Imam preaches to men to...

…help their wives by carrying water from the local well. By some individuals, the Imam is now being boycotted.

When the noblest man who walked on this earth, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, did his own housework, mended his own clothes, was at the service of his own household, tau who are we to rise above that ? You could see it through another related angle: how many rewards does Allah give for helping out your spouse? If that’s not incentive enough, then someone please tell me what is?

Housework sermon sparks imam boycott, BBC, 26 March 2004

A Muslim preacher in eastern Turkey says he is being boycotted for telling local men to help their wives with the housework, Turkish media reported.

“Women do all the work in this village. All I said was men should at least carry the water (from the local well),” Mustafa Platin told Sabah newspaper.

His angry flock, who stopped attending the mosque, have asked authorities to remove the preacher. “We can carry water, but this not up to him,” village leader Adnan Karsli said.

Mr Karsli of Kotanduzu village, near Erzurum, accused the imam of frequently insulting village men in traditional Friday sermons.

“Instead of teaching us about Islam, he talks nonsense,” [hello - isn’t he talking about Islam when he is discussing these types of marital issues that can lead to familial unity?] he said.

“The men don’t want to pray with him any more, they go to mosques in neighbouring towns.”

Imam Mustafa Platin confirmed no more than three villagers joined him, even on the usually busy Friday prayers, in Turkey’s traditionally conservative east.

Mr Platin, a 27-year-old father of three, said he meant well. “Women do the washing, they look after the livestock, they cook. And they carry the water. When I told men to help them, they have reacted very harshly.”

Doesn't make sense at all, why would the men be so upset for something like this?

lazy $"£%£$^$%...

Oh my...

LAzy men.......

dont they read quran ...hadrat musa alihissalam did this when he (a.s) saw some girls standing nearby a well........

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by ChaChoo: *
Doesn't make sense at all, why would the men be so upset for something like this?
[/QUOTE]

Exactly.

Is this for real? How bizarre! May Allah give the Imam strength to guide them.

Devils advocate here:) Without knowing what he really said, and more importantly, how he said it, its hard to make a judgement call on this. If there were no more than 3 men behind him even during jumma prayers, then there must be more to it than just this.

I have many a times heard imams go on a tirade against everyone in the world, including those sitting in the congregation, berating them for their sins, putting them down in the worst way possible. And at times, it does get to the point where you wonder whether this imam is there to pick on your flaws and berate you, or do something better. I personally have listened to imams who I would never listen to again. So I can say the above news item is understandable to an extent.

However, if the events in this case are truly limited to what is said in the news item above, then its sad that people would leave a congregation just because they were told to help out their wives. And I also noticed the imam is merely 27 years old. That too may be a factor here.

^ The voice of reason in this thread. :~) i completely agree that we don’t really know what he stated exactly. So you are right, let’s not judge him or the other villagers.

Re: the fact that only three individuals are praying with him on Jumah - well, we don’t know how large or small this village is. Maybe it’s a very small one, maybe only ten individuals regularly pray Jumah to begin with, i’m speculating of course. But it could be that others are being pressured not to join in on Jumah at this mosque; if it’s a village, i assume most of the people are related to each other or know each other very, very well. The “village headman” (Adnan Karsli, mentioned in the article below again) could have asked fellow Muslims to boycott the mosque… and out of fear, many have obeyed. Not necessarily because they agree, but simply out of not wanting to disrespect the top guy in the village. ALL speculations though i admit.

i agree that we shouldn’t judge either party really. We have limited info to go on. If it’s only what has been reported in the BBC article and that’s the truth, if the Imam honestly only stated that men should help their wives more, then - that’s not a worthy reason to get angry about. Allah knows if there’s more to this story than meets the eye.

i did a google search on his name to come up with some more info, all i got was this article:

the prophet (saw) himself too used to help his wives with their work....

perhaps it was the tone of the "imam" that left the attendants angry....