Description:

Throughout history, every culture and society has crafted their ideals for manhood and womanhood. The 14th century sociologist, Ibn Khaldun, noted that the common denominator of all cultures is that they usually take their rich and powerful as their archetypes for manhood and womanhood. For us living in a pluralistic society these “powerful” are overwhelmingly defined by pop-culture, the music industry, the sports industry etc and this reality coupled with the deterioration of ethics and morals poses an immense problem. A cursory look back into what the role of men or women in America entailed 100 years ago compared to what it entails today will exhibit a stark contrast. As a result, when a society is wavering and/or degrading in its conceptualization of manhood and womanhood, many injustices and breaches occur in normal social conduct, mannerisms, and relationships– inevitably leading to a dysfunctional society. Reassuringly there is a solution. This session will discuss manhood and womanhood from the Islamic narrative.