Archive for the ‘Women’ category
Introducing a New Series: Reconstructing Beauty
Reconstructing Beauty Series: Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI We live in a time of incredible focus on physical appearances and image. In our upcoming series Reconstructing Beauty – to be posted every Wednesday for the next five weeks, inshaAllah – some of our best writers here at SuhaibWebb.com will be [...]
Loneliness
Question: I was engaged to be married, but one day my fiancé changed like the weather, and chose to marry another woman. I have been broken, humiliated, and abandoned. Now, every time I try to move forward with other relationships, I face another failure. I have been deserted by those I love the most, betrayed, [...]
Hijab is Not to Protect Men, But to Honor Women
As we know, Islam provides a few guidelines on dress code for both men and women. They are designed to promote modesty while still allowing a functioning and healthy society. I’ve heard and read a number of stories and have observed the attitudes of many brothers: that Islamic guidelines for women’s clothing and modesty exist [...]
Wifehood and Motherhood are Not the Only Ways to Paradise
“Why are you majoring in that field?” I asked a sister in college. She sighed, “To be honest, I just want to get married. I don’t really care about what I’m studying right now. I’m just waiting to get hitched so I can be a wife and a mother.” “It’s awesome that she wants to [...]
Closed Doors and Opened Eyes: Spirituality for the Non-Fasting
Originally written and posted: August 2009 | Updated and revised: August 2011 Ramadan is a blessed time of year often characterized by certain specific forms of worship. Fasting, reading Qur’an and performing salah (five times a day prayer) are the main focus of many people’s time and energy during this month. However, for most women [...]
Modesty: An Inside-Out Approach
Think modesty (hayā’). What comes to mind? It could be wearing hijāb and dressing modestly. Or maybe it is using decent and clean speech. Or it might be conducting ourselves with dignity and self-respect around the opposite gender. If we know we’ve fallen short in our modesty, we feel the need to change in some [...]
Towards an Arabic Hermeneutics
By Shaykh Dr. Ḥasan al-Shāfi‘ī | Translated and introduced by Sohaib Saeed Al-Azhari The Required Response to Feminist Reinterpretations of the Qur’an: Part I | Part II | Part III After looking at examples distributed in various parts of the world, we can summarize the key points of this movement’s discourse while noting that its members [...]
Feminist Interpreters of the Qur’an
By Shaykh Dr. Ḥasan al-Shāfi‘ī | Translated and introduced by Sohaib Saeed Al-Azhari Required Response to Feminist Reinterpretations of the Qur’an: Part I | Part II | Part III Riffat Hassan Riffat Hassan was born in the 1940s to a Shi‘ite family in Pakistan; her grandfather was a poet and playwright and the family was known for [...]
The Required Response to Feminist Reinterpretations of the Qur’an
By Shaykh Dr. Ḥasan al-Shāfi‘ī | Translated and introduced by Sohaib Saeed Al-Azhari Part I | Part II | Part III This series, presented in three parts, is abridged from a paper entitled “The Movement for Feminist Interpretation of the Qur’an and Religion and its Threat to the Arabic Language and Tradition” by Shaykh Ḥasan Maḥmūd [...]
It’s Tough Being a Girl
Many of the discussions that exist around gender in the Muslim community, both in the United States and abroad, have not fruitful. In this khutbah, Imam Latif speaks about the need for Muslim women to empower themselves through knowledge and also discusses how Muslims on a whole have failed to treat their women with the [...]
The Niqab (Veil) Ban & Maqasid al-Shari`ah
by Abdullah Hasan Someone once said that a nation can wage perpetual war for perpetual peace. Absurd isn’t it? Well, recently a so-called progressive, democratic nation decided to “enforce freedom” by taking away a woman’s right to wear the niqab. The French ban on face veils, which took effect yesterday, legislates what a French citizen [...]
A Letter to the Culture that Raised Me
Growing up, you read me the Ugly Duckling. And for years I believed that was me. For so long you taught me I was nothing more than a bad copy of the standard (men). I couldn’t run as fast or lift as much. I didn’t make the same money and I cried too often. I [...]
A Woman’s Reflection on Leading Prayer
On March 18, 2005, Amina Wadud led the first female-led jum`ah (Friday) prayer. On that day, women took a huge step towards being more like men. But did we come closer to actualizing our God-given liberation? I don’t think so. What we so often forget is that God has honored the woman by giving her value [...]
Mariam’s Character: A Commitment to Modesty
What Would Mariam Do? Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV It can be argued that no era of history has witnessed the widespread exposure to illicit images and lewd behavior on a global scale as the current times we live in. From the easy access of internet to the effects of [...]
Angry Hijabi
by Aasiyah Abdul Musawwir let me be frank with you, buzz-cut Mao-quoting tattoo-bearing gender and women studies major, waving your flag of female liberation up in my face – no, Man (with a capital “M”) has not colonized my mind. no i am not beaten, abused, or subjugated by my heinous male relatives. and the [...]
Umm and Ummah
by Aasiyah Abdul Musawwir Arabic, you are the tongue of my spirit And Wallahi, it is no coincidence that umm, “mother,” and Ummah, “community,” come from the same root. I talk a lot about this hijab… You ask me if it is mandated – I will tell you it is essential, life-giving, the umbilical chord [...]
Half the Deen – Check. Half the Hayaa’ – Check?
It is from the prophetic guidance that when someone looks to get married, they should take a good, critical look at their potential spouse and make sure there is nothing physically repelling to them. Better yet, they should see what is attractive in the other person. This is in the case of suitors who are [...]
Can I Combine the Six Fasts of Shawwal with Make-up Fasts of Ramadan?
Question: I recently heard on Islamic radio that we can fast the six days of Shawwal with two niyyah (intentions): Making up the days we didn’t fast during the month of Ramadan (for women) and Fasting the six days of Shawwal (like a simultaneous fast). I read on a scholar’s website that we cannot fast [...]
Question Regarding Menstruation and Contraceptives
The Question: Assalaamu ‘alaikum (peace be upon you) Imam Suhaib, May Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala (exalted is He) reward you for your efforts with this blog, and give you the strength to continue to be of benefit to young people like myself who spend way too much time online. I have a question related to [...]
Hijab, A Narrative
by Sundas Khan “I want to wear the hijab (headscarf) from Monday, Mum.” And I did. I could barely contemplate the words coming out of my mouth that day: Sunday, the thirteenth of June. I was, originally, planning to hold off donning the Muslim headscarf until at least seventh grade. However, I had really been [...]
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