In this class presentation we explore the lives of three very different women in the family of Sayyidna Abu Sufyan, may God be pleased with him, and the circumstances that led to the Qur'an being revealed about them. We embark on a journey from darkness into light through the study of these women. First we witness the depths of wretchedness in Arwah Umm Jameel, the sister of Abu Sufyan and the wife of Abu Lahab. We then traverse a path of emergence from violence and evil to the illumination of righteousness through the story of Hind bint 'Utbah, the wife of Abu Sufyan. Finally we see light upon light in the blessed story of Ramla Umm Habibah, the daughter of Abu Sufyan and the wife of the Messenger, peace be upon him. In conclusion, we draw some relevant points from these stories and consider them in the context of our own lives, and what we can benefit from studying these multifaceted and very real womens' experiences of faith in varying degrees.

In this class, we explore four of the women companions about whose situations verses of the Qur'an were revealed. These situations mostly involve marriage and inheritance rights, and show us the complete faith, trust and certainty that these women had in their knowledge that Allah SWT and HIs Rasool SAWS would judge for them with nothing but all-encompassing mercy and justice. As women seeking to be on the Straight Path, we take a few moments to reflect on ourselves and where we stand regarding our faith and trust and certainty in the mercy and justice established in the Qur'an. Do we have the same approach as the female companions or not? What is preventing us from having the same outlook and attachment? What do we need to rid ourselves of in order to have a pure and sincere connection to and love for our Sacred Book and the universal justice that it established?

We begin this class with an overview of historical and contemporary representations of Sayyida Bilqis in pre- and non-Muslim traditions, observing some examples of the decline in the way she is portrayed, particularly over the past century. The second part of the class focuses on the Qur'anic verses of her story with Nabi Sulayman AS in surah al-Naml. We see the majesty and humbleness of Nabi Sulayman, the deep intelligence of Sayyida Bilqis and the sensitive dynamics between Prophet and creation. Most importantly, we see how light became transformed to illumination in the process of guidance and the discovery of true faith for this most blessed woman seeking the Straight Path. Finally we ask ourselves: What are the blinding lights in our lives that prevent us from seeing the true nature of things and how they really are? What are we seeking that actually stops us from finding the truth? What is Sayyida Bilqis really leading us to in her role as one of the most revered Queens in human history?

What does the story of Sayyida Zulaykha and Nabi Yusuf alayhi salam in the Qur'an really tell us about women, passion and acting on it? In this episode we explore the events of the attempted seduction as described in the Qur'anic text, and examine three interpretive methods for understanding those events. We look at classical tafsir literature, poetry and modern feminist attempts at interpretation about women and passion and ask: Are these interpretations really misogynistic? Really? Do modern feminist interpretations of the Qur'an really see those events in the way they are intended to be understood? If these verses are so 'anti-women', why did al-Jami write an 8000 line poem on the love between Sayyidna Yusuf and Zulaykha? Why do some feminist interpretations of Sayyida Zulaykha make the case that a woman's sexual "agency, autonomy and authority" are so praiseworthy, when it resulted in the imprisonment of an innocent young man ? We also consider how to apply the methodology of spiritual purification to renew and fix our distorted ideas about women and female empowerment, then look at two brief examples of wise women and how to use our feminine gifts with wisdom by putting them in their rightful place.

Alhamdulillah this class on the woman of the Hajj - Sayyida Haajar - coincided with the first day of the 10 days of the sacred month of Dhul Hijja - the month of the Hajj. We discuss how Sayyida Haajar became part of the family of Nabi Ibrahim (Alayhi salam), we look at some 17th century European artwork depicting her 'banishment' to the desert. We talk about the deep meanings of the details of her story and her foundational role in establishing one of the pillars of the greatest earthly and cosmological pilgrimage of the Hajj. We finish our discussion with some reflections on how the Hajj and the Sacred House. the Ka'abah, connect us to the chronology of the universe through various events in ancient history and to our big future in the afterlife in which we hope to be amongst those who are blessed with witnessing the Divine Countenance eternally.

This class takes us on a journey from the creation of men and women (our forefathers Sayyidna Adam and Sayyida Hawwa on them be peace) and the establishment of the principles and practices of their relationship in the metaphysical, unseen world, to looking at the consequences of nonadherence to those principles and practices in the contemporary world today. We consider some definitions and an explanation of what 'Metaphysics' is, then we examine aspects of the Quranic verses about Sayyidna Adam and Sayyida Hawwa that exemplify that in the the dynamic between men and women. Finally we look at some of the issues that concern women on the straight path, and compare them with the conflicts and confusion that modern feminism has brought us. Please note: This week the question and answer session is included, as it is a continuation of our discussion in the class and raises important issues that many of us might have thought about before. It begins at 1 hour 12 minutes into the recording.

The story of Sayyida Asiya provides several opportunities to examine the lives of the many women in the story of Nabi Musa (AS), and we study the Qur'anic verses and hadith which address them all. This class also engages with surah al-Tahreem and the stories of the six women who are mentioned in it, and how it is a very important surah about the family and fealty to the Straight Path. We conclude by examining the three Prophetic diagrams that were mentioned in Episode 2 and how we have come a full circle in our understanding of how they integrate and what place the four best women we have talked about so far occupy with regard to those diagrams. We also ask ourselves which path do we have fealty with...what ideas and systems of thought do we think will help us achieve our goals and aims in life, and to what extent do they agree with the Straight Path of Islam? *Apologies for the sound quality of this recording as it is not the best.

Before exploring the explanations of the events and meanings of the life of Sayyida Maryam, the Mother of 'Isa may peace be upon them both, we look at the what storytelling is and its role in the Qur'an. We also examine some of the scholarly arguments about whether Sayyida Maryam was a prophet or not, and how we should approach understanding her story from within our contemporary, intellectual milieu.

Our brief study of the life of the leader of the women of the Ummah on earth and in the celestial realm focuses on how to connect with her rank and emulate her in our daily lives. But to do this, we need a sound way of understanding her life story. What framework of understanding do we apply to find what we need from the events in her life? What are some of the events in her life that we can directly relate to in our time? *The opening salawat translation is courtesy of muwasala.org

In this class, we explore and analyze three distinct yet interrelated topics: A Prophetic educational methodology which includes a specific hadith on the four best women in Paradise. Ancient Arabia: Contexts and Contradictions. We discuss particular concepts in the social, cultural and economic context in which Sayyida Khadijah peace be upon her was born and lived before the advent of Islam. This includes the two extremes of venerating the female on the angelic level and engaging in femicide from fear of poverty. Where is the 'middle way' of the fitra, the primordial human disposition in this context, and do men really hate women? Lessons from the life of Sayyida Khadijah al-Kubra, peace be upon her. We look at several aspects of her history, including how she was the first Believer, how she nurtured this new religion in its very difficult early years, at her role as a facilitator in its flourishing and how at a late age in her life she became the most perfected exemplar of true faith and certainty.

Welcome to this new series of classes from MISK Women - the Muslim Institute for Sacred Knowledge! The podcast uploads here are the class recordings which are lightly edited and presented here without the Q and A session at the end. In this first class, we introduce the course and some of the main objectives of studying the lives and legacies of Women on the Straight Path, both past and present. We look at a definition and explanation of the Straight Path, the characteristics of those on it and in doing so, we seek to ground ourselves in a solid Islamic worldview. We also consider the types of questions we ask about our topic, and how crucial it is that those questions are derived from that worldview. If we didn't have an Islamic worldview, what sort of questions would we ask in order to study and understand the great women in our history who have preceded us on the Straight Path? What sort of answers to those questions would we find? Finally we look at the most important question of all...How do we, in our challenging, contemporary times, become Women on the Straight Path?