بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Nafsiya Reflections: The Women's Esteem in Islam
Women are being driven to feministic ideas and liberal values thinking she will have some self- worth. Women in the West were always portrayed as mere objects and fought centuries to attain education, inheritance, and to be looked at as a human being to be respected and valued. Islam was sent and dignified women to highest level. Who are we to play with the stance of women?
Let us take a look at how Islam raised the value and merit of women: Its protection has been placed by Allah (swt). Our beloved Prophet (saw) banished a whole Jewish tribe, Banu Qaynuqa from his state in Madinah due to their abuse of a single Muslim woman and the violation of her Islamic dress.
Islam unequivocally prohibits any form of abuse or violence towards women. Allah (swt) says:
(وَلَا تُضَارُّوهُنَّ لِتُضَيِّقُوا عَلَيْهِنَّ) “And do not harm them (i.e. women) in order to oppress them.” [Al-Talaq: 6] And the Prophet (saw) said:
«لاَ تَضْرِبُوا إِمَاءَ اللَّهِ» “Do not beat the female servants of Allah” (Sunan ibn Majah). This was common practice during the time before Islam.
Islam obliges men to view and treat women with respect and protect their dignity and wellbeing always. Islam has made the female equal to a male only for serving their Creator, Allah (swt) and they both are obligated to worship Him (swt). Women and men are equal in the sense of worship.
Islam has never blamed women for the ill conduct of society that we see today. However, We see that in Christianity during the Middle Ages which can even be seen today that women are blamed for letting knowledge and evil out in the world. This harsh thought was spurred by Christians saying that it was Eve’s fault for throwing humans out of Jannah (Paradise). The story of Eve continued to dictate women's status.
We saw Islam did opposite of that and one of the most examples is was when Mu’tassim bi’llah, sent a huge army to rescue a single Muslim woman in Amuriyah, Turkey who was captured and abused by the Romans. This is the true legacy of Islam.
A legacy that is not taught by the West or even in Muslim lands. Was Caliph Muard IV taught in schools and if so, what was taught? He once had the Vizer to the Imperial Council (Divaan) strangled due to him that he had beaten up his mother in law. This was then reported to the 20 year old Ottoman Caliph Murad IV (reign 1632-1640) who set a clear example that none should dare to mistreat women no matter the rank or status.
Today, we see vigils for women who were murdered by their spouse, or former spouse. We see Muslim girls and women humiliated, insulted and abused on a daily basis in India. We see the rape of Muslim women by the thugs of the criminal Bashar Al Assad, unlawful imprisonment beatings of women and children in the usurper Jewish entity’s prisons, Muslim women having to take off their hijab in order to enter universities, and countless more injustices while these ruthless Muslim rulers look a blind eye to women being tortured, abused, raped, imprisoned, etc. The most heartbreaking example is Dr. Afia Siddiqi, who was raped while in custody by the American army and reamains imprisoned. Our mothers, sisters, daughters, have been abandoned and left in the hands of their evil oppressors and butchers. How can we have the hearts to even turn a blind eye to what is occurring in our Ummah? What has happened to our once shining State that no one even dared to provoke due to its strength and dignity? This is the accomplishment of the West!
Did the Muslim Ummah forget our beloved Prophet’s (saw) hadith?
«الْمُسْلِمُ أَخُو الْمُسْلِمِ، لاَ يَظْلِمُهُ وَلاَ يُسْلِمُهُ» “A Muslim is the brother of a Muslim he does not oppress him, nor does he abandon him."
The rights of women are not secured in our Ummah all due to the absence of the Khilafah. Women are not protesting to have rights, for their bodies to be respected,, right to equal pay,, education, etc. This was granted to women 1400 years ago. This dignity was stolen from our Ummah when our shield was destroyed by the malicious plots of the West who for centuries plotted to destroy the khilafah succeeding in 1924. The lack of justice received by the women in this Ummah has turned them towards feministic ideas thinking this is how they will attain dignity, rights from an abusive marriage, poverty, etc. This poison of feministic ideologies was introduced to the Ummah from the west to further the colonialist’s campaign to dominate the Muslims. Lies about Muslim women being oppressed due to Islam started little by little to spread due to oppression seen from traditions, culture, males, etc that has nothing to do with Islam but from the European culture where she will no longer have these feministic ideologies that are Kufr beliefs developed in the West.
The West played on the emotions of the Ummah to keep stirring them away from their Shariah way of life. It even stooped so low as to portray the Ottoman sultan’s harem was a prison for the concubines of the sultan and that they were given nothing to do as they waited all day for the sultan to call for them. In reality, it served as the living quarters for the women of the Ottoman palace and was also where the women were given classes and educated and no man was allowed to enter. These lies were spread by European men who acted on erotic fantasies, and taken to higher disgusting envious level where they painted pictures of the inside of the harems depicting the women as naked and made them into sexual objects by the Europeans. Sadly, these ideas gushed forth into Muslim lands making Muslims believe that women are mere objects as were during the Ottoman time.
It becomes clear as day and night that this poison has made the Muslim Ummah suffer but it not time to stay idle and be disabled but the time to work effortlessly towards the re-establishment of the Khilafah. Only with the restoration of the Khilafah on the method of the Prophet (saw) can the Shariah be implemented and the rights of the women be restored. Allah’s promise is near and our Shield shall be restored once again restoring dignity and honor to women.
So let us strive hard, insha’Allah, towards this objective. Allah (swt) said,
(وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مِنكُمْ وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ لَيَسْتَخْلِفَنَّهُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ كَمَا اسْتَخْلَفَ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ وَلَيُمَكِّنَنَّ لَهُمْ دِينَهُمُ الَّذِي ارْتَضَىٰ لَهُمْ وَلَيُبَدِّلَنَّهُم مِّن بَعْدِ خَوْفِهِمْ أَمْنًا ۚ يَعْبُدُونَنِي لَا يُشْرِكُونَ بِي شَيْئًا ۚ وَمَن كَفَرَ بَعْدَ ذَٰلِكَ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْفَاسِقُونَ)
“Allah has promised those who have believed among you and done righteous deeds that He will surely grant them succession [to authority] upon the earth just as He granted it to those before them and that He will surely establish for them [therein] their religion which He has preferred for them and that He will surely substitute for them, after their fear, security, [for] they worship Me, not associating anything with Me. But whoever disbelieves after that - then those are the defiantly disobedient.” [TMQ Surah An-Nur 24:55].