Sustenance

Courtesy of The Fig Tree Group




And with Allah is every success.

Raising Children

By Sheikh Muhammad Tawfeeq Ramadan al-Bouti

This is actually a class on menstruation but the first 36 minutes deal with raising children, i.e. how children grow up and what parents should do to help them become adults. Menstruation is the major sign that a girl has become a woman.

This class is the seventh in a series on Shafi'i fiqh that Sheikh Tawfeeq taught a few years ago in Damascus and is now being uploaded with English subtitles. The previous lessons can be accessed here, and more should be forthcoming, insha'Allah.

The Arabic text can be downloaded from here.

And with Allah alone is every success.

A Woman's Right to End her Marriage

سورة البقرة 2:229

A translation of this fatwa from Naseem al-Sham

The Requisites of Separation by Khulʿ

Question:

If a wife wants to separate, what are her rights in the Revealed Law?

Answer (Sheikh Rushdī Salīm al-Qalam):

Praise be to Allah and He suffices, and peace be upon His Chosen Messenger,

To proceed,

Just as Allah has given men the right of divorce, He has given women the right of mukhālaʿah[1], and thus there is no blame upon either of them regarding what she pays him. The foundation of the matter is that she owns her bridal gift[2] entirely and if she wants mukhālaʿah she offers something to her husband. It is recommended that the amount not exceed what she took from him.[3] As for asking for khulʿ without a legal[4] or health reason, this is not something that is desired in Allah’s Revealed Law, Mighty and Majestic is He.

A translation of this fatwa from Naseem al-Sham

Wife Asks For Divorce And Differences Over The Amount Paid For Khulʿ

Question:

Assalām ʿalaykum wa Raḥmatullahi wa Barkātuh. My question is that I want a fatwā regarding a situation in in which the wife has asked for a divorce and they have been married for a year and a half. They don’t have any children. The husband wants to take the gold even though he knows that she wore the gold when they got engaged and not when they got married. When they got married, she wore a necklace. He said that if we don’t give him the gold he won’t divorce her. Please clarify this for us. Thank you and may Allah reward you a thousand times over.

Answer (Dr Muḥammad Tawfīq Ramaḍān):

It’s unlawful for a wife to ask for a divorce[5] without a legal reason.[6] If she wants, she can ask for mukhālaʿah, and mukhālaʿah is a contract or agreement to separate in exchange for an agreed-upon amount, and this amount is for the husband and wife to discuss. If the husband divorces her of his own initiative then she keeps her entire bridal gift[7] and whatever else he gave her, before or after the contract, because what she owns cannot be taken away from her.

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[1] (tn): Also known as khulʿ, which is a release from the marriage in exchange for a payment from the wife. For English readers, further information can be found in Reliance of the Traveller, section n.5, while Arabic readers can look at al-Fiqh al-Manhājī (Damascus, Dār al-Qalam, 1433/2012), v.2, p. 121-123.

[2] Ar. ṣadāq

[3] (tn): i.e. her bridal gift

[4] (tn): i.e. a legal reason in the Revealed Law

[5] Ar. ṭalāq

[6] (tn): i.e. in the Revealed Law

[7] Ar. mahr, which is the same as ṣadāq

A Woman’s Right to Dispose of Her Own Wealth

الذهب و الفضة

Question:

            

              A woman has wealth. Does her husband have the right to dispose of her wealth without her consent and permission?

Answer (Sheikh ʿAbdul Ḥamīd Kishk):

            The sublime religion of Islam has granted adult, sane, mature women absolute freedom to dispose of their wealth however they like, with their will alone and without any objection from anyone else, be it their husband or someone else. Whatever she owns she is free to sell, to give as a gift, to lend and to transfer from one place to another, regardless of whether her husband objects and with no need for his permission, because what has been affirmed in the Revealed Law of Islam and what is acted upon in all Islamic countries is that each individual, male or female, has sovereignty over his wealth as long as he is an adult and sane. It is not permissible for a husband to dispose of his wife’s wealth without her permission because he has absolutely no sovereignty over her wealth as long as she is an adult and sane.

[Translated from Fatāwā ash-Sheikh Kishk: Humūm al-Muslim al-Yawmiyyah (Cairo: al-Mukhtār al-Islāmī, n.d) p.57]

Female Circumcision

Also known as 'female genital mutilation' and 'female genital cutting'

A translation of this fatwa from Naseem al-Sham

FGM Prevalence

Question:

What is the ruling in the Revealed Law of Islam regarding female circumcision?

Answer (from the great scholar and martyr, Imam Muḥammad Saʿīd Ramaḍān al-Būṭī):

The established rulings of the Revealed Law are taken either from the Book of Allah, that which has been authentically established from the Sunnah[1] of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, or from the consensus of the First Three Generations. With regards to female circumcision, we have not found any proof that it is obligatory or sunnah[2] in the Qurʾān, the Sunnah or in the consensus of the First Three Generations. The ḥadīth “Five things are from one’s fitrah[3]…”[4] mentions circumcision and it applies to the circumcision of males. The proof for this is that the Messenger of Allah did not command that any of his daughters be circumcised and this practice did not become prevalent and widespread amongst the Companions or the Followers. If it were obligatory, the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, would have been the first to do it and he would have commanded that his daughters be circumcised.  Therefore, female circumcision was merely a custom on the Arabian Peninsula. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was sent while the practice existed and the Messenger of Allah was silent on the matter. Therefore, the ruling in this situation follows what has been established in terms of benefit or harm, and specialist physicians are in absolute agreement that female circumcision carries no benefit, i.e. in the way that male circumcision has benefit. Rather, it is dangerously harmful for females and it hurts them considerably with regards to their natural right to enjoy marital life.

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[1] (tn): In this case, the word is referring to the statements, actions or affirmations of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him grant him peace. In other words, the Sunnah (transliterated as such) is a source of legislation. Please see ʿAlī Filālī (and other teachers at the Qarawiyyīn High School, Fes, Morocco), Durūs fī Uṣūl Al-Fiqh li Al-Sanat Al-Thānīyya min Al-Taʿlīm Al-Aṣīl (Casablanca: Dār al-Thaqāfa, 1419/1998),  p.28

[2] (tn): i.e. When transliterated in this matter, it is a ruling in the Revealed Law, meaning recommended, i.e. something that one is rewarded for doing but not liable to punishment for leaving off. Synonyms would include words like mandūb and mustaḥabb. Please see Jalāl Al-Dīn Muḥammad Ibn Aḥmad Al-Maḥallī, Sharḥ Al-Waraqāt fī ʿIlm Uṣūl Al-Fiqh(Casablanca: Dār al-Rashād al-Ḥadītha, 1427/2006), p.5

[3] (tn): i.e. one’s natural disposition

[4] (tn): This ḥadīth can be found in the collections of Imams al-Bukhārī, Muslim and several others.

Emigrating to Europe

A translation of this fatwa from Naseem al-Sham

Europe

Question:

Assalām ʿalaykum: what is the ruling in the Revealed Law regarding emigrating from Arab countries that are experiencing unrest and security problems, such as Syria, Iraq and Libya, to European countries in order to live, work and have ongoing stability? May Allah reward you.

Answer (from Sheikh Muḥammad Tawfīq Ramaḍān):

Emigration is not permissible, and especially because they do not agree to this.[1] Furthermore, sticking to the lands of Islam is obligatory while being far away from tribulation is merely something sought, and it is within a person’s capacity to go to a Muslim country until circumstances have improved.

[This translation is now available from the English Naseem al-Sham site.]

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[1] (tn): For example, have a look at this article and this article.

The Scholars on the "Islamic State"

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Women Driving and Using Taxis

Answers provided by Imam Muḥammad Saʿīd Ramaḍān al-Būṭī, may Allah have mercy on him

Question:

What is the ruling for a woman using a public car (i.e. a taxi) by herself and does the ruling differ if there are people on the road or not – such as the outskirts of a city for example? Also, is the ruling attached to necessity (ḍarūrah) or not – for example if she only wanted to visit her friend?

Answer:

It is unlawful for a woman to be alone (khalwah) with a foreign[1] man, and what I’m about to say is personal reasoning (ijtihād) based on that fact. As long as the car is moving within the streets of a city and its windows are transparent then her being with the driver is not considered khalwah, but if the car goes outside of built up areas and into the countryside and the like then that would be khalwah and therefore unlawful.

Question:

What is the ruling in the Revealed Law regarding women driving cars?

Answer:

The ruling that it is permissible for women to drive cars follows from the ruling that it is permissible for women to mount and ride camels, and the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, has established the second ruling by consensus.

[Translated from Mashūrāt Ijtimāʿiyyah (Damascus: Dār al-Fikr, 2003), p.152-153]

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[1] Ar. ajnabī, i.e. a man who is not her maḥram and thus someone she could lawfully marry

A Look at Forced Marriages and Honour Killings

A selection of documentaries on the topic:

1. Britain's Crimes of Honour:

Part 1:

Part 2:

2. Why are UK Authorities Ignoring Honour Killings?

These documentaries are being posted to provoke discussion on the topic, obviously, but also to get to the heart of the matter. If a mentality of fiercely protecting "honour" is causing so many deaths and other forms of abuse, then it is not surprising that the same mentality attempts to cover up or at least trivialise what is going on. Therefore, while watching these documentaries, one should not only ponder on the facts of these events but also the reactions of members of the Asian community as they attempt to label these crimes as isolated incidents or request that the police not associate community leaders or local masjid committee members with them. This is very similar to what psychologists call enabling in the negative sense.

As for Nosheen, may Allah rectify her affair and cure her, it's hard to feel sorry for her father. What does he mean when he says she is "wasted"?

However, the most fascinating piece of information from both documentaries is the admission of Det. Const. Palbinder Singh regarding the notion that family honour can be regained through violence (about ten minutes into the second documentary):

'That concept exists in every Asiatic mind, whether they be in Great Britain, whether they be in Switzerland, whether they be in Pakistan, India wherever. It's a concept that doesn't stop just because you cross a border.'

In closing, it should be noted that this is only one aspect of the abuse and violation that Asian women, in particular, suffer, but forced marriage is at the root of it, from which honour killings, acid throwing, false imprisonment, kidnapping, sexual assault and so forth arise, and then affect the wider community, e.g. grooming.

And with Allah is every success and may Allah release or give a speedy rescue to all women who are in this horrific and grotesque situation, ameen!

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The Glorious Legislation of Endowments

Alhamdulilah, Imam Muhammad Saeed Ramadan al-Bouti's, may Allah have mercy on him, article on how to revive endowments, or awqaaf, is now available from the Naseem al-Sham English site. The Arabic text can be located here and it was originally published in the Imam's book k Qaḍāyā Fiqhiyyah Muʿāṣirah (Damascus: Dār al-Fārābī, 2009). The translation will also be published in a forthcoming book on endowments, insha'Allah.

And with Allah alone is every success.

Wassalaam,

Mahdi