For every man there are 50 women...(Hadith Bukhari)

Format: Lecture
Speaker: Sheikh Abdul Hakim Murad (Tim Winters)
Date: 25-June-2009

The lecture was very interesting and well attended. It did however start late which I felt frustrated the Sheikh. However once he got started, all eyes and ears were engaged. An authority was speaking.

However, the Sheikh said little about the Hadith in itself but rather spoke about the greater cultural context and the social attitudes regarding gender relations. He only touched on the Hadith towards the end of this lecture linking it loosely the socio-cultural context he had spoken about. Though when he did speak about it he talked about it in a dismissive manner as he explained that apocalyptic Hadith were generally there to make us both hope and fear and reminded us that the Prophet had said the person who is asked about the signs of the day of judgment knows as much about it as the person who asks the question.

I enjoyed his categorization of Muslims as either nylon Muslims or cotton Muslims. Nylon Muslims being those who had been influenced and perfectly conform to the dominant monoculture whereas cotton Muslims are the ones that think objectively and don’t care what the dominant culture think. He also made reference to a trend of Guantanamo style of tafsir where you take a verse and torture it until it means whatever the interpreter wants it to say.

I also took heart from his comments about the intention of interpreters who took an azima approach; which is narrow or the rukhsa approach which is sometimes seen as making it easy, or making concessions to make worship easier. He said that it was important for both groups of scholars to arrive at their respective conclusions objectively.

The Sheikh also made a very interesting analysis of the locum of current gender wars. Previously it was in the West but now Muslims who are seen as the last bastion of patriarchy are feeling the force of militant liberalists (my emphasis) supporting the Iraq and Afghan wars under the argument of liberating women. Recently we’ve had Sarkozy wanting to ban the burkha worn by women who freely choose to wear it whereas in parallel on the beach anything goes or nothing at all. Where is the logic? Is it not about libertè?

Finally the most piercing sound bite I took from the lecture was his when he said something like, following the sunnah is not just about knowing how to use your miswak. Very relevant.
 

What do you understand from liberty? Are women who wear the burkha out of their own free will in need of being liberated?