Asslamo Allaikum,
My beloved brother has asked a very pertinent question and he said that there have been examples of outstanding women orators in Islamic history so what is the issue with Yasmin Mogahed.
- The issue isn't about women speaking because in the Hanafi Madhab natural voice of woman is not Aurah so she can speak in front of Na-Mehram
- The issue isn't about women becoming Scholars because there have been outstanding women Islamic Scholars, I myself have women in my chain right above Al-Hafidh Ibn Haj'r Asqalani (RA)
- Women teach men even today in Al-Azhar. Shaykh (Dr) Awadullah Yosef told me that he was taught by women (behind Purdah) at the highest level of Hadeeth, he never saw them!
- There are instances where women have taught men without Purdah (rare but do exist).
The issue with Yasmin Mogahed are 4:
- She is nobody special, no leader, no Hadeeth Scholar, nothing so she has no reason to address men. There is nothing significant to impart. There is nothing which she can impart to men which men can't!
- Her use of Makeup (clear from her videos)
- Her jokes and laughing/giggling
- Men/Women sitting side-by-side in her lectures without barrier, so she is speaking and the audience are not segregated.
This has been discussed by our noble Shaykh Mohammed Daniel in detail
The most important factor is that these mixed-gatherings don't occur in UK and British Muslims have a natural disposition against it so although Yasmin Mogahed's Dewsbury event wasn't mixed but the issue needed to be highlighted to ensure that there is no confusion in the hearts of minds of British Muslims
Hanafi Madhab allows a women to be in a position of power e.g. a woman can be Qadhi (Judge) in our Madhab or in some leadership position. Dr Ingrid Mattson has some key differences to Yasmin Mogahed:
- She is in a leadership and influential position in USA (for them) so she cannot be compared to Yasmin Mogahed. If she comes to UK or South Africa then yes I probably won't queue up to listen but in North America she in a poisiton of leadership.
- She is much older in age
- She is not a laughing/giggly type and is composed/sober in her discussions (from what I have seen).
I need to discuss this matter with Maulana Zahir Mahmood but in my mind Dr Mattson is clearly different. In UK I (as a man) have no Shariah reason to listen to a woman's lecture without barrier but IF the UK Muslims put someone in leadership then the situation may change.
In UK one of the Alimahs is inchare of public relations (she wears a Niqab anyways) of a Mosque and if she was to address Muslims then she is addressing from a position of authority and if she followed an opinion of not wearing Niqab then she can still speak because she has a position of authroity. The first issue is of necessity and even then we will insist on a physical barrier and segregartion. I have received an email that the audience in Canada to Dr Ingrid Mattson will be segregated with a barrier in the middle.
Our (Hanafi) Madhab does permit a woman to rise to "some" positions of leadership (she can't be a Khalifa) according to my understanding and if I am wrong I would like to be corrected.
I know that some of the Ulamah like Shaykhul-Hadeeth (Hazrat) Maulana Abdur-Raheem Limbada (HA) are of the opinion that the voice of woman is Aurah but majority of Ulamah of our (Hanafi) Madhab disagree
The second issue is of Dr Ingrid Mattson's erroneous position on dogs which I need to speak to Maulana Zahir about.
