HUMILIATION AGAINST WOMEN BEFORE PROPHETHOOD OF MUHAMMAD (PBUH).

Praise be to Allah who created the pairs- male and female from a sperm drop while it is lodge in the right place. He granted each of the pairs its path in life and its reward in the hereafter. I bear witness that there is no God but Allah alone without any partner, He created and perfected His creations, He decree and guides, He is the most wise, the most high. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His Prophet and Messenger, he was sent as mercy to the universe and with the best laws. May the peace and blessings of God be upon him, his families, wives and companions and those who follow them in righteousness till the day of recompense. After that, I admonish you and myself to fear Allah, the the All-knowing. Spend your time with the fear of Allah, day and night, you shall surely earn the pleasure of your lord and a successful end. Strive to earn lofty mansions in paradise. Allah says: { تِلْكَ الْجَنَّةُ الَّتِي نُورِثُ مِنْ عِبَادِنَا مَن كَانَ تَقِيّاً } ( مريم: 63). Such is the Garden which We give as an inheritance to those of Our servants who guard against Evil. (Maryam: 63). This Sermon is actually an introductory part to our exposition on the woman and her status in Islam. We hope to, in addition to educating, refute the obscured claims of the enemies of Allah; among the unbelievers and the hypocrite Muslims who fight against Allah and His apostle; by mockery and defamation. The scope of our discussion will cover the issues of woman and the dignity accorded her in Islam and how Islam has protected her from every form of molestation and injury. It will also cover the enabling apparatus that aided the enemies of Islam in their quest to change the thought of some women even the men, where they ridiculously imitate them in their criticism that Islam inhibits her freedom. This sermon, though it talks about the women, but it is not in any way restricted or focused to women alone. The man is actually the first target of this sermon, because he is responsible for the intellectual dislocation of his daughters, wives and sisters. It is his prerogative to understand this concept and enlighten the women around him for we shall be put to account concerning their affairs before Allah, the Almighty. HUMILIATION AGAINST WOMEN DURING THE PRE-ISLAMIC ERA Women have ever been an object of abuse and insult; within the family and in the society either as a child or lady in the pre-Islamic era. IN THE ARAB SOCIETY: The men enslaved the women, while the Arabs during this period viewed her as nothing but as ordinary acquirable property or provision like the wealth and flocks of cattle, and dispense of her as they like. The Arabs did not share to her any part of the inheritance; they consider her to have no right to inheritance as they used to say: “None will inherit us except he that carries the sword and guards the eggs” Also the woman had no right before the husband, divorce of women was without limit, the number of wives to a man was equally unlimited. With the Arabs then, when a man dies, leaving behind a wife and children, the eldest son inherits the father’s wife, he sees her as no other than he sees other properties of his father. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, he said: “When a man’s father or father-in-law dies, he will be more deserving or worthy to his wife, if he wishes, he accepts her, or he imprisons her until she is able to bail herself with her dowry or in another cases she dies and he cart away with her wealth.” Also the waiting period for a woman who loss her husband used to be a whole year, she undergoes a hideous and difficult mourning experience. She is made to adorn worst clothes, and to reside in a terrible room, she jettisons ornamentation, perfume and cleanliness, she must not use water, nor cut her fingernails, she must not also remove her hair and she is barred from the public view. At the end of the period- one year, she comes out more ugly and horrible. The Arabs had various kinds of decadent wedlocks; collective mating of men with a single lady and she gives the child to whom she is pleased with among them, she will say: “if I deliver, he will be your baby and she does gives the baby to him”. Another is a situation where a man sends his wife to have intercourse with one of the respectable personalities in the community so that she may give birth to a child that will posses same traits as the respectable personality. There is also the temporary form of marriage. Another is a marriage where a man gives his daughter or sister to another man in exchange for his daughter without a mahr- dowry. This practice is based on the concept of a woman being an acquirable material. During this period, the Arabs dislike the girl child, they bury her alive- infanticide, they fear family commitment. Allah disapproved their practice and disgraced them. Allah says: {وَإِذَا الْمَوْءودَةُ سُئِلَتْ بِأَىّ ذَنبٍ قُتِلَتْ}(التكوير:8-9). “When the female (infant), buried alive, is questioned, For what crime she was killed;” (81: 8-9) This represents the condition of the woman in Arab society prior to Islam, a situation common in other human societies. AMONG THE JEWS: For the Jews, when a woman menstruates, she becomes an impurity or filth, no one eats or sits with her, everything she touches becomes impure; food, persons and animals. Some among them sends her away from the house until when she is clean, while some others build a tent at their doorstep for her. He then places food and water before her until she becomes clean as well, the way a pet it treated. Some other group saw her as an object of curse who seduced Adam. AMONG THE INDIAN HINDUIST: The Indian Hinduists who worship the cow see it as compulsory for the wife to be burnt alive over the burnt body of her husband. AMONG CHRISTIANS: Some Christians see her as the fountain of sins, the root of all evil and the door to hell for men. Marriage is considered to be an impurity which must be avoided and a celibate is considered highly placed before God than the married one. THE CHINESE: In china, the man has the right to sell his wife as the maid. When a Chinese woman become widowed, the deceased husband’s family claim the right to her as wealth, worst still, the Chinese could even bury her wife alive. EUROPE- FRANCE: During the childhood days of the prophet, in 586C.E, the French had a conference to determine the status of the woman; is she a human being or not? Does she have a soul or not? If she has a soul, is it a human soul or an animal soul? If it is a human soul, is the soul equal to that of man? The deliberations finally concluded that she is a human but was created only to serve man. All these were the social traditions before the Mission of prophet Muhammad-peace be upon him. MODERN IGNORANCE AND THE ENTOMBMENT OF WOMEN IN THE NAME OF FREEDOM: The woman today has reached a state of modern ignorance; the proponents of women liberation strive to withdraw her from her primary role as a woman. They convene series of conferences for her sake which are in actual sense pure conspiracies against her person. They establish independent organizations or NGOs which claim to establish her freedom and liberate her. Unfortunately their effort is only to bury her alive, not by burying her in the grave, rather an intellectual and moral entombment; the entombment of the divine message meant for her salvation. The Muslim woman got influenced by these brutal attacks; the civilized society of this era aided the campaign by attracting victims for it, and creating a distortion of her role in life. They glorify individual and neglect the family, they do not view the woman as a mother, or wife or daughter but they only view her as an exclusive individual either as a worker or employee. In their perception, woman is considered a tool taken to the commodity market of pleasure and desires. The man who claims he is set out to liberate her is thus enslaving her because he only seeks his own freedom of access to her and not her real freedom. In this manner, the woman is displaced, the family is in disarray, the society is destroyed, the nation subjugated, therefore expectedly, the woman who would have been a breeder of guided generations ended up being groomed on moral looseness, her foundational preparedness got neglected and the society ultimately suffers for it in ruins. The enemies of Islam have made the Muslim woman their target in the battle against the religion. They know the woman has a great role and influence in the society; that her reformation reforms the society while her decadence corrupts it. She is the breeder of generations, maker of men and a wholesome institution of excellent civilization. They therefore attack Islam through her, claiming Islam is unjust to the woman in most of her rights, they claim Islam imprisons her and imposes the man over her, they also claim, Islam looks down on women. In addition, they say that man and woman are equal, but Islam honours man over woman, thus they wage war against hijab and cast doubt over it, they wage war against polygamy and cast doubt in its matter, they decry the law of inheritance and payment of blood money as it concerns women. They initiate these and other kinds of propaganda revolving around issues of women in Islam. May God bless you all and myself with the Holy Qur'aan, and benefit us all from the lessons there in. Having said all you heard, I seek forgiveness from Allah for me and for you all, Muslims, engage in seeking forgiveness from Him, He is All-forgiving, Most- merciful. All praises are due to Allah Who creates and perfects, He decree and guides. He created us from a father and a mother, He made us into tribes and nations that we may know one another and relate harmoniously and live as brothers in this world. We bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone without any partner, and we testify that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. May the peace and blessings of God be upon him, his families, and all his companions. Dear Muslims, hatred is a reprehensible and a bad character. A Muslim must shun hatred judging by Islam and faith because faith is based on love. From Anas may Allah be pleased with him, he said: (none of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself) Agreed Upon'. Nothing caused the destruction of the Islamic community or its disintegration, making it a boon for its enemies other than when hatred sets in within their ranks. Each of the Muslim countries wage war against his brother, a state plots a raid against a neighbouring state instead of assisting her. In fact some small Muslim countries form allies with their enemies against their Muslim states. Despite that the enemies will come to unsheathe his sword against her after having delivered the deathblow on her sister nation. Those who love one another for Allah’s sake will be on the pulpit of light where the prophets and matyrs will envy their status on the day of judgement. This is basically because love in Allah is the strong bond that mutually binds individuals, classes and groups in the society together. Allah says: { إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ الَّذِينَ يُقَاتِلُونَ فِي سَبِيلِهِ صَفًّا كَأَنَّهُمْ بُنْيَانٌ مَرْصُوصٌ}(الصف : 4) “Truly Allah loves those who fight in His Cause in battle array, as if they were a solid cemented structure.” (61:4) The reality of what Muslims face today calls for sympathy owing to the large number of misfortunes, differences and agonies. There is no way out of this mess except recourse of our affairs to the fundamentals of our religion. Allah says: { وَاعْتَصِمُوا بِحَبْلِ اللَّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلاَ تَفَرَّقُوا وَاذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذْ كُنْتُمْ أَعْدَاءً فَأَلَّفَ بَيْنَ قُلُوبِكُمْ فَأَصْبَحْتُمْ بِنِعْمَتِهِ إِخْوَانًا وَكُنْتُمْ عَلَى شَفَا حُفْرَةٍ مِنَ النَّارِ فَأَنْقَذَكُمْ مِنْهَا كَذَلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ آيَاتِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَهْتَدُونَ }(آل عمران :103 ) And hold fast, all together, by the rope which Allah (stretches out for you), and be not divided among yourselves; and remember with gratitude Allah's favour on you; for ye were enemies and He joined your hearts in love, so that by His Grace, ye became brethren; and ye were on the brink of the pit of Fire, and He saved you from it. Thus doth Allah make His Signs clear to you: That ye may be guided. (3:103) We ask Allah reconcile our hearts and guide us to the straight path, O Allah, honour Islam and the Muslims, humiliate idolatry and the idolaters, and destroy Your enemies, the enemies of the religion, Oh Allah, grant us your reverence, that with which You will distance us from sinning against You; and grant us of your obedience, that with which You will assure us of Your Paradise; and grant us of certainty in faith, that with which You shall ease worldly tribulations away from us. Sustain our hearing faculty, our sights and our strength as long as we live. Let them outlive us. Set your vengeance against those who transgress against us and support us over those who assault on us. Do not make the life of this world our greatest concern or the height of our knowledge. And do not impose on us one who would not be kind and merciful on us. Oh Allah I seek refuge in You from calamity, tribulations, evil disposition of affairs, and glee of enemy at one’s misfortune. Oh God, make this country safe, secured, generous and in wellbeing and other Muslim countries.