THE STREET MIMBAR Khutbah (23 March 2007) e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] webpage: www.geocities.com/khutbahs http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the_street_mimbar/ Suggestions & Criticisms: PLEASE E-MAIL It is in such a manner that We make plain our signs so that the course of the criminals may become clear. Bismillah Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem. Alhumdulillah. Peace and blessings on Muhammad (sallalahu alaihi wa sallam), his Noble Companions and Family. Brothers and Sisters, Muslims whose relationship with Allah Azza Wa Jall is one of responsibilities and duties and one of tasks and obligations.... audio on http://www.islamiccenterdc.com/khutbassermons.htm?archived=1&page=5 (10-11-2006) CONSOLIDATING THE MUSLIM RANK AND FILE PART 49 WOMENS STATUS- PART 7 With Allahs presence and with His power, we shall move ahead shedding some light on the ambiguous areas and on the traditional practices that more or less define our behaviour towards ourselves, which is in need of a long overdue correction. Let us face it- we have an incorrect attitude towards ourselves. We may be repeating this but we have a lot to be desired when it comes to the way we behave towards ourselves, especially, brothers towards sisters. Sometimes it doesnt occur to us to think in the way that Allah presented some of these issues to us but we never cared to look at them as far as a man and a woman are concerned. We know, (at least most of us know), that we do have a ruler in history who has been thoroughly condemned by the Quran. Obviously, that ruler is a man the Firaun in Egypt himself. The Quran has many ayaat that break down and bring down the features of the male ruler. One ayah that may substitute for many ayaat tell us the arrogant, hoardy and contemptible position that Firaun was in. What was he doing? He was virtually going around killing whomever he wants and sparing the lives of whomever he wants. killing their sons and keeping their women alive. Behold he was one of these mufsideen, the person who is responsible for decay, decomposition, chaos and mischief making in the social order of the world (Surah Al-Qassas verse 4) If we want to make up for lost time in the relationship between men and women, it does seem to us like someone is taking this person to task because hes a man. It is a reactionary attitude that looks and tries to evaluate a persons behaviour because of a persons sex. For sure Firaun and Haamaan and their troops were in the wrong (Surah Al-Qassas verse 8) And Firaun says to Musa (alaihi salaam) Ya Musa youre a liar (Surah Al-Ghaafir verse 37) Almost any type of offensive behaviour that comes from this man is condemned in certain words, in certain ayaat and in the certain Quran. On the hand we have the Quran that speaks to us about another ruler and this ruler was a female. From what we know, every word about her is almost the opposite of those words projecting Firaun. Let us take a sample of words about this female ruler. How does Allah describe a female ruler? Firaun was not a Muslim ruler; he tried to become a Muslim when he was drowning. Bilqees, this queen that is mentioned in these ayaat was not mentioned a Muslimah- so both of these rulers were not Muslims, but how do they behave in their capacities as the ultimate decision makers in their own societies and in their own times? The condemnation of Firaun, the man, is a cascade of negative descriptions in the Quran, yet, here is what the Quran says about this female ruler. We have to emphasize, underline and reiterate that we dont say these words to play into the hands of the type of feminism that circulates in the world today. We are not reacting, we are not chauvinistic men and we are not feministic reactionaries. Both of these extremes do not have any place in our book or in our behaviour. What does the Quran, Allahs words say about this other non Muslim ruler? She is speaking to her public decision makers, I have received correspondence. (Surah An-Naml verse 29) In other words she is not making decisions behind closed doors. Shes up-front with her people, not like the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh had an inner circle (like we know). I have received a correspondence from Suleiman (alaih salaam) and this correspondence is in the name of Allah, the Mercy giver, the Merciful (Surah An-Naml verse 29-30) And, this correspondence from Suleiman to this society to this other society in the southern part of Arabia says Do not come to me with a superior approach but come to me in a submissive state to Allah (Surah An-Naml verse 32) This letter that Suleiman wrote to the queen of Saba is expressive and is a detail of how Muslims in the positions of power behave. In other words he is saying we dont expect you to come to show us your power or force- come to us in normal way- not belligerent, not hostile and not showing us the power that you may have but in a mood that is conciliatory with Allah, that is yielding to the power of Allah and that recognises the dominance of Allah. What did she do? Did she go behind closed doors? No. Once again, she is speaking to a public decision making body of people, Al-mala, the influential body of her society, she says, (literally speaking), give me a fatwa. I am in need of a fatwa, an enlightened or an informed decision, concerning this affair of mine. What am I going to do? In other words, you participate and you let me know what your thoughts are on this matter. She says to them I never made a decision without your presence or participation in it or without your observation of it (Surah An-Naml verse 32) Remember, this is a woman and Allah has chosen from the course of history the correct attitude of the ruler even if that is coming from a woman. What did they say? The political feedback that she received was, These public advisers of hers said we are a society of force and we are society of awesome power (Surah An-Naml verse 33) Now, telling you how we feel about this give and take between you and Suleiman, we say to you when it comes to the military, the army or fighting power, we have it. Meaning, if you want to take on this other ruler who is corresponding with you we are alert and ready, but then, after that the decision is yours. you make the decision and then you issue the order (Surah An-Naml verse 33) Now, this looks like, at least as in as far as her administration, they were gearing up for a type of confrontation with Suleiman and then what does she say after she reads very closely what Suleiman wrote to her and listens closely to what her consultants, advisers and her public is saying to her, what does she say? When kings forcefully enter another society or social order they corrupt it and they bring down the noble people of that society and humiliate them and that has always been their course of action (Surah An-Naml verse 34) This is a deep understanding of history and it is a sensitive and fair understanding of people who are in possession of awesome power. Sometimes, this ayah or statement is repeated by scholars and people in the talking professions- they repeat this ayah not the one before it or after- they try and make a point against monarchies, kings and hereditary rulers and the listeners, many times dont understand that they are quoting a woman. Allah quotes a woman and we quote Allah who quotes that woman, but somehow we dont absorb the total facts that are relevant to this issue. The point that we are trying to bring home is we have a comparison- when you read Allahs sacred scripture read what He has to say about Firaun, the man ruler, and read what He has to say about Bilqees or the queen of Sheba, the female ruler. The bad reputation of Firaun is scattered throughout many surahs in the Quran. The good reputation of Bilqees is in Surat An-Naml. The way we behave, especially the men in Muslim societies towards the women, what is it there that we have that tells us that Bilqees was out of place in saying what she said and in doing what she did. So, what did she finally do? I am going to send them a gift (Surah An-Naml verse 35) Bilqees says to all these people who were militarily ready I am going to send them a present and then Ill see how they are going to answer this present that I am sending. If you were to take todays average working Muslim mind and you tell them look at Allah and how he speaks very favourably of a woman ruler- if somehow she was out of place and she didnt belonged where she was, then why is this in the Quran and why is it brought to our attention? We can take that as a cue and accompany our thoughts to the time of Allahs prophet and realise that when the prophet of Allah was ordered to go public to the people he was closest to, the ayah in the Quran says to Allahs prophet and give words of cautionary advice to those who are your close relatives (Surah Ash-Shuara verse 214) So, he stands up and he says O you, the descendants of my great grandfather (so and so); O you, the offspring of my great grandfather (so and so), my worldly possessions and my worldly wealth will not benefit any of you in the least, none of it will benefit you when it comes to Allah. Meaning you have to look out for yourselves. Then he says (several meanings come to our mind when we recall these sentences of the prophet) but what we are concerned with is why mention Safiya, his aunt, and Fatima, his daughter, (radi Allahu anhuma) unless he is trying to make a point and drive home the fact that womanhood in society has to be given full recognition and has to be addressed. We go on- when this wahy, this history making event occurred and the prophet listened to Allahs words for the 1st time, he goes home and he speaks to his wife, Khadijah (radi Allahu anha), and he tells of what happened and she becomes the 1st to commit to Allah. A woman becomes the 1st after the prophet to adhere to Allah. What is this? We cant figure out why we have minds today who try to exclude women altogether when we have these types of examples. Sumayah bint Khabaat (radi Allahu anha), the mother of Ammaar (radi Allahu anhu)- Allah says dont consider those who have been killed on or for a cause of Allah dead, they are alive (Surah Ahl-Imran verse 169) Now, when we think- the best that we can think and if we try to go back to the early years of the prophets life, who was, if not the 1st one, of the 1st to give her life for the cause and on a direction to Allah? Wasnt it Sumayah, a woman? Which means these Muslims didnt have the attitude lets close our women up in secluded rooms or lets hide them in our homes; they cant come out and participate in the social responsibilities of Islam. When the Muslims were confined in Shib Abi Taalib for three years the family- that was an Islamic family- had its men and women there. We dont know of any case in which a Muslim male that knew that Quraish was on a course of economic warfare against the Muslims in Makkah told their women- their mothers, wives, sisters or their daughters no, you stay at home, its our right; we know what they are going to do to us we know that we are going to go through an extended period of severe hunger. They used to chew on leather because of the hunger. They didnt tell their womanhood OK, you stay at home well go and bare the consequences- their own women were out there with them. When the Muslims were forced under the social, political and psychological pressure that came to bare on them in Makkah they went on two waves of Al-hijrah to Africa. We are told that there were about 83 men and between 15 and 20 women. No one was saying Oh no, this is going to be a very long journey, we dont know what the consequences are going to be, or we are going into the un-known, so keep our women out or stay back home. It never occurred. We dont have a scant sentence to that effect in the books of history and seerah. So, how come today, if we have the same pressure coming to bear on us, some of us will say we have to keep our women away from these challenges. That wasnt the case. When the Prophet of Allah was forced to leave Makkah for Al-Medinah because they wanted to kill him- its just like a president or a leader of a certain country who wants to leave his domicile and go somewhere else- this is considered like top secret information- who knew about this? The women of Allahs Prophet, his family and his relatives knew about this. Fatimah, Aaishah, Asma (radi Allahu anhunna) knew about it. If there was something like Oh, we cant trust women with information, then why did they know about it and why were they actively facilitating his exodus from Makkah to Al-Medinah. Brothers and sisters, something is wrong with todays mentality among the Muslims that want to exclude women from their social responsibilities. Umm Salamah (radi Allahu anha), the Prophets wife, at the time of Al-Hudaybiyah, this was a time of non-belligerency between the Mushriks of Makkah and the Muslims of Al-Medinah. When the Prophet agreed to the stipulations of Al-Hudaybiyah, the Muslims felt offended and the Prophet came up to them and said that they should shave their heads and sacrifice an animal. They wouldnt do it. The Prophet was telling them frankly and candidly what to do, but because they felt so humiliated, they didnt feel like doing what Allahs Prophet was telling them to do. He returns to his wife, Umm Salamah and he tells her what was going on. She, his wife, says to him why dont you- dont speak to them at all- just go and do what has to be done. You want them to shave their heads, just shave your head; and you want them to perform a nahr, slaughtering of an animal, just do it, and, the Prophet did exactly that. He didnt speak to them and he did what he told them to do. Thereafter, every one of them did what he had originally told them to do, but in this case, the little un-noticed detail in history is that the Prophets wife had an input into the social behaviour of the committed Muslims who were reluctant to do what Allahs Prophet, their leader told them to do. On another occasion, Umm Salamah heard the Prophet in the Masjid saying Ayyuhan Naas. She was in her own room and someone was helping her look beautiful, someone was helping her comb her hair and do whatever women do to make them look appealing to their husbands and all of a sudden, she hear the Prophet say Ayyuhan Naas because the Prophets room was next to the Masjid, she heard him in the Masjid say O People, she told her assistant I want to go and attend to what the Prophet has to say. Her assistant said Hes only calling for the people- youre a women, you dont have to go. She said No, when he says O People, that includes men and women and she went to the Masjid to listen to what the Prophet said. How come we have an attitude in todays world where women are told by scholars of Islam- You are discouraged from coming to the Masjid. The Masjid at that time was not something just for a few minutes of worship; it was a hub for the activities of the Muslims. If there was a discussion for a military issue, it was in the Masjid, if there was going to be some type of negotiations with an enemy or another force around, it would be deliberated in the Masjid, even when people wanted to meet, young men and women- this is gone now and if it is back, it is not back in the right manner- if a man and a lady wanted to get married, theyd go to the Masjid so that they could get married; the Masjid was like a gym at times, where there is physical activity. The Prophet, on one occasion, had his wife look at Al-Ahbaash, these were like African athletes who were performing their own physical or martial arts (as we would say), and where was this done? In the Masjid. When Umar (radi Allahu anhu) said that the dowry that a man gives to his wife upon marriage, as-sadaaq or al-mahr, should not exceed 400 dirhams, a lady stands up and says but that is not right and she quoted the ayah Even if you were to give the bride to be a qintaar, a tonnage of money or silver and gold, theres no limitation to this Surah An-Nisa verse 20) Theres no limitation to this- So, she was objecting to this in the Masjid, in front of everyone. What did the ruler say? He wasnt an arrogant ruler to say Well, silence her or take her out of the Masjid. What did he say? He said most or all the people know more than Umar (radi Allahu anhu). He stood to be corrected. It wasnt like someone was being embarrassed. He didnt take that as coming from a woman, that should embarrass him or bring him down. He was like all those who were in the footsteps of Allahs prophet- waqqafun inda hududillah and waqqafun inda awaamirillah. This was and should continue to be the active role of Muslimaat in the world around us. This is what we should observe without reactions, without being apologetic, without feeling inferior or bouncing around between masculine verses feminine positions. Brothers and sisters, committed Muslims We have an organised and a coordinated attempt to paralyse half of our society. Nothing disturbs the enemy, rather, everything will be a delight to the enemies of Allah if half of the Muslims were paralysed. Our women folk, our nisa are half of our society and where are they? Then, all over sudden when some of them step out into the real world and they may carry explosives on their bodies- we are not advocating this as the first step of having our women be honoured in their full civil character- but circumstances sometimes force members of our society to do things that normally we would not do. 30 or 40 years ago you looked at the Muslim world and populations and you could comfortably say half of them are inactive, stagnant and virtually non-existent and then all over sudden today individuals from that same half of the Muslim women of the worlds are participating in military responsibilities. This becomes scary and it terrifies those who have been keeping a close watch and monitoring the movements of the Muslims. We say to them this is only the beginning, there is more to come. We know that the ignorance- that they have sponsored with their academic programmes- have tied half of us down to secluded quarters, a demeaning niqaab and to the inability of women to share and partake in all the rewards that are available to men. Now, theyre scared, this is big. You do not have to be scared if you are not doing anything wrong. Remember we are doing this in our back-yards (so to speak) not in your backyards. What are you afraid of? Some of you are resigning, some of you are forced out of office and some of you are voted out- these are the distant reactions. You see, they dont want to connect what is happening here with what is happening there, but reason that they are in political free-fall is because the majority of us are in a military mode to do what has to be done. The process has already began we hope our words that describe our today will become distant history tomorrow and Allah will expedite the resumption of our full potential- men and women- without this segregation, discrimination and this apartheid in this Ummah.
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