In South Africa, we are battling with this:
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3102&art_id=iol1274435628183P613

and this:

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3102&art_id=iol1274435628183P613

In the bigger scheme of things I find debates like these counter-productive and time and energy-consuming.
The issue of segregation of sexes is not as clear-cut as some here make it out to be (and I’m not talking weddings, although even there there it can be said to be debatable as it depends on so many things – who is invited, what are the seating arrangements, what is the bride wearing, are the couple being forced by their famiies (does happen you know) to have a certain type of arrangement?)

In fact on the very site on which I read the Sami Al-Majid mahram piece, there is an article which discusses segregation and its deeper meaning.

MANY (and not just self-proclaimed progressives) argue that one of the verses quoted above is in specific reference to the wives of the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu ‘alayhi wassallam.

I’m also annoyed at the constant argument that “we do not not observe the same etiquette, dress the same way” that women in the time of the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahy ‘alayhi wassallam did. Strangely enough, this argument is often put forward in contexts (I agree, not this one) where women DO dress modestly. A perfect example thereof is South Africa, where this line of argument is used to discourage women from attending the ‘Eid Salaah. I’ve attended ‘Eid Salaah here for close to a decade now, and NOT ONCE have I seen a woman there dressed inappropriately.

But then again, the way we Muslims go about things, we’ll always have our own ideologically-sltanted definition of what constitutes appropriateness and try to impose this on others.

I don’t even know what my point is. All I know is that four or five years ago, when I believed ‘my Shaykhs’ were the best Shaykhs and always right, I would have probably lent support to the said arguments. I’m not so super-confident that I’m right anymore.

wassalaam

because it is a day, we nd to do it properly! not because its only a day, we can stuff it up…
the same manners on how we treat our life with! we die once, so when we die… make sure we have live really really well because the chance are once! :)

Allahu Alam

I am getting married in a year inshaAllah. My intended and I are planning our wedding out. Our African American culture and custom doesn’t really provide us with much of a blue print for the rulings on weddings. In fact, one of the only customs which I wasn’t too happy with but understood why it was done in our tradition was jumping the broom. When doing the research in Sahih Bukhari , Sahih Muslim and of course, Qur’an about marrying women, the guidelines for the Walima are not really set as far as my research took me. The major hadith I’ve found about the Walima is the hadith instituting it where the Prophet (S.A.W.) told his companion who got married after the Hijra to have banquet even if with one sheep.
I’ve bought a book on the fiqh of marriage that was very strict and, it may have been due to it’s translation, seemed more so based on opinion and feeling against Western or American culture rather than being based on Qur’an and Sunnah. We read as much as we could then we made istikhara about the matter. I listened to many lectures of various shuyookh such as Imam Anwar Awlaki, and other various Shuyookh with lectures on HalalTube.com,
I also attended Fiqh of Purification and Islamic Code of Ethics classes with Al Maghrib Institute with Shuyookh Abdul BaryYahya and Muhammad Ibn Faqih respectively. They touched on marriage and the rights of a spouses and children which my intended and I continously study from the notes that I took the book provided from Al Maghrib along with Hadith and Qur’an to better understand the most Halal way to execute this marriage.
We’ve also observed many muslim weddings of various cultures. We are striving inshaAllah do conduct our Walima in the most halal way.
We’ve discovered that music is permissable during marriage because it’s a celebration. We have been very critical to which songs we would play and their lyrics to ensure that the lyrics don’t promote anything unislamic and I’ve decided to have more Nasheed than anything else, although it’s a custom to have the electric slide play at an African American celebration. It’s funny but I’m serious. We’ve also decided to set aside an area for our guests who are more strict in interpretation and understanding of Islam than we are to play games and so on. We also designed a place for Salaah large enough for all muslim guests of which of course there would be a room for the brothers separate from the sisters. As well inshaAllah we will have a recitation of Qur’an being read as well through out the wedding inshaAllah
I’m explaining all of this to you, not really to put my business out there, personally I would rather speak to a set of Shuyookh to help me in this matter rather than to let all of the internet read my story, but I am very eager to find out if the Shuyookh who seem to be on this site if they could help find out the regulations on Walima events. Is there more information about how the Prophet (S.A.W.) had a Walima? If my memory serves me correctly His (S.A.W.) most notable Walima was with the Mother of the Believers Zainab (radiAllahu anha). I’m continuing doing my own research but I would greatly appreciate it if someone could give me some more information in the matter inshaAllah. May Allah bless you for your efforts JazakAllahu Khairun.

AsSalaamu Alaikum

I also believe that one should not impose ones choice on others. Islam is abstract and can be interpreted as widely and differently as people are different and diverse. This is a fact. Now some people beieve in seperation while others do not. But to suggest that segregation at a wedding or any other function is the way to ensure safety and blessings, is illogical. The same goes for the whole covering up/hijab issue.

Muslims should be allowed to decide for themselves rather than having various shaykhs and “scholars” impose their wishes and their interpretations onto them. what is precieved as unislamic by some, is not nessecarily percieved as unislamic by others. Both remain muslims albeit with different interpretations. So let people decide for themselves. If you really believe this story, then dont have a big function, put on a burkah, dont invest in jewelry or fancy clothing seeing as nobody will see it, and just have some nice food. And even then you may get struck by envy for the simple reason that you got married and that might be something too hard for others to accept happily.

One question remains – if the woman was struck by “hasad” then why was she to go through years of pain and agony when in fact the shaykhs had diagnozed her? Why were they unable to cure her? There could have been a medical problem and sometimes even the best of doctors don’t know. New things surface every day even in science. Not everything can be explained and I am surprised at the psychic abilities of the Shaykhs.

Please brothers and sisters, reflect on your lives and what you are saying before it is too late.

http://muslimmatters.org/2008/03/03/authority-of-sunnah-hadithrevelation/

http://muslimmatters.org/2008/03/07/authority-of-the-sunnah-part-2-hadithrevelation-qa/

http://muslimmatters.org/2008/03/20/intro-to-uloom-al-hadeeth-navaid-aziz/

http://muslimmatters.org/2008/03/31/authority-of-sunnah-part-3-status-of-sahaba-companions/

anymore posts about the quran/hadith issue in this thread will be deleted. you can continue that discussion on the relevant posts linked to in this comment

THe bottomline is: God declares teh Quran as detailed enough. The Quran ask you what “hadith” after it would you follow. And you all mention the word “sunnah’, but you should look up the way it is used in the Quran.

Like I said, I believe in the Prophet Muhammad and I believe in obeying him. But just becaues someone tells me that Prophet Muhammad said it or did it, doesn’t mean that he actually did!

salaam

Thanks for the response. I agree with the gist of what you’re saying, that people need to be sincere in order for a discussion to be worthwhile. And I can imagine that many do not want to rehash “old and settled” arguments.

Perhaps MuslimsMatters could have links to the material to such issues that is available online or even to the books that they recommend, perhaps a page of recommended readings. They do that sometimes with individual posts, but it might be nice to have a page (or more) devoted to resources on different issues. And they might even categorize the readings as introductory, intermediate, or advanced. I’d certainly appreciate that as much of the reading (in English) I’ve done so far on issues such as these assumes positions on these issues rather than actually discusses the reasoning behind them. They’re mostly at the introductory “Here’s what we believe” stage instead of analyzing and evaluating the various positions in a critical, scholarly fashion.

So, I’m open to reading sources that critique the various positions on why scholars get the right to decide the requirements. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, I respect the opinions of those who know more than I do. But I reserve the right to critique those opinions. As Isaac Newton said, “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Despite the genius of Newton, those with only a bachelor’s in mathematics know more about calculus than he did because they have started where he left off. Similarly, we are able to begin where the scholars left off. But to understand where they left off, I need to see their positions, the reasons for their positions, and all the various positions–not simply the ones that people want me to see.

So, back to one of those two points, Can someone point me to online materials or to books that consider in a critical and scholarly manner the right of scholars to determine the requirements of Islam?