@Yaraye It isn’t a feminist issue and that’s what makes DH downright insidious. This is a view that spans more than 1200 yrs and is the view of in fact the vast majority of Islamic scholars. Let’s delve into it:
The Shiekh’s opinion is in fact the opinion of all 3 madhabs with Hanafi scholars being a bit different. Shafi, Hanbali and Maliki believe a wife doesn’t have to cook and clean with Hanbalis going as far as saying a woman can charge her husband to breastfeed. The Hanafis are different in a sense that they believe that a poor or lower middle class woman has to cook whilst an upper class woman must be given a maid.
Here is the Shafi opinion:
Modern Salafis and minority of classical scholars on the other hand like Ibn Qayyim bel that she does have to cook and clean but even they acknowledge it cannot be legally enforced since nearly all the Madhabs believe that a man can’t force his wife to cook and clean:
It is the wife’s duty to serve her husband within the bounds of what is reasonable and as other wives who are like her serve husbands who are like him.
islamqa.info
Note: Even Islamqa makes it clear that the vast majority of scholars throughout Islamic history believed a woman doesn’t have to cook and clean.
Now let’s assess my issues with DH and this topic in general.
1. For me it’s the
hypocrisy. If a woman attacked Islamic speakers and scholars on things that nearly all 4 madhabs agreed upon and even Salafi scholars who do believe a woman should cook and clean say that husband’s should see it as
not obligatory but women attacked a concept that was near enough mostly agreed upon, we would be told that were Murtad and deviants. But men are allowed to question things that make them uncomfortable to such an extent that DH is attacking an Islamic speaker for something nearly ALL Madhabs agree upon.
2. If we look across the globe, women always cook and clean, even in 50/50 relationships women do most of the cooking and cleaning. Even in relationships in which the wife is the breadwinner, women do most of the cooking and cleaning even in the West. Here are the studies:
3. My question is, if the vast majority of Islamic scholars believe a woman doesn’t have to cook and clean, but the vast majority of women do indeed
still cook and clean and even Western working women are in fact doing the majority of it in their relationships, why are men like DH with a platform trying to radicalize men into getting angry over something that is a non issue? I want the men on this forum to think back to their families and marriages around them? How often do you see a marriage in which a wife doesn’t do anything? Women can’t or don’t have the luxury to behave that way, especially not normal middle class women.
4. I can’t help but feel DH must be some sort of agent. Also, the hypocrisy of many Muslim men is clear to see. It’s okay for DH to attack a well established and common belief within the deen if it means attacking women but the moment Muslim women question beliefs that are entrenched in Madhabs then it’s an issue? Can people see what I’m talking about?
Now
@Kane , this is a question I pose to you:
1. What makes DH different to feminists who attack certain aspects of classical opinions that doesn’t gel well with their sensibilities?
2. Why would DH lie and say that the Shiekh is influenced by modern views of feminism, when in fact the Sheikh’s view was in fact the majority view in the Medieval period?