She said "Banning women's education is EViL"

"Oh, did you read that in the Quran?" I asked.

"Umm, no" she responded.

"How about Hadith? Did the Prophet (PBUH) say it is evil?"

"Umm, uhhhh, no."

She paused for a second.

And then, a wide smile appeared across her face, as if a light-bulb had turned on inside her head.

"YES!!! There is a Hadith in which the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) clearly said that seeking knowledge is obligatory upon every Muslim!!"

Anas ibn Malik reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Seeking knowledge is an obligation upon every Muslim.” Source: Sunan Ibn Mājah 224Grade: Sahih (authentic) according to Al-Albani

"Oh really? Is that what that Hadith means?" I retorted.

"So if someone dies without getting their GCSE or their high-school diploma, or even a PhD in psychology, the angels will punish him/her in the grave for that?"

"Umm, uhhhh, hmmmmm..."

The look of confusion on her face was too obvious.

Clearly my question threw a wrench in her mental process.

"Sister, that Hadith is referring to religious knowledge: things like knowing Allah (SWTA), knowing the Prophet (PBUH), knowing how to pray, giving zakat, etc."

"And this isn't my opinion, this is what the scholars who spent their entire life studying Islam stated:"

Qaadhi ‘Iyaadh said that a Muslim must know the basics of Islam, that is, believing in the Oneness of Allaah The Almighty and in the prophethood of Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, and knowing how to perform Salah (prayer), etc. On the whole, this Hadeeth means that a Muslim must know the obligatory knowledge that he cannot remain ignorant of, that is, believing in the Oneness of Allaah The Almighty, knowing the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, and learning how to make Wudhoo’ (ablution), Ghusl (ritual bathing) and Salah, etc. However, it is not obligatory for every Muslim to know the other branches of Sharee’ah knowledge, such as washing a dead person and doing Salah over him. Source

"If not having any modern public education was a sin, don't you think Allah (SWT) and His Messenger (PBUH) would have clearly commanded us to obtain it just as they commanded us to uphold other obligatory acts of worship?"

"Secondly sister, when you say something is "evil", you're making a moral claim, and as Muslims our morality comes from Quran and Sunnah therefore you have to provide evidence from Quran and Sunnah that supports your claim that not doing X, Y, or Z is "evil"."

The look of confusion on her face now turned into one of frustration.

"B..but but WHATTABOUT my best friend Saima's third cousins sister-in-laws' little sister who lives in Sweden who's husband got a second wife so she had to divorce him?!?!? Do you expect her to die of exposure in the cold Scandinavian winter?!?!?"

Now I was the confused one.

"Wait what?... When did I... What?... Sister, I'm not sure what this has anything to do with the initial moral claim you made for which I asked you for evidence from Quran and Sunnah...."

"WHATTABOUT the men in North Dakota who go sky-diving but their parachute fails to deploy so they fall to their deaths and end-up leaving behind widows and orphaned children?!?!?"

"WHATTABOUT the women who only give birth to girls so they have no sons and their husbands get a hand-tumor because they didn't wear gloves while handling radioactive depleted uranium nuclear e-waste at their job in the nuclear power plant??? Do you expect her and her daughters to die from starvation?!?!?"

🤨 "huh...? I never even suggested such a thing sister. Idk what you're going on about with these weird hypotheticals. Seems like you are emotionally distur..."

"WHAT IF a woman gives birth to conjoined twins; half boy half girl, and the husband became upset because he wanted the conjoined twins to both only be one gender!!!! What will this woman ever do?!?!? Do you expect her to sell her breastmilk to make ends meet????"

"Pause! Pause!" I interjected. 🤢🤮

At this point I had to put my 👞 down because the sister looked like she was having a mental breakdown.

"Sister, now you're just being delusional or you've got some other serious issues going on up there 🧠."

"You made a general moral claim that it is evil to not allow all women to get an education, and since me and you are Muslims, I asked you for evidence for this from Quran and Sunnah since they are the source for our morality."

"You failed to provide this evidence, therefore your claim that stopping women in general from getting public education is evil, is therefore dismissed."

She started fuming and became livid.

"Ummm, uhhhh, huh... you're just a sexually frustrated, mysogynist redpiII inceII! wHo hUrT YoU?!?!?"

The end.