Saturday, May. 05, 2018 | 13:00 - 15:00 Makkah | 10:00 - 12:00 GMT
Session is over.
Dear Brothers/Sisters,
Thank you very much for joining us in this Live Fatwa session. We would like also to thank our guest, Dr. Muhammad Salama, for answering the questions directed to him. You will find the answers of your questions below.
Can women decide not to get married? And undergo the clitorodectomy to avoid sexual urges?
In the Name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Mercy-Giving
All praise is due to Allah. Peace and blessings be upon His Messenger Muhammad.
Islam has exhorted its followers to marry in order to achieve sublime goals for the benefit of both individuals and the ummah. Muslim scholars thus declared the prohibition of removing genitals to end one’s desires. One may choose, however, to live as a virgin provided that one has control over his/her sexual desire and thus commits no sin. If one has strong sexual desire and fears to commit zina or masturbation, one has to marry to satisfy this desire in a legitimate way.
The Quran has set Marry, the Virgin, as an example for believers because of her chastity and devoutness “Moreover, there is Mary, daughter of Imran, who [estimably] safeguarded her chastity. Then We breathed into her [womb] of Our [life-giving] spirit. For she confirmed the [revealed] words of her Lord and His [Heavenly] Books. Indeed, she was ever of those who are devoutly obedient.” (At-Tahrim 66:12)
So, you may take Lady Mary as your role model and follow her example to meet her in the Paradise. But you may not undergo clitorodectomy to abstain from marriage.
Almighty Allah knows best.
Women have to stand, smiling at the husband while he is eating. Is there a hadith to this effect?
In the Name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Mercy-Giving
All praise is due to Allah. Peace and blessings be upon His Messenger Muhammad.
There is nothing in the Shari`ah that requires a woman to stand and smile while her husband is eating. I wonder about the source of this question.
Almighty Allah knows best.
Men marrying more wives, and I know that it has good consequences as well but... are men really that inconsiderate by hurting their wives' feelings? Why the women of his Ummah can't be important as Fatima RA? I mean why we deserve more suffering and less mercy from men in this regard.
In the Name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Mercy-Giving
All praise is due to Allah. Peace and blessings be upon His Messenger Muhammad.
As a ruling and a law prescribed by the Shari`ah, a Muslim may not raise objection to polygamy or any other Shari`ah ruling or law. Submission to Allah’s laws, whether one understands the wisdom behind them or not, is an essential part of being a Muslim.
It is noteworthy that polygamy is an exception not a rule. A polygamous husband is required to be just and give each wife her rights in a fair way, which is difficult for many men; otherwise, he has to face the prophetic warning “Whoever has two wives and is inclined to favor one of them over the other will come on the Day of Resurrection with half of his body leaning.” (Abu Dawud and Ay-Tirmidhi)
Polygamy has been prescribed to achieve great purposes and solve many social problems:
1) It is the alternative of adultery that has spread in other communities that disallow polygamy as men there look for pleasure outside marriage.
2) It helps decrease the number of unmarried women in the society with all the problems this increasing number causes.
3) It is the solution of the situation when a man comes to hate his first wife but does not want to divorce her and break the family.
These are just few manifestations of the wisdom behind polygamy. So, a Muslim woman should not be so selfish and should consider the needs of the ummah as well. Nowadays wars have broken out in a number of Muslim countries leaving many women without husbands or guardians. Any Muslim woman can be in the same situation. Undoubtedly polygamy is one of the solutions for such a disaster.
At a personal level, a Muslim woman, after being fully pleased with this divine law, may refuse to be in a polygamous relationship. She can even record her refusal in her marriage contract, because she does not have to accept this situation.
Jealousy is an emotion and feeling that only needs to be channeled in the proper way. It is a test for women to curb this emotion as it is a test for all Muslims to curb their desires and emotions and channel them in a way that pleases Allah the Almighty.
Almighty Allah knows best.
Women likely to be in Jannah are equated to the crow that has white legs or something like that. What is the explanation of the reports on this issue?
In the Name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Mercy-Giving
All praise is due to Allah. Peace and blessings be upon His Messenger Muhammad.
According to a number of Prophetic narrations, women will constitute the majority of the people of the Hellfire and few will enter the paradise. These narrations include the hadith mentioned above and the one the questioner referred to.
These hadiths are meant to warn women against such practices that drive them to such a destination. The female Companions understood such warnings in this way and reacted positively to the warning- by giving charity, for example, as in the above-mentioned hadith. When doctors say that smoking causes cancer, wise people refrain from smoking while foolish ones would accuse doctors of being biased against smokers.
There are, however, other narrations from which one can infer that women will outnumber men in the Paradise. In one narration, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) stated that each man in the Paradise will have two wives, which indicates that the number of women will be about double the number of men. To understand this paradox, we need to remember that the sinners from among the followers of Messengers will be punished in the Hellfire for a while and then will be delivered and admitted to the Paradise.
Thus, one may infer that sinful women from among the followers of Messengers will increase the number of women in the Hellfire and then after being delivered and admitted to the Paradise, they will increase the number of women there.
Almighty Allah knows best.
How would you interpret the hadith about Women's intellect deficiency and half value of testimony in comparison to men?
In the Name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Mercy-Giving
All praise is due to Allah. Peace and blessings be upon His Messenger Muhammad.
Imam al-Bukhari reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) once went out to the prayer yard to offer the Prayer of `Id-al-Adha or Al-Fitr. Then he passed by the [attending] women and said, “O women! Give charity, as I have seen that the majority of the dwellers of Hell-fire were of you (women).” They asked, “Why is it so, O Allah’s Messenger?” He replied, “You curse frequently and are ungrateful to your husbands. I have not seen any among those lacking in intellect and religion who are more overwhelming to a man possessing reason and insight than you.” The women asked, “O Allah’s Messenger! What is deficient in our intellect and religion?” He said, “Is not the testimony of two women equal to the testimony of one man?” They replied in the affirmative. He said, “This is deficiency in her intellect. Isn’t it true that a woman can neither pray nor fast during her menses?” The women replied in the affirmative. He said, “This is deficiency in her religion.”
The hadith clearly bears no bias against women nor does it mean to humiliate them. There are physical and psychological differences between men and women based on the role for which each sex was created. They are meant to complete, not to vie with, each other.
The Shari`ah takes these differences into consideration and rulings and laws have been prescribed accordingly.
Women are commonly known to be more passionate; nevertheless, a woman has the ability to overpower a wise man with her passion. For this reason, the testimony of two women is equal to the testimony of one man, from Shari`ah perspective. Allah the Almighty says in the Quran what means: “Moreover, bring two witnesses from your men to witness [it]. But if there are not two men, then [you may bring] a man and two women from those whom you [mutually] approve of as witnesses, so that if one of the two should err then the other one can remind [her].” (Al-Baqarah 2:282)
In this regard, women are relatively deficient in comparison to men; though they are not blamable for that. From another perspective, being more passionate is a positive quality that helps women achieve their role and fulfill their duties that cannot be done otherwise and that men usually fail to achieve.
The Shari`ah also takes women’s psychological changes during menses into account and relieves them from fasting and prayer during this period. This is another relative deficiency; though they are not blamable for it as well.
Thus, taking the occasion of the text into account, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was wondering of such contradiction and never intended to demean women.
We need always to read any text within the overall Shari`ah context. The Shari`ah respects women and has given them unprecedented and unmatched rights. The Quran has honored women and mentioned a number of them as exemplary figures. A good number of the female companions set model examples for Muslims. Islamic history if full of brilliant women in different fields of life activities. How then can one misinterpret the prophetic text to express bias against women?
Almighty Allah knows best.
if women divorce they cannot smell Paradise... What if she doesn't love the man and doesn't want to stay with him? What if the husband divorces and marries many times?
In the Name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Mercy-Giving
All praise is due to Allah. Peace and blessings be upon His Messenger Muhammad.
If a wife hates her husband or suffers in their marital life, she may ask for divorce and resort to khul` . The prophetic warning against asking for divorce clearly states “A woman who asks her husband to divorce her without [suffering] harm is prohibited to smell the fragrance of the Paradise.” (Abu Dawud)
The hadith implicitly indicates that when there is a legitimate reason or suffering a wife can ask for divorce. The warning thus should be read in the context of endangering family life and breaking family ties for no reason.
Divorce is hateful to Allah. Allah says in the Quran what means “And should you [come to] detest them [after marrying them, then], behold: It may be that you detest something and Allah will place therein much goodness.” (An-Nisaa’ 4:19)
Therefore, the majority of scholars consider divorce as reprehensible. A man recklessly marries and divorces many times for no legitimate reason does injustice to the society and will be held to account for this in the Hereafter.
Almighty Allah knows best.
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