The sexism in our
society is a problem that many of us recognise and despise.
Unfortunately, it also seems that our male 'elite' do not agree
with the scientific facts in front of them that show them men and
women are equal ---- and more importantly, the facts stated in
the Quran.
We have two major types in our Ummah that have these feelings;
firstly, the woman who realises that her innate nature is not of
one of submission to her husband, regardless of what her husband
may say, and secondly, the man who is intelligent enough to
realise the same.
I share completely in the feelings in our brother Bilal; too many
women in our Ummah have been subjected to severe abuse due to the
'elitist' attitude of many male Muslims. The Quran began a
'revolution' in which women were given rights by Islam and
unfortunately, many of even those rights have been disregarded by
male Muslims, due to their own egos and desire to run the world.
They sho uld recognise that God alone is the Master, and they
have only married their wives in His permission.
We have to stop thinking that any rights due to women have to be
'given' by men. It is completely self-defeating; the woman is
only taking back what is rightfully her's. The man is at fault,
and the return of the woman's rights should never be construed as
one of pity but more of shameful guilt on the man's part.
I will take this opportunity to answer the points raised by
Brother Bilal, and God willing, this will add to the drive in our
Ummah to give back to to women what is rightfully theirs. Let the
men know; they are NOT superior to the women; they are EQUAL.
"-Why is that they
should not demand their rights that they are being denied BY
MUSLIM MEN ALL OVER THE WORLD!!"
Because many
Muslim men are afraid that they will lose their place as the
dominant sex. But lose it they will, for the spirit of the
woman is just as strong as that of men, and in many instances,
stronger.
"Why are they told
to "sit at home and pray"??!!!"
I speculate that
VERY few Muslim men say this out of love for their wives,
fearful of what may happen to them when they step out into the
street. But women are not children. And far often than not,
this attitude takes place upon those men who believe that women
are inferior to them.
"Did not the
Prophet say in his last sermon "Do not oppress and do not be
oppressed"?? But of course, this only applies to men?"
The brother has
a very good point. Remember this well, male members of our
Ummah; who knows, maybe the Muslim women of our nation will
rise up in a world-wide revolution and demand that the men back
off!
"The great muslim
men who beat their wives"
Against Muslim
law. The prophet personally rejected any corporal punishment on
any his wives, and told the Muslims that the best among them
were the ones who were best with their wives. Some ignorant
Muslims have taken it upon them to interpret verse 4:34 as a
weapon to attack their wives; but any learned Muslim will know
that this does not permit wife beating (which is actually a
great crime). Some people are of the view that this refers to a
symbolic flick of a towel, or fan or any other similar
instrument that does not leave any physical harm at all but
serves as a sign that the marriage is in grave danger. Others
hold this refers to crimes that a woman may do (drinking
herself into a stupor, etc) and affirm that similar punishments
are applicable to men. Still, such a punishment would not
involve any physical anguish.
There are
several authentic traditions that clearly forbid the beating of
wives; this one is the most blatant:
"Never beat God's handmaidens."
The prophet stipulated in his farewell pilgrimage, as scholars
such as Muhammed Asad are quick to point out, that the
'beating' if resorted to at all should not be more than
symbolic, and even then only when the wife has been exceedingly
blatant in immoral actions.
Should the man be guilty of similar actions, punishment should
also take
place.
"force their
daughters into marriage"
THIS IS AGAINST
ISLAM. The story of the girl who was forced into a marriage is
well known to the people of Islam. She went to the prophet and
complained. The prophet said,
"Very well;
since you were forced into this marriage, you are free to annul
it."
"don't take care
of their kids"
Again, the duty
of raising their children is an essential part of man's life.
The responsibility does NOT lie on the woman alone; the father
has a duty to participate. If he doesn't, however, it is his
own loss; he will be the loser, as he will realise when he is
old and grey and realises that he has missed out on his
children's childhood.
"do not lend a
hand in house work?"
These people
follow the prophet? Do they forget that he always helped in the
household chores?
""Oh, but you see,
the men who do these things are not muslims at all!" What a nice
response. But what should the women do in these situations?"
It is
unfortunately a dilema. Of course, the men should not act in
this way, but if the women do not come forth, how are the
authorities supposed to react? However, real pressure should be
applied upon the authorities to listen to the women and the
religious learned people should demand from their male
followers that they follow Islam in these regards.
Sister 'philosophia'
brings up the question of polygamy. Let us remember that
polygamy, contrary to many Muslim and non-Muslim opinions, is not
the norm, but rather the exception, and that monogamy encouraged,
not discouraged.
She also brings up the issue of feminism. Personally, I have
gleaned much more about Islam by reading 'feminist' Muslim
writings, and 'Western' Muslim writings. Because they have found
the courage (and believe me, it is courage, not blasphemy in
spite of what many may think) to break free of cultural
restraints, and have delved into understanding the religion of
Islam, rather than simply adhere to the letter of the law.
'Feminism' is a fundamental part of Islam; it was when the last
prophet started to preach his message, and it still should be
today. I am sure that the early Muslims also had these 'problems'
with Muslim 'feminists'. They at least had an excuse and a
remedy; the excuse was that they were li ving in the era just
after the time of ignorance, and they had the prophet to
enlighten them. We, on the other hand, have no such excuse, since
it is almost universally recognised that man and woman are equal,
and we do not have the same remedy; the prophet is not among us
to guide us.
All we have are the Quran and the hadiths, from which we should
be able to identify many concrete principles of equality. And of
course, we have our own human heart. Brother Bilal is
understandably upset at these developments in the 'Muslim' world.
I recall reading an incident during the Bosnian war when a woman
on the front line was ordered by a foreign Arab man to get off
the battle field. She shot him in the foot.
I do not know about you, but I personally chuckled approvingly at
that. I'm not saying that all Muslim women should shoot their
husbands in the foot (although, in some cases, this would be
better than worse!), but men should get rid of their mentality
that they are s uperior to women, seizing upon short-sighted
interpretations into a tiny number of verses in the Quran. Let
them take the Quran as a whole, and recognise, regardless of
their tendencies, that women are completely equal to them.
However, I have to disagree with one point that the honourable
sister made: she said that we had passed through the Islamic
Golden Age. I believe that we have yet to come that far.
The best, insha'allah, is still coming.
WRITTEN BY AN ARAB MALE.
Peace be unto you all
Hisham Zoubeir
20 March 1998.