** (Series of Answers of the Scholar Ata Bin Khalil Abu Al-Rashtah, Ameer of Hizb ut-Tahrir, to Questions from his Facebook Followers)**
To Khilafa Islamia
Question:
As-Salamu Alaykum: In a Hadith from Abu Hurayrah (ra) from the Prophet (saw), he said:
سَبْعَةٌ يُظِلُّهُمُ اللَّهُ فِي ظِلِّهِ، يَوْمَ لَا ظِلَّ إِلَّا ظِلُّهُ: إِمَامٌ عَادِلٌ، وَشَابٌّ نَشَأَ فِي عِبَادَةِ اللهِ، وَرَجُلٌ قَلْبُهُ مُعَلَّقٌ بِالْمَسَاجِدِ، وَرَجُلَانِ تَحَابَّا فِي اللهِ اجْتَمَعَا عَلَيْهِ وَتَفَرَّقَا عَلَيْهِ، وَرَجُلٌ دَعَتْهُ امْرَأَةٌ ذَاتُ مَنْصِبٍ وَجَمَالٍ فَقَالَ إِنِّي أَخَافُ اللهَ، وَرَجُلٌ تَصَدَّقَ بِصَدَقَةٍ فَأَخْفَاهَا حَتَّى لَا تَعْلَمَ شِمَالُهُ مَا تُنْفِقُ يَمِينُهُ، وَرَجُلٌ ذَكَرَ اللهَ خَالِيًا فَفَاضَتْ عَيْنَاهُ
"Seven whom Allah will shade in His shade on the Day when there is no shade but His: a just ruler; a youth who grew up in the worship of Allah; a man whose heart is attached to the mosques; two men who love each other for Allah's sake, meeting for that and parting upon that; a man who is called by a woman of rank and beauty and says 'I fear Allah'; a man who gives in charity and hides it such that his left hand does not know what his right hand gives; and a man who remembered Allah while alone and his eyes overflowed with tears." (Agreed upon).
Why were women not mentioned in these instances—specifically mentioning males—meaning the mention of men is specific in all cases and women were not mentioned?
I hope for a comprehensive explanation. May Allah bless you and support you with His victory.
Answer:
Wa Alaykum As-Salam Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh,
Before answering you regarding the noble Hadith and why women were not mentioned, I would like to mention the following to you:
1- There is a style used by the Arabs called the style of "At-Taghlib" (predominance), which means that the address is in the masculine form but includes the feminine form by way of predominance. For example, the saying of the Almighty:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا
"O you who have believed" (Al-Baqarah [2]: 153)
This includes the believing women.
Similarly, what was narrated by Al-Bukhari from Abu Hurayrah (ra) that the Prophet (saw) said:
أَيُّمَا رَجُلٍ أَعْتَقَ امْرَأً مُسْلِمًا، اسْتَنْقَذَ اللَّهُ بِكُلِّ عُضْوٍ مِنْهُ عُضْوًا مِنْهُ مِنَ النَّارِ
"Whichever man manumits a Muslim person, Allah will save for every limb of his, a limb of his from the Fire."
This applies to women as well through the style of At-Taghlib, meaning (Whichever woman manumits a Muslim person...).
Another example is the Hadith of An-Nasa'i regarding the Zakat of camels... from Abu Hurayrah, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (saw) saying:
أَيُّمَا رَجُلٍ كَانَتْ لَهُ إِبِلٌ لَا يُعْطِي حَقَّهَا فِي نَجْدَتِهَا وَرِسْلِهَا
"Whichever man possesses camels and does not give their due in their hardship and their ease..."
They said: O Messenger of Allah, what is their hardship and ease? He said: "In their difficulty and their prosperity. For they will come on the Day of Resurrection as bulky and fat as they were, and as lively, and he will be thrown on his face in a wide level plain for them to trample him with their hooves. When the last of them has passed, the first of them will be brought back to him, on a day the duration of which is fifty thousand years, until judgment is passed among the people, and he sees his path..."
This applies to the woman through the style of At-Taghlib if she does not pay Zakat on the camels she owns.
• As you can see, the term "man" or "male" applies to the feminine term or "woman" through the style of At-Taghlib in general cases.
2- However, this style of "At-Taghlib" is not applied if it is suspended by a text (nass):
For example, the saying of the Almighty:
كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْقِتَالُ وَهُوَ كُرْهٌ لَكُمْ
"Fighting has been enjoined upon you while it is hateful to you" (Al-Baqarah [2]: 216).
The address here is in the masculine form, but At-Taghlib is not used here, so it is not said that this includes women through the style of At-Taghlib by saying "Fighting has been enjoined upon you (women)," because this is suspended by other texts that make Jihad (fighting) an obligation upon men. Ibn Majah narrated from Habib bin Abi Amrah, from A'isha bint Talhah, from A'isha the Mother of the Believers (ra), who said: I said: O Messenger of Allah, is Jihad obligatory for women? He said: "Yes, they have a Jihad in which there is no fighting: Hajj and Umrah." This means that Jihad in its sense of fighting is not an obligation upon women.
Another example: The saying of the Almighty:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا نُودِيَ لِلصَّلَاةِ مِنْ يَوْمِ الْجُمُعَةِ فَاسْعَوْا إِلَى ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ وَذَرُوا الْبَيْعَ ذَلِكُمْ خَيْرٌ لَكُمْ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ
"O you who have believed, when [the adhan] is called for the prayer on the day of Jumu'ah, then proceed to the remembrance of Allah and leave trade. That is better for you, if you only knew" (Al-Jumu'ah [62]: 9).
This means it is forbidden for a man to continue trading at the time of the call to Jumu'ah prayer. Here, the style of At-Taghlib is not applied, meaning it is not forbidden for a woman to trade at the time of the call, because Jumu'ah is not an obligation upon women according to his (saw) saying narrated by Al-Hakim in Al-Mustadrak:
الْجُمُعَةُ حَقٌّ وَاجِبٌ عَلَى كُلِّ مُسْلِمٍ فِي جَمَاعَةٍ إِلَّا أَرْبَعَةٌ: عَبْدٌ مَمْلُوكٌ، أَوِ امْرَأَةٌ، أَوْ صَبِيٌّ، أَوْ مَرِيضٌ
"The Jumu'ah prayer is a duty that is mandatory upon every Muslim in congregation, except for four: a slave, a woman, a child, or a sick person."
Al-Hakim said: This is a Sahih Hadith according to the conditions of the two Sheikhs, and Adh-Dhahabi agreed with him.
3- Based on this, we understand the Hadith as follows:
The text of the Hadith narrated by Al-Bukhari in his Sahih from Abu Hurayrah, from the Prophet (saw) who said: "Seven whom Allah will shade in His shade, on the Day when there is no shade but His: a just ruler, a youth who grew up in the worship of his Lord, a man whose heart is attached to the mosques, two men who love each other for Allah's sake, meeting for that and parting upon that, a man who is sought by a woman of rank and beauty and says: I fear Allah, a man who gives in charity and hides it such that his left hand does not know what his right hand gives, and a man who remembered Allah while alone and his eyes overflowed with tears."
This Hadith applies to the woman through the style of At-Taghlib regarding five of the seven that are not suspended by other texts. So it applies to a young woman who grew up in the worship of her Lord... to two women who love each other for Allah's sake... a woman sought by a man... a woman who gives in charity... and a woman who remembered Allah while alone and her eyes overflowed with tears...
But this style does not apply to the "just ruler" and the "man whose heart is attached to the mosques" because they are suspended by text:
As for "a just ruler" (al-Imam al-Adil), here the style of At-Taghlib does not work because a woman does not assume the position of ruling (governance), as he (saw) said in the Hadith of Al-Bukhari from Abu Bakra: When it reached the Messenger of Allah (saw) that the people of Persia had made the daughter of Kisra their queen, he said:
لَنْ يُفْلِحَ قَوْمٌ وَلَّوْا أَمْرَهُمُ امْرَأَةً
"A people who entrust their affairs to a woman will never succeed."
Therefore, assuming the leadership of affairs—meaning ruling—is not permissible for a woman. As for matters other than ruling, such as the judiciary, electing the Khalifah, being elected to or electing others for the Majlis al-Ummah (Council of the Ummah), and other legitimate positions that are not part of ruling, they are permissible for her... This means the term "just ruler" does not include her. Nevertheless, some commentators have interpreted "just ruler" to mean a "just shepherd" (one with responsibility), so they applied it to the woman according to the text of the Hadith narrated by Al-Bukhari from Abdullah bin Umar, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (saw) saying:
كُلُّكُمْ رَاعٍ، وَكُلُّكُمْ مَسْئُولٌ عَنْ رَعِيَّتِهِ، الإِمَامُ رَاعٍ وَمَسْئُولٌ عَنْ رَعِيَّتِهِ، وَالرَّجُلُ رَاعٍ فِي أَهْلِهِ وَهُوَ مَسْئُولٌ عَنْ رَعِيَّتِهِ، وَالمَرْأَةُ رَاعِيَةٌ فِي بَيْتِ زَوْجِهَا وَمَسْئُولَةٌ عَنْ رَعِيَّتِهَا...
"Each of you is a shepherd and each of you is responsible for his flock. The Imam is a shepherd and is responsible for his flock; a man is a shepherd in his family and is responsible for his flock; a woman is a shepherd in her husband's house and is responsible for her flock..."
However, the more correct view is that At-Taghlib here does not apply since the term "just ruler" predominantly refers to the ruler, so it is not applied to the woman.
As for "a man whose heart is attached to the mosques", it is suspended by the text indicating that a woman's prayer in her home is better than her prayer in the mosque, according to the Hadith of the Messenger of Allah (saw) narrated by Ahmad in his Musnad from Abdullah bin Suwayd Al-Ansari, from his aunt Umm Humayd, the wife of Abu Humayd As-Sa'idi, that she came to the Prophet (saw) and said: O Messenger of Allah, I love to pray with you. He said:
قَدْ عَلِمْتُ أَنَّكِ تُحِبِّينَ الصَّلَاةَ مَعِي، وَصَلَاتُكِ فِي بَيْتِكِ خَيْرٌ لَكِ مِنْ صَلَاتِكِ فِي حُجْرَتِكِ، وَصَلَاتُكِ فِي حُجْرَتِكِ خَيْرٌ مِنْ صَلَاتِكِ فِي دَارِكِ، وَصَلَاتُكِ فِي دَارِكِ خَيْرٌ لَكِ مِنْ صَلَاتِكِ فِي مَسْجِدِ قَوْمِكِ، وَصَلَاتُكِ فِي مَسْجِدِ قَوْمِكِ خَيْرٌ لَكِ مِنْ صَلَاتِكِ فِي مَسْجِدِي
"I know that you love to pray with me. But your prayer in your house is better for you than your prayer in your private room, and your prayer in your private room is better for you than your prayer in your courtyard, and your prayer in your courtyard is better for you than your prayer in your local mosque, and your prayer in your local mosque is better for you than your prayer in my mosque."
Thus, five of the seven in the Hadith apply to the woman through the style of At-Taghlib. As for the just ruler and being attached to the mosques, they do not apply because they are suspended by text, and therefore the style of At-Taghlib is not used here.
For complete benefit, I will mention to you what was stated in the commentary of Fath al-Bari by Ibn Hajar regarding the mentioned Hadith of Al-Bukhari, particularly the conclusion of the Hadith's commentary, which states:
(...The mention of men in this Hadith does not imply exclusivity; rather, women share with them in what is mentioned except if the 'just ruler' refers to the Imamah al-Uzma (Supreme Leadership/Khalifate). Otherwise, it is possible for the woman to be included if she has dependents and is just among them. The characteristic of constantly being in the mosque is excluded because a woman's prayer in her home is better than in the mosque. Other than that, the participation is established...) End.
Accordingly, the Hadith of the seven applies to the woman as well, except regarding the just ruler and the one whose heart is attached to the mosques; it does not apply to the woman because the style of At-Taghlib in these two cases is suspended by text.
Your brother, Ata Bin Khalil Abu Al-Rashtah
Link to the answer from the Ameer's Facebook page.
Link to the answer from the Ameer's website.
Link to the answer from the Ameer's Google Plus page.