So Close
Just found out from wikipedia that Prophet Muhammad's 
birthday in Gregorian calendar was calculated to be on April 20th, 570/571 AD.
Note that this year, that's only two days away from April 22nd, i.e. 12 Rabiul-Awal - also his birthday in Hijri calendar.
Yeah, not as dramatic a revelation as it would have been if they had coincided on the same day, i gotta admit that. But still, no harm for a little wow there.
birthday in Gregorian calendar was calculated to be on April 20th, 570/571 AD.Note that this year, that's only two days away from April 22nd, i.e. 12 Rabiul-Awal - also his birthday in Hijri calendar.
Yeah, not as dramatic a revelation as it would have been if they had coincided on the same day, i gotta admit that. But still, no harm for a little wow there.
posted by haya_shiloh at 4/25/2005 12:30:00 AM
9 Comments:
hmm... upon checking some online dictionaries, i found two different definitions of feminism:
1) striving for acknowledgement of women's right & interests
2) striving for equality between the sexes
def#1 doesn't necessarily mean equal rights. It could mean rights that are meaningful/applicable to women, e.g. the right to choose abortion. Whereas the 2nd definition goes further, putting men into the equation.
i think it is the 2nd definition that the writer is attacking, whereas the 1st definition is the one your upholding.
if i'm wrong, my apologies... and hope you can explain further abt your stand.
p/s to other visitors who got bewildered, asking "what the heck does these comments have anything to do with Muhammad's birthday??":
we are actually discussing abt the post right before it, "Female-Led Prayers: A Step Forward for Women?". Sorry for any confusions caused.
But in Islam the congregation prayer(especially the Friday prayer) is wajib(obligatory) upon men only. Women are not required to come to the prayer although Islam permits them to do so.
In Islam not doing the wajib is considered as sinful (reprehension)
That's why you should not make a blunt statement about something that you are not familiar with. As a muslim I can't just ask why pope is not elected among the women or why there is not even one occasion where United States has women president in its history. I can't make that statement because I have no knowledge about it nor I am part of that system. I might be right but there is no credibility in it.
Let's see, there are two issues here that you are at odds with, right? namely:
1) Ms Yasmin's assumption that feminism is led by women striving to be like men.
2) Since Islam forbade women to lead prayers, that is an indication of inequality/discrimination.
For issue #1, I am definitely with you if she's saying ALL feminism is about that strict equality. As such, I can't infer her stand much from the article, so I would reserve my judgment on her stand. However, would you agree with me, that for those feminist who DOES follow that line of thought, her points are valid?
for issue #2: bearing azazil arashi's comment in mind, i.e. that women can lead an all-women prayer service, so the issue is refined further to the mixed gender prayer situation. Why is that not allowed? is that a sign of discrimination?
i think it sounds like so, only because we have been focusing on "what men can do, but women can't" all these while. i.e., we are not looking at the bigger picture. In reality is, in Islam, there are just as much prohibition the other way around as well, i.e. what women are freely allowed to do, and men can't. Women can wear jewelleries, men can't. Wives are not required to work (but htey certainly can), whereas husbands will be held responsible if they got lazy butts. Women can easily get days off during fasting month, whereas men need to get slimier to get away with it. and whole loads of others. I can point you to some links that talk abt this extensively if you're interested.
So to summarize my point: both genders have their own exclusive sets of Do's and Don'ts, as well as rules that apply to both.
It is more abt specialization rather than discrimination. Men and women have some similar traits, but there are some marked differences, biologially, physically, psychologically or whatever. There are some aspects that one sex is superior than the other, and another of opposite cases, and what I think a lot of people miss is, there are some aspects where quality comparison is meaningless, simply because men and women are different, period.
Probably your next discontention would be: "But why the baggage of rules? why not let them find out themselves what's best for them?" That, I believe, would be best handled in a separate topic thread... what say you?
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hehehe, sucks yeah... but they're there for a reason, innit? a society without any limits won't be able to stand as a society for very long, IMHO.
equal shares of limitations aside, what other gender injustices do you see btw in the Islamic system? I ask this because I believe the system is fair in its pure form, and any injustice is due out of its adherent's shortcomings rather than the doctrine itself. Am curious on how an outsider would look at this issue. Care to share your thoughts?
The point isn't to talk about the motivations of any particular woman. The point is to say this:
First, when Muslims pray, who are they praying for? God, right?
So if God says that the person who leads prayer is NOT superior in His eyes, *why* would we as women want to covet it? For what reason? The only thing 'special' about leading prayer is that only men happen to do it. It's like coveting a Y chromosome. Is there something superior about Y over X? If not, then coveting it would have no other explaination than because men have it. So if it doesn't mean any more to God, wanting to lead prayer is as arbitrary as wanting a y chromosome. In terms of equal access to all roles, then it wouldn't be fair that God didn't give equal access to men to bear children--a role that *is* higher to God.
-Yasmin Mogahed
God decides, we obey. This is the definition of Islam-which means submission. Part of our fundemental belief in God is that He is the most just to all His creation. And because God is neither man nor woman, His laws are not partial to one sex or the other. This we cannot say for man's law, however. Thus, by definition God's religion and commandments-as opposed to human made laws-can not be 'sexist' or unjust in any way.
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