Today, Egyptian Muslims celebrate Prophet Muhammad's birthday (PBUH); known in Egyptian colloquial as Mawlid Elnaby. On this day, Egyptian Muslims eat special desserts (halawet elmwalid), exchange visits with relatives and acquaintances, and hold religious sessions to remember Prophet Muhammad. It is an intensive spiritual course that gives power to Muslim's soul and heart.
This is my first time, in five years, to celebrate Mawlid Elnaby at home. This year, I insisted on seizing the opportunity to purify my soul away from the usual concerns of daily life. Early in the morning, I woke up on the beautiful lyrics of Mohamed Tharwat, singing for Prophet and praising Allah! His song was so touching. I had my breakfast with my sweet mother and three siblings. Then, we ate desserts, recited Qura'an and made wishes. I was extremely happy and I hoped if this hour of my life could last forever.
After performing
I ran, immediately, to my lap top and searched Google for quotes and procedures required for making O'mra (minor pilgrimage) trip. There, I had a great shock, which spoiled my day: I am not allowed access to
Do you know what a male chaperon is? A first-degree male relative: father, brother, husband, or son! I am in a big trouble. On one hand, my father is dead and my two brothers are not interested. Even if they are, I cannot afford their tickets. On the other hand, I do not have a husband; and of course I do not have a son!! What can I do, now?! I am terribly confused! I have already traveled to several places around the world. I was completely alone! I did not do something wrong, and nothing wrong was done to me!!
I was told that this unjust restriction on young Muslim women is the pure invention of
Nevertheless,
Thereupon, I call upon international feminists, moderate Muslims, and those who believe in women rights in the Muslim world to join my upcoming fight against the Saudi government for getting my right (as a woman) to practice my religion without the unreasonable and unjust restrictions imposed by extremists and patriarchal governments like that of Saudi Arabia.
13 comments:
Really beautiful posting.
Have a nice day.
m3lesh, rabana yekreemek ya dalia we tetgawezy we tsafree ma3a gowzeek isa
وان شاء الله حتي لو ربنا مقدرلكيش تسافري
المهم نيتك دي
لان \\\
نية المؤمن خيرٌ من عمله
وقد دلت النصوص بكثرة على أن من نوى العبادة وكان صادقاً في نيته وحيلَ بينه وبين فعله بأمرٍ خارجٍ عن إرادته فإن له ثواب الطائعين.\\\
ولا تزعلي نفسك
بكره تتجوزي وتسافري مع جوزك ...
وان شاء الله حتي لو ربنا مقدرلكيش تسافري
المهم نيتك دي
لان \\\
نية المؤمن خيرٌ من عمله
وقد دلت النصوص بكثرة على أن من نوى العبادة وكان صادقاً في نيته وحيلَ بينه وبين فعله بأمرٍ خارجٍ عن إرادته فإن له ثواب الطائعين.\\\
ولا تزعلي نفسك
بكره تتجوزي وتسافري مع جوزك ...
still the view of saudi arabia people is distorted,i'm an egyptian doctor working in saudi arabia i have female collegues, doctors, nurses,personnel staff of various specialities in general they are smart social intelligent and ofcourse, respectfful(many are exposing their faces inside the hospitals).regarding the travel of women alone ,it is still a matter of cntroversy among different clerics and this applies to most islamic countries ,saudi arabia is no exception
I read about your blog in this article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7950729.stm
thank you very much for your blog and the posts... it is very eye-opening for an outsider.
I hope that someday you will be able to celebrate your beloved Prophet's birthday by making a pilgrimage.
All the best and may God always be with you and you always with God.
Assalamu aleykum, sister-in-Islam,
I would like to state that I am somewhat taken aback by your post - you seem to be a well educated individual and yet your post illustrates that you are either unwilling or unable to do some basic research on Islam, Shari'a and Saudi Arabia. Given that sites like BBC are using your blog for quasi-propaganda purposes, I think you should at least do your research.
I would just like to point out a few issues that you appear to be totally unaware of:
1. Mawlid anNabee.
You rail about the supposed Saudi Arabian invention of mahram requirement for travel for women and yet you say nothing about the fact that the holiday you celebrate is a complete invention itself without any basis in the Quran or Sunnah. Now, I am not saying it is right or wrong to celebrate it - God knows there is always more than one opinion among us Muslims - but when you state that "Saudi Arabia does not celebrate Prophet's birthday" you seem to be implying that they are supposed to do so. This, of course, is not correct.
2. Women travelling without male chaperone.
You state that you have been "told that this unjust restriction on young Muslim women is the pure invention of Saudi Arabia. It has nothing to do with Islam!". How gullible you must be! I honestly cannot believe that someone of the level of education that you possess will fall for such a statement without any research. Without going into the fiqh of the matter, here are a few examples from sahih ahadith:
1) Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him & give him peace) said: "Let no woman travel for more than three days unless her husband or a Mahram is with her". (Sahih Muslim).
2) Sayyiduna Abd Allah ibn Umar (Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) said: "A woman must not travel for three days except with a Mahram". (Sahih al-Bukhari, no. 1036 & Sahih Muslim).
3) Sayyiduna Abu Huraira (Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) said: "It is unlawful for a woman who believes in Allah and the last day that she travels the distance of one day and one night without a Mahram accompanying her". (Sahih al-Bukhari, no. 1038).
4) Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) said: "A woman must not travel except with a Mahram and a man must not enter upon her except if she has a Mahram". (Sahih al-Bukhari, no. 1763).
As you can see, the restriction is from Islam, and not "an invention" of Saudi Arabia.
3. The "evil" Saudis "deprive Saudi women from showing their faces, driving a car, or even working or socially mixing with men".
I wholeheartedly agree that the Saudis do enforce the most stringent interpretation of Islam on its own population. I do agree that the prohibition on driving for women has absolutely no basis in Islam whatsoever, as the Saudi clerics themselves acknowledge (since the prohibition is based on a fatwa and nothing else).
However, it is not true that women and men are not allowed to work together and it is also not true that Islam allows social mixing of men and women who are unrelated and without mahram.
My wife knows a lot of Saudi sisters who work in Saudi in environments where both men and women are present - hospitals, Universities, newspapers. They are segregated as far as the job permits, but are not prevented from working together (which is totally in the spirit of Islam).
As for social mixing. I am in Egypt at the moment studying Arabic. I can only say that merely because the Egyptian culture seems to accommodate social mixing of men and women who unrelated and without mahram, that does not make it Islamic. Egyptian culture is definitely not Islamic - you only have to look at the way people dress to appreciate this.
Dear sister, I appreciate that you may not publish this comment for a myriad of reasons. I only wish that you benefit inshaallah from this simple nasiha which is the main reason for my comment - do you research! Particularly so before stating whether something is from Islam or not! Mashaallah, people read your blog and see you as a representative of Islam and Egypt - you owe your readers factual correctness at least in the matters of our beloved Islam.
All that is wrong is from me and all that is right is from Allah.
Wasalamu aleykum,
AH
Ya Dalia I know EXACTLY how you feel. I wanted to go do Omra recently with my parents but my father had to work so he couldn't come. Saudi Arabian laws won't let me go with my mother because I am under 40 years old, and it is not enough for her to accompany me! Because of these ridiculous laws not only am I not able to go but my mother now cannot go either because she needs either me or my father with her to help her. It's so ridiculously sexist and I agree that these laws have no basis in Islam.
@ AbdulHafeed ar-Russi, you said "Egyptian culture is definitely not Islamic".
There's no such thing as an "Islamic culture". Islam is a religion not a culture - a religion with so many different opinions and interpretations. Who are you to judge that one culture's interpretations are correct and another's are not? No human being has the right to judge an entire culture as being "Islamic" or not.
And @Amr, you said "rabana yekreemek ya dalia we tetgawezy we tsafree ma3a gowzeek isa". Let's pray that every muslim man and woman can get married because marriage is a beautiful thing and a big part of our religion. However, marriage should not be a pre-condition for my ability to be a better Muslim. And yes, I believe that the experience of the 3omra will make me a better Muslim.
According to Saudia Arabian laws, my ability to better serve my religion is dependent upon me finding a husband? That makes no sense whatsoever. Rabina yeghferlohom 3ala elly homa beye3melooh dah!
assalamu aleykum,
Dear lozah,
You state that the Saudi Arabian laws have no basis in Islam but ignore the evidence I have provided. Do you then accept or reject authentic ahadith on a basis of a whim? Why pray 5 times, maybe you would want just to pray once?
As for culture, I have the right to judge your culture and can of course judge mine - that's globalization for you. And yes there is such a thing as Islamic dress, behaviour, literature, etc. and, consequently, Islamic culture.
AbdulHafeed ar-Russi, waleikum al-salam.
Regarding your first point, my answer is no. I try to refrain from basing anything in my life on a "whim". It is a matter of interpretation. There are many muslim clerics out there who also say that it is permissble for a man to beat his wife, for example. There are many other clerics who provide a different interpretation. Similarly, the issue of women travelling alone has been explored in depth by many scholars and this has produced a wide variety of interpretations.
I guess we will have to just agree to disagree on this one. You can continue to believe that single women with no willing male relatives do not have the right to perform Hajj or Umra, and I will continue to travel everywhere alone except for Mecca. Allahu Ta'ala A'lam.
Regarding your second point, I still stand firmly by my comment. Nobody but Allah SWT has the right to judge. Some people may see Saudi Arabia as the most Islamic culture in the world. Others see only oppression, repression, tyranny, and the abuse of religion for political purposes. And yet, I can only judge the Saudi government. The culture of the actual Saudi people is left to be judged by Allah SWT. Labeling a culture as Islamic or unIslamic is very reductionist and judgmental.
Assalamu aleykum lozah,
In respect of the travelling issue, I am afraid your attitude clearly illustrates the underlying cause of traditional repression of women - listening to what the cleric says. If the cleric said there were two gods, would you listen to him? Then why do you listen to him when he states things that are in accord with your whims?
I will give you a few examples of how this attitude has resulted in repression of women and female voices.
1. In Hanafi madhab the husband is entitled to prevent his wife from going to the mosque to pray an obligatory prayer. This, despite clear ahadith forbidding any prevention of female attendance of the masjid, is the position taken by the Hanafi ulama.
2. In all four "main" madhahib, a female cannot be a judge. This being a clear contradiction to the practice of the Sahabah, who went for judgement to Aisha, and is based on twisting of clear words of a hadith into something men of the time wanted. Once again, the ulama went contrary to the practice of the Prophet and Sahabah.
So, when people take their ulama as law givers instead of the Prophet (saw), as you are doing by ignoring clear words of the ahadith, this is exactly what happens - injustice. You appear to be a fairly educated individual - why follow the ulama blindly in cases where clear text from Allah and the Messenger exists?
As to your second point, regarding judging cultures, Allah will judge people, not cultures. In our case, judging a culture is having an opinion about it. As your example of Saudi Arabia clearly illustrates, the reality of life and culture in that country lies somewhere in between the two extremes that you have outlined. As a British Muslim living in Egypt I can only judge by what is apparent and compare the same to my country and other countries I have exprienced, such as Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. And the apparent reality of Egypt is clear for all to see.
There is nothing wrong with being judgemental, as long as you allow others the same right against you. As far as reductionism is concerned, characterising something as non-Islamic is not reductionist, as being non-Islamic does not, from an objective point of view, devalue, simplify or demean a culture. From a subjective point of view, it is indeed a value judgement, however, the whole point of a subjective viewpoint is that everyone is entitled to have it.
ALLAH THE ALMIGHTY IS ALREADY ON EARTH !!!
The sigh of His arrival: A face in the sky video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_OAauYfPwE
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Please refer to someone incharge fitted whatever doctrine you are.
This is an exceptionally distinguished essence fitted all mankind.
Thanks,
Krulayar
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