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RIGHTS
OF WOMEN: QUR’ANIC IDEALS VERSUS
MUSLIM PRACTICE
Adapted
from Riffat Hassan
Professor of Religious
Studies - Louisville University
Muslim
men never tire of repeating that Islam
has given more rights to women than has
any other religion. Certainly, if by “Islam”
is meant “Qur’anic Islam” and the
“Islam” practiced by the Prophet,
his Companions and the later, pious
generations, the rights that it has
given to women are, indeed, impressive.
Not only do women partake of all the “General
Rights” mentioned in the foregoing
pages, they are also the subject of much
particular concern in the Qur’an.
However unfortunately, some national and
geographical customs and traditions have
clouded the status of women in some
Muslim communities.
Muslims
say with great pride that Islam
abolished female infanticide; true, but,
it must also be mentioned that one of
the crimes in a number of Muslim
countries is the murder of women by
their husbands. These so-called “honor-killings”
are, in fact, extremely dishonorable and
are frequently used to camouflage other
kinds of crimes.
Female
children are discriminated against from
the moment of birth, for it is customary
in some Muslim societies to regard a son
as a gift, and a daughter as a trial,
from God. Therefore, the birth of a son
is an occasion for celebration while the
birth of a daughter calls for
commiseration if not lamentation. Many
girls are married when they are still
minors, even though marriage in Islam is
a contract and presupposes that the
contracting parties are both consenting
adults. Even though so much Qur’anic
legislation is aimed at protecting the
rights of women in the context of
marriage] women cannot claim equality
with their husbands. The husband, in
fact, is regarded as his wife’s
gateway to heaven or hell and the
arbiter of her final destiny. That such
an idea can exist within the framework
of Islam - which, in theory, rejects the
idea of there being any intermediary
between a believer and God - represents
both a profound irony and a great
tragedy.
Although
the Qur’an presents the idea of what
we today call a “no-fault” divorce
and does not make any adverse judgements
about divorce, Muslim societies have
made divorce extremely difficult for
women, both legally and through social
penalties. Although the Qur’an states
clearly that the divorced parents of a
minor child must decide by mutual
consultation how the child is to be
raised and that they must not use the
child to hurt or exploit each other, in
some Muslim societies, women are
deprived both of their sons (generally
at age 7) and their daughters (generally
at age 12). It is difficult to imagine
an act of greater cruelty than depriving
a mother of her children simply because
she is divorced. Although polygamy was
intended by the Qur’an to be for the
protection of orphans and widows, in
practice some Muslims have made it the
Sword of Damocles which keeps women
under constant threat. Although the Qur’an
gave women the right to receive an
inheritance not only on the death of a
close relative, but also to receive
other bequests or gifts during the
lifetime of a benevolent caretaker, some
Muslim societies have disapproved
greatly of the idea of giving wealth to
a woman in preference to a man, even
when her need or circumstances warrant
it. Although the purpose of the Qur’anic
legislation dealing with women’s dress
and conduct, was to make it safe for
women to go about their daily business
(since they have the right to engage in
gainful activity as witnessed by Surah
4: An-Nisa’ :32 without fear of sexual
harassment or molestation, Muslim
societies have put many of them behind
veils and shrouds and locked doors on
the pretext of protecting their
chastity, forgetting that according to
the Qur’an, confinement to their homes
was not a normal way of life for chaste
women but a punishment for “unchastity”.
Woman
and man, created equal by God and
standing equal in the sight of God, have
become unequal in some Muslim societies.
The Qur’anic description of man and
woman in marriage: “They are your
garments/ And you are their garments”
(Surah 2: Al-Baqarah: 187) implies
closeness, mutuality, and equality.
However, the culture of some Muslim
societies has reduced many, if not most,
women to the position of puppets on a
string, to slave-like creatures whose
only purpose in life is to cater to the
needs and pleasures of men. Not only
this, it has also had the audacity and
the arrogance to deny women direct
access to God. It is one of Islam’s
cardinal beliefs that each person -man
or woman- is responsible and accountable
for his or her individual actions. How,
then, can the husband become the wife’s
gateway to heaven or hell? How, then,
can he become the arbiter not only of
what happens to her in this world but
also of her ultimate destiny? Such
questions are now being articulated by
an increasing number of Muslim women and
they are bound to threaten the existing
balance of power in the domain of family
relationships in most Muslim societies.
However,
despite everything that has gone wrong
with the lives of many Muslim women down
the ages due to patriarchal culture
formed by local customs and traditions,
there is hope for the future. There are
indications from across the world of
Islam that a growing number of Muslims
are beginning to reflect seriously upon
the teachings of the Qur’an as they
become disenchanted with capitalism,
communism and other western systems. As
this reflection deepens, it is likely to
lead to the realization that the supreme
task entrusted to human beings by God
can only be accomplished by establishing
justice which the Qur’an regards as a
prerequisite for authentic peace.
Without the elimination of the
inequities, inequalities, and injustices
that pervade the personal and collective
lives of human beings, it is not
possible to talk about peace in Qur’anic
terms. Here, it is of importance to note
that there is more Qur’anic
legislation pertaining to the
establishment of justice in the context
of family relationships than on any
other subject. This points to the
assumption implicit in much Qur’anic
learning, namely, that if human beings
can learn to order their homes justly so
that the human rights of all within its
jurisdiction - children, women, and men
- are safeguarded, then they can also
order their society and the world at
large, justly. In other words, the Qur’an
regards the home as a microcosm of the
“umma” and the world community, and
emphasizes the importance of making it
“the abode of peace” through just
living.
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