Women's Testimony, Devastating Disease, Paragon of Activism
Issue 353 » November 18, 2005 - Shawwal 15, 1426
General
| Living the Quran |
Al-Baqarah
(The Cow)
a) It cannot be used as an argument that there is a general rule in the Quran that the worth of a female's witness is only half the male's. This presumed "rule" is voided by the Quranic reference (24:6-9), which explicitly equates the testimony of both genders on the issue at hand. b) The context of this passage (verse, or ayah) relates to testimony on financial transactions, which are often complex and laden with business jargon. The passage does not make a blanket generalization that would otherwise contradict 24:6-9, cited above. c) The reason for variations in the number of male and female witnesses required is given in the same passage. No reference is made to the inferiority or superiority of one gender's witness or the other's. The only reason given is to back up the female's witness and prevent unintended errors in the perception of the business deal. The Arabic term used in this passage, tadhilla, literally means "loses the way," "gets confused," or "errs." But are females the only gender that may err and need back up for their testimony? Definitely not, and that is why the general rule of testimony in Islamic law is to have two witnesses, even when they are both male. One possible interpretation of the requirements related to this particular type of testimony is that in numerous societies, past and present, women generally may not be heavily involved with and experienced in business transactions. As such, they may not be completely aware of what is involved. Therefore, backing up of a woman's testimony by another woman who may be present establishes accuracy and, hence, justice. It would be unreasonable to interpret this requirement as a reflection on the worth of women's testimony, as it is the only exception found in the text of the Quran. This may be one reason why a great scholar like Al-Tabari could not find any evidence from any primary text (Quran or hadith) to exclude women from something more important than testimony: being herself a judge who hears and evaluates the testimony of others. d) It must be added that unlike pure acts of worship, which must be observed exactly as taught by the Prophet (peace be upon him), testimony is a means to an end, establishing justice as a major objective of Islamic law. Therefore, it is the duty of a fair judge to be guided by this objective when assessing the worth and credibility of a given testimony, regardless of the gender of the witness. A witness of a female graduate of a business school is certainly far more worthy than the witness of an illiterate male with no business education or experience. Source: |
| Understanding the Prophet's Life |
| Devastating Moral Disease Pride or Kibr represents the exact opposite of humility and is a devastating moral disease. The efforts which we make for tazkiya (purification of the soul), it is hoped, will make us successful. But if one is successful, the greatest cancer that can eat everything away, is kibr. The Messenger of Allah said:
The day you feel that you have attained something special is the day of your spiritual death. Thus, the entire effort which you make should continue to be filled with humility. Always remember that whatever you have achieved is by the grace of Allah, not through your own efforts. Source: |
| Blindspot! |
Shining Example of Islamic Activism In Intellect and Scholarship Aishah was endowed with an extraordinary intelligence that very few had been endowed with. It was thanks to her intelligence that she never had the patience for an understanding of religion that was irrational and inconsistent with the correct understanding of the Quran. She had a principle firmly entrenched in her mind that the teachings of Islam cannot be irrational and incoherent – how can it be otherwise when Allah says of the Quran, “you will never find any incoherence in it!” An example of her critical understanding is her response to the so called report that “Three things that invalidate one’s prayer are a dog, a donkey and a woman.” When Aishah heard this narration, she asked, “how dare you compare us women with dogs and donkeys when I myself did lie down to sleep and the Prophet having woken up from sleep would pray in front of me, and when it was time for him to prostrate he would push my legs gently to the side!” She also dismissed Ibn Umar’s order to the women of his household mandating them to undo their hair while making ghusl saying, “Why can’t he then order them to shave their heads? I used to bathe with the Prophet from a single container and yet I did not do more than pouring water on my head three times!” In Politics Aishah serves as the best role model for women’s activism in Islam for she never was held back from full participation in any aspect of Islamic life even after the death of the Prophet, peace be upon him. During his life she accompanied the Prophet even to the battle fields to perform essential duties. She led the war against Ali because of her mistaken judgement; although at the time she thought she was going out to exact justice for the caliph Uthman who had been martyred unjustly and she thought that Ali was harbouring his murderers. Later on, she regretted her choice to have waged the war but the point is that according to her, the role of women in Islam was not confined to the home and instead, that they play an active role in Islamic life. Due to her own sound faith and Islamic character, she recanted not her activism but her stand against Ali and it was because of this that she thought she had become less worthy of being buried beside the Prophet, peace be upon him, and preferred to join her own sisters (i.e. other wives of the Prophet, peace be upon him) in Jannat al-baqi. Source: |
