Muslim Women and the Ummah

Muslim Women and the Ummah

Dr. Bilal Philips

Opening

السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ

(بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ - bismillahir-rahmanir-rahim)

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ، وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى رَسُولِ الْكَرِيمِ، وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَأَصْحَابِهِ وَمَنِ اسْتَنَّ بِسُنَّتِهِ إِلَى يَوْمِ الدِّينِ

All praise is due to Allah and may Allah's peace and blessings be on the last prophet, Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and on all those who follow the path of righteousness until the last day.

Introduction

The topic, Muslim women and the ummah, is a topic which is of great importance to us in this time, in this era. Because the issue of the Muslim woman has become the central issue by which or from which Islam is attacked. Most of those who speak ill of Islam, who speak against Islam, do so from the perspective of the Muslim woman. And it is very important for Muslim women to be conscious of their role Islamically in the ummah today.

Because these ideas, these attacks, seek to change the Muslim woman's role. From the role that was understood from 1400 years ago, when Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) came with the Quran, where the role of women was clearly defined in the Quran, in the Sunnah. Muslims lived without questioning about the role of women.

Now there are some issues which Muslim women asked the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) about. Gaining information to clarify their responsibilities, etc. In certain particular legal matters. But the overall role of women was understood. Because Islamic teachings do not bring a new role to women, which wasn't already known by the whole of the world at that time. What Islam did was where that role was distorted, where it was corrupted, where women were looked down upon, Islam corrected, replaced, gave new laws to protect the rights of women.

But the general role of women as part of the family, the basic unit of society, that role was known. And that role remains the same in most of the world. However, in the 20th century and the 21st century, a change has taken place in that role in western civilization.

The Women's Liberation Movement

The change began as a female right-seeking movement, women's liberation movement, the suffragette movement, there are different names for it, where women initially sought equal pay for equal work. And Islam is perfectly in favor of that. The two people do the same work, they should be paid equally. That is fair.

However, that movement evolved into something else. A movement which sought to make men and women equal in all respects.

And here is where the role of women in western civilization changed. Women were now considered half of the workforce. So any society which would not promote its women going out and working as a whole, they are hampering the development of the nation because half of the workforce is not operational. It's a new perspective, where women now competed with men for jobs which were traditionally men's jobs, putting men out of work. And of course, when men are out of work, then it affects the family structure. When a man can no longer provide for his family, his wife and his children, he can no longer do that, then the family structure starts to crumble.

So these changes which continued, and the women's liberation movement actually in the later stages became a lesbian movement. A movement which hated men. They wrote against men and the oppression of men all through history. And homosexuality, lesbianism, became a norm among many of those women who called at that stage now to equality between men and women. So that movement sought, after liberating itself in North America, they felt it was their duty to go and liberate the rest of their sisters around the world. And they have succeeded in many of the countries that we know of, all of the other countries, even outside of Europe and America.

And basically the last frontier for them and for that movement is the Muslim woman. She is the only one today who does not enjoy the freedoms, as they put it, the freedoms of Western cultural liberation of women. So you as women have become their target. They write, they hold conferences, they speak, they project images on the television, in the magazines, whatever. They are promoting this particular unnatural agenda.

Islamic Perspective on Western Feminist Issues

From the Muslim, the Islamic perspective, the types of issues that we find Western feminists and others raising are issues which, when taken out of the context of the Islamic society and the Islamic culture, they may seem strange to them.

Inheritance Laws

For example, inheritance. If the father dies, he leaves a son and a daughter. The daughter gets one third and the son gets two thirds. In Western civilization, it's 50-50. If the man has not left a will, and of course, in Western

civilization, if the man who dies leaves a will, saying that all of his wealth is to be used to look after his dog, none for his son and daughter, then that's how the will is applied.

That's a point to keep in mind, when they like to project this issue of men and women. Because they look at wealth as being the personal property of the individual. This is capitalist view. To do with as he or she pleases. So there are many cases. This example I'm giving you is not something which is far from reality. There are many cases of many famous personalities who left their wealth for their cats, for their dogs, for their canaries, birds, and left nothing for their children, wives, children, etc. There are many cases of it. And those families fought in court and they lost. Because that is the law in the West.

So, the issue that they raise, why shouldn't the male get the same as the female? Why should it be two thirds for the male, one third for the female? The issue is that that is a question for them. They have a problem with this issue. Why? Because when a male or female young person reaches the age of puberty and a bit above that, 15, 16, then they are expected to go out on their own and look after themselves. No distinction is made between the male and the female. Both have to go out and look after themselves.

So naturally, if both have to go out and look after themselves equally, then if wealth is to be shared, it makes sense that it is shared equally. So that is Western civilization. However, in Islam, the view of responsibility in terms of the male and the female is different. Though a male may be expected to go out and look after himself once he reaches his late teens, etc., he's graduated. The female remains the responsibility of the father until she marries. It's different. She remains the responsibility of the father until she marries. If she marries and divorces or her husband dies, she becomes the responsibility again of the father. So males in Islam have responsibilities that males in Western society do not have.

Furthermore, if the father dies, then the brother becomes responsible to look after his sister. That's Islamic law. So he has a responsibility that in Western civilization, males do not have. So it is based on this added responsibility whereby males are responsible for females. As Allah stated in the Quran, that males are in a position of authority and responsibility for women. So based on that added responsibility, then Islam, after dividing the wealth 50-50 between the male and the female, the additional responsibility becomes another portion. And that's why we end up with 2 to 1. So it is based on a system, a system of responsibility. It is not based on men being looked at as being better than women or more important than women. It has nothing to do with that. It has to do with the natural order of family life in Islam which is based on these principles of responsibility.

Guardianship in Marriage

Similarly, you find the issue of the guardian. A woman needs to get married with a guardian, with the consent of her guardian, her father. Or if the father is dead, her brother. Whereas in the West, again, because they follow the principle, we call it the bird principle. That bird principle is that when the bird hatches the egg, that little bird is fed by the mother and the father. They bring food and feed that little bird. As soon as the bird grows

feathers and learns how to fly, the bird is then kicked out of the nest. Time to go. That bird cannot come back and say, listen, I still need some food. I haven't figured it out yet. No. It's got to go. She has to go. That is just how it is in nature.

Leaving the nest. So, because Western society looks at human beings as fundamentally animals, no different from other animals, so they took this principle and this is what they applied in the family relationship. So, people are kicked out. As we said before, the male and the female are equally kicked out of the nest. Time to go. Look after yourself.

So, does it make sense now that that female, after she has been kicked out, she has to go and work, look after herself, her studies, etc. She gets older, time to get married, and she has to get her father's permission now to get married? No. That doesn't make sense. Father wasn't taking care of her in those latter parts of her life. She was taking care of everything herself. So, that's what she would say. What does my father have to say on the matter? This is my business. I'm taking care of myself. My father shouldn't have any right to tell me, no, you can't marry so-and-so.

So, that's their logic, based on their society. But again, in the Muslim society, the father's guardianship is for protection of the female, not to oppress her and deny her the right to decide who she wants to marry. Now, this is not to say that in some cultures, some Muslim families, etc., fathers force their daughters to marry people who they don't want to marry. This is wrong Islamically. It's not permissible. Where a woman came to Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and told him that she was married off by her father without her consent.

What did Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) say? Tough luck? Sorry? No, he said, Do you want to cancel the marriage? Or let it go on? She said, I can let it go on. I just wanted to confirm that the decision was mine. And that's the evidence that the father does not have the right to force his daughter to marry anyone. If he does force her, she has the right to annul the marriage. Cancel that marriage.

So, the point of the guardian from the Islamic perspective, he is there to protect the interest of his daughter or his sister or his granddaughter, whatever, who he is the guardian for. To help her in making the right decision. Because somebody might propose and for her, she might think he's fine, he's okay, everything is okay. But she doesn't have the means or maybe even the concern to go and check out his background. But the father, knowing men, he would then go and find out about that individual to confirm whether that individual is genuine, is he capable of handling marriage, etc. He goes and he checks him out. So if he finds him unsuitable, he's not capable.

Not because he belongs to another tribe. Because again, that's nonsense. If his objection is because he doesn't belong to our tribe, our family, then this is not acceptable Islamically. This is not acceptable Islamically. Technically speaking, if a woman wants to get married and the father is objecting simply because of tribal reasons, then the woman has the right in Islam to go to the court and raise the issue to the judge and the judge,

seeing that it is a tribal issue which is against Islamic teachings, he can then take away the guardianship from the father and act as the guardian of that woman and see her marriage. That is Islamic law.

Now I'm not saying you may not have issues about it here in Somaliland. Maybe you do. I don't know all that goes on in the courts here. So I'm not going to say it's a perfect situation here. It may be issues, but this is the fact. I'm just giving you what are the Islamic facts.

And so on and so forth. Anyway, the point is that these issues which are raised, and I just gave these two examples for you to understand, the areas where the West or Western women, the feminist movement, Western civilization tends to focus on Muslim females in Muslim societies, raising issues about their being oppressed. And as I said, this is the primary area that they focus on.

So our basic answer to virtually all of the questions which they raise, go back to the natural order of human society. That Islamic law matches the natural way that families function around the world as a whole. And its laws take into account the natural differences between males and females.

Women and Work

Now if we go to the issue of work, women, Muslim women in the Ummah, this is an issue today, the issue of work. Some people say women shouldn't work. They should just stay at home. And they may quote a verse from the Quran where Allah, addressing the wives of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), advised them to stay in the home, in general. But it didn't mean stay in the home and never go outside, because they used to go and pray in the masjids. They used to go to the marketplace and purchase things, etc. They taught others. So it wasn't like an absolute stay in the home, lock the door, when the husband comes back, she's supposed to be inside the house, having not set foot outside of the house. No. This is not what Islam is calling for.

So the issue of work. We know that in Medina, in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), there were women working in the marketplace. Muslim women, Jewish women, Pagan women, worked in the marketplace. And so did men. So the issue of women working outside of the home is not one that really needs to be debated. Because it is already established in the time of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) that they did so. And no one has the right to come along today and say, no, they should not.

Basic Principle Regarding Halal and Haram

Because our basic rule, and this is a general principle to keep in mind, when looking at modern issues and understanding how do we tackle these issues, according to Islam. The basic principle is that anything which is not purely worship, purely specified as worship, anything is considered fundamentally halal, unless clear evidence comes to show that it is haram. They say in Arabic:

الْأَصْلُ فِي الْأَشْيَاءِ الْإِبَاحَةُ

That is how they express it. That the original state of things, normal things which are acts, business, human social interaction, all of it is halal, unless a specific text from the Quran or the Sunnah comes to forbid that statement, act, social interaction, etc. That's the basic law.

In the case of Ibadah, acts of worship, which are purely fundamentally acts of worship, the law is the opposite. All forms of worship are haram, except those which have been specifically designated as halal by Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) or Allah in the Quran. That is the basic law. And the reason why the religious acts are all considered haram, except those which are specifically permissible, this is in order to preserve the authenticity of the religion. Without this principle, then Islam would end up like Christianity.

What Christianity is today is completely different from what the messenger of Allah, Jesus, the son of Mary, brought. They changed, they modified, they added, until they ended up with another religion, which they called Christianity, and Jesus never called the religion which he taught Christianity. This is an important point. Most Christians don't even realize it. But Christianity, the term Christianity was never used by Jesus. It cannot be found even in the distorted text, which the Christians have today called the Gospels.

So, this principle is there in religious matters in order to keep it pure from innovation. And the Prophet (peace be upon him) expressed that principle in the famous statement:

"Whoever brings anything new in this matter of ours, the religion of Islam, which was not a part of it, it is not acceptable to God."

So that's where that principle comes from.

Primary and Secondary Roles

So, back to the issue of women working, even if we didn't have the example in the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him) of women working in the marketplace of Medina, we could still say, women working is permissible. Because work is not (عِبَادَة - 'ibadah) (worship). It is (عَادَة - 'adah) (custom). عَادَة meaning common practice, common custom. So, the issue of women working is a non-issue in terms of halal and haram. Those who say it is not permissible have gone to an extreme. Because they are now forbidding things which were permissible in the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him).

So, the issue of women working, it is okay. However, we have to ask ourselves, when we talk about women leaving the home and working, is it the primary role of the woman to work? Or is it a secondary role? That's the question we have to ask. If we ask in terms of the man, is it a primary role for him to go out and work? Or is it a secondary role? What role is it for the man? It's a primary role. Because he is responsible for the family. When the Prophet (peace be upon him) spoke about the rights of the woman and the rights of the man, the responsibility of the man and the woman, he said that the man was responsible to look after the family. It means he is the one who first has to go out and provide for the family. So that's his primary role.

In the case of the woman, it is not her primary role. Her primary role is to look after the children in the home. To look after the home, that is her primary role. If she has no children, or her children have grown up, and she has taken care of the needs of the home, then we can say for her to go out and work, no problem. There is no problem here. With the husband's agreement, etc., there is no problem here. However, if she has children, now we have to say her primary role is to look after those children.

The Problem with Nurseries

Now, in the West, what has happened is we have the existence now of nurseries. In the past, where women might need to leave the home, and you had an extended family, then the sister or the mother of the wife, or the mother of the husband would look after the child whilst the wife stepped out of the home for a particular need. Now, what happens, because families have become a small unit, a unit of just husband, wife, child, that is your basic family, the nuclear family of Western civilization. So, nobody else is going to take the responsibility for that child. So, what we had evolving to fill that gap were the nurseries, crèches, where caregivers now will take care of the children so that the women can go out and work.

Now, this situation is the beginning of the imploding of Western civilization's family structure. The family is crumbling now because those children psychologists, child psychologists tell you that those early years when the children are being put in nurseries and crèches, etc. are critical years for the development of the child's personality, its emotional state, etc. between the ages of 3 and 5, critical years. They say that the personality form then becomes the personality for the rest of the life. Critical years. Years when the bond between the mother and the child is a critical bond to create a bond of love.

What we see in Western civilization, America being the biggest representative, we see in the last 30 years, 20 to 30 years, when crèches and nurseries have now become widespread, found everywhere, every city, every town, we see a new phenomenon happening amongst children. What is that? The phenomenon of children upset, coming to school with weapons, shooting their classmates and their teachers and the principals of their schools. Before 30 years, this was unheard of. It never happened. But now it is a regular occurrence in America every year. It is happening more and more.

Why? Where did these crazy kids come from all of a sudden? It's a product of the nurseries. They talk about nursery rhymes, they should talk about nursery crimes. Because research done in nurseries, where they have put cameras in the nurseries, so they can record what is going on, have caught both caregivers abusing the children. Abusing them. Why? Because you are being paid to look after these children. No matter how big a heart you think you have, if you have 15 kids or 10 kids to look after, initially you can handle hug, pat, kiss, put back to sleep, change nappies, but now the day when all 10 of them poo in their nappies, at the same time, how do you handle it? Your big heart becomes quite small. It becomes very, very tough. And so you find the caregivers hitting the children, shouting at them, all kinds of things. These have been recorded. So this is what is happening.

This is the consequence. Because nobody can look after the child like its own mother. And it is not to say, I mean this is a general principle I am mentioning, it is not to say that there are some mothers out there who are not good mothers, and others who are not mothers who could do better. That exists too. But as a general principle, the mother is the best one to look after that child. So, that's her primary role.

So as Muslim women in the Ummah, the woman should not leave the home, having children who are at an age, those early years, where it is critical for her to develop that bond, the bonding between herself and the child, the bond of love, etc. And that bond of love means, what they call, feeding the child on demand. Whenever the child demands, the child should be fed.

Breastfeeding and the Pacifier

The, what they call it, that plastic thing they stick in the mouths of kids, what is it called? Pacifier. That pacifier is a crime. Sticking that piece of rubber in the child's mouth. When the right of the child is not the piece of rubber, but what the mother has and nobody else has. You are denying your child the right. Of course. You know, the very first time you put that pacifier in the mouth of the child, it spits it out. And you have to push it back again. And it spits it out. And you push it back. And you spit it. Till eventually you have forced the child to accept it. And then it gets used to it. That's what's happening.

Islamically, this is not correct. It is the right of the child to be breastfed for two years:

Reference: Quran 2:233

That is their right. And we should give them that right. So, we say then, with regards to women in the workforce, this is a secondary role for women.

When Work Becomes Primary

In some cases, it may be a primary role. For example, where a woman is trained as a gynecologist. And there is a need for gynecology in the society. It becomes a primary role for that woman. And I would encourage women here to go into that field. Because as I always say to students, university students who are studying, especially those in the medical profession, I tell them that for men to specialize in gynecology is haram. I tell them that. It's haram. Every doctor will learn something of gynecology for emergency situations. But for men to specialize in gynecology is fundamentally haram.

So when I say that it's fundamentally haram for men, what does it mean? It means it is obligatory for women. It is obligatory that women get trained in this profession to be able to fulfill the need of the Muslim community, the Muslim ummah in this regard. To protect her sisters from exposure to males, which is not permissible fundamentally in Islam.

So when we are choosing our professions, the area that we are choosing to work in, as a secondary role or what may be a primary role where it is an absolute necessity, we have to keep this in mind. The roles which are most appropriate for women. The professions which are most appropriate for women. That is because our work should be according to the need. The need of the society. The need of the community. How beneficial this is. It should not be, well my husband is not making enough money for us to have some of the luxuries of life, so I'm gonna go out and work so we can get more money. No. That's not right. It's not about going out and getting more money. It's about benefiting the society.

That's why Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) had said:

"The best of people are those who are most beneficial to people."

So we choose our professions based on the benefit which comes from it to the society. And that benefit varies according to the need that the society has for that particular profession. So these are the things we have to keep in mind when we are looking at going out and working.

---

Education

In terms of education, because of course education has to be in place for people to be able to go out and work in the first place. Islam again makes the seeking of education, seeking of knowledge to educate oneself an obligation, a religious obligation on every Muslim woman and man:

"Seeking knowledge is obligatory on every Muslim."

You all know this hadith. Seeking knowledge is obligatory on every Muslim. That knowledge of course begins with knowledge of Allah. That's where we have to begin because that is the most important aspect of our lives. So knowledge of Allah, knowledge of Islam. Then knowledge of the various fields of learning necessary for the society to function properly. Those become compulsory areas of knowledge on the community as a whole.

Individual vs. Community Obligation

Knowledge of Allah, knowledge of Islam is compulsory on every individual - فَرْضُ عَيْنٍ (individual obligation). On every individual Muslim, male or female. But the other areas of knowledge which are necessary for the community, community obligatory knowledge, they call this فَرْضُ كِفَايَةٍ (collective obligation). فَرْضُ كِفَايَةٍ meaning that if nobody in the community gets this knowledge, the whole community is in sin. As long as some members of the community get the knowledge, then the obligation is removed from the others.

So these are the areas whether it's gynecology or dentistry, other fields which are compromising fields. Because dentistry is another one. And I'm not saying, I'm going to say to men, it's haram for you to study dentistry, no? Because dentistry is the same for men and women. But in terms of the practice of dentistry, in the Muslim society there should be female dentists for females, and male dentists for males. Because no matter how much you want to say, he is the dentist, he is not considering the situation that you are lying on a couch, and he is looking in your mouth. His nose is only two inches away from your nose. He is not thinking about you as a woman. He is just a dentist, believe me.

Men are men. There are so many cases in America right now, where male dentists, male doctors, etc., are barred from their profession, kicked out of their profession, fined, etc., for molesting women. Yes, they made the Hippocratic oath, to uphold the principles of medicine and dentistry, but they broke them. Many, not just one or two, many.

So, know that as a female, primarily you should be going to a female dentist, but then you say, but there are no female dentists. What do I do now? Okay, this is necessity. You've got a bad tooth, it needs to be fixed. You have no female dentist, you are forced. Right? Islam is practical. So, under those circumstances, yes, it's permissible. But, the community is in sin. For forcing you to have to go to a male dentist, the community is carrying the sin, of not having produced female dentists, so you had the option.

So, this is how we should look at our professions. And there are other professions, I could go and list many others, but I just brought these two as a basic example, in terms of our choosing of our areas of study and work.

Balancing Islamic Knowledge with Other Studies

So, having understood that the need for knowledge in general, of Allah and Islam is their primary. Secondary, the need for knowledge of the various fields necessary to provide for the needs of the community and for yourself. I would then say that, whatever profession you choose to go in, don't forget the primary knowledge that you must have, that you should have. So, even though you are studying in one of the various fields, you should not say, I don't have time to study Islam, to study about Allah. I am busy right now. When I graduate, then I will try to find some time. This is wrong.

This is wrong. Because no one knows whether she or he will graduate. You don't know what's happening tomorrow. Only Allah knows. And what's obligatory on you today, is that you know about Allah. You know who Allah is. You know what Islam is. Because that knowledge of Islam will then help you, guide you in fulfilling the role of a Muslim woman in the Muslim Ummah, in the world, global society. That is essential.

So, whatever profession you choose, you should also be learning Islam at the same time. Learning it and understanding it. Not just merely saying, well, okay, yeah, I memorized Quran. Or I memorized so many Hadiths. I've sat in so many circles in Arabic. But now if I ask you, what did this Quran actually mean? What did these Hadiths actually say? What did you actually learn from the circles? You can quote me Arabic

Islamic Online University

And towards that end, I set up a university, known as the Islamic Online University. Where people can study Islam on a diploma level, general diploma, for free. You go to www.IslamicOnlineUniversity.com. You can register tonight and start studying courses on Islam in English for free. Absolutely free. No hidden costs. 110% free.

So nobody here in the room has any excuse to say, I don't have access to that knowledge. The access is there for you. The internet was a blessing from Allah to the Ummah. And it is a blessing to you to make this knowledge accessible to you at such an easy way.

Furthermore, we also have a BA in Islamic Studies, in Sharia, combined with other modern studies of psychology, education, business administration, information technology, etc. Other courses connected to it, important courses. We have this available at virtually free. At $80 per year. $40 per semester. To study a full university course at $40 per semester, 2 semesters in a year, $80. A BA degree for $320. Unheard of.

Accessible to you. To choose, not necessarily the full course, you may take some courses from it. You don't have to take the full curriculum of 6 courses every semester. You can take 3, you can take 2. And the degree issued by it is an accredited degree. We have a license here in Hargeisa. And inshallah, we're getting a license from South Somalia, from Mogadishu also. So, it is internationally recognized. We have also recognition from other universities in Indonesia, in Gambia, and other parts of the world.

So, we're offering this accredited degree for this incredibly low cost. Because the goal of the university is not business. It is about spreading Islam. Making authentic Islamic knowledge available to you, to the ummah, on the widest scale that we possibly can. As a result of that, in the 5 years since we started the free diploma program, we now have over 100,000 students studying in that program from all around the world. In the BA program we started in 2010, we now have over 3,000 students studying full time.

I should mention also that in the Islamic Online University, of those working in our administration, 60% are women. We have women professors who are teaching some of the courses. Our top 10 students every semester has consistently been 80% women. Enough that this is available for you.

We have an office in the city, in Hargeisa, and you can get the details from the website. We do have, unfortunately our team didn't bring enough brochures, but we have about 20 brochures here. So at the end of the lecture, we have to go for Salah, in another few minutes. Those who would be interested in joining the Islamic Online University, I should mention also that in our office, which is in a building housing the Pacific College, where they have five computer labs with regular internet connection, for those people who have problems of

internet accessibility, etc., they can access the computers from the same building for free. So no excuses, it is there for you. These 20 go to the first 20 people that come to get it after the lecture.

Conclusion

So, in concluding, Muslim women and the Ummah, we said that Muslim women are in fact the most liberated women in the world today, as a whole. Not to say that they may not be oppressed in some places than others, or in some aspects than others, but in general, they are the most liberated women in the world today. What the West has to offer? We have to take the good and be careful, be wary, and leave the evil.

They have a different perspective than we have. And we need to know what our perspective should be, so we can understand where they are coming from. Many of you may be working with non-Muslim NGOs or whatever, in different capacities, and you should be wary, be conscious of what is being said.

Many people come here to Hargeisa, doing charitable projects, etc., but the hidden agenda is missionary work. They are here on a mission. This is reality, and you need to be conscious. And if you see rules being broken, then you need to report it. Those people who have issues, and you try to bring them to others in authority, who can answer the issues that they are raising, etc., and deal with it, because, as I said, many of them are here on a mission. Not everyone. There may be some that are truly here on a charitable basis with no other agenda. I'm not saying that to say that about everybody, but many have this other hidden agenda.

And it is about changing your point of view, how you are looking at yourself as a Muslim woman, etc., to look at yourself now as an oppressed Muslim woman. A woman who is not getting her rights, and a woman who is denied, and Islam is this and that, beware. Your best protection is to know Islam yourself. If you have understood and known Islam, then these types of suggestions, etc., cannot affect you, because you know your religion. But when you are ignorant of your religion, you don't understand the principles behind certain requirements of the religion, etc., then you can be easily swayed. So, beware. This is just my general advice.

Final Advice on Raising Children

Know that the right to work, you do have it, where you don't compromise your primary responsibility in order to fulfill a secondary responsibility or goal. The children, raising of the children, is our responsibility. And to do it successfully, you also need to have knowledge. This is where the issue of knowledge comes in again. Don't just raise the kids the way you were raised, because maybe your parents didn't do a very good job. The society helped get you through it, so you came through in one piece, but they weren't really doing the things they were supposed to do. They are doing traditional things, some of them have nothing to do with Islam at all, we have to be careful about these things.

If we want to raise children properly, then we need to know about child-rearing. Child-rearing from an Islamic perspective, as well as from what is being said from the West, what is useful from what they are saying to take

from it and benefit, and what is not, again, leave it.

And as I said, education is the absolute need of the day in order for you to fulfill your Islamic role as Muslim women in the Ummah.

Call to Action Against Social Ills

For people purchasing Qat, leaving this country and going into Ethiopia, can Somaliland afford to be giving away half a million to a million dollars a day? Of course it can't. That money should be used to develop your society. In fact, instead of it being used to destroy your society. So as women, when we talk about the role of the Muslim Ummah, women in the Muslim Ummah, when Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) had said, that Nikah, Nisfuddin, marriage is half of the religion, it's talking about the responsibility of the wife, and the responsibility of the husband. And if the husband is not doing what he should do, then it is the responsibility of the wife to do it.

And that's why the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) praised the woman who sprinkles water on her husband when he doesn't get up for Fajr. If he's lying there sleeping, rather than saying, poor thing, let him sleep. She sprinkles water on him, causes him to get up and goes to Fajr. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) praised her and Allah blesses her. So, if the men aren't doing it, then it is on you as the women of the Ummah here to take whatever steps are necessary, whatever steps you can, to try to remove this evil from our society here.

---

Questions and Answers

Question 1: Dating in Islam

Written Question: Does the Muslim woman, or is it permissible for Muslim women to date? Are there any etiquette to follow in dating?

Answer: Well, if we're talking about dating as it is known in the West, then there is no such thing in Islam, right? What some societies follow, I know it is a custom, I've met it in the Gulf. Excuse me sisters, can you be quiet please? Can we have silence here? If you have something to say, we have a mic, share it.

There is a practice of dating in the Gulf, where what the young men and women do is that they get married, they do the Nikah, but they call it only engagement, that's what they call it. The Walima is not done, and they don't consummate the marriage. The time for consummation is set at another date later on, and the Walima everything later on. So just the contract is written up. At the time of that contract, from that point onwards, of course, then the male and female can date, because technically they are husband and wife. So that kind of dating, though it wasn't the practice of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and his companions, that is permissible.

But dating where a male and female go out alone, not married, without a chaperone, then that is not allowed in Islam.

Question 2: Travel for Work

Live Question: [About traveling for work, distance of 8 or 15 kilometers]

Answer: No, the issue is not a matter of 8 or 15 kilometers. If she travels to work, her travel doesn't involve a day and a night. She's not traveling, she's just going, driving, whatever, to work. I mean, we use the term in English traveling, this is loose usage, because what defines a traveler? A traveler is one, who leaves the boundaries of his or her city, first, with the intention for travel. With the intention for travel, meaning that you take your toothbrush, your bag with clothes, you're actually traveling. That's traveling. But if you just drive, have a meeting, come back again, you're not a traveler.

Okay, traveling outside of one's city for this purpose, basically, Islamically it's not permissible for the woman to travel without a mahram. But if it is a situation of survival of the family, there's nobody else who is going to provide. The system here doesn't have a means to provide for women, whose husbands are not working, etc. And that's her only choice. Then again, the sin, any sin that is involved, any responsibility that's there, falls on the society, falls on her husband, falls on her immediate family, who should have helped her out, so she wouldn't be put in that compromised situation.

Question 3: Workplace Etiquette

Written Question: If I'm a woman that is employed in an environment where there are males and females, both Muslims and non-Muslims, what is the etiquette and correct characteristics that I need to fulfill?

Answer: Well, the main issue, where one is working in a situation where there may be males present, the main issue is that one should not be in a situation where you and a male are alone, behind closed doors. This is called khalwa. So that is the main principle that is to be avoided. That you don't end up like a secretary, you go into your boss's office, the door is closed behind you, that situation is not permissible. If the door is open, where anybody passing by can hear what is said, they can see what's inside, then it is permissible.

Otherwise, in terms of etiquette, how does a woman and man in a work circumstance conduct themselves? Well, they should conduct themselves in a business-like fashion, that you communicate where it is necessary and you do so in a business-like fashion. This is what would avoid fitna in that kind of circumstance.

Islamically speaking, for a male to give salams to a female, this is from Islam. If a man says to a woman, Salaam Alaikum, woman returns the salams, Wa Alaikum Salaam. Because the giving of salams is not specifically men to men, women to women. It is Muslim to Muslim. However, how we give the salams and how we return the salams, this is now where proper etiquette has to be followed. Because you can respond saying, Wa Alaikum Salaam, or you can say, Wa Alaikum Salaam. These are two. Both of them are Wa Alaikum

Salaam, but one has a flirtatious kind of sound to it and the other one is business. Wa Alaikum Salaam. So, this is what we have to be conscious of, be careful of, that we don't send messages which we should not be sending.

Question 4: Unmarried Women's Role

Live Question: What is the main role for an unmarried female? What is the most appropriate job for a woman?

Answer: Okay, the first question, what is the main role for an unmarried female? An unmarried female, the main role, because she will be within a home circumstance, looked after by her father or brother, etc. Her main role will be to help out as someone is looking after you, to help out back in the family circumstance. That's her main role. Maybe you have a sister who is married, who has children, to help that sister within the home circumstance. That's the main role.

Secondary role would be to find work. You could do that where it is beneficial to the society. And I would just say in terms of primary responsibility, I would say primary responsibility is to gain knowledge. While serving in your role within the home, etc., to gain knowledge where it requires you to leave the home, while doing your part in the home, gaining knowledge of Islam, and as well other fields which may be beneficial to the society, I would say that would be primary for you.

In terms of your second question, which was about appropriate job for Muslim woman. As I said, this is going to vary. I cannot say the appropriate job. I can talk about some inappropriate jobs, but to say any job which is beneficial to the society, especially beneficial to women, these are the most appropriate jobs. So without, for example, teachers, to become a teacher, and any other fields which are women-related, fields which don't require women to be surrounded by men.

Engineering, for example. I would say though engineering is an important field, but most engineers are men. So if a woman becomes an engineer, she ends up in a job circumstance, a work circumstance, where she is surrounded by men. And though we say, yes, Islamically, it's permissible for her to learn engineering, but that work circumstance is not a good circumstance for women. Because whenever men are the majority, and the woman is by herself, or only one or two, and the rest are all men, women get harassed. That's the bottom line. That happens everywhere, regardless of what the rules are, whatever Islam says, law, we have nature. Natures of people which don't necessarily follow the rules when they should. So any job situation which is going to put you as a woman, by yourself, in the midst of men, I would say that is not an appropriate job for you.

Question 5: Family Planning

Written Question: If women fail to do natural family planning, what is the suitable method that she can use with the consent of her husband?

Answer: Any form of family planning or contraception, which is not harmful to the woman, which is not established, it is something harmful to her, it is permissible to do it on a temporary basis. What is not permissible is to use contraception on a permanent basis, where you tie tubes and things like this, which stop a

Question 6: Abandoning a Learned Skill

Live Question: [About learning a skill and not using it]

Answer: The issue of learning something, learning a skill, something beneficial to society, and then to not use it anymore, of course this is something displeasing to Allah. Unless there are circumstances connected to that particular skill, where in fact you are doing something displeasing to Allah with it. So you stopped it to avoid displeasing Allah, you stopped it in order to seek Allah's pleasure. So in that circumstance it is perfectly legitimate. But where you learned a skill, which was benefiting the society, and then you abandoned the skill for no good reason, then of course it is something displeasing to Allah, it is something which may be harmful to the society. So when we learn good skills which are beneficial, we should try to practice them and make them beneficial to society.

Question 7: Medical Professionals and Hijab

Written Question: I am a doctor who does surgery, and we wash our hands and arms before, and it is obligatory to uncover your arms above the elbow, till you enter the operating room, and cover yourself later on. All in all, men are there, and we are not covering fully our body because of the necessity. Though I do not practice appropriate hijab in real life. How does Islam see my situation, and what advice would you give?

Answer: Well, first and foremost, if you said that you do not practice hijab in real life, that is what is most important. You know, why worry about your elbows and your arms right now, when you are not practicing hijab otherwise. That is priority. My advice would be for you to bring hijab back into your life, which is what is pleasing to Allah, which is what is obligatory on you as a Muslim woman, to maintain proper hijab.

Having said that, or having done that, in terms of a doctor, where you are working in an environment, where you are forced to expose parts of your body, because that is the system that is being followed in that particular country, then my advice is that you leave that country, and you go to where you can practice your profession, without having to compromise your Islam. Because I am sure there are places, they are here, I know in Malaysia, they do not follow that rule, where they require the women to expose their bodies.

Question 8: Women Teaching and Working in Society

Question: [Explanation about a hadith and women's role in teaching]

Answer: The question has been explained to all of you, so you know what it means. What we have to respond to this statement with, is the role of women in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). If

women taught, we know the fourth most prolific narrator of hadith, the first teacher of the Sunnah, of the Sharia, was Aisha, and after her was Umm Salama, and other leading female companions, and there were female companions amongst others who taught the Sahaba, there were amongst the teachers of Imam Malik, and others female hadith scholars, etc.

So if we have that history, of Muslim women contributing in the society in this manner, who ended up in the battlefields, nursing, and ended up working, etc. If they were not prevented in that time, by that hadith, that statement of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), then it means that the understanding that people are having of it today, is obviously incorrect. So we say, to understand the statements of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), we have to look to the practice of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), the Sahaba, and the early generations of Muslims.

So this is how I would answer it, without going into the details of the witness, and the two witnesses for females equal to one, and all these other things. There are also further discussions that one can go into, to clarify the differences in this regard. But it is sufficient for us to simply state, that women played, had a full role in Muslim society in the past, and that's how Muslims of the past understood the teachings of Islam, the statement of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). I hope that's clear, for the one who asked the question in Arabic.

Question 9: Women as Lawyers

Question: [About women being lawyers]

Answer: It is permissible for a woman to be a lawyer, with, as again, I would suggest, with the principle, as we said, where she avoids circumstances where she is surrounded all the time by men. There are elements, different aspects of law, which she can practice without having to compromise her situation, ending up in khalwah and these kinds of things. So, I would suggest that she practice those elements of law, which would avoid putting her in compromising situations.

Now in terms of the law of the land, where one may be forced to learn un-Islamic laws, and in any case when we're studying law, it is important to know the legal systems of others, while knowing what the Islamic legal system is. So we're studying from a comparative perspective, and we know what's better, but if at the same time these non-Islamic laws are in force, then one has to work within that framework.

And the practice of law should be to ensure that people get their rights. That's what the practice of law should involve, to ensure that people get their rights, to defend people who have been deprived of their rights, etc. The type of law where you now defend criminals, people who you know are criminals, they have done evil, and you are fighting to defend them from the law, this form of law, this practice of law is not acceptable for a Muslim, whether male or female.

Question 10: Women Working Without Financial Need

Question: Some of the women like to work, and there is no reason forcing them to work, because their husbands can pay for them. Is this something, does Islam allow this?

Answer: Yes, Islam allows her to work, if she is not compromising her primary responsibility. If she has a skill, has knowledge, etc. that she wants to utilize in the society, she likes to work, there is no harm. Islam doesn't say that you cannot work simply because you like to work, and you don't need to work. No, if there is benefit from your work, then it is permissible for you to work.

The second question, I am not clear. Oh, shake hands of men. Okay, and I have just been instructed, we will have two more questions, and then we will be closing the session, inshallah.

Question 11: Women as Judges

Question: Can a woman be a judge?

Answer: Technically, yes, she could be a judge. But again, we have to look at the issues of male-dominated circumstances and compromise. Can a woman be a judge? And as I mentioned, it is possible, but we have to look at again the context. Is she going to be in a male-dominated circumstance? So will her Islam become compromised? Will she be harassed? These kinds of things. If that is the case, then it is better she should not put herself in that circumstance. But just technically speaking, yes, she could be a judge.

Question 12: Shaking Hands

Question: What about shaking hands between men and women?

Answer: Men and women, we know Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) had said that it would be better for a man or a woman to have an iron spike driven into their head than to touch a man or a woman who they could marry. So, Islam forbids the shaking of hands between males and females who can marry. But if they are mahram, then it is permissible.

Thank you.

وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ