WOMEN’S ROLE IN CONTEMPORARY WORLD

WOMEN’S ROLE IN CONTEMPORARY WORLD

The ever changing courses of history havedemonstrated how a single woman can have a big influence throughout mankind’s narration. During these periods of time woman’s role became more and more evolves and progress along with the fitrah to fit the requirements of given time and surrounding. SubhanaAllah how profound it is to find that behind every woman’s delicate body, there is incredible potency that Allah has bestowed upon them. It is up to no mysteries that women’s role in any field and prospect of society has been a long debated issue. The status of women in society is neither a new issue nor is it a fully settled one. For example much has been made over the past decade about the role of women in Muslim culture, generally ascribing the religion as anywhere between oppressive, ignorance, bigotry andeven misogynistic. The role of women in Islam, however, is much more varied and in classical Muslim civilizations, women enjoyed more freedoms than their Christian, Jews or Hindu counterparts. This can be clearly seen in numerous Quranicayah that shows how women is as important as man in Islam. Women can enjoy the benefits of the world same as man do. Even in some cases of the Shareeah like in the case of annulment they possess more right from the husband. This demonstrates how Allah is al-Hakim, the All Intelligent that He knows the importance of the women’s role in family, community, nation thus the religion.

As a normal human being let alone born as a women, growing up, I was always feeling the need of being more superior than my male friends especially when women in the society which I grew up is expected to have some way or another, some sense of insecurity. However as a Muslim, I know where my duties are, and that is to put aside my personal lust-based goals and embrace Islam as whole. Alhamdulillah I had managed to overcome the negative needs of superiority as I grew up and substitute it with a vision to be triumphant in this worldly Dunyaalso in the everlasting hereafter. A sense of achieving something that would benefit me as an individual is replaced by a sense of benefiting others around me. Example of excellent figures that dedicated their life as a preacher or big-hearted wealthy man and women that continues to help others never fails to amaze and touch my fragile heart. I have never been to any religion school before. So, the thought of becoming a religious teacher or an uztazah is something that I know I was not qualified with despite my tremendous interest in the field of preachering.  

Muslims only seek guidance and help from Allah. So, after very much consideration, thoughts and believing that Allah had send me some inspiration thru varies incident, it come to me that as a Muslim woman in this modern day era, I can also do the da’wa. Even thru my own way. If everything that a Muslim does for the sake of Allah is count as Ibadah, then I should purify my intention only for the sake of Allah and contribute my expertise for the betterment of the ummah and I in the Hereafter but still in the beautiful boundaries created by Allah the Merciful. I had also come to understand that the only way for a man to be a sincere servant to Allah is to serve Him by practising and implementing true Islam thru a medium that he enjoys best. For me, that isby doing one thing that I know best and has great passion on, Architecture. 

For the next part of this article, I would like to bring upon and at the same time I will propose some important pointsregarding the roles of women in contemporary society and what more can be done as to make parallel with the title. InshaAllah, I will also go through the surfaceof pointing out the akhlaq on which women are suppose to behave while engaging herself in public through which is accordance with the Holy Quran and the sunnah taught by the perfect example of human kind, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) the chosen one.

The development of the ummah is a very significant aspect of a Muslim life. A Muslim does not only has to do obligatory ibadah concerning himself which is called Ibadah al-Khassahbut he has to also contribute for the benefits of other people around him,Muslim or non Muslim alike. For that reason, I will try to encapsulate the point base on the situation of the current ummah whether it is in Malaysia, U.S.A., and Middle East or even in DarfurinshaAllah.

Before I went on the points, it would be best for me to explain the meaning of architect. Because from a point view of an architect, it is crucial for an architect to truly understand the scope of his or her work as an architect in order to make fathom of the importance of the work scope in his or her life and the people around them. Architect is a person trained and experienced in the design of buildings and coordination and supervision of all aspects of the construction of the buildings. An architect usually renders services that require the application of art, science and the aesthetics of the design . So, basically an architect is somehow the person responsible of anything that he or she had design and build at certain given place and community.

The first and foremost point is regard on individual basis.A question arouses in my mind of what an architect especially a women like me can do in order to contribute for my (taking maybe I was the architect in charge) community on a scenario that possibly the area of that community suffer a disaster that force them to start rebuilding all over again. Or perhaps, the scene is not that dramatic but the important point is ‘what’can she i.e. I can do for the benefit of the community and automatically the ummah. Well, for a start it is really important that the architect or any individual in various fields especially women to gain courageousness and rises to help the community in respective fields. As it is once stated in a hadith that “the best among you is the one that give benefits to others” so basically, in the hadith it refers to anyone regardless gender. It is very crucial for women to have this kind of attitude as for later it will help them face many other challenges in future particularly those who engage in area dominated by men. In term of the individual basis, what a muslimah can do is to form a group that support, counsel, educate and help other working muslimah. In Saudi Arabia for instance, many independent club had been establish to support and defend the rights of the women in society based purely on the Islamic laws. Other example is shown thru Suleyman, an architect during the Ottoman Empire. He is not only a skilful architect but also an expert elite soldier despite many failures that he faces on his early career . Secondly, a Muslim individual in particularly the muslimah should always display the Islamic etiquettes, morals and appearance throughout their daily routine. This is for the reason that every one of us is a caliph of Allah and we should always maintain our individual akhlaq to promote Islamic values to other Muslimsand non Muslims alike in the community.Sinan, a great architect who held the position of the Head Architect for fifty years is successful basely on the fact that he has a likeable akhlaq and personality. So great was his personality that he extended the power granted to him and transformed into that of the Architect of the Empire .A muslimah should be very aware of her appearance before her non muhrim, so a proper way of covering the aurah and the borders of interaction is foremost need to be proper learn. Next, in order for an individual to elevate the value of the community is to educate him or herself on the highest level that can be possibly achieve in relevant with their expertise. For instance architect should prepare him or herself with basic architectural knowledge that will be an adjunct to the career afterward thus chip in to the community. Even the poor and infamous young Sinan was determined to graduate from Ibrahim Pasha School despite being just a slave there .The prophet PBUH once said “when a son of Adam dies, his activity creases, except in 3 things; a permanent bequest, and knowledge by which men are benefited and pious sons who invoke blessings on him after his death”. In addition to the special knowledge a person should also equip himself with general knowledge such as the communication and technology knowledge as to be at par with other more advance countries such as U.S.A., Japan and Britain.Lastly, it is also critical for an individual to try strengthening ones financial and economic prominence. Unmistakably stable fiscal status is important to ensure ones capability in handling one of the most important responsibilities of his life. The society and the community will also tend to trust individuals that are able to manage his financial properly thus avoiding any future dispute. A well manage money also means a bigger tendency for an individual to donate in the path of Allah and Islam. An architect should be able not only handle his finances accurately but this attitude will later be portray on how excellent he is in handling the funds and resources of any given project regarding the society. Moreover, building any structure for example a mosque is costly, element and structure like the dome, eyvans, inner courts, arches, prayer hall, mimbar and the mihrab are uniquely to a mosque thus cost a lot more than just normal building .

Subsequent to the first point is base on collective basis. This communal interest is a must in every community around the world. It is one of the key elements that decide whether a community will either prosper or perish. Some of the fixation that can be done on a communal level is by first to engage one group of people that has the same profession or interest with implementation of togetherness spirit in rebuilding or changing the community. This can be achieve by starting to promote the true Islamic akhlaq among employees and colleagues while on architect perspective, maybe the best way to communicate with the society is by introducing Islamic architecture to public to share and educate the common interest with the community. As I was so philosophically eager to reach other ummah around the world, I think it is best if I or any other architects can help to plan rebuild annihilate and poor places like Darfur or Rwanda thus starting a step that can help them progress. On the other hand, community workcan also imposed many positive impacts towards humanity. 

One type of continuous giving in the form of charity is known as “SadaqahJariyah”, and there are many virtues associated with it. The giving of SadaqahJariyah benefits the donor even after they have passed away, for as long as people receives benefit from the donor’s charity.Through collectiveness agreement, it would be very pleasurable for the professionals especially the women professionals to join hand in hand to reach the secluded part of the community and offer their expertise to that area.New schools, hospitals, mosques and houses can take place old inhospitable clay houses of the people in Sudan orDurban. An interesting example by the non muslims that is quite unconventional is how they used the church’s architecture to display their belief in a modern way. For example, Church of the Sacra Famiglia in Salerno display modern architecture that clearly the opposite of the traditional churches’ design .What muslims can learn from this especially architects is that it is important to grasp the attention to the beauty of Islamic arts that will automatically changed the point of view of other religion suitably to respective areas and cultures without transgressing any Islamic boundaries. Thirdly, through cooperative manner, any given community can be rebuild by exchanging and sharing skills and idea with other people globally to produce better ummahwith the quality of continuing to spread da’wah to human being for generations. As a result, many new ground breaking studies and new research can be learn to improve the state of the community. In architecture field for example annual architecture summit is usually organize so that people involved in this field can exchange ideas and benefits from each other. Lastly, a communal agreement can be used to fabricate outstanding community by making some sort of a agreement or contract with other connoisseur or different fields of work for certain period of time to meet each other’s gain and at the same time building a functioning public system that can manage the community very well. An architect’s role in this picture is to ensure, monitor and plan all agreed development into the reality.

Prolonging the point is base on the environment.Architecture and the environment have long being associated with not being parallel to one another. The concept however was totally wrong since in order for architectural work to born, it has to first demote the environment’s avaibility, viability and resources. Green architecture can refer to the lingering 1960s advocacy of minimal-tech-geodesic domes, mud-brick houses, solar dwellings and isolated communes . There are the ecoglobal unifiers who propose that habitat should be linked, like ecology itself. It should reflect the philosophy that environmentally conscious architecture should demonstrate this connection through esthetical choices and combined visual and technical innovations. This view is supported historically by those glorious climate-conscious cities of the Middle East and India where structures sustained their beauty and relevance over the centuries by converting contextual sensitivity into high art .One way of making sure that environment can give optimistic effect on ummah is by promoting productive environment ecology. The importance of a sustainable ecology does not only vital for human but the aspect of making sure that the environment vigorous is also promoted in the Islamic teaching. While the ‘greening’ of architecture has made remarkable strides over the past 30 years, technological breakthroughs are not part of the forefront, and for a good reason. The technologies of savings energy have become so simple that we no longer need to worry about cost-effectiveness or technological success. In addition, through environment another way to cherish the community is by being more engage to the environment needs and at the same time carries on planning and developing to create an independentummah or community that is productive. Every project is approached with respect to five critical issues which are siting, energy efficiency, indoor air quality, alternative building materials and waste reduction. In addition, as an ummah, we should feel strongly that ‘team building’ is paramount to each project’s success. Ideally, environmental considerations currently labelled ‘green thought; should be the basis for every project. We should seek solutions that minimize energy consumption and maximise the performance of building components and systems . As an architect, what matters most is how to plan and build administrative offices, schools, residential houses, hospitals, city halls, shops, park all and all at the same time figuring a way to counter balance everything with the environment needs. For example, all the building must be plan according to the needs of several factors. Those factors are including the population and living status of the community, the funds from the federal government, viability resources, way of living of the community and so much more. Any community should persue architecture that utilizes materials that create minimal damage at source and during manufacture and transport, as well as maximum enjoyment at their point of destination. As a human who to begin with are said by the angel people who will make mischief and shed blood, we started out having to yield to nature’s forces. Little by little, we developed methodologies to tame aspects of nature to serve our needs. Along the way many lessons of cooperation, balance and respect were learned. Too many of these lessons have been ignored as our own ‘inventiveness’ led us down anumberof dangerous detours . Reminders form Allah of these lessons are now all around us which are disappearing forests, drying lakes, ozone depletion, dwindling resources and sick environment. While the suitability of the region variety of places on earth gives birth to different style of architectural design, every architect will has their own signature touches. Myself for instance, I am more comfortable promoting Islamic architectural design with a touch of contemporary and modern design. Making green architecture synonymous with gracious architecture continues to be my personal major design intention, inshaAllah. It is hoped that my work produces a poetic design statement through the synthesis of diverse, energy-efficient techniques and indigenous metaphors. Working with nature will always continue to be the inspiration as well as the solution. Harmony with nature is achieved by being harmless to the environment more importantly these energy conscious strategies work best when they become inseparable with Islamic attributes such saving and not be wasteful. One of the best examples in architecture history can be seen on the legendary architect Wright’s project which is the ‘Fallingwater House’ that combines nature element harmoniously into the design of the house .

There are some problems or in any case I prefer to call it challenges that any of women working in a modern professional field will face. Some of the challenges are coming from either within the community itself, from outsiders or from inside oneself. First and prominent challenge that will occur with women in professional fields is that the feeling of diffidence and lack sense of confidence. However this can be easily overcome by having a constant motivational assurance that men and women has same level before Allah. Next challenge is women maybe has to face some doubt regarding the capability of handling any critical work field among other colleagues. Of course this can only reduce as time passes, but along the way women should always give constant commitment in the job and as Prophet Muhammad PBUH always do even when the Kafirsupset him is he will always return the poisons throw at him with frankincense. Apart from that, career women also face the challenge of raising up and taking care of the family and the career. Time for a family is automatically going to be reduced to allow time for the work. But, there are many ways to ensure that a career woman can also enjoys her life as the stay home mother. Planning up work schedule and working from home via tele conference or Skype or doing the work in the morning can ensure that women can also raise up her family while still contributing in major plus critical fields.

Just bear in mind that a woman is still a woman by essence and the presence of women in modern field does not mean to threatens the existence of any men at all. It is just to brooding up more positive input from different perspective of view that a man may have miss look. 

According to many Islamic scholars upon the hokum of a woman working, It depends upon the kind of work that has to be done. Of course the Ummah needs female doctors, nurses, teachers and others. But the primary responsibility of a Muslim woman is towards her husband and home. So it is very important for any woman, working or not to put the family needs before herself. Women are allowed to work in Islam, subject to certain conditions, such as if a woman is in financial need and her employment does not cause her to neglect her role as a mother and wife. It has been claimed that it is the responsibility of the Muslim community to organize work for women, so that she can do so in a Muslim cultural atmosphere, where her rights as set out in the Qur'an are respected. Islamic law however, permits women to work in Islamic conditions which the work should not require the man or the woman to violate Islamic law example is serving the alcohol thus be mindful of the woman's safety and if the work requires the woman to leave her home, she must maintain her 'modesty' just as with men.

Due to cultural and not religious beliefs, in some cases, when women have the right to work and are educated, women's job opportunities may in practice be unequal to those ofmen. In Egypt for example, women have limited opportunities to work in the private sector because women are still expected to put their role in the family first, which causes men to be seen as more reliable in the long term. An indicator of the attitude of the Qur'an to women in the workplace can be seen in the quotes regarding working women. These are the examples of two female shepherds which can be seen in Quran 28:23, and Khadijah (Prophet Muhammad's wife), who was an eminent businesswoman. Khadijah is called up as a role model for females in the Qur'an. However it is not a woman’s responsibility to run the house financially, if she wants to that's fair enough but this is the husbands duty. The Holy Qur'an speaks of the equality of the two sexes in various verses. In one place it says:

"...and women have rights similar to those against them in a just manner,..." 

Holy Quran (2:228) 

Lastly, these are some of the akhlaq, adab and requirements of women in taking care of her modesty outside of the house. Firstly, she must get her permission if she has guesses over to the house or even when going out of the housed as is stated in the Holy Quran

"O you who believe, do not enter houses other than your own houses, until you have obtained permission and greeted their dwellers; this is better for you, that you may remember."

Holy Quran (24:27)

Next, she must nor resemble anything like men Imam Ali quotes the Messenger of Allah pbuh as saying:

"Allah curses those men who make themselves resemble women or those women who make themselves resemble towards men."

And not being tabarruj or wearing excessive perfume.Imam Hussein quotes the Prophet as saying:

"Any woman who perfumes herself and leaves her home is cursed by the angels and deprived of the blessings of the Almighty Allah until she returns home."

She must also not gives any evil looks. Imam Hussein quotes the Messenger of Allah as saying:

"An evil look is one of the poisonious arrows of Iblis (Satan) and how an evil look causes long-suffering regrets."

Abu Imamah narrated that the Messenger of Allah said:

"A Muslim is he who looks at the beauties of a woman and then casts down his eyes, Allah will give him the reward of worship whose sweetness he will find in his heart."

A woman should also guards herself. The Messenger of Allah said:

"Guard yourselves from six things and I am your surety for Paradise: when you speak, speak the truth; perform when you promise; discharge your trust,.and guard your private parts (except from your wives); cast down your eyes; with hold your hand from committing aggression or forbidden things."

Islam, with its benevolent view towards women, encourages them to keep the hijab in this verse of the Holy Qur'an:

"O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers that they should cast their outer garments over them (when abroad); this is more proper, that they should be known (recognized as such) and not molested. And Allah is ever Forgiving, Merciful." 

Holy Quran (33:59) 

With some of the verses of the Holy Quran, it is clear that women can work in Islam especially in critical work field. The only thing to bear in mind is to keep the boundaries of Islam and taking care of the modesty at all time.

It is my opinion that a woman is needed in critical area of work or why women can work if she pleases to. This is because that there might be an area in work in which a women’s mind can understand better or more creatively than man even when Allah has favoured upon them more strength. It is up to the women to use the flexibility of Islam for a good purpose. Moreover if in a certain community, the only person who is expert on something like teaching is women than, she has to go and work on that field in order to fulfil the needs of the entire ummah of her community.