Articles

Women`s Rights
Author : Dr. Ibrahim Ejjo
Date Added : 16-10-2022

 

 

All perfect praise be to Allah the Lord of the Worlds. May Allah`s peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Mohammad and upon all his family and companions.

Unlike any pre-Islamic or post-Islamic legislation, Islam has given women a great deal of attention. It has been the beginning of the turning point for women. Rather, it is the actual turning point. In pre-Islamic times, women were given no consideration whatsoever: They were buried alive, deprived, enslaved, humiliated, and degraded. The attention Islam has given to women emanates from realizing their significant role in educating and upbringing future generations since the mother is a school. 

 

However, the enemies of Islam seize every opportunity to corrupt women. They do this in cold blood through pretending to cry for women and their rights; as if these are lost or wasted. They incite women against the religion of Allah under the pretext of reform, but Allah knows their evil intentions. They want Muslim women to abandon their modesty and get off their chastity. They launch slogans for women and give them hope for freedom and happiness. This is in a bid to entrap Muslims and destroy their last fortress. Had they been fair-No way they are-they would have recognized what Islam, compared to any other legislation, has achieved for women. Islam has guaranteed her full humanity at the time when the philosophers and the rational people were arguing whether women are human beings or not? Do they have souls? If they have souls, then are they human or animal? This is at a time when women were looked at as an extra burden and were inherited as if they were property.

 

Islam came to decide that women are equal to men in being created from a single person and having the same fate. Allah Says {What means}: "O mankind! reverence your Guardian-Lord, who created you from a single person, created, of like nature, His mate, and from them twain scattered (like seeds) countless men and women;-" [An-Nisa`/1]. He also Says (What means): "O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise (each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of God is (he who is) the most righteous of you." [Al-Hujurat/13].

 

Women and men come from the same origin and have the same fate before Almighty Allah. Men and women are the two halves of humanity and the same soul. The Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) has spoken the truth when he said: "Women are counterpart of men or women are of the same nature as men." [Transmitted by Abu Dawood].

 

In principle, this equality doesn`t mean that women are like men in all aspects since assuming this ignores human nature and changes the nature of things. Of course, the male isn`t similar to the female in terms of nature, creation, and function. Almighty Allah has given men physical strength to work and seek provisions while women are kind and compassionate to raise their children to be pious and righteous. In this regard, a poet once said {What means}: "The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world."

This difference doesn`t mean preferring women over men or vice versa. Rather, men and women are like day and night; they differ but each complements the other.

 

Life can`t be endured if it is only daytime or nighttime and the same goes for men and women. From an Islamic angle, women`s blood, honour, property, and dignity are inviolable. Allah has spoken the truth when He said: "And women shall have rights similar to the rights against them," {Al-Baqarah,228}. This verse indicates that women and men are peers in terms of rights and obligations, but not Qiwama (men are the protectors and maintainers of women). Necessity dictates that men have the Qiwama over women for there has to be a caretaker for every household. Allah Says (What means): "If there were, in the heavens and the earth, other gods besides God, there would have been confusion in both! but glory to God, the Lord of the Throne: (High is He) above what they attribute to Him!" [Al-Anbiyaa`/22]. He The Exalted Adds: "behold, each god would have taken away what he had created, and some would have lorded it over others!" [Al-Mu`minon/ 91]. Accordingly, reason and logic dictate that the man is more capable of shouldering this responsibility because he can handle things without emotional excitement. Man`s nature and ability to endure makes him more fit for Qiwama.

 

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Summarized Fatawaa

What is the ruling of Islamic Law on kissing while fasting?

All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our master the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
It is prohibitively disliked (makrūh taḥrīman) for a husband to engage in foreplay with or kiss his wife during the daylight hours of Ramaḍān if doing so stirs his desire. If pre-seminal fluid (madhī) is released as a result, the fast is not invalidated; however, if seminal fluid (manī) is released, the fast is broken.
Imām al-Khaṭīb al-Sharbīnī, may Allah have mercy upon him, stated: "It is prohibitively disliked to kiss — whether on the mouth or elsewhere — for one whose desire is stirred, whether man or woman, to the extent that he fears it may lead to intercourse or ejaculation. Embracing, touching, and similar acts without a barrier carry the same ruling as kissing in this regard, because such acts expose the act of worship to being corrupted — and as the two Ṣaḥīḥs record: 'Whoever circles around a protected boundary is liable to fall into it.'"
He further added: "It is preferable for one whose desire is not stirred — even if he is a young man — to refrain from such acts as well, so as to close the door entirely. For he may believe his desire has not been aroused when in fact it has. Moreover, it is Sunnah for the fasting person to abstain from all desires without exception." — Summarised with minor adaptation from [Mughnī al-Muḥtāj]. And Allah the Almighty knows best.

Is "Bismillāhir-Raḥmānir-Raḥīm" a verse (āyah) of Sūrat al-Fātiḥah?

All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our master, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
The basmalah ("Bismillāhir-Raḥmānir-Raḥīm") is, without question, a verse (āyah) of the Noble Qur'an, and according to the Shāfi‘ī school, it constitutes a verse of Sūrat al-Fātiḥah itself. Al-Fātiḥah is a pillar of the prayer, and it consists of seven verses, of which the basmalah is one. The prayer is not valid without reciting it, nor if any of the Fātiḥah's verses, letters, or shaddahs (consonant doublings) are omitted or altered.
It is stated in Bushrā al-Karīm (Vol.1/p.202), from the books of the Shāfi‘ī school: "The basmalah is a complete verse of it [i.e., of al-Fātiḥah] in practice — and it suffices, for this to be established, that there be strong probability (ẓann), especially given that this has come very close to certainty (yaqīn), due to the consensus (ijmā‘) of the Companions on its inclusion in the muṣ-ḥaf [the written text of the Qur'an] in its script, despite their extreme diligence in excluding from it anything that did not genuinely belong to it — to the point that they even [carefully regulated] its diacritical dots and vowel markings." And Allah, the Exalted, knows best.

What is the ruling on the ablution of one who touches his wife without a barrier?

In the Shafi'i school, a man's ablution is invalidated by touching his wife if their skins meet (in any place) without a barrier, whether the touch is intentional or accidental. An exception to this is touching hair, teeth, or nails; these do not invalidate ablution. And Allah the Almighty knows best.

What is the ruling on forgiving a tenant next month's rent, with the intention of counting it toward zakāh al-māl?

All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our master, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
It does not fulfill the obligation to count the rent owed on a house, or a portion of it, in lieu of zakāh. Rather, it is necessary to first transfer ownership of the zakāh amount to the poor person directly; only afterward may he be asked to pay the rent [from that money].
It is stated in ‘Umdat as-Sālik (p. 112): "If someone gives [money] to a poor person, stipulating that the recipient return it to him in payment of a debt owed to him, or says, 'I am making what you owe me into zakāh, so take it [as such]' — this is not valid. But if he gives it to him with the [unstated] intention that the recipient will use it to repay him, or says, 'Repay what you owe me, so that I may [then separately] give it to you as zakāh,' or the debtor himself says, 'Give it to me, so that I may [then] repay you with it' — this is valid, and there is no binding obligation for the recipient to actually fulfill this [informal understanding]."
We would also remind [the reader] of the ḥadīth of the Prophet ﷺ: "The Muslim is the brother of the Muslim: he does not wrong him, nor does he abandon him [to harm]. Whoever attends to the needs of his brother, Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, will attend to his needs. Whoever relieves a Muslim of a hardship, Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, will relieve him of one of the hardships of the Day of Resurrection. And whoever conceals [the faults of] a Muslim, Allah will conceal him on the Day of Resurrection." (Agreed upon). And Allah, the Exalted, knows best.