Women in Islam

Following in the holistic way of life ordained by God is the natural way of human being. In every way it promotes the perfect balance of rights and responsibilities for all people be they adults or children, women or men.

Lo! men who surrender to God,

and women who surrender

And men who believe

and women who believe

And men who obey

and women who obey

And men who speak the truth

and women who speak the truth

And men who persevere

and women who persevere

And men who are humble

and women who are humble

And men who give alms

and women who give alms

And men who fast

and women who fast

And men who guard their modesty

and women who guard (their modesty)

And men who remember God much

and women who remember God much

God has prepared for them forgiveness and a vast reward.

(Surah Al-Azhab 35)

In genuine Islam women and men are spiritually and socially equal but each sex is assigned a specific set of rights and responsibilities that enable individuals and societies to flourish and to live according to their true natures. 

The oppression of women, domestic violence and corrupt male domination are all totally contrary to genuine Islam. They are qualities of Jahilliyah (these are sub-Muslim, pre-Muslim and/or ignorant) people and where such practices are carried out it is because of ignorance and an absence of genuine Islamic knowledge.

God has honoured women in the highest ways and in the rightly guided community of the Holy Prophet (may God bless him and give him peace) women had the right to own property, to work, to choose who they married, to divorce, to receive inheritance, to receive a gift of money (Mahr) upon marriage, to vote during Shura (referendums) and much more in an age where most ‘civilized’ cultures such as that of Roman Christianity saw women as the property of their husbands whose were not able to possess anything as their own.

In the rightly guided community of the Holy Prophet (may God bless him and give him peace) women filled some of the highest roles and some even participated in military campaigns. God choose the wife of the Prophet Muhammad, Sayyidah Aisha (raa), for the great role of the preservation and transmission of many of the teachings of Islam after he (may God bless him and give him peace) passed away, so much so that it has been said that half of the Islamic knowledge was transmitted by her.

A Hadith (record) in Ibn Maajah confirms that Islam encourages both women and men to learn Islamic knowledge in particular, but also to learn general knowledge and skills as well. This promotion of learning for men and women is a key pillar of genuine Islamic life and amongst the early Muslim communities literacy (the ability to read and write) became the norm in an age when in most cultures only a tiny elite had these skills.

Anyone who seeks to prevent Muslim women and girls from studying Islamic knowledge is certainly not following the example of the Holy Prophet (may God bless him and give him peace) in this matter.

In Islam women and men avoid unhealthy social mixing, because it makes the evils of adultery, fornication and rape less likely to occur, but this does not mean that women are forbidden to work. On the contrary the values of Islam create whole areas of work where women in particular are needed, such as in medicine where women doctors and nurses are morally superior for the treatment of female patients and female teachers are likewise preferable for teaching young women, yet women should not work to the detriment of their children or husbands and they should never get into dubious and perilous situations with non-Mahram males.

Any money that the married Muslim woman earns is her own and her husband has no right to it and even if she is rich in her own right he must provide her with the essentials. God honour s Children of Adam both female and male, but he honour s mothers in particular.

The Holy Prophet Muhammad (may God bless him and give him peace) stated that paradise (for an offspring) lay at the feet of the mother. God has reserved this right for the mothers and the same thing can never be said about any man.

Some people whose trade is lying have promoted fantasies about Muslim women, claiming that they are the slaves of their husband and that she is a drudge who has to cook and serve her husband like a servant and walk ten steps behind him etc, but these are falsehoods and they certainly do not represent the teaching of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (may God bless him and give him peace). If they were to mix with real educated and pious Muslims then no one would believe such calumnies.

In the Tirmidhi collections of narrations, the Holy Prophet is recorded as saying the best Muslims are they who are best to their wives. In genuine Islam women are respected and held in high esteem. Deviation from this is deviation from Islamic Adab (propriety).

The Holy Prophet (may God bless him and give him peace) used to do much of the housework and cooking for his wives and to mend his own clothes and it is the practice of the genuine Muslims to emulate his Sunnah (prophetic example). Whilst the wife has the Islamic right upon her husband that he is duty bound to provide her with a home, security and expenses for living, according to Jurists of the Maliki and Shafi’i schools of thought she do not have a duty to do household chores. At the same time in the Sunni majority Hanafi school of thought cooking is not classed as one of the automatic duties of the wife.

Wherever genuine Islam is practised women are empowered, nurtured and protected. They receive their God -given rights and they are able to live naturally according to the Sunnah (way of life) of the seal of the Prophets h Muhammad (may God bless him and give him peace).

Wherever men who claim to be following Islam are oppressing women or girls it is they who are to blame and not Islam, they will one day have to meet their Creator and explain their actions. It is recorded in Sahih Muslim and Sahih Bukhari that the Holy Prophet (may God bless him and give him peace) explained that the husband is the guardian or shepherd of his family or household and that he is answerable to God over their treatment, whilst the wife is the shepherd of the house of her husband and his children and she is answerable over their treatment.

The Holy Prophet (may God bless him and give him peace) taught husbands that they must keep the secrets of their wives, they should consult them and treat them well, accepting their nature and treat them well.

The Holy Prophet (may God bless him and give him peace) is the example for all true believers and he used to do housework for his wives. When asked

‘What do you advise us concerning our wives?’

The Holy Prophet replied;

Feed them as you (as well as you) feed yourselves

and clothe them as you (as well as you) clothe yourselves,

neither punish them nor revile them.

He is also reported to have explained;

Fear God in your treatment of women,

as you have taken them (as wives)

(only) through the trust of God…..

(Muslim, Sahih)

It isn’t proper for a believer to hate his wife,

If he dislikes her behaviour in one respect

he should be happy with her on some other account.

(Muslim, Sahih)

The most perfect in faith of the believers

is he most cordial in his disposition

and the best ones amongst you

are they who treat their wives most properly.

(Tirmidhi)

The Holy Prophet Muhammad (may God bless him and give him peace) also reminded the lady believers of the good way that they should treat their husbands and children. It is recorded that he explained;

A woman who prays Salaat five times a day,

fasts in Ramadan, protects her decency

and follows her husband may enter

Paradise through any of its gates

she wishes to enter.

(Mishkat)

God Almighty honour s human beings both female and male, but he honour s mothers in particular and the Holy Prophet (may God bless him and give him peace) stated that Paradise lies at the feet of the mother, this is recorded in the authoritative Sahih Bukhari Hadith collection.

God has reserved this right for the mothers. As well as the obvious meaning it could be said that not only is the mercy and respect shown to the mother a key to Paradise, but also the moral education that she has instilled into her child. In every generation

God entrusts the Muslim children to their mothers and it is up to them to choose whether they raise their children according to the Sunnah of the Prophet (may God bless him and give him peace) and Islamic ways or to neglect their spiritual development and education and to instead allow them to consume a poisonous diet of degenerate popular culture and doubtful foods. 

Abu Hurairah reported that a person came to the Holy Prophet (may God bless him and give him peace) and said;

‘Who amongst the people is most deserving of good treatment from me? He said; ‘Your mother’.

He asked; ‘Then who?’

The Prophet (may God bless him and give him peace) said; ‘Your mother’.

He asked ‘Then who?’

The Holy Prophet) said; ‘Your mother’.

He again said; ‘Then who?’

Thereupon the Holy Prophet

(may God bless him and give him peace)

said; ‘Your father.

(Sahih Muslim).

Abdur Raheem.

Hamza Yusuf on Women in Islam  

Do as you would be Done By

There is a universal moral rule in life that all wise believers (and sensible people in general) have ascribed to over the ages. It is a principle that has been recorded as key to human moral and social well being in all half decent civilizations from ancient times onwards and it has come from the mouths of sages from every continent from the earliest times of written history onwards. 

In the surviving book that purports to be the Torah/Tawrah it is written ‘

“..Love your neighbour as yourself, I am the Lord…

.(Leviticus 19,18)”,

whilst Confucius, the great moral philosopher of ancient China, is reported to have warned people not to do unto others what you would not not want them to do to you (Analects 15, 24),

whilst Jesus son of Mary (as) is reported to have reminded the people to do unto others as they would have them do unto themselves in various ways, these were apparently recorded the Book of Matthew 7,12 and 22,39 and also Luke 6,31 and 10,25-8 these books purporting to be part of the Gospels, although not surviving in their original form) and similar may be found in the Book of the Tobit (4,15)…

…and most importantly the Holy Prophet Muhammad (saws) reminded us in his Farewell Sermon to avoid hurting others so that they may avoid hurting ourselves and it is recorded in Nawawi’s 40 Hadith that no one truly believes until they wish for their brother what they wish for themselves.

Wise and spiritually healthy people follow this rule – that a person should treat others considerately, according to how one would like others to treat them and they should not treat others in ways they would not like to be treated.

This principle is an essential basis for the functioning of society and a person attempting to live by this rule will, God willing, try to treat all other people, and even all other fellow feeling creatures, in a humane and considerate way.

Abdur Raheem.

More on Gentleness and Mercy

And We sent thee (Oh Muhammad)

only as a Mercy to the Worlds

(Surah Anbiyaa 107).

The Holy Prophet Muhammad (may God bless him and give him peace) taught Mercy to the people and he invoked the Mercy of God upon the people who showed consideration to others in their trade dealings and in the exacting of that which was due to them. Ali (raa) recorded how the Holy Prophet (may God bless him and give him peace) was good natured and kind hearted, he never spoke harsh words and he avoided finding faults in others.

He kept silent when he could not fulfill a request, because he hated to disappoint people by saying no and he was kind hearted and eased peoples’ distress. His company delighted people and one who saw him was filled with awe, but later on would begin to love him (Tirmidhi, Shamail).

The Holy Prophet (may God bless him and give him peace) advised the believers that they should be careful over other peoples’ rights. He once explained this by telling them that they should ‘pay the labourer before his sweat has dried’ (Ibn Majah, Sunan). He taught that the rulers must use their position to support the rights and well being of the less powerful Children of Adam and it is recorded that he taught that;

The leader who closes his door to the poor and needy

will find that in his own great time of need

God has closed the gates of Heaven to him.

(Al-Tirmidhi, Shamail)

Those familiar with the purported canonical Gospels know this truth well from the following saying that is attributed to Prophet Jesus (as),

Within a house a rich man lived in comfort and luxury

Outside a poor man lay ill

begging for the rich man’s leftovers

The rich man died and was taken to Hell

The rich man asked Abraham

(may God bless him and give him peace)

to send the poor man to aid him,

but Abraham

(may God bless him and give him peace)

answered;

You once had everything and left him with nothing

He now has everything and you have nothing

And between you is a chasm impassible

(Purported Gospel of Luke 16;19-31)

One time the Holy Prophet (may God bless him and give him peace) saw one of his Companions hitting his slave with a stick. He warned him;

‘You should realize that

God has more power over you

than you have over this slave!’

 When he heard this the Companion dropped the stick and vowed that he would never again do such a thing and furthermore he gave the slave his freedom. Observing this the Holy Prophet (may God bless him and give him peace) declared; ‘If you had not done this you would have been touched by the Hellfire’ (Muslim, Sahih). 

Abdur Raheem.

Gentleness

It was the job of the Holy Prophet (may God bless him and give him peace) to make things smooth for people, not difficult. Even when people were rude to him he still behaved graciously and with manners. God is gentle and He loves gentleness in all things (Bukhari & Muslim) and Islam teaches the absence of gentleness in a thing renders it defective (Muslim). The Holy Prophet (may God bless him and give him peace) taught that no one can be classed as a believer unless they wish good things for their fellow human beings – like they wish them for themselves (Bukhari). 

The Holy Prophet Muhammad (may God bless him and give him peace) started merciful social revolution in which his Companions (raa) spread a philosophy of merciful respect for human and animal life, emancipated tens of thousands of slaves, promoted the God given rights of women, over came age old prejudices and sectarian divisions, promoted functioning multiculturalism, effected practical communitarian policies and spread the love of charity and agape benevolence, all within a few decades of the beginning of the Last Revelation. 

The Muslims only did these things when they lived according to the holistic merciful way of life that is the Deen of Islam and history shows that when the Muslims existed in that state of true Islam they were a beacon of blessed light and Baraka in the world. 

Each Muslim now makes the choice between a life of selfish play or a life dedicated to the the well being of the sentient creatures of the planet and to the worship of our Creator. One day a rough and rude Bedouin came to the Prophet and asked him for a gift, which he was given, instead of being thankful the rude man asked for more in an impolite and aggressive way. Rather than taking offence, and quieting the Companions (raa), he gave the man what he requested and whose demeanour instantly changed. 

When the Companions questioned the Holy Prophet (may God bless him and give him peace) later he explained what he had done with the metaphor of a run away camel;

Once a man had a troublesome camel which had run away. 

Different people kept trying to bring it back

through beating and dragging but failed.

The keeper of the camel asked them not to interfere

and he himself gently brought it

back under control by feeding it leaves little by little,

until its temper had waned.

The Holy Prophet (may God bless him and give him peace) informed them that if they had responded to the man in kind, with roughness, that it would have failed to guide him, but having left contented he was more likely to improve his ways by coming to faith. 

Abdur Raheem.

HE IS ONE

A truth that we all need to know and remember...

HE IS ONE

Moinuddeen Chisti (ra)

Sheikh Moinuddin Chisti (1142-1230 CE (ra) was the ‘founder’ of the beautiful Chisti Sufi Order. Born in Khorosan or Isfahan in Persia, he was both a Hassani and a Hussaini Syed and he studied Islam in Samarkand and Bukhara, where he gained both internal and external Islamic knowledge.
He had travelled through the great Muslim cities and in 1220 he became the disciple of the Sufi Chisti Khwaja Uthman Harooni. He traveled through the lands with his master and went to the Holy Cities of Makkah and Madinah, but one day he dreamed that the Holy Prophet (may God bless him and give him peace) was guiding him to go to India and therefore he traveled to that land, first settling in Lahore and then Ajmer.

The residents of that city came to love him dearly. He would become one of the greatest Sufi’s in Indian history and he was active in promoting Islamic Sufi at a time of great chaos in the world. Through his love and mercy the people of the city flocked to him, whatever their religious origins. He taught his followers to give up worldly goods and to focus upon worship and spiritual endeavours instead. He taught them tolerance and mercy of those who differed with them and called them to serve God via lives of service to His servants feeding the hungry and helping the needy.

Sheikh Moinuddin wrote books on how to live as a good Muslim and he sent his disciples out into the land to spread benevolence, love and wisdom. He taught an approach to Islam based upon the renunciation of material goods, self-discipline and dedication to worship. He discouraged his students from becoming indebted to rulers through accepting land grants etc and he promoted Sufi ideals of tolerance and sharing. In this he is said to have told his disciples that they should develop generosity like a river, loving warmth like the sunlight and hospitality like the earth.

Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti authored books including treatises on Islamic living, such as Daleel al-Arefeen and Anis al-Arwah, before he passed away. His legacy would be an Islamic tolerance of the Indians of other faiths that would embue his disciples and their followers throughout Indian history.
After his death the Shiekh’s students established many more Sufi centres (Derhgas) across India, but the original center at Ajmer would remain the heart of the order. The Chistiyyah became a major Indian Sufi Order, which that traditionally used songs as a method of spiritual development and a way of attracting countless numbers of Hindus to Islam. It is a Sufi Order well known for promoting mercy, love and tolerance.

The Chistiyyah silsalah passes through great Muslim figures including Hadrat Hassan al-Basri (raa) and Ibrahim Adham (raa) and became a distinct order with the Syrian Sheikh Abu Ishaq Shami (raa) who took the science of Sufi to the Afghan town of Chisht. There he trained Khwaja Abu Ahmad Abdal (raa) and deputized him to spread the order in the region over a thousand years ago.

Amongst Sheikh Moinuddin Chisti’s most influential spiritual heirs were the great mystical figures such Qutubuddin Bakhtiar Kaki (raa), Sheikh Nizamuddin Auliya (raa) and Sheikh Mohammed Badesha Qadri (raa) who would spread Islam through India, whilst later heirs, such as Shah Wali’ullah (raa) and Sheikh Hajji Imdadullah (raa) would spread deep understandings of the true religion for people of the modern age.

One month before he passed away the wise Sheikh Mu’inuddin Chisti (ra) made a beautiful farewell address to his disciples that summed up the essence of his understanding of the spiritual quest, encouraging them to love and have mercy for the human beings, to spread peace, to avoid the courts of Kings, to assist the needy, the widow and the orphan and to serve the people. One time he is reported to have said….

A friend of God has affection

like the sun -

When the sun rises

it is beneficial to all people,

be they Muslim, Christian or Hindu.

A friend of God is generous

like a river -

All may get water from the river

to quench their thirst

and it does not discriminate

between the good or the sinful,

the relation or the stranger.