Asalamu Aalaikum wa Rahmatulahi wa barakatuhoo. This our religion Islam is prescriptive and automatic. We follow and obey without complains or questions. We do not know better than Allah SWT and His prophet Muhammad SAW. Women were never appointed as qadis during the time and after the demise of Prophet Muhammad SAW. We had the likes of the Prophet’s wife Aïsha whom the prophet SAW attested to her knowledge and deen. Yet still she was never appointed as a qadi even for Muslim women or children affairs. Our Lord Allah SWT is NOT forgetful. Allah SWT, gave the Muslim woman clear rights and certain unique privileges no doubt, but being a judge is not one of them.
The appointment of Muslim women judges is a non-starter in Islam. The Prophet never appointed, promoted, discussed or condoned the issue of women’s appointment as qadis. No companion of the Prophet Muhammad SAW ever did this. None of the pious predecessors ever did this. And now we are doing it?! What was not the religion then, can never be the religion now. Islam has no other measuring yardstick except itself, Islam. In other words, only Islam can measure against Islam.
We kindly want to know. Were our learned scholars of The Gambia Supreme Islamic Council consulted regarding this decision?
If so, what was, or is their position? What is the position of the qadi court? What are the positions of the imams? This is our religion. Let us take ownership of it. We cannot be told by those who do not know or share our faith. The scholars should speak, teach and clarify regarding this issue. Why the loud silence? Does it not look like complicity if we remain holding our lips and our pens? Were we not the most vocal and critical against secularism? Against the tolerance and allocation of rights to the LGBTQI community? Well, the appointment of female Muslim qadis is even more dangerous. This is fighting Islam from within and right in our faces. We know their tactics. Approach young and educated Muslim women. Mostly university graduates who have gone through a systematic process of brainwashing. Those who understand some basic Islamic principles. Upholding some form of watered-down practice like putting on a turban or head tie instead of the full-blown hijab. Such they shall appoint into high positions at certain commissions. Butter them up with fat salaries, high travel allowances, fancy cars, expensive office phones and so forth. And then get across through these Abu and Umm Dinar their twisted narratives of progressive Islam and progressive Muslims. Do not be hoodwinked. The appointment of Muslim women qadis sets a very dangerous precedent which shall undoubtedly open doors to even greater evil and corruption of Islam in this country.
If we as Muslims remain completely silent, then we are doomed. Accepting to be foolishly wowed by the obfuscation of philosophical religious rhetoric. shrouded in grand mesmerising robes. Who dangerously dilly-dally. Going all over the place. Manoeuvring steep rocky paths. Never giving you any clear answer. Regurgitating theories of this and that. Quoting these and those to flaunt some form of academic legitimacy. Never producing clear and firmly grounded textual evidences from Qur’an and Sunnah. Over indulging in order to take a middle path. Trying to please all sides. What a difficult predicament and feat to achieve! And in this confusion of mixing truth with falsehood and repackaging it as something good, we remain unfortunately mute. Neither objectively questioning nor critically thinking in order to acquire and accept what is right as well as point out this exactitude to others. Not positively challenging the status quo. We are indeed doomed.
Islam respects, loves and protects its women more than any religion. It is because of this love, respect and protection of women, that is why certain positions of hardship, leadership and responsibility are squarely slapped on men and not women. Muslim women, please do not see it as being marginalised, relegated, deprived, excluded or any of those negative blah blah vocabularies they throw at you. Positively see it as being pampered, cherished, loved, protected and honoured, by not being tasked to deal with certain positions of huge responsibilities and great hardships. It’s how you choose to see it. They want to make you feel and believe that women in Islam are under-valued and under-appreciated. Au contraire, they know there is none like the Muslim woman. Jannat lies beneath the feet of our mothers. We give thrice to our mothers, before allocating one to our fathers. Taking good care of our daughters brings us very close to our beloved prophet Muhammad SAW in jannat. So how can you trust and place the affairs of your today and hereafter in the doubtful hands of one who is confused about self identity, and can no longer tell the difference between he, she and it? JazakalAhu khairan.
