Mrs Hudda Al Qubati There is no better religion than Islam that has saved and provided women with their rights. It is the way the religion is interpreted that creates the injustice towards women. [Archives:2000/48/Interview]

Mrs. Hudda Al Qubati, a teacher at Sanaa University, Islamic Studies dept. Preparing her doctorate at Sanaa University. Masters in religious preaching, and Bachelor in interpretation of the Prophetic tradition (Hadith Sharif) from Emirates University. She is also the head of the womens preaching dept. at the ministry of endowments. The head of Yemeni Women Union, Sanaa Branch.
YemenTimes conducted an interview with Mrs. Hudda , and came out with the following report:

Q: On the occasion of Ramadan, would you tell us a little about the essence of fasting and its implications in a Muslims life.
A:Ramadan is the month in which Muslims keep their fast, fasting is half of patience and patience is half of faith. Therefor for Muslims Ramadan is a part of faith. Needless to say that Fasting teaches us sympathy and care for others, it also teaches us self control and discipline, increases will power, and fear of God. Because if one refrains from the allowed joys in life during the month as a surrender to gods commands, it is more the reason that one refrains form the non-allowed behaviors and sins as well. Also the benefits of doing good during the holy month are rewarded 70 times more than in normal days. Its a month in which faith is tested and strengthened through the link between god and us.
It is also an invitation for social relations to flourish and family bonds to grow. Another aspect is from the health point of view. All through the year the stomach works on digesting food and with fasting it is a time to give it a break and for the digestive system to relax and get rid of the fat accumulated all through the year. Unfortunately, these days most of the Islamic concepts are altered to suit our wishes with no religious base at all. People who fast sleep all day and stop working saying that they are on fast, when long ago, Muslims used to go for battles during Ramadan let alone normal life. Whats the point if we fast and stay sleeping all day? When would we actually realize how hard it is for the hungry? And when do we learn self control? Also people spend huge amounts of money and time cooking for Ramdhan to make up for the days hunger. This in itself does the opposite effect that fasting should do to the body.

Q: Fasting is one the many common rituals among religions could you tell us the significance?
A:Fasting has many benefits for the soul and for the body as well. Christians keep a fast for 40 days every year in which they refrain from certain kinds of food such as red meat and so do Jews. Even other philosophies have known and emphasized on the importance of fasting, this is because it disciplines the soul. Teaches one self control and to obey gods commands. It is a kind of education, also it brings people together in the attitude of sharing and compassion.

Q: What is the role of a Muslim lady during this month specifically?
A:A Muslim woman should create a religious environment during the month and encourage her children to keep the fast and to join the grownups in the religious rituals to get them used to it and engrave the teachings in their minds from childhood. Also she should take care of her familys health by not over cooking and exaggerating in the expenditure for the month. Especially these days when life has become very difficult. She is also needed to create a sense of the fasting in her family. Because fasting is not only about abstaining from food and water, it is about temper and behavior. And to make her family love the month and link it in their minds with family gatherings and socializing and good deeds.

Q: This Question is about Muslim women in general, do you think that Islam gives women the freedom and the rights she should have? What about the discrimination that men impose on them in the name of religion?
A:First of all I would like to say that there is no better religion than Islam that has provided woman with her rights. It is the way the religion is interpreted that creates the injustice towards women. Islam allows her to work side by side with the man provided that the environment is such conformable for her and there are no chances of harassment or so. During the early days of Islam she used to work in the open, in markets and trading, in accounts, in agriculture in medicine, even go out in battles either as a nurse and when required as a fighter herself. Even when prayers in mosques those times there was no such thing that women should be in a separate room, separate building or separate mosque. People had live conscious and there was no need for such restrictions or boundaries Coeducation was the only form of education then, and women used to argue and discuss in public, they also had their special classes in which they were preached by the prophet on their private matters. The woman was always encouraged to think and decide. There are many incidents in history when the woman was the solver of problem cases or such. During those days, the education and awareness was in the minds of the Muslims and they understood the religion as it is. After some time the faith became weak and so the rulers, to maintain the religion, created these rules and restrictions forgetting that anything that is forced on a human mind does not last long. They should have improved the awareness and the understandings of religion in the peoples minds, not to repress and suppress with rules and more rules. And after all it is the women who directs the family and the world as a whole. The saying that behind every great man there is a woman is very true. She has always been the guardian angel of the family, always the one who takes care of everyone and sacrifices for the sake of her children and family. Her tenderness and her emotions were the very reasons that in Islam her testimony was somewhat incomplete with regard to the mans, because in many cases she would hide her face in order not to see a murder case, or maybe not dare to see someone getting hurt, or be overwhelmed with emotion that she wouldnt be exact. However, if in cases such as finance and business and the woman is aware of the situation completely like if she has been working in that company as the accountant or like she doing part of the dealings herself then her testimony should be accepted equal to mans.

Q: A question which has always been a controversial topic is polygamy. What do you think about it and do you think it is fair, especially when men do it with no reason at all?
A:To start with I must emphasize the point that the preachings of Islam currently are not being taken as they should. Polygamy is one of those concepts in Islam which are not fully understood today. A Muslim man has no right to marry more than one woman unless there is a critical, or unavoidable need. The actual reason for such a behavior is when there is any kind of urgency in marrying another woman, such as war and the ratio of women to men has become very high, to the extent that those women have no supporter for them, which these days does not apply because women earn their living on their own. Another reason could be that when a woman is sterile and the man insists on having children, she has the right to divorce him in that case or accept the situation. The same applies to woman, if the man can not bring children she has every right to divorce him and marry another man. Another reason is incurable illness, if a man finds that his wife can not maintain his basic needs and does not want to divorce her keeping regard to family bonds so he can marry another woman. The basic condition in marriage anyway is that the man should be fair with both the wives and treat them equally. Basically there are certain rules which a man has to satisfy before getting married the first time let away the second. Such as his ability to provide a decent life for his family both financially and mentally.

Q: What do you think about polyandry?
A:The issue is unthinkable, first because then races would mix and the actual father would not be known. The other thing is that a woman by her nature can not have a relation with more than one man simultaneously.

Q: Last words?
A:I hope that this month brings happiness and joy to all the Muslims around the world. And that people understand the actual reason for fasting and the essence of the month.

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