Abusaleh Shariff explodes the myth of Muslims doing better under Modi ruleDr Zainab Alwani talks on Challenges before Muslim Women
Submitted by admin4 on 19 October 2009 - 4:43pm
By TwoCircles.net News Desk,
New Delhi: Muslim women are faced with a number of difficult choices in a fast globalizing world as they have to make their personal and public decisions in the light of “the Islamic paradigm,” said Dr Zainab Alwani while delivering her lecture at the Institute of Objective Studies auditorium in New Delhi yesterday. Dr. Alwani is program director Arabic Language Studies, North Virginia Community College, USA.
In her lecture attended by many young women, a few young men and some elders, she elaborated upon her idea of the Islamic paradigm. “The paradigm’s core ideas are based on istikhlaf (vice regency)”. That, in short, means, human beings (men and women) are God’s viceroys on earth.
Quoting the Quran’s Surah Al-Baqrah and Surah Taubah she said men and women were here to “bear witness” to God’s Will. “A witness is always present, active and involved to be a real witness”, she explained. The vice regent has to ensure a balance and sense of proportion in both the private and public, personal and political domains.
“That entails spreading the good, checking the evil and establishing payer”, she pointed out. To live such life one has to be responsible and enlightened as an individual. Such individuals build a pure society.
The topic of the lecture was “Challenges Before Muslim Women in the Global Scenario”. She restricted her lecture largely to theoretical issues and to her experience as a Muslim woman in the United States.
She said the drift and uncertainties of a post-modern world had once again put women (particularly Muslim women) at the centre of life. “Women are natural teachers, as were the Ummahatul Momineen (wives of the holy Prophet PBUH) who imparted Islamic learning to the first and second generation of Muslims”.
That model still works, she pointed out, as mothers are still the first teachers of children. She talked about the challenges of an appropriate education for young generations. Women have to come forward to meet this challenge and guide their children’s education, she said.
She particularly emphasized the development of an appropriate methodology in Islamic jurisprudence as yesterday’s methodology cannot solve today’s problems. “Sometimes US imams in the mosques quote rulings by Arab, Indian and Pakistani ulama, but they may be right for the Arab, Indian and Pakistani situation, not necessarily for the reality of Muslim life in the US”.
She talked about “different layers of US Muslim society”, with their own sets of challenges. First, there are the immigrant Muslims who have to adjust to the realities of US life. Then there are the local converts to Islam who have to learn the ways of Islam and adjust to the Muslim society. Above all, there are African-American Muslims who have been there for the last two centuries, but have started getting empowered in the last five decades only.
At the centre of all this flux is the Muslim woman in the United States. There are similarities between the US woman’s life with that of her sisters everywhere. In the midst of so much change it is the Islamic paradigm that holds everything together.
At the end of it there was a lively question and answer session. Chairman of the IOS Dr. Mohammad Manzoor Alam, who for a change was sitting in the audience all through the proceedings, came up to the lectern to propose a vote of thanks.
He had an advice for the many young women and young men to involve themselves in the Ummah’s affairs and also contribute to the continuing discourse on Muslim life.
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Challenges Before Muslim Women in the Global Scenario
Behold, thy Lord said to the angels: "I will create a vicegerent on earth." They said: "Wilt Thou place therein one who will make mischief therein and shed blood?- whilst we do celebrate Thy praises and glorify Thy holy (name)?" He said: "I know what ye know not."
( سورة البقرة , Al-Baqara, Chapter #2, Verse #30)
(2) O David! We did indeed make thee a vicegerent on earth: so judge thou between men in truth (and justice): Nor follow thou the lusts (of thy heart), for they will mislead thee from the Path of Allah. for those who wander astray from the Path of Allah, is a Penalty Grievous, for that they forget the Day of Account.
( سورة ص , Sad, Chapter #38, Verse #26)
My Dear Sisters,
Know that you are man's sister and half of humanity. You are a mother, wife, daughter, sister, aunt, grand daughter or grand mother. The Prophet said, what translated means, Women are, indeed, men's partners. [Abu Dawood]. You are a member of the great nation of Islam, the best nation ever produced for mankind. No other nation on earth has more great men, leaders and conquerors than this nation. It is the nation of guidance and the straight religion, and it leads humanity to righteousness and truth. It transforms people from worshippers of slaves to worshippers of the Lord of slaves, from life's pressures to the pleasures of the Life after, and from the injustice of other religions to the justice of Islam.
Your ancestors, great women of Islam, were one of the main reasons for this great nation to take this great place among all nations. Allah, Who granted Islam to this nation, made a high place for Muslim women, and decreed that they share in the responsibilities of enjoining truth, forbidding evil and raising the flag of Islam. He said, what translated means, The believers, men and women, are loyalists of one another, they enjoin righteousness and forbid evil, they offer their prayers perfectly and give the Zakat, and obey Allah and His Messenger. Allah will leave His Mercy on them. Surely Allah is All-Mighty, All-Wise. [9:71]
Allah has given Muslim women what they can bare of orders and duties. He is the God Who knows His creation, Should He not know what He created? And He is the Most Kind, All-Aware (of everything). [67:14].
My dear sister, you are called upon today to truly become an active member of the Muslim nation, strive to establish victory for Allah's Word, implement the Quran and help build the generation of Iman.
What Do Your Enemies Want From You?
There are those who want to distract you from doing your duty. They want to distract you from meeting your noble obligation, that is, to defend the religion of Allah and raise His Word high. Those enemies use many methods:
First: They distract you from what Allah created you to perform of worship, belief and Da'wah (propagating Islam). They use this worldly life as their bate: Jewelry stores, fashions that originate in non-Muslim countries, new models all the time, desires raised, hunger that can never be satisfied, pleasures and competition for them and endless ways for joy. Allah did not create us for this. Indulging in these matters is usually accompanied by wasting time and money and igniting enmity and competition between the rich and the poor.
Second: They ignite enmity between you and man. To those sinners, you are a daughter that is put down, a humiliated mother, an abused wife and an oppressed sister! Men are always unjust, hypocrites, dictators, freedom- preventers and suppressers, according to them. There is a fabricated war that those evil ones are starting for no reason other than to direct you to rebel against your father, be arrogant with your brother and disobedient to your husband. They do not call for justice, mercy and unity. They call for hatred, arrogance and destruction.
Third: They do not stop at their call for rebellion against parents, brothers and husbands, rather, they plot against Islam. They call upon you to rebel against the obligations of Islam and the decrees of the All-Knowing King. Islam, to them, is unjust and Islamic laws are imperfect and restrictive. They call upon you, day and night, to rebel and insist on the disobedience of this religion. They try to rid you of your religion. They try to rid you of comfort and safety under generous parenthood, happy marriage and good brotherly relations.
Those devils portray piety and honor as chains on freedom. To them, Hijab does not cover the head, but also covers the mind; prayer, fasting and Zakat are a waste of time and effort; and obedience to husbands is slavery and a retum to the stone age. They distorted all facts and changed all truths, all to serve their evil goals.
Dear Sister,
The goals that your enemies and the enemies of your religion are seeking to achieve are well known. They want you to be available for them to fulfill their evil desires whenever they wish. They want you to be a mistress that has no honor. They want you to be found everywhere, on roads and in places of sin, without honor, religion or manners. They seek for you only what they want you to do. The Western world has gone through this all. Women of the West are the part of society that is facing injustice and dishonor. They strive to please men who keep changing partners and seek pleasures but with no responsibility and no consideration of the evil consequences of their sinful actions.
O Muslim sister, read and know about those women who discarded shyness and honor and followed their desires, what was the result of their deeds? Was their end honorable and desirable, or was it a shameful and hated end?
Advice For My Sister In Islam
Be proud of your religion and the religion of your ancestors. Be a good example for your sons and daughters and sincere in your belonging to this mighty nation. Know that honor is an honor to all wise people, and that adultery is dishonorable to all nations, even if some called it freedom. Know that adultery is also done with the eyes by seeing, with the ears by listening, and with the mouth by kissing, as was mentioned in a Hadith related by Imam Muslim. Your happiness is in being an obedient and believing daughter, a loyal and generous wife and a pious and merciful mother. Know that prayer is the cornerstone of Islam. Fasting one day, for the sake of Allah, takes your face seventy years away from Hellfire, as the Hadith, related by Al-Bukhari and Muslim, states. Charity is a major cause for gaining forgiveness and for repentance to be accepted. Those women who are showing parts of their bodies to men, will not enter Paradise or smell its fragrance and are cursed, as in the Hadith related by Imam Muslim. Hijab is an honor and protection for you. Hijab must be modest in color and not exotic, wide and thick and not revealing, different from the dress of non-Muslim women and men.
My Dear Sister,
These are words from the heart. These are words of good and sincere advice. Beware of the loyalists of Satan who want to lead you astray. Be a slave of Allah, righteous and decendent of righteous women and know your role in building this great nation. Perform your duty and do not be a cause for destruction. Be a maker of righteous generation that will lead mankind, again, to what is right and proper, to the great religion of Islam.
Had you shown your identity
Such a passionate comment. Hope you could identify who are you. I am of the opinion that instead of just educating for a job, Muslim women should realise that they have more responsibility on social issue instead of the men being asked to provide. They are more than 50% of the society and Allah has not made them less responsible.
Surely, nobody want the women to be available as is the trend. Unfortunately, if girls are educated on the real lines, people brand them conservatives etc. I call upon all women to do what you feel is right and not to follow what men sets for them.
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