Women & household finances - In Quran or hadith?

[jaythikay99]

Salaam,

I believe it is due to some people taking out Qur'anic verses out of context. Few months ago, I talked to someone that the Qur'an tells women to stay at home and he provides me with this verse:

[33:33] And stay in your houses and do not display your finery like the displaying of the ignorance of yore; and keep up prayer, and pay the poor-rate, and obey Allah and His Apostle. Allah only desires to keep away the uncleanness from you, O people of the House! and to purify you a (thorough) purifying.

He argued that that the Qur'anic verse 'clearly' lays out the responsibility of women, that is, to stay at home and perform household chores. However, what he failed to do is providing the previous verse, which directs [33:33] only for the wives of the Prophet.

[33:32] O wives of the Prophet! you are not like any other of the women; If you will be on your guard, then be not soft in (your) speech, lest he in whose heart is a disease yearn; and speak a good word.

In terms of household finances, I can only conclude that men bear the responsibilities of providing the household finances, but it does not mean that women cannot work and have to stay at home. Like Brother Wakas said, I believe mutual agreement can be arranged to determine who bears what responsibility in household.

Salaam.

If those verses are not applicable to all believing women how then that information is of any use for us now? I would like to know your opinion. thanks

[BornAgain]

If those verses are not applicable to all believing women how then that information is of any use for us now? I would like to know your opinion. thanks

Salaam,

Is it your usual tongue-in-cheek post, or are you asking me seriously?

[Wakas]

If anyone wants to imply 33:33-34 etc is for all women and they should stay at home or not go outside unchaperoned etc, then that means they think Moses' wife and Maryam etc are bad examples, thus their view will contain a contradiction with The Quran.

In other words, their view will be nonsense.

http://www.misconceptions-about-islam.com/women-confined-to-houses.htm

[Leyna]

If anyone wants to imply 33:33-34 etc is for all women and they should stay at home or not go outside unchaperoned etc, then that means they think Moses' wife and Maryam etc are bad examples, thus their view will contain a contradiction with The Quran.

And what about the Queen of Sheba? She didn't even have a "mahram".

[Wakas]

I agree that queen of sheba could be listed but it could be argued she "converted" later. The evidence is strong enough imho without this reference.

[Leyna]

I agree that queen of sheba could be listed but it could be argued she "converted" later.

Yeah, I keep hearing that argument whenever discussing her. But I'm sure if God meant to tell us that a woman has to be married, can't go out without a chaperone, can't lead a nation, he would have made sure to attach a few more verses to that story. 

The evidence is strong enough imho without this reference.

Agreed.

[jaythikay99]

Salaam,

Is it your usual tongue-in-cheek post, or are you asking me seriously?

am asking you seriously. please answer. also keep in mind that Prophet Muhammad's life is an example for the believers. so now how do you understand that verse. also keep in mind the last part of the verse: "Allah only desires to keep away the uncleanness from you, O people of the House! and to purify you a (thorough) purifying."

[Edip Yuksel]

If those verses are not applicable to all believing women how then that information is of any use for us now? I would like to know your opinion. thanks

The same question you could ask about verses specifically dealing with Muhammad. Here is another way of thinking:

The wifes of leaders are under different spot lights than other women. Being the wives of leaders they could be the target of their political enemies. So, to protect the mission of the leadership and vital public service from being tainted or hindered by rumors and false accusations, there is more responsibility on their wifes and the supporters of such leaders.

The wifes or husbands of people in public service should be more careful in their interaction with others; they have higher risk of being the subject of personal or sexual attacks, extortion, black mail, etc, the damage will not remain limited with them.

I hope this will help you a bit. I think you would agree with me that thinking on the verses of the Quran is better than following hadith books blindly.

Peace

[jaythikay99]

The same question you could ask about verses specifically dealing with Muhammad. Here is another way of thinking:

The wifes of leaders are under different spot lights than other women. Being the wives of leaders they could be the target of their political enemies. So, to protect the mission of the leadership and vital public service from being tainted or hindered by rumors and false accusations, there is more responsibility on their wifes and the supporters of such leaders.

The wifes or husbands of people in public service should be more careful in their interaction with others; they have higher risk of being the subject of personal or sexual attacks, extortion, black mail, etc, the damage will not remain limited with them.

I hope this will help you a bit. I think you would agree with me that thinking on the verses of the Quran is better than following hadith books blindly.

Peace

so like the traditionalists you also believe that verse necessitates house imprisonment for the wives of prophet?

[Wakas]

peace RH, all,

so like the traditionalists you also believe that verse necessitates house imprisonment for the wives of prophet?

NB: AQ = al quran

Thanks for bringing this up, as it resulted in a correction in Project Root List. The exact same word occurs in 19:26 (previously incorrectly listed as 9:26), shown below:

"So eat and drink and be QRR. If you see any human being, then say: "I have declared a fast for the Almighty, and I will not talk today to any of mankind.""

As anyone can see, eating and drinking does not lead to staying in one place, unless we assume the author of AQ is implying Maryam ate and drank so much she could not move  
Not to mention any "stationary" understanding would be refuted in the very next verse in which Maryam is on the move.

Duly, translators, both traditional and modern, use words such as "happy/gladdened/comforted/cool/consoled/contented" etc:
http://www.islamawakened.com/Quran/19/26/default.htm

Further, we can often look to the imperfect form of the word to see what it means (I personally often use this tactic to aid my understanding) as the imperfect means an action in the process of being done or not done yet, so the contexts often yield helpful information. Thus, let us look to AQ once again:

We returned thee to thy mother that she may QRR... [20:40]
We returned him to his mother, that she might be QRR... [28:13]
...it is likelier they will be QRR and not sorrow... [33:51] (in the same chapter as the one in question)


Also, when I studied women's dress code I was able to prove the other word in question (BRJ) meant "show off" not mere "display", see:
http://misconceptions-about-islam.com/dress-code-women-veil.htm
This surprised me somewhat, but the logic of 24:60 left no other possibility.

Thus, when we combine the above, we have:

And (you shall) be content/glad in your homes, and do not show off yourselves (as was) the olden/former (days of) ignorance... [33:33]

And as stated before, we can reason that it does not simply mean appear outside the home, because if this was true, would conflict with other parts in AQ:
http://misconceptions-about-islam.com/women-confined-to-houses.htm
Not to mention it would imply ignorance meant women being outside the home, when for many things it is essential, e.g. travel.

Now that we have what is most likely using AQ's internal method, we can consider the rest of it. It is likely if a woman was married to a messenger/prophet of God, this would be a significantly envious position, thus some women may be tempted to brag/boast, i.e. show off what they have, even position as well as material wealth (if he was a successful merchant). Thus when it implies rather than engaging in negative/destructive practices, uphold/establish positive, hence "and uphold the SLW/bond and bring forth ZKW/betterment". And when it ends with God wishes to remove the RJS from you and THR/purify you, these words most commonly refer to removal of something bad and to purify mindset/nature/morals/character, something on the inside, not outside/physical. Thus, lessening a physical beauty/presence interpretation.

I also agree with Bro Edip's points.

As we can see it all fits into place perfectly.

As is often the case, a simple use of a systematic study method will often give us the answer, e.g. http://www.quran434.com/study-method.html