A woman designs the Istanbul Mosque

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A woman is the architect of this Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey. You can click on the picture to see a larger image. The link to more pictures is given below. We are attempting to find more information, if you have any, please share.

ISNA had sponsored a conference about designing Mosques of the future a few months ago. It is a whole new way of looking at Mosques. Insha Allah, ideas from the central house of Muslim congregational Worship, the Kaaba, will be incoporated in design of the future mosques.

Traditionally, there has been no distinction made between rich or poor, scholar or illeterate, Senior citizen or a child in a Mosque, every one has an equal opportunity to join the front row of the congregational prayers. However, when it came to women, most cultures separated men and women aisles and entrances. The new generation will not accept this age old cultural tradition and opt for gender neutral places of worship. It is a matter of time.

Dr. Amina Wadud led the gender neutral Friday congregational prayers a few years ago, and Asra Nomani led the struggle to bring gender equity to a mosque in Morgan town, VA. Indeed, there was a documentary on PBS about it a few weeks ago. http://dallascalendar.blogspot.com/2009/06/06-15-09-mosque-in-morgan-town-kera-tv.html

There is a Mosque in Chennai, India which was entirely built by Muslim women for women.

More pictures at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeghouse/sets/72157620703165459/show/

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CNN Reports this on July 12th - http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/07/13/turkey.mosque.women/#cnnSTCText

By Ivan Watson
CNN

ISTANBUL, Turkey (CNN) -- There is a shiny addition among the Ottoman mosques and palaces that make up Istanbul's stunning skyline: the metallic, mirrored dome of the new Sakirin Mosque, a Muslim place of worship built with a woman's touch.

When sun reflects off Sakirin Mosque's dome, light can be seen across the Bosphorus Strait.

more photos » For what may be the first time in history, women have been at the forefront of the construction of a mosque in Turkey.

One of the project's leaders is Zeynep Fadillioglu, an interior decorator who has designed restaurants, hotels and luxury homes from New Delhi, India, to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, and London, England.

She helped organize a team of traditional mosque artists specializing in Islamic calligraphy, along with craftsmen in glassworks, metal-casting and lighting who, like Fadillioglu, have built careers working in exclusively secular architecture and design.

"I want people to feel peaceful and be left with themselves as much as possible and yet have beautiful art and artistic symbolism around them," she said.

Istanbul has a venerable tradition of mosque architecture, dating back centuries to when Ottoman sultans declared themselves caliph, or spiritual leader of the Muslim world. Watch Zeynep Fadilioglu show off her work and inspirations »

The shores of the Bosporus Strait are studded with 16th century masterpieces such as the Suleymaniye Mosque, built by the Ottoman Empire's most famous architect, Mimar Sinan, and ornate, neo-Baroque jewels designed by the Armenian Balyan family in the 19th century. But Istanbul's most senior Muslim cleric laments that mosque design suffered a decline after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the wake of World War I.

"In the last 70, 80 years, we have built mosques that are copies of Ottoman architecture," said Mustafa Cagrici, the mufti of Istanbul. "This wasn't a good development, because the copy can never be as good as the original."

Fadillioglu and her team of artists are hoping to change that. Look at photos of the mosque »

The Sakirin Mosque was commissioned by a wealthy Turkish Arab family and built in one of Istanbul's oldest cemeteries.

The designers put a number of contemporary touches on the structure, giving it plate glass walls etched with gold-leaf verses from the Quran, framed by giant cast-iron grids.

Fact Box
"If we think about this place as a home of God, we can also say women will make this place much better."
Carpenter Metin Cekeroglu
The mihrab -- the alcove that points worshippers in the direction of Mecca -- is made of asymmetrical ovals, similar to a design used by Fadillioglu to decorate a restaurant in London. And the chandelier is a multi-layered series of metal and plexiglass rings, carrying Quranic inscriptions and dripping with scores of delicate glass teardrops.

"The glass chandelier brings the high dome down to the people," Fadillioglu explained. "So when they pray and kneel they don't feel lost with the light and it shelters them."

Many of the artists here never worked on a mosque before.

"It's special that a woman's hand is involved in this," said one of them, a male carpenter named Metin Cekeroglu. "If you think about it, a home is made by woman. And if we think about this place as a home of God, we can also say women will make this place much better."

Fadillioglu said one of her goals was to bring extra attention into the design of the women's section of the mosque, an area that she says is often neglected by architects. According to Islamic tradition, worshippers are segregated by gender at mosques.

"I have seen mosques where women have been pushed to the worst part of stairs, cramped area. Sort of as if (they are) unwanted in the mosque," she said. "That is not what Islam is about. ... Women are equal in Islam to men"

Five minutes' drive from the Sakirin Mosque stands the Mihrimah Sultan Mosque, a 16th century structure built by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in honor of his favorite daughter. Unfortunately, female worshippers do not get to enjoy its stunning stained glass windows the way the men do. They have to pray in a small women's section, hidden behind a bank of chest-high shelves that store shoes.

At the Sakirin Mosque, Fadillioglu said, she gave women praying on the balcony an unobstructed view of the dome, the ornate chandelier, and the area on the floor where the imam will lead prayers.

"I would like to come here to pray," said Elif Demir, an 18-year old art student with a funky, orange-dyed haircut who was working on the chandelier. "This mosque is completely different because of the light that's coming through the walls, through the glass."

Fadillioglu's role in the Sakirin Mosque is all the more surprising because she comes from a jet-set side of Turkish society not normally associated with Islam.

"It is unusual," she conceded, "because first of all not many modern people have been commissioned to design a mosque."

She spoke in a recent interview at Ulus 29, the expensive Istanbul hilltop restaurant and bar that is owned by her husband. Amid the Ottoman- and Selcuk-inspired flourishes she has sprinkled around the restaurant are echoes of designs seen at the Sakirin Mosque. A glass chandelier made of hundreds of crystal tear drops hangs above the bar, similar in style to the mosque's chandelier.

Fadillioglu said being a night club owner does not prevent her from also being a Muslim.

"You might be surprised in Turkey to find some very modern-looking people being very religious at the same time," she said.

Religion is a hot-button political issue in Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country with a strict secular system of government.

For the past eight years a fierce power struggle has been under way between an urban secular elite and a rising new class of religiously conservative Turks from the Anatolian heartlands. Unlike the wives of Turkey's Islamic-rooted president and prime minister, Fadillioglu does not wear the Islamic headscarf that is often seen as the symbol of this new class of Turks.

Fadillioglu said politics have polarized society.

"In my childhood ... you didn't differentiate between who was religious," she explained. "Whoever wants to worship or visit this mosque, its open, its ready for them."

On May 8, Turkey's prime minister attended an inauguration ceremony for the Sakirin Mosque.


Afterward, in an interview with CNN, the mufti of Istanbul called it the start of a new era of mosque design in Turkey.

"It is in Islamic tradition for women to commission mosques ... and now we have women who are building mosques as well," Cagrici said. "God willing, I hope the world will see more of these beautiful mosques, touched by women's hands."


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This Qazi is a woman

http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2008/10/this-qazi-is-woman.html

This Qazi is a woman - A Muslim woman making history.
Mike Ghouse

The story is not if a Muslim woman can oversee a wedding, or if the wedding is between a Shia or a Sunni denomination. It is about Men in general who need to feel secure in themselves in accepting women as equals. Every one is a Muslim who pledges in the existence of God and Muhammad (pbuh) as his prophet. If we don’t speak out against these, we are not fulfilling our obligation as a Muslim.

Activist Ms. Syeda Hameed in New Delhi, India has challenged the fortress traditionally guarded by men; The Qazi-ship, a function that oversees the ritual wedding vows and ceremony of Muslims. She performed the wedding ceremony of a Muslim couple, making history in the Muslim world.

The burden of proof lies with the rejecters of the idea; Men. They have to prove that a woman cannot be a Qazi. There are plenty of mis-translations to support them but that should not cut it. It has to be reviewed in the light of what is fair and just with participation from both Men and Women.

We have to work to create societies of justice and this is a good first step. Morocco has led the world in opening a seminary to train women to be scholars and Imams. It is time for us to think about this issue seriously. Rejecting an idea is an easy thing to do; debating it is the hallmark of civil societies.

Please remember that, the insecure men are afraid to lose control over the only thing left for them; religion. Muslim Men are no different in their insecurities than Jews, Hindus, Jain, Christians, Americans, Arabs, Zulus, Mongolians or the Mayans. In the ugly words of a few cultures “Women need to be put in their place” and other statements like “woman is like man’s footwear”. I am embarrassed even to write this, but these statements are real and are made in the subcontinent regardless of their religion.

If men cannot square with women on common sense and logic, they will resort to quoting, rather misquoting traditions or the holy book. Men have to learn to shed years of conditioned attitudes and become free again. Life would become more enjoyable.

Men and women are each others protectors, saviors and serve each other in living a purposeful life. One is incomplete without the other, adds the Qur'aan, "Men and Women are each others garments". Just as the garments shield one from the cold and heat, the metaphor encompasses every aspect of life including the vows; in happiness and sorrow, sickness and health, poverty or wealth, weakness or strength, difficulties and comforts, men and women are indeed each other's garment. No matter what faith or culture you follow, the essence of the vows is the same; justice.
Justice is the basis for peace, be it between spouses, family members, business partners, stockholders and consumers, president and the public, minorities and majorities, communities, nations or the globe. Whenever one takes advantage of the other, the balance is lost and the unit is crippled. In personal relationships, the disadvantaged ones are patiently waiting for the moment to get even or get justice. Justice is the hope that keeps the life moving forward.

For a relationship to flourish and be sustainable, it must be anchored in justice. The feeling where neither one feels being taken advantage of or taken for granted. Islam is about justice where not only men and women are equal in the eyes of God, but all other humans are to be treated as equals.

The article is reported in Times of India. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Sunday_Specials/This_Qazi_is_a_woman/articleshow/3585185.cms

References:
http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2008/09/remnants-of-muslim-jahilya.html
And http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2008/03/gender-equality-now.html

Mike Ghouse is a Speaker, Thinker and a Writer. He is president of the Foundation for Pluralism and is a frequent guest on talk radio and local television network discussing interfaith, political and civic issues. He is the founding president of World Muslim Congress with a simple theme: Good for Muslims and good for the world. His comments, news analysis and columns can be found on the Websites and Blogs listed at his personal website http://www.mikeghouse.net/. Mike is a Dallasite for nearly three decades and Carrollton is his home town. He can be reached at MikeGhouse@aol.com

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This Qazi is a woman
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12 Oct 2008, 0239 hrs IST,

Mohammed Wajihuddin,TNN http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Sunday_Specials/This_Qazi_is_a_woman/articleshow/3585185.cms

Yojana Bhavan, at leafy Parliament Street in Lutyen's Delhi, is known more for planning the nation's destiny than housing a person whose heart beats for poetry. But enter Room Number 111 at the Planning Commission's headquarters, and a poetic aura engulfs you. On a wall, complementing photographs of a woman captured in many moods are Urdu couplets by poet Kamla Bhasin. A couplet ponders: 'Desh mein aurat agar beaabru nashaad hai/Dil par rakh kar haath kahiye desh kya azaad hai? (If the country's women feel belittled and disheartened/ Put your hand on your heart and tell me if the country is free).'

It is in this room that Planning Commission member and activist Syeda Hameed spends most of her waking hours; that is, when she is not touring the backwaters of Muzaffarnagar in UP and Mewat in Haryana, chronicling the horror of 'honour' killings or scouring the villages of Orissa to fight the communal fires stoked by Hindutva's hate brigade. And it was in this room that she got a call from a Lucknow-based fellow activist, Naish, a couple of months ago. "She sounded desperate," Syeda recalls. "She told me that if I didn't agree to solemnise her nikaah with Imraan, also an activist, she would opt for a civil marriage."

What followed next was a historic and path-breaking step in the annals of Islam in India. On August 12 this year, after solemnising Naish's nikaah with Imraan, Syeda officially became India's first woman Qazi. The nikaah was also unusual because it had four women as witnesses instead of the traditional two male witnesses. A male witness was added at the last moment lest orthodox clerics declared the nikaah null and void.

Controversy trailed the event from word go. As the cameras rolled and flashbulbs popped, a frenzy gripped the lanes of Lucknow. Uninvited guests, including an intrusive media, showed up, sensationalising what was supposed to be a private affair. Someone approached an orthodox maulvi. "A nikaah solemnised by a woman Qazi is impractical and therefore not advisable," declared Maulana Khalid Rashid from Lucknow's Firangi Mahal,, a religious organisation. Despite the severe criticism from orthodox clerics, Syeda remains steadfast: "It sent across a message that the time for change has come. Women can no longer be subjugated."

When the clergy couldn't find a convincing alibi because neither the Quran nor the Hadith (Prophet Mohammed's traditions) enjoins that only a male can officiate as a Qazi, a maulvi protested that some of the women at the ceremony had not covered their heads. "That is also an insinuation because the photographs and the videos of the marriage ceremony prove that all the women had their heads well covered," says Syeda. Another maulvi declared that the nikaah was not legitimate because the Qazi was a Shia while the couple were Sunni Muslims. Syeda's reply is that in her family Shia-Sunni marriages were common. "My illustrious ancestor Maulana Altaf Hussain Hali was a Sunni. My mother was Shia while my father belonged to the Sunni sect. My sister is married to a Sunni. For the first time, I was made to realise that I am a Shia," explains Syeda who ensured that her three children, while growing up, imbibed Islam's eclectic spirit, not the divisive dogma propagated by some clerics.

Syeda says nothing inspires her more than the works of Maulana Altaf Hussain Hali, the 19th-century Urdu poet. Musaddas-e-Hali (also called Ebb And Tide In Islam as it chronicles Islam's history in poetry) and Munaajat-e-Bewa (Lament Of The Widow) are some of his better known works. Hali's Munaajat, says Syeda, lambasts patriarchy and upholds the rights of women. "He was undeniably India's first feminist poet," she declares. And as we prepare to leave, hums another couplet on the wall: 'Chup hain lekin yeh na samjho hum sada ke haare hain/Raakh ke neeche abhi jal rahe angare hain (If I am silent, don't mistake it for my defeat/The embers beneath the ashes are burning).

mohammed.wajihuddin@timesgroup.com My Click here to comment on this story.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Sunday_Specials/This_Qazi_is_a_woman/articleshow/3585185.cms#write

Remnants of Muslim Jahilya

http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2008/09/remnants-of-muslim-jahilya.html

Remnants of Muslim Jahilya (ignorance) from the early 2000, hoping you would read this article in the year 2020.

Women led prayers

Oppression of people and suppression of Ideas knocks off the balance in any given society and both go against the fiber of Islam; freedom and justice. Only Justice and fairness can restore peace and tranquility in any society.

Up until 611 AD, people in and around Mecca understood God in a physical form, there was a representation of God in iconic forms for every day, and for every act of nature there was an icon. Indeed it was their culture for thousands of years, as it was all over the world unbeknown to each other.

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Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) brought a renewed message, as did Jesus, Krishna, Moses, Abraham and a countless spiritual masters and told the people about oneness of the Creator, he was preaching oneness of humanity (God produced) reducing conflicts and nurturing a sense of oneness, yet accepting the diversity in God's creation. http://wisdomofreligion.blogspot.com/2008/07/religion-and-oneness-of-god.html.

He taught God is formless, shapeless, colorless, genderless, a non-being and an abstact concept of oneness of the creation, by that he was universalizing God to remove the conflict of my God v your God. God is beyond our imagination and beyond definition and we cannot capture him (or her) in words or limit him in images. I love the way the Jewish people write G_d, it is the idea of removing God from all man made limits.

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Imagine how radical that idea was? It took decades for people to accept another reality, perhaps a parallel reality. The prophet knew that change always takes time and it has to be from within.

Now Dr. Amina Wadud, a Muslim woman has led the Friday congregational prayers for mixed genders, it is indeed a radical idea for those of us who are entrenched in thousands of years of traditions. We are shocked and are looking for a precedence, just as the tribes of Mecca around 611 AD. Fifty years from now or even in the year 2020, it is possible that the future Muslims will equate our shock to that of the Meccan tribes who opposed that radical idea. A few of them may even call you and I, the "Remnants of Muslim Jahilya (ignorance)” from the early 2000’s. It is time for us to think beyond the box and understand the full beauty of Islam; inclusiveness, equality, justness and openness to learning, the bigger Jihad to build a cushion for differences may become a reality for us.

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Please remember that, the insecure men among us (all faiths) are afraid to lose control over the only thing left for them to control; religion. Muslim Men are no different in their insecurities than Jews, Christians, Americans, Arabs, Zulus, Mongolians or the Mayans. If your strip the dirt from the religion, it boils down to "a men thing" rather than a Religious issue. The first Female Rabbi was accepted just about thirty years ago in Dallas in reformed Judaism, and still many Churches are struggling to accept Female Ministers. I have heard extreme statements made by Men from every one of those religious masks. You are welcome to share "those words" in the comments below.

Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) understood the human nature; he knew no one can be compelled to do anything against his or her will and sustain it. He was a blessing for his followers, whom he freed from the slavery of Priesthoodism, and gave them complete freedom to learn and understand God's book which he was leaving. He believed in individual responsibility, you are responsible for your deeds, he even said that to his daughter instead of giving her a free pass. He made sure that we recite “Malik-i-yom-iddin”, at least 17 times a day in the Fard (mandatory) prayers. Then some devotees add 20 or even 40 more times with their Sunna and Nafl prayers.

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That is 57 times a day, we say God alone is the master of the Day of Judgment, do we mean it? If not, we need to mean it and not judge others in their deen (faith) as it would be pre-empting God himself, just as the Neocons want to speed up the Armageddon. It is his decision to grace us in our next life, reincaraned life or in the life after death. Let’s learn to respect God’s role as " the master Judge" and not run over him, we cannot go far, we are bound to lose to God (that which caused life from an atheist's perspective).

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One of the reasons Muslims are losing out politically at this moment in history is because our time is spent on gossiping and ill-talking about women lead Friday prayers. If Dr. Amina Wadud and Asra Nomani want to pray, let them, it is between an individual and God, what is our problem? If we don't want to join them, let's stay away from harassing them, we have better things to do than protesting it. Let's become goodwill Ambassadors.

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We need to wake up to the new reality that Muslim women have truly realized Islam where, men and women are each other's garments and each others's protectors, none is superior or inferior in God's presence, she is personally and individually responsible for her deeds on the day of judgment as men are. Muslim women in the 7th century Islam had freedom to own business, freedom to choose and divorce their spouse and by God let them have the freedom to lead the prayers. This is not just a Muslim struggle it is a Christian, Hindu, Jewish and other's struggle as well.

Most Muslims want to shy away from controversies, as would most people from other faiths, that encourages the few to jump up and down and make hell for others. Please don’t let any one speak against this freedom.

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Years ago, an Imam was telling a story in a small group that how they defeated the Jews in acquiring a Synagogue to use it as a Mosque, by passing it through different hands. I could not resist and jumped in and said it was wrong to make such a statement to cause hate towards others, in this case, the Jews. That was a business deal and there was no need to turn the Jews as villains. Prophet Muhammad would not have liked it nor would any tenet of Islam favors it.

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There was a deadly pause, that was the most critical moment of the situation, that was the time, the killing time and the dreaded moment that seemed like an eternity. Finally after 3 seconds, another dare devil spoke up and the other sheep jumped in too, thanks God for that. The Imam apologized and agreed never to do that again and he has not, I have listend to his sermons a few times. Believe me, if a sychophant of the Imam at that had jumped in before the other man, I would have been attacked or talked about behind my back. Indeed, this is a common group behavior, even in your own office meetings, community center, church, synagogue, temple or prayer circles this thing happpens. The only one I care about is God and doing the right thing; and you must too. We have to please God (=Goodenss for all) and not any one else. Please know that I have Jewish friends who would do the same; speak out against non-sense and falsities agasint Muslim. We have to speak out against any untruths.

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Note added on Monday, September 29th: There is a greater challenge for us Muslims to hear out and live with differences in theological interpretations. When the 4 Sunni and 2 Shia Schools of thoughts emerged, we had accepted the radical differences with great difficulty and have lived with it for over a thousand years. Not only that some of the enlightened Imams are sharing the differences with their congregation without putting down the other schools of thought. This is something Muslims ought to be proud of this acceptance tradition of Islam - that is what Ijtehad is all about, to openly discuss the difference, either reconcile them or live with them. "There is no compulsion in the matters of faith." That is the wisdom and guidance from Qur'aan.

Eid Mubarak

Please don’t demean, condemn or depreciate others if they celebrate Ramadan on a different day than you. Don’t encourage others to spend their time condemning each other; instead they can do something that is beneficial to all. God has not made a deal with your group behind others back, no one is right or wrong, let that be decided by God on the day of judgment and let’s not ruin each others happiness. Let this be a happy Eid, and I will attend as many Eid prayers as I can, you can do it too.

http://www.foundationforpluralism.com/Articles/The-spirit-rituals-and-politics-of-Ramadan.asp

Where are the women?

http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2008/06/where-are-women.html

Article by Jeewan Chanicka follows my comments;

Insecure men seek refuge in mis-interpreting Hadith or even Qur’aan to have their way in family or community matters. Most times, it is really not about religion, it is about their insecurities.

They have to feel superior by pushing the women behind; it has worked in older societies, and women also have fed the ego of the insecure men that they are right… or have backed off due to the pressures from the men.

In the next decade, all those attitudes will gradually vanish, men will not only feel women are their equal partners in life, but they will also act on it and will not feel insecure any more. Women will start feeling that they are equally partners in contributing towards living a good life, a balanced life of both Deen and Duniya. That is one of the chapter in my coming book, Insha Allah; The American Muslim Agenda.

Mike Ghouse

http://www.worldmuslimcongress.com/

Where are the women?
By: Jeewan Chanicka
Jeewan Chanicka

From the pulpit to the preachers, many often proclaim Islam's liberation of women 1400 years ago. After all Islam did recognize that women possessed souls -this acknowledged only over the past 100 years in Christianity and Islam did give women the right to vote -yet another relatively recent phenomena in Western society. We are quick to convince skeptics of Islam's superiority in that the first martyr in Islam was a woman, the first to accept Islam was Khadijah, the first nurse was Rufaida, that the one from whom we have learned one third of our faith was Aisha. (May Allah be pleased with them all.)

And why should we not feel proud of such a legacy when this legacy has produced scholarship and numerous examples of leadership, virtue and excellence. Women who, for all intents and purposes, outshone many of their male counterparts despite their "gender."

However if we were to take a critical look at our community today we would be hard-pressed to find the likes of Aisha, Fatima, Nusaybah and many others. We would first have to look behind the barriers erected in the masajid, or call on them at their homes where they have been relegated to housework by the male-dominated and chauvinistic practices that have permeated the Muslim community.

Virtue today as imposed (or should I say "encouraged") upon Muslim women dictates that a woman should be fully covered (the more the better), that she stays at home and raises the children and fulfill her husband's every wish and desire. It is better that she stays inside than walk outside lest she be a temptress and cause someone to commit sin by looking at her, that she should be silent because her voice is her cover. Should she have questions, it is best that she write them and "fly them" over the barriers so that someone would by chance pick it up and read it and perhaps give her an answer.

We the men, the "proper leaders" know that women come from the rib of man and that it is bent and cannot be made straight, that women are highly emotional and of course have that "menstrual thing", which incapacitates their ability to make proper decisions and to function in a "normal way". There is no way that they can contribute to Islamic work because their voices and "grace" make them weaknesses for men and so it is in keeping with piety that we shut them out and lock them away. After all, men being the rational thinkers are capable of making decisions for women who are in constant need of our superior knowledge.

Hence we do not need them on the boards of our institutions; we fail to put them in leadership positions because it is not compatible with their "feminine nature". As one imam once said, they may start to "fraternize with the men". In keeping with this, we do not really need to give them a big space at the mosque because they should pray at home. Should we be so generous as to offer them some space, we must ensure that it is fully sealed so that there is not enough ventilation and that they are trapped within the confines of limited space with 20 crying babies. It is ok if they don't hear anything because they don't really need that much knowledge, even though the lap of the mother is the first school of the ummah. As long as we don't hear or see them, then all is well.

We should not shame them by giving them the ability to communicate their ideas, thoughts or wishes because we already know them. So we are locking them up for their own good. Anyone who dares to question this must be outside of the proper understanding of Islam. There seems to be some discrepancy between what is said on the pulpit about the excellence of the earlier women and how it translates to reality for our sisters. It has further allowed the perpetuation of blatant double standards in terms of what women and men can and cannot do. Usually men can engage in numerous activities, which if done by women, would cause their commitment to Islam to be questioned.

Women comprise about half of our community, yet they must still compete to have their voices heard, to have space, to be able to go to functions that take into consideration that they need to bring their children. More often than not, when there are issues involving our sisters, they are "dealt with" by the men. When any sisters dare to challenge this, they automatically are branded as western-styled feminists who are trying to sully the sanctity of Islamic values and ideals.
Yet if one were to look on campuses and in general community work the faith based work of this community is being carried on the shoulders of Muslim women. Many whom would ordinarily be silenced are finding their niches and are doing their bit to fulfill their covenant in enjoining right and forbidding evil and in spreading this deen. In fact, women in our community are the flag-bearers of Islam, particularly those who wear hijab because they are easily identifiable. When walking down the street, it is those whom we notice as being Muslim and those who are approached and asked about Islam.

We tend to answer in utopian terms, when asked about our glorious past and ignore the wrongdoing that has been taking place today. It behooves us (men) to believe that we can be wrong or may have wrong understandings of the seerah (biography of Prophet Muhammad) and the place of women in society.

It would appear though that having shut women out of the community has allowed them now to approach Islam and Islamic work with less baggage than men. Men have inherited much cultural baggage that they still keep with them today, cultural practices that have become engrained in our daily practices as being Islamic. As Muslim women return to the authentic understanding of the Qur'an and Seerah, they are in a better position to take on this work and fulfill its requirements.

Islamic work in North America and the world will never be successful until women are completely integrated within the framework of leadership, decision-making and shura. While no one is arguing for "free intermingling" or a neglect of duties of motherhood or the negation of fiqh (and its proper application) there is a need for discussion and critical deconstruction of some of the cultural practices that have become mainstays in our community.

The argument that the time of the prophet was different and now is a time of fitna holds no weight, especially when one considers that the earliest generation of Muslims was in one of the most corrupt societies that existed. Yet women played a vibrant part of its growth and development. They were consulted when decisions were to be made, they were included in matters affecting society's growth and development, some were teachers and others were poets, others fought in war, all this, while still following Allah's commands and the examples of his prophet. There are no shortages of examples of this in the seerah, though they tend to be ignored.

We are quick to point to the fact that we are leaders and have the "last say". Perhaps there is a need to analyze our understanding of leadership. Is a leader one who ignores the needs of others, makes all the decisions and is scared of debate and consultation? The prophet peace be upon him was the opposite of this. He was the best of leaders as he consulted with others and led by example. He was most kind and in fact said that "the one who is best, is the one who is best to his family and I am the best to my family". It may be that we are afraid that women will perform some of the duties we have been doing better than we have, that their knowledge may be more sound and that they may be more fit for leadership positions than those who have traditionally held the reigns. Even in this regard, we seem to forget the just leadership of the Queen of Sheba or a tradition that is rich with female scholarship. If we are sincere in wanting to do what Allah requires of us, we need to be open to this dialogue, admit our injustices to our sisters, ask for forgiveness and try to move forward. A bird can only fly if it flaps both wings.

Allah has made women our equal counterparts and they bring value and insight inherent with their nature that we may not think about or know of. Some scholars explain that women are the spiritual anchors of society. If we are sincere, we need to realize that in many ways we are oppressing our sisters and when we shut women out of leadership roles, banish them to domestic spaces, pretend that we can speak on their behalf, we are oppressing the very ones under whose feet lies paradise. The issues of leadership and involvement are not black and white and those sisters and brothers advocating for change are not asking for all values and standards to be dropped or changed. Instead we are asking for justice and fairness.

Sisters should be a part of the majlis-shura in the masajid and various institutions because leadership (and I am not speaking about being imam here) should be defined based on qualification and not gender. Shura entails that we take the voices of the varying members of our community into consideration. We need to ensure that sisters are able to have equal access to speakers and knowledge so that they are able to grow and learn themselves. Our primary consideration should not be how big a barrier is and whether or not it touches the ceiling. Most importantly we have to let sisters represent themselves, we should not speak for them but with them. The realization should be based upon the trust that women are our partners in establishing Islam in the world and do not have ulterior motives of "fraternizing with the opposite sex." They too want to work with us to benefit Islam, Muslims and society in general.

Muslims have a standard that has to be adhered to as defined by the Qur'an and the practice of the prophet pbuh. We need to rise to the challenge of implementing this within our daily lives, to adhere to its boundaries and to challenge our own bias and (mis)-interpretations of it's application. As men, it is time that we acknowledge the struggles of our sisters (both within and without our community) and it is even more important to recognize the privilege that we have enjoyed due to no real merit but simply because of our gender. If we want to please Allah and to be true to our covenant of bringing this deen to the people around us, it is necessary for us to address these issues. Until such time we will be held accountable before Allah when people reject our self-styled versions of Islam.

Jeewan Chanicka is a contributing writer for Young Muslims Canada website.

Islam's Women Scholars

Islam's Women Scholars
By Yoginder Sikand

One indicator of the development of a society is its
female literacy rate and, related to this, the number
of its female scholars. On both these fronts, India's
Muslims are among the lowest of all the communities in
the country. This unfortunate fact provides a basis
for negative stereotyping of the community,
particularly in matters related to inter-gender
relations. This, however, is ironical, given that
Islam is one of the few religions to have declared
education to be a duty binding on all its followers,
men as well as women. The irony is further heightened
by the fact that early Islamic history provides
examples of numerous Muslim women scholars who made
valuable contributions to the intellectual life of
their communities.

That little known story is precisely what an Urdu book
I recently read with avid interest is all about.
Penned by a Pakistani alim, Maulana Syeed Ghulam
Mustafa Bukhari Aqeel, the book, titled 'Muslim
Khawatin Ki Ilmi Khidmat' ('The Intellectual
Contributions of Muslim Women') contains vignettes
about scores of early Muslim women scholars, who could
serve as major sources of inspiration to Muslims,
including Muslim women, today if only they were more
widely known, a task that the Maulana takes upon
himself.

Many of these early Muslim women scholars were experts
in various Islamic sciences, in contrast to today's
case where we have few, if any, such female scholars.
The book refers to Ibn Hajar Asqalani as writing that
the early centuries of Islam record more than 1500
female scholars of Hadith, traditions attributed to
the Prophet Muhammad, including several wives of the
Prophet and his companions as well as women in
succeeding generations. Many of these were also
narrators of Hadith reports. Fatima bint Qais is said
to have had long debates with the caliph Umar on an
issue related to fiqh, and, so the book says, the
majority of the ulema gave preference to her view.
Similarly, the noted historian Khateeb Baghdadi
mentions 32 famous female scholars of his times, and
one of them, Karina Bint Ahmad Maruzia, taught him the
collection of Hadith by Imam Bukhari. Likewise, the
noted Muhaddith Imam Zahri described Umra Bint Abdur
Rahman, a woman brought up by Hazrat Ayesha, as 'an
unending sea of knowledge'.

Several of these women scholars had male students,
something quite inconceivable for many Muslims today.
Thus, Ayesha Bint Sad bin Al-Waqas, a scholar of
Hadith, had a large number of students, including the
great Imam Malik. Imam Shafi, so the book tells us,
would attend the lectures of Hazrat Nafisa,
grand-daughter of Imam Husain. The Abbasid Caliph
Malik Marwan would sometimes attend the lectures of a
woman scholar Sahima Bint Yahya al-Osabia.

Other women wrote books on religious and other
subjects, many of which, unfortunately, have been now
lost. Fatima Nishapuri wrote a tafsir or commentary on
the Quran; Zainab Bint Usman bin Muhammad authored
several books on fiqh; Razia, sister of al-Hakim of
Andalusia, wrote extensively on History and Geography;
Aisha Khas, a noted calligrapher and musician,
translated several books from Sanskrit and Greek and
so on. The book also mentions several Indian Muslim
families from royal families who were accomplished
authors, mainly in the fields of Sufism, history and
royal biography.

In this early period of Islamic history, numerous
women founded madrasas, including some specifically
for Muslim women. Thus, says the book, the first
madrasa, as separate from a mosque as a centre for
education, was founded by a woman, Fatima Bint
Muhammad al-Fahari, in Morocco in the mid-ninth
century. The enormous structure of the madrasa could
accommodate some thirty thousand worshippers praying
together.

Other notable women founders of madrasas in this
period included Maryam Bint Yaqub, who established a
girls' madrasa in Seville, where besides the Islamic
sciences, subjects like Philosophy, History,
Geography, Mathematics, Astronomy and various crafts
were taught; Bint Qazi Shihabuddin al-Tabari, whose
madrasa catered to orphans; Tazkira Rabai Khatun's
madrasa in Egypt for poor girls; a school for training
women in martial arts set up by Geti Ada Begum,
daughter of Murad Khan, ruler of Zabulistan; and the
Dar ul-Zubaida, a madrasa built on the spot of the Dar
ul-Arqam, the place outside Mecca where the Prophet
would himself teach his followers, built by Talib
ul-Zaman Habshia, a female slave of the Abbasid Caliph
Nasirbillah.

These early Muslim women show how Islam, as they and
the men who supported their endeavours understood it,
positively facilitated women's scholarship and
intellectual pursuit. In a context as in India today,
where the number of female Islamic scholars is
negligible and even books on Islam and women are still
written almost wholly by men and are often shaped by
patriarchal prejudices, these women provide numerous
lessons that we could well profit from.