A wonderful event by Jinan Yousef today at the Solihull Islamic Education Academy.

One of the things this ummah has neglected is the prominence of Female teachers for male students. Female scholars are only want/allowed to speak to female audiences. The consequences of this are significant: Just as good parenting involves a mother and a father, our spiritual nourishment requires both too. This has been the tradition of every flourishing Islamic society and its absence is the hallmark of every failed one. Read Shaykh Mohammad Akram Nadwi (Official) work on the Muhadithaat for more insight into this, or this short clip by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2924qbj5gMw

The benefits of this are too many to list, but one of the greatest I feel is the different insight they bring to the same topic. Having gone through the Divine Names of Allah previously with my father, hearing them being discussed by a Jinan today was incredibly refreshing as she looked at the topic with a completely different set of lenses. Every speaker brings their own perspective to the topic, and there will be clear differences between a male and female’s insights into the topic

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To share a few jems from today, I found the points around the subtly and balance between each of the Divine Names of Allah particularly beautiful. As an example:

– Why does Allah mention He is Al-Ghafoor (The All-Forgiving) and Shakoor (The Appreciative) next to each other in the Quran? It is to reaffirm that even when you make mistakes, not only will He will forgive you but He will still appreciate all of your previous good actions as well! How often do we as humans forget the good things people do to us when they wrong us? This is what Allah is emphasising to us

– Why do Al-Shakoor (The Appreciative) & Al-Aleem (The All-Knowing) come together? Because many times we will try and do something good but somehow we end messing it up or it goes wrong beyond our control. Allah is telling us here that He knows our true intentions and rewards us for it!

– The delicate balance between the gratitude of Allah and His desire for our sincerity. Allah wants us to do things solely for His sake, yet He loves to reward us for the good we do. For example, Allah promises that charity will never diminish wealth, but in fact will cause it to multiply. If Allah was to give us the multiplication immediately, we will lose the sincerity we have in giving it and begin to do things merely for the financial reward. On the flip Allah’s generosity means He loves to give back to us as quickly as possible as He loves to reward His servants. The delicate balance lies in how Allah gives us things in perfect measure and time to ensure we do things for His sake and are rewarded in the way most suitable for us!