Islam recognizes that while men and women have some physical differences, spiritually they enjoy absolute equality before God. The Qur’an and Sunnah are unequivocal in stating that one’s gender will have absolutely no bearing on their reward or punishment in the next life.
Throughout Islamic history, one of the uniting aspects of the Muslim world was the caliphate. After the death of Prophet Muhammad, his close companion, Abu Bakr, was elected as the first khalifah, or caliph, of the Muslim community. His job as leader combined political power over the Muslim state as well as spiritual guidance for Muslims. It became a hereditary position, occupied at first by the Umayyad family, and later by the Abbasids. In 1517, the caliphate was transferred to the Ottoman family, who ruled the largest and most powerful empire in the world in the 1500s.
Islam granted women contractual rights, conjugal rights, the right to inherit, to initiate divorce, to independently own and control wealth and property, to set up and run businesses, to earn and receive equal pay, to retain their maiden names, etc., over 1400 years ago while the democratic West granted similar rights only in the last 50 years of the 20th century! In fact, besides casual abortion, much of what feminists still fight for had already been sanctioned by Islam.
One of the purposes of acquiring knowledge is to gain the good of this world, not to destroy it through wastage, arrogance and in the reckless pursuit of higher standards of material comfort. Another purpose of knowledge is to spread freedom and dignity, truth and justice. It is not to gain power and dominance for its own sake.
Imam Malik’s mother advised him to join the first school and university in Islam, the Mosque of the Prophet in Madinah, where he started by memorizing the Glorious Qur’an and then the Hadith [traditions of Prophet Muhammad (may Allah exalt his mention)]. In the age when writing and written educational material were a rarity, students and scholars had to have a strong memory to consult and store the knowledge they gained. Imam Malik was not lacking in this special ability. We are told that when he
Prophet Muhammad was a pioneer in this field. He taught caring for the elderly irrespective of sex, color, or religion, and he himself set a great example in practicing the principles he taught.
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) held the most challenging leadership positions in Islamic history, wearing many hats at the same time. As the Messenger of Allah, he was a husband to his family, a teacher to a grand myriad of students, a General of his army, amongst many more. In wearing these many hats, the Prophet faced multiple challenges in tarbiyyah (the development, teaching and training) of his followers…
There are different ways of defining poverty and measuring it. One may classify those definitions into three types (Korayem, 1993): The first type includes what we may call the objective definitions of poverty. This definition specifies a specific level of income (expenditure), or index, or ratio which represents the borderline between the poor and the non-poor. The individuals who are at the borderline or below will be defined as poor whereas those above the borderline are the non-poor.
Patience has two aspects: theory and practice. In these, cures of the heart and the body are found. The theoretical aspect, as well as the practical one, should be present so that the most effective treatment may be facilitated. The theoretical aspect requires us to get acquainted with the goodness, benefits, bliss, and perfection of the divine obligations as well as the evil and harm of what is forbidden.
Throughout the ages, however, there has been a minority among humans who have denied the existence of God. Matter, in their opinion, is eternal and mankind is merely a chance product of accidental combinations of its elements. Consequently, for them there was no answer to the question: “Why did God create man?” According to them, there simply is no purpose to existence. However, the vast majority of humankind over the ages have believed and continue to believe in the existence of a Supreme Being who created this world with a purpose.