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IN RECOGNITION OF WOMEN (aka my kinda bro...)
jannah
02/07/01 at 00:41:39
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful The Canadian Islamic Congress Friday Bulletin   Friday, MARCH 10, 2000 ZuL ElHEGA 4, 1420   Year:3 Volume:3 Issue:11   =============================================================   IN RECOGNITION OF WOMEN   ================================================================   When Imam Zuhri, a famous scholar of Sunna (Prophet  Muhammad's  traditions), indicated to Qasim ibn Muhammd (a  scholar of the Qur'an), a  desire to seek knowledge, Qasim advised him to join  the assembly of a  well-known woman jurist of the day, Amara bin  Al-Rahman. Imam Zuhri  attended her assembly and later described her as "a  boundless ocean of  knowledge." In fact, Amra instructed a number of  famed scholars, such as  Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Hazama, and Yahya ibn Said.   Amra was not an anomaly in Islamic history, for it  abounds with famous  women narrators of jurisprudence, starting with  Aisha, the Prophet's wife.  A conservative count would reveal at least 2,500  extraordinary women  jurists, narrators of Hadith, and poets throughout  history.   That was then, but now we encounter hardly a single  Islamic woman jurist.  Women are all but absent from Islamic public and  intellectual life. There  are remarkable women activists in many Mosques and  there are a few  impressive writers, such as Zaynab al-Ghazali. But  these are exceptions.  One will rarely find a woman lecturing to a mixed  audience about a gender-  neutral topic such as "riba" (usury), for example.  And while it is common  to encounter professional Muslim women in every walk  of life, it is very  rare to find them on the boards of Islamic centers,  or holding leadership  positions.   There are several reasons for this alarming  phenomenon. A particularly  disturbing one is the derogatory attitude that seems  to have infected many  Muslim men. Very few are willing to be instructed  or taught by women.  Muslim men, in North America and elsewhere, seem to  have developed a  woman-phobia that consistently aspires to exclude  women from conferences,  meetings, gatherings, and even the Mosques.   May God bless Fatimah bint Qais, who tenaciously  argued with Hazrat Uamr  and Hazrat Aisha over a legal point and refused to  change her opinion. And  there was Umm Yaqab, who on hearing Abdullah ibn  Masud explain a legal  point, then confidently told him, "I have read the  entire Qur'an but have  not found your explanation anywhere in it."   The fact is, that Islam neither limits women to the  private sphere, nor  does it give men supremacy over the public and  private life. One notices  that the Greek and Roman cultures which preceded  Islamic civilization did  not produce a single eminent woman philosopher or  jurist. Likewise, until  the 1700s, Europe failed to produce a single female  social, political, or  legal jurist. Islam did exactly the opposite in  every respect, so much so  that Hazart Umar bin al-Khitatab used to entrust  Shaffa bint Abdullah as  an inspector over the market in Medina. Moreover,  Islamic history is  replete with examples of female professors who  tutored famous male jurists.   Yet the sad legacy of our time is that we have taken  women back to the  pre-Islamic era by excluding them from public  exposure or involvement. A  modern scholar, Muhammad al-Ghazali, once described  this phenomenon as the  "ascendency of Bedouin fiqh (jusrisprudence)." What  he meant by this term  is that in much of contemporary culture... the world  revolves around men  and everything is channeled to their service.   The sunna (traditions) of the Prophet reveals that  he used to assist his  wives in household duties. But most modern scholars  have not had the  probity to suggest that the practice of men lending  a helping hand in the  home is to be recommended or even required in  certain circumstances. Most  men are content to ignore this and selectively  emphasize whatever in the  sunna serves only their interests. It is well-known  that women like  Aisha, Umm Salamah, Laila bint Qasim, Asma bint Abu  Bakr, Kaula bint Umm  Darda, and many others, were trusted with preserving  and teaching one  fourth of our religion.   Isn't it time we again trusted women to contribute  to our public and  intellectual lives? May the Muslim community in  North America lead the way  in producing the first Muslim woman jurist in more  than two centuries. It  is long overdue.   [Edited slightly from an article first published in  the July/Aug 1991  issue of THE MINARET and reprinted in VOICES, vol.  1, no. 2, Dec/Jan 1992,  by Professor Khalid Abou El Fadl. Dr. Abou El Fadl  is a law professor at  the University of California, Los Angeles, where he  specializes in Islamic  Law.]
NS

Re: IN RECOGNITION OF WOMEN (aka my kinda bro...)
jaihoon
02/07/01 at 06:15:33
Oh No! Did i have to come across this article just after a feminist dominated marketing information class?
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