The Sharee’ah Generally Applies to Everyone- Male and Female
Article Contents
Source: Sheikh Muqbil Ibn Haadee al-Waadi’ee
Question:
There are many hadeeth narrations which are addressed to “believers” or “Muslims” without using the phrase “woman” (or women). Does this indicate that the Muslim “woman” is not intended by these specific texts, as there are other verses of the Qur’aan and hadeeth narrations which do specifically mention them and are directed towards explaining the rulings for women and clarifying them?
Answer:
The fundamental rule is that the entire Sharee’ah generally applies to everyone, male and female, just as Allaah, the Most Glorified and the Most Exalted, states in His Noble Book, ﴾Never will I allow to be lost the work of any of you, be he male or female. You are one of another﴿-(Surah Aal-‘Imraan:195) So the fundamental rule is that the entire Sharee’ah generally applies to everyone. There is nothing specified to just men except those matters which there is exact evidence for that specification, and there is nothing specified to just women except those matters which there is exact evidence for that specification.
Indeed, some women came and mentioned to the Messenger, may Allaah’s praise and salutations be upon him, that indeed Muslim men engage in jihaad, and that Allaah, the Most Perfect and the Most High mentions men in verses but not women. Then this verse was revealed, ﴾Never will I allow to be lost the work of any of you, be he male or female. You are one of another﴿-(Surah Aal-‘Imraan:195) And Allaah, the Most High, also revealed, ﴾Indeed, the Muslim men and Muslim women, the believing men and believing women, the obedient men and obedient women, the truthful men and truthful women, the patient men and patient women, the humble men and humble women, the charitable men and charitable women, the fasting men and fasting women, the men who guard their private parts and the women who do so, and the men who remember Allah often and the women who do so...﴿-(Surah al-Ahzaab:35) until the end of the verse. So the fundamental rule is that the entire Sharee’ah applies generally to all except where it specifies one gender.
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Footnotes
- The Eminent Guiding Scholar Muqbil Ibn Haadee al-Waadi’ee, may Allaah have mercy upon him, From ‘A Defending Mission from Audio Lectures upon the People of Ignorance & Sophistry’: Vol. 2, Page 459
