Why, oh why? [Women and Masjid (Pakistani Perspective)]

Growing up in a family like mine, I never realy felt any biases against myself due to my gender. I had the same curfew time and went to the same educational institutes like my brother. I learned to drive pretty much the same time and interesting both of us were taught to offer salah by our grandfather too. In fact, a lot of the times it was my brother who thought I always got the advantage, being a girl, and got away with a lot of things and now wen I think back, I cant really deny that completely

But as I grew older and started going to Pakistan more often (and then later lived there), I realized, things were ‘culturally’ very different from what I had been taught at home and from what I had learned from books. I am not saying that Islam really differs too much between the two genders, but the difference is way too visible in the predominantly so-called Islamic State. You know, as it is said, if you want to understand Islam, look at Islam itself and not Muslims. This saying started to become a reality for me.

Soon, I found out there is not a single masjid nearby where women could go to pray if they wanted to. Funny. Yes, I am a Hanafi and I always knew that Prophet Mohammed (SAW) encouraged women to pray at home but did that mean women are not allowed into the masjid at all? I started digging for answers and interestingly, I found a hadith which says:

Hazrat Abdullah bin Omar (RA) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (SAW) said, “Do not prevent your women from attending the masjid, even though their houses are better for them” [Sunan Abu Dawood]

Not bad at all! This was all very logical…something I knew already but just didnt know from where it came. Praying at home is better for women but Islamically, men could not prevent women from praying at the masjid. The meaning was straightforward: a masjid is supposd to provide proper facilities for women at masjid and then it is upto the women whether they want to go or not.

Now, talking about fiqh. Hanafis are usually the most strict wen it comes to women praying at the masjid and as it is the predominant fiqh in Pakistan, I really needed to know whether it is something cultural or Hanafis really believe that going to masjid is, in fact, haram for women. I found the following:

Hazrat Aisha (RA) has been reported to have said, “If the Messenger of Allah (SAW) was alive to see what women are doing now, he would surely have prevented them from entering the masjid for prayer just as women of Banu Israel were prevented” [Sahih al-Bukhari]

Now the above is simply an opinion by Hazrat Aisha (RA), not a ruling. It is also of common knowledge that Hazrat Omar (RA) prevented women from attending masjid for prayer as part of the law during his reign without making it part of the religion itself. Futher, the fatwa on this matter must be scrutinized far more carefully:

“It is disliked for women to attend congregational prayers in the masjid even for Eid and Juma prayers, and even for old women attending night prayers, according to the more reliable position in Hanafi School, due to the corruption of time.” [Imam al-Haskafi, Radd al-Muhtar ala al-Durr, 1/566]

So, again, it is disliked and not considered haram as the common misconception in Pakistan. Further, if you look at the Hanafi rules, you will in fact find various laws regarding how a woman should behave in a masjid if she is having her periods. Now , if according to Pakistani jurists, women are not allowed in the masjid at all, why do we need to talk about wat a women should do if her periods start when she is in the masjid?

And then at times I think, if women are allowed to go freely to markets, lawn exhibitions, fashion shows and social gatherings where men and women intermingle, often (not always obviously) in the most un-Islamic manner, then how can going to masjid be considered haram? Sadly, in a country like Pakistan, even the most religious women often have to miss their prayers because they were either stuck in a traffic jam or were buying essentials at a market. You would be shocked to know that most shopping malls in Pakistan do not even have a prayer room for women and interestingly, most shops remain closed till around 1 in the afternoon.

So what are women supposed to do?

Well, I guess just wat they have been doing so far…prayers can wait!

 

Coming of age

Image Source

So here I am, celebrating my third blogoversary. As I started off from a different blog, I celebrate the day I started blogging rather than the day I started this particular blog.

Anyway, life has changed drastically for me over these past three years and so has my blogging. The reason I started blogging was not something that made me continue blogging. I have repeated quite a lot of times why I started blogging and wat kept me going initially but it changed over time. Soon it was about the number of visitors, the number of subscribers, the number of comments. I dont blog for those reasons anymore. I dont blog for stats any more or to get insane number of comments that I once used to get for the controversial posts that I started doing. I have learned to blog for myself.

But what is it that has kept me hooked to this even then. I mean being the person that I am, I tend to get bored quite easily but why am I still blogging after 3 years. A question that I asked myself today when I saw the Blogoversary badge on my other blog.

And the more I think about it, the more I get convinced that surprisingly, no matter what I might think, the reason is once again pretty much what I started blogging for. It changed in between when I got obsessed with stats. But now, I have come to the point where I started: to talk about things that matter to me, regardless of what they mean for others, regardless of how many people read it, regardless of how many people care to leave comments; I am just happy to have an outlet for my feelings to share with the small but loyal readers’ base and with complete strangers who stumble upon my blog.

At the end of the day, I guess I just want to be heard, even if it is by a small group of people and in doing that I want to be a part of the people who dare to be heard. I dont want to be a celebrity blogger, just someone with a voice.

 

A voice behind the veil

This was an email forwarded to me by a friend who herself is a niqabi. Thought it was worth sharing:

By Khadijah Natalie Arbee

I am a muslim women. I wear the niqaab (face veil).

I’m one of those to whom the new law in France would apply. I’m one of the ones being discussed by politicians, human rights groups and the media.

I’m one of those whom many feel the need to liberate.

I’m one of those you may think is oppressed.

I’m one of those many of you detest the sight of…

I’m one of those whom you may believe is uneducated; one of the ones you may think has no voice.

But I do. So let me speak.

I am not Arab, Asian or even African. I am Australian. No, not ‘first generation’, ‘second generation’, or an immigrant. On my mother’s side, I’m of French-Canadian descent, and on my father’s side; British. I grew up as a Christian, and attended church occasionally. I was in the school swim team, and district netball team. I holidayed with my family in the summer on the Gold Coast, and I’m educated. I have a university degree.

When I was 18 years of age I was introduced to Islam. I studied it, and accepted it a year and a half later. By the time I reached 20, I was wearing the headscarf, and after I married I donned the niqaab.

Because of my husband? No.

My husband did not want me to wear it, although his mother and sister do, and out of respect for his wishes I didn’t do so for two years. But I wanted to, and eventually did, and knowing it to be in line with our religion, my husband knew he had no authority to prevent me, and he now greatly admires my strength.

Then, I wore it because of my father? No. He’s a catholic.

Because of my brother? Nope, haven’t got one.

My uncle? He’s an atheist.

Then because of my son? My eldest is only 8 years old. Then why??

Because I want to, that’s why.

And seeing as though my niqaab does not hurt anyone, that should be sufficient reason for all of you liberals of a liberal society; I should be able to finish my discussion right here. But although it may be so for any other style of dress, it isn’t enough when it comes to niqaab for some reason. You want more. So I will continue.

What makes me want to then? Two things: Faith and experience.

Faith? Yeah, faith. Faith in my Creator , faith in His decisions, faith in Islam. A deep faith. Many wander at the faith of Muslims, at their conviction and their commitment. It’s a faith, that if you are not Muslim, is hard to explain or describe. The scripture of Islam, the Qur’an has scientific miracles in it, such that have captivated scientists globally, leading many to accept Islam. Moreover, the Qur’an has not been changed in over a thousand years, since it was revealed; not one letter moved from its place. I dare say there isn’t a religious scripture like it, and this lends a clue as to the root of such faith.

In the Qur’an, Allah Ta’ala tells us to cover ourselves, ‘so as to be known, but not molested’. So our covering is a protection; a liberation.

Protection? you ask. Liberation? From what?

This is where I move on to my second reason for veiling. Like I said, I grew up in a Western secular society, in true Western secular style. I dressed secular, lived secular, and enjoyed all the ‘liberties’ of such a society. Did I feel liberated, free? Suffice to say, we were taught we were, so I never thought to think otherwise. It wasn’t until I became Muslim, and started covering , that I really felt liberated, and realised , before that I wasn’t.

Yet, time and time again we hear it said that we Muslim women are forced to veil, are oppressed; treated by our men folk as nothing more than ‘objects.’ And that niqaab, burqa, hijab; whatever term you use, is a form of ‘imprisonment’.

But what about the imprisonment of anxiety and depression?

What about the imprisonment of anorexia and bulimia?

What about the imprisonment of frequent rigorous exercise routines?

What about the imprisonment of always feeling the need to look like the super-model on the cover of Cosmo, or the pop-singer in the music video?

What about the slavery to fashion?

What about the entrapment of jealousy??

How many women waste their hard-earned money, destroy their physical and mental health, expose their bodies to vulnerability, abuse and extortion in order to…… in order to what??

In order to gain approval and praise.  Who’s approval and praise? Men’s.

And yes, it seems even other women too. So it seems non-Muslim women are not only slaves to men, but slaves to society as a whole.

Before you scream your disagreement, which many of you may do as a knee-jerk reaction to being told you’re also oppressed, stop and think. Look around you; contemplate society today, and its values, its aspirations, its goals, its direction, its past-times, its hobbies….

What good has it done for women to doff more and more clothing?

What good has it done for images of uncovered made-up women to be plastered on every billboard and magazine, on the TV, in the movies, and on the net?

Has it really brought any good for women?

The women in the images may aptly feel good about themselves for a while, but what does it mean for every other women?

Women who look upon these images usually become anxious, jealous, unsure and critical of themselves, or all of these things. Many men who view them will become aroused, or even unhappy, less satisfied with the partners they already have. What can, and does this lead to?

Cheating, dumping, chastisement, and even harassment of other women, and even children by, men, who cannot find a legitimate outlet for their constant arousal.

And yes, I can hear some of you; ‘then the men must control themselves!’ Frankly speaking that argument is well spent, not to mention futile, as most men are, inherently, only able to react to that, the same way a hungry lion would react if thrown a juicy piece of steak, and told not to eat it….

Do the uncovered women captured in these images and industries, or parading around, realise or even care how many young girls are starving, purging and stressing themselves trying to mirror their image? No.

It seems they even take perverse pleasure in it. One barely-dressed singer even boldly and crudely sung recently, ‘Don’t you wish your girlfriend was hot like me?’

What?!

What is this women and her ilk saying??

What are they implying??

What are they doing to their sisters in humanity??!

So many poor girls, eroding themselves physically and mentally as they watch with jealousy and anxiety their partners ogle singers like this. Have the same thing occur to these women, these ‘idols’; have their partners swoon over another similarly attired, and witness their reaction! And when their daughters are molested by men they themselves, or women like them, have aroused, will they reflect?

Will they act?

Will society act?

Yeah, we see it reacting: ban the burqa!

It just amazes me how many women especially, despise my choice of dress. Yet, would they rather their husband’s secretary to be dressed like me or otherwise?

Would they rather the waitress serving the table at their anniversary dinner, be dressed like me or otherwise?

Is it me and my sisters who are turning their husband’s head, or attracting their boyfriends??

Is it me and my sisters who have led their daughters to anorexia, or their sons to pornography?

Is it me and my sisters whose bodies and faces solicit their husband’s/boyfriend’s attention on every corner? Is it me and my sisters who have aroused that man to rape or harass their sisters?

Whose mode of ‘dress’ is truly oppressive and harmful to women??

So now I’ve spoken, and although I am one, I speak on behalf of hundreds. I’ve explained to you that the majority of us have chosen this mode of dress, especially in the West. I have told you that we love it, we want it, and I’ve exemplified for you the inherent good in it.

So to those of you who really are so concerned about ‘liberating’ me, then you will listen to what I have said, and let me and my sisters be.