Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Standard newspaper, he explained his position: “When it comes to religion, we have to revert back to what Prophet Muhammad said to us. He said that those who put all their affairs in the hands of a woman shall not prosper. This is a saying of Prophet Muhammad in a hadith. When we look around us there are some Western countries who have been foremost in championing the cause of women but most of them do not have women as presidents.
“Women go close to [reaching] such positions but their ascendancy is eventually scuttled. They [the West] know why they do that; there are certain positions that a woman has never held; and which they will not hold even in the future. You did not ask them why? Those are the powerful countries campaigning for this, you should investigate why they are reluctant to practise what they preach. This is what we believe as enjoined on us by the prophet.”
Reminded that with better education and training for women some are capable of manning such positions with similar, if not greater competence, than men, he retorted: “Allah has never sent a female prophet. All the prophets of Allah were men even though he assigned important positions to women. There is no chapter in the Qur’an specially on men but there is one for women called Suratul Nisa’ and there is another Surah called Suratul Talaq. The mother of the president is a president; and the same goes for the wife of the president, she is a president too. Women have been ministers and heads of ministries working together with men. When it comes to women as stated by the prophet; they have limitations in their minds and in the practise of religion.
“The religious limitation is… As for their mental limitation, Allah decrees that in the quorum of witnesses, two women are needed as opposed to one man. Women have more sympathy [emotion] than a situation might warrant. A woman can beat her child and then sit down and cry. A woman can ask for divorce and then when you agree, she will then sit down and cry. A woman could be severely beaten by her husband and when they go before the law she will say, ‘no this is the first time’. Women are created by God and prepared to raise families because that requires sympathy, patience and perseverance. The process of giving birth and feeding babies is not easy hence it requires someone with those qualities. Allah has not put those qualities in men in equal measure. If He had created women the way He created men, our children would have been lost”.
Read the full length of the strident imam’s interview on our Bantaba column this Friday.
Author: Sainey Darboe
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