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Now, I would like to make one final comment and then I’ll
leave it open for questions. Let’s look at the applicabilities of both of these
programs. We discussed a lot of ideas, thoughts and beliefs and historical
concepts, but when they are actually applied, which of the two view points is
more successful? Which brings more bliss to humanity? Is it the secular
western view or is it the Islamic view? I have a concrete example which I’d
like to share with you. When I was in Beijing this last summer for the UN 4th
world conference on women, there was a platform for action which was being
discussed by the different nations and organizations there. The aim of the
platform for action was to upraise, uplift, and to embetter the status of women
around the world, which are of course noble and correct aims; there is no
contention concerning that. The platform for action was divided into different
areas of concentrations, such as poverty, health, finances, conflicts and
violence and so forth, and one of which was the young girl. The 12th issue of
the 12 concerned areas for the platform for action concerned the young girl and
the status of girls - future women - in the world today. The country which was
hosting the conference, China is known for the practice of killing girls. The
reason why is because of their large population. Chinese couples are allowed
only one child and Chinese people by tradition view males as fewer than females,
so as a result will usually kill the female child, in hope that the wife gives
birth to a boy.
This is an issue which exists and due to the fact that
host was China, the United Nations didn’t really want to get into this issue,
nor want to talk about it much because it was not politically correct to
address that issue in China. Moreover, even though they might have passed
certain regulations, platforms for actions and certain commitments which they
have required upon citizens of the world to follow, most likely in the end perhaps
in twenty-five to fifty years, the status of the children in the world will not
have markedly improved.
One of the major reasons why the United Nations was
created for after World War II, was the slaughter of so many human beings, including
six million Jews in Europe, and yet fifty years later, in the year of the
fiftieth celebration of the UN, a genocide in Bosnia, Europe took place. All
the human rights acts, all of the declarations in the last fifty years and yet
a massacre still occurred. Now when the prophet Muhammad - may God raise his
name - was sent to the Arabs, the Arabs had the same practice of killing their
young daughters. Arabs would do such an act for a numerous reasons, most of
the time due to poverty. Being a desert people without industry and with
little means of trade, life was very difficult. As a result, out of fear of
poverty they would kill their young daughters and bury them alive. This is a
fact that is mentioned in the Quraan and was well known during the time of the
prophet Muhammad, may God raise his name. In the Quran, God condemns the killing
of young girls, the burying of them in the ground, and also the attitudes of
the Arabs towards girls. One verse in the Quraan says that:
“When he is given the good news that his wife is
given birth to a female child, a girl - his face becomes blackened and he
becomes ashamed. With shame does he hide himself
from his people, because of the bad news he has had! Shall he retain it on
(sufferance and) contempt, or bury it in the dust? …“ Quran
(16:58-59)
This is a condemnation of such a practice. Likewise many
of the companions of the prophet Muhammad - may God raise his name - before
they accepted Islam, killed their daughters. One man came to prophet Muhammad -
may God raise his name - and said: “I killed ten of my daughters in my
lifetime, will I receive paradise? For will God accept my repentance for this
sin, now that I have left this pagan religion of before, worshipping idols and
killing girl children and so forth?” Within one generation, within 23 years (the
duration that the prophet preached amongst the Arabs), the practice of killing
girls ended and no longer existed in Arabia. Likewise, it didn’t just stop there,
but a change in attitude came towards women, in all aspects.
In the Hereafter, people receive no other reward, but
paradise. Again that is the greatest aim for Muslims and that is their
motivation and reason of being. So Islam not only tried removing the negative
aspect of people murdering their own daughters, but also included the positive
aspect of educating girls and raising them in society; which brings me to my
final point. Human rights is something of course that we can look at the
previous declarations of human rights, irrespective of whether these are true
or false, but they have not been able to achieve the aims which they have
stated, as the example of human rights, and the mass killings of civilians in
Bosnia shows.
In conclusion, Islamic civilization unlike any other
civilization is based, of course on revelation, but it is in its essence
supported and founded by women. The first person to believe in Prophet
Muhammad – may God raise his name - was his wife Khadeejah, and it was through
her money and through her support and encouragement of him that the prophet was
able to spread the message of Islam in his first year of prophecy. The pagans
did not have the ideas of freedom of religion, that one can hold their own
beliefs. Such was not practiced by the pagans of Arabia - they saw this as an
insurrection, they saw this as a changing of their ways, so they sought to stop
it out by torture, by killing and by other means that they could. And
likewise, they tried to stop the Islamic revelation, this tradition, when the
prophet Muhammad - may God raise his name - preached at first the people of Arabia. Yet as a result from Muhammad’s message, there are over one billion Muslims in the
world today. They are in every single continent of the world, even in Beijing where the UN was convening. There was a mosque there which is over a thousand
years old. This shows how the growth of Islam and the sprit of Islam is not
just a Middle Eastern phenomenon or an Arabian phenomenon but extends to all
people and races throughout the world.
Where is this teaching from? Of course when prophet
Muhammad - may God raise his name - died after twenty three years of preaching
Islam, Islam only spread in Arabia. Islam was mostly spread by four or five
individuals who happened to be close to the prophet. One of them was the
prophet’s wife `Aa’isha. She is among the most to have narrated his statements
and likewise she is amongst the three, four, five who have mostly given
religious pronouncements, given religious verdicts, and explained verses of the
Quraan, as well as sayings of the prophet.
If one looks at any other civilization in the history of
humanity, seldom will they find women playing a role in its establishment where
it can be attributed to her efforts for its establishment. The famous Greeks –
like at the philosophers Plato, Aristotle and others - were all men. The early
church fathers writings’ were done by men and until today the idea of women
scholarship is limited in some areas of the church. The French writers at the
French revolution and Voltaire and the Russians were men. The founding fathers
of the United States were me. Islam is the only civilization which is known by
humanity where a leading input in terms of its transmission and establishment
was based upon the efforts of women. Central - and this is an historical
matter which is not open to interpretation, it is a fact - these are the people
who transmitted the prophet’s teachings, these are the people who supported it
hereafter. Those are just some thoughts and impressions concerning how Islam
uplifted women.
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