Thread by @Amaliah_Tweets

#faithandfemininity On Islam and Womanhood with @rumaysah_ hosted by @fatimasflavors 🧵

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All of our relationships are set up as a triangle, us, them and Allah. When we enact an injustice on someone, we are also enacting that upon Allah and this is something we should remember as a guide in our relationships.

As Muslim women we have opted into a setup with a relationship with Allah, this comes first. We identify as a believer and have a direct link with Allah, without a human being. Allah tells us he is closer to us than our jugular veins.

"Our goal in life is to become best friends with Allah. As a servant of Allah I can aim to have Allah as my best friend"

In relationships think "Am I behaving justly? Am I behaving in a way that is appropriate and am I behaving true to what Allah wants from me, knowing that Allah is part of this relationship and He can see and hear everything that I'm doing?"

Reminding ourselves that all relationships as a triangle with Allah, it reminds us and lets us know that anytime we as Muslim women or as people face and injustice that is unfair to us, who is better to have on your side than Allah, the creator of the heavens and the earth.

"Allah doesn't hate us because we are women. So many women have internalized this message that's come from unfortunate sources in our communities" ~ @rumaysah_

It is comforting to know that Allah hears my calls, my complaints. He hears us and has also given words to us directly.

Allah doesn't hate us because we are women. So many women have internalized this message that's come from unfortunate sources in our communities.

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The story of Khawla bint Tha'labah:

Her husband said you are to me like my mother - which in the jahiliyyah era was a way to strip agency of women who was nor divorced nor could she approach him

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Khawla went to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ to tell him and a revelation came down. Allah had personally had listened, divine listening, to her and follows with instruction in surah Al-Mujadila to address the legality of pre-Islamic method of divorce called zihar.

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Khawla, knew in her heart that even though this was an established practice, she knew in her heart that Islam could not accept this as it was an unjust practice. This is why she sought to go to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ

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We owe a lot to Khawla's activism on how she went to get justice for her case. She went to seek justice, she shows how we should aim to seek justice when we see something wrong. Her act was not only seen as acceptable but as the right response as a believer.

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Allah heard her complaint and responded to it. Allah is our council for our hardships.

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We know Khawla bint Tha'labah was quite poor, she had to borrow clothing to visit the Prophet ﷺ as she didn't have anything spare. Her story is a reminder that Allah is listening to each of us and responding to us through the Qu'ran.

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We should allow the Qu'ran to speak to us and have an active conversation with the Qu'ran. Try and apply it to your everyday life. We may read something and then speak to Allah about our affairs e.g. "Oh Allah just as you hear Khawla"

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Let the Qu'ran be relevant for you in your everyday life. Reflect on how you can conversate with Allah from what you read.

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Khawlah not only asked a question about the unjust treatment towards but also insisted on getting it unanswered. Allah acknowledges this act by responding with a revelation.

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There are many examples of women in the Qu'ran and those around the Prophet ﷺ that we can use as role models. They had diverse characteristics and personalities. They are role models for women and men, not just women.

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What can our brothers take from the story of Khawla? Men should listen to the concerns of women just as Allah heard her.

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It is the responsibility of leaders to listen, to validate the feelings Muslim women have and the concerns or complaints should not be dismissed. Just as Allah heard and listened to Khawla.

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The Qu'ran is universal and diverse, it has something for everyone. The Qu'ran has something that is specifically for you. Whoever you are, the Qu'ran will have something for you and examples of people who you can relate to.

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There are countless examples of how women contributed to the society of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ

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Umm Salamah had a brilliant skill at asking questions, she had made hijra twice. She wanted to know if the reward for making hijra the same as that of a man. Allah responded with revelation saying I will not let any actions go to waste..

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For women of her time, it was more dangerous to travel and more risks to life. She was actually asking if her difficulties will be recognised as she struggled more than a man, she also had a small child who she was breastfeeding.

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We can see how this story can relate to gendered Islamophobia and how Muslim women who are visibly Muslim need to be validated in their experiences and the impact of gender in their experience ~ @fatimasflavors

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@fatimasflavors @rumaysah_ When we look at the Qu'ran we need to understand how the Prophet ﷺ enacted verses and the principles here.

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The oft-quoted hadith on more women being in hellfire is often used to villainize women. The first principle to understand is that Allah is a just God and he enables us to access Jannah at an equal rate.

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The first thing is to understand there was a certain tribe of non believing women who had bad characteristics and they were talking about them saying there will be women like this in hellfire. He was addressing believing women when saying this

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The ratio of women to men in jannah will be 2:1 - this is another Hadith which is also based on there being more women in total.

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The Prophet (saw) is also talking about his experience of seeing different sections of hellfire. The Hadith is speaking about particular sections for particular sins, not hellfire overall.

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If we talk about the section of hellfire for unjust rulers, we can tell from history that there will be more men in this section because there have been more male rulers. The Hadith cannot be used to condemn women to hell.

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Women came to Prophet Muhammad (saw) and said along with the sermons and congregations they wanted a special time just for women. And he gave a particular day and time to women, this was his love and understanding.

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There was a young woman who started her period, the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ saw this and said perhaps you have started your period, this is what you need to do. With love, mercy and compassion. This is the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.

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The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ sets us an example on how Muslim men should be with women, wives and daughters. Love and mercy.

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Menstruation for many Muslim women intertwines with how we practice three of five of our pillars and to see how Prophet Muhammad (saw) approached this with love and mercy is comforting.

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When we try and understand Allah's justice and wisdom we must first start with "Allah is just", so we must question is there justice in what I am hearing or being told by people about my place as a Muslim woman?

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The points made about Jannah are meant to motivate good action, similarly with hellfire the points made is to deter us from bad action. There is a lot of leeway and we must go back to the principal of Allah is just.

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The Quran is the foundational principles and hadith is the explanations.

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So first when looking at the Hadith on not having female leaders, we must first ask what does the Quran say about female leadership? In the Quran we hear about Bilqis (Queen of Sheba/Saba)- a just Queen. Allah also talks about a story of a Queen ant.

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Bilqis is put forward in the Quran as a just leader who is a wise Queen. There is a Hadith that says a nation will not prosper with a female leader, however, there is no other Hadith on this and Quranic evidence on the contrary with Queen Bilqis.

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We cannot take a fiqh ruling from this hadith, also the context of this hadith was when there was an unjust nation in Persia. The king died and there were only daughters, the Hadith was talking about this specific nation and this specific woman.

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Also because of the classification of the Hadith with it only being one sahaba who heard it, we could also say he may have misunderstood it. If you stick to how fiqh is derived then this seems to be the conclusion. Allah knows best.

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On women travelling. Some of the traditional opinions say to travel with Mahram due to safety. The most moderate opinion, is that it depends on the safety of the area and if you are putting yourself in a dangerous position.

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Another moderate opinion is that she can if she travels with people given that she has safety e.g. on a plane with people

The ruling on women travelling is not about restricting women, it's about ensuring her safety.

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Living alone in general, not just for women, is disliked. The lone wolf is attacked by shaytan. Living alone in general for everyone is not recommended. Try and live with someone that reminds you of Allah.

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It is disliked for people to live entirely on their own, not completely Haram, there may be situations that arise that need it e.g a man having to move to get a job. There is a recommendation on not living alone.

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Where there is a harm to ones safety, it is your responsibility to remove yourself from that harm, it becomes compulsory on you. The removal from harm is greater than living alone being disliked.

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Nobody is a gatekeeper of Islam. Only Allah can guide or misguide. We must reclaim our identity as believers.

Allah announces a war against anyone who shows enmity to Allah's friends and so let this be our goal, to be Allah's friend.

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Salaam, that's it from us. Please note these tweets are not word for word from @rumaysah_ or @fatimasflavors so please do not take the tweets as absolute verbatim. We pray Allah keeps our hearts all firmly turned toward Him and reunites us all in Jannah ✨

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