Jazakumullahu khairan for posting this. Have you asked Mufti Ibrahim Desai?
www.askimam.org

A range of opinions would be good, from qualified scholars.

Men are Overseers of Women"

Allamah Ibn-ul-Arabi (RA) comments on this verse:

The meaning of this verse is: I have made men overseers of women because I have granted the former superiority over the latter. This is due to three reasons viz.

a. perfect understanding

b. perfection of deen and obedience in jihad and commanding the good and forbidding the evil etc. This has been explained by Nabi sallallahu alaihi wasallam in an authentic Hadith.

"I have not seen any one of deficient intellect and deen who is more destructive to the intelligence of a cautious man than you women."

The women asked: "Why is that, O messenger of Allâh?" He replied: "Do you not spend a few nights without performing salâh and without keeping fast? This is the deficiency of her deen and the testimony of one of you equals half the testimony of a single man - this is the deficiency of her intellect. "... so that if one of the two women errs, the second would remind her". (Al Baqarah, verse 281)

c. His spending on her in the form of dowry and other expenditure. (Ahkâmul Qurân, verse 1, pg.416)

Allamah âlusi (RA) writes in the commentary of this verse that it is the quality of men to oversee the affairs of women just as the rulers oversee their subjects by commanding them to do good etc. This ruling is attributed to two reasons: one being wahbi (this is granted solely by Allâh) and the other Kasbi (i.e. achieved on account of his action).

a. because Allâh has granted him superiority as has been narrated (in the Hadith) that women are deficient in intellect and deen and men are the opposite, that is why risalat (prophethood), imamat-e-kubra and sughra (major and minor leadership), Adhân, Iqâmat, khuthba etc. are confined to men. (meaning that only men were Rasuls and Nabis and only man can rule, lead the salâh etc.)

b. because men bear the expenditure of women. (Ruhul Ma'âni, vl.5, pg.23)

Top

Before considering Maulana Shabbir Ahmed Uthmani's (RA) commentary, it is necessary that we first refer to the verse:

"And do not covet that which Allâh favours some of you with over others - men will receive the reward of what they earn and women will receive the reward of what they earn. And ask Allâh of his bounty. Verily Allâh has full knowledge of all things". [An Nisâ - 32]

Hafiz Ibn Katheer (RA) narrates on the authority of Imam Ahmad and Imam Tirmidhi that Umme Salmah (RA) said: "O Messenger of Allâh! The men wage Jihad whereas we (women) do not and we receive half the inheritance." (i.e. blood-brothers receive double the share of blood sisters). Thereafter the verse "And do not covet......" was revealed. (Ibn Katheer vl.1, pg.498)

This verse would therefore mean that when Allâh has granted some of mankind (i.e. men) virtue over others (i.e. women) by means of certain actions, then it is incorrect to covet the favour of Allâh on them because each of them will be rewarded according to his actions. Envy and complaining is of no avail. On the contrary, it would be most beneficial to ask Allâh for more reward for one's actions. Complaining and envy yield no reward. However all good actions yield reward. Verily Allâh has knowledge of everything and knows fully well the wisdom in specifying certain actions for man only. He knows best which actions are appropriate for men and which are appropriate for women.

Commenting on the verse "men are overseers....." Maulana Shabeer Saheb Uthmani (RA) writes: "It was mentioned in the previous verse that the rights of men and women have been given full consideration. Had their rights been given a different consideration (women's right were not considered fully as men's rights) women would be justified in complaining. This verse now explains that men have a status higher than women, women cannot complain because the difference of rules (regarding men and women) that result on accord of this additional degree of men is in total agreement with divine wisdom.....". (Tafsir-e-Uthmâni Pg.128)

Hijâb and Female Leadership

Hijâb is generally understood to mean the donning of a veil. This is however incorrect. The scholars of Islam have included the following verses in the discussion of hijâb:

a. "And stay in your houses. And adorn not yourselves with the adornment of the time of Ignorance." (Al Ahzâb: 33)

b. "And when you ask of them (wives of Nabi Sallallahu alaihi Wasallam) anything, then ask them from behind a curtain." (Al Ahzâb: 53)

c. ".... therefore be not soft of speech, lest he in whose heart is a disease, aspire (to you) but utter customary speech." (Al Ahzâb: 32)

d. "O Nabi! Tell your wives and daughters and the women of the believers to draw their jilbâbs (a special cloak that covers the entire body) close around them ...."(Al Ahzâb:59)

e. "And they (the women), should not stamp their feet so as to reveal their hidden adornment."(An Nur:31)

From these verses, the following rules of hijâb may be deduced:

1. The lady should at all times remain in her home.

2. If due to any shar'ie necessity (eg. Haj, visiting her parents, visiting the ill etc.) (Ruhul Ma'âni vl.22 pg.6) then she should cover her entire body including the face.

3. She has to communicate with men from behind a curtain.

4. She must not lower her tune when speaking with strange men.

5. She should not walk in such a manner that would attract the attention of men.

6. Intermingling of the sexes is prohibited in Islam.

Besides these, it has also been established from the Hadith that a lady cannot travel further than 77 kilometers without a mahram (any such male relative with whom marriage is prohibited). (Tirmidhi Vl.3 pg.472)

It is clear from the above that the implications of Hijâb are in direct conflict with the duties of leadership. In order to ensure the welfare of his subjects, the leader has to leave his home daily, meet and consult with people (men in particular) and travel to various parts of his country and sometimes to other countries as well. These cannot however be achieved if a lady has to be the ruler and at the same time observe the rules of hijâb. It is on this accord that Shariah has prohibited female leadership.

MPAC we know that women should be involved in the mosque, whether it be prayer, education or their voices heard on the committtee. The problem however is with your strategy...ie: lets do a campaign so that we get onto the media. the documentry blew everything out of proportion and infact make Muslim women look even more stupid. As if in the media we already dont look stupid. The sisters used terrible methodology and obviousely didnt do their planning well and some were terrible are articulating their veiws (Annika and Sabah).

We all know the mosques are not perfect however your documentry was incredibly biased it showed very badly run mosques and one that had a few women going into it, no beacon mosque was presented. Thus, it didnt show a fair representation of mosques in the uk and therefore gave an inaccurate picture of the situation and distasteful entertainment. Also you didnt draw on the fact that many women do not want to attend mosques and prefer praying at homes.

Perhaps you should look back and evaluate your campaign and hold yourselves accoutable for making silly mistakes.

MPAC didn't make Muslims look bad. Muslim have been looking bad, are looking bad and will be looking worse in time if nothing changes. Nothing but a holocaust will change you Muslims. I think if all of you were wiped out that'd be a triumph for Islam. Maybe more people will find Islam more inviting and truthful then.

No more excuses!

what do you mean there were no beacons! what was the Mosque in Finsbury Park, what was the Mosque in Ilford with the lady about to join the committee?

this documentary dosnt expose Muslims it has shown young muslims making a difference and not tolerating bigots. maybe you guys didnt notice but the MPAC sisters are Muslims and they were made to pray on the street!

In Islam no change has ever been made without the brave few changing the ignorant masses. the mufti of Jureusalem ate dates in the central damascus mosque during ramadan to expose the pious claptrap that muslims had become, this resulted in an organised campaign against the crusaders.

The beloved Prophet (pbuh) smashed idols in the Kaba, and their are versus revealed in the Quran on how to deal with hypocrites. Later Sayed Kutab condemed nearly every Muslim man, women and child of reverting to Jhalia (pre Islamic state, adn therefore hypocrites). and he was condemed for his methods. MPAC you guys are righteous and have made a change to defend the very people who are attacking you.

May Allah guide you and protect you.

Just to clear something. The kathy who has posted here is not me.If someone is using my name to cause mischief they I must say 'Get a life'.

I support what MPAC has done and I feel sad that it has had to come to this situation but if those Mosque committee members will not listen to reason then this is how it has to be. I think it is perhaps time that some of the older but not necessarily wiser members of committees gave way to the younger generation, who know what they need both in their Faith and while living in this country. Islam is not a culture to be brought from a far off land and practised here. It is a beautiful Religion and way of life which when practised properly will be admired by all. Forget your cultural additions and your petty 'I am right' attitudes, then perhaps people may take you seriously. Islam may teach one to respect their elders but respect needs also to be earned and respect commands respect.

salaam

Br Imran, as a woman I totally agree with the points you make. However, I'm not sure that MPAC's aim is to make women 'leaders' of the mosques. I think it just wants more representation of women on mosque committees and boards.

now i'm sure this representation could actually be done by a man- women (in acceptabe Hijab of course) cna take their issues/concerns to this representative and he can voice their concerns on the board.

However, mosque meetings probably still could be done with the application of full hijab with women present if that needed to be the case.

What also bothers me, is that their are Alhamdulillah SO many aalimahs who are very well educated in their Deen. Why do the mosques not use these women as a point of reference and representation concerning women's issues both in society and women the mosque setting.

To Imran - when are you going to stop posting your bigoted and prejudiced trivia in the name of Islam? Your verses are mistranslated with obscene commentary, which together, constitutes the opinion of a selected group of muftis probably educated in same backwards village madrassa in India! This is not the opinion of classical scholars of Islam.

For an organisation like MPAC you should know better how in Bolton the Jame' Masjid is trying hard to Integrate our Muslim Women and Children, people of faith and no faith to open day events in promoting Unity and true teachings of Islam. I would extend as a mosque atendee for you to take the extra steps and also bring about the channel 4 camera crew into the mosque to see for yourself how the Mosque's are trying hard to accomodate everyone, only to be kicked in the face by you.

a lady should remain at all times in her home??!! why dont you just lock me up and throw away the key!! As for women in leadership positions sexist men can moan as much as they like we are already there look at Ingrid Matson the US she is head of the largest Islamic org women are on the governing councils of parties like Hezbollah and in parliament all over the place...keep twisting quran and sunnah to promote your discimination..we will continue to fight...i have an education i will go out and work and i will contribute to society inshallah. Thank you MPAC for showing up the chauvinists...people complain you aired dirty laundry in public! Do the idiots think we have a good image??? Muslims are already known for oppressing their women and mpac challenge that stereotype!

Thank you very much for helping Channel 4 to raise its profile and divide the muslims community. MPACUK you are aiding Channel4 to continue to attack Islam.

Why didn't you contact individual mosque and use other means and styles to get you message across like petitions, letters and open deabtes, etc.

hmm... indeed i agree womens prayer area was needed and was not right to keep them out but unfortunatly i must admit that the doc was not the best planned out for islam if anything we dont need anymore bad light and this but potrayed us all in bad light...

The documentary was interesting but also cringe worthy at the same time.

It would have been helpful if the documentary showed good mosques that do allow women in and indeed have separate floors for women.The issue is not just about the mosques not letting women in, many just do not have the room. It is Fard for men to pray at the mosque but not women, therefore men have priority. MPAC,you didn't tackle the right issue - the campaign should have been about better quality, bigger and more decent mosque facilities for all including women.

The second point of membership on management committees, here I agree women's issues are just not covered. I wonder how many female committee members there are at Lancashire Council of Mosques, probably none! This is the reason why issues regarding domestic violence, women's roles in the home, the right of women's education etc are rarely if ever mentioned in Juma prayers.

I applaud your cause, but please get the balance right!

though i didnt get to watch it a sister who did said it made her cringe and made the muslim sisters look totaly daft and unorganized and showed the muslim as disunited .i prefer to pray at home but masjids should keep some sort of facility for women as well like a prayer room very helpful when some one is traveling the brothers get to pray in the masjid and we have to pray in parking lot if there is no womens area and sisters who are in uni and dont have facility to pray on campus can make use of it also.may allah keep us united. also katherine made a very good point

Sisters in MPAC, Please note the sheikh statement

"While upholding Islamic manners and properiety"

You are severly lacking in this.

As Salaamu'alaikum

Out of curiosity:

::How many Sisters are aware the reward for reading in a Masjid applies to men ONLY?

::How many Sisters are aware that the reading for each prayer read in Makkatul Mukkaramah applies to men ONLY?

:: How many Sisters are aware of the instruction in Shari'ah to NOT involve womenfolk in mushwarah (a committee is the same thing)?

How many times will I need to mention this on the articles on the MPAC website to liase with and LEARN from Muftis and 'Aalims in your locality or the nearest locality??

For the Love of Allah do this and you will find:

Peace in your heart and mind.
Elimination of disuntiy in your communities.
Propagation of Islamic 'Ilm.

What more could you ask for? Stop being so stubborn...acknowledge we are ignorant people and humble ourselves in fron of Pious & Rightly Guided scholars and LEARN FROM THEM!!!

Thank you letting me get that off my chest.

As Salaamu'alaikmum

I missed the program on monday. Shame coz Balfour Rd Mosque Ilford is(was) my local.

The problem we have here is that our beloved Deobandi Ulema still live in a time-warp, and insist on using the Ijtihad of Ahnaaf (Hanafi), which is fine as long as you know that Ijtihad is place-time related. There is a cleary Nass (text) Hadeeth to support the allowance of women to the Masaajid. They are the masters in Hadeeth (allah increase their ilm), so they know the source.

If some say its dangerous for the women to pray in the masajid then dont open it for them at Fajr (i guess most women just want to have a place to pray from zuhr to isha). And no one doubts that the Salah is greater for them in their houses.

Also, in reference to management, I know that Balfour Rd (and most of the masjaids) are all run by individuals who lack both islamic knowledge and community awareness, in fact u need to belong to the same Gujrati village to be a member of Balfour Rd commitee ..so go figure!! They even control the people of ilm to speak there !!(one local Shaikh-ul-Hadeeth was banned for giving tafsir sessions, only fadail Aamal I guess!!!).

If Balfour Rd got agitated then GOOD.. they need it....it might wake them up from their slumber and abysmal stance in the community. What have they done to open up islam to the Ilford Communitity when we are being intellectually attacked day and night?

What have they done to defend Islam from the Takfiri/Muhajiroon/Jihadi movement taking over the muslim youth...can you beleive Anjum Choudary lived behind Balfour Rd Mosque.... saw him and his followers many times at Juma, doubt the typical Arabic khutba or Bayaan had any influence on these guys?

Come you guys who support such an institute READ, read the deen, the deen is not just the Deobandi fiqh, ask the ulema of Syria and Egypt, look at the rich heritage of ulema we have had from all the four madahib. Surely the problem we face now is where we cling to our views blindly, rigidly and violently.

My full support to MPAC! And may allah support us!!

MPAC, i have to say, you went the totally wrong way about the way you voiced your concerns, isnt there enought bad protrayal on Islam already?I went to a conference the next day, and non muslims were having a joke about the way the program was(muslims screaming at eachother), ladies acting like men. I was so embarrased. Is this how our etiquettes are meant to be protrayed? You really need to speak to Muftis, because to me it seemed as though women were walking a path they as muslims ahould not be doing. Sumayyah

You guys who are always ranting and moaning are so BORING! It seems like some of you had made up your mind about this documentary before you had even seen it, and nothing you ACTUALLY saw on it was ever going to change your mind.

Thinktank says: "It would have been helpful if the documentary showed good mosques that do allow women in and indeed have separate floors for women".

If I remember correctly, there were 2 such mosques featured in the programme - one in Ilford and the other Finsbury Park. Maybe thinktank and Abdul Rashid had gone out to make a cup of tea at that point. It was amazing to see a mosque full of women on TV and to hear these women talking openly about how important the mosque is to them and what they get out of it. There was even a lady who was about to join the mosque committee! Thank you channel 4, for showing this. I can't remember the last time I saw Muslim women on TV in such a positive light.

Abdul Rashid - I'm so sick of people like you, moaning because your mosque wasn't in the programme. OBVIOUSLY they can't include every good mosque in the country (as I'm sure yours is), but as long as they are showing the good mosques along with the bad - isn't that the most important thing? From my recollection - they featured 2 men-only mosques and 2 that were welcoming of women. You can't say fairer than that. I just wish people would watch something with an open mind, rather than come out with the usual and predictable rants.

There was even a female imam, for goodness sake! Or was most of the Muslim viewership of this programme again making a cup of tea in the kitchen at that point? I think it was great to hear a Muslim woman on national TV say "covering up was the best thing I ever did" and "I'm not oppressed, do I look oppressed?" When was the last time we saw such Muslim women on TV, completely going against the stereotypes we usually see?

This programme showed there are Muslims out there (especially young Muslims) who are intelligent and willing to challenge backwardness in their own communities and institutions. Surely it's better for Muslims to do this themselves rather than wait for non-Muslims to do it for them. It showed that we can be mature enough to tackle our own problematic issues ourselves. So good on you, women of MPAC, I hope you succeed in your mission, for all our sakes.

And as for you, Imram.... why don't you do us all a favour and just crawl back in to your cave in Afghanistan.

Be wary oh followers of those who would lie to you and cause mischief in the world..

imran is no muslim he lies and his lies are so clearly inaccurate that if he as muslim he would have realised that that verse which he has stated to be (Al-bakrah verse 281) is not from the quran nor Al-Bakrah..clearly you are no muslim spreading lies and going to such extents to try and turn us against each other?!

do you not see your own evil?? weak..and pathetic...no muslim would accept your lies...

At least the caves of Afghanistan are blessed, abundant of Allah's baraqa.

The show was a complete thumbs down, face it MPAC, everyone (the mainstreme) hated it, except you ofcouse.

Just stop your cuase now, you're not doing any good, just go home please... back home. I mean it.

It's a fact that most Masjids did not plan and think ahead by making a section for women to pray in, but I dont think we can shoot them for this. It's a hard job building a masjid and also in running one successfully. I agree a masjid should be a central place where men and women can go to to attend classes and to get educated in, it shouldn't just be for prayers.

The prophet (SAW) said that it is better for women to pray at home but if they want to go to the masjid, then we should not stop them.

Overall I feel that the program was a disgrace. The timing was also wrong. It makes me think about the intentions of these individuals who were involved.
Exposing fellow muslims is not the way to go, especially on camera for everyone to see and laugh at.

Without giving a lecture, I feel that these individuals should understand the needs of the Ummah as a whole and not concern themselves with issues that are not compulsory.

The sisters really showed themselves up and acted like animals in some parts.
That Askar Bukhari chap is a complete embarassment to the ummah and has been since I have seen him on tv. He really needs to learn the deen and also learn how to talk to sisters. If you wanna become an actor, then go for it.Britain will enjoy people like you.

Well, the programme was just uncalled for, really they were all actors playing into the camera.

If there is area in the mosque for sisters, there is no problem but if the mosque has no place for women then perhaps they should collect money and rebuild the mosque with proper facilities. Asgar Bukhari you are top idiot good for nothing, you do not represent onyone one but yourself. get real man.

CONCERNING WOMAN INTHE MOSQUE: THERE WERE WOMANS INTHE PROPHET MOSQUE PRAYING AND EVEN LIVING IN ONE OFTHE ROOMS AT THE PROPHET MOSQUE YOU CAN FIND THIS IN SHARAH SAHIIH MUSLIM BOOK OF I'TIKAAF AND ALL THE OTHER BOOKS.CONCERNING WOMAN BEING RESPONSIBLE OFFER AFFAIRS: THE FIRST WIFE OF THE PROPHET WAS A BUSSINES WOMAN ALSO AISHA HAD HER OWN ARMY AT THE WAR OF ALI AND MU'AWIIYA WHERE SHE WAS MOTIVATING THE REST OF THE SOLDEIRS.BUT ITS SAUDI COLTURE THAT WOMAN ARE ONLY ALLOWED TO CAME OUT 3 TIMES WHEN SHE IS BORN (1)WHEN SHE IS GETING MARRIED (3) AND WHEN SHE DEIS.