Case of Yusuf a.s.
Comments on an Article: “Rape in Islamic Law …”
A Valid Question
Discussion on ‘The Audio Leak’
Conclusion

[1] Introduction: “What is sexual assault?

A sexual assault is any sexual act that a person did not consent to, or is forced into against their will. It is a form of sexual violence and includes rape, … or other sexual offences, such as groping, forced kissing, child sexual abuse, or the torture of a person in a sexual manner. Sexual assault is an act that is carried out without the victim’s active consent. This means they didn’t agree to it. …”

[Source: https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/sexual-health/help-after-rape-and-sexual-assault/%5D

“Sexual assault and abuse are serious crimes which continue to have a significant impact on our society. The devastating consequences for any victim can often be misunderstood and neglected. Despite this, the vast number of victims remain hidden due to a fear of coming forward or a lack of faith in organisations. …”

[Source: https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/health-just/sexual-assault-and-abuse/%5D

Age of Marriage

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, ever Merciful.

This is a controversial topic on which Muslims are not united (Muslims are more or less united on the essentials, such as the expression of belief that the Noble Qur’an is the Word of Allah, the 6 articles of faith, and 5 the pillars of Islam, than on the details and interpretations thereof).

Some Muslims adhere to news reports (ahadith) which give Aisha r.a. a young age of 9 at the time of the wedding, and 6 at the time of the marriage (even though a 6 year old girl is incapable of giving [a valid] consent to her marriage), ignoring other news reports which indicate a higher age.

It is rightly said: ‘don’t believe everything you read/hear.’

Jihad?

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Ever Merciful.

I intend to respond to some of the issues raised on the issue of Jihad in the following website:

http://www.answeringmuslims.com/p/jihad.html

It is suggested on this polemical anti-Islamic site that there are three stages of Jihad, i.e. the term Jihad used in the sense of ‘fighting’, which is actually referred to as ‘qitaal‘ rather than Jihad in the Holy Qur’an.

The primary meaning of the word Jihad in Arabic is to strive, which may be towards God [22:78, 29:69] against Satan, or one’s inner weakness [29:6], overcoming disbelief with the truth in the Qur’an [25:52].

Jesus a.s. & His Supposed Crucifixion

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Ever Merciful.

Introduction:

There is no hadith, weak or sound, in which the Holy Prophet Muhammad s.a. elaborates the meaning of [4:157], though other verses relevant to Jesus a.s. and Christian doctrines were brought up in a discussion/debate with a delegation of 60 Christians from Najran who visited the Prophet s.a. in Medina, according to Sirat Rasulullah by Ibn Hisham. Muslim scholars appear to have developed an erroneous understanding of the verse by relying on highly contradictory (hence likely to be false) substitution legends which differ in the version given in different muslim tafasir on almost every detail, (such as differing even on the identity of the substituted person, who is said to be either a roman soldier, a passing Jew, Judas Iscariot, Simon of Cyrene, one of the disciples, Peter, or Sergius, or Tatianus) attributed mostly to unnamed Christian sources (which itself is highly suspicious, and a tell tale sign of ‘fake news’), which appear to have originated in Iraq in the middle of the second century after Hijra (“Christ in Islam and Christianity: Representation of Jesus in the Qur’an and the Classical Muslim Commentaries”, by Neal Robinson).

Future Prophets

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious Ever Merciful.

The ‘finality of Prophethood’ has become the shibboleth (i.e. a distinguishing long-standing outmoded dogma) of the so-called muslim orthodoxy, but what is the truth behind it? The Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam, Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Promised Messiah and Imam al Mahdi a.s., claimed to be a Prophet, and there is a controversy about his claim of Prophethood during discussion and debate between Ahmadi Muslims and other muslims.

Other muslims, sunnis as well as shi’ites, claim that there can be no Prophet after Muhammad s.a., even though they, at the same time, believe in the coming of Prophet Jesus a.s. in the latter days, about whom it is stated in the hadith literature, that he will receive (fresh) revelation, and will be a Prophet of Allah.

Let us now discuss the possibility of the coming of Prophets after the Holy Prophet Muhammad s.a. in the light of some verses of the Noble Qur’an.

Womens Rights Arabic

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

(هذا المقال هو ترجمة للمقالة الإنجليزية الأصلية عن حقوق المرأة ، والتي أعدتها لي صديقة أردنية مسلمة منذ فترة طويلة ، لأن لغتي العربية ليست جيدة بما فيه الكفاية في الوقت الحالي. ومع ذلك ، فإن المقال باللغة (الإنجليزية يتم تعديله وتحديثه من وقت لآخر.

(This article is a translation of the original english article on womens rights which was done for me by a long-standing Jordanian Muslim friend of mine. However, it is the english article which is being updated from time to time.)

حالة حقوق المرأة المسلمة:

يتحول بعض القادة والعلماء المسلمين من الذكور إلى موقف دفاعي عندما يتم التشكيك في تعاليم الإسلام بشأن حقوق المرأة ، ويردون بالقول إن الإسلام يمنح المرأة “حقوقًا مماثلة” أو “حقوقًا متساوية” مقارنة بالرجل. ويستشهدون بحالة عائشة رضي الله عنها ، زوجة النبي محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم ، بصفتها عالمة مسلمة مثقفة كان الصحابة الذكور رضي الله عنها. الرسول الكريم محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم تستخدم للتشاور والتوجيه في الأمور الدينية ، وفقًا للحديث التالي (التقرير):

روى ابو موسى: لم يغب عننا حديث عن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم ، الا وسألنا عائشة رضي الله عنها ، إلا وجدنا معها العلم به. (الترمذي ، المجلد 1 ، الكتاب 46 ، الحديث 3883)

Taqwa

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Ever Merciful.

The Promised Messiah and Imam Mahdi a.s. frequently spoke and wrote on the subject of Taqwa, which is often translated into English as righteousness.

He a.s. also raises the issue of Taqwa in his booklet ‘Al Wasiyyat’ (The Will), the subject matter of which may be described as being the various forms of death (whether physical, moral or spiritual) and subsequent life. He a.s. writes:

“God addressed me and told me that Taqwa is a tree such as should be planted in the heart. The very water which nourishes Taqwa is the water which irrigates the whole garden. Taqwa is a root such that if it does not exist every thing becomes meaningless; and if it remains intact then nothing is lost.” [The Will, p. 10]

We should keep this in mind if and when we witness a decline in spirituality in the ahmadiyya jama’at, with an increase in emphasis on superficiality, when conflicts between members abound, with some wronging others, divorce increasing, and important principles such as truthfulness and mutual love and kindness are being neglected, whilst unconditional obedience to and respect for those in authority, and ‘blind faith’ in them, despite them violating the principles in the Qur’an and Sunnah, is emphasised beyond measure.

Allah the Exalted states in the Holy Qur’an:

[Q. 49:14] “O mankind, We have created you from a male and a female; and We have made you into tribes and sub-tribes that you may recognise one another. Verily, the most honourable among you, in the sight of Allah, is the one who is the most righteous among you. Surely, Allah is All-knowing, All-Aware.“

Thus it is neither one’s gender nor race which is the source of true honour in the eyes of God, nor can it be so in the eyes of true believers. Rather, it is taqwa which makes a person worthy of honour.

Right-hand Possessions

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Ever Merciful

This issue has acquired importance in our time due to the recent extreme human rights violations perpetrated by the terrorist organisation known as ISIS or ‘Daesh’.

My assessment is that this is a result of the false labelling of hadith collections as ‘sahih’, apparently due to the lack of proper and intensive study of the Qur’an by the likes of Bukhari and Muslim, for there is a significant amount of doubtful and criminal reports in their compilations, and which have been accepted uncritically over the centuries, and in so doing, verses of the Noble Qur’an were misinterpreted under the influence of such false reports, with subsequent generations of Muslims accepting them out of regard or reverence for their predecessor male scholars.

These male scholars were either biased against women in some way, or at least did not perceive their biases and those of their predecessors, and who both compiled and canonised hadith compilations including those Ahadith which are misogynistic, as well as issued the interpretations of Qur’an, Ahadith and Sira literature, with at times, little regard for the rights and feelings of women, and with little to no input from Muslim women scholars over the centuries. So, let us now analyse this issue with an unbiased and critical mind.

Obedience:

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, ever Merciful.

There is much emphasis in the Pakistani, and some other cultures, on respect for and obedience to parents, husbands, elders, teachers, leaders etc. However, to what extent is this so in Islamic teachings?

My study has shown that this is not the case in the teachings of Al-Islam. For instance, I am yet to see any command from Allah s.w.t. in the Qur’an to wives to obey their husbands, or an order to children to obey their parents.

In this article, I examine what Allah s.w.t. and His Noble Messenger s.a. have taught us in this regards.