Category: Islam

  • How I Came to Love the Veil

    As most of you know, I have a separate blog to reflect my views on Islam, but this post, despite presenting the views of a Muslim woman, is a very important description of the naivety of the West in understanding the context and widsom of Islamic injunctions. If we had more willingness to understand these concepts and practices, it would very quickly erase the ignorantly vile attitude that Muslims are subjected to on a daily basis.

    Personally, in my daily interactions with non-Muslims, it always, without exception, becomes apparent that cultural (read religious) ignorance is much more prevalent in non-Muslims than in Muslims. Ask the average non-Muslim about Islam, and you’ll get media-biased views and opinions. Ask the average Muslim about Christianity (or even Atheism) and you’ll get a relatively informed view of the tenets or fundamentals of the faith, an understanding of their sects, and an appreciation for what is common and what are differentiating factors between the religions. I won’t hazard any guesses just yet as to why this is true, but from my experiences and engagements so far, it simply is.

    ammarmali:

    SubhanAllah, my tears refuse to stop flowing. This is everything I’ve ever felt regarding hijab; everything I’ve always wanted to say.

    I used to look at veiled women as quiet, oppressed creatures — until I was captured by the Taliban.

    In September 2001, just 15 days after the terrorist attacks on the United States, I snuck into Afghanistan, clad in a head-to-toe blue burqa, intending to write a newspaper account of life under the repressive regime. Instead, I was discovered, arrested and detained for 10 days. I spat and swore at my captors; they called me a “bad” woman but let me go after I promised to read the Koran and study Islam. (Frankly, I’m not sure who was happier when I was freed — they or I.)

    Back home in London, I kept my word about studying Islam — and was amazed by what I discovered. I’d been expecting Koran chapters on how to beat your wife and oppress your daughters; instead, I found passages promoting the liberation of women. Two-and-a-half years after my capture, I converted to Islam, provoking a mixture of astonishment, disappointment and encouragement among friends and relatives.

    Now, it is with disgust and dismay that I watch here in Britain as former foreign secretary Jack Straw describes the Muslim nikab — a face veil that reveals only the eyes — as an unwelcome barrier to integration, with Prime Minister Tony Blair, writer Salman Rushdie and even Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi leaping to his defense.

    Having been on both sides of the veil, I can tell you that most Western male politicians and journalists who lament the oppression of women in the Islamic world have no idea what they are talking about. They go on about veils, child brides, female circumcision, honor killings and forced marriages, and they wrongly blame Islam for all this — their arrogance surpassed only by their ignorance.

    These cultural issues and customs have nothing to do with Islam. A careful reading of the Koran shows that just about everything that Western feminists fought for in the 1970s was available to Muslim women 1,400 years ago. Women in Islam are considered equal to men in spirituality, education and worth, and a woman’s gift for childbirth and child-rearing is regarded as a positive attribute.

    When Islam offers women so much, why are Western men so obsessed with Muslim women’s attire? Even British government ministers Gordon Brown and John Reid have made disparaging remarks about the nikab — and they hail from across the Scottish border, where men wear skirts.

    When I converted to Islam and began wearing a headscarf, the repercussions were enormous. All I did was cover my head and hair — but I instantly became a second-class citizen. I knew I’d hear from the odd Islamophobe, but I didn’t expect so much open hostility from strangers. Cabs passed me by at night, their “for hire” lights glowing. One cabbie, after dropping off a white passenger right in front of me, glared at me when I rapped on his window, then drove off. Another said, “Don’t leave a bomb in the back seat” and asked, “Where’s bin Laden hiding?”

    Yes, it is a religious obligation for Muslim women to dress modestly, but the majority of Muslim women I know like wearing the hijab, which leaves the face uncovered, though a few prefer the nikab. It is a personal statement: My dress tells you that I am a Muslim and that I expect to be treated respectfully, much as a Wall Street banker would say that a business suit defines him as an executive to be taken seriously. And, especially among converts to the faith like me, the attention of men who confront women with inappropriate, leering behavior is not tolerable.

    I was a Western feminist for many years, but I’ve discovered that Muslim feminists are more radical than their secular counterparts. We hate those ghastly beauty pageants, and tried to stop laughing in 2003 when judges of the Miss Earth competition hailed the emergence of a bikini-clad Miss Afghanistan, Vida Samadzai, as a giant leap for women’s liberation. They even gave Samadzai a special award for “representing the victory of women’s rights.”

    Some young Muslim feminists consider the hijab and the nikab political symbols, too, a way of rejecting Western excesses such as binge drinking, casual sex and drug use. What is more liberating: being judged on the length of your skirt and the size of your surgically enhanced breasts, or being judged on your character and intelligence? In Islam, superiority is achieved through piety — not beauty, wealth, power, position or sex.

    I didn’t know whether to scream or laugh when Italy’s Prodi joined the debate last week by declaring that it is “common sense” not to wear the nikab because it makes social relations “more difficult.” Nonsense. If this is the case, then why are cellphones, landlines, e-mail, text messaging and fax machines in daily use? And no one switches off the radio because they can’t see the presenter’s face.

    Under Islam, I am respected. It tells me that I have a right to an education and that it is my duty to seek out knowledge, regardless of whether I am single or married. Nowhere in the framework of Islam are we told that women must wash, clean or cook for men. As for how Muslim men are allowed to beat their wives — it’s simply not true. Critics of Islam will quote random Koranic verses or hadith, but usually out of context. If a man does raise a finger against his wife, he is not allowed to leave a mark on her body, which is the Koran’s way of saying, “Don’t beat your wife, stupid.”

    It is not just Muslim men who must reevaluate the place and treatment of women. According to a recent National Domestic Violence Hotline survey, 4 million American women experience a serious assault by a partner during an average 12-month period. More than three women are killed by their husbands and boyfriends every day — that is nearly 5,500 since 9/11.

    Violent men don’t come from any particular religious or cultural category; one in three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime, according to the hotline survey. This is a global problem that transcends religion, wealth, class, race and culture.

    But it is also true that in the West, men still believe that they are superior to women, despite protests to the contrary. They still receive better pay for equal work — whether in the mailroom or the boardroom — and women are still treated as sexualized commodities whose power and influence flow directly from their appearance.

    And for those who are still trying to claim that Islam oppresses women, recall this 1992 statement from the Rev. Pat Robertson, offering his views on empowered women: Feminism is a “socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.”

    Now you tell me who is civilized and who is not.

    By Yvonne Ridley

  • Choosing a sect

    The argument that just ‘professing to be Muslim is insufficient these days’ is patently flawed. Far too often the issue of following the way of the salaf versus being a salafi gets raised with the proponents suggesting that too many deviant sects or misguided schools of thought also profess to be Muslim.

    So here’s the issue for me. By worrying about what others will think of you based on the label you ascribe to yourself, you’re focusing your actions to be based on the acceptance of others, rather than concerning yourself with your standing in Allah’s eyes. Worse still, by insisting on creating a label for your flavour of Islam different from that of simply being a Muslim is simply creating another sect. 

    Consider this. Of the 73 sects that are mentioned in the hadith, 72 will be astray. Now let’s assume we create the ‘salafi’ sect as the 73rd sect. However, by creating it as a sect, it becomes bound by dogma, stigma, perceptions and interpretations. And as is the case with over zealous followers of such sects, when those over zealous ones acquire a senior status in the ranks of such sects, they often yield enough influence to contaminate the true teachings with their personal opinions, sometimes deliberately, and other times unintentionally simply because their words are misconstrued by those same over zealous followers. 

    At that point, all 73 sects would be astray and would therefore nullify the hadith referred to above. For this simple reason, I believe that being a Muslim and nothing else will always be enough. Learning and practising Islam according to the way of the salaf is the default disposition of any true Muslim. When questioned about the basis for our practises, we’re at liberty to quote authentic sources from the salaf, and in doing so, it would make us practising Muslims. So the 73rd sect is in fact everyone that practises Islam according to the salaf, and whether they choose to be labelled salafis or not is irrelevant. 

    Through simple laziness we succumb to needing to compartmentalise people so that it makes it easier to judge their worth without having to determine the merit of their actions. In so doing, we negate all their good the moment a single attribute of theirs identifies them with some group of misguided individuals. It is entirely possible for someone to be practising 90% of their deen based on the ways of the salaf, yet because something they do may be construed as sufi or shia, even though it is not shirk, they’re deemed deviants by those that indulge in the excesses of labelling Muslims. 

    I am a Believer, a Mu’min. And that, I know for a fact, is enough for Allah. So why would I want to contaminate my Imaan by labelling my rituals in my effort to get closer to Allah? Principles versus rituals. Insha-Allah we’ll understand the difference soon before it’s too late. 

  • Raising One’s Hands in Dua

    Amongst the etiquette of du’a that is known by all Muslims, young or old, is that of raising one’s hands. Abu Musa al-Ashari, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated:

    “The Prophet, peace be upon him, made du’a, and I saw him raise his hands, until I could see the whiteness of his armpits.” (Recorded in al-Bukhari)

    Further, Saman al-Farsi, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said:

    “Indeed, Allah is Shy and Beneficient. He is Shy when His servant raises his hands to Him (in du’a) to return them empty, disappointed!” (Recorded in Ahmad)

    SubhanAllah! The Lord of the Creation feels Shy when one of His servants lifts his hands up to Him to make du’a! Verily, hearts are filled with love and awe at the Generosity and Beneficence of Allah.

    It is important that our palms face upwards, and not the back of one’s hands, because it is not befitting to ask with the palms facing down, which is a sign of arrogance.

    There are three different types of motions for du’a that are narrated from the Companions. The first type is to point one’s forefinger without necessarily lifting one’s hands. This action is done when one asks for forgiveness, or makes general dhikr or during tashahhud. The second type is to raise one’s hands to the level of one’s shoulders with the palms facing up. This is done for regular dua’s at any time. The last type of action is only done in extremely severe circumstances, such as asking for rain after drought, or seeking protection from imminent enemy attack. In this case the hands are stretched forth towards the sky, without joining the two palms together. When this is done a person’s armpits are exposed due to the severity of stretching.

    The general rule is that one raises one’s hands to make du’a, but there are exceptions. The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, did not raise his hands during the Friday khutbah. So for the du’a during the khutbah, it is not Sunnah for the Imam or the people to raise their hands, except if the Imam makes a special prayer for rain. It is also not a Sunnah to raise one’s hands for the various du’as throughout the day.

    As to the exact manner in which one’s hands should be raised, it is to the level of the shoulders, hands placed together, with palms towards the sky or one’s own face. The wiping of the face with the hands will be discussed in a later post, inshaAllah.

  • Sighting versus Calculating the New Moon

    the72sects:

    It might be a bit premature for a post like this given that Ramadaan is still a few months away, but this issue has been playing on my mind for a long time now. I was reminded about it again just now when I was delayed in my performance of my Dhuhr salaah, which nearly overlapped with the time for Asr. How did I know it almost overlapped? Not through measuring the length of the shadow of an object relative to the object itself, or from going out to try to determine the angle of the sun. I identified the overlap like almost every other Muslim these days, and that is that I looked at a perpetual salaah timetable that has been published by various Islamic bodies throughout the world, and that is available on the internet, on my mobile phone and in various printed formats. 

    So we’ve got access to this amazing wealth of knowledge that we know only stems from Allah because Allah has established this universe in due proportion with an order about everything. It makes everything predictable if we only apply our minds. Everything except the weather of course. And women. But I digress. 🙂

    Despite knowing the exact minute when the moon will be born, and despite knowing exactly how old it has to be before it is possible to be seen with the naked eye, we still insist on the physical sighting of the moon to establish the beginning of a new lunar month, when we go from day to day and establish our salaah according to a calculated timetable! Is it just me or is there a distinct contradiction in that? The moon sighting sagas has not only made the Muslims a laughing stock of the world on more than one occasion, but it has driven divisions in communities because of the ridiculous debates that rage around it.

    So in our collective wisdom, in South Africa for example, we agree that if the moon is not sighted in Johannesburg, but it is sighted in Cape Town, then the Muslims in Johannesburg are allowed to commence fasting in line with the people in Cape Town. So I ask myself this simple question; during the time of Rasulullah (SAW), how would it have been possible for a message to be sent in a single night from one town to another town to confirm the sighting of the moon when those towns were in fact days of travel apart? So is this then yet another contradiction in the practice of insisting on the sighting of the moon for Ramadaan?

    It simply doesn’t make sense. All it does is it confirms yet again the ridiculous gap in knowledge of those that perpetuate such logic because once again we fail to note the difference between ritual and principle. Ritual would be the sighting of the moon. Principle would be the changing of the month based on the birth of the new moon. Both of which is clearly guided by the measurements defined by the Sunnah. If these measurements can be accurately confirmed without the use of the naked eye, then the same way that we don’t look for the distinction between a black and white thread at the time of dawn to commence Fajr salaah, we should not be looking for the crescent of the new moon to confirm the commencement of a new Islamic month. When we get this right, the ridicule in the below image can finally be put behind us, so that as an Ummah we can stop being distracted with such ridiculous pettiness and instead focus on the real issues that face the Muslims today. 

  • Dua for parents and for pious children

  • Is there really only one ONE straight path?

    More often than not, references to this ‘straight path’ is made in arrogant and condescending tones denoting that only a single interpretation of Islam is possibly acceptable and that everyone else are misguided deviants. This is like saying that there is only black and white and every colour in between doesn’t exist. I’ve seen this and many other similar sentiments appear on Tumblr, and the only emotions it stirs in me is the same frustration I experience when I sit in the masjid and listen to the condescension and rhetoric flowing thick and fast from the tongues of so many self-righteous imams that barely represent the sunnah in their physique, manner or disposition. 

    Islam is not a monolithic structure with a hierarchy that has only a single route to the top. There is only One Allah. This is indisputable and is also the only unforgivable sin. There are a million ways to achieve Allah’s pleasure and mercy, so assuming that there is only one interpretation or practice of what ‘THE straight path’ is, is a fallacy most often grounded in self-indulgent piety.

    This same inflexible thinking is what gives rise to sects and madhabs and so many other deviations that are hardly ever the teachings of the true pious scholars but instead are excessive interpretations by their over zealous followers. Those sects that were formed through the self-proclamation of its founders are blatantly misguided, and those that were formed through the proclamations of its followers have always been questionable. 

    The lazy ones insist on labels. The arrogant ones judge without true knowledge. The fools pronounce takfir on others without concern for their own standing with Allah. The same way that there is a million ways to give charity, and each way earns Allah’s pleasure, there is a million ways to be a Muslim without deviating from the principles that Islam has established through the example set by Rasulullah (SAW). Anyone that insists otherwise is at risk of judging others from a position of religious arrogance rather than true concern. 

    Sahih Bukhari ~ Vol 3, Book 49. Peacemaking. Hadith 861.

    Narrated By ‘Aisha : Allah’s Apostle said, “If somebody innovates something which is not in harmony with the principles of our religion, that thing is rejected.”

    Principles, not traditions. Far too often we confuse the two and end up hopelessly refuting people on the basis of arrogant affiliations rather than true contradictions or innovations that violate the principles of Islam. May Allah protect us all from such ignorance and arrogance, the combination of which is fatal to our iman.

  • May Allah guide us and make us of those on the straight path, who also don’t rush to wrongly accuse others of deviance without proper investigation.

    leenabaleena:

    by Shaykh Muhammad Ibn Saalih Ibn ‘Uthaymeen
    Source: Lecture “Alaykum Bissunnah”*

    From his [the Prophet] sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam’s statement,

    “Whoever lives amongst you will see much differing, so adhere to my Sunnah”,

    It can be learnt that if parties (ahzaab) within the ummah emerge in increasing numbers then one should not affiliate himself to a party (hizb). In the past, many groups have appeared; Khwaarij, Mu’tazilah, Jahmiyyah, Shee’ah, even Raafidah. Then there appeared, later on Ikhwanis, Salafis, Tablighis, and all those like them. Put all of them to one side and take [the path] ahead. Which is what the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallaam guided to, “Adhere to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the rightly guided caliphs.” No doubt, it is obligatory for all Muslims to adopt the way of the salaf as their madhhab, not affiliation to a specific party (hizb) named, “The Salafis”. It is obligatory for the Islamic Ummah to adopt the way of the salaf as-salih as their madhhab, not bigotry to those called “the salafis”. Pay attention to the difference: There is the way of the salaf, and there is a party (hizb) called “the salafis”.

    What is the objective? Following the Salaf. Why? The salafi brothers are the closest sect to that which is right, no doubt, but their problem is the same as others, that some of these sects declare others as being misguided, they declare them to be innovators and as being sinners. We don’t censure this, if they deserve it, but we censure handling this bid’ah in this way. It is obligatory for the leaders of these sects to get together and say, “Between us is the book of Allah, and the Sunnah of His messenger, so lets us judge by them and not according to desires, opinions and not according to personalities. Everyone makes mistakes and achieves correctness no matter what he has reached with regards to knowledge and worship. Infallibility is [only] in the religion of Islam.”

    In this hadeeth the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallaam guided to the way in which a person secures himself. He doesn’t affiliate him to any sect, only the way of the salaf as-salih, to the Sunnah of our Prophet sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallaam and the rightly guided caliphs. 

    Footnotes:

    *The tape is part of his Sharh of An-Nawawi’s 40 hadeeth, in the sharh of the hadeeth of Irbaad ibn Saariyah (no.28).

    I couldn’t agree more.

  • roxygen:

    I have quite a difficult time sifting through the judgmental tendencies of people though most people are guilty of that sometimes (I’ve done it), but I often think that the speed, anonymity and false sense of ‘space’ online makes it easier for some people to attack one another. 

    Its so easy to say that stuff to another Muslim online but would you do it in the more tangible community that includes your family, friends and colleagues right to his or her face?  

    Do you honestly care as to whether or not they will be affected by your “advice” or are you blowing off some steam? Its not going to make you feel much better. At the end of the day, no matter how much time you waste here, these exercises are futile. The most they can do is hurt you.

    These sort of webs that we create for ourselves and ensnare one another in are not often the most accurate representations of reality, let alone sources of pertinent and nuanced information that we can actually apply to our own contexts and practical affairs.

    Lots of truth in that. I’ve often pondered much on the same issue. People that are so proud and arrogant in their proclamation of who is or is not deviants, which scholars are misguided, and who’s kafir would barely say a word if they came face to face with the people they so easily accused of all these things online. The anonymity of the url has bolstered some people’s egos to the point where they believe that if their url is known, and they’re not deliberately anonymous, then it makes them sincere. 

    What a delusion. Sincerity can only ever be truly tested face to face, if then also. The manners and etiquette that many display online would land them in fist fights and well-deserved beatings in real life if they displayed such gall or callousness to their adversary’s face. Tumblr, if nothing else, is a good litmus test of your iman. Act with impunity under the guise of standing up for what is right without due consideration for the feelings of a fellow Muslim, and it will be a very real reflection of the void in your soul that should have been filled with the love for Allah and what He loves. 

    We delude ourselves all the time, while Shaytaan sits behind us giggling his butt off watching us plot and plan his next move because he has so successfully made us believe that our arrogance is in fact rooted in piety. What a disappointing joke.