The Women of Islam in The House of Allah
http://imranhosein.org/n/the-women-of-islam-in-the-house-of-allah-2/
A Dangerous Mistake For Which We Will Pay Dearly
Prophet Muhammad pbuh warned his followers:“Do not prevent women from coming to the Masjid (for prayer)”. If Allah Most High, or His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah Most High be upon him), were to give an order, then Muslims have a religious obligation to submit to that order and to obey it. No one has the authority to cancel an order which has come from Allah or His Messenger. An order can be suspended in consequence of an abnormal situation having arisen (such as a suspension of the divine law of cutting of the hand of the thief in consequence of an abnormal situation created by drought and famine). But neither can an order be cancelled, nor can it be permanently suspended.
And yet, despite the clear orders of the Prophet pbuh concerning the rights of Muslim women in the house of Allah it is a quite common sight around the world of Islam today to witness Masajid (plural of Masjid) from which women have been permanently excluded. Such a flagrant violation of women’s rights is sure to provoke a bitter response from the feminist revolution. Indeed we are eventually likely to witness that revolution so exploiting this matter as to eventually succeed in having women give the Juma Khutbah (sermon) from the Mimbar (pulpit) of the Masjid. Already one such profoundly misguided woman has blindly led the way in a New York City church that was used as a Masjid, to open the gates for that evil destructive storm.
But the deprivation of Muslim women’s rights is not limited to their exclusion from the House of Allah. Even when they are allowed to come to the Masjid they are often not allowed to pray in the same space with the men. Rather, a separate space is allocated to them. This can even be in a separate building, an annex, an upstairs gallery, a basement, etc. And finally, when they are allowed to pray on the same floor with the men, two separate spaces are created through the imposition of a barrier (of bricks, wood, cloth etc.) which has the effect of creating two separate spaces for prayer – one for men and the other for women. Sometimes the separate space created for women is at the back of the men; but sometimes, and alarmingly so, it is at the side of the men. In addition to creating a separate space for women, the barrier also has the effect of reducing women to praying congregational prayers with their ears alone, and not their eyes. Women cannot see the congregation (Jama’ah) at prayer. They can only hear!
But Prophet Muhammad pbuh very clearly placed men and women in the Masjid to pray ‘in the same space’ with women behind the men, and gave men and women the right to pray with both their ears and their eyes. Consider the following:
Abu Hurairah reported that the Prophet said: “The best row for the men (in the Masjid) is the first (row) and the worst or most dangerous is the last; and the best row for woman (in the Masjid) is the last, and the worst (or most dangerous) is the first.”(Sahih Muslim)
It is quite clear from the above Hadith that men are supposed to first fill the front row in the Masjid, and then proceed after that to fill row after row in the direction away from the Mimbar (pulpit). If and when women choose to attend Salat in the Masjid, they are supposed to first fill the last row, and then proceed after that to fill row after row in the direction towards the Mimbar (pulpit). As the Masjid fills up the back row of men would draw closer and yet closer to the front row of women. And it is that close physical proximity of men and women, with no barriers in between them, which creates the situation that is pregnant with danger. Among the dangers described by the Prophet pbuh himself was that a man may not have enough cloth to cover his private parts when he prostrates. And so the Prophet pbuh ordered women to keep their heads down on the ground in prostration (Sijdah) until the men (in front of them) had a chance to sit up:
“Narrated Asma’ daughter of Abu Bakr: I heard the Messenger of Allah say: One of you who believes in Allah and in the Last Day should not raise her head until the men raise their heads (after prostration) lest they should see the private parts of men.”(Sunan Abu Daud)
The inescapable implication of both the above Ahadith is that women prayed in the Prophet’s Masjid in the same space with the men, but behind them, and that they prayed with both their ears and eyes since a woman who raised her head too soon could see the private parts of the man in front of her (if he was not adequately clothed). This possibility also indicated that there was no barrier in the Prophet’s Masjid between men and women as would obstruct women’s vision. If women choose to perform their Salat at home, on the grounds that such is preferable, it still would not solve the problem faced by those women who choose to visit the Masjid for Salat, and are denied rights mentioned above. Indeed they are forced into such situations of prayer (such as praying at the side, rather than behind the men) in which their Salat would be in manifest conflict with the Sunnah and hence of dubious validity.
The
remedy for the present situation in which women are deprived of their
rights, even in the house of Allah, is quite evident. It is that
Muslims must now insist that women be allowed to come to the Masjid;
that they be allowed to pray in the same space with the men but
behind them; and that they be allowed to pray with both eyes and
ears, and hence with no barrier between men and woman as would
obstruct women’s vision of the men in front of them. Nothing less
than that can save Muslims from the grave charge of having changed
the religion left by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah Most
High be upon him) even in the Masjid itself! And nothing less than
that can save Muslims from the evil feminist storm that is sure to
sweep the world of Islam in the not-too-distant future, and sure to
exploit this mistake of the Ummah to reap evil capital from it.
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