Fatwa, - Seclusion of religious women in the home

Question:
My question is in regards to women being commanded to stay in their
houses and the reality faced by religious Muslim women, especially
housewives and mothers of young children, in the West. Itcan get very
depressing to stay at home all the time withyoung children when the
husband is working long hours, however I know of a scholar who doesn't
allow his wife to come to the masjid except once a month or so. This
makes it very difficult for other community women who are in desperate
need of Islamic knowledge from her, and would love to have her teach
them. Also, she is often irritable and complains about her condition
of lonelinessand seclusion to her close friends. How can we advise our
scholar of the importance of allowing his wife to come to the masjid
to fulfill the wajib kifayahof the community, of knowledgeable women
teaching others the basics of Islam? And also it is feared that the
example that the scholar is setting will be followed by other
religious men in the community and thus make all the wives quite
miserable by not meeting their social and religious needs.
Answer:
Assalamu alaykum
There are a number of issues that need to be addressed in this question.
Firstly, it is important as you say to organize classes for the women
of the community. This is animportant obligation and thus we should
try to find a way to make this happen. You may suggest having the
classes at one of the homes where there can be complete privacy for
the sisters and with which the Imam and his wife also feels
comfortable. If a class can be arranged in the Imam's own home then
that would also solve theproblem.
The community cannot force the Imam to allow his wife to frequent the
masjid, since he may have valid reasons for not doing so. For
instance, he may not be satisfied with the segregation arrangements
there (unfortunately many masajid suffer from this problem in the US,
and many sisters feel that they cannot gain the peace and tranquility
they seek due to poor or a complete lack of segregation arrangements).
Hence, the educational aspect can be overcome by arranging the classes
elsewhere.
Secondly, the Imam's relationship and interaction with his wife in
this regard is the couple�s personal business and not something the
community has anything to do with. If the wife has a serious problem
with her situation then she may herself approach or consult withher
influential elders or scholars in this regard. They can then deal with
the issue. It is not something members of the community can take into
their hands and pressure or even advice the Imam about, since hemay
have his own valid reasons for doing what he is doing. Entering
intosuch a situation can only harm their relationship. The Sharia
instructs in general not to interfere with couples in their marital
and internal issues.
Finally, to help remove the loneliness of the Imam's wife, this is
certainly something that the sisters of the community can assist in
and will be greatly rewarded for. They can befriend her and make her
feel at home in the community by visiting her home or including her in
properly-organized social get together, so long as her husband
welcomes such interaction. Hence, this should be done on a social
level and not with the intent to interfere.
And Allah knows best.

Fatwa, - Menstruation Question: irregular bleeding, ghusl, and then uncertainty�

Question:
A woman gets her period. It last only one day. After that she
getswhite discharge for a day. Many times she bleeds for only one or
two days, so based on this, she takes a ghusl. But since she was
presuming that her period could start again, she waited towards the
end of a prayer time before making her ghusl. Accidentally, she missed
the prayer. Then two days later, she begins bleeding again, and it
lasts for six days. Considering that her period of purity did not last
fifteen days and consequently she is regarded as having bled
continuously all ten days, does she have to make up the prayer she
missed? Secondly, since she is considered to have had her period for
ten days, do any qadas sheprayed during the two days she thought she
was pure count? She understandably began praying and doing qadas
during these days because she had no way of knowing that her period
would begin again so soon.
Answer:
Assalamu alaykum
To answer this and othersimilar questions relatingto menstruation one
needs to keep the basic principles of menstruation in mind. Namely:
The minimum period for menstruation is three days. This means that if
blood is seen for less than three days, it does not count as
menstruation.
The maximum period for menstruation is ten days.This means that if
blood is seen for more than tendays, it does not count asmenstruation.
It is not a condition that blood flow be constant during the menstrual
period. What is important is the first andlast days it flows on and
all that is in between is counted as though bloodflowed though really
it did not. e.g. if she sees blood on the first day and then the
fourth day and then no more blood,this will be treated as four
continuous days of bleeding and will all be treated as menstruation.
The minimum length of apurity period between menstrual periods is fifteen days.
Whatever is seen during the menstrual period is counted as menstrual
blood no matter what colour it is.
[Hashiya al-Tahtawi 'ala Maraqi al-Falah, 1:199, Maktaba al-'Ilm al-Hadith]
Based on these above principles the question can be answered as follows:
When the original bleeding happened she assumed that it was
menstruation and hence did not pray. After one day of bleeding and one
day of white discharge she did not see anything.At this stage she can
assume that the bleedingwas abnormal uterine bleeding (istihada) and
just perform wudu and pray. There was no need for her to perform a
purificatory bath as the bleeding did not last three days and so could
not be treated as menstruation.
Then on the fourth day she saw bleeding again. Since there was not a
sufficient purity period between the two sets of bleeding (as in rule
4 above) all four days weretreated as though there was a constant
blood flow (as in rule 3). This being the case she is certainly
menstruating and any prayers or fasts offered since the first day that
blood was seen are invalid.
The bleeding then lasts for a further six days. If the fourth day is
included this takes us to day nine from first seeing the blood. After
this she would be expected to have a purificatory bath and start
praying.
She is not responsible forany prayers offered during the nine day
period and so would not have to make up the prayer initially missed.
Furthermore, any make up prayers offered during the period were
invalid and must be repeated again.
This is a difficult situation for a lady who has make ups to offer.
Some scholars advise ladies to take it easy with make up prayers in
situations like the one described above where the bleeding stopped
after one or two days and one expects it to start again. If however
the lady in question is such that her heart would not sink if she
found out that her make ups were invalid and it would not affect her
resolve to continue making up her prayers then there is no harm forher
to continue making up prayers according to her usual make up routine
during such periods.
And Allah knows best.

Fatwa, - Ghusl at work after menses

Question:
If a woman were to finish her menses while at work and it is
impossible for her to leave the work place to make ghusl is it
permissible to make wudhu and pray without ghusl? If not then how do
Muslim women living in the west deal with such anissue which most of
usare faced with this at some point?
Answer:
Assalamu alaykum
In the name of Allah the Inspirer of truth.
It would not be sufficientfor a women to perform salat after just
performing wudu when ending her menstruation. If one has performed
salat after making wudhu only, those prayers must be repeated.
As to the question of how do Muslim women deal with such
situations,what we can say is that their are great wisdoms in the
shari'a and immense rewards for those who persevere in holding onto
their faith.
If a women is in situationthat she is forced to work to earn her daily
bread due to the absence of a supporting father or brother [if
unmarried] or husband [if married] then she should discuss the need of
having to leave early [with or without disclosing the details] with
her supervisor. Thereafter she can make up the missed work the day
after instead of having to make up missed prayers. People take of work
for all sorts of reason and this is as good a reason as any. If the
current employment is not flexible at all in this regard then you
should actively look for another job if you are forced to have one.
Remember we are required make our lifestyle subordinate to our
religion and not our religion conform to our lifestyle. Otherwise
situations of this nature are sure to arise and difficult to overcome.
And Allah makes a path for those who fear Him and He knows best.
Wassalam

Muhammad the Orphan -II

Hepassed his childhood days in a manner quite strange for theArabian
society. Instead of playing with children of his age group, he felt
disgusted in their company and preferred to be in solitude. Allaah the
Almighty had kept him aloof from every kind ofdebasement and
immorality. A few boys of Quraysh forced him to enjoy a marriage
celebration where there was dancing and music. However, as hereached
the spot, he was overtaken by sleep and kept sleeping the whole night,
only to get up when the assembly had dispersed at the end of the
celebration. He was, thus, saved from the undesirable and forbidden
activities of the marriage ceremony.
He was perhaps seven years old when the Quraysh started rebuilding the
Ka'bah, which had suffered damage from a flood. During the
construction work, hejoined the party of workers and helped them by
carrying stones and giving them to the masons. He was wearing an
Izaar)waist sheet( which was causing him some trouble doing the work.
The nakedness of a boy of seven was not then considered something
improper. So, his uncle Al-'Abbaas grabbed hold of the waist sheet and
pulled it so violently that hebecame naked. Hegrew shameful to the
extent that he fell down unconscious. At last, the people felt the
gravity of the situation and put his waist sheet back on, after which
herecovered.
First Journey toSyria
The Prophetwas twelve yearsold when Abu Taalib planned to go with a
merchant caravan to Syria leaving him behind in Makkah. But hewas so
used to the company of Abu Taalib that he could not bear
separationfrom his uncle. Abu Taalib felt moved and agreed to take him
toSyria. When they reached Busrah)which was a part ofSyriain the
vicinity of Howran under the Roman domain(, they met a monk called
Baheerah )his real name was Georges(, who showedgreat kindness and
entertained them lavishly. He had never been in the habit of receiving
or entertaining them before. He readily enough recognised the
Prophetand said while takinghis hand: "This is the master of all
humans. Allaah will send him with a Message which will be a mercy to
all beings." Abu Taalib asked: "How do you know that?" He replied:
"When you appeared from the direction of 'Aqabah, all stones and trees
prostrated themselves, which they never do except for a Prophet. I can
recognise him also by the seal of Prophethood, which is below his
shoulder, like an apple. We have learnt this from our books." He also
asked Abu Taalib to send theboy back to Makkah and not to take him
toSyriafor fear of the Jews. Abu Taalib obeyed and senthim back to
Makkah with some ofhis men servants.
Harb Al-Fijaar )The Sacrilegious Wars(, First Participation inBattle
A great fair was regularly held at 'Ukaath. This fair would organise a
number of programs including horse races, wrestling, demonstrations of
the art of combat and poetic competitions. All the tribes ofArabiawere
highly belligerent by nature and drew swords against one another at
the smallest incident.
Once, in the course of the fair at 'Ukaath, the Hawaazin and Quraysh
tribes challenged each other due to a slight provocation.At the
outset, some wise and sober people stood in the way and put the matter
right. Nevertheless, some mischief-mongers worsened the
situation,which led to a large-scale fighting and killing on both
sides.The war was known as Harb Al-Fijaar because it took place in the
month of Dhul-Qa'dah when fighting was altogether forbidden.
Muhammadwas hardly fifteen when the 'sacrilegious' wars started -
which continued with varying fortunes and considerable loss of human
life for a number of years.This war was based on a series offour wars
in which the first three were small and the fourth war happened to be
more fierce than the preceding one as all the tribes of Qays joined
the Hawaazin tribe while all the tribes of Kinaanah came to the help
of the Quraysh. Thus, this war developed to become a war between the
Qays and Kinaanah tribes. The fourth and last war was so terrible that
some of the chieftains had their feet chained so they would be unable
to flee from the battlefield.
The Prophetjoined this fourth war for the first time armed with
weapons. Among Banu Kinaanah, every tribe had a commander. Zubayr Ibn
'Abdul-Muttalib, an uncle of the Prophetled the Quraysh while Harb Ibn
Umayyah was the commander of all the troops of Banu Kinaanah.
Muhammadwas entrusted with the service ofpicking up the arrows for his
uncles. However, hewas saved from combat action. At theoutset Banu
Hawaazin seemed tobe dominating, but in the end, Banu Kinaanah turned
the tables against the Banu Qays and the war ended with a peace
treaty.
Al-Fudool Confederacy:
At the conclusion of these wars when peace was restored, peoplefelt
the need for forming a confederacy at Makkah for suppressing violence
and injustice, and vindicating the rights of the weak and the
destitute. Representatives of Banu Haashim, Banu Al-Muttalib, Asad Ibn
'Abd Al-'Uzzaa, Zahrah Ibn Kilaab and Taym Ibn Murrah were called to
meet in the habitation of an honourable elderly man called 'Abdullaah
Ibn Jada'aan At-Taymi to enter into a confederacy that would provide
for the abovementioned terms.
During his prophethood, the Prophetcommented on it with very positive
words: "I witnessed a confederacy in the house of 'Abdullaah Ibn
Jada'aan.It was more appealing to me than herds of cattle. Even now in
the period of Islam, I would respond positively to attending such a
meeting if I were invited."