Women in political leadership, argued from the Quran's account of the Queen of Sheba against the Hadith of Abu Bakra in Bukhary that no community ruled by a woman will succeed. Also includes lessons drawn from Noah's Ark, an anecdote of two sick men about the happiness of encouraging others, and readers' letters about leaving corrupted religion for the Quran alone.
T he
women’s role in the political system, or leadership is one of the
major controversial issues in traditional Islam practiced today. Can a
woman take the leadership role? Is it prohibited?
The answer will be different if we look at the book of God, the Quran,
or if we look at the books of man, the Hadiths, most of which were written
more than 200 years after the Prophet’s death.
When God tells us a story in the Quran, He does not do so just to entertain
us, but to teach us a lesson.
“We narrate to you the most accurate history through
the revelation
of this Quran. Before this,
you were totally unaware.” (12:3)
“In their history, there is a lesson for those who
possess intelligence....” ()
The role of an important woman in the history of the old world, (as
much as Muslims are concerned,) is shown in the story of the Queen of
Sheba. (See 27:22-44) God mentioned her history in the Quran to let us
know that a woman in a ruling position is not offensive as far as God
is concerned.
She represented a democratic ruler who consulted with her people before
making important decisions. (See 27:29) She visited Solomon,
talked to him, made decisions for herself
and her people, not hiding behind walls, or shying behind man.
After witnessing what God gave Solomon, she became a submitter (Muslim),
while she was still the Queen of Sheba.
She was told, “Go inside the palace.” When
she saw its interior, she thought it was a pool of water, and she (pulled
up her dress) exposing her legs. He said, “This interior is now
paved with crystal.” She said, “MY LORD, I HAVE WRONGED MY
SOUL. I NOW SUBMIT WITH SOLOMON TO GOD, LORD OF THE UNIVERSE. (27:44)
Page 2
Women and Politics in
Islam
Here we witness one of the first Muslim women in charge of a nation,
ruling them as a queen of Sheba. Can we learn a lesson from the
Quran? We should.
The lesson is that, God in the Quran never put restrictions on
a woman in a ruling position. Contrary to what the traditional Muslim
scholars and Hadiths teach, a woman in a leading political position
is not against God’s system or against the Quran. It might
be against the chauvinistic views of the men who wrote the corrupted
history of Hadiths.
What did the books of man, the Hadith books, teach about women
in leadership positions? Completely the opposite, and then they
claim that Hadiths do not contradict the Quran. Of course the reason
is that the Prophet Muhammad would have never contradicted the Quran,
but those who invented these stories about him did.
In one of the most famous Hadiths that is often raised in the face
of any Muslim woman seeking higher education or higher position
in her career is one by a man called Abu Bakra who narrated a Hadith
reported in Bukhary that states that any community ruled by a woman
will never succeed.
The fallacy of this Hadith is not only proven in history but in
the fact that Abu Bakra himself was reported in the Muslim history
books to be punished publicly for bearing false witness. Despite
this known story of his bearing false witness, Bukhary did not remove
his Hadith from among his collected Hadiths according to the rules
that Bukhary himself claimed to follow. Such a bearer of false witness
should never be
allowed or accepted as a witness ever,
according to the Quran (24:4). Bukhary did not follow the Quran
or his own rules. I guess he liked the degrading of women he found
in this hadith.
We need only to look at what God is teaching us in HIS BEST HADITH
BOOK, and not at what the men who invented the Hadiths are trying
to confuse us.
Every one of us has a choice, either
believe God and His book or believe Bukhary and other men who contradict
the Quran. Only those who choose God will be the successful ones.
Sharif K.
Noah's Ark
Everything
I need to know, I learned from Noah's Ark...
ONE:
Don't miss the boat.
TWO: Remember that we are all in the
same boat.
THREE: Plan ahead. It wasn't raining
when Noah built the Ark.
FOUR: Stay fit. When you're old, someone
may ask you to do something really big.
FIVE: Don't listen to critics; just
get on with the job that needs to be done.
SIX: Build your future on high ground.
SEVEN: For safety's sake, travel in
pairs.
EIGHT: Speed isn't always an advantage.
NINE:
When you're stressed, float awhile.
TEN: Remember, the Ark was built by
amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
ELEVEN: No matter the storm, when you
are with God, there's always a rainbow waiting.
Anonymous
submitter
Ed’s note: If you’d like to submit
an article to the newsletter, you can send it by e-mail
to [email protected]. God bless.
Page 3
TWO SICK MEN
An Anecdote
Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One
man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon
to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the
room’s only window.
The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back. The
men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families,
their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service,
where they had been on vacation. And every afternoon when the man
in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by
describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the
window.
The man in the other bed began to live for those one-hour periods
where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity
and color of the world outside. The window overlooked a park with
a lovely lake.
Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their
model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every
color of the rainbow. Grand old trees graced the landscape, and
a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.
As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail,
the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine
the picturesque scene.
One warm afternoon the man by the window
described a parade passing by. Although the other man couldn’t
hear the band he could see it in his mind’s eye as the gentleman
by the window portrayed it with descriptive words.
Then unexpectedly, a sinister thought entered his mind. Why should
the other man alone experience all the pleasures of seeing everything
while he himself never got to see anything? It didn’t seem
fair.
At first thought the man felt ashamed. But as the days passed and
he missed seeing more sights, his envy eroded into resentment and
soon turned him sour. He began to brood and he found himself unable
to sleep. He should be by that window! That thought, and only that
thought now controlled his life.
Late one night as he lay staring at the ceiling, the man by the
window began to cough. He was choking on the fluid in his lungs.
The other man watched in the dimly lit room as the struggling man
by the window groped for the button to call for help. Listening
from across the room he never moved, never pushed his own button
that would have brought the nurse running in.
In less than five minutes the coughing
and choking stopped, along with that the sound of breathing. Now
there was only silence, deathly silence.
The following morning the day nurse arrived to bring water for
their baths. When she found the lifeless body of the man by the
window, she was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take
it away. As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if
he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make
the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him
alone. Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to
take his first look at the world outside. Finally, he would have
the joy of seeing it all himself. He strained to slowly turn to
look out the window beside the bed. It faced a blank wall. The man
asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate
since he had described such won-derful things outside this window.
The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see
the wall. She said, “Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you.”
Epilogue..
You can interpret the story in any way you like. But one moral
stands out:
There is tremendous happiness in making others happy, despite
our own situations. Shared grief is half the sorrow, but happiness
when shared, is doubled. If you want to feel rich, just count all
of the things you have that money can’t buy.
Submitted by Sister Maryam
Page 4
Comments
on
submission.org
For many years I've searched for God. Judaism led to Christianity
where I still am, though in body only. I have done tons of reading and
researching, esp. in the case of Christian dogma. I began that research
after reading the Old and New Testaments and being troubled by inconsistencies
and plain lack of logic (for example, if the OT says worship God only,
and He's one, how in the world did Jesus get in there and the Holy Spirit?
If Jesus was God incarnate, why did he pray to himself? Why, if Jesus
was God did he tell us to pray to God and only Him? In the OT God detests
human sacrifice, so then why does He suddenly change His mind and demand
a human sacrifice for our sins?). There were a lot more. Eventually my
searching took me to Islam and God, in His mercy, had me hit on your website.
I finally started getting some answers. I am still reading the Quran and
can't begin to express the relief I've experienced in finally having God's
word that isn't illogical, inconsistent and is so simple!
Of course, it's not hard to see that Judaism, Christianity
and Islam today are just religions, and very corrupted ones at that. All
three make the same mistakes and all three have committed violence towards
others in the name of those mistakes. As a result, I'm in a quandary.
I currently pray at home and observe charity, etc in my daily life. But
as far as worshipping with others, I'm at a loss. The church where I currently
go, I, of course no longer believe in any of the dogma. Yet I don't think
there's any mosque here that doesn't practice corrupted Islam. What do
I do? Do you know of any in my area that follow the Quran only? (I REFUSE
to follow or accept ANYTHING other than what is in the Quran--I've been
burned by man-made fabrications once too often). Or am I really on my
own? At the very least I do have your website, which is truly a gift from
God. I've seen other websites and they tend to mix in a whole lot of other
junk….
Sincerely,
Sister C. J.
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful…
I Love your Website - one of the BEST on the web
I just found your website a couple days ago and have been
glued to it and have sent it to other Muslims. Thank you for your COMMON
SENSE!! and most of all trying to set the record straight in areas of
Jesus (peace and blessings be upon him), music, women's dress and soooo
much more.
It is so important to read the Holy Quran for ourselves
and NOT to have scholars and others interpret it for us. Your sites really
hit home that message.
I have much, much more to go on your site, but I wanted
to say thank you!!! and I will write you again.
THANK YOU.
Sister E. B.
About this work
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Document
Author
International Community of Submitters
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