http://www.religiousconsultation.org/hassan.htm
The Religious
Consultation on Population, Reproductive Health & Ethics
“Members, One
of Another: Gender Equality and Justice in Islam”
By Riffat Hassan
Department of
Religious Studies
University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky
Introduction
What I will say may
surprise both Muslims who "know" women's place and non-Muslims who
"know" what Islam means for women. It is this: I am a Muslim, a
theologian, and a women's rights activist, and while I am critical
in a number of ways of the life that most Muslim societies offer
to women, twenty years of theological study, as well as my own
deepest faith, convince me that in real Islam, the Islam of the
Qur'an, women and men are equals. Liberating ideas lie at the
heart of most enduring faiths, and Islam shares in these. Two
themes in particular strike me as being of the highest importance.
The first is the fundamental equality of humans before God. The
other is religion's revolutionary aim of human liberation. From
religion should come freedom to seek understanding of the will of
God and life's purpose, and freedom to honor God's creation
through self-development and striving toward God's ends.
Unfortunately, most
Muslim societies also mirror a fault that has been noted by
feminist theologians in cultures shaped by other religions: the
gap between rhetoric of equality and the reality of profound
inequality between the lives of women and men. While Muslim women
continuously hear the refrain that Islam has given women more
rights than any other religious tradition, they continue to be
subjected to grossly unequal treatment.
Most Muslims --
women and men -- consider it self-evident that men are superior to
women. Going further, they justify many manifestations of
inequality as inherent in Islam. In fact, women are regarded in a
number of contemporary Muslim societies as less than fully human
because it is widely believed that in some contexts (such as
inheritance or witnessing to contracts), one man is equal to two
women. Most Muslim females, learning their culture's assumptions
even before they learn language, and denied the opportunity to
become educated, also internalize this belief.
The dominant,
patriarchal interpretations of Islam have fostered the myth of
women's inferiority in several ways. They have used sayings
attributed to the Prophet Muhammad (including disputed sayings) to
undermine the intent and teachings of the Qur'an, which Muslims
regard as the Word of God. They have taken Qur'anic verses out of
context and read them literally, ignoring the fact that the Qur'an
often uses symbolic language to portray deep truths. And they have
failed to account for the overriding ethical values of the Qur'an,
which stresses that human beings -- women as well as men -- have
been designated to be God's "khalifah" (vicegerent) on earth and
to establish a social order characterized by justice and
compassion.
A refutation of the
whole mosaic of arguments for women's lesser place would fill a
book. It might require a second book to explicate, proactively,
the Qur'an's vision of women's equality with men and what it might
mean in day-to-day life. For now, my hope here is simply to shake
false certainties about women in Islam and stimulate additional
study for the sake of empowering Muslim women.
The central
question is whether, according to normative Islam, women and men
are equal or unequal. It is clear to me that, according to the
perspective of the Qur'an, women and men are equal, and that women
are entitled to an equal opportunity along with men for the
actualization of their human potentialities. In fact, because of
its protective attitude toward all downtrodden and oppressed
classes, the Qur'an is particularly concerned about safeguarding
the rights of women, and much Qur'anic legislation is designed to
ensure that women are treated with justice in the home and in
society.
Islam
Seeks Liberation
The Qur'an holds
before us a sublime vision of our human potential, our destiny,
and our relationship with God. Its vision of human destiny is
apparent in the exalted proclamation: "Towards God is thy limit" [Surah
53:An- Najm:42]. With this attitude, the Qur'an seeks to liberate
all persons so that we may realize our potential fully. If all
Muslims were to pursue the values of the Qur'an, they would create
a Paradise of justice and peace on earth.
The means and ends
of human liberation are foundational themes of the Qur'an: justice
and the duty to strive for it, compassion for all things, the need
to strive continuously for the cause of God ("jihad fi sabil
Allah"). The most important form of "jihad" for contemporary
Muslims is "ijtihad," or the exercise of rational judgment to
understand the essential message of the Qur'an and to apply it to
particular circumstances. Central to this message is an ethic of
responsibility for our lives, for nature, and for the elimination
of all inequities and injustices from human society. According to
the Qur'an, justice is a precondition for peace: Without justice
-- between men and women, as between classes and between nations
-- there can be no peace in the world.
Indeed, a large
part of the Qur'an's concern is to free human beings from the
chains that bind them -- above all, authoritarianism and the blind
following of tradition. "Let there be no compulsion in religion,"
says the Qur'an [Surah 2:Al-Baqarah:256]. God tells the Prophet
Muhammad, "We made thee not one to watch over [others'] doings,
nor art thou set over them to dispose of their affairs" [Surah
6:Al-An'am:107]. The greatest guarantee of personal freedom lies
in the Qur'anic decrees that no one but God can limit human
freedom [Surah 42:Ash-Shura:21] and that "Judgment is Allah's
alone" [Surah 12:Yusuf:40]. As the eminent jurist Khalid M.
Ishaque pointed out, "The Qur'an gives to responsible dissent the
status of a fundamental right."(1)
Our right to
freedom includes the freedom to tell the truth, as one sees it.
Without this, other freedoms are a charade and a just society is
impossible. According to the Qur'an, truth is one of God's most
important attributes, and the Qur'an emphasizes that standing up
for the truth is a right and a responsibility that no Muslim may
disclaim, no matter how hard the truth may be to tell [Surah
4:An-Nisa':135]. Further, the Qur'an forbids others to harm those
who testify to the truth [Surah 2:Al-Baqarah:282].
The right to
freedom of thought and expression was exercised by Muslims in the
early centuries of Islam and was pivotal in the creation of an
Islamic civilization characterized by outstanding achievements in
diverse fields of knowledge. The early Muslims celebrated cultural
diversity and engaged in rigorous intellectual discussion. Here,
it is apt to mention Wilfred Cantwell Smith's comment that,
whereas the original Muslims believed in God, modern Muslims
believe in Islam.(2)
Centered in God and
self-critical, the original Muslims believed that although God had
given them the Qur'an and the Prophet had exemplified its
teachings, it was their responsibility to implement its message in
the "Islamic" societies that they were creating. These Muslims
read the Qur'an as an "open," rather than a "closed," text and
strove continually to understand its deeper meaning. This
intellectual striving ("ijtihad") -- which Allama Muhammad Iqbal,
poet-philosopher of Pakistan, calls "the principle of movement" in
history(3)
-- made the Muslims of the first three centuries dynamic and
creative peoples who paved the way for the European Renaissance.
It is a profound
tragedy and irony that today's Muslims, in large numbers, regard
Islam in monolithic terms and regard the "shari'ah" (the code
regulating all aspects of a Muslim's life) as fixed. In much of
the contemporary Muslim world, we see the substitution of
traditionalism for the exercise of ijtihad -- even a denial of the
right of ijtihad.
To me, being a
Muslim means renewing the cry of the modernists, "Back to the
Qur'an and forward with ijtihad." In the same vein, it means
acting on these words of Iqbal: "The teaching of the Qur'an that
life is a process of progressive creation necessitates that each
generation, guided but unhampered by the work of its predecessors,
should be permitted to solve its own problems."(4)
These are useful guidelines today for the liberation of all
Muslims, especially women, from traditional authoritarianism.
Human
Rights in the Qur'an
The Qur'an strongly
guarantees all fundamental human rights, without reserving them to
men alone. These rights are so deeply rooted in our humanness that
their denial or violation is tantamount to a negation or
degradation of that which makes us human. These rights came into
existence with us, so that we might actualize our human potential.
These rights not only provide us with the opportunity to develop
all of our inner resources, but they also hold before us a vision
of what God would like us to be, what God deems to be worth
striving for. The renunciation of a God-given right would be no
more virtuous than the refusal to utilize a God-given talent.
The first and most
basic right emphasized by the Qur'an is the right to be regarded
in a way that reflects the sanctity and absolute value of each
human life. Each person has the right not only to life but also to
respect, not by virtue of being a man or a woman, but by virtue of
being a human being. "Verily," states the Qur'an, "we have honored
every human being" [Surah 17:Al-Isra':70]. Human beings are deemed
worthy of esteem because, of all creation, they alone chose to
accept the "trust" of freedom of the will (Surah 33:Al-Ahzab:72).
Human beings can exercise freedom of the will because they possess
the rational faculty, which is what distinguishes them from all
other creatures (Surah 2:Al-Baqarah:30-34). Although human beings
can become "the lowest of the low," the Qur'an declares that they
have been made "in the best of moulds" (Surah 95:At-Tin:4-6),
having the ability to think, to have knowledge of right and wrong,
to do the good and to avoid the evil. Thus, on account of the
promise which is contained in being human, namely, the potential
to be God's vicegerent on earth, the humanness o fall human beings
is to be respected and considered an end in itself.
Flowing from this
primary right is the right to be treated with justice and equity.
The Qur'an puts great emphasis on the right to seek justice and
the duty to do justice. Justice encompasses both the concept that
all are equal and recognition of the need to help equalize those
suffering from a deficiency or loss.
Yet justice is not
absolute equality of treatment, since human beings are not equal
as far as their human potential or their human situation is
concerned. While each person's humanness commands respect, the
Qur'an also establishes the right to recognition of individual
merit. Merit depends not on gender or any other characteristic,
but only on righteousness. Righteousness consists of "just belief"
plus "just action," including faith, prayer, wealth- sharing,
equitable and compassionate behavior, and patience in the face of
hardship or difficulty.
Of importance to
women in the Muslim world today is the Qur'anic idea that justice
takes into account the unequal conditions of different groups of
people. This idea stems from the Qur'anic ideal of community, or "ummah,"
a word deriving from the root "umm," meaning mother. Like a good
mother with her children, the good community cares about the
well-being of all its members, offering particular support to the
downtrodden, oppressed, and "weak" classes. This includes women,
slaves, orphans, the poor and infirm, and minorities.
As discussed
earlier, another fundamental right is the right to be free of
traditionalism and authoritarianism. Instrumental here is the
right to seek knowledge, which the Qur'an emphasizes perhaps more
than any other right. Acquiring knowledge is a prerequisite for
evaluating the conditions of life and working toward the creation
of a just world. Denied knowledge, Muslim women are denied
justice.
Additionally, with
great implications for the status of Muslim women, human beings
possess the right to work, to earn, and to own property. This
right is not the monopoly of men. In Islam, everything belongs to
God, not to any person, and so every human being has the right to
a means of living. Given the Qur'an's recognition of women as
persons in their own right and not as adjuncts to men, the right
to earn a living is of great importance to women, and the Qur'an
entitles both women and men to the fruits of their labors.
Human beings also
have the right to develop their aesthetic sensibilities and the
right not only to survive but to thrive, to enjoy "the good life."
This requires self-actualization or development, which is not
possible without social justice. Not only an end in themselves,
women's rights are a basic component of social justice and a
fundamental aspect of creating a just society, in which all people
can actualize their God-given potential.
It is often said
that rights entail responsibility, meaning the responsibility not
to use rights to justify destructive behavior. Rights also entail
another kind of responsibility: the duty not to neglect them.
Rights given to us by God ought to be exercised, since everything
that God does is for "a just purpose," as pointed out by a number
of Qur'anic verses.
In short, as beings
in a covenantal relationship with God, we must strive to secure
and guard the rights which God has given us and which, therefore,
cannot be revoked by any temporal authority.
Sexism
Is Not Islam
Given the human
rights established by the Qur'an, how is it that Muslim women are
among the most voiceless and powerless "minorities" in the world?
One answer is that women's oppression -- including their
"protection" -- in the name of Islam is based on pre-Qur'anic,
non-Qur'anic theological assumptions and on patriarchal impulses
camouflaged in the language of popular piety. It also consists of
the simple fear of change.
The belief that
women are inferior to men derives, in my judgment, from three
fundamental theological assumptions or ideas that have played
pivotal roles not only in the Islamic, but also in the Christian
and Jewish, tradition. These three assumptions are:
1) God's primary
creation is man (Adam), since woman (Eve) is believed to have been
created from man's rib and is, therefore, ontologically derivative
and secondary. This idea has been the most damaging to women
throughout history, for if it is believed that man and woman were
created unequal by God, then they cannot become equal essentially,
at a subsequent time.
2) Woman (Eve) was
the primary agent of "man's Fall," or man's expulsion from
paradise. With enormous implications for women's sexuality, this
story undergirds the myth of feminine evil. Consequently, women
have been regarded as "the devil's gateway" -- a phrase adopted
from the early Christian Tertullian -- and treated with hatred,
suspicion, and contempt.
3) Woman was
created not only from man, but for man. Her existence, therefore,
is instrumental and not of fundamental importance.
Common though these
assumptions are, a correct reading of Qur'an does not support
them. The idea that Eve was created second, and is derivative --
which is found in the creation story in Genesis 2 -- is not found
in the Qur'an. In its thirty or so passages about human creation,
the Qur'an always speaks of the creation of humanity as a whole
("an-nas," "al-insan," "al-bashar"). The term "adam" (borrowed
from Hebrew, in which "adam" derives from "adamah," meaning
"earth") occurs twenty-five times in the Qur'an. In twenty-one
instances, it refers not to a specific person but to human beings
when they reach the stage of moral autonomy and become capable of
being God's vicegerents on earth. In the Qur'an, "Adam" represents
humanity, not just a male person. It is important to note that
there is no "Eve" in the Qur'an.
According to the
Qur'an, God created woman and man simultaneously, of like
substance, and in like manner. Several verses state that God
created man and women from a single life-cell or being. Both man
and women have male and female components [Surah
49:Al-Hujurat:13], and both together form the human species. It is
a clear teaching of the Qur'an that man and woman are equal in the
sight of God, and the Qur'an uses both feminine and masculine
terms and imagery to describe the creation of humanity from a
single source.
As for the second
assumption, the Qur'an does not state that Eve tempted and
deceived Adam, causing his "Fall" and expulsion from paradise; as
noted, Eve is not even mentioned by name in the Qur'anic text. In
Islam, the story of humanity's first act of disobedience is not
even the tale of a "Fall." Instead, as Iqbal writes, it shows
"man's rise from a primitive state of instinctive appetite to the
conscious possession of a free self, capable of doubt and
disobedience."(5)
God approved of this development of human will and therefore
forgave this first transgression.
Finally, woman was
not created to serve the ends of man, nor vice versa: both were
created to serve God's purpose. Both are called upon equally to be
righteous, and women and men are "members" and "protectors" of
each other.
In the face of this
truth about the Qur'an, how do Muslims rationalize the commonly
held theological misconceptions used to justify women's secondary
status? The answer is, largely, through the prevalent norms of
Muslim culture, which has incorporated the many sayings attributed
to the Prophet Muhammad that make up the Hadith literature, a
leading source of Islamic tradition. While the Qur'an has absolute
authority as God's Word and is therefore the primary source of
Islam, the Hadith literature has been the lens through which the
Qur'an has been interpreted through the ages. Reflecting the
culture of the seventh- and eighth-century Arab world, the sayings
voice the cumulative biases, against women, of the Jewish,
Christian, Hellenistic, and pre-Islamic Bedouin Arab traditions.
To take one
example, it is through the Hadith literature that the idea of
Eve's creation from Adam's rib entered the Muslim world.
Throughout Islamic history, certain "ahadith" (the plural of "hadith,"
a saying) have been used by patriarchal Muslim culture to
undermine the aim of the Qur'an to liberate women from the status
of chattels and make them free and equal to men.
As important as the
Hadith literature is, controversy surrounds every aspect of it,
from the authenticity of individual sayings to the literature as a
whole. In theory, all Muslim scholars agree that they must reject
any hadith that contradicts the Qur'an. Nevertheless, the ahadith
invoked to justify women's secondary status not only are retained,
but they enjoy overwhelming popularity among Muslims in general.
The belief of most
Muslims that the first woman was created from Adam's rib shows
that, in practice, the Hadith literature has displaced the
teaching of the Qur'an on women's creation. It is no wonder:
throughout most of Muslim history, the sources of Islamic
tradition have been interpreted only by Muslim men who have
arrogated to themselves the task of defining the ontological,
theological, sociological, and eschatological status of Muslim
women.
The challenge for
contemporary Muslim theologians who uphold gender equality and
justice is to analyze and refute time-honored understandings of
certain Qur'anic verses and ahadith that have been used against
women. Their task is to reinterpret these texts in the light of
the cardinal Islamic belief that God is just and that God's word
must reflect God's justice. Indeed, the Qur'an is full of verses
affirming the equality of women and men. I defy patriarchy's
theologians to reconcile these verses with any bias against women
or even relegation of women to a sheltered -- that is, inferior --
status. To wit(6):
Never will I suffer
to be lost
The work of any of you,
Be he male or female:
Ye are members, one of another
[Surah 3:Al-'Imran:195]
If any do deeds
of righteousness, --
be they male or female --
And have faith,
They will enter Heaven,
And not the least injustice
Will be done to them.
[Surah 4:An-Nisa':124]
The Believers, men
And women, are protectors,
One of another: they enjoin
What is just, and forbid
What is evil: they observe
Regular prayers, practice
Regular charity, and obey
God and His Apostle.
On them will God pour
His mercy: for God
Is Exalted in power, Wise.
God hath promised to Believers,
Men and women, Gardens
Under which rivers flow,
To swell therein,
And beautiful mansions
In Gardens of everlasting bliss.
But the greatest bliss
Is the Good Pleasure of God:
That is the supreme felicity.
[Surah 9:At-Tawbah:71-72]
Whoever works
righteousness,
Man or woman, and has Faith,
Verily, to him will We give
A new Life, a life
That is good and pure, and We
Will bestow on such their reward
According to the best
Of their actions.
[Surah 16:An-Nahl:97]
For Muslim men and
women, --
For believing men and women,
For devout men and women,
For true men and women,
For men and women who are
Patient and constant, for men
And women who humble themselves,
For men and women who give
In Charity, for men and women
Who fast (and deny themselves),
For men and women who
Engage much in God's praise, --
For them has God prepared
Forgiveness and great reward.
[Surah 23:Al-Mu'minum:35]
Men and women are
created as equal creatures of a universal, just, and merciful God
whose pleasure is that they live, in harmony and in righteousness,
together.
Manifestations of Inequality
Denying women the
right to interpret the Qur'an and the other sources of Islam,
patriarchal authorities have distorted the truth of Islam almost
beyond recognition. They have made Islam a means of keeping women
in bondage, physically and spiritually. The most gross violation
of human rights in Muslim societies is that of the rights of
women, who are deprived of the freedom to be fully human.
Female children are
discriminated against from the moment of birth. Many girls are
married when they are still minors, although marriage in Islam is
a contract and presupposes that the contracting parties are both
consenting adults. (The phenomenon of child marriages gives
special importance to the human right, recognized by the Qur'an,
to move freely and to emigrate from oppressive conditions.)
Ironically, while
the Qur'an often notes women's rights in marriage, the culture
regards a husband as his wife's gateway to heaven or hell. This is
not only tragic, but also ironic, as Islam rejects the idea of any
intermediary between a believer and the Creator.
While Islam may
have abolished female infanticide, "honor killings" of women by
their husbands remain common in certain Muslim countries.
Although the Qur'an
presents the idea of "no-fault" divorce and speaks of divorce
nonjudgmentally, Muslim societies make divorce legally and
socially hard on women. One means is the denial to mothers of
custody of their children.
Similarly
disempowering to women are pseudo-Islamic practices with regard to
inheritance. The Qur'an allowed women to inherit wealth and
receive similar gifts, but Muslim societies have discouraged gifts
to women and favored the circulation of wealth among men.
Modernity has not
brought justice to most Muslim women. Since the 1970s, several
countries have enacted laws in the name of "Islamization" that
reduce women's status, mathematically, to less than full humanity.
Such oppression of women serves to reinforce cultural identity and
express rejection of Western corruption. Controlling women is a
proxy for controlling sexuality, licentiousness, and the family
structure in which patriarchy is invested. Keeping women at home,
subservient and dependent, is both means and end.
More intensely than
many other societies, Muslim communities tend to divide the world
into private (women's) and public (men's) spheres. This structure
segregates the sexes. Women must wear veils to make themselves
"faceless" in public because women's intrusion into male space
might disrupt, if not destroy, the fundamental order of things.
Segregation and
enforced veiling -- together, the tradition of the "curtain" --
exemplify both the twisting of Qur'anic ideas and the adoption of
pre-Islamic traditions oppressing women. For instance, the purpose
of the Qur'anic statements about women's dress and conduct was to
enable women to transact business in the public realm, free from
sexual harassment or molestation. Zealous and patriarchal Muslims,
however, place form over substance. In the name of protecting
women's chastity (what about men's chastity?) women are veiled and
even confined to their homes -- at the expense of their freedom
and ability to engage in gainful work or other activity in the
public sphere. This grossly distorts the Qur'anic directive, in
which confinement was not the norm for chaste women, but the
punishment for unchaste ones.
The pre-Islamic
roots of this tradition also give the lie to the argument that
secluding women is a Qur'anic ideal. Veiling is part and parcel of
discriminatory ideas about women rooted in the Jewish and early
Christian traditions. These words of St. Paul are an example:
Christ is the source of every man, man
is the source of woman, and God is the source of Christ. For a man
to pray or prophesy with his head covered is a sign of disrespect
to his source. For a woman, however, it is a sign of disrespect to
her source if she prays or prophesies unveiled; she might as well
have her hair cut off. If a woman is ashamed to have her hair cut
off or shaved, she ought to wear a veil. A man should certainly
not cover his head, since he is the image of God and reflects
God's glory, but woman is the reflection of man's glory. For man
did not come from woman, and man was not created for the sake of
woman, but woman was created for the sake of man. [I Corinthians
11:3-9]
Family
Planning and Abortion
Control of women
centers largely on control of women's bodies. Beliefs that
identify women with the body, to the exclusion of the mind and
spirit, remain a common feature of many religious, cultural, and
philosophical traditions. Islam is no exception. Moreover, while
women are identified with the body, in these traditions they are
not seen as "owners" of their own bodies.
To control women's
sexuality is a means of controlling their bodies, and to control
(or deny) family planning is to govern women's sexuality. This is
why the matter of who controls women's bodies -- whether it is
men, the church, the state or community, or women themselves --
was a significant underlying issue of the United Nations
Conference on Population and Development in 1994, and why it will
resurface at the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995.
Women in most
Muslim societies have minimal access to reliable means of
contraception. This reflects the influence of conservative Muslims
who proclaim from public platforms and preach from the pulpits of
the mosques that family planning is against Islam. Like the
traditions of veiling and confinement, denial of family planning
supports male ownership and control of women, both directly and
symbolically.
The Qur'an does not
directly address contemporary family planning issues -- a silence
that in itself indicates neither support nor opposition nor a lack
of relevant principles. Instead, the open text of the Qur'an
establishes an ethical framework in which it is appropriate to
discuss family planning questions. (The Qur'an does include both
pronatal verses and verses directed toward population control. Of
the three, mutually contradictory ahadith concerning the
withdrawal method of contraception, two imply that it is
acceptable.)
Given Islam's
religious and ethical framework, family planning itself should be
seen as a fundamental human right, especially for masses of
disadvantaged Muslim women. \
Among the
principles supporting women's access to family planning services
are the equality of women with men, the entitlement to respect for
one's humanity, the right to justice and equity, the right to be
free of traditionalism and authoritarianism, the right to privacy,
the right to gain knowledge and use one's reason, the right to
work and earn and own property, the right to move freely, and the
right to enjoy life. Family planning helps women and men to secure
and exercise these fundamental human rights. The rights to respect
and freedom from authoritarianism, suspicion, and slander, in
particular, also respond to the belief, still held by some, that
contraceptives make it possible for women to engage in licentious
behavior without penalty.
Several additional
Qur'anic principles support those who choose to use family
planning.
First, each
individual is responsible for his or her actions. Although the
Qur'an calls God the sustainer of all creation, it does not
absolve individuals or communities of responsibility for their
survival and well-being. Rather, it reminds human beings that we
are responsible for our deeds -- indeed, for our souls [Surahs
74:Al-Muddaththir:38 and 52:At- Tur:21: "for itself lies every
soul in pledge"]. Similarly, the Qur'an notes that reason is what
elevates us above other creatures, that righteous belief demands
righteous action, and that God asks us to change ourselves as a
precondition of changing our conditions. All these ideas support
human responsibility where reproduction is concerned.
Finally, the Qur'an
does not make a requirement of marriage or childbearing. Nor does
it follow pre-Islamic traditions that sanctify sperm itself as the
equal of human life. The quality, or righteousness, of people is
more important than their quantity.
A review of Muslim
jurisprudence shows that many jurists have considered abortion to
be permissible within the first 120 days of pregnancy for a number
of reasons. Traditionally, scholars have distinguished between the
impermissible abortion of an ensouled fetus and the permissible
abortion of a fetus not yet ensouled. There are differences among
the authorities as to whether a compelling reason is required for
abortion and what constitutes a compelling reason.
Pursuing
Justice
The Qur'an not only
offers women justice, but requires all Muslims to seek justice,
including their own rights. It is not enough merely to appreciate
one's rights in theory. Muslims are called upon, in oppressive
conditions, to strive to make possible the exercise of the rights
given by God.
Male-centered and
male-dominated Muslim societies assert, glibly and tirelessly,
that Islam has given women more rights than any other religion.
Meanwhile, they keep women in physical, mental, and emotional
confinement, depriving them of the opportunity to actualize their
human potential. A deeply symbolic and pragmatically devastating
case in point is that, while literacy rates are low in many Muslim
countries, literacy rates of Muslim women -- especially in the
rural areas where most of the Muslim people live -- are among the
lowest in the world.
It is only because
the masses of Muslim women are steeped in poverty and illiteracy
that oppressive ideas have been accepted and tolerated for so
long. Until recent times, the vast majority of Muslim women have
remained wholly or largely unaware of their "Islamic" (in an ideal
sense) rights. Even privileged, educated Muslim women -- like
women of other religious traditions -- have been denied
systematically the opportunity to acquire the critical tools for
examining the roots of their tradition and discovering how they
became so disadvantaged. Their exclusion disables their response.
The negative ideas
about women that prevail in Muslim societies are rooted in certain
theological ideas. Until we demolish the theological foundations
of Muslim culture's misogynistic and androcentric tendencies,
Muslim women will suffer discrimination despite statistical
improvements in education, employment, and political rights.
Islamic tradition will remain rigidly patriarchal until we break
the chains of ignorance in which women are shackled.
Ultimately, it will
be up to Muslim women, once educated about Islam and their rights,
to articulate in a proactive fashion the meaning of their lives,
their selves. Reacting against the Western model of liberation no
longer suffices. What is required is a positive formulation of
their own goals and objectives, individually and collectively.
Although prevailing
conditions seem to be far from desirable, I believe strongly that
there is hope for the future. There are indications that an
increasing number of Muslims are, in fact, returning to the Qur'an
and attempting to apply its teachings to reform Muslim practices.
With the efforts of women and human rights activists who are
striving to actualize the liberating vision of the Qur'an -- and
with the help of God -- more and more Muslim women will become
educated and aware. As this happens, they will reject the myths
and arguments by which religious hierarchs imprison their bodies,
hearts, minds, and souls. Then they will grow into whole human
beings, free of guilt and fear, secure in the knowledge that they
are equal to men in the sight of God and that, therefore, they
must not be unequal to men in any human society.
Notes
1. K.M. Ishaque,
"Islamic Law -- Its Ideals and Principles," in A. Gauher, ed., The
Challenge of Islam (London: The Islamic Council of Europe, 1980),
p. 157.Back
to Text
2. Wilfred Cantwell
Smith, Islam in Modern History (Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press, 1957).
Back to Text
3. Allama Muhammad
Iqbal, The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam (Lahore:
Shaikh Muhammad Ashraf, 1962); the quotation here is from Lecture
6, "The Principle of Movement in the Structure of Islam."
Back to Text
4. Ibid., p. 168.Back
to Text
5. Ibid., p. 85.
Back to Text
6. The translations
of the five passages quoted here are from 'Abdullah Yusuf 'Ali,
The Holy Qur'an, New Revised Edition, (Brentwood, MD: Amana
Corporation, 1989).Back
to Text
Riffat Hassan: Are Human Rights Compatible with Islam?
The Issue of the Rights of Women in Muslim Communities