dear
viewers we have the pleasure of having
Dr Bal Phillips with us Dr balam
alayum it's my pleasure to be with
you today we'll be talking about some of
the common questions that non-muslims
ask us in our dawa experiences some of
the questions that they come across in
these times when Jihad and terrorism is
the buzz word do you think these two
concepts or these two ideas are one and
the same of course they're not uh
terrorism uh of course even terrorism
itself has its own complexities you know
as we say one man's terrorist is another
man's Freedom Fighter you know and if we
use the definitions of terrorism which
were put out by you know certain
governments it would include the
American Revolution the French
Revolution and you know all the major
revolts that ended up in establishing
democracy and things like this in other
countries so the whole issue of
terrorism is something quite relative
anyway and Jihad again is something else
uh though people who may be involved in
what we could agree on as acts of
terrorism may use the term Jihad to
justify it that doesn't make it Jihad in
and of itself either you know whereas
Jihad is in fact a struggle a struggle
against evil whether it is with an
individual or within his family his
community or it could be a state
struggling against evil the evil of
another state and it may involve arms it
may involve writing it may involve
speaking Etc so uh Jihad has many many
facets to it so it's really unfair and
and incorrect you know for the media to
mix these two terms together and create
a kind of a hodg Podge idea of you know
terrorist jihadist you know kind of um
mix how can a person I clearly identify
that what is Jihad and what is a clear
Act of terrorism how do you know that in
a particular area what is going on well
sometimes it may not be possible you
know because from a distance if you're
not in control of the media
uh others are are creating the news then
you are subject to whatever image that
they portray but if a person does have
access to actual information about what
is going on then we can say that some
acts uh of uh terrorism which involve uh
killing of
Innocents you know people who are not
involved in any kind of military
struggle um children women Etc you know
uh blowing them up you know murdering
them as a means of terrorizing a society
um these are acts which Islam doesn't
condone under any label Jihad is
something that Muslims are enjoined to
undertake where the need
arises it is not the title for any
struggle uh we have no Holy
Wars we have just
and unjust
struggles a just struggle which may
involve military means Etc where the
struggle is for the sake of God for the
sake of Allah you know that can be
defined as Jihad or an aspect of jihad
whereas fights struggles Etc which are
for
nationalist
tribalist
political uh interests which have
nothing to do with Islam uh though they
may be labeled as Jihad struggles or
jihadist struggles the people involves
are called
jihadists This is not from the Islamic
perspective
Jihad now the media creates images and
it seems Muslims are losing this war
against the media what do you think is
the solution to this problem that we are
in well the only way around this is from
Muslim seems to develop Independent
Media you know channels like Al jazer
and others that are coming up now where
the other side of the picture is being
presented to certain degrees I mean this
is what needs to be done Muslims should
have had satellite stations you know
decades ago which would Express and to
would explain what their positions are
what their struggles are involved in ETC
but as long as the media doesn't remain
in our hands or it doesn't get into our
hands we don't take an active part in
utilizing the media to portray our own
causes then we will always be subject to
the you know the whims of Western or
Eastern or you know non-muslim
media as you are aware sh that a lot of
our programs are telecast on the
satellite channels and we know the cost
involved in setting up a channel we've
been trying to do that now it's a huge
cost what message would you like to give
to the Muslim brothers and sisters
around the world as far as their
responsibility towards setting up an a
good Islamic Channel well as I said it
is something which should have been done
decades ago and really there should be
positive support for all such efforts
and whether it's with the irf efforts
there are other efforts being done
elsewhere in the UK there's Islam
Channel and and uh in the US and Canada
and other parts of the Muslim world now
people are becoming more and more aware
of the need to develop our own
Expressions uh channels of expression
through the media and um it is our duty
really to to be actively involved in
such um efforts because of the fact that
our future and our our cause and our
existence to a large degree depends on
being able to accurately present the
picture of Islam uh its teachings its
aspirations you know so people will
understand that Islam is not a threat
actually Islam has the solution the
solution that people are are looking for
all over the world to many of the
problems that they current we face it is
not a threat you know as you know the
media tends to portray it as this is now
replaced communism as communism was a
threat back in the 50s and 60s now this
has now been replaced by Islam this is
the next threat you know and even
surveys done in uh places like the US uh
show that the majority of the population
feel that um yes Muslim rights should be
curtailed you know things like this
which is you know shocking we think of
in a democ Ry where people are
considering curtailing the rights of
some of its citizens you know simply
because of their religion uh so uh we do
need we have a a great need for our own
media to express the truth about Islam
to the world talking about uh satellite
channels and so on a lot of non-muslims
have now access to visuals of the Caba
the Hajj ta T and so on and they are
thrilled to see the numbers worshiping
Allah subhana wa ta'ala in the holy city
of Makkah what they come back and ask us
that why are only Muslims privileged to
visit Makkah why are we not allowed to
enter this holy city how do we respond
to that well we clarify for them that it
is not a place of
Tourism you know naturally tourist spots
everybody want to go and visit the
tourist spots you know the temples and
the pyramids and these are parts of
Tourism whereas Mecca represents a
sanctuary for Islam and the worship of
the one God so those who are coming
there should be coming for that same
purpose if people are coming for tourism
that is going to interfere with the
religious uh activities and the rights
Etc you know people will not be able to
perform their rights properly with
people coming in and snapping shots and
you know as tourists do you know which
would and we know what happens to places
when tourism comes there it corrupts it
also you know so to keep the place clean
and pure for worship then it has been
restricted only to Muslims and as every
society and every um organization has
its own sanctuaries where only members
who carry special identification or
whatever allowed in we can look at it in
a similar light whereas masks around the
world are open people can come and see
masks anywhere in the Muslim world but
at least we have two sanctuaries Mecca
and Medina which are restricted just to
Muslims to keep it free of a lot of the
crft materialism that tends to come into
places that have been designated as
tourist sites another question right on
top of the minds of non-muslims is that
Islam promotes forceable conversions it
was spread at the point of the sword and
so on how do you respond to that well I
think history proves
otherwise uh where we find that the
largest Muslim country in the world
today Indonesia with some 200 plus
million Muslims uh never saw any Muslim
soldiers I say that speaks for itself
with the fact thatl Muslims ruled India
for a thousand years if it was
conversion By The Sword there would not
have remained a single Hindu in India
Muslims ruled Spain for 700 years were
it conversion By The Sword there would
not have remained a single Christian in
in Spain you know and Christians have
lived and Jews and others have lived
side by side with Muslims in many places
in Yemen in in Palestine in North Africa
in many many countries they've lived
side by side without any problems uh
without being you know forcibly
converted and if we consider that today
in America between three and 400 people
are accepting Islam daily according to
University of
Chicago Michigan uh calculations of Dr
Ivan Hadad and dran bag uh They
concluded that it was approximately
between three and 400 convert daily to
Islam and where are the swords you know
where are the guns and Etc no it is
Christianity actually that uh where the
pope about three four years ago made a
public apology to humankind for the
forcible
conversions uh done you know back in the
15th century 16th century Etc when the
Conquistadors left Spain and and
Portugal and these areas and went out
and were forcing people into the
religion you know they have that history
but Islam doesn't have that history from
human rights let's move on to woman
rights in Islam and a lot of questions
are posed in terms of limited or no
rights for women and so on they say that
you subjugate your women by putting them
behind the wheel how do you answer to
that or how do we justify the whe and
the subjugation and those so on well I
would say briefly that uh the veiling of
women is not not
subjugation at all the
nuns you know from who are practicing
traditional Catholicism who wear the
veil nobody is forcing them to wear
these veils they have chosen to wear
these veils and uh they will tell you
that it liberates them in the same way
that for the Muslim World in general The
Veil liberates The Woman she is not as
caught up in the fashion and and the
need to you know ify herself to a tea
every time she steps out of her house
she's free she can get up in the morning
and just cover herself and step out you
know without having to go through all of
these chain changes that the fashion
industry has has enslaved her with so
she actually frees herself from that
enslavement you know with the veil and
in any case Allah has explained in the
Quran the purpose of the veil and it's
not something which Muslims have
culturally pushed on their women but
it's something which God has ordained
God has prescribed when he
said they should put their outer
garments over themselves drape it over
themselves in order to be known and not
harmed to be known known in the sense of
a chased woman a woman who is modest who
is not interested in the advances
flirtation Etc which may come from males
you know that she is a woman who only
functions in an honorable manner if
person is interested in marriage they
must go to her father or her brother you
know they don't try to approach her
directly just as a nun wearing her habit
is known in the society this is a person
you don't approach you know amorously
you don't try to hit on her as we say in
the west right she's not going to marry
you forget it you know so uh similarly
when the woman wears the veil she's
making that fashion statement you know
as PE everybody who wears a some kind of
a dress is is making a statement the
policeman wears his uniform so you know
who he is you know the engineer on the
construction site he has a particular
uniform you know who he is the doctor in
the hospital he wears a uniform you know
who he is this is to so that he's known
right so on one hand it is for her to be
known and the other hand for her not to
be harmed because by draping garments
over herself she hides her charms
charms which are naturally attractive to
males and if H these are not hidden and
these are exposed then the the
consequence is that she is she comes
under attack and that is natural in all
societies males you know um are
attracted to females and males tend to
be the aggressive ones a woman may be
attracted to a male but the male doesn't
have to worry about being attacked by a
woman but you know a woman who is a who
attracts a male then she does have to
worry about being attacked by man
because uh We've we've seen the rates in
in rape uh and molestation of women rise
dramatically over the last century you
know in which women have basically been
unclothed now from the 19 early 1900s
where women around the world were
covered up non-muslim women were covered
up till now we there're virtually naked
you know in television in the beaches
Etc and we see a corresponding rise in
rape and even societies you know some
people raise objections look Muslims
they want to separate the men from the
women for example you know in a Muslim
Society you'll have a different bus for
men or bus for women or in the bus it's
divided a section for women section for
men separating them um one could say
okay look Muslims they're not giving
women a chance to sit freely but in both
Bangkok and Tokyo where people are
jammed on buses jammed into the bullet
trains in Tokyo the women complain so
much that the government was forced to
provide separate carriages for
women and separate ones for men in order
to protect the women so this idea of
veiling and separation this is to
protect women it is for their interest
it is not to oppress them because within
behind the veil the woman is free to
express herself uh her her her own
interest Etc you know as we can see in
developed uh Muslim countries where uh
women are involved on the highest of
levels within the society you mentioned
about the whale helping protect the
women from rape and molestation and so
on but the psychologists say that
essentially the problem in a rape is
with the men rather than the women
because it's the sick in the mind of the
man which leads him to a rape and if
that sickness is there he could even
rape someone who wailed so how do we
respond to these questions well this is
a theoretical Point theoretical point
that yes the person who has that desire
regardless of the circumstance he may
still commit the ACT but practically
speaking if a woman is virtually naked
in front of of him his desire is now
raised up far higher than a woman who's
completely
covered so to say that yes it's a
problem with the
man and we say okay let's just punish
the men that's not taking into account
the reality that women also depending on
how they dress encourage and increase
that desire so Islam says we must have a
balanced situation here yes the problem
is with the men and that's why the
punishment for rap is so severe in Islam
if a person commits rape and uses a
weapon they're executed that's a very
severe punishment you know very severe
your life is lost okay but on the other
hand it says okay so women you should
cover yourself so as not to incite this
individual so that when this person's
life is taken it's because he has no
excuse he has no
excuse you know so it is finding the
balance another question that we
normally face is that why is first of
all polygyny allowed in Islam if a man
can have more than one wi why can not
then a woman have more than one husband
so how do you explain the whole
situation well that point is you know
usually raised by
feminists uh
anthropologists clearly understand why
this is not the case because
anthropologists who always compare human
Behavior with animal behavior we just
don't find you know polyandry amongst in
the animal kingdom because the
ruling uh figure is the male figure and
women and the females attach themselves
to the male so there is a natural
tendency that
polygamy is only found in the male
single male multiple female format as to
single female multiple male this is
something rare abnormal I mean if we go
around the world through history go back
in ancient times in ancient
civilizations you know in primitive
civilizations wherever you go in the
world all you find is polygyny men
having more than one woman why is that
is it that you know there is this uh
unfairness everywhere or is it a natural
consequence of the natural way and and
and that human beings are created that
males have these Tendencies they have
the strength they have the The Authority
that that's the format it falls under
the reality is that it's natural it's a
natural tendency which God has created
human beings with because of the fact
that uh he has uh put in women certain
emotions Etc he has created a situation
where their numbers outnumber the men
you know what whether it's because women
live longer men are killed in the wars
and all these other different factors
you know the the norm is that there is a
surplus of women in society so for a
woman now to marry four men she is not
solving any
problems she's increasing the problem
because she's taking four men out of
circulation right you know besides you
know you have the other problems of a
child naturally wanting to know who the
father is and no child will be
comfortable with the idea of the mother
you know telling him or her that your
father is one of these men I'm not sure
which
one this just doesn't work you know and
besides you know other a number of other
factors where a woman is pregnant and
you know the even from a procreational
perspective that societies that become
strong are the ones that are able to
procreate increase its numbers of you
know uh new members right so if you have
a woman with four men four men can only
impregnate one woman right but if you
have a man with four women that one man
can impregnate four women so in that one
pregnancy in the polyandry format only
one child is produced in the other four
children are produced so even from a
natural selection perspective you know
if we want to go from a darwinian
Outlook you know the polygamy is going
to be favored over uh polyandry the
female with more than one male sh the
discussion is taking a very interesting
turn but we have very limited time
inshallah we'll take this discussion
forward in the next episode in we'll
have to conclude this
time dear viewers
we have the pleasure of having Dr Abu
Amina Bilal Phillips again with us
assalam alaykum brother
bayum in the previous episode we had
discussed a few questions normally asked
by non-muslims about Islam and we got
the answers from Brother Bal we'll
continue that and we were discussing
about the role and the rights of women
in Islam we talked about poly Jenny
polyandry can you throw some light on
the fact that why the prophet Muhammad
may peace be upon him had 11 wives when
Muslims generally are allowed to have up
to four
wives well first um we should note that
he had nine wives at one
time right this was the maximum number
that he had at the same time though the
number of wives he married others some
died but
um why the number
is greater for the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam than others is um due to
the fact that the
prophet was given certain special
dispensation due to the special role
that his wives would have in conveying
the life the home life his home life as
a guide for the generations to come one
could say well four may do it also well
it's possible four may do it but five
would do it better six would do it even
better there they would record a variety
of different
circumstances um he demonstrated in his
marriages uh that it is permissible to
marry your cousin U that to marry
somebody who was divorced somebody who
was the former wife of your adopted son
uh to Mar somebody who was a former
Jewish somebody who was a former
Christian people from a variety so his
marriages
demonstrated uh what was permissible in
terms of marriage in terms of Who You
may marry and also as I said those
numbers serve to
preserve the story of his family life
with such detail that it would become a
guide for human beings until the last
day of the world so this is um the basic
reason and um for the average human
being four it seems to be the ideal
number for a man to be able to handle
you know based on God's knowledge
Allah's knowledge of human beings their
needs and their abilities generally
speaking about polygamy can you throw
some more light on what is the logic or
the reason
behind this permission besides you
mentioning that man can handle for his
that's his capacity but generally what
is the logic behind this and it's
understood under today's circumstances
and we know from the S as well that
there was jealousy amongst the wives of
the prophets so no woman would like to
share uh the husband so how do you
factor this emotion of the woman as well
when Islam permits
polygamy well the
permission is a general permission based
on the need of uh Human
Society God created this
Society in a way that there would be a
surplus of females in that Society due
to women living longer than men uh men
dying in
Wars uh homicides being focused mainly
among men men killing other men you know
and even the spread of homosexuality
which would you know reduce the number
of available men in any given
Society uh these
factors Allah knew God knew before he
created Human Society so he created a
nature for males that they would be
attracted to more than one female and
the nature for females that they would
tend to be more attracted to a single
male you know because these are
complimentary Natures which are
necessary for this to work and um and
this is something which has been in
practice
throughout the various eras of human
beings on the Earth all of our
archaeological evidence research Etc
indicate that people practice polygamy
wherever you were you know whatever
corner of the earth you go to whether
you're in the North Pole or you're in
South Africa or amongst the Aborigines
of Australia wherever you go this was in
practice this was the norm for Human
Society
Islam regulated it it came and set
certain limits for Max rights of people
involved it um organized it that's what
Islam did it didn't introduce it it's
the common misconception that people
have that Islam has legislated polygamy
whereas the rest of the world didn't
know about it sort of thing but this is
not the case at all so Islam regulated
polygamy to maximize the benefit and
minimize the harm as you said the
jealousy which comes why would God you
know prescribe or permit something which
is harmful to a woman's emotions well
because of the greater good that there
was greater good in permitting polygamy
than in restricting it and restricting
meaning prohibiting it uh the the harm
which comes from its
prohibition as we find in modern
societies today which claim monogamy
this has just led to a rise of
Mistresses girlfriends prostitution and
all the other evils right whereas the
society which permits it then that is
minimized so the realities of human
society is that even in the cases of
countries where uh they claim to be
monogamous and I'm statistics here in
India have shown that uh polygamy
amongst Hindus to whom it is prohibited
is higher than amongst Muslims for whom
it is
permitted and it's not surprising to
find that in North America in America in
Canada and in France in the UK the the
greater percentage well over 50% of
married males are involved in
extramarital relations have had them or
currently having them Etc so polygamy is
is really something which is happening
throughout the world around the world
and even in the societies which claim to
be monogamous they're not really
monogamous and even the places where it
originated in Greece and Rome where the
law for the Greek citizen was that you
could only have one wife but yes you
could only have one wife from the free
women of the society but more than 50%
of the population were slaves and you
could have as many concubines as you
wished so where was the monogamy so
monogamy is really a dream it is a it is
something which never really existed in
fact monogamy is more strictly practiced
amongst Muslims than amongst
non-muslims we learn from the Quran and
other Hadith and so on that slavery for
example you just mentioned about the
Greeks and the Romans in Islam as well
slavery is allowed what are the
conditions in which uh this permission
has been given
well it is given in the case of jihad
really where there is um a struggle
military struggle and the a population
has
been taken captive Etc or numbers have
been taken captive of the enemy the
ruler of the Muslim state has the choice
to either hold them as prisoners and
Ransom them Etc or he may take them as
slaves SL slaves meaning that they would
be integrated into the Muslim Society
because slavery in Islam what may be
called slavery is really more akin to
indentured labor than it is to slavery
as known typically in western
civilization where the slave master was
free to do anything he wished with his
slave he could maim them you know cut
off their ears do anything he wanted
they were his property that's why slave
were given the name of the master just
as The Chariot and the wife was given
the name of the master he was free to do
anything he wished whereas in Islamic
law this is not the case a slave has the
right to seek personal freedom by what
they called mukat he uh will pay for
himself and and can liberate himself um
if a slave woman Bears a child to her
master uh that child is born free and
she cannot be sold
and the slaves the same thing um I mean
they cannot be killed if they're killed
then the person who has killed them will
be taken to account uh they can't be
forced to do crimes you know for the the
master for example you know so and even
in the case of how they're referred the
prophet Sall wasallam had forbidden that
slaves be referred to as my slave my
slave girl my slave boy no my young man
my young woman this is what the prophet
Salli wasallam said because the idea of
slave anyway is limited really to God
Abdullah we are slaves of Allah you know
but slaves of other human beings
ultimately no we are put in a position
of authority over others and Islam found
that system already in practice in the
world and it corrected the ills and the
evils of it and at the same time it put
in force a variety of principles to
eradicate it practically in the society
whether it is from the heads of zaka
people could be freed from the zakat the
uh Central treasury uh where money is
collected from the rich of the society
and redistributed amongst the poor part
of that distribution is in freeing
slaves in the society also where people
uh break Oaths and and a variety of
different uh sins that person may commit
the atonement for the sin involves
freeing a slave you know where the
slaves are in existence so
slavery was on the way out really in
Muslim Society was being eradicated but
gradually as people were integrated into
the society and we should note that the
majority of Abbasid rulers you know the
Abbasid era after the time of the
Prophet we had the four righteous calips
and you had the umad era which ran for
about 100 years following that you had
the Abbasid era which ran for many
hundreds of years many of those rulers
the the cffs of the Abbasid eras were
the children of slave
girls you know and that is something
inconceivable in a slave Society of
other slave societies Rome Greece Etc it
was inconceivable that the child of a
slave could ever become the ruler of the
society many of the leading Scholars of
Hadith and taper of the Quran Etc you
know from the early generation were
freed slaves you know from the um from
the time of the Prophet may God's peace
and blessing be upon him he had freed a
slave that had been given to him Z and
had adopted him and that tradition you
know spread amongst Muslims that they
would free their slaves whoever came
into a position of slavery uh today in
the world of course there's a lot of
slavery going on going on right here in
India going on in in Pakistan going on
in many even in Western countries across
Europe people are sold into slavery in
Brazil in North America so it is it is
an ongoing phenomena though the finger
tends to be pointed at Muslims but
really it's going on till today you know
and muslim's duty is to to eradicate
those forms because the way in which
it's being done is illegal you know it
is people being taken advantage of
people seeking jobs in different areas
and being sold into slavery you know
this is a whole another kind of
circumstance and a Muslim could not buy
one of these so quote unquote so-called
slaves and say okay now I have a slave
you know no I mean the those Avenues
today are
closed moving on to some other issues
related to women about the equality of
women as compared to men the question
always comes up why is it that a woman
always gets half uh The Inheritance as
compared to that of the men well first
and foremost we should point out that
it's not
always you know where somebody dies they
haven't left any father mother or
children they only left brothers and
sisters the brothers and sisters get
equal
shares this is mentioned in the Quran
itself but yes in a general sense the
son and daughter mother and father will
get within the ratio of 2: one for the
male you know one for the female
but this is because of the fact that
women in Muslim Society are looked after
there's a male responsible for each and
every woman so when a daughter um
inherits the son inherits a similar
amount the son also is responsible to
look after his
sister he's responsible for his mother
he's responsible for his daughters you
know so an additional amount is given to
him for the additional responsibility
has of looking after the close relatives
who are females in this family so it's
not an issue
of uh
unfairness but one considering the
structure of the Muslim family and the
Muslim society and its
responsibilities a society where men and
women are responsible for
themselves then it might appear uh
unfair why give a man twice that of a
female when the female has the same
responsibilities as the male but we have
to look at it within the context of the
Muslim uh family and the Muslim Society
there's another issue about
witnesses that two female Witnesses are
equal to one male witness how do you
justify that well the Quran specifically
states that this is in the case of
business contracts that you're forming
you're having a business contract then
choose two males or one male and two
females and it explains that this is in
order that one of the females May remind
the other in case she forgets so Allah
has identified God has identified it is
an issue of forgetfulness here why a
second female has been uh commanded you
know and this goes back to the nature of
society and family that the norm for
Human Society is that the female looks
after the family she takes care of the
children and looks after the home
whereas the man goes outside the home he
works he is involved in business etc etc
that's the norm so in since he is the
one involved in business he mo most
likely will remember numbers and you
know how much was old and how much this
was and this kind those type of you know
mathematical related type issues whereas
the woman being more familiar with the
family circumstance then it would be
easier for her to forget really what was
actually there so having another woman
witness the same thing would help her in
case she forgot now somebody May raise
the issue well uh in modern society
women are out working like men but
really this is an abnormal circumstance
in the West in particular in America and
in Europe this was a product of World
War I and World War II World War I women
were forced to come out and the homes
and go into the workplaces because
millions of men were sent over to fight
so they needed people to work the
factories to keep the factories going
after the war most of them went back
some stayed then World War II came even
more women came out again
and after the war many of them stayed
out they were enticed by having their
own monies Etc as well as the
industrialist encouraged them to stay
working why because they they became a
means of lowering the wages of the
males before when there were sufficient
males for the jobs they males through
unions could demand higher and higher
wages but now when you glutted the
market with workers males didn't want to
work okay we have females to take their
place males will be unemployed out of
work so you could now uh demand the
industrialist could demand that this the
wages be lower so they became a tool of
the industrialists so this abnormal
circumstance developed where many many
women were now out and working in the
workforce but again this is mainly in
the big cities Etc if you're going to
the countrysides in the US and Canada
and UK in France Etc it's still the norm
that the man is out working and the
woman takes care of the home and that's
the norm for the world as a whole so we
shouldn't look at these abnormal
circumstances and make them the
Criterion for what's right and wrong
with regards to you know witnessing Etc
the other point that's important to note
is that in the area of a woman's
specialty for example in the case of
breastfeeding where if a woman is
breastfed yourself and your wife she
knows if she According to Islamic law
gives
Witness by herself that she breastfed
both you and your wife as children that
is sufficient to anull your
marriage that is sufficient her single
witness is enough to anull your marriage
so it's not across the board that it's
only two men because that's her area who
best knows who breastfed you so in that
area her single witness is sufficient
that was a new point you came across you
raised a very good issue about how the
the men were unemployed by women coming
in the market and so on and that was
exploitation in a manner just sidest
stepping from the issue of women rights
you know India is in a pecular position
now where a lot of jobs are outsourced
cheap to India and people in the Europe
and the America are rendered
unemployed is that uh exploitation in
any manner is there a problem with that
as far as Islamic opinion is
concerned well in general uh for a
businessman to try to find you know the
cheapest sources of labor for his
product he's producing this is his right
to do so Islam doesn't say you can't do
that but if it ultimately is harming his
own
Society you know Islam does interfere to
some degree in the business and economic
functions of the society where harm
takes place you know so it would step in
if it saw for example that people were
now many were made unemployed they
weren't able to take care of their
families etc etc you know then then it
would put some restrictions on the
companies in order to protect the
interest of the society's a whole just
as it prevents them from Hoarding in
order to artificially raise prices it
prevents them from doing that prevents
them from selling um products you know
in a deceptive way you know you're
deceiving your your
customers uh just the whole approach to
to trade uh would would be different in
that you're trying to give the best
product to people as opposed to give
them the worst product at the best price
you know this is a kind of I mean how to
be a successful businessman you buy the
cheapest product fool the people into
thinking it's best for them and you get
the maximum price then you will be the
top you know and this is really what had
an impact in places like Indonesia and
West Africa with the spread of Islam in
that the people were used to uh a
certain form of trade which is the
normal deceptive mode right this is the
nature of the businessman to make his
maximum profits he has to fool you right
he's not going to tell you if there are
defects in this product going to hide
those defects so he got a cheap product
because it was defective and he will
sell it to you as if it was a normal
product so he can get his maximum
profits so what happened is that people
from had Etc who were going to Indonesia
and selling their products using these
techniques once they became Muslims they
changed so Indonesians came across these
same traders who were coming they they
were now pointing out defects in their
in their um products you know they would
tell them well no this is really not the
best and so and so and this is really
only valued at this that they were
shocked why would you want to do this
you were losing to tell us the truth
about these things but they said well
this is what Islam this is what our
religion tells us so of course naturally
the people are curious to know what kind
of religion is this that tells you this
and this had a big impact whether in
West Africa or in in Indonesia which led
to a lot of conversions of people to
Islam because they could see a different
approach to uh trade Etc you know there
was trust here the the trader became a
trustworthy individual instead of
somebody you're you know looking for to
deceive you you know