All language subtitles for Does Islam Really Value Women_ Hijab, Polygamy _ Beyond

What is the value of women in Islam?

Does it degrade them?

Does it treat them as secondass

citizens? When you talk to a non-Muslim

about Islam, whether male or female, the

first thing they ask is about women in

Islam. Why do you think it's the case?

Because large groups on both mainstream

and social media have put all their

efforts into using the topic of women as

a propaganda tool against Islam.

And they continue to attack it. But

what's really surprising are the other

statistics that we have in the US. Four

out of five people who convert to Islam

are women. Additionally, another study

in the UK found that almost 75% of

people who converted to Islam between

2001 and 2011 were women. If Islam were

truly a threat to women, shouldn't these

numbers be the exact opposite? Or could

it be that contrary to popular belief,

they find the value they've been looking

for in Islam? We have very important

issues to discuss. And of course, some

famous questions to answer. Can a man

have four wives? Is the hijab covering

the head and the body truly a

restriction? Why does a woman receive

half the inheritance share of a man? In

a famous Quranic verse that has faced

many objections. If you're ready, let's

begin.

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In the 1700s, an English historian and

author set foot in a stumble, Lady

Elizabeth Craraven. And this Islamic

city left her in awe. what women were

experiencing in her country and what was

happening here were worlds apart. This

place was completely different. And she

described Muslim women as the happiest

creatures breathing. She would record

her observations as follows. I think I

never saw a country where women may

enjoy so much liberty and be free from

all reproach, blame or criticism as in

Turkey, the Ottoman Empire at the time.

So what was it that surprised her so

much? What did she witness in England

that made her say these words?

Unfortunately, we don't know enough

about history. None of the problems I'm

about to mention existed in the Islamic

city she visited. For example, in

England and America, when a woman got

married, all of her personal property

would often come under her husband's

control. Even if she worked, her

earnings legally belonged to her

husband, and she had no right to claim

them. When her father died, her share of

the inheritance would go directly to her

husband, and she had no rights to it at

all. In case of divorce, all the

children were given to the father. The

mother would be separated from her

children whom she had given birth to,

raised and made all kinds of sacrifices

for. And of course, the children were

torn away from their mothers as well.

Except for a very small minority, women

were not even given alimony, meaning

financial support after divorce.

Moreover, these were not just social

injustices. They were legally

established rules. And on top of these,

women faced even greater moral and

emotional injustices. In England until

the 20th century, strange practices

still continued. And one of them was

wife selling. What does that even mean?

It is hard to believe, but when a man

became bored with his wife or lost

interest, he could take her to the

market and sell her like an object. In

fact, according to a record from 1913,

an English man sold his wife for £1.

Meanwhile, what was happening in

medieval Europe was far more horrific.

Between the 15th and 17th centuries, the

Catholic Church carried out witch hunts.

Innocent women were executed based on

random accusations and slander.

According to records, between 40,000 and

100,000 women were gruesomely executed,

burned alive. Can you imagine? If

someone found a woman unattractive, they

could say she might be a witch. Or if a

woman rejected a man, she is now a

witch. Their lives are over. Even the

thought of it is terrifying. And in the

same society, people were seriously

debating questions like, "Are women even

human? Do they have souls?" Lady

Craraven did not say these words for no

reason. What she witnessed in that

Islamic city was the complete opposite

of what was happening in the West. The

rights that women in the West were able

to obtain a century later in 1882 were

already enjoyed here for centuries. How

was this possible? A woman could file a

lawsuit, make legal agreements, own

property, receive inheritance, and have

many more rights than English women. We

can probably guess that during that

time, women in the west were not given

the opportunity to receive an education

as well. On the other hand, when we look

at the world's oldest continuously

operating university, we see that it was

founded by a Muslim woman. We can see it

in the Guinness World Records. The

University of Alawiin in Morocco was

founded by Fatima Ali in 859. This shows

that women were given the opportunity to

receive an education in the Muslim lands

and that's how she was able to do this.

This also means that women had the right

to own property otherwise she could not

have established a university.

Additionally, it shows that Muslim women

could take on important roles in society

which made this achievement possible.

And most importantly, it means that she

was raised in a Muslim family with

self-confidence feeling the value of her

gender and identity not with

humiliation. Close your eyes and imagine

this scene. More than a 100,000 people

waiting with excitement and curiosity.

In front of them stands a leader who

changed the course of history. Prophet

Muhammad peace be upon him. It's the

year 632. And while delivering his

famous farewell sermon, at one point he

said these words, "Oh people, I advise

you to respect the rights of women and

fear Allah in this regard. You took

women as a trust from Allah and you made

their decency permissible for yourselves

by making a promise in the name of

Allah. Just as you have rights over

women, they also have rights over you.

Among countless other things in terms of

women's rights, he profoundly changed

the region he lived in. Now, let's take

a look at the life cycle of a woman

living in that society and compare the

differences between the time before and

after Islam. Before Islam, when a girl

was born, her father often saw her as a

source of shame. And in many cases, she

was buried alive. When Islam came, it

completely abolished this practice. Even

if she managed to survive, she would

never receive the love and compassion

she longed for from her father. She

would remain worthless in his eyes. But

Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him,

would later say, "If anyone cares for

three daughters, disciplines them,

marries them off, and does good to them,

he will go to paradise." Let's say she

grew up and reached the age of marriage.

Before Islam, she would be forced into

marriage. No one would ask what she

thought or felt. But Islam came and

forbade marrying her off without her

consent. From then on, if a man wishes

to marry her, he must first propose.

After a few meetings, if the woman

agrees and feels they are compatible,

the marriage process begins. As part of

the marriage contract, the groom must

give the bride a mahar, a sum of money

or a valuable gift. This is essentially

a form of security. If they get divorced

or the husband dies, the woman can

support herself financially for a

certain period using this money. Of

course, this is not the only purpose.

Women can use this money however they

want throughout their lives. They can

start a business, make investments that

generate profit, or they can choose to

keep it. The amount of mah is determined

by the woman. The man must pay it and

cannot take it back. But if the woman

wants to help her husband financially,

that's a separate matter. After

marriage, the woman's livelihood is the

responsibility of her husband. She has

no obligation whatsoever to get a job,

work, or contribute to the household's

expenses. Before marriage, her father

was responsible for her livelihood.

After marriage, her husband takes on

that responsibility. However, even

today, we see that this is not the case

in many parts of the world. When we

interviewed Sheha Fatma Barkat, a female

Islamic scholar living in the UK, she

told us something very surprising. This

is one of the things that non-Muslim

women are most impressed about Islam

because in general they have not

experienced the concept of being

provided for by someone else in their

own societies. After a certain age,

single girls often experience a kind of

divorce with their fathers. Under the

idea of standing on their own feet, they

are pushed into a life they are not used

to and not obliged to. As a result,

millions of daughters suffer in the long

term and many times they are harassed by

people with bad intentions. Both before

and after marriage, they spend their

lives trying to defend themselves.

Islam, however, places the

responsibility of her livelihood on her

father before marriage and on the

husband after marriage. Again, when the

time comes for marriage, choosing the

man she thinks will provide for her is

also completely up to her. Let's

continue. Before Islam, when a woman

married and became a mother, she did not

gain any value or respect. But look at

what our beloved prophetat wasam said.

The believers who show the most perfect

faith are those who have the best

behavior. And the best of you are those

who are the best to their wives. In

order to explain the value of mothers,

he once said to a companion, "Paradise

is under your mother's feet." He

considered violating a mother's rights

and oppressing her to be one of the

greatest sins. Before Islam, if a

woman's husband passed away, she would

not receive any inheritance from him at

all. On the contrary, she and her

children were considered part of the

inheritance themselves. Any random man

could claim rights over that family and

marry that woman. When Islam came, it

abolished this practice and instead

inheritance was divided among the

deceased person's wife, children, and

parents according to a certain measure.

You may have noticed that parents also

receive a share of the inheritance. This

is significant because today in many

countries that we consider developed

parents do not receive any share of the

inheritance. However, logically the

parents of a deceased person have likely

reached old age and are probably in need

of care. Islam places the responsibility

of their care on the son and if he dies

it gives them a share from his

inheritance for this purpose. In other

words, Islam does not abandon a woman

even when she becomes a mother. Her

livelihood remains the responsibility of

her children. In a way, this can

actually be seen as an encouragement for

women to pursue higher purposes. If you

don't have to work or simply don't want

to, you don't need to waste your time

with earning an income. You can dedicate

your time to something greater like

education. After all, isn't that the

foundation of everything? The complete

transformation of a society and a

spiritual well-being is in your hands.

But if a woman chooses to work, there

are also powerful examples in Islamic

history. The prophetatam's wife Katahan

was one of the most successful merchants

in Mecca. She was an outstanding

businesswoman. Or remember Fatima Ali

who founded the first university. It was

a truly remarkable act of

entrepreneurship. As long as the balance

between what's halal and haram is

respected, there's no problem at all.

Normally getting a society to quit even

a habit like smoking seems almost

impossible. Yet prophet Muhammad peace

be upon him stood up alone and in a

remarkably short time led that society

to abandon all these horrible customs

and traditions. And not only that, he

also replaced them with such beautiful

and fair principles that even centuries

later humanity could not reach that

level. Many other examples can be given.

And this entire transformation happened

in just 23 years. To highlight how

extraordinary this change was, the great

Islamic scholar Bedam say Nuri said,

"Let them gather a 100 philosophers.

Send them to that time and place and let

them work for a 100red years. Could they

achieve even 1% of what that great man

accomplished in just a single year?" Not

even 20 years had passed since the

passing of our prophetat wasam when the

world witnessed yet another remarkable

event in history. Omar Katab, one of the

most powerful leaders the world has ever

seen, was the second Khalifa of Islam

and was famous for his sense of justice.

And now we're going to see an example of

how much confidence and value Islam gave

to women. One day, Omar received

complaints that women were demanding

high amounts of mahar.

Yeah, Omar, women are demanding high

amounts of mahar.

Yeah, he's right. It is difficult us to

get married. Please do something.

You remember me, right? the financial

security that a woman has the right to

request at the time of marriage. To

solve the problem, Omar gave a public

speech and suggested placing a limit on

the amount of mar. Who could possibly

dare to oppose a leader like him? He was

the man who defeated the Persian Empire

and achieved major victories against the

Romans. That's how powerful he was. But

in that moment, a woman stood up and

objected. She boldly said,

"Have you not heard that Allah says in

the Quran, "Do not take any of her bread

gifts back, even if you have given her a

great amount of gold."

It was unheard of for a woman to

publicly oppose a ruler. So, how did

Omar respond? He humbly admitted. The

woman has spoken the truth and Omar has

made a mistake. Everyone has more

knowledge than Omar. He then went up to

a high place and took back his words in

front of the people. It is mindblowing

when you think about it. So the real

issue is that Islam has been widely

demonized by the mainstream media today.

Some of you might remember the famous

Irish singer who converted to Islam,

Chenado Connor. She was known as a

feminist and when she spoke about her

journey to Islam, she said, "I started

studying scriptures from different

religions trying to find the truth about

God. I never thought I would join a

religion, but I left Islam until last

because I had so much prejudice about

Islam. Indeed, there has been massive

propaganda about Islam, especially when

it comes to women. But when people

actually started looking into it, they

realized that the truth was completely

different. That's why four out of every

five people who became Muslim in the US

are women. And that's why why nearly 75%

of those who convert to Islam in the UK

are also women. Now, let me ask you

this. If Islam were a system that really

oppressed women, wouldn't women be the

first to run away from it? But instead,

they are the ones embracing it the most

because they see that Islam gives them

real value and they realize that this is

where they truly belong. When we look

back at human history, we see a pattern.

Whenever clear boundaries were not set,

whenever people ignored divine guidance,

it was women who suffered the most.

Their rights were taken away. They were

mistreated and oppressed. Even today,

the modern world still hasn't able to

fully protect women's rights. There are

women who don't receive equal pay for

equal work. Their bodies are used as

marketing tools in advertising. A

certain beauty standard is constantly

pushed on them, making them feel like

they have to fit into it, or else they

are told they are worthless. Countless

women are manipulated through flirting,

and many suffer emotional abuse in toxic

relationships. Some even fall victim to

sexual violence. On the other hand,

there are thousands of women who have

been abandoned by their partners after

giving birth. In 236 towns across

England and Wales, more than half of all

households are run by single mothers.

Just think about the heavy burden on

those women and the challenges their

children will face growing up without a

male role model. And when you look at

many people who end up committing

crimes, you often see that they grew up

without a father figure. The problems

just never seem to end. So what do we

really need? We need a system that knows

and understands both men and women in

the most complete and perfect way. And

no human being can do that because at

the end of the day we are all imperfect,

flawed. We make mistakes. We misjudge.

We get things wrong. This is why we need

a system beyond human limitations. A

system that both men and women are

satisfied with and willingly follow.

That is a system sent by the one who

created us because he knows us best than

we could ever know ourselves. He knows

all the characteristics of both men and

women down to the finest details. He is

the one with infinite knowledge. And so

only he can make the most just and

perfect decisions. And since Allah is

neither male nor female, there's no room

for bias in his rulings. Every other

system, no matter how advanced, will

have flaws. And we keep seeing that. In

short, the answers we have been

searching for, the solutions we have

spent years trying to figure out were

already given to us,400 years ago

through Islam. And the solutions to all

the problems we have mentioned and so

many more can be found in Islam. As you

research and read more, you can discover

this for yourself. But at this point,

some questions come to mind. So far,

everything makes sense. Yes, Islam gives

women a unique kind of value. Yes, only

the one who created us can set the rules

we truly need. But still, like we said

at the beginning, in Islam, there are

some topics about women that people find

confusing. Now, let's talk about hijab

first. Millions of people ask the same

question. Isn't this a major

restriction? Although hijab is often

portrayed as a form of oppression or

limitation, it is one of the things that

impresses non-Muslim women about Islam

the most. Strange, isn't it? So, why is

that? If you ask me, even an atheist

might feel the need to wear a hijab. An

atheist? Yes. Because covering is

something natural, something inherent in

the creation of human beings. By her

nature, a woman looks for a man with

whom she feels peaceful, happy, and

safe. In the same way, a man wants to

trust his wife, build a loving bond, and

be happy with her. To protect the peace

and happiness of the family, this bond

needs to stay strong. That's why family

counselors often emphasize one essential

truth. For a healthy marriage, there

must be mutual loyalty and trust between

spouses. This is where Islam brings the

solution of hijab for both men and

women. In surah, Allah says, "Tell the

believing men to lower their gazes and

guard their private parts that is purer

for them. Surely Allah is all aware of

what they do." In the following verse,

women are commanded to cover themselves.

So, if you have noticed, the command

about hijab is given to men first. Lower

your gaze. In a way, their eyelids are

their hijab. Here we see a two-sided

precaution. Allah is putting measures in

place to protect families and preserve

their happiness. But today both of these

forms of hijab for men and women are

constantly being attacked. So what

happens if these protections are removed

from a family? The trust and loyalty

that we have talked about start to get

damaged over time. Every woman has an

inherent desire to look beautiful and

receive compliments. And when a woman

with this natural tendency goes out

without wearing hijab, she has two

options. She will either look elegant

and attractive to the people outside

through her clothes, accessories, hair

and body or she will appear careless and

unattractive. It is one or the other.

There is no middle ground. But in her

nature, she wants to look beautiful and

be praised for that. So inevitably when

going outside, she will make sure to

look beautiful and spend her entire day

like this. Without hijab, this becomes

unavoidable. So what percentage of men

do you think would say, "This could be

someone's wife. I shouldn't look." Let a

social experiment give us the answer to

this from a few years back. Maybe you

have seen it too. A woman walks around

New York City for 5 hours wearing

revealing clothes. And as a result, 108

times she was verbally harassed, meaning

she received inappropriate remarks. And

on top of that, many men stared at her

with bad intentions. But here's the

interesting part. The same woman

repeated the experiment, this time

wearing a hijab. The result, no one

looked at her the same way as before.

Whether spouses realize it or not, this

situation gradually damages the trust

between them. Jealousy and trust issues

start to emerge which then disturb the

peace within the relationship. No man

would tolerate anyone looking at his

wife with ulterior motives. He becomes

jealous and possessive. This is simply

in his nature. Similarly, it's in a

woman's nature to want her husband to be

interested only in her and not to look

at other women. These two feelings can

find peace and harmony when both parties

follow the commandments of hijab. Now

let's imagine the opposite scenario.

Let's say both sides are careful about

their hijab. What would be the

difference? A husband would no longer

have any doubts or worries about whether

other men are looking at his wife or

not. Similarly, when a man pays

attention to his gaze, his eyelids, he

will have clearly shown his loyalty to

his spouse. This will not leave any

doubt in his wife's mind like is he

looking at other women? Are there women

he finds more attractive? She won't feel

uncomfortable thinking about such

questions. Hijab is also something that

protects a woman from being easily

accessible. It elevates her worth and

makes her more valuable. No one can see

even a strand of her hair without her

permission. Think about the social

experiment I just shared with you. When

the woman walked in revealing clothes,

she became the target of countless

disgusting stairs and verbal abuse. But

when she wore hijab, she showed who

truly owns her body. She gave the

message that she's not just an object

but rather her ideas and personality are

what truly make her valuable. At the

same time, in a way, she filtered the

people who could approach her. When

wearing hijab, those who focus only on

outer appearance or who have low moral

standards do not approach her because

she no longer attracts their attention.

In this case, wearing hijab means

interacting with people who engage with

you for who you truly are. people who

don't focus on your appearance but on

your soul and who have high moral

standards. Don't forget you are above

being labeled by others as beautiful or

not. You don't have to fit into the

standards set by others based on their

desires and expectations. You should not

dress according to the opinions of

others, but rather you should dress

according to the expectations of Allah,

the one who created the universe from

nothing and placed the earth under your

feet. Some people may love you for your

beauty but Allah created you because he

loves you. He has given you a unique

beauty that he has not given to anyone

else. Remember we said that there are

two different types of hijabs. Men's

hijab and women's hijab. Along with this

also some boundaries are drawn between

male and female interactions. For

example, it is forbidden for a person to

have intimate conversations or laugh

with someone from the opposite gender

who is not their family or their spouse.

So when both sides fail to follow these

rules, they start to attract each other

like the two sides of a magnet and the

order of the world begins to fall apart.

Sexual inclinations start turning into

actions, illegitimate relationships,

perversions, and ultimately crimes. Both

sides have responsibility here. And when

both fail to do their part, the blame

goes to both sides. According to a study

by the CDC, in 2020, nearly 500,000

abortions were performed in the US. And

86% of these babies were illegitimate.

In just one year in a single country,

the lives of 400,000 unborn babies were

taken due to illegitimate relationships.

Of course, this is extremely difficult

for a woman. And in most cases, birth

takes place. According to another study

by the same organization, in 2021, 1.4

million illegitimate births took place

in America alone. And in most cases, the

mother is left to carry this burden

alone. She takes care of and tries to

raise the child for years without ever

having the support of a father by her

side. Think about the emotional and

mental state of a mother in this

situation. And think about the

challenges faced by a child growing up

without a father. And preventing this

again depends on the two commandments of

the Quran that we mentioned earlier. I

believe the bigger picture is much

clearer now. But we still have other

questions that need to be answered. A

man being allowed to marry up to four

women. sisters receiving half the

inheritance compared to their brothers

and the frequently asked and debated

issue in Surah Nissa verse 34. The

answers to all these questions are

simpler than we might think. We will

dive into all the details in part two.

Stay with us.

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