Mohammed Nizami
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Mohammed Nizami
  • Home
  • About
    • About Me
    • My approach
    • This website
  • Articles
    • Blog
    • In depth
    • Faith
    • Qur’an
    • Shari’ah
    • Politics and Society
  • Media
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • Friday Sermons
  • Events
    • Quran sessions
    • Workshops
  • Contact

Faith

    BlogFaith

    Stable and secure believing women and our future

    by admin September 19, 2019
    6 min read

    Anyone who cares about the present as well as the future of the believers, has to be concerned with the social conditions under which believing women live and their sense of security and stability. If the purpose of the Prophet’s polity was to provide believers with “security to replace their fear” (24:55), then in general, such objectives ought to also be our own. It was such security that not only allowed believers to grow and thrive but also facilitated the spread of the nascent faith. Women tend to be the pillars that hold up the structure of society, they are the carriers of culture, the (more significant) nurturers of today’s citizens, as well as the cultivators of future generations. The future isn’t bright if they’re not happy, and the future won’t be consequential if they’re not content (and resultantly committed). Yes, it requires women to be sensible and realistic in discovering contentment, but it also means that believing men need to provide the conditions for them to be able to do so.

    If we think about it from the perspective of our communal interests and the cause of Islam:

    Social and political progress tends to be slow. It does not predominantly occur through revolution (an idea that popular culture has come to embrace) but by gradually cultivating today and tomorrow’s citizens – it’s the reason Gove was so happy to be education minister. For the sake of the future, we can only expect tomorrow’s people to be confident, faithful and educated folk IF they’re cultivated by equally confident, faithful and educated folk (and of course that includes men as well). Yet despite its demonstrable importance, the environment in which this might occur hasn’t significantly developed. Rather than being supported and permitted to get on with it – to seek an environment that’d help to shape confident, faithful and informed believers, many Muslim women find themselves having to battle social and ethno-cultural pressures as well as reductive, condescending and unrealistic ethno-cultural assertions about their ‘place’. It wears them down and inhibits constructive activity. And no, rhetorically referring to Muslim women who are practically treated like mindless maids as ‘queens’ or ‘jewels’ doesn’t make them feel valued – and this isn’t lost on anyone with a semblance of intelligence. Furthermore, it certainly doesn’t lead to the members we all need believing women to be.

    Instead, what we regrettably continue to see is a milieu that produces countless restless beings with various worries, who frequently have their good and charitable nature exploited, who remain greatly unappreciated for their labours, whose views might be overlooked simply because they’re women, and who are given legitimate cause to be anxious about their prospects rather than thrilled at the opportunities and positive challenges the future ought to bring. Whilst some men might put it down to “women’s nature”, God tells men to challenge their own perceptions:

    “Live with them in accordance with what is fair and kind: if you dislike them, it may well be that you dislike something in which God has put much good.” (4:19)

    Of course, not all believing women find themselves in such a situation, but even they would acknowledge that the current environment promoted by most ethno-religious communities isn’t one conducive to high aspirations, or one that reflects a godly and productive lens that provides the holistic type of security and stability believing women desire. As believers, we are morally obliged to build an environment where women are able to flourish and become the best women on earth (and the same obviously goes for our men and children).

    Some men suffer from protest fatigue. I accept that, as is the case with complaints in any setting, not all are always legitimate. But there needs to be a constructive way of discussing worries in a spirit of cooperation and reason, rather than falling into reductive arguments, belligerence, or retreating into silos and talkshops. I also accept that many believing women have some way to go to become substantial contributors to the future of an inspirational Islam in Britain, but so too do many men – it’s not a gender issue but one of general development. However, if women aren’t provided the space, opportunity and know-how to develop a holistic approach to īmān which improves the intellect with reason and knowledge, the body with vitality, and the spirit with civility and resilience, as well as an emotionally and psychologically sound atmosphere required to achieve all of these, then as a believing community we won’t get very far. It’s easy to put women down, which occurs in some cultures, and claim they don’t know much or that they’re ‘slow’, but if resources in many communities are mainly geared towards men, and women frequently infantilised, how can we expect them to be on level par? Studies show that where women are given the same educational opportunities as men, they outperform them. Evidently, a phenomenal human resource is being squandered, and in some cases, actively undermined. Is it any wonder that some Muslim women opt for Eurocentric feminism when it seems to offer them more equitable terms? “Islam gives women rights” becomes an empty slogan if not practiced by adherents to that Islam, not to mention that the use of this slogan can inadvertently suggest that if Islam hadn’t advocated such rights, such sloganeers simply wouldn’t bestow equitable treatment to women out of a sense of decency and some good old logic.

    استوصوا بالنساء خيرا

    The Prophet put it: “Treat women well,” (al-Bukhari) and ‘well’ is not only determined by the situation, but also in the context of being sensitive to the needs of women whilst simultaneously encouraging them to strive higher. In a gender-conscious verse God spells out the relationship between the two groups: “The believers, both men and women, are allies supporting each other (awliya)…” (9:71) and such support includes men cultivating their vital team members and expanding their capacities rather than simplistically putting them down. That’s actual leadership. Furthermore, as believers we inspire one another to be the best reflections of ourselves with the Prophet having put it, “The believer is the mirror of a believer”. So if some men hold the women around them in low stead then they must consider what they themselves actually look like!

    As for believing women, it’s up to them to assert themselves and take the bull by the horns, and neither squander nor disregard the opportunities they’re availed by emerging opportunities. Complaints about lack of resources and/or access are often inaccurate or a pretext for some to veil their laziness or lack of commitment. In the end, the effort needs to be made by both sides.

    September 19, 2019
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  • BlogContemporary IssuesFaithShari'ah

    Studying Īmān over Aqīdah

    by admin September 18, 2019
    September 18, 2019

    5 min read The last post provides the perspective I intend when discussing the study of īmān over aqīdah here. What aqīdah study…

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  • BlogContemporary IssuesFaith

    Shar’ī therapists, counsellors, and murabbis

    by admin September 15, 2019
    September 15, 2019

    Over the years, I and many of my colleagues have come to experience that the vast majority of Muslims do not require scholars…

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  • BlogFaith

    Ashura and the Hebrew Exodus

    by admin September 1, 2019
    September 1, 2019

    On the 10th Muharram we are encouraged to fast, not simply because Muhammad, the final messenger of God did so, but because the…

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    9 FacebookTwitterTelegramEmail
  • Contemporary IssuesFaithIn depth

    Imaan Boosters and Softeners: Replacing proper guidance

    by admin August 17, 2019
    August 17, 2019

    Amongst many, religious culture and cultivation tends to centre on imaan boosters: perceived short term-fixes that leave people on a religious ‘high’ for…

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    3 FacebookTwitterTelegramEmail
  • BlogFaith

    Moving forward and actualising faith today

    by admin July 27, 2019
    July 27, 2019

    I have written before that I believe today’s believer can: be committed to the Quran and the sunnah without being salafi; benefit from…

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    4 FacebookTwitterTelegramEmail
  • BlogFaith

    What is Salah?

    by admin April 30, 2019
    April 30, 2019

    Salah is the ultimate expression of subservience to the Most High, ordained by God from the earliest times of Sapiens’ existence (Q 42:13),…

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    7 FacebookTwitterTelegramEmail
  • FaithPrinciples of Faith

    Are you a Muslim or a Believer?

    by admin April 4, 2019
    April 4, 2019

    In the Qur’an God speaks about faith/imaan from various perspectives. One that is highly relevant to the ways in which we identify faith…

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  • FaithPrinciples of Faith

    The standard set by God in our understandings and practices

    by admin March 23, 2019
    March 23, 2019

    This post is about some of the responses I receive from both the laity and the clergy when speaking about shar’i matters in…

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  • Contemporary IssuesFaithIn depth

    Articulating beliefs in the modern context

    by admin February 2, 2019
    February 2, 2019

    When discussing entities of a metaphysical nature our presentations tend to be abstract, binary and devoid of real-world meaning. Often it is absurdly…

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To make the UK a place in which revelation comes to life and believers develop and enhance their literacy and shar’ī competence. My aim is to advocate a lived monotheism, promote faith and godliness, champion the religion of Abraham, contribute to building an inspiring faith community, and intelligently articulate the functionalisation of what was revealed to Muhammad, Abraham’s descendent and God’s final messenger.

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