I had the chance to attend a talk delivered by Dalia Mogahed, hosted by Al-Buruj press on the 4^th August 2017 at the London Muslim Centre in Whitechapel.

Over all, the talk aimed to discuss the experiences of Muslim women in relation to hardship and overcoming it.

Dalia Mogahed is an Egyptian born American scholar, and director of research at the institute for social policy and understanding, studies and advises Muslim communities. She was also selected as an advisor by Obama, on his council on faith based and neighbourhood partnerships.

Given how high profile Dalia has become within the Muslim community internationally recently, I was interested to listen to what she had to say.

Her talk was prefaced with a talk from Shaykh Akram Nadwi, author of ‘The female scholars’. He discussed the discrimination that Muslim women face within our own communities, especially when prevented from attending mosques. He went on to highlight the irony of the fact that quite a few mosques do not cater for women at all, when in the past women used to be just as involved as men, as teachers, scholars as well as frequent mosque goers.

It was interesting to hear all these examples of these almost revolutionary female scholars, many whom prevented certain areas of Islamic study from declining. I had never heard of all these women, nor of their achievements – and I was absolutely astounded to find out there are thousands of women like these who have been failed to be recognised in the wider Muslim community. He also made a point to address the fact that yes, it is not compulsory for Muslim women to go to the mosque,  but you should also not stop a woman from going to one – a mosque is meant to be a centre of learning, a hub for the community for everyone.

Dalia’s talk had more of a spiritual undertone; she talked about how we are all responsible for reading the Qur’an, despite the fact that there seems to be a misconception that ‘the Qur’an is only for scholars’.  I had a really long ponder upon this; it’s true, often people think that to fully immerse yourself in the Qur’an to fully understand it, you should be a scholar or read it at scholarly level. But the Qur’an was revealed and intended for every believer to internalise, not just for scholars.

Something she said really stood out to me;

‘Your worth is determined by the fact you are a human being created with dignity to serve God’.

She discussed in relation to this, that our worth is only ever really described through our relationship to others, our duties to others, as a mother, daughter, wife. But our worth and purpose is more than the duties and obligations we are reduced to, our primary and most important duty and obligation belongs to God alone to worship him;

‘We are all deputies of God on this earth – we are not support systems.’

Her point was that we are all obligated to champion Islam, not just the men; the duty falls on us all equally as Muslims, we are both responsible.

I think this is a really important point that I think gets overlooked by women themselves, we get so caught up in our familial duties, we forget that the most important relationship we have, the one with Allah. We need to make sure we remind ourselves, as well as others around us, that the duty and obligation we have to God should come first above anything else.

She then referenced the fact that women are pointed out as moral examples for believers – both men and women; one of the biggest examples, is that of Aasiah, wife of pharaoh or ‘Fir’aaun’ . She was seen as someone who had perfected her Imaan, despite being surrounded by corruption and wealth, her faith in Allah was so absolute.  The story of Aasiah is personally, one that has become close to my heart; the Du’aa that she made while she was being tortured by pharaoh , makes me so emotional;

‘And Allah presents an example of those who believed: the wife of Pharoah, when she said, “My Lord, build for me, near you, a house in paradise and save me from pharaoh and his deeds and save me from the wrongdoing people.”'(66:11)

The fact that despite being born in to a life of wealth and luxury, being the wife of Fir’aaun, but still her first priority was being close to God in the Hereafter. She is a big inspiration for me – and it is fitting that she is presented as an example in the Qur’an for all believers.

Another example is of Hajirah, mother of Ismail. She was completely alone in the desert with an infant child, and yet her trust in Allah did not waver one bit. Even as her hope was broken seven times as she ran from Saffa to Marwa in search of water, she did not give up, or question Allah, she kept persevering.

‘Broken hope is harder to overcome…but we cannot give up on God’s miracle’

This is an example of what true ‘tawakkul’ looks like – and just goes to show that even we when we feel like giving up, we should keep going, no matter how difficult it is – Allah will not forsake you.

She closed the talk, with a reflection on her time as an advisor to president Obama, and how many hardships and obstacles she faced as a result of that, due to suddenly being thrust into the spotlight. She mused that hardships and obstacles in your life, are actually protecting you. She felt that the struggles she faced while she was in the limelight, prevented her heart from becoming attached to ‘fame’ and being in the spotlight, and in turn protected her humility.

This is something I have been thinking about myself a lot – how hardships always serve an unseen purpose and deliver a blessing that we can’t comprehend at the time.

All in all, Dalia’s talk was a pleasant, empowering and uplifting spiritual reminder, and if anything helped reaffirm and consolidate what was already within my heart.

I’d to close this off with a quote from her that struck a chord in my heart;

‘Hope sounds like courage’.