Al Huda Summer Course English 2014, Date : 28/5/2014, Rajab 29 1435

Date:28/5/2014, Rajab 29 1435 

NOTES! 

Why are we learning the Quran?  
Deen doesn't need any break! 
The only chilling is in Jannah 
To better our relation with Allaah 

Tajweed bites! 

-10 Hasanat= For reciting 1 letter of the Holy Qur'an 

13 steps to memorize the Qur’an by Yasir Qadhi 

1.  Sincerity. The first matter you have to pay attention to is your intention (if you intend good you will get good). Make sure that the intention you are making is only for the sake of Allāh SWT,  to seek His Pleasure so thatinshā'Allāh, with His Mercy, we will be rewarded in the Aakhirah. It is not to show off in front of others that you have memorized a lot. Sincerity is not a one time factor rather it's a continual battle that you always have to renew. 

2.  Consistency . The more frequently you memorize, the easier it becomes. It is very essential to be consistent, and not to skip even one day. There is no Week-end in worship. The bare minimum that one should memorize is at least 3 lines, 5 is more ideal. If you are consistent, inshā'Allāh, you will be able to be huffadh in 5-6 years 

3.  Timing. The first thing you should do in the day is memorize – even do so before your breakfast, because this is your spiritual breakfast. The best time to memorize is right after Fajr. . (sh. Yasir used to take one hour to memorize a page in the beginning, and eventually came down to 15-20 minutes) 

4.  Atmosphere. Have a secluded place to go to and memorize in a place that is quiet. You just can't memorize properly with distractions, so turn off all your devices (like cell phones) 

5.  Familiarity: start at the same time, at the same place and use the same mushaf every day. You need to have your own copy of the Mushaf (the Madani Mushaf is highly recommended), it will later become so dear to you. 

6.  No Magic trick: repeat, repeat, repeat, over and over again. It is just repetitive recitation and/or listening that will help to memorize. 

7. Memorize with the meaning: read the translation before you start and try to match the Arabic words with their meanings 

8. Surround yourself with recitation: listen to the Qur'an. Before you start memorize, listen to what you are about to memorize. Sh. Husary is highly recommended (see here the best resources to help you memorize) 

9.  Find a recitation buddy: get a friend, a family member or someone you know who will listen to your recitation every day. Ideally, get someone who is also memorizing to create a peer pressure system. 

10.  Recite daily in your ṣalāh what you have memorized. If you forget one portion, you will immediately rush towards the Qur'an and correct your mistake and you will never do this mistake again. 

11. Triple daily dose: 
a)     New memorization at your assigned time of the day 
b)    Revision of the previous 7 days, just before you start the new memorization: This is because the fastest thing you forget is the new memorization. And doing so, will also build the connector between the old ones and the new portion you are going to memorize. Plus, it will be a good warm up for the brain when you recall from your memory and recite, before you go into the real exercise of doing the new memorization. 
c)     At a later/another time of the day, revise those before the recent 7 days. The bare minimum should be 4-5 pages. 

12. Do not jump around. Be consistent. Don't try to go to another surah if you find it difficult and stick to the order. That way, you will have the satisfaction of having completed a juz rather than leaving some portions here and there. 

13.  The three chunks. Start from the back. Shorter surahs will bring you a big boost. You 
should divide the memorization of the Qur'an in three parts: 
a)     Juz 28, 29, 30 or just Juz 29, 30 
b)    Surah Al-Kahf till Juz 28 
c)     Surah Al-Baqara to Surah Al-Kahf 

7 Heavy letters: خ ص ض ط ظ غ ق 

Letter of Qalqala: خ ص ض ط ظ غ ق 

Al Huda Summer Course English 2014, Date : 27/5/2014, Rajab 28 1435

Date:27/5/2014, Rajab 28 1435

HOMEWORK:

1) Always say Bismillah (or Basmallah) whenever there is something worth mentioning

*Don't say Bismillah in Surah Taubah !!

Notes:

Different names for Surah Fatiha:

1) Ummul Ul Kitab(Mother of the Book)

2)Ash-Shifa(The cure)

3)Ummul Quran (the Glorious Quran)

4)Ar ruqyah(The remedy)

5)As-Salah(The prayer)

6)Al-Hamd(The Praise)

7)Sub’ah Mathani(The 7 repeated ayahs)

Surah Fatiha is the first complete Surah revealed. It is a Makki Surah.

What is a Makki Surah?

Makki Surahs are those that were revealed before the BIG migration(from Makkah to Madinah)

Say Alhamdullilah even if bad or good happens to you :)

Alhamdullilah is not used for human beings or any other creations - it is only used for Allah

By saying Alhamdullilah, your scale for good deeds just gets heavier. #SayAlhamdullilah

Hamdu (Praise & Thanking)- which is only a characteristic of Allah.

Just for Alhamdullilah - you get 90 rewards/good deeds *every letter equivalent to 10 good deeds*

Madh- is used for praising the Creation of Allaah,

Hamd- is used to praise Allah alone.

Rahman- the MOST or ENTIRELY merciful. The word Rahman & Raheem have the same roots. But the word Rahman implies for all the people be it a believer or a disbeliever. There are people who disobey Allah in this Dunya yet they are being provided with the basic necessities and sustenance. So, basically, this attribute of Allaah is for ALL.

Raheem-the ESPECIALLY merciful- this is exclusively for believers.

When good happens to you, you will have two reactions:

1) Take it for granted

-Eg, when good happens to you (get good marks etc), do you thank Allah or you think that you deserve it.

-Thank Allah for your friends, families …..and more of your blessings that you have

2) Or, you thank Allah

Ponder about #AlhamdullilahiRabbilAlamin whenever you are in Salah.

SO be happy that you deserve the two types of mercy from Allah, #Rahman #Rahim :D

Malik - The judge

Youm ad-Deen-The Day of Recompense

Whatever you do, you will be given your reward/punishment accordingly. The day when your deeds will be valued. Think about your good & bad deeds, then reflect what kind of treatment do you want? There still is time to CHANGE.

People who don’t give zakah:

They will be standing with big/weird snake around the neck and the animal will be biting their neck/ head by saying “ I am your treasure and wealth”.

-On the Day Of Judgment, there is no escape, everyone will know whether you give zakah or not

People who steal something:

They will be carrying something on the day of Judgment that they have stolen in this dunya , for example : gold , or precious jewel etc.

#NO_ONE_CAN_SAVE_YOU - in the Day of Judgment. #MakeDUA_NOW

It is you we worship and it is you we seek help from

We only prostrate to Allaah, we only obey Him and we only follow His commands. Unlike many other religions, Islam commands us to prostrate before only ALLAH. And no one else. #NoGraveWorshipping #NoIdolWorshipping #NoWorshippingOfCreationsOfAllah

Whenever you face any problem in life, before mentioning it to others, ask Allah to help you and make a way out for you.

Every act that you do to attain the pleasure of Allah & if it is as per the sunnah of Prophet Mohammad, it becomes an Ibadah.

You can do any other chores any still do Ibadah as long it is not attained in haram way. The key is remembrance of Allah and you can still do your other daily chores such as working, taking care of children and even beautifying for your husband. You do not need to stay in sajda for 24 hours to be in a constant state of Ibaadat/Worship.

Day Of Judgement:

-It will be nervous period

-It is like our results day when we have mixed emotions, we will not know whether our deeds will be accepted or not

Sirathul Mustaqeem
-Straight Path
-In Simple Translation, it is guidance

Hidayah= in Arabic:
When you are travelling around Niagara Falls and you lost directions and there is no GPS , then you are able to find someone who can help you.
If a person help you by
1) Giving directions
2) Says " I will help you by travelling there first, just follow me" and he/she does that .

Which one is better?
Of course, the second path, that is what we are asking from Sirathul Mustaqeem -Guide us to the end.

Take Note:
-Remember what are you asking for
- Many different faiths are asking for different things, so all of these will create confusions for us- Hence, we should make dua to Allah , for guiding us to reach our goal #KeepOnAskingAllah

#KeepOnAskingAllah for Guidance
-If you met any revert Muslim , they will say the same thing by saying that they will be asking Allah for guidance.

Story Time:

#DontWasteTimeWatchingTelevisionProgrammes - OR movies - It is not real .

What makes a great story:

The one who is a great author. Who can be a greater author than Allah(SWT)?.

Quran contains the stories of the greatest of people that ever walked on the face of earth.

For example PBUH how he faced challenges and Prophet Ayub(AS) had to face so many illnesses- this will make us appreciate our LIFE:) .#RoleModels

Every Muslim had to be familiarized with the stories of Prophets and need to pass it to next generation.

All of the prophets brought the same message i.e ‘Allah is One’(Tauhid).

Stories of Prophets are great because:

*They are shared by Allaah- Who can be a better author than Allaah SWT?

*Lots of wisdom

*Legacy

*Appreciation

*Confidence

*Da’wah Techniques-They brought the methodology of how to forward the message of Allah to others.

*Role Models

Prophets of determination(Ulul ‘adham):

-Nuh AS

-Ibrahim AS

-Moosa AS

-Isa AS

-Prophet Muhammad AS

Adam(AS)

-Surah Baqarah ayahs 30-39 (look up :))

- He was honoured to be even with the angels

- He was even honoured to be caliph

-the angels were surprised because “Why do you create this creation which will shed blood”

-Allah replied back “ You don’t know , what I know”

- He created with different soils which have different colours. No wonder, human nations have different colours . This can be sees even within the family members. Even , siblings looks different. SubhanAllah

#NoRacisimInIslam #WeHaveSameOrigin #WeAreUnique #TaqwaMatters

The reason why the angels questioned Allaah SWT on creating human beings because they have already seen a lot of corruption made by the Jinns.

Allah created us in the best of shapes and forms. Learn the Dua’ for looking into the Mirror.

اللَّهُمَّ أَنْتَ حَسَّنْتَ خَلْقِي فَحَسِّنْ خُلُقِي

“Allahahumma kama hassanta khalqi wa hassin khuluqi’’

"O Allah, just as you have made my external features beautiful, make my character beautiful as well"

Man has been created for a greater purpose and that is the worship of Allaah.

#GreetingsAreChoosenInHeaven- SO SAY IT!

The first word that Adam AS learnt was Alhumdulillaah. When the soul was breathed into him, he sneezed and said ‘Alhumdulillaah’(Alla praise is due to Allah). You know what happened next? Allah replied and said ‘Yarhamukallaah’(May Allah have mercy upon you).

The six rights of a Muslim:

Remember this story to remember the Six Rights:

A lady pass by you, then you say Salam

And, she is inviting you to your house, you accept her invitation.

She is inviting you to counsel her so you accept both the conditions and go to her house.

Then she sneezes, she praise Allah , while you say Yarhamukullah.

Then, you realise that she is having some illness after she has sneezed, so, then you visit her often, and ...this is sad part

she return back to Allah afterwards and you have to visit her funeral prayers.

-The only crime that Shaytann commited is #Arrogance- All of his worship is wasted because of his #Arrogance

- Don’t look down at anyone - very scary story

- How many Salah that we have missed

-Arrogance is the first sin

Shaytan DUA

-To give more time

-If Allah(SWT) grants the dua of Shaytaan, our dua , In Shaa Allah will be answered. Have hope in Allah and his mercy. He will answer our dua.

Shaytaan mislead us saying that Islam has many prohibitions, but all of these are whisperings from him. #WASWASA

He tricked our father by saying that by eating the tree , he will become immortal. And, guess what?- Our father ate it. It is in our gene to desire to be immortal . This can be seen by all these cosmetic surgeries to make us younger( or more weirder)

ShaytaanButton=SnoozeButton :’(

LETSFIGHTSHAYTAAN- PREPARE THE BATTLE! - He has declared war with us. Lets take refuge in Allah !

TurntoAllah for you repentance -this is difference between Adam(AS) and Shaytaan when you make #SINS

Adam (AS) & Mirror dua is your HOMEWORK!!!:)

all the letters are poiting upwards , even the ha (the fatha) is pointing upwards.

Can you feel the majestic tone/sound when you say Allah

In Germany there was a test/trila for ppl to say Allah, and they felt much more better

Look at his creations such as sky etc? can you find defects ? No, this shows the majesticness of Allah

And, interesting to take note that in Arabic Bible, the word Allah has been used for God.

Rays Of Faith -SH. WALEED BASYOUNI

For complete notes: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1vDN_mq_NQZdHgwOG80U2NlTHM/edit?usp=sharing

Free Friday notes:
(MP3 Recording - Click Here)

“Those who suffer in this dunya , the life in hereafter will be easier for them”

“Those who touch the dust(meaning the one who did the dirty work in this dunya), will not touch the dust in the hereafter. The reason in that they have already suffered in this dunya and their recompense is on afterlife"

Those who are not attached to the hereafter, they will feel so safe with this Dunya. They will not recognize the ayat’s of Allah such as the sky,sun etc. They will be so ignorant towards Allah’ signs. And their destination will be hell-fire.

Allah says,
“Those who choose Shaytan over Ar-Rahman, they will be with the one whom they loved in hereafter”.

Hereafter:
Details presented in the Quran about Hereafter is much more detailed than any religion scriptures.
Not even 10% of the description of the hereafter mentioned in Quran is mentioned in other religion scriptures.

PBUH lifestory:
Ibn Masud(RA) cried at PBUH bed marks on his body because PBUH was lying on the bed that is made up of palm fibres.
Ibn Masud said “ I have seen the kings of Persians, the Rome but you….” and started to cry
PBUH consoled him by saying “ Their life is here , our life is on hereafter”

When Aisha(RA) commented on the girls who were wearing revealing clothes , by “ Their life is here , but our life is on hereafter”. #NoHijabInAkhira :)- Because, no one wants to look at you with a desire except your lawful partner.

Belief in the Last Day:
Its a pillar of Islam
Hence, a person who do not have belief in it, he is not a complete believer.
We were informed about the belief of Here After by the Angel of Jibrael who came into human form and announced it to PBUH.

#Taqwa # FearOfYourLord

Almost ⅓ of the Quran is about Judgment Day. 

Ayat(2:4) - Take a look at it :)

The recompense is Al-Jannah for the believers 
The more you study of Day Of Judgment , the more you will know about Allah.

One of the predominant characteristics that can be seen in Day Of Judgment, it is Allah’s mercy

Abu Bakr Sithiq preferred Allah to be intercessors compared to his own parents. 

Why?
Due to the PBUH incident, when PBUH said Allah loves us more than a mother who has just received the lost child and she was giving breast milk the moment, she saw the child. And, the PBUH asked the companions “ Will, she throw the child in fire now?”. The companions said no. Then PBUH announced that 

“ Allah loves us more than 99 times of her, will he throw us at the hell fire very easily?”

Lesson Learnt:
Allah is extremely merciful, the one who will be thrown in hell-fire are real losers.

1%- Allah’s mercy in this dunya
99%- Kept for HereAfter/DayOfJudgement

Al-Ghaffur & Al- Waddud:
These two names are always combined in Quran
This shows that Allah forgives and loves- This is only the characteristics of Allah, human beings don’t do that, both at the same time.
-Common Phrase we might hear 

“ I forgive you but I cannot be your friend anymore, or I can’t love you anymore “

Bilal Ibn Rabbah(RA) told the angel of Death 

“ Take my soul or squeeze my soul away very quickly, I can’t wait to see my Lord, and my companions, and my beloved PBUH”

Why do you love this Dunya so much (more love compared to hereafter)?
-It is because you spent too much time planning for this dunya compared to hereafter
- For example, when you are building a building in this dunya, you will put in all the efforts to build it. You will make sure all the materials are in best of quality. The moment, you are not going to live in that building/house, you will feel sad and feel your time & energy has been wasted.
-Hence, if we invest our time & energy fo akhira, hereafter, we will not be able to wait to see the Day of Judgment

But….
Whether we like it or not, we will be going to see the Day of Judgement
Whenever you want to commit a sin ,think whether you want your sin to be reflected in the book and shows to everyone and you.

Shaykh’s encounter:
Super Funny and Important Incident:

He met a revert sister. And, he asked her revert story( this is his habit of asking all the new reverts about their stories)
She said,.

“ I always go to this particular gym and I meet this good looking guy. And, I thought he had same interest for me too. So, I went up to him one day, and I saw him doing Salah. At that point of time, I did not know what Salah is, so I thought it is an extremely cool exercise. So, after he prayed, I told him “That, is a cool exercise”. Then, the guy replied me back by saying that “it is not an exercise, but prayer to Allah/God”.  And, I was actually bit surprised, then I asked him out  “ Do you want to come with me out”. He replied back even without thinking “No.”. Then I asked him by saying “ So you already attached …”. Then he replied no as well. Finally, I get offended and told him “ So, you think that I am not attractive”. Then he replied by saying “ That is not the reason “ And, he took out a lighter from his pocket. Then I told him “ If you are smoker, it is not a matter to me”. But he said, “ That is not the reason, I place my lighter in my pocket all the time, Whenever I feel like doing a sin, I burn myself so that I will get reminded of hell-fire”. Then, he walked away. After that , I came couple of times to the gym but the guy cannot be found.At last, I was very curious of how the young guy is so determined and I learnt about Islam, and i became Muslim”

Early Generation:
One man from early generation used to look at his bed after he has woken up for Fajr or Qiyam and he will tell the bed “ You are so nice, soft, but you are not better than the bed in Jannah”.
(LOL, the Shaykh said the bed in those times, are not as same as the bed now in hotels etc)

Jafwa- You will hate to go back to the bed
- One of the early generation , said to the bed “ I hate to see you more than I hate to  see Shaytan”

-Aid Muslims towards good deeds
- Patience:
1) Perseverance in doing good deeds
2) Abstain from Wrong
3) Times of Hardship
-Established asceticism towards matters of this life. 

PBUH story of companion who lost his beloved child who he always be in company of. The companion always keep his child on his lap for any gatherings.
PBUH said “ I can bring the child back to alive. But do you prefer that ? or you prefer to be patient as your will child will be waiting for you and you can go with you child at any doors of Jannah”.

PBUH said “The child who dies at the young age will be taken care by Prophet Ibrahim(the fathers of all prophets) till the Day Of Judgment”. 

PBUH said “If you lose your eyesight in this dunya , you will enter paradise”. This made on the scholar not to go for eye operation as he prefer to be patient and get reward .

Cheap things can fill your stomach. And, you will not have the temptation any more to eat expensive things after you filled your stomach. (The shaykh made a joke this is exceptional case for Americans). Anyways, this is the same principle for dunya. Live your life simply, so that you will be satisfied and don’t run after this dunya (for haram things)

The dunya desire will never ends,In fact, it always increases.

Conclusion:
Human nature always to love to see unseen(Al-Ghaib)

In Arabic, or any language, if there is many names for just one meaning, it means that particular subject is very important for the people.

For example, sword is very important for the Arabic people. There is 70 words for sword. But, SubhanAllah, not even a single word of sword is mentioned in Quran. #IslamIsPeacefulReligion

Yawnl-Al Jam ( Another name of Day of Judment Day):
-The day you will be gathered with your deeds, all the similar ppl together, and all the creations together.
-Everyone standing up but not sitting down.

Important Rule of Unseen:
-When you hear about unseen in Quran or Hadeeth, it is alright to comprehend and understand it. But, DO NOT IMAGINE IT. because, obviously, it is nothing compared to your imagination

-Not all things that you comprehend, it is necessary that you have to imagine. For example, energy, gravity etc, you know all these exist, but you do not imagine it :)

Shunning The Ways of Jahiliya Kamal El Mekki, Ilm fest

Click on the image to view the video :)

Introduction:

In his farewell sermon, prophet (saw) talked about many different aspects and among them he mentioned the ways of jahiliya. The ways of jahiliya included many practices; among them were acts of bid’ah, oppressing the poor and oppressing women. Thus this lecture is going to be about oppression of women.

There was only a short period in human history when women were not oppressed. Before that period they were oppressed and even until today they are oppressed; and they cannot escape certain ideas and ideologies. This is what I call ‘being entrapped by an idea’. Even muslim women today, even though islam came to liberate women, they are still trapped by certain ideas or ideologies. For example, until today muslim women still ask questions that they really neednt be asking – 

Why is it that the muslim man can marry four but the muslim women cant marry four?

This is a question that if you contemplate for four minutes you can find the answer- its not a difficult question, the answer is very clear. Sisters ask yourself, is that really what you want for yourself? Do you even consider it for a few minutes, do you understand what it means to marry 4 men, cook for 4 men and have children for 4 men?! “I had one husband and now I have four masha Allah!” 

Why is it that the muslim men pray in the front and the women pray in the back?

Why do we accept this argument that if you are in front you are better than the one in the back? You are a muslim woman, you know how woman pray, did you consider for a minute what would happen if women prayed in the front and the men prayed in the back. If you think about it for a minute, you will see that it doesn't make any sense. 

Why was there no female prophet ever sent?

So what? Consider now if there was a female prophet sent 15,000 years ago, would that make you a better person? Would that make you sit a little bit higher perhaps? Ok, all the prophet were males. Does that mean the brothers today are a bit better believers because all the prophets were males? Brothers are you sitting any taller because all the prophets were males? It means nothing to you.

But people are trapped by these ideas and they cant escape them. So I want to do a quick survey of the ideologies that women went through in these 2500 years. And what I want to say is that the radical feminist movement has made life a battle between the sexes. Life is portrayed as a battle between the men and women to see who will become victorious. But there is no battle between men and women, there is no conflict between men and women. when I said this, one of the sisters told “we both win”. But that still implies there is a competition, but there is no competition. 

Women in the early western civilisation:

When you go as far back as Aristotle, he mentioned that women are in a way inferior to men, that they are deficient in understanding and that they cannot be trusted. Many other Greek philosophers seemed to agree to this as well. Along with this, Christianity brought in it’s own issues as well.

-The early Christians comtemplated the life of Jesus (PBUH) and saw that he did not get married. Thus they concluded that to not marry is better than to get married. So they innovated rahbaniya or celibacy into their religion. Allah (swt) says in the quran “and the celibacy which they INNOVATED into the religion”.

- Adding to it, in the book of genesis, the blame for the fall of man from paradise was entirely put on the woman. The bible puts all the blame on the woman. (While in the Qur’an, the blame isn’t put on the woman, and it isn’t put on the shaitan either. Instead Allah says in the Qur’an “Adam disobeyed his Lord..”. )

So combining the above two facts the early Christian writers began to consider women as the cause of evil. And because of that, they began to look at intimacy as something evil and dirty, which was only meant to be for procreation and not enjoyment. 

Early West encounters Islam:

So, when the Christians from the west encountered early Muslims for the first time, they were very surprised to find that muslims marry 4 ( i. weak narratione; can have four wives). Thus they concluded that muslims are over sexed – men can have up to four wives, they can have up to 70 or more virgins in paradise, surah Al Baqarah has intercourse mentioned right in the middle of ‘itika’af’, intercourse isn’t considered a dirty thing or a bad thing etc.  And when they saw the muslim women fully covered, they said it’s because if they weren’t fully covered, the savage wild Muslim men would attack them! This whole concept of sex not being wrong was a very big problem for them. 

Enlightened era in the West:

During this period, they underwent a lot of re-examining of their existing believes and ideas. Some of these changes were scientific, like they now believed it was the earth that revolved around the sun and not the other way round. Som of the changes being theological, like Martin Luther King protesting against some issues in the catholic church and some of these changes were social.

The social believes that saw a change included those related to women.

 During the 1700s, Voltaire, a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher advocated that there should be education for women, but it should be according to their lower intellect and according to what they could understand.

 Later on, in the 1800s, there were more women’s rights movements all around. 

Industrial revolution and sexual revolution:

Then came the industrial revolution, which saw many women entering work force along with men. And this saw the demand of equal pay for women as given to men.

Soon, the 60’s and 70’s saw the sexual revolution. After this, promiscuity and all other forms of deviance from the norm were seen as perfectly okay – nothing was wrong with it.  

Later in the 90’s, the issue of gender arose – it was now believed that there is no difference between men and women, it all depends on the upbringing and if they are brought up the same way, they will be exactly the same. For instance, a mayor once even went to the extent of saying that if the men can walk topless on a beach, why cant the women!

In Islam, we have no problem with the differences between men and women, we recognize the differences.  Consider if a women in her third trimester of pregnancy was expected to fast just like everyone else – if the man fasts, the woman fasts – it wouldn’t be fair!

Thus presently, the west has come so far from its early believes that it now considers muslims as uptight, not inter-mingling and not relaxed enough in our society etc.

The Muslim Women today

We have to agree that the Muslim women today are not in a good place. This is not because of Islam but because of the cultures, ideologies and other things that bring women down. But unfortunately, many of them who want to “liberate” the Muslim women want to attack the religion – this worked for the west because their values were written by men. But our values are timeless, they are written by Allah and the prophet (saw) and these values are exactly what will liberate us. 

People always want to attack the hijab. Ok, lets see what happens when you remove the hijab. Are you really liberated when you remove the hijab? A non muslim student at UCLA, California, who was a senior in psychology major, decided to experiment with the hijab. She put on the hijab and went out, and later wrote an article about it, in which she says – 

“By covering myself, I did not cover my femininity, the only thing I covered was my sexuality. By covering the later, it allowed me to express more the former. The more I could cover my sexuality, the more I could be free and be a human being.”  -

You can read up here: http://idealmuslimah.com/dress/khimaar/3556-a-chinese-american-non-muslim-woman-experiments-with-hijaab.html

Women in America:

In America, people will not accept a woman in high leadership position if she looks likes a woman – if she is effeminate. She has to look ‘androgynous’  - a woman who has short hair, wears business suits and acts more like a man. If she dresses and behaves feminine, she becomes a sexual object and a man would think “I’m not going to take orders from a sexual object”. Thus, woman are still trapped. They think they are liberated, but infact they are still trapped. And we say the only way out of this entrapment is ISLAM. 

But some women, they attack Islam, the hadiths and they even start questioning the meanings of the ayahs of the Quran. They think that their fight is with Islam.

Islam never ever oppressed women. Infact your fight is with the cultures and ideologies. The issues which oppress women today are the issues of the jahiliya – honour killings, dowry given to the man, putting women as objects on magazine covers, etc.  They are not issues brought about by Islam.

So its actually ironic when these women, shackled by these ideologies, come to the ‘semi-liberated’ Muslim women (‘semi’ because they are still partly shackled by their cultures)  and try to liberate the Muslim women.

Conclusion:

What we actually need liberation from is the oppressive ideologies and not Islam. And this is the responsibility of every individual, both men and women – not just women.