Asalaamalykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu!
We are excited to introduce our new series Paradigms of Female Leadership, a series of interviews with women of various backgrounds, Ustadhas, Shaykhas, influencers, grassroot activists on leadership within the female context.
Our first interview is with Zainab bint Younus:
Zainab bint Younus is a Canadian Muslim woman who writes on Muslim women's issues, gender related injustice in the Muslim community, and Muslim women in Islamic history. She holds a diploma in Islamic Studies from Arees University, a diploma in History of Female Scholarship from Cambridge Islamic College, and has spent the last fifteen years involved in grassroots da'wah. She is a co-founder of and writer at MuslimMatters.org, and has written for Al-Jumu'ah Magazine, SISTERS Magazine, and various other publications over the years.
Q1: How would you define leadership? Do you think there is a distinction to be made between male and female leadership and the approaches each gender takes to it?
Zainab bint Younus: I think leadership is narrowly defined in terms of being given a particular status whether its political or in the community like an imaam. But very often leadership applies to all of us. There’s the hadith where Rasoolullah SAW says: each and every one of you is a shepherd and you will be questioned about your flock. And this is generally interpreted to mean… for example a woman is responsible for her household, the husband is responsible for leading his household - and then you build on that within society - leadership literally begins within our homes, you don’t have to be a mom to take on that position of leadership, you can be an older sister, you can be an older brother, you can be an aunt or an uncle. Every believer is already potentially put in a position of leadership through fulfilling the responsibilities of those around us, and being an example right? And leading by example, in our character, with our taqwa and our ibaadah, in excelling in school and engaging in dawah, and again dawah is such a huge, broad spectrum, you could be volunteering at a soup kitchen, or you could be leading a youth halaqah. There are so many different elements to that
The second part of leadership, is again, we tend to gender things so much. We forget that most of the times the Qur’aan and Sunnah talk about the believing men and the believing women in equal terms, and the rights and responsibilities and the obligations on every believer are almost identical except in very specific situations and circumstances. I think we need to stop thinking about political leadership or even community leadership, in the sense of ‘Oh theres an imaam, a woman cant be an imaam’ - we can be scholars, we can be daa’iyaas, we can be leading by example in so many different ways, leading community projects, leading acts of kindness, leading in visiting the sick, leading in feeding the poor! There are just so many ways in which we can be leaders, that these are praiseworthy ways of being a leader, not seeking peoples attention, not seeking authority to wield over others, but truly, sincerely for the sake of Allah, trying to again be a leader in doing good deeds - as-saabiqoon al awaloon, right? The ones who are the first in doing good deeds and rushing to do good deeds, and others see them and are spurred to action, by seeing them lead by example
Q2: Abdur Rahman ibn Samurah reported: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said to me, “O Abdur Rahman, do not ask for authority. If it is given to you at your request, you will be held fully responsible for it. If it is given to you without your request, you will be helped by Allah in it.” Source: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6727, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1652 .
History and society have portrayed leadership as something aspirational due to the impact that can be made in our communities using it, to create external systems and communities that are more just and fair, but also as something destructive, that brings to light the internal corruption that’s in a persons heart. How do we approach leadership with these two concepts in mind?
ZbY: Don’t ask for authority, don’t ask to be put into a particular position in the community, don’t ask to be propped up in some way shape or form, just do good. Just do good for the sake of Allah, just truly and sincerely. Try and seek justice in what you are doing in the work that you’re doing, and never look to be the leader of this group, the president, the prime minister, the ameer or ameera of the MSA [/ISOC]. But really, really focus on leading by example and I think that’s what it really boils down to.
Q3: Most of the examples of leaders in history that we are given tended to be male, why do you think that’s the case? Is it more of a case of less female leaders or that history mentions them less?
ZbY: Yes, most of them were male. Part of it is definitely that this is the way the world has worked in so many years and for so long - for better or for worse. Historically, women have not been freely given positions of leadership (whether in a Muslim or a non-Muslim context). However, we DO have stories of amazing Muslim women leaders whose stories have not been popularly shared at all - one can argue as to whether this is by design (to silence/erase) or by "happenstance" (I am utterly unconvinced of this argument).
I highly recommend several different books. there’s the ‘Unforgettable Queens of Islam’, there’s the ‘Forgotten Queens of Islam’, and there is ‘Sultanahs of Aceh: Women Sovereigns, Muslim Kingdoms’- this is one I’ve just finished reading. Its absolutely amazing. And I also recommend ‘A History of Islam in 21 Women’ which doesn’t necessarily have women who are leaders per se, like rulers, but they were again amazing people in and within themselves. Of course, everyone should be reading Al-Muhaddithaat by Sh Muhammad Akram Nadwi!
There are so many other books about Muslim women who did incredible things and played powerful roles in society - it just requires digging and research because unfortunately, these are not the stories that are freely told in Muslim circles.
Q4: Many quote the hadith: ‘Never will succeed such a nation as makes a woman their ruler’ [al Bukhari] as justification to prevent women from roles of leadership, how would you respond to this?
ZbY: There is Shaykh Muhammad Akram Nadwi’s explanation of that which is that [this hadith] is actually very specfiic to the daughter of the Kisra (Persian ruler), so that was very specific to her… so in the context the sahabah were aware this was specific to her. And then you have Aa’ishah RA leading in the Battle of the Camel and there’s only one sahabi who understood that hadith in a general way and he actually refused to fight in that battle at all referencing that hadith. But you have all these other male companions who did know about this hadith and they never believed it stopped any woman from being in a position of leadership, and they followed her leadership into the Battle of the Camel, even though it didn’t succeed and she lost that battle, RA. But no one ever referenced that hadith during their time… that was never an argument that was made at that time, it was an argument that was made much later.
Q5: There are some instances where individuals (normally men) have been hesitant at the suggestion of a woman leading large scale teams or initiatives, where do you think that hesitancy and discomfort comes from? Is there a way of remedying that attitude?
ZbY: It definitely comes from this combination of cultural as well as fiqhi elements - like these discourses that have been had about a woman’s nature ‘we’re so weak, we’re so emotional, we’re so this, we’re so that,’ and that’s bonk to be honest, in my opinion. And the way to remedy that attitude is that everyone just start reading the seerah better and start studying the lives of the sahabah and the taabi’een and the scholars! There’s so much to focus on in terms of the amazing things that Muslim women did, whether in a religious context, whether in a political context or social context. There just needs to be so much education. I actually recommend a series of books that have just come out, its called ‘Women’s Emancipation during the Time of Rasoolullah SAW’, its a translation of an Arabic work… so check those out because I think it is an amazing, amazing resource. I’d say study under Shaykh Muhammad Akram Nadwi, his whole course on Islamic female scholarship, there’s a lot of books out there too, so give this a look.