Women in Islam: From Freedom to Oppression? with Myriam Cerrah Q&A 

Extremely eloquent. mashaAllah.

Imam Ahmad said: “Do not follow me blindly, and do not follow Maalik or al-Shaafa’i or al-Thawri blindly. Learn as we have learned.” And he said, “Do not follow men blindly with regard to your religion, for they can never be safe from error.”

This sister is very knowledgeable and well-informed.She learn Islam very well.May Allah bless all of us and guide us.I am proud to be a Islam.

Assalam aleikum,brother she is a revert and working bit by bit to learn Islam.We should be proud of what she has done so far.May Allah's mercy on her.

Wa alaykum assalaam wa rahmatullah. Ameen. May Allah swt guide the sister and may Allah swt guide us. Jzk for your comment.

While people like us don't have the capacity, the scholars of today still have the knowledge that we lack and we can get the strength about any evidences from them. It is not obligatory to follow one particular madhab. My point still stands that any of the imams, no matter the calibre, can still be wrong or whose evidence is a bit weak.

Abu Haneefah said: “This is my opinion, but if there comes someone whose opinion is better than mine, then accept that.” Maalik said: “I am only human, I may be right or I may be wrong, so measure my words by the Qur’aan and Sunnah.” Al-Shaafa’i said: “If the hadeeth is saheeh, then ignore my words. If you see well established evidence, then this is my view.”

Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and earth, and the alternation of the night and the day, and the [great] ships which sail through the sea with that which benefits people, and what Allah has sent down from the heavens of rain, giving life thereby to the earth after its lifelessness and dispersing therein every [kind of] moving creature, and [His] directing of the winds and the clouds controlled between the heaven and the earth are signs for a people who use reason

And when it is said to them, "Follow what Allah has revealed," they say, "Rather, we will follow that which we found our fathers doing." Even though their fathers understood nothing, nor were they guided?

Hajj is [during] well-known months, so whoever has made Hajj obligatory upon himself therein [by entering the state of ihram], there is [to be for him] no sexual relations and no disobedience and no disputing during Hajj. And whatever good you do - Allah knows it. And take provisions, but indeed, the best provision is fear of Allah. And fear Me, O you of understanding

The only way to know the evidence of one madhab being stronger is by being of that calibre. Since we do not have any one of that calibre, it is not an option. Had we the capacity to know the evidences and understand them at that level, we would be mujtahid imams ourselves. So what you propose is actually self-contradictory. WAllahu a'alam.

I'd prefer not to argue with you since you may be right. I can definitely not assure you that that they are not mistaken although I would say any of the Imams could be mistaken on a point if the different imams have different opinions for a view and all of them have done their best to find the evidences that holds their opinions. We are all human beings and we all make mistakes at some point. We have to make sure that our intentions our pure and that we do not intend to disobey Allah.

her origin is irish-french

i agree that men and women are equal and we have the same purpose in life, which is to worship Allah swt. However there is a reason Allah created two different genders and that we are given different roles and qualities to compliment each other. for example women are more sensitive than males by nature "Treat women nicely, for a women is created from a rib, and the most curved portion of the rib is its upper portion, so, if you should try to straighten it, it will break, but if you leave it as it is, it will remain crooked. So treat women nicely." prophet muhammad saw

The sister is very good masha'Allah and is clearly well educated. However she did make a few mistakes on a few issues. The most important of which is this whole idea of looking at the evidences behind the rulings from the four madhabs and taking the one you feel is strongest. This is completely prohibited for anyone except a Mujtahid Imam (of the highest calibre) of which today we find none. All of us thus must stick to our respect madhab. wAllahu a'alam.

Secondly, the contradiction still remains. Thirdly, following a madhab is not following one Imam. It is the following of a group of many ulama. Who checked and verified the opinions over and over again. Fourthly, the ulama of today are far more prone to errors and mistakes, especially since they are no where near the calibre required for ijtihad. So what we end up doing is, is leaving the more reliable for the less reliable. What assurances can you provide the ulama you follow are not mistaken?

I kind of doubt your point on having to stick to one madhab. The 4 great Imams are only human and one imam's opinion on something may be more correct than the other and people make mistakes sometimes. We need not necessarily follow one madhab for all situations and cases. I think we should not follow something because we 'feel' the evidence of one madhab is stronger but I would say we should 'know' it is stronger. islamqa . info /en / ref/ 21420 Allahu a'lam

Firstly, we do not have ulama of that calibre. The quotes you take are out of context. They are addressed primarily to the students some of whom were mujahid imams. Imam Ahmed rh when asked how many ahadith a person needs to have memorised before he can give fatawa stated around 400,000 (complete with isnad). Please show me just ONE person today who fulfils that one criteria alone? That's just one out of many. Sorry but you do not have any mujtahideen ulama so that as i said is not an option.

lol