PART 5

 SOME RULINGS OF THE SHARIAH
The following Deeni direction is s tated in Musannaf of Ibnul Attaar:

"It is only proper for a woman that she does not emerge from her home, but remains glued to the innermostrecess of the house. Verily, her whole body is an object of concealment. It is Waajib to conceal the Aurah (and her entire body is aurah). Regarding women's emergence in the darkness to go to the Musjid, this was in the absence of harm and fitnah as it was during the age of Nabi (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) and the age of certain Sahaabah. Thereafter, emergence was prohi bited because of the fitnah which women had intro duced such as exhibiting (themselves), application of perfume and their mischief with men It is only proper for a woman when she emerges from her home (because of necessity) that she does not beautify herself; that she does not apply perfume; that she does not walk  in the middle of the path and that her emergence for a valid Shar'i need is not without the consent of her husband. It is only proper for a man to refrain from aiding his wife or any women under his authority with anything from among the acts which facilitates her emergence from her home. . . ." (Al-Fataawal Kubra)

While acknowledging the fact of the initial permissibility of women attending the Musjid, Fataawa Kubra records the following ruling;
"Verily, this (women's emergence from their homes to attend the Musjid) has been forbidden because in their presence (at the Musjid) are haraam evils. Hujjatul Islam (i.e. Imaam Ghazaali) states in the Ihyaa: Rasul ullah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) did permit women to attend the Musjid. But, the correct view now is prohibition excepting old women. In fact, the prohi bition has become established since the age of the Sahaabah (radhiallahu anhum). Thus, Aishah (radhi allahu anha) said............... and he n arrated what had transpired in this regard with her.. . .It is obligatory to prohibit women from attending the Musjid for Salaat and gatherings of Thikr when there is the danger of fitnah with them."
"When the fear of fitnah is attendant to their emer gence from the home, then it (emergence) is undoubtedly haraam. . . .The meaning of fitnah is zina and its introductory acts such as looking at the opposite sex, privacy (with the opposite sex), touching, etc.."
Dirmaani (rahmatullah alayh} says:
"The Hadith: 'Do not prevent the female servants of Allah from the Musjids.', is applicable to night times (i.e. the permission was only for night times). Further more, the permission exists only in the absence of fitnah against women or by women. During the life time of Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) absence of fitnah was dominant."
Allahmah Aini (rahmatullah alayh) says; "During our age mischief and evil are rampant."
Allamah Aini (rahmatullah alayh) was among the Fuqaha of the eighth century of the Islamic era. The author of Lamiud Duraari asks:
"When this (rampant fitnah and mischief) was the situation during the time of Allamah Aini (rahmatullah alayh) who died in the year 855 Hijri, then what do you think of the present age saturated with vice and fitnah?"
Ibn Hajar (rahmatullah alayh) says:
"The summary of the discussion of Nawawi and Zarkashi is that when intermingling of the sexes prevails whether in the Musjid or on the roads or there is the danger of mischief because of women's adornment and exhibition of beauty, then it is forbidden for them to come out. . . . It is incumbent on the Imaam or his representative to prevent women from emerging." (Laamiud Duraari)
Hadhrat Hasan Basri (rahmatullah alayh) was asked about a woman who took an oath to the effect that if her husband was released from prison she would, as a measure of thanks unto Allah, perform two raka'ts Salaat in every Mus|id of the city of Basra where Salaat is performed in Jamaa'. Hadhrat Hasan Basri (rahmatullah alayh) commented:
"If Umar was here, he would have smashed her head."
Imaam Taimi (rahmatullah alayh) says:
"The Hadith of Aishah (radhiallahu anha) contains the substantiation for the view that it is not proper for women to emerge (from their homes) to attend the Musjids when mischief has come into existence."
Numerous similar statements and rulings of the authorities inthe Books of the Shariah proclaim explicitly the prohibition on women attending the Musjid for Salaat or for listening to lectures. Each and every one of these Fuqahaa who spoke on this question was fully cognizant with the initial permission which applied during the age of Rasulullah (sallallahu alay hi

wasallam). Nevertheless, they issued the verdict of prohibition on the basis of the Fatwa of Hadhrat Umar, Hadhrat Aisha and other Sahaabah (radhiallahu annum) as well as on (he grounds of the prevalence of fitnah which undoubtedly did not predominate the scene as we find in our age. In this age of modernity and liberalism, vice, immoral mischief, shamelessness, nudity and public demonstrations of sexual acts have become part of the living "culture". Therefore, by what stretch of Islamic thinking is it conceiv able to overturn the

rulings of those august personalities and illustrious authorities of Islam--the Sahaabah and the Aimmah -e -Mujtahi-deen? Maulanas and Sheikhs in this age of immoral revolution, vice and lustful liberalism, with their gross deficiency in every branch of Islamic Knowledge coupled to the total lack of taqwa and abandonment of A'maal-e-Saalihah can never hope to even aspire to attain the lofty pedestal of Uloom and Taqwa of the Sahaabah and the Fuqaha. It is only insolence and gross ignorance (jahl murraqqab) which befuddle the mind of a

man who labours under the colossal delusion of his ability to transgress and ignore the rulings and interpretations of the men appointed by Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) to command the operation of the Shariah.
THE CALL FOR "SEPARATE BUT EQUAL" MUSJID FACILITIES FOR WOMEN
Maulana/Sheikh Makda has made a strong call for "equal but separate" facilities inside the Musaa)id for women. It will be pertinent to ask: Who are you following in this call? Which Sunnah is the Maulana/Sheikh following when he makes such un-lslamic calls? Can he explain how he is acting in the light and spirit of the Qur'aan and Sunnah by making a call which is in conflict with the practical example of Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) and the Sahaabah?
The type of equal facilities being called for are not offered by Islam nor were such imagined equal facilities ever part of the Sunnah. It has been explained already that the direction of Rasulullah's (Sallallahu alayhi wasallam) Ta'leem indicated and finally led to their Salaat in the home. If there was any merit in the type of equal and separate facilities in Mus|ids as the Maulana/Sheikh begs for, Rasulullah (Sallallahu alayhi wasallam) would have been the very first person to have either established such facilities or left an indication for the introduction of such "equal but sepa rate" Musjid facilities. Instead of equal and separate facilities, we have the following Shar'i facts which no modernist can dispute:
(1) Rasulullah (Sallallahu alayhi wasallam) advising and exhorting women to perform Salaat in the "innermost apartments of their homes" despite his initial permission which allowed them to attend the Musjid.
(2) The Sahaabah ordering the women out of the Musjid and enacting the prohibition.
(3) The Fuqahaa (Jurists) of the Ummah unanimously remaining firm on the prohibition of women attending the Musjid.
Refuting the suggestion of equal Musjid facilities for women, is the following narration of Hadhrat Ibn Mas'ud (radhiallahu anhu), which appears in Tibraani and other Books of the Shariah:
"Rasulullah (Sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said: 'Assign them (women) to the back just as Allah has assigned them to the back."
"Put them behind as Allah Ta'ala has put them behind".
This is the instruction of Islam. The call for equal facilities is therefore baatil and in conflict with the Sunnah.



It is quite clear that the desire to provide equal facilities for women in the Musaajid is the effect of liberal thinking of the type spawned by western civilization and the other isms of materialism. The slogan of female "equality" and female "emancipation" is quite fashionable in these days of reckless abandonment of religion and transcendental values. But, Muslims -modernized Muslims -because of their double role in life are at a serious disadvantage since they have chosen to tread two divergent paths --the Path of Islam as well as the path of ungodly liberalism. Their mentality has therefore suffered a type of metamorphosis which produces and propagates kufr ideas coated with the hues of Islam. Thus, we have the hybrid idea of "equal but separate facilities for women in Masaajid". The "equal" in this context is the dimension of the kufr base while the "separate" --the outer facade-is the Islamic hue fabricated to conceal the deap-seated influences of the kufr cultures at the feet of which lay prostrate the modernist Muslim.
Muslims should not allow themselves to be deluded by the deceptive rhetoric of modernist and ghair muqallid maulanas and sheikhs. Such misguided and errant learned men pave the path to Jahannum. They are astra y and lead others astray as well. Muslims should reflect! Ponder and analyse the shaitaani calls and ideas of the modernists. Islam is fourteen hundred years old. Our Islamic guidance arises from the Fountain of Nubuwwah. The subordinates and the officers working in the Department of Nubuwwah under the control and authority of Muhammadur Rasulullah (Sallallahu alayhi was allam) were the illustrious Sahaabah who were in turn the Ustaadhs of the Aimmah-e-Mujtahideen. The Deen of Islam was thus transmitted down the centuries in the ranks of the Ummah very reliably and authentically. Therefore, ideas and theories, customs and practices which develop in this belated century and which are at variance with the Shariah are baatil (false and baseless). Muslims should not, therefore, heed such calls.



When Rasulullah (Sallallahu alayhi was allam) and the Sahaabah neither introduced equal nor separate facilities for women in the Musaajid and when these authorities of Islam never ever attempted to even initiate such a practice, then Muslims should understand that this modernist call is nothing but a ploy of shaitaan to embroil the Ummah in greater degradation and spiritual weakness. The call for opening the Musaajid to women is a combined shaitaani and nafsaani onslaught on the remaining vestiges of piety which Muslims, denuded of their Islamic culture and torn from their Islamic moorings, still enjoy.
All fortresses of piety and holiness in the Ummah have crumbled and fallen to inimical forces manipulating modernized Muslims to wrought the Imaani destruction from within. The Musjid is our last bastion of holiness, which has withstood the onslaught of immoral forces. This has been possible solely because of the foresight of the Sahaabah. If it was not for the foresight and decisive action of the Sahaabah, our Musaajid would have deteriorated to the level of impiety and evil show as is today prevalent in non-Muslim places of worship. The prohibition on female attendances introduced by the Sahaabah has indeed been a great ble ssing and an invaluable favour on the Ummah. But, in this age, Muslims themselves have undertaken the satanic work of annihilating the sanctity of the Musjid by pandering to the behests of the lowly nafs. Those who ignore me exhortation of Rasulullah (sall allahu alayhi wasallam) and the verdicts of the Sahaabah can never be the sympathisers nor the benefactors of the Ummah