When I was doing the work of Jemaah Tabligh, I was taught by the elders of Jemaah Tabligh to lower my gaze whenever I see any ladies, women or girls walking on the roads or the streets. According to the ulama of Jemaah Tabligh, ladies, women or girls are the sources of many evils. Among the most notable evils committed by men, related to women are the evil actions of fornication, adultery and prostitutions. According to the ulama of Jemaah Tabligh the action of looking at the women are the actions which may lead men to perform zina and therefore the actions of looking at the women is Haram or forbidden in Islam. The ulama of Jemaah Tabligh told us to constantly lower our gaze when we were visiting the houses of the Muslims, so that we are prevented from looking at the women who may pass along the ways or who may come out from their houses to welcome us. In case, there are women who may come out from their house to welcome us, we were advised by the ulama of Jemaah Tabligh not to talk with the women except with our gaze down. In Jemaah Tabligh men are not allowed to talk to the women by looking at the faces of the women. Men may talk to the women only behind the curtain. According to them, the action of looking at the women is Haram or forbidden in Islam. Is this teaching which is promoted by Jemaah Tabligh is the real teaching of Islam? In my opinion there are many teachings which are promoted by Jemaah Tabligh that are not the teaching of Islam. As for examples, going out for 3 days every month, 40 days every month and 4 months once in the lifetime is not the teaching of Islam but the teaching which is promoted by Jemaah Tabligh as if it is the teaching of Islam.
According to the ulama of Jemaah Tabligh, women are not advised to come out of their houses and to work outside their houses and in case they want to come out of their house and work, they must cover their whole body including their faces by wearing Purdah (covering the faces but not the eyes) or Burkah (covering the whole body including the faces and the eyes). According to them, the actual place of the women is in the houses and the main work of women is only to rear the children, to take charge of the household chores and to entertain the needs and the sexual needs of the husbands. Women should not work outside their houses and should not study outside their houses and they should not have careers. The recent incident of a young girl who was being shot by the Taliban was because the young girl was advocating and championing the idea that girls should also be allowed to learn at schools and to have careers. Taliban are the religious students of Afghanistan who used to study in the various Madrasah in Pakistan and while they were studying in Pakistan, they were also involved with the work of Jemaah Tabligh and therefore the Taliban understanding of Islam is greatly influenced by the teaching of the ulama of Jemaah Tabligh. Why the ulama of Jemaah Tabligh forbid women to study other than the Quran and Hadis, to work outside their homes and to have careers? The ulama of Jemaah Tabligh forbid all these actions because they believe the women will have to mingle with the men and when the women are mingling with the men, the evils actions of fornication, adultery and prostitutions will be increased in the Muslims communities.
The evil actions of fornication, adultery and prostitutions in the society will only be curbed or prevented when all the Muslims women who are now currently working or studying outside their houses are brought back to remain only within the four walls of their houses. Taliban who have received their Islamic education from the ulama of Jemaah Tabligh also believe that women should not be allowed to work and to study outside their houses and to have careers and when the women wish to go outside their houses; the women must be ordered to wear Burkah or Hijab. In my opinion, what happen to the women under the Taliban rule in Afghanistan is the same as to what happen to the women who are married to the men who are doing the work of Jemaah Tabligh. Women who are having careers but when they are married to workers of Jemaah Tabligh, they will be persuaded by her husband to leave their careers and to remain only within the four walls of their houses. Men who belong to Jemaah Tabligh will try their utmost best to persuade their wives to stop working or to stop studying or to have careers. Men who are the workers of Jemaah Tabligh will be very happy if married to women who are ready to remain most of the time within the four walls of the houses, willing to do the work of taking care of the children, to tend household chores and to entertain the sexual needs of her husband.
According to the ulama of Jemaah Tabligh a working women are the source of evils to all the men who are working around her. Ulama of Jemaah Tabligh, wishes all the Muslims women in this world are to remain only within the four walls of their houses and that their work is only to take care of the children, to tend the household chores and to entertain the sexual needs of her husband. It is also the wishes of the ulama of Jemaah Tabligh that Muslim women should not become career women such as to become teachers, doctors, engineers and all the other professionals. Ulama of Jemaah Tabligh also wish Muslims women should wear Purdah or Burkah whenever they are outside their houses. In my opinion the understanding of the ulama of Jemaah Tabligh about women is also shared by many other ulama that are not belonging to the work of Jemaah Tabligh. There are many women who do not belong to the work of Jemaah Tabligh in many countries such as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and India who are also wearing Burkah and Purdah whenever they are outside of their houses. This shows, the understanding that woman should remain only within the four walls of their houses, women should not have a career, women should not study other than studying Quran and Hadis and women should completely cover their bodies when they are outside their houses is not only the understanding of the ulama of Jemaah Tabligh but also the understanding of many other ulama in this world. In my opinion, the work of Jemaah Tabligh only helps to spread this wrong understanding about women among the Muslims in this world.
Many ulama or Muslims scholars believe that the wearing of Purdah (covering the whole body and the face) or Burkah (covering the whole body, the faces and the eyes) is obligatory to Muslims women. It is a common impression among the Muslims that a woman who is wearing Burkah or Purdah is a woman who has strong iman and the woman who is not able to wear Purdah or Burkah is a woman with weak iman. There are many Muslims who believe that only a woman with strong iman will be able to wear Burkah or Purdah while the woman who has a very weak iman will not able to wear Burkah or Purdah. There are many men in the work of Jemaah Tabligh who desire their wives to wear Burkah or Purdah because they believe the women who are able to wear Purdah or Burkah are the women who have strong iman. In order to persuade their wives to wear Purdah or Burkah, many men in Jemaah Tabligh take their wives out in the path of ibadah which to Jemaah Tabligh is to go out in the path of Allah for 3 days or 40 days so that their wives will be encouraged to wear Burkah or Purdah and also to resign from their work, and to remain only within the four walls of their houses. In countries such as Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Malaysia, where the work of Jemaah Tabligh is very active, the number of Muslims women who are having career will be reduced, the number of Muslims women who are wearing Purdah or Burkah will be increased, the number of women who are not studying in the conventional schools will be reduced and the number of women who study only Quran and Hadis in the Madrasah will be increased.
What makes some of our ulama to believe that women are the sources of evils to men? In my opinion, it is because of the believe which our ulama have that women are the sources of evils, make these ulama to order women to cover themselves completely when they are outside their houses when Allah has orders the women only to cover their hairs, their bosoms and the shape of their bodies. Our ulama have order women to cover themselves completely when they are outside their houses in order to prevent men who are not muhrim from seeing any part of her body. Who has made women to have the status as the source of evils? Are women truly the sources of evils? The evil actions such as fornication, adultery and prostitution are not only related to women but are also related to both men and women. In my opinion, women are not the sources of evils? What make men and women to disobey the order of Allah? Men and women will only disobey the orders of Allah when both the men and women are having very weak iman to Allah or not believers. The evil actions such as fornication, adultery and prostitutions are not caused by women, who are not covering their bodies, or by women who are having jobs or by women who are studying in schools and the universities but are caused by men and women who are having very weak iman or faith in Allah or who are not believers. Why men and women are having very weak iman or are not believers? Men and women are having very weak iman in Allah or are not believers when they are not doing the work of inviting mankind to good and forbidding mankind from evils and they are not performing the five times daily prayers.
What is the opinion of many ulama towards women? Many ulama including those in Jemaah Tabligh believe that women are sources of evils to men. Taliban who learns about Islam from the ulama of Jemaah Tabligh also believe that women are sources of evils. In my opinion it is a shame to all the ulama including those in Jemaah Tabligh to believe that women are the sources of evils. In my opinion, neither men nor women are the sources of evils. What is source or the causes of evils? The sources of evils are the wrong believe and mind of the person who commit the evils and not from others. When a person has a very weak iman or faith to Allah that person will be tempted to commit evil actions. When a person commits an evil actions that person must not blame others to be the sources of her or his evil actions. The person who does evil actions must blame their own selves and not others as the sources of his or her evil actions. When men or women disobey the order of Allah, they should blame only their own selves and not to blame others. In my opinion women are not the source of evil actions to men. Men should blame themselves when men are committing evil actions. Men should not blame the women as the sources of their evil actions. Both men and women are the creation of Allah. Both men and women are the same in the eyes of Allah. Allah give to both men and women the orders of Allah and whoever from among men and women obey the orders of Allah, Allah will make the men and the women to become successful in this world and in the hereafter. Allah has elevated the position of women to be equal to men. Allah orders the women when they are outside of their own houses to cover their hairs, their bosoms and the shape of their bodies. The order to cover their hairs, their bosoms and the shape of their bodies is only when they are outside their own houses. When the women are inside their own houses and there is no one who is non-muhrim to her in the houses, there is no order for women to cover their hairs, their bosoms and the shape of their bodies. What should be the intention to cover the hairs, the bosom and the shape of the body? The intention should be only to obey the order of Allah and to please Allah. The intention should not be because they want to prevent men from looking at their hairs, their bosoms and the shape of the bodies. Allah has never orders women to cover their faces but on the contrary, some ulama order women to cover their faces. Muslims should not obey the orders of ulama which are contrary to the order of Allah. Who obeys the orders of ulama which are contrary to the orders of Allah has made the ulama to become their God. Muslims should obey only Allah and they should obey the ulama only when the ulama obey Allah.
In my opinion, men have always tried to make the women to become their slave. Men always believe that the main work of women is to become the slaves of men, women are believe only to do household chores, bearing and rearing children, to serve men and to fulfill the sexual desires of men. During the time of Jahilliyah women were not having even the right to inherits wealth or to own properties. Women during those times were regarded as the servants to men, the means to fulfill men’s sexual desires, to give birth to their children and to rear their children. In my opinion the ulama of Jemaah Tabligh are trying to bring back Muslims to the time when women were inferior to men and when women were regarded by men only good for giving birth to their children, for rearing their children, for serving the needs of men and to fulfill men’s sexual desire. In my opinion, the belief that women are the sources of evils is a wrong belief and the wrong belief will always lead to many wrong actions. In my opinion the belief that women are sources of evils should be discarded by all the Muslims in this world and both the men and the women should be regarded as the source of good actions and not the source of evil actions as believe by many of our ulama.
Prof Dr Nasoha Saabin
September 2013
Integrative Holistic Wellness Centre