What do you think of the issue : Women leading a prayer as Imams in mixed obligatory prayers?! And if you don't mind expressing your personal opinion about feminists such as Amina Wadud or Laila Ahmed ?
as salaam alaikum,
It’s not even an issue to me.
To me, the issues are:
- forced marriage
- FGM
- honour killings
- denying women the right to education
- denying women the right to divorce
- denying women the right to inherit (and I’m talking about the Islamic values of inheritance and not the Western values - yes this still happens)
- defining women by the clothing they wear
- not permitting women to attend salaah in the masjid
- the erasure of centuries of female scholarship in Islam
- extremism
- the high price of mahr in some regions, coupled with the high levels of unemployment, which is really putting a strain on young couples who want to get married
- fighting Hislam, a very real entity that many of us refuse to even address, or if we do address it we assume that every single Muslim man is guilty of this
I think what this ummah needs is a feminine understanding of the Qur’an and Sunnah as well as a masculine understanding. I don’t think a purely feminist understanding of Islam is going to help, as feminism is based on a negative concept, not a positive one. But if we look at things with both the feminine and masculine understandings in place, inshaa Allah we will get the bigger picture, and this can only make our deen more moderate, as opposed to the extremism that is seen in today’s ummah, namely the extremists who try to silence women vs. the extremists who try to erase anything seen as masculine or aggressive (progressives).
My male, weak-faithed/ignorant Muslim friend argues that hijab is sexist. He knows that I was forced to wear it by my mother, two years ago. But I have come to accept it now. He says that if Islam were fair, then Muslim men would also have to be obligated to wear a turban over their heads. I told him that it's because women are more sexually attractive, but he says that's not true and that I am being sexist because men are also sexually attractive. What proof should I use to convince him?
as salaam alaikum,
Please read my response here inshaa Allah.
hi im just wondering about the hijab article you wrote.. what is the patience of a hijabi in the media? we do get difficult and ignorant questions but we still have to be patient right?
as salaam alaikum,
I think it’s OK to voice generalised frustration, as we shouldn’t try to cover up how we feel or the difficulties we encounter, but I think it’s wrong to be condescending to those who ask us questions or to be rude.
However, we are all human and if we make a mistake like that we should ask for forgiveness and try better next time. If we lose our cool, we should definitely be sure to point out that despite our choice of dress we are still human and we still make mistakes/sins. People, especially Muslims, need to be reminded of this.
