The session has started. Please join us with your questions.
Name
Mary
-
Profession
Question
Why is the husband given the right to divorce, while the woman is not given the same right?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, thank you for your question.
In fact both men and women are given the right to divorce but in different details. As for women they obtain divorce through two ways; first , either she has been mal-treated, which she could prove in front of a judge. Then she is given the right to divorce right away. In this case she has the right for all her financial settlements such as what is legally termed as mut`ah or compensation sum of money. Then she has her monthly sustenance in case she has the custody of the children.
Second, just in case she was not insulted or ill treated but she wants to get a divorce because of a negative feeling she started to have towards her husband. In this case he is not responsible for her negative feeling, while he has been kind to his wife, then she has to go through a different method of divorce. This is legally termed as khul`, which means that she has to pay back the money she has received as a dowry - in Islam it's the man who pays dowry to the bride. In this case she gets her divorce right away.
I think it is fair enough for a man who has not wronged his wife but has treated her kindly to take what he has paid her in case she wanted to leave him for a reason of her own.
Name
Elizabeth
-
Profession
Lawyer
Question
Can a woman be a judge… can she be a member in the parliament… this did not take place in the Islamic history.
Why?
Answer
In the name of Allah,
What book did you read that told you that women were not given the position of judges and parliamentarians in the Islamic history? In the first days of Islam during the reign of the Caliphate `Omar Ibn al-Khattab, who was already known for his strictness, a woman named al-Shifaa' was appointed by the Caliph himself as a judge.
This was for a very difficult branch of judgment, which was the economic and commercial branch. She was the inspector and judge over the merchants in the market to check that they were not cheating or raising prices. She even gave them their due punishments!
As for being a member in the parliament, there was no parliament at that time. Yet there was something close to its idea, which was the oath of allegiance that the believers used to give to the Prophet (peace be upon him). This was an expression of their awareness of their civil duties and responsibilities. Believing women shared and were represented in all such oaths, despite the danger of being discovered by the non-believers of Makkah.
Name
Maxine
- United States
Profession
Retail
Question
As-salaamu `aleikum,
I would like especially to help the women of Palestine and Afghanistan. What is their biggest need and how can we help?
For example: micro-loans, import/export handicrafts, raise money for clinics, schools? Are there any organizations that we can support, either volunteering or financially?
If not, how can we start one? Thank you.
Answer
Dear Maxine,
Thank you for you concern.
In fact there are many ways of helping those desperate ladies of Palestine and Afghanistan. I think their needs are quite many…
Money is only one of them. We can send them money through legal channels available in each country, such as bank accounts and relief agencies... etc. You can find the legal channel in your own country - if there is any - or the nearest country that offer such services.
More important than money is their need to be treated fairly and to be liberated of this overwhelming oppression that they suffer from in their own homeland. They need to get rid of the injustice that they suffer from allover the world through the media, which is terribly biased against them. While they are the victims, they are being given the images of terrorists!
Therefore, it is your voluntary effort to try to clear their distorted image and help them receive the sympathy they deserve from the people of your own country, who are unfortunately brain washed by the misleading media.
Thank you again for your compassion.
Name
mona
- Canada
Profession
PhD student
Question
Bismillah...
As-salaamu `alaikum Dr. Abul-Fadl,
As you know, Muslims living abroad have no Muslim court systems nor Muslim judges to refer to in matters of family law, among other matters. What we have currently is a community-based system, in which the imam takes the role of a judge or an arbitrator. However, because of the variation in the backgrounds of these imams their insights are equally varied. As a result, Muslims have no Muslim regulating body whose decrees are binding.
What do you think are the necessary steps that Muslims have to take in places where they are a minority, in order to establish a reliable and practical Muslim arbitration system?
Do you think that there is room for fiqh of al-aqalliyyaat (minorities) to help in this regard?
Jazaki Allah khair, wa as-salaamu `alaikum.
Answer
Dear Mona,
Thank you for your questions,
For your first question, I don't think that Muslims will have any access to establishing courts and arbitration system unless they have a role and a voice in such society! A voice does not depend on the number of the members of the community as much as on the activities that make them well represented.
Again the factor of their unity in their societies makes them stronger and more sensed. Unfortunately, in almost all of the Western societies that I have been to, these two factors are quite missing. This is as Muslims always keep themselves busy with splits and arguments over trivial matters. This is which makes their voice unheard among the majority.
I think this negative side of the life-style of Muslim communities in the West, which is the lack of Islamic legal system, is an enough reason to make them accelerate their steps towards representation and fair integration into whatever society they live in!
As far as I know fiqh al-aqalliyyaat is always directed to the non Muslim minorities within the Muslim societies. But as for the opposite situation, there is only some dispersed fatwas here and there concerning salat (prayers), adhan (call for prayers), halal food (lawful to be eaten) and sawm (fasting) in the non-Muslim societies.
Actually there is a notable deficiency in a complete and integrated work of fiqh that covers all the aspects of the life of the Muslims in the West, just a part of the deficiency in the general fiqh concerning contemporary issues!
Name
Lance
- United States
Profession
Univ Staff
Question
Does Islam allow women not to live according to the rules of Islam, if they do not believe in it?
Answer
Dear Lance,
Thank you for participating with us in our live dialogue.
In fact I haven't got you properly, do you mean that she was born Muslim but she does not want to follow the rules of Islam?
O.K., my answer will depend on this understanding. The Qur'an (Muslims’ holy book) says the meaning of:
*{No compulsion in religion.}*
This means that it is no one's right to force anybody else to follow rules that he/she doesn't want to follow. This is regarding his/her personal life. It is all left to the judgment of God on the Day of Judgment.
It's only Him Who decides on the wrongdoers. Yet, the problem is that some of the rules of Islam are not personal, but they touch general social aspects. These are in which the whole community could be affected by the behavior of one person.
For example it is no one's right in an Islamic society to walk like naked or half naked in the street or swear in negative language, as this will hurt the feelings of others who share the same street with him or her! This rule is not only confined to the Islamic society, but also in all laws of all countries.
In America, for example, I can't drive my car in the wrong direction of the road just because I'm not convinced of your driving regulations or because we don't have something similar at home! Once you live in a society you have to commit yourself to its laws of shared life, but what you do behind your closed door is your own personal freedom, which no body - even the government - is allowed to spy on.
A last word of advice… is that what you do behind your closed door is well watched by God. Would you consider this?
Thank you again Lance, you and all our readers for sharing with us our live dialogue. Hope to meet you again once and twice in coming live dialogues. Salaam (Peace) to you all.
