Dear Editor,
It may be timely to rebuff the claims of some so -called Arabic scholars that there should not be any woman cadi.
From the early days of Islam, women cadis have existed. A well-known one lived in Egypt, Sayyid Nafisa (died 824AD).
Modern-day Islamic States, such as Mauritania and Morocco, do have women cadis. Most Islamic countries do – except Saudi.
Most importantly, the Prophet (saw) himself instructed that we can learn half of the religion from his wife, Aisha (aws) who later taught a lot of men.
The problem with our Arabic scholars lies with their approach to Islam. They preach religion from an ideological standpoint. That’s how they have been trained or taught anyway from their country of studies.
Women have played and do play an immensely important role in molding and the development of a society. Have a great Women’s Day.
Just thinking aloud.
Lamino Lang Coma
Brikama
Speaking for Islam and women leaders
Dear Editor,
I just want to speak for Islam and not for myself or for any group.
The imams that are speaking about the women cadis are just covering themselves with the name of Islam but are not speaking for Islam because the argument they are bringing are baseless.
Almost all of them based their argument on one Hadith, which is in Sahehu l-Bukhari Vol 6, page 8, No. 4425 and other books of Hadith.
The Sahabi that narrated this Hadith is Abi Bakrata and he remembered the Hadith when Aisha was leading 30,000 men in a war together with Zubeir an-Talha with Aisha as the general.
He also remembered when the message arrived to the Prophet that the people of Farish have put Kisra’s daughter on the throne and the Prophet said, “The people will not progress when they put their stuff in a woman’s hand. Even people who were present when Abi Bakra said these words believed that the Prophet was referring to this specific kingdom that disrespected him when the king ripped off the letter that was sent by the Prophet to him.
The Prophet has said:”This kingdom will perish and for as a result of this girl being the one who killed her brothers and her father and inherited the kingdom and remained on the throne for six months and then the Kingdom perished forever.
The second argument they brought is the marriage in the house. God stated that men are in charge of women and by what they should spend their money on her and the house . This verse means that if a man is not taking responsibilities in the house he’s not the leader. So this verse is talking about the house, not the workplaces.
I wanted to add that Imam Fatty has also brought up a story about a woman king, Bilqis, and King Solomon arguing that at the end the woman’s kingdom was taken away from her. That was not the case because when she accepted Islam, Solomon married her and sent her back to her people to continue ruling her people and Solomon visited her once a year.
I think that our Islamic scholars who are speaking on TVs, radios and every Friday should speak for Islam not for a culture of a specific place.
Lamin Sarjo Conteh
