Professor Dr Farid Younos
"Contemporary Islamic Political Thought"
Participant
at the Launch Event,
Individual Talk and
Discussion Panels
“The most outspoken and independent thinker in the Afghan-American community,” Dr. Farid Younos received his Doctorate degree in International and Multicultural Education from the University of San Francisco and, in addition to becoming a television personality and celebrity who, with his controversial and novel ideas attracted millions of viewers in the Afghan community worldwide, as an advocate of women rights. After the September 11th, Dr. Younos has responded by educating others about Islam and politics of Afghanistan.
He has been interviewed by major newspapers including New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, Associated Press and radios such as, voice of America, Freedom Radio (Prague), CNN, KQED/NPR on Forum with Micheal Krasny , Pacific Radio (KPFA) and many other local and national media concerning Afghanistan and politics of the region.
The University of San Francisco magazine calls him, “A prominent voice in the Bay Area of northern California.” Dr Younos co-authored “Asia in the San Francisco Bay Area,” an Asia
Society publication. Written, Gender Equality in Islam, published by 1st Books Library, 2002, Democratic Imperialism: Democratization vs. Islamization, 2008, Principles of Islamic Sociology, 2011, Islamic Culture: A Study of Cultural Anthropology, 2013, and his new book Principles of Islamic Psychology, 2017. Dr. Qayoumi, the former president of San Jose State University calls him, a “Passionate Professor and sagacious scholar.”
Dr Younos is the founder of Afghan Domestic Violence Prevention, associated with Afghan Coalition and founder of International Movement Against Child Marriages. He is awarded “Peace at Home” Award, California Senate 2002 and the Rollie Mullen Award from Stand! Against Domestic Violence, 2003, and awarded the Certificate of Appreciation in recognition of his contribution against domestic violence by Nancy E. O'Malley, District Attorney of Alameda County, State of California, March, 2018. He was awarded and recognized as the Best Social and Religious anchorman at NOOR TV, 2008. At the International Islamic Conference of Peace and Justice in Dublin, Ireland, Dr Younos was awarded the Distinguished Ambassador of Islam and visionary of Peace Award, 2010. In January of 2011, The Afghan community in Edmonton, Canada, awarded Dr Younos with the trophy of “Lighting the way for the Afghan Diaspora.”
Dr Younos has been invited and sponsored numerous times by Afghans and Americans in Europe, Canada as well as in the US to speak about Islam and Afghanistan and the Middle East. It was June of 2010 that he submitted his peace plan for Afghanistan to the US Congress, and he was called by the Congressman Denis Kucinich (D) of Ohio for a Congressional briefing where he proposed and promoted for the first time in that institution an Islamic democratic political system for Afghanistan.
2008-2009, academic year he was honored to have his students nominate him for the university’s
“Outstanding Professor Award,” at California State University East Bay where he taught sociology, human development theories, methodology of research, Farsi language, cultural anthropology of the Middle East and Islamic philosophy at the College of Literature, Art and Social Sciences. Dr Younos taught sociology and Islamic Sociology online at Herat University, Afghanistan and was awarded a Letter of Appreciation for excellent teaching by the Chancellor of Herat University Dr. Abdullah Faiz, May 6, 2018. He is officially retired in 2017, but continue to conduct research and engage in community affairs worldwide. Dr Younos lives in the United States since November 1979.
​
​
FIRST INTERVIEW ABOUT
ISLAMIC DEMOCRACY, ROAD MAP TO PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST
​
7 OCTOBER 2020
Article
Islamic Marriage and Financial/ Property Obligations
by Prof Dr Farid Younos
​
Nikah (wedlock) in Islam is a social contract not a sacred matrimony. This means either party can nullify the contract. In this contract men and women are independent of each other financially and property wise. This means neither the husband nor the wife has access to each other’s assets, property, income, retirement account and any other financial means. However, women do receive dowry in the form of cash or property before signing the contract. This is because before the advent of Islam ordinary women, lower-class or middle-class women did not have any financial or property rights. The Qur’an (Islamic scripture), assigned for women a dowry to prevent any sort of abuse by men. Dowry can be paid in advance or anytime a woman request. It should be paid or offered without question. If it is not paid in advance and the husband files for divorce, he must pay her dowry before concluding the divorce. If a woman has received dowry at the time of marriage and she files for divorce, and her husband does not have any shortcoming or defects, she must return her dowry back to her husband. This means if a husband is a nice person, provides sustenance and does not have any moral or social problem but still if a woman is not happy with her marriage, she can file for divorce. If a woman files for divorce, the husband must divorce her immediately without question. If the husband violates Islamic jurisprudence and does not divorce her, the judge in the city or town they reside in must divorce the woman. Marriage contracts in Islam can be nullified by both parties, a man or a woman. If the divorce is demanded by a woman it is called Khola. In Islam no one has the right to deprive someone from freedom and liberty. In Islamic jurisprudence, a mediator or family counselor or the judge does not have the right to ask the reason for divorce. This is because there may be some issues between a husband and wife that they do not want to disclose for the purpose of dignity and integrity of either the man or the woman.
In Islam the husband is the provider not the wife. This means he is responsible of all sustenance including health insurance for his wife. If he is not capable and able to provide sustenance as it is his responsibility, he has two options: he can divorce his wife because he is not able to provide her or live with his wife without any financial expectations. If his wife is working and she agrees to support her husband, that is her choice not an obligation. She can agree to live with her husband and provide him with family sustenance in order to avoid divorce. She shares her income or property as she please but it is not her obligation. This is because, according to Islam, one thing that God allows but hates is divorce. Sometimes a woman does not want to divorce her husband and is ready to provide for him because he cannot find a job or has lost his job. When communists took over in Afghanistan and many husbands either went to prison for no reason or lost their jobs, women did not ask for divorce. On the contrary, Afghan women became the provider and saved their marriage and family. Again, if a woman for any reason becomes the provider, which would be her own will not an obligation then the husband does not have any access to her income or property. Also, if a woman wants to purchase property or invest her capital, she can do it on her own and the husband is not entitled to co-sign for her purchase. He is not part of the deal or investment. If the husband files for divorce then he has no right to ask for his wife’s assets, income, retirement account or property. He can simply file for divorce and separate with dignity and integrity. According to the Quran they should either live with dignity or divorce with dignity without harming each other.
