A book by Zakir Naik. Download link.

Inside Mekka @ HULU

Saturday, June 6, 2009 at 4:53am
Written by Yvonne Ridley
Tuesday, 31 October 2006

POLITICIANS AND JOURNALISTS just love to write about the oppression of women in Islam … without even talking to the females beneath the veil.

They simply have no idea how Muslim women are protected and respected within the Islamic framework which was built more than 1400 years ago.

Yet, by writing about cultural issues like child brides, female circumcision, honor killings and forced marriages they wrongly believe they are coming from a point of knowledge.

And I am sick of Saudi Arabia being cited as an example of how women are subjigated in a country where they are banned from driving.

The issues above have simply nothing to do with Islam yet they still write and talk about them with an arrogant air of authority while wrongly blaming Islam. Please do not confuse cultural behavior with Islam.

I was asked to write about how Islam allows men to beat their wives. Sorry, not true. Yes, I’m sure critics of Islam will quote random Qur’anic verses or ahadith but all are usually taken out of context. If a man does raise a finger to his wife, he is not allowed to leave a mark on her body … this is another way of the Qur’an saying; “Don’t beat your wife, stupid”.

Now let’s take a glance at some really interesting statistics, hmm. I can almost hear the words pot, kettle, black. According to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, four million American women experience a serious assault by a partner during an average 12-month period.

On the average, more than three women are murdered by their husbands and boyfriends every day . . . that is nearly 5,500 women battered to death since 9/11.

Some might say that is a shocking indictment on such a civilized society, but before I sound too smug, I would say that violence against women is a global issue. Violent men do not come in any particular religious or cultural category. The reality is that one out of three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused during her lifetime. Violence against women transcends religion, wealth, class, skin color and culture.

However, until Islam came on the scene women were treated as inferior beings. In fact we women still have a problem in the West where men think they are superior. This is reflected in our promotion and wages structure right across the spectrum from cleaners to career women who make it into the boardroom.

Western women are still treated as commodities, where sexual slavery is on the rise, disguised under marketing euphemisms, where womens’ bodies are traded throughout the advertising world. As mentioned before, this is a society where rape, sexual assault, and violence on women is commonplace, a society where the equality between men and women is an illusion, a society where a womens’ power or influence is usually only related to the size of her breasts.

I used to look at veiled women as quiet, oppressed creatures and now I look at them as multi-skilled, multi-talented, resilient women whose brand of sisterhood makes Western feminism pale into insignificance. My views changed after the
truly terrifying experience of being arrested by the Taleban for sneaking into Afghanistan in September 2001
wearing the bhurka.

During my 10-day captivity I struck a deal that if they let me go I would read the Quran and study Islam. Against all the odds, it worked and I was released. In return I kept my word but as a journalist covering the Middle East I realized I needed to expand my knowledge of a religion which was clearly a way of life.

And no. I’m not a victim of Stockholm Syndrome. To be a victim you have to bond with your captors. During my imprisonment I spat, swore, cursed and abused my jailers as well as refusing their food and going on hunger strike. I don’t know who was happier when I was released – them or me!

Reading the Quran was, I thought, going to be a very simple academic exercise. I was stunned to discover that ut clearly stated women are equal in spirituality, education and worth. A woman’s gift for child birth and child-rearing is very much recognised as a quality and attribute. Muslim women say with pride they are homemakers and housewives.

Furthermore The Prophet (pbuh) said that the most important person in the home was The Mother, The Mother, The Mother. In fact he also said that heaven lies at the feet of the mother. How many women make it into the top 100 power lists for simply being a “great mother”?

With Islam choosing to remain at home and raise children takes on a new dignity and respect in my eyes, similar to those sisters among us who choose to go out to work and have careers and professions.

I then began looking at inheritance, tax, property and divorce laws. This is where Hollywood divorce lawyers probably get their inspiration from. For instance the woman gets to keep what she earns and owns while the man has to stump up half his worth.

Isn’t it funny the way the tabloid media gets very excited over the prospect of some pop or film stars pre-nuptial wedding agreement? Muslim women have had wedding contracts from day one. They can choose if they want to work or not and anything they earn is theirs to spend while the husband has to pay for all the household bills and the upkeep of his family.

Just about everything that feminists strived for in the 70s was already available to Muslim women 1400 years ago.

As I said, Islam dignifies and brings respect to motherhood and being a wife. If you want to stay at home, stay at home. It is a great honor to be a home maker and the first educater of your children.

But equally, the Quran states if you want to work, then work. Be a career woman, learn a profession become a politician. Be what you want to be and excel in what you do as a Muslim because everything you do is in praise of Allah (swt).

There is an excessive, almost irritating concentration or focus on the issue of Muslim womens’ dress particularly by men (both Muslim and non-Muslim).

Yes, it is an obligation for Muslim women to dress modestly but, in addition, there are many other important issues which concern Muslim women today.

And yet everyone obsesses over the hijab. Look, it is part of my business suit. This tells you I am a Muslim and therefore I expect to be treated with respect.

Can you imagine if someone told a Wall Street executive or Washington banker to put on a t-shirt and jeans? He would tell you his business suit defines him during work hours, marks him out to be treated seriously.

And yet in Britain we have had the former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw describing the nikab – the face veil revealing only the eyes – as an unwelcome barrier. When, oh when, will men learn to keep their mouths shut over a woman’s wardrobe?

We also had Government Ministers Gordon Brown and John Reid express disparaging remarks about the nikab – both these men come from over the Scottish Borders where men wear skirts!!

Then we had a series of other parliamentarians enter the fray describing the nikab as a barrier for communication. What a load of nonsense. If this was the case can anyone explain to me why cell phones, landlines, emails, text messaging and fax machines are in daily use? Who listens to the radio? No one switches off the wireless because they can not see the face of the presenter.

The majority of sisters I know who choose to wear the nikab are actually white, Western reverts who no longer want the unwelcome attention of those few leering men who will try and confront females and launch into inappropriate behavior. Mind you, there are a couple of London sisters I know who say they wear the nikab at anti-war marches because they can’t stand the smell of spliffs.

I am afraid Islamophobia has become the last refuge of the racist scoundrel. But the cowardly, chauvinistic attacks launched – largely by men – is unacceptable to Muslimahs as well as their secular, female sisters from the left.

I was a feminist for many years and now, as an Islamic feminist, I still promote womens’ rights. The only difference is Muslim feminists are more radical than their secular counterparts. We all hate those ghastly beauty pageants, and tried to stop laughing when the emergence of Miss Afghanistan in bikini was hailed as a giant leap for women’s liberation in Afghanistan.

I’ve been back to Afghanistan many times and I can tell you there are no career women emerging from the rubble in Kabul. My Afghan sisters say they wish the West would drop its obsession with the bhurka. “Don’t try turning me into a career woman, get my husband a job first. Show me how I can send my children to school without fear of them being kidnapped. Give me security and bread on the table,” one sister told me.

Young feminist Muslimahs see the hijab and the nikab as political symbols as well as a religious requirement. Some say it is their way of showing the world they reject the excesses of Western lifestyles such as binge drinking, casual sex, drug-taking etc.

Superiority in Islam is accomplished through piety, not beauty, wealth, power, position or sex.

Now you tell me what is more liberating. Being judged on the length of your skirt and the size of your cosmetically enhanced breasts, or being judged on your character, mind and intelligence?

Glossy magazines tell us as women that unless we are tall, slim and beautiful we will be unloved and unwanted. The pressure on teenage magazine readers to have a boyfriend is almost obscene.

Islam tells me that I have a right to an education and it is my duty to go out and seek knowledge whether I am single or married.

No where in the framework of Islam are we told as women that we must do washing, cleaning or cooking for men – but it is not just Muslim men who need to re-evaluate women in their home. Check out this 1992 exert from a Pat Robertson speech revealing his views on empowered women. And then you tell me who is civilized and who is not.

He said: “FEMINISM ENCOURAGES WOMEN TO LEAVE THEIR HUSBANDS, KILL THEIR CHILDREN, PRACTICE WITCHCRAFT, DESTROY CAPITALISM AND BECOME LESBIANS”.

Here is an American man living in a pre-Islamic age who needs to modernize and civilize. People like him are wearing a veil and we need to tear that veil of bigotry away so people can see Islam for what it is.

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=89618502893&id=96043737372&ref=nf

Some general notes:

1. I felt that what Asra Nomani was doing is truly undermining the Muslim woman’s intellect. To say, that if she cannot marry a non-Muslim man then she’s being forced and that she’s being belittled, is truly undermining in itself. Any Muslim woman would take offense to that. Asra was talking to the Muslim women in a condescending way saying: I feel for you, you’re oppressed, because you do not have the choice to marry a non-Muslim man! I was waiting for someone from the audience to say: Asra speak for yourself, we take offense to what you’re saying.

2. I liked the example of Sh. Yasir Al Qadhi where he says that the analogy is similar to a Muslim man saying that I can drink anything and therefore I can drink alcohol. Islam has rules.

3. Sh. Yasir Al Qadhi could have responded to the last question by saying that the consensus should have been done by people knowledgeable about Islam and not the people in the room. I felt that the answer could have been more satisfying to me.

4. The position of the Dr. Habash is weak. He is truly against the notion. Sheikh Yasir pointed this out in the debate. Maybe we could have stressed his position more by using his definition of Muslims. Instead of saying ‘Muslims’, we can say ‘people who believe in the prophet (p.b.u.h)’

5. It should be stressed more and more and more that women can make all the choices but they cannot marry a non-Muslim man while stressing on ‘having all the choices’.

6. I felt that the Dr. Thuraya was not very helpful to the discussion. She was indeed talking about Arab/Gulf women and she was pro marrying someone from your same background (way beyond religion) – that has extended the scope of the discussion. I feel that her presence extended the scope of the argument and weakened their position.

7. I felt Sh. Yasir stumbled twice. First, as he says when he dished out the question to the host (as he mentioned in his insider post) and second, when he was asked by Asra about what he would do if his daughter chooses to marry a non-Muslim man? I liked his answer but his body language seemed a little shaken (the question itself is inappropriate but she used it!).

8. I liked the opening of Sh. Yasir Al Qadhi. He is truly an eloquent and focused debater. I like him on my side. May Allah reward and bless him. An excellent example is when he said: I didn’t say you’re not a Muslim, I just said do not bring Islam into the discussion.

You can read the discussion and the insightful comments on muslimmatters.org

The miracle is right there… Once people get used to a certian phenomenon, it becomes mundane and ordinary. A miracle is considered something out of ordinary not because the ordinary may not be miraculous but because people are used to the ordinary.

I have witnessed the birth of my daughter Salma and it’s truly a miracle of Allah. A bounty and favor that Allah has bestowed upon me and my family.

I remember when we used to discuss that she was 2 cm long, then a handspan then 2 handspans and now she’s a healthy being staring at the world with exploratory eyes. Allah has said that he has created human beings from a drop of blood and descibed thoroughly the development of the embryo. But that’s not my focus here…

My focus is this: throughout time, no body has been able to describe that missing piece that differentiates a dead person from a living person, the soul. It’s miracuouls not because people do not know why this happens. It’s miraculous because people will not know why this happens.

The trouble with evolution is that it is very assuming. People adopt it for a lack of explanation and not because it’s an explanation. Even evolution will not tell where the very first cell came from. Evolution is like a deck of cards which may fall down with the slighest wind but for lack of a better explanation, people adopt it.

My second point is that we need to stare at the ordinary and see the beauty and miraculousness of it. Just because it’s ordinary, does not mean it’s well ordinary. Just stare at how the trees go through the seasons, fall to Spring. Just examine the universe and its vastness; the sunset and sunrise; the sun and the moon. These are all signs of the all merciful God.

“And (all) the Most Beautiful Names belong to Allâh, so call on Him by them, and leave the company of those who belie or deny (or utter impious speech against) His Names. They will be requited for what they used to do.” (Quran 7:180)

Francesca De Chatel  writes: “There is none amongst the believers who plants a tree, or sows a seed, and then a bird, or a person, or an animal eats thereof, but it is regarded as having given a charitable gift [for which there is great recompense].” [Al-Bukhari, III:513].

The idea of the Prophet Mohammed as a pioneer of environmentalism will initially strike many as strange: indeed, the term “environment” and related concepts like “ecology”, “environmental awareness” and “sustainability”, are modern-day inventions, terms that were formulated in the face of the growing concerns about the contemporary state of the natural world around us.”

source: islamonline.net

via MuslimMatters.org