I read this article published by compass newspaper titled Muslim woman can be preacher not an Imam” online and found its insightful and worth to share with you!
Mrs. Shareefah Abiola Andu is an advocate of peace, a publisher and a business tycoon. She publishes a daily devotional book titled “Living in the Light of Allah” and runs a company that sells Islamic materials, known as Arabel. She spoke to TAYO SALAMI and OPEYEMI ADESINA on some burning Islamic issues, Ramadan and the challenges Islam is facing.
Excerpts:
What are the roles of women in Islam?
Women should be a mother and a good mother, a wife and a good wife, being a good person in the society. Being a person that will accept other people and have high value and ethics.
Should there be female Imams or preachers?
When you say female preachers, we have a lot of people in the time of the prophet who used to preach. But an Imam is a leader and it is a man that leads the congregational prayer, a woman can only talk and preach about Islam. We have what we call Dawah (propagation), we have a lot of women doing that talking to people about Islam, life and a lot of things. But a woman cannot lead prayer in Islam.
But there is a woman leading prayer in the USA?
I saw her while watching CNN one day and she look so ridiculous to me and she doesn’t even look serious. I’m sure nobody take her serious and she doesn’t take herself serious. I think she’s just doing it to be a rebel or may be some people are sponsoring her to molest Islam. If you look at the whole world, she will be the only one doing it and the people she’s leading won’t be serious Muslims. As a woman, when you are in your period, you won’t be able to go to the mosques and if you are leading a prayer , some days will be off and some days you come to the mosque, It doesn’t make any sense. Like in Catholic church, I’ve never seen the catholic priest, we have nuns, e.t.c there are some laid down rules and when the Anglican church wants to ordain the gay bishop, women bishop, there was uproar because somethings are not meant to be that way. It is not only in Islam now, it is in all other religious groups.
What’s your position on the marriage of Sen. Yerima to a minor?
A lot of people have over talked the matter and their response is of two opinions. Some say it is allowed, that it is a prerogative of Islam and some say it is child abuse. I was watching CNN or Al-Jazeerah one day and Iranian was being interviewed. The woman was in her seventies and the interviewer asked her the age she got married and laughingly and happily, she said she got married at 12 years old. In Iran, it’s their culture, nobody will say what she did was wrong. I don’t know whether it’s true Yerima got married to a thirteen year old girl, I don’t like to discuss speculations because I’m not so sure, so why will I start wasting my time and my breath. Nobody has seen the picture of the girl, we just heard that he went to Egypt to marry the girl so why should we just now waste our time talking about that. There are many issues we need to to address in this country rather than this.
What is the standard of anybody that wants to get married in Islam?
It depends on their culture, my culture don’t permit it. In the Northern culture they do it. Some people will not wear what we wear here, it’s there culture. Ghana is matrilineal, they inherit through the female path. If you get married, you go to your mother’s house, live there and inherit there, it’s your mother that owns you, it’s not your father. Their culture of getting married at 13 or 14, it depends on how they define it and if we decide to married at at 30 and meanwhile, you that is getting married at 30, you’ve done like seven abortions and become so promiscuous, it’s her own culture. So which ever the culture of every person, they can just handle it.
Where is age stated in the Holy Qur’an that a woman must get married?
In this case of Yerima, I’m not supporting or opposing him but in the Qur’an, the reason why it was stated that a woman must get married early is to avoid promiscuity. When you start feeling the urge of being with a man, then you get married because Islam doesn’t want promiscuity, Islam wants people to be free in all ramifications and that age, if you read Egyptian history, one of their biggest King, they call him the child king, he was a king at the age of 9, they mature faster there, he was the king of the whole Egypt, so if you marry a 7 year old then, so she might be mature, I don’t know, that was when people tall and huge, some people misinterprete it and marry people of that age who are not mature now and it becomes their problem.
Faithful of other religions see Islam as violent, what is your view about this?
I don’t see the Northerners as being violent because if you go to America, you see people that are violent, they fight each other. If you go to London, they have rebel, they always fight for one thing or the other. Sometimes it is political, social, or economic. Most of the time in the North, it is usually economic. Those who graze the cows go into people’s farm and the cows eat their farm yields and they start fighting, when they start fighting because the media is not very variable to them and they are not in depth in analysis, they just jump into conclusion, write anything that will just sell the paper and makes the paper interesting, they will say it is religious war and the media is not controlled by the Muslims, the media is controlled by the non-Muslims, It is so easy to say it is religious crisis and if two friends who are of different religion are fighting, the next thing people would say is that a Christian and a Muslim are fighting. We have to start saying positive things.
But this is not the first time we’ve had crisis like that in the North where Christians are being killed by the Muslims?
Fight is between two people. When Boko Haram happened, he was killing Muslims and nobody said it was religious war because he was actually killing Muslims, what religion was he protecting? That can qualify as religion war. In Palestine, Palestinians bomb Israelis all the time, I can’t call that religious war because in Palestine, we have many Christians, we have people who are non-Christians and non- Muslims and they are fighting for land but people call it religious war but it is not. Even in Nigeria, some politicians know what this people can do they just take some discord and they do that, although there might be element of religion but it’s not like all the time it is religion.
What challenges can you say Islam is facing?
Misrepresentation, people have to understand Islam, if you don’t understand Islam, you will see it as a very close religion. What people don’t understand, you try and make them understand it. If we Muslims make it open, they will believe it’s open and that is what I always say that we have to open up to people that we are not violent people, we are nice people and we must be an olive branch of Islam. The Islamic package I do during Ramadan is deliberate. I want to change people’s thinking that Muslims are hard people, we are peaceful and accommodating. I don’t criticise people, whatever you want to do, it is your problem, just do it. Allah has the power to make all of us Christians and He also has the power to make all of us Muslims but he has decided to create all of us differently as Muslims and Christians so we have to live together happily and appreciate each other. As for the Christians, they should be open-minded and know that Muslims, just as they are passionate about their religion Christianity, Muslims too are passionate about their religion Islam, and respect them. Muslims also should be more open so that people don’t see it as a cult, it is only cult that you don’t know what they are doing, they must be able to tell people how prayer is being said in the mosque. We have prayers in the Qur’an, people will now say something and quote out of context, I have a Bible here, if I want to pick something, I will pick the negative part of the Bible but I decide not to pick the negative part of the Bible, I will pick the good ones. I can tell you that Jesus was very angry one day and He now cursed the fig tree and the tree withered. With this, I can conclude that Jesus is a wicked man but I will never say that, I will never even think it, it will never even cross my mind. I will always say the positive things and think positive and that is what we have to start doing. But because some people are not knowledgeable, they will start saying what they are not sure of.
What is the take of Islam on dressing, especially when Ramadan is around the corner?
All religious group always preach decency. If you go to the market now and you want to but a fish, when yo buy the fish, the seller will put it inside a nylon bag, how much for we that are created beautifully like this expose ourselves for people to see all over the place. If we dress anyhow, people will not respect you but if you dress well, people will respect you and that is what Islam is all about, decency., I talk about Catholicism a lot because there are a lot of similarities between the Catholic and the Muslims. When you see a Catholic nun, they cover their hair, you can’t go to a Catholic church and live your hair open or dress anyhow, you have to dress well and that is what Islam is talking about. You must be well covered and well presented. In fact, the way you dress during Ramadan is the way you should dress when there is no Ramadan.
You did a billboard advert last year and with a message for peace between Muslims and Christians. Are you an advocate of peace?
I’m a strong advocate of peace, that is my social responsibility for the society and I think every one of us should do something for the society. It is only here that we don’t contribute to the society. If you go to the Western world that we always say they are godless but they are so godly, they come out in groups and do something for the public. We don’t see it as something that is important over here and I think it is very good in the society, if we don’t do that, the society will die and if people have been contributing their quota, we won’t be like this today. That is my own little way of contributing my quota to the society because I’ve been so blessed by God not only in material but in everything.
Where do you get your fund?
I have a good job, alhamdulillahi, it’s been very tough. Some people who do the kind of business I do, they make so much money, even the money I use in doing this advert, I can use it for some other things and I will make a lot of profits from it but I won’t be happy. I’m so happy with what I’m doing and whatever money I have, I can spend my money the way I want. People call and send messages to me when they see this advert and I’m so happy. It’s what I want to do and not what people want me to use the money for.
Are you planning to do something like that this year?
Insha Allahu and it will be something bigger.
What are the packages you have for the public during this year’s Ramadan?
People should look out for the Ramadan campaign, that is, the billboard advert, Insha Allah and if I feel up to it, I might do the television programme.
What are the lessons people should learn from Ramadan?
Humility, fear of God and being accommodative. You should be loving to your neighbour on your right, your right doesn’t mean the next house to you but forty houses away from you. That means you will have a great responsibility to everybody and that should be the key because Islam teaches goodness.
Does Islam permit you to use models in your magazine since we have people who cannot hold themselves?
I don’t like hypocrisy, it depends on lack of understanding and moderation. Our prophet teaches us to be in the middle of the line, not too much on the right and not too much on the left. Just be moderate. I don’t see it as offensive, it is not revealing any part of the body, just the face alone. In Islam. It is allowed to show you face, hand and the feet.
Muslims have been imitating Christians by doing vigil and Sunday service. What is your view about this?
It is stated in the Qur’an in not less than 40 cases that a Muslim must wake up in the night and pray so it is even Christians that are imitating Muslims. I don’t know if it’s in the Bible but it is written plenty times in the Qur’an that you must wake up in the night because that is when Allah answers prayer most. He says, “ Wake up my servants that are sleeping, my special one is not sleeping, asking for favours from me, I’m going to answer him or her” so God answers much at that time and we’ve always done Tahajjud, if not publicly but when it is done publicly, it is to encourage people who don’t do it. We do it early in the morning before the morning prayer.
Is it not the modern Islamic group that introduced Sunday worship?
I was born as an Ansar-u-deen and when I was young, we go to the mosque on Sundays to worship because it is only Sundays that we have free time. All members come together and do As-salatu. Muslims have been doing it since time immemorial, that was where the name Iya alasalatu was coined.
But because young people are coming, there is technology, you see them on TV and hear them on radio, you will think it’s a new thing, it has always being there. In Dubai for instance, their weekend is on Fridays and on Saturdays, they go to work on Sundays. So it is in Friday that both Christians and Muslims worship, Christians go to the church and Muslims go to the mosque because they will have to go to work on Sundays. You can’t say because Christians go to church on Friday that they are imitating Muslims. Friday is the free day they have while Sunday is the free day we have so we are not imitating Christians.
Filed under: General, General, Interviews and chat-ups, Ways of light | Tagged: Arabel, christian, Hijab, imam, Islamic, Jihad, LITLA, Living in the Light of Allah, Shareefah Andu, society, women | Leave a comment »
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