The Forty Hadith of Imam AlNawawi | Spoken Word Poetry | Feat. Ammar Alshukry

On Contact: The Perversion of Islam with Hamza Yusuf

Stop telling Muslim teens that mixing genders is some kind of fitna

Two minutes after we settled into our chairs, one of the MYNA volunteers told us we needed to sit separately, boys on one side of the room and girls on the other.

My younger cousin voiced it perfectly when he simply declared to their faces, “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”

And he was right.

This was the only event I had been to that weekend that was gender segregated, which is bizarre. Why are we singling young people out with these regulations? In doing so, we assume some things about kids and teenagers. We create rules based on these assumptions, and we force a narrative of young people as characterized by wrong intentions and inappropriate interactions.

The worst part is that this kind of separation is not unique to this one event. It happens frequently in Muslim gatherings. I have been fortunate to have mostly been surrounded by progressive, active, well-rounded Muslims, so I personally don’t face this kind of situation often. But the fact is that it happens a lot. Too often.

It characterizes and defines many young Muslims’ childhoods and adolescence. This has serious implications on the culture of Muslim communities.

To separate young boys and girls is to sexualize their interactions immediately. It is to say that even sitting next to one another is in some way inappropriate. It teaches children that the only relationship between one another is sexual and therefore should be avoided. And it shouldn’t even really matter, but especially when we are sitting with our brothers, or cousins, or close friends we grew up with, to tell us that we might be giving strangers “the wrong idea” is ridiculous on so many levels.

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Ask with Humility - Khutbah by Nouman Ali Khan

The Muslim Hui people of China

Erie’s recently published book, “China and Islam: The Prophet, the Party, and Law”, is a look at how Sharia is implemented among the Hui. In an interview he discussed his findings, which confound many preconceptions about Sharia, Chinese law and the rigidity of the communist state. Excerpts:

How should we understand the statistics on Muslims in China? Officially there are 23 million, but this assumes that Islam is an ethnicity, and that all Hui, or all Uighurs, must be Muslim.

It’s a problematic issue because it’s an ethnic category that is used to define members of a religion. Hence, it can be both over-inclusive and under-inclusive. For the former, Muslims outside China may not consider every Hui to be a Muslim. Many Hui are very pious. They attend mosque regularly and go on the Haj. And then there are people who say they’re Hui, meaning they just don’t eat pork. For the latter, it’s possible that some Chinese citizens who are ethnically Han [the dominant ethnic group in China] or Tibetan are, in fact, Muslims. It’s a very loose category.

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The Wisdom of Prophet Suleiman's Duaa - Nouman Ali Khan - Singapore 2015

'Talaq' and the battle to ban the three words that grant India's Muslim men instant divorce

“I literally begged him,” she says. “I went down on my knees and said, if you want to have affairs, go, just don’t throw me out of the house. Where will I go with my child? I don’t have a steady job – what will I do?”

Because her husband chose an Islamic divorce, rather than one under India’s more progressive secular law, Arshiya was also denied the third of his salary she would be legally due in alimony.

The 45-year-old, now working up to 16 hours a day as a teacher in south-west Delhi, is trying to have her husband’s divorce overturned, and pursuing him for the meagre compensation Indian courts have carved out for triple talaq victims.

She doesn’t want to get back together. The legal action is about making a point. “I want justice,” she says. “The question now isn’t money. I was not his servant. I was not his slave, who he kept in the house for 12 years and then threw out.”

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Religious Concepts Reexamined: Why Do We Continue Using Religious Teachings To Justify Domestic Violence?

Advising a woman to be “patient” in the face of abuse minimizes her experience, and may prevent her from seeking further assistance.  In reality, the concept of patience in Islam refers not to a state of stagnation, but rather towards progression, albeit under difficult circumstances.  Rather than shutting down a survivor’s attempt at seeking help, a more useful approach would be to hear her story, support her in her choices, and be a resource (rather than a roadblock) for her.  Furthermore, the reassurance that her situation will improve over time is factually incorrect.  Research suggests that the severity of DV escalates over time, and that what may start as emotional abuse may well develop into sexual or verbal abuse, or serious physical assault.  Therefore, those who encourage a woman to “put up with it” may unwittingly place her in a situation of increasing danger.

Another common response is to excuse the behavior of the abuser, often based on the idea that the husband is the head of the household and can behave as he wishes without being called to account.  In addition, women are often told that, after Allah, their obedience is due to their husband.  These claims have little basis in Islamic theologoy or the teachings of the Holy Prophet Muhammed (pbuh).  There are numerous hadith which elevate the status of women and emphasise the importance of kindness towards one’s wife and family.  There are no recorded narratives of the prophet using violence or misconduct towards his female family members, so why do we think that it’s acceptable for the men in our communities to do so?  While Islam promotes co-operation with and loyalty towards one’s husband, it does not sanction relationships in which one partner exerts coercive control over the other. Indeed, Islam states that partners are equals and that loyalty and kindness should be mutually expressed, and that poth parties are accountable for their actions.

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Prophetic Ethic of Selflessness & Sacrifice - Khutbah

India's Wushu Warrior Girl - Witness