Question:

Dearest Imaam, assalamualikum,

I am very heart broken by our Imams indisputable acceptance of immodest attributes as to how men and woman must seek out partners. The Imaam as we are aware was at the MSA conference. I can understand the MSA members ignoring matters of religion. For majority of my friends and me, MSA has worked well as a place for socializing wants to become actualized. So one cannot expect much from still developing minds.

Please do not be offended Imam. To be fair to you, you spoke greatly and my friends looked up to you after the conference. It was our first time to hear the Imam and you make the youth feel proud. Being a feminist myself, I am more proud of how your mother raised you, then I am of you. Allah knows my intentions.

That said, however, although you seem to give the impression that woman and men cannot mingle like disbelieving woman and men, why is it that when Janaan Hashim said ‘we have some wonderful men and woman in our audience (looking directly at the men as she said it, is she also in need of a husband?) and encouraged girls and boyz to interact, did you nor the presidents of the MSA oppose her? Is it not part of religion to oppose a person when they disrespect Islamic concepts in an ‘Islamic environment?’ Is MSA still Islamic after seeing some of the words the sister placed during her presentation? How could it be allowed in the presence of children? If I want my sisters, cousins to date, or pick up girls/boys or view foul language on power point, I would never want a religious scholar (even be her female) at an Islamic conference motioning such behavior as appropriate. But then again maybe I am ignorant ardent feminist Muslima trying to live as an American Muslim woman with traditional values in modern times that insists on shaping American ideals with pure Islamic values.

Also, sadly, the Imaam walked out of her presentation as she was giving her keynote address (if we can call it that). Walking out should have been a hint for me and my family that she was liberalizing and already liberal religion. That got the Imam off the hook to answer questions we woman wanted to present to him regarding Sister Janaans keynote address, which was not very keynote…

Mind you Imaam, I am a modern feminist woman, more modern then Janaan Hashim, the Imaam Muhammed Shoaib (Shoayb), Shiek Qaadri and others int he audiance. Let’s keep religion pure. Or let’s just go to a church and hear the same thing then suffer embarrassment of hearing it from a Muslim! We should never have attended her portion nor your Q and A.

For you to accept such poor neglected behavior against religion is a taint to your honor.

KeepModernityModernAndReligionReligious

Answer:

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We cannot thank you enough for allowing us to bring clarity to the above situation. You have muddled up many matters. We would not address all you have sent forth.

The Imaam was a guest.  It would be inappropriate for any guest to be hostile to other honorable guests of the Muslim Student Association. Such behavior would be counterproductive to Islam. It is for the MSA to make sure that questions are answered in accordance to the most qualified person within a given subject area. For example, a criminal lawyer should answer questions pertaining to crime within the secular domain. A religious scholar should answer questions regarding the sharia opinion of crime from a purely religious base. A secular scholar can give an opinion; the audience must be intelligent enough to know the difference between a sharia based response and a secular response. We cannot blame the Imam due to the gullibility of particular members, be they male of female.

The answer of the Imaam was clear. Based on emails received, and upon us viewing the recording of the Imam’s response, it is our contention that much of the audience missed his response. The honorable guest did not help the situation either as a result of her elaborating on the Imams sharia based response — despite her noble intentions in doing so. The imam’s words:

‘(Boys and girls,) men and woman must make our Imaan (faith) strong. We must not think persons aboard are the only ones limited to piety. We must become pious and seek piety and pious people from our locality indiscriminately. Make our environments like that of our predecessors. Insha-Allah, by securing our faith, strengthening our belief in Allah, seeking the assistance of our parents and other good people, we would find the right person we are looking for…’

As you can tell, the Imam is not in favor of turning religious events into a date/flirt fest. Nor is he into men and woman intermingling or using religious events as a ‘hook up place.’ Please read the following response given for farther clarification on the imams thinking as to the issue at hand.

http://islaminaction.wordpress.com/2009/01/13/cant-we-just-hang-out/#more-1346