Al-Mufeed
Page 2
Empower yourself, Seek Knowledge
The term to be empowered,
empowerment or the act of
empowering has become a buzz
word in todays society. It was a
phrase coined during the Civil
Rights movement by those seeking political and social empowerment and then later by the
Women?s Rights or Feminist
Movement for those seeking
equality and gender specific
rights through political and social channels. However, what
does this term mean in an Islamic sense? Should Muslim women
invest themselves in this word
or in this movement?
Linguistically to empower means
to give official authority or legal
power to or to authorize. This
alludes to the idea that an entity
is powerless or has no authority
in their own environment. Muslim women specifically have
never been, throughout history,
ones who have had to fight for
authority or their rights in the
Islamic arena. Muslim women
have always had the right to
own property, to acquire and
keep their wealth, to gain inheritance and even to create and
manage their own businesses in
the Muslim world since the
beginning of the advent of Islam.
They spoke out in public and
their voices were heard and
their opinions were counted
and sought. For example, Prophet Muhammed, sallallahu alaihi
wa salaam, often took counsel
from his wives. One of whom,
Aisha, radi Allahu anha would go
on to become a teacher and a
scholar. Urwah ibn Zubair, one
of the companions, was of the
opinion that he did not find any
greater scholar than A'isha in
the field of Qur'an, fara'id
(Inheritance), issues of halal and
haram (lawful and