On Educating Muslim Women – A Never Ending Obligation
Monthly Reflection for Jan. 2008 Written by Abul Layth
In 1965, Al-Muslimoon, a journal published by the Muslims of Geneva Switzerland, sent questions regarding Islam to Br. Malcolm X ((Note: This is after his conversion to orthodox Islam )). This was to be his last interview before his death. In it I saw a sincere cry to the Muslims to become active, to concentrate their efforts on Islamic ideals. The entire interview is of great worth and an entire Islamic sharh(gloss) could be written just on a couple of his statements. However, there is one question and answer that I felt was very pertinent in our times. It is the question of Muslim Women and their ignorance of Islam as well as general ‘knowledge’ from the arts and sciences. I remind you to read this while keeping in mind that Malcolm (Rahimahullah) is in an era of pure racism, where both the minority man and the disenfranchised woman were fighting for education.
Q: Now that you have visited and revisited many Muslim countries, what are your major impressions regarding Islam and Muslim both in the present and in the future?
A: [...I am leaving out two previous paragraphs so we can get to the fruit...] In every Middle East or African country I have visited, I noticed the country is as “advanced” as its women are, or as backward as its women. By this I mean, in areas where the women have been pushed into the background and kept without education, the whole area or country is just as backward, uneducated, and “underdeveloped.” Where the women are encouraged to get education and play a more active role in the all- around affairs of the community and the country, the entire people are more active, more enlightened, and more progressive. Thus, in my opinion, the Muslim religious leaders of today must reevaluate and spell out with clarity the Muslim position on education in general and education in the Muslim world. An old African proverb states: “Educate a man and you educate an individual; educate a woman and you educate an entire family.”
The observation of Malcolm in 1965 is relevant hitherto. Notice Malcolm’s ‘putting the ball in the court’ of the “Muslim Religious Leaders”. He did not pass the buck to the governments, to the secularists, to the ‘modern muslims’. He chose those endowed with “religious” knowledge to take upon their shoulders this immense task.
It is obvious that sacred knowledge has been forgotten in these dark times. In a time when religiosity is seen as backward by the “intellegentsia” of Westerndom, Muslims know the reality of the era. Islam has been replaced with “cultural Islam”. Women are still forbidden by some ignorant individuals from sitting in the gatherings of the Masaajid (or sitting there at all). Ibn ‘Umar (radhiya Allahu ‘Anhu) reports from our beloved Sayyid Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), “Do not forbid the hand-maidens of Allah from the Masjids (mosques) of Allah!” ((Bukhari and Others )). In fact, the son of Ibn ‘Umar said that he would forbid them, for he felt the need to. Upon hearing that from his son, Ibn Umar never spoke to his son even until his death!
I would like to remind the reader of the great woman scholars of Islam; our mother ‘Aa’ishah – the wife of the Prophet Muhammad as well as all of His wives. The Ansaari women of Medinah who demanded from the Prophet Muhammad one dedicated day to teach them the sacred knowledge sent by Providence ((Bukhari )). The students of the Mother of the Believers, a fine example being Hafsa bint Sireen (radhiya Allahu ‘anhaa) who memorized the entire Qur’an and released legal verdicts to the Muslims, who the great jurists of the four schools have direct knowledge-based chains to. Indeed, books upon books have been written on the female jurists, Quranic commentators, and scholars of the Muslim Ummah. Recently published in English is Imam As-Sulami’s work on Sufi Women in Muslim History, a fantastic work giving a brief glimpse into the world of the Female Muslim scholar.
Let us not be distracted, however, by simply making “scholars”. For how many scholars have we seen become absolute societal failures. Sure, they help outside of the home, but what of within it? How many scholars’ children end up on drugs, materialists, unaware of Allah ta’alaa? I personally have a dear friend whose father is a prominent scholar in Jordan. He once told me that he and his family hardly ever saw his ‘busy’ father. Rare were the days his father sat with him, encouraged him in working for the true reality – Allah. The result of such spiritual incompetence is immorality and spiritually deprived children. Allah ta’alaa tells us,
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا قُوا أَنفُسَكُمْ وَأَهْلِيكُمْ نَارًا وَقُودُهَا النَّاسُ وَالْحِجَارَةُ عَلَيْهَا مَلَائِكَةٌ غِلَاظٌ شِدَادٌ لَا يَعْصُونَ اللَّهَ مَا أَمَرَهُمْ وَيَفْعَلُونَ مَا يُؤْمَرُونَ
“Believers, guard yourselves and your families against a Fire fuelled by people and stones, over which stand angels, stern and strong; angels who never disobey Allah’s commands to them, but do as they are ordered!”
In the famous tafsir, Ruh Al-Ma’ani, The Nabi Muhammad (‘alayhis salaam) is recorded to have been asked by the companions as to how one saves their families from the fire of hell. To this the beloved Nabi (‘alayhis salaam) responded, “Instruct them to refrain from deeds that Allah has prohibited, and ask them to carry out deeds that Allah has enjoined. This is what will save them from the fire of hell!” Imam At-Tabari and Ibn Kathir report from Imam ‘Ali ibn Abi Taalib (‘alayhis salaam) that he said that the command ‘guard yourselves and your families against a Fire’ means, “Teach them [sacred knowledge] and cultivate them with good ettiquette.” The great Mufassir and disciple of the Prophet Muhammad, Abdullah ibn ‘Abbas (‘alayhis salaam) commented on this part of the verse,
وَمُرُوا أَهْلِيكُمْ بِالذِّكْرِ يُنْجِيكُمْ اللَّه مِنَ النَّار
“[...] And order your families with the dhikr of Allah, [for certainly] Allah will save them from the fire.”
Allah’s message, then, is that we save our families – wives and children – from Hell by education and encouraging spiritual well being by intense remembrance of Allah ta’alaa. The western message is that our wives, daughters, sisters, aunts and mothers need to step out of their homes to enter the capitalist workplace, leaving the children in the care of others, a disastrous da’wah. It is a da’wah anyone with insight and foresight can easily see stems from an attack upon the family-core. An evil attempt to strip our children of their right to good parenting and Islamic cultivation.
What this Ummah needs is not scholars, but female saints (awliyaa’), beacons of light so bright that the darknesses of westernization/materialism are depleted from the homes of the believers. Women with enough spiritual strength to change the decrepit state of the “Sick Man”. To reform our homes, to foster the next generation with love of the ancient forefathers, not love of the materialists and illegitimate “leaders” of the Muslims.
The dream of the Muslims is not to have the black man sitting next to the white without racial tension; the days of racism has long been damned by the teachings of the beloved Sayyid Muhammad (‘alayhis salaam). Rather, the dream of the Muslims is to illuminate the world and humanity with spirituality, awareness of Allah, deep-rooted in the fabric of our families. The condemnation of the material world, and the hope for the life to come, once ran through the homes of the believers. To make our homes bastions of Pax Islamica, abodes of love and joy, as well as education and prosperity is the Muslim dream. Let us listen to our Nabi (‘alayhis salaam) when he ordered, “Do not make your homes into graves!” The graves being a place of spiritual death ((save for the Prophets etc )), a place of no spiritual effort, no Islamic cultivation, no light. Make our homes into masjids, a sanctuary of peace and learning for our wives and daughters. An Islamic home!
“Educate a man and you educate an individual; educate a woman and you educate an entire family.”
JazakAllah Khair for that information, it is so true but i just feel like giving up.
Speaking about Muslim women, what about the fact that they are severely limited in visiting the Holy Prophet(Sallalahu Alaihi Wa Sallam) to a few hours each day?
Assalaamu ‘Alaykum,
Barak’Allahu feekum for this post. May Allah increase this Ummah with pious women who will guide the futur generations to the pleasure of Allah Subhanahu Wata’Ala. Ameen
*future
amin! wa Barak Allahu feekum.