Page 20 - Pakistan Link - March 26, 2021

P20 – PAKISTAN LINK – MARCH 26, 2021 COMMENTARY
How the Prophet Muhammad Fought Domestic Violence

n By Abdul Malik Mujahid • Qur’an ordered that women be con-
Chicago, IL sulted in family and community affairs.
• He instituted educational programs
heir number is not known with cer- for women. Many women became teachers in
tainty. Perhaps they were only two. his lifetime.
TMaybe they were twenty. Regardless,
these women approached the man who had 3. Marriage reform:
thus far given them hope for • The Prophet banned several abusive
this world and beyond. This forms of marriage in pre-Islamic Arabia.
time, it was to seek a solu- • He prohibited temporary marriage.
tion to behavior that seemed • He forbade the pre-Islamic practice
so inimical to the values he of men having an unlimited number of wives.
taught: The number was drastically reduced to four,
• Women are indi- with the condition that polygamy could only
vidually responsible for their words and deeds be practiced if a man could guarantee equality
and accountable to God. Like men (Qur’an in treatment of wives. Otherwise, a man could
9:71). marry only one wife.
• God recognizes and rewards the • He established that a marriage with-
good works of every human being, male or fe- out the consent of the bride is invalid.
male (Qur’an 3:195).
• Marriage is a partnership based on 4. Preaching good behavior
love and mercy (Qur’an 30:21). • The Prophet elevated the status of
Perhaps this is why these women ap- motherhood by declaring that Paradise is un-
proached the Prophet Muhammad, peace and der the feet of mothers, and that to serve them
blessings upon him, that day with a question time. He did this by affirming the inherent beating their wives, as described above. merits three times more reward than serving
that remains a problem in marriages over a dignity of women as human beings respon- • The Prophet forbade women’s sexual fathers.
thousand years later: domestic violence. sible and accountable before God. He also did exploitation and harassment, as well as the • He declared that a person who does
On hearing of this abuse, the Prophet it by directly addressing a hitherto “private” stalking of women. not prefer his sons over his daughters would
called the community to the mosque for a matter between a husband and wife. Domestic • Women could seek justice and di- be with him in Paradise.
meeting. Whenever there was something he violence was not a “women’s issue” irrelevant • His last sermon to the community
felt all Muslims needed to know about or dis- to Muslim men. The Prophet understood that Whenever there was something reminded men to fear God by being just to-
cuss, he would have Bilal ibn Rabah, may Al- this abusive behavior could be changed, but it wards women.
lah be pleased with him, give the call to prayer, first had to be brought out into the open and he felt all Muslims needed
even if it was not time for it. Then, when peo- addressed head on. The personal was definite- to know about or discuss, he What Imams can do today
ple came to the mosque, he would lead them ly political. would have Bilal ibn Rabah, Imams, Muslim leaders and the Muslim
in prayer. This would be followed by a special He also understood that ending domestic community as a whole can take some of the
sermon about a topic of concern or discussion violence meant helping perpetrators clearly may Allah be pleased with key steps the Prophet took to end domestic
about a particular situation. see the utter injustice of physically abusing him, give the call to prayer, violence today. Most notable among these:
This time when he called the Muslims, it their wives. • Acknowledging the existence of the
was to order an end to domestic violence. “How does any one of you beat his wife even if it was not time for it. problem when an abused Muslim woman
The Prophet mentioned to the gather- as he beats the stallion camel and then sleeps Then, when people came to the brings it forward.
ing that several women had visited his fam- with her at night?” he once asked (Bukhari). • Ending the silence on the issue by
ily complaining about their husbands beating How could a relationship that God says is mosque, he would lead them in discussing it in regular Khutbas and Halaqas.
them. According to one report, he mentioned based on love and mercy be characterized by prayer. This would be followed • Calling a special emergency com-
that 70 women had approached his family. He the kind of vicious abuse often meted out to munity meeting about it as the Prophet did.
criticized these husbands, saying this behavior animals, which the Prophet also condemned? by a special sermon about a • Making sure that women have full
was unacceptable from those who seek to live The change in perception made a definite topic of concern or discussion access to Imams and Masjid services.
by Islam’s ideals. This community meeting is difference. So much so that the men began • Making the faith connection. Estab-
reported by two of the best Hadith collections complaining of their wives’ newfound asser- about a particular situation lishing that a man who beats his wife is violat-
of the Prophet, Abu Dawud and Ibn Majah. tiveness. ing Islam and the Sunnah of the Prophet.
The Prophet’s reprobation was not some- vorce against abusive husbands. These steps are a start. They are not the
thing Muslim men took lightly at the time, The Prophet’s methodology to end the • Instituted punishment by law for only cure but if implemented, they can lead
since God has described him as a “beautiful abuse of women those who falsely accuse women. to a significant shift in the way the Muslim
example” (Qur’an 33:21) whom it is obliga- The Prophet took several measures to end • He prohibited men from stopping community as a whole deals with domestic
tory to follow. As well, the Prophet’s own wife the abuse of women: their spouses from attending the mosque. violence today. They can help end the crisis
confirmed that he never hit anyone with his that continues to engulf us, destroying count-
hand, neither a woman nor a servant (Sahih 1. He fought abusive behavior in word 2. He empowered women: less women, children and men, passing abuse
Muslim). In addition, he once said, “The best and deed: • The Qur’an declared that women on to the next generation of Muslims and ulti-
among you is the one who treats his family the • The Prophet used his sermons re- have rights similar to men. mately, distancing more Muslims from Islam.
best, and I am the one who treats his family peatedly to order men to stop abusive behav- • He established women’s right to in- https://www.soundvision.com/article/
the best.” ior towards women. heritance while declaring that they were not how-the-prophet-muhammad-fought-do-
The Prophet fought domestic violence, a • He once called an emergency com- obligated to use their personal wealth to assist mestic-violence?eType=EmailBlastContent&
scourge common to many civilizations at the munity meeting to address the issue of men husbands in covering household expenses. eId=6b78efac-cd39-40a9-89cd-20ccc86f1f03
Why Are Side Effects Worse after a Second Dose of COVID-19 Vaccine?

n By Amina Khan against the virus. lica of the virus’ spike protein. Before an immune
Two of the three vaccines that are autho- cell responds to the offending replica by destroy-
hen it comes to the one-two punch rized for use in the US — one made by Pfizer and ing it, the defender develops a memory of the
delivered by two-dose COVID-19 BioNTech, the other by Moderna — require two protein so that it can attack again in the future.
Wvaccines, it’s the second shot that re- doses, spaced three and four weeks apart, respec- “The fever, headache, etc., that you experi-
ally wallops. tively. (Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine is a one-shot ence is because of the inflammatory proteins do-
Kristen Choi can attest to that. Choi, a nurs- deal.) ing their work in the body to get rid of what it
ing researcher at UCLA, ended up with a host of There’s no special secret sauce to that second believes to be an outsider,” Dr Jasmine Marcelin,
symptoms, including a fever that peaked at 104.9 dose: Both the first and second shots are exactly an infectious diseases expert at the University of
degrees, after she got her second shot last year. the same. The first simply primes the immune Nebraska Medical Center, explained in an email.
But the effects soon passed — and they were well system so that it’s ready to launch a more robust Choi experienced this firsthand. She vol-
worth the much-needed protection against the response when it’s time to roll up a sleeve once unteered for a clinical trial testing the Pfizer-Bi-
pandemic, she said. again. oNTech vaccine and got her first shot in August.
“I’m very grateful to have gotten the vaccine “It’s just an amplification, basically, of the There were virtually no side effects — just a sore
and to be able to have that protection, and really same process that happens the first time around,” arm.
want to see that opportunity be made available to said Dr Diane Griffin, an infectious diseases ex- But after Choi’s second dose, her arm quick-
everyone,” Choi said. pert at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of ly became far more painful at the injection site.
As more Americans line up for the COV- Public Health. By the end of the day, she was suffering from
ID-19 vaccine, some are anxious about the sec- Common side effects include pain, redness chills, nausea and a splitting headache. Around
ond-dose side effects, which tend to be stronger and swelling on the arm that receives the shot, midnight, she woke up with an arm so painful she
than the first. But experts say that the symptoms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and infectious diseases expert at Stanford Children’s could barely lift it. At 5:30 a.m., she logged a scar-
which range from a sore arm to headaches and Prevention. Typical side effects elsewhere in the Health. Your body is still doing its job. ily high fever.
nausea, are a sign that the second dose is do- body include tiredness, headache, muscle pain, “The good thing is not everybody gets a re- She took Tylenol and drank water. Her fever
ing its job: turbo-charging the immune system’s chills, fever and nausea. action,” Lee said. hovered around 99.5 degrees for the rest of the
response to the initial dose, and thus provid- And if you don’t experience side effects, The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines work by day. By the next morning, her symptoms had
ing more vigorous and long-lasting protection that’s “totally fine,” said Dr Grace Lee, a pediatric giving the body’s cells a blueprint to make a rep- DOSE, P24
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