Monday, December 27, 2010

Zakir Naik on Women: Part 3 - Women in Politics

 For part 2, please click here.

Zakir Naik emphatically and incessantly argues that Islam promotes the equality of women and men, often citing Qur’anic verses such as 9:71, which reads, "The men and the women are supporters of each other." He asserts that the term "supporter" here means that they are each other’s supporters not only socially but politically as well. He lists women’s political rights as their rights to vote, take part in law-making, and join battlefields. His example for women’s participation in lawmaking is rather interesting:
According to the famous Hadith in which Hazrat Umar (May Allah be pleased with him) was discussing with the Sahabas, and considering the putting an upper limit on ‘Meher’, since young men were discouraged from getting married – a lady from the back seat objected and said “When the Qur’an says in Surah Nisa Ch. 4, Verse No. 20 that ‘You can even give a heap of treasure, a heap of gold in Meher, when the Qur’an puts no limit on ‘Meher’, who is Umar to put a limit (May Allah be pleased with him)?” And immediately, Hazrat Umar (May Allah be pleased with him) said: ‘Umar is wrong and the lady is right’.
He interprets the woman’s objection to Umar’s decision as a "breach of the constitution," and attributes to Islam her boldness to speak up: That the Qur’an is the constitution of Muslims "means a woman can even take part in lawmaking." How he reaches this conclusion is unclear, since he makes the assumption that the lady's bold disagreement with the caliph means that Islam approves of what she did; Naik also assumes that her standing up for her right to an unlimited dower means that Islam gives women the right to have an opinion in lawmaking. Lastly, in his discussion of women in the battlefield, he writes, "As the Qur’an says, ‘Man is the protector of the woman’; under normal circumstances the women should not go to the battlefield…. Women are allowed to go there only when required or under necessity; otherwise, not." Despite this obvious restriction, Naik presents his point as though there were no restrictions whatsoever and that women are Islamically permitted to participate in battle; he also does not define what "normal" conditions are and what "under necessity" actually means. He reasons that women should not be on the battlefield unless required and completely neglects to mention Aisha's role in the Battle of Camel, which she herself led against Ali.

Reference: Zakir Naik, Rights of Women in Islam: Modern or Outdated?, pp. 27-29.

5 comments:

  1. Prohibition of a woman ruler

    َ لنْ يُفْلِحَ قَوْمٌ وَلَّوْا َأمْرَهُمُ امْرََأًة

    A people who appoint a woman as their leader will never succeed
    (Bukhari)

    Commentary

    a. It is narrated that the hadith of the Prophet came when he heard that
    the daughter of Kisra was appointed as the ruler of the Persians,
    indicating that it is directly related to ruling.

    b. As mentioned by Imam Sana’aani – the hadith indicates the
    prohibition of women taking any position from the general ruling
    positions amongst the Muslims

    c. According to the Hanafi school of thought it is permitted to appoint
    women to specific roles as judges as long as they are not involved in
    the application of Hudood.

    d. The wording of the hadith is general and so can be applied to any
    position of ruling whether the Khalifah or Wali or lower.

    now according to the hadith that ruling of a woman in an islamic country is not permissible in islam,so appointing the woman as a ruler is kufr......

    now you can say that what if there is no capable men for ruling......then......

    answer is If there is no capable man for ruling then Islam is proven wrong. If you think your statement is more correct than the trust on Allah's deen then you may conclude that way. However, Allah is all wise and knowing, His orders are perfect and without any mistake. If you can't trust those orders then what else can you trust? Just think !!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi there, Anoymous!
    Thanks for dropping by and giving your opinions! Greatly appreciated!

    Hmm... such an important "authentic" hadith and Zakir Naik forgot to discuss it in his book? Interesting. Someone should ask him about it.

    Anyway, more about that misogynistic hadith and others like it in future blogs. See you around!

    ReplyDelete
  3. hi
    Thanks for warning us against zakir naik!!!! i used to believe everything he said until i saw your blog lol. im gonna refer ur blog to everyone i know because they love zakir naik!!!

    uhm that anonymous dude needs to get a life yo! this aint 7 century anymore! besides that hadith aint even authentic and muslim apologists are fighting it with shame.

    ReplyDelete
  4. LOL. Hi, Zahra, thanks for dropping by! :)
    Glad you are beginning to see the "light" and will be more careful when listening to Naik now ;)

    ReplyDelete
  5. NAIKs islam was ok to me til fazlullah appeared and then i come across this shair #zama talib tha mujahid way/akhpal talib ta tarahagar(dehshetgard) way... naik started sounded a parrot to me then...like he support hijaab/bolqa whatever with his this hypothesis...two women going, one in skirt other in hijab/bolqa ...a hooligan standing whom he will tease or harass , ofcourse the one in skirt...my question is what if that hooligan is hijab/bolqa fetish??? then whom is he going to harass...make a wild guess...from pardah i guess it is meant that, its the confidence and the will and the environment where woman can be comfortable and can do things comfortably...as a pukhtun we will follow our pukhtunwali and islam so far its parallel the point where both collides we go for pukhtunwali...and rightly as alot many sahabaas followed arab culture than islam ...(ref.the history naratted in khilafat wo malukiat by madudi)...things in one culture may be good or bad, i hope the bad things in pukhtunwali be changed with passage of time...p.s pure personal opinion so no offence to anyone

    ReplyDelete

Dare to opine :)

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