As far as I know, there is no verse of the Quran which means either directly or indirectly that women are not allowed to work, to study or to have a career. Allah does not prevent woman from working, studying or to have a career. In my opinion, whoever is trying to prevent women from working, studying or to have a career is actually disobeying the order of Allah. In my opinion there is no relationship between the order to cover the hairs, to cover the bosom and the shape of the body of the woman and the order to work or to study or to have a career. The intention of working, and studying is to obey the order of Allah and to please Allah and not to earn a living. When either a man or a woman is working or studying, the intention must be to obey the order of Allah and to please Allah. The order to cover the aurat is not only the order of Allah to only men but also to women. The order to work or to study is also the order of Allah. In case a woman want to work or to study, men should not give the conditions to the women that they must cover their hairs, their bosom and the shape of the body. The order to work or to study is another order of Allah and it has no relationship with the order to cover the aurat of either men or women. In my opinion a woman must be allowed to work or to study even though the woman is not covering her aurat. In my opinion in case a woman who wants to work or to study she must not be forced to cover her aurat. Both orders have no relationship with each other. What is not ordered to women should not be practiced by women. Men should not order women to obey an order which is not ordered by Allah. When our ulama order the women to obey the order which is not ordered by Allah, our ulama are actually persuading the women to obey the order which is not Sunnah but Bid’ah. When Taliban and ulama of Jemaah Tabligh prevent women, from working and studying, it means Taliban and ulama of Jemaah Tabligh are introducing Bid’ah practices into Islam. Our ulama should not prevent women from working, studying and from having a career because Allah does not prevent them from working, studying or from having a career.
When the Taliban was ruling Afghanistan, they introduced the rule which did not allow women to work, to study and to have a career. Taliban introduced the rule not to allow women to work, to study and to run businesses because according to them, the laws which do not allow women to work, to study and to run businesses is an Islamic law and with the introduction of the law, the incidence of the evil actions of fornication, adultery and prostitutions will be reduced in Afghanistan. As far as I know, there are no law in Islam which do not allow women to work, to study and to run businesses. The law was not Islamic but according to the understanding of the Taliban the laws which forbid women to work, to study and to run businesses is an Islamic law. In my opinion the Taliban introduced the laws which do not allow women to work, to study and to run businesses is based on their own understanding of the verse in the Quran which orders Muslims to invite mankind to good and preventing mankind from evils. As I had mention earlier that the Taliban and the ulama of Jemaah Tabligh believe women are the source of evils. According to them, the main evils which are to be prevented are the evil actions of fornication, adultery and prostitutions. They do not know that the main evils to be prevented are the evil actions of not doing the work of inviting mankind to good and forbidding mankind from evils and the evil actions of not performing the five times daily prayers. Since Taliban and ulama of Jemaah Tabligh believe music, singing and dancing are related to the evil actions of fornication, adultery and prostitutions, they believe these actions are also forbidden in Islam.
During the time of the Taliban, Muslims were not allowed to have music, dancing and singing in any of their functions particularly when the functions involve both men and the women. Several boys and girls were killed recently by the Taliban only because they were having a function with music, dancing and singing. According to the believe of the Taliban, the ulama of Jemaah Tabligh and many other ulama, the action of playing music, dancing and singing were also evils actions, which are Haram or forbidden in Islam. The actions of playing music, dancing and singing were made Haram or forbidden in Islam by many of the ulama because they believe the actions of playing music, dancing and singing are associated with the evils actions of adultery, fornication and prostitution. When I was in Jemaah Tabligh, I was told by ulama of Jemaah Tabligh that the actions of playing music, dancing, singing, shaking hands with women and taking photographs were all evil actions. Since all these actions are regarded by the ulama of Jemaah Tabligh as evil actions, these actions are regarded by Jemaah Tabligh as actions which are Haram or forbidden in Islam. Is the action of singing a song Haram or forbidden in Islam? In my opinion a song is just like the syair. Our Prophet Muhammad saw also used to recite syair and when our Prophet Muhammad saw was arriving for the first time, in Medina he was also received by a group of women and men who were reciting syair. In my opinion, when the lyrics of the songs are not contradictory to the aqidah of Islam, to sing such songs without the music in the background is Sunnah which is Sunnat but to sing such songs with the music in the background ,the action will becomes Makruh Tahrimi. When we sing a song with lyrics which are contradictory to the aqidah of Islam, then to sing such song with or without the music in the background is Haram or forbidden in Islam. On the other hand the action of dancing alone or with other men is Sunnah in the category of Sunnat but the action of dancing with other women without contact to each other is Makruh Tahrimi. However, the action of dancing with other women who are not his muhrim and with contact is Haram or forbidden in Islam.
What is the meaning of the word “evil” which is mentioned in the Quran? The word “evil” which is mentioned in the Quran is not referring to the evil actions such as fornication, adultery and prostitution. The word “evil” which is mentioned in the Quran is referring to the greatest evil which is committed by men. What is the greatest evil which is committed by men? The greatest evil which is committed by men is not willing to accept the truth or not willing to recite the Great Kalimah; I bear witness that there is no God except Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. Who is the person who does not accept the truth and who is not willing to recite the Great Kalimah? The person who is not willing to recite the Great Kalimah is the non-Muslims. All the non-Muslims who live in this world are committing the greatest evil to Allah and the Muslims are ordered by Allah to prevent the evil. Allah orders the Muslims to prevent the evil which is committed by the non-Muslims by inviting them to good. What it means by the word to invite them to good as mention in the Quran; it means to invite the non-Muslims to recite the Great Kalimah; I bear witness that there is no God except Allah and I bear witness Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. What is the greatest evil which is committed by those who have recited the Great Kalimah? The greatest evil which is committed by those who has recited the Great Kalimah is they do not do the work of inviting mankind to good and forbidding mankind from evil and the second greatest evil which is committed by those who has recited the Great Kalimah is they do not perform the five times daily prayers.
The greatest evil done by those who have recited the Great Kalimah is not the evil actions of fornication, adultery and prostitution or any other evil actions but the evil action of not doing the work of inviting mankind to good and forbidding mankind from evils and the evil action of not performing the five times daily prayers. The evil actions such as adultery, fornication, prostitution and all the other evils are committed by Muslims because they are not believers. Why these Muslims are are not believers? These Muslims are not believers because after reciting the Great Kalimah, they do not do the work of inviting mankind to good and forbidding mankind from evils and they do not perform the five times daily prayers. When a person after reciting the Great Kalimah is not doing the work of inviting mankind to good and forbidding mankind from evils and is not performing the five times prayers, the way shown by our Prophet Muhammad saw and with the intention to please Allah until Allah is pleased with the person, the person will not become believer but will only become Muslim. When a Muslim is not a believer, the Muslim will certainly be tempted to commit such evil actions as fornication, adultery, prostitution and all other evils. The evils actions of fornication, adultery and prostitution are rampant in the communities, not because our women are not covering their faces or are not wearing Burkah or because our women are allowed to go to work, to study, to do businesses without wearing Hijab or Burkah but they are having either no iman or having very weak iman or are not believers.
Why our men and women are having either no iman, having very weak iman or are not believers? Because our men and women are not doing the work of inviting mankind to good and forbidding mankind from evils and because they are not performing the five times daily prayer. Our men and women will be prevented from committing evils actions only when they are believers. When our men and women are believers they certainly will not commit the evil actions such as fornication, adultery, prostitution and all other evil actions. When our men and women have either no iman, weak iman or are not believers, irrespective whether our women are wearing Hijab or Burkah or not wearing, they certainly will be tempted to commit evil actions, such as fornication, adultery, prostitution and all other evil actions. In my opinion the actions of making the women to wear Burkah(to cover the faces and the eyes) and the actions of not allowing the women to study, to work and to do businesses will not prevent the evil actions of fornication,adultery,and prostitution from occurring in our society. Men and women are prevented from committing the evil actions of fornication, adultery, prostitution and all other evils, when both men and women in our societies are believers.
Both men and women in our societies will only become believers when they are doing the work of inviting mankind to good and forbidding mankind from evils and are performing the five times daily prayer. In my opinion, the belief that women are the source of evils is a very wrong belief and it needs to be discarded from the mind and belief of our ulama or our Muslims scholars. We will only be able to prevent Muslims men and women from committing adultery, fornication and prostitution when we are able to persuade them to do the work of inviting mankind to good and forbidding mankind from evils and to persuade them to perform the five times daily prayer. When they are doing the work of inviting mankind to good and forbidding mankind from evils and they are performing the five times daily prayer with the intention to please Allah, Allah will make them to become believers. Our ulama or our Muslims scholars have misunderstood the meaning of the verse of the Quran; ‘to invite mankind to good and to prevent mankind from evils’. The evil which is mentioned in the Quran is actually referring to the evil of not willing to recite the Great Kalimah and the good which is mentioned in the Quran is actually referring to the willingness to recite the Great Kalimah; I bear witness there is no God except Allah and I bear witness Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah. Our ulama and our Muslims scholars understood the word evil which is mentioned in the Quran is actually referring to all evils actions and not referring only to the action of not willing to recite the Great Kalimah and not performing the five times daily prayer. Our ulama and our Muslims scholars understood the word good which is mentioned in the Quran is referring to all good actions and not referring only to the action of willing to recite the Great Kalimah and willing to perform the five times prayers.
Since more than one thousand years, our ulama or our Muslims scholars have misunderstood the meaning of the word good and the word evils which are mentioned in the Quran, Allah has not made our ulama to understand the correct meaning of the word good and the word evil which are mentioned in the Quran. Why our ulama do not understand the correct meaning of the word good and evil which are mentioned in the Quran? Our ulama do not understand the correct meaning because our Muslims scholars or our ulama are not believers. Why our ulama are not believers when they are performing the five times daily prayer and they are also spending many hours of studying and teaching about Islam? Are the actions of performing the five times daily prayer and the spending of many hours of studying and teaching about Islam are not sufficient to make them to become believers? The actions of performing the five times daily prayer and the action of spending many hours in studying and teaching about Islam are not sufficient to make our ulama to become believers. Our ulama will only become believers when they are doing the first order of Allah which is the order to invite mankind to good and forbidding mankind to evils but unfortunately nearly all our ulama have failed to obey the first order of Allah. What is the first order of Allah which our ulama have failed to obey? The first order of Allah which our ulama have failed to obey is the order to invite mankind to good and to forbid mankind from evils in the way of our Prophet Muhammad saw. Our ulama will only become believers when our ulama do the work of inviting mankind to good and forbidding mankind from evils in the way done by Prophet Muhammad saw and with the intention to please Allah and until Allah is pleased with them. When Allah is pleased with our ulama, Allah will make our ulama or Muslims scholars to become believers.
Prof Dr Nasoha Saabin
September 2013
Integrative Holistic Wellness Centre