 It is no secret that women get the short under the stick so to speak when it comes to how they are treated and viewed in various religions and societies. If one was to examine the workforce, one would realize that women do all the work while men get all the credit. Putting it generously, women are generally treated and viewed as less than men in many societies and communities. Today, inshallah, our aim is to focus on whether is it the religion's fault or is it the follower's fault. Respect the viewers, brothers and sisters in Islam, As-salamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Welcome to the second episode of the Muhammadan Blossom with me, your host, Ahmad Ali. Now, Sayyid, Muzaffar Al-Qazwini is joining us tonight to discuss the differences and correlations in all religions and how they treat and view women and generally while linking it to Fahdum Dizahra, alayhi salam. As-salamu alaikum, Sayyidna. Alaykum, As-salamu alaikum. How are you? Alhamdulillah. Alaykum, inshallah. Now, in the previous episode we did touch upon how Fahdum Dizahra, alayhi salam, her dad's involvement, Prophet Muhammad, in her life and how that's also important for us as fathers to be as involved as possible within the lives of our daughters equally to our sons. Tonight, I want to touch upon something very important and along the way we'll get to clarify some of the misconceptions, clear them up, inshallah. But first, before getting into the specifics, I want to know how did religions pre-Islam view and treat women and did Islam adopt the same method or did it seek to reform? Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim. Women in most settled societies, around the globe throughout the ages and the centuries, and virtually through all the classes of society, whether they were the lower class or even whether the higher ranks or the higher classes of societies. About time, whether it was the Persian Empire, the Mesopotamian Empire, whether it was within the Romans or the Greeks. Women have always experienced low status. So this is not something that is directed towards Islam today. And of course, it's a false accusation. We as Muslims, we have to clarify to the world that how are women generally treated within their societies and other world religions, how did they perceive women and how did they give her value or how did they understand her existence to be? So her existence was always experienced by low status, there was always exploitation, oppression, and her existence was always secondary to men. The inequality of the sexes between men and women, that the man is the master when it came to economical, cultural, political, intellectual life. Always women had to play a subordinate and a submissive role. Only in recent years women have stepped out of the kitchen and started thinking that we need to have a feminist movement asking the world for equality or proving to the world that we are equal. Because societies never saw them equal and never gave them the equality, they were always living a subordinate and submissive life. So only in recent years things have changed and they did not change because society started giving it to them. Societies changed because they started demanding it. You see the difference? So in prior societies like the Romans, the Greeks, they didn't see any value for women. Not just that she didn't have value, but for instance they used to think that she didn't even have a soul. She was just created by Satan or Lucifer as the old scriptures say. And she was there to destroy men. And she was nothing but evil. So you could have done anything with her, she's just the object, she's no different than your goat. You could sell her, buy her, even if she's your daughter, you could give her away, you could sell your wife. They didn't, these positions or marital statuses meant nothing. And especially when they saw that they believed that she had no soul and she was created by the devil. The devil, so she was a destroyer of societies, whenever wars broke out, they would always say, you know, a woman was behind it. Who believed in these ideas? The Romans, the Greeks. So ancient times. Ancient times, yes. So we have to see these beliefs prior to Islam within societies, what they believed in, and what did the religions believe in, and then what did Islam give? And these teachings still stay till today. They stay firm till today. Moreover, they used to torture their wives, their sisters. They would tie them up to chains. They would torture them, keep them there for days saying that they don't feel pain. They would pour boiling oils on them saying that, you know, she has no soul, she cannot be inflicted with pain. So this is how women were treated amongst the Greeks and the Romans. I would say this is kind of generalizing, but this did exist. But to a certain extent, where everyone believed in us. Yes, that's how societies were at that time. It was something normal. Nobody believed that women had value. We just saw her to be secondary. Her existence had no purpose or was irrelevant. She's just there to, you know, just like cattle are existing. They exist, so we eat them, we get milk, food, things like that. Women is just there to give you children and nothing else. She meant nothing else. She had no value, she didn't deserve any respect. So this is how it was within the Romans and the Greeks. Within the Persian Empire and the Indian territory, the Indians used to believe the Hindus and the Zardoshians used to believe that a woman only was allowed to live and exist as long as her husband existed. So sometimes, especially at those days where, you know, medicine was not up to date, people would die at an early age. He's 30 years old, all of a sudden he just passes away. 35 years old, he passes away. Those societies believe that she should not be able to exist after the departure of her husband. So in both religions, they used to burn the body of those who passed. They used to place the wives with their dead husbands and burn them together, saying that she can no longer exist or she should not even exist. Her existence is secondary to her husband's existence. She's only existing because of that man. So if that man is gone, then she no longer should be existing. All her rights of survival and living are stripped away. And if she was to live, if she was to live, then she would live a dishonorable life. She'd have to become, you know, no different than a peasant or stay in her room all her life and not enjoy life for the rest of her life, even if she lived another 40 or 50 years. So these societies all viewed women this way. And they had no value. For instance, in the Chinese cultures, in the ancient Chinese cultures, if a father passed away, then his mother would be given down like an object inherited to the son. The son could have chose to, you know, have his mother just like his father had. That's clear enough. And he inherited his own mother. His sisters, they all came as inheritance. And they were just seen like objects, just like he would inherit, you know, the horses, he would inherit the house, he would inherit the so on and so forth. The same with the materialistic stuff. His mother was not seeing anything else than a material. She was seen as an object. And he would inherit her. And if he chose to have her like his father did, he would or give her away or just put her in a room. And within the Arabic peninsula, before Islam, the Arabian society gathered all these brutal and horrific cultures and ways of life into their society. So the Arabs had gathered from the Persians, from the Romans, the Greeks, the Indians, the Chinese. They had brought everything together in demoralizing or dishonoring women. And they would live upon it. For example, they would also inherit their mothers, no different. They would, you know, sell or trade wives and mothers and so on and so forth. It was just, you know, like they're having commerce. They're selling a piece of object. You know, I give you that house for this house. I give you this woman from my family, for that woman in your family. If someone passes away or someone is killed by one tribe, then this tribe has to give his mother, sister, aunts as, you know, a penalty or a fine. And they would just trade women as they were objects. Now, this was all pre-Islamic. This was all pre-Islamic within the Arabic Peninsula, within for Quraysh, within the people who lived in Mecca, Medina, and within the Arab Peninsula, within, you know, the city of Mecca. This is how the Meccans used to live before Islam came to them. And as we mentioned yesterday, that they had no value for, if they didn't have value for their mothers, then of course, they would have value for their daughters. And we spoke about how mothers would give birth by the grave, and if it was a boy, she would take it, and if it was a girl, she would dump it right away into that grave. And as the Qur'an mentions, the story or this phenomena. So, also they would say that they don't inherit at all, just like the other cultures and societies. But their interpretation was the only people who inherit are those who carry the sword and protect the egg. So my sons are carrying the sword. They fight. They fight for loot. They fight for survival. They fight for the protection of the egg, the children, basically the males. The males. It was a male dominant society since existence. Since existence. This is how it's been. And it was at that time when, you know, I had reached the highest of levels of injustice towards women. That's when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sent the messenger of mercy, Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi, to this world to bring honor, the true honor that every single woman deserves. And to show the world the value that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has truly given a woman and every single female. Now did Islam adopt this? Because we do see a lot of people recently following the Muslim religion as Muslims. A lot of misconception has been raised but based on what Muslims have practiced. And for example, we have people in the east and the west who treat their women as slaves. They have the idea, they're fond of the idea that women should stay in the kitchen no more, no less. Stay in the kitchen, clean the house, make food and that's it, raise the children. Whereas in more developed societies, no, even in developed societies, up to today, women have not been given the credit they deserve. But clearing up the misconceptions, did Islam adopt this or did it seek to reform? No, of course not, but inshallah we'll get to that in a little bit. Before we get into what Islam brought to societies, I want to clarify before that what the religions before Islam believe. Monotheistic or polytheistic? So Judaism and Christianity, and then we get into Islam inshallah. So if you look at, you know, just a quick skim through some of their beliefs. For all Jewish males, when they wake up in the morning, they have a morning prayer. Just like when we wake up in the morning, we have Dua As-Sabah by Amir al-Humani alaihi salatu wa salam, it's a supplication. And every Jewish male, thanks God, he says, blessed are you Lord, our God, ruler of the universe, who has not created me as a woman. He thanks God that he has not created him as a woman, meaning that she might be something evil. This is what I kind of understand. Is this stated right out of the Old Testament? It's not throughout the Old Testament, but if you search through their beliefs and ask the rabbis, they'll clarify this and confirm it, that we do have this prayer. And it's not something that's ignored or something that is placed in a false position. So they do all believe in this, that it's a blessing that God did not create them as women because women are definitely lower status than men. And moreover, that because she was an eternal curse, she was cursed eternally by God because she was the temperate who tempted Adam to eat from the tree. So she is the reason behind the fall of man. The fall of man. So her existence till today is the reason behind the fall of man. So whenever you see men failing, it's because of a woman, because they are the temperates. According to the ideologies now? This is through the Jewish faith. If you look at, for example, their books, whether it's in the Bible or the Torah, for example, in the Genesis that Genesis 3.16, she deserved eternal punishment because she tempted Adam. In Leviticus 12.2.5, he says she was created from his ribs, or from his flesh. She was created from his ribs or fell from his side. While we as Muslims, we will explain what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala describes, how Eve was created. So she fell from his side, she fell from his ribs causing him pain. Causing him pain, as some scholars say. Her existence will always be of pain because she caused pain for our father, she tempted our father, and this is merely her reason of existence. I mean, is that why they say that women have one rib more than men? Maybe. Is that why? Maybe. Also, within their faith, her Judas prudence, they believe that a mother who gives birth to a son is only in the state of Nifas, as we have, for seven days. So she's unpure for seven days. But a mother who gives birth to a daughter stays unfilthy for 40 days because a girl carries more filth and she's a curse. So the mother has to purify herself for 40 days for giving birth to a daughter and a baby girl. And the book of Exodus, a man can sell his daughter as a slave before she hits puberty. So these are some of the beliefs of prior religions to Islam. And as, how many? Can we go into a break and then continue the discussion? So respective viewers, do stay tuned for after the break, for we will, inshallah, continue our discussion around how our women viewed pre-Islam and after Islam, that's after the break. So stay tuned. Peace be upon you, my brothers and sisters of Islam. Here in Islam, in Germany, I would like to say a few words about the Imam of the time, the young man, Fatim Al-Zahra. Fatim Al-Ammal, the meaning of which is not to be forgotten, the picture of which is in the mercy of Allah, the sun, the moon and the stars, and the beauty of the sea, the sun, the moon and the stars. The beautiful nation of Allah, the country of forgiveness and light. From Germany, I would like to say a few words about the Imam of the time, unless there is a discussion about Fatim Al-Zahra. From Germany, we sent our greetings to Sahab Al-Zaman for his grandmother, Fatim Al-Zahra, and peace be upon her birthday. Peace be upon you, and blessings be upon you. They are Sahab Al-Ashr Al-Zaman, from the Islamic world, from the city of Dissoudouk, from Germany, in the event of the birth of Fatim Al-Zahra, in the event of the birth of Fatim Al-Zahra, in the event of the birth of Fatim Al-Zahra. From Germany, from Dissoudouk, we sent our greetings to Sahab Al-Zaman, for his grandmother, Fatim Al-Zahra, and peace be upon her birthday, for his grandmother, Fatim Al-Zahra. Peace be upon you, and blessings be upon you. We sent our greetings to the Imam of the time, for his grandmother, Fatim Al-Zahra, in the event of the birth of Fatim Al-Zahra. In the name of Allah, in the name of Allah, peace be upon him, and peace be upon him. From her prayers, and her prayers, and her prayers, and her prayers, and her prayers. Respect to the viewers, brothers and sisters in Islam. Once again, peace be upon you, and blessings be upon you, and blessings be upon you. I would like to congratulate you on this very auspicious occasion, which marks the birth anniversary of our pure lady, Lady Fatim Al-Zahra. Before the break, we did touch upon how whether polytheistic religions, or modern theistic religions, viewed and treated women free Islam. This was discussed with my dear guest, Sayed Mullah Faril Qazmini. Welcome back, how are you Sayedna? Now, before the break, we did touch upon some regarding how religions free Islam viewed and treated women. But how did Islam treat women? Was it? And I do repeat that question. Did Islam adopt the same methods, or did it seek reform? Well, first of all, yesterday we mentioned how Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi reacted, the master of messengers to his newborn child. There's an intention that I want to get to through this question, but yes. So, starting with the birth of Fatimah, Rasulullah started bringing these new teachings that a girl should not be buried, she has value, she's a blessing, she's this, she's that, and she's the joy of his life, the way he showed her respect, which prior to that, no one used to respect their women or their daughters. Rasulullah, as I mentioned, used to stand up when she entered the room. He would kiss her forehead, he would kiss her hand, and he would make it public before everyone what she meant to him and how he saw her, and how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala also saw Fatimah, peace be upon her. So, for your question is, did Islam adopt the lifestyle of societies before Islam? Or did it come with a new way of life? Because we see some Muslims today not living any different than the Romans or the Greeks or the Persian and so on. But you have to understand that there is always cultures, there's always people who do not live based on their religion. For example, do all Muslims pray? They're five daily prayers? Let's hope so. Let's hope so, but in reality, do they all fast? No, in reality, we know even in cities like Iraq or Iran or different countries, as we see here, they put a white cloth in the month of Ramadan and there are people breaking their fasts. So, you can't generalize that why? Because many people don't know what the religion is, what the religion brought. So, that's the difference. That this person is living this lifestyle is not because of his religion, it's because he's an arrogant person. He never picked up a book to read what his religion, his Lord, told him to live by. So, if he was to educate himself and to see how Rasulallah treated his wives, treated his daughter, how Islam valued women and gave position for women, then he would understand that he must value his wife or his daughter and any woman in society. So, that's what it comes down to. No, Islam did not adopt any of the cultures or lifestyles of the prior societies or the societies I mentioned or religions. And of course, we as Muslims believe that Allah's commandments never changed. So, the Bible was changed, so was the Torah. These are not the true teachings of Moses or the true teachings of Jesus because they would not defer all from the teachings of Rasulallah from day one, from the day of creation, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave value to every single woman and female. But as for misconceptions, misconceptions regarding some verses in the Quran that are directed towards us Muslims today that, look, this is what the Quran says men are superior to women. As the verse says So, today, we see that in newspapers or TV shows or people saying that Islam does not give women the same value as men. So, what does it mean to be superior or above a woman? What does the Quran try to say? What have exurgists said regarding the illustration of this verse? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala here is only talking about a nature. A nature of a human being. Majority of human beings, 99% of human beings and a makeup of man and woman. Islam is not saying Allah is not saying that he is superior and she is subordinate or she should be submissive. No, Islam is saying that or the Quran is saying that this is a lifestyle. As a child, every single girl wishes to have a man protector a male protector whether it's her father, uncle, brother and things won't change even when she wants to get married she is going to look for a guy who can protect her and give her the security she needs. The security not meaning that he is going to walk as a bodyguard but the security of her knowing that there is a man caring for her and he is present there for her always that's the nature that's the nature of females and the nature of man that he likes to be the protector and you see that with not just with a human species you see that with even different species the male is always the protector the protector of the herd the protector of the pack that's the nature of man he likes to be the bread earner that's why you see a lot of times when a woman earns more than her husband husband you'll see him he's depressed because he cannot do better and earn more bread for the family and provide more for the family than his wife because this is a nature a nature of how we were created to want to protect our mothers daughters, sisters mothers, wives every single man even if it's a small child you see a small 7 year old boy you know maybe he's walking in the street with his mother and someone tries to harass her even that 7 year old boy will try to protect his mother so it does not change that innate of man and woman is basically what Allah SWT is speaking about I mean just how we interpreted that verse a lot of people in the west interpret it something different what is the correct interpretation because the verse basically and straight forward says that man is superior than woman we do not understand what is the duty of the prophets and messengers to explain to us what the verses of God are what was the duty of Moses peace be upon him what was the duty of Jesus peace be upon him Noah and Jacob and all these messengers and prophets to illustrate to us the words and the teachings of God because they are the people who truly understand it so who do you go to you go to the source someone who is trying to make a point that he wants to make you could abuse the words anyone's words the way you like you could take them out of contact so this is as Muslims as Muslims we should be able to describe what Allah SWT is saying in the Holy Quran I don't need another person trying to say what my religion is giving to the world me as a Muslim as a person who read Muslim books Muslim heritage and a follower of Ahl al-Bait I can portray what Ahl al-Bait A.S. said about this verse and this ayah in Islamic and after Islam specifically in Islam what were the merits and virtues of Lidhi Fatima al-Zahra A.S and how is she the role model and symbol for all women despite religions or creeds Allah SWT gave Fatima A.S. the position of being meaning being the mistress of all women in both worlds this life and in the afterlife we see the positions of prophets and imams in our belief to be the highest of creations and amongst them amongst those men was a woman and that woman was Fatima A.S and it wasn't just adjacent to them but it was just the significance as we read in the hadith the hadith al-Qudsi Allah SWT when he dresses Allah SWT says oh Ahmad some see her to even be more significant the existence of a woman is probably even more significant because through her came the imams through her came guidance as Jibrail A.S in hadith al-Qisab says she is the center point of guidance send your blessings and peace upon Fatima and her father and her husband and her children showing how important she is we are the proof of Allah upon people and our mother Fatima is the proof upon us giving her the highest of statuses that no other creation has had she is proof upon us she is our guide so giving the significance to a woman and a female that has not existed in any religion or any society and she was there from the first moment of creation and through the books of both schools of thought when Adam made that mistake and majority of hadiths within the Sunnis books that when Adam mentioned the names and asking Allah to grant him for forgiveness he asked, oh Allah I ask you by the sake of Muhammad, Ali, Fatima and Hassan and Hussein those lights around your throne to repent upon me so she is just as significant and her light and her existence was there with the existence of the at the time of the Noor of Rasul Allah sallallahu alayhi wa ala and it was her existence that brought light the hadith says that when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala created the universe it was through the light of Fatima that light came back to the darkness and the angels asked Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala oh Allah what is this light the response was that this is the light of Fatima alayhi wa ala Fatir of the heavens and the earth and this is the light of Fatima the daughter of Muhammad Allah sallallahu alayhi wa ala Muhammad and it was through her light that the world became illuminated once again and this was before existence and on the day of judgment Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave her the position to be the first person to give Shafa'a an intercession she will be the first person a woman stands before all the creations before the creator Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and she is the first person to ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to pardon this person and that person for her sake Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala accept and the first person who enters paradise in the hadith it's not a man it's Fatima alayhi wa ala wa sallallahu alayhi wa sallam now one of her titles and merits is the lady of light now why was she named she was named exactly for the hadith that I mentioned because her light brought illuminated the whole universe she is the essence of light that's why she's called as Zahra alayha through the hadith of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam there's another narration which why you know for every Imam for every prophet Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives the name to that individual now Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala told Prophet Muhammad to name his child Fatima what is Fatima what's the significance of Fatima Fatima Fatima comes from Fatima Fatima is stripping away so for example if you want to stop breastfeeding a child they say his mother made this act Fatima so she took breastfeeding away from him so detached and Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi says she will detach her followers and lovers from him and people will never understand the position of this woman what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave this female and what honor he gave her and this is why the daughter of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi was called Fatima I would like to thank you very much for joining us May Allah bless you brother May Allah bless you as well and keep us on the path of Ahl al Bayt Ameen thank you once again thank you very much for tuning in tonight hopefully inshallah we can get to understand the difference between what Islam has brought to teach and what people want to make themselves understand about Islam once again thank you very much peace be upon you peace be upon you