Women's rights in Islam

¶ … Misunderstood Role of Women in Islam

The Islamic faith represents one of the most widely spread and acknowledged religions in the world. Often misunderstood and even more often exploited, members of the Muslim faith have developed an identity in the modern world which is problematically associated to such issues as regional conflict, global terrorism and internal mistreatment of women. However, an examination of Islam finds it to be a deeply complex faith based in a rich history of tradition and progressiveness. First and foremost to that tradition is the relevance of its theological code of laws to everyday life of observant Muslims, which though today are perceived as only helping to intensify the stigma surrounding the people, are nonetheless a self-contained moral paradigm and, in fact, a slew of promises to such oft-mistreated groups as Muslim women. Though current geopolitical conflicts tend to demonstrate a contrary behavior by many Islamic societies, the core doctrines of the Islamic faith, in the core text known as the Quran and in the accompanying code of laws called Sh'riah, tend to favor the establishment of respect for the familial roles of women and the accord of protections for certain female rights otherwise undermined by unrestrained behaviors of varying pre-Muslim societies and tribal communities.

With particular consideration to the Sh'riah, the Islamic code for living is itself produced by a coalescence of sources found in its contextual surrounding which demonstrate its core interest in the improvement of the ethical disposition of society as would impact the standing of women. In many ways, early Islamic doctrine would therefore echo the existing faiths and their respective mythologies, using such as a template for ethical reform. These parallels are important to understanding the way that the Islamic faith will tend to perceive women and their roles in a morally reformed society.

Thus, we note that the mythology encompassing Islam is common to that of such prior established faiths as Judaism and Christianity. Each religion's receipt of its original doctrine of law tells the story of a man chosen by God to serve as a prophet to his people. Just as a God sends an angel messenger to Moses in the form of a burning bush invoking him to free his enslaved Hebrew brethren from the Egyptians, so too does God dispatch the angel Gabriel to make first contact with the founding father of Islam, Muhammed, who was himself engaged in a struggle against the oppression of the Roman Empire. For both, this seraphic encounter would be followed by a direct communion with God in receipt of the law of the people. We understand this as we have in the context of other faiths as a dictation of the role of man in his communion with God. By selecting Muhammed as the prophet through whom to channel his messages to the people, Allah would designate the male gender as predisposed to this type of spiritual communion with God. As we enter into a discussion hereafter on the part which family plays in defining the role of Muslim women, we will also come to understand the manner in which that spiritual connection may actually be said to be stronger in the part which women must inherently play.

Returning to the understanding of Muhammed as the representative man, we note that in many ways, Moses and Muhammed may be perceived as twin pillars on a single continuum. Indeed, "Muhammed regarded himself as the last prophet of the Judaic-Christian tradition. He adopted aspects of these older religion's theologies while introducing new doctrines." (Katz, 1) Thus, it is not surprising that upon its inception into the world at around 570 CE, the Islamic religion produced a legal code which was monotheistic, centered on the prescription of ethical law and applicable in both the theocratic and civil arenas.

This law would likewise predispose the Muslim people to many rituals which echoed those of the Judeo Christian ethic. Like Jesus Christ before him, Muhammed was fundamentally a reformer of theological law, and thus, the first prophet to a new religious entity. As a result, many of the laws contained in the Sh'riah are more conservative variations on existent Christian and Jewish law, such as with the practice of worship. One of the most well-recognized feature of the Islamic religion to the outsider is this practice. "Every Muslim is obliged to pray 5 times a day. He has to choose a mosque for prayers, if not he should turn towards the direction of Mecca from wherever he is." (Suresh, 3) the distinct choice of phraseology here, as had often been the case in the developing Jewish and Christian faiths, would refer to 'He' in discussion the spiritual Muslim, with the core understanding that it was the man's responsibility to commune with God so directly and regularly. For the Muslim woman, that opportunity is forthcoming in what the Muslim faith, like the Jewish and Christian faiths before it, perceived to be the closest possible spiritual connection with God in the form of the gift of child-bearing. And just as with the natural inheritance from God of the tradition of prayer as given to the first man of Islam, there is a meaningful parable which denotes the natural inheritance of this role in reflection of God for women. In a discussion here below on the tradition of the Hajj -- the pilgrimage which all Muslims must make to Mecca at some juncture in their lives -- we will touch upon the important role played by Hagar, the mother of Ishmael and the exiled mid-wife of Jewish patriarch Abraham. This will highlight both the parallels made between Judeo-Christian tradition and Islam, but will also indicate with great certainty the importance of motherhood to the persistence of the Islamic religion. In Hagar, we find that the faith is actually drawn by root to the presence of a matriarchal figure more akin to the Madonna.

The Hajj is the most sacred act in the spiritual life of the Muslim, requiring each man with the means and health to make this pilgrimage at least once in his life with many repeating the ritual multiple times, retracing the steps of Abraham, Hagar and Mohammed in observation of the faith. Mecca, Saudi Arabia, is considered the holiest site of the Islamic faith, containing the massive cubic shrine known as the Kabaa, where it is believed that Abraham laid the first stones. Again, though the Hajj is also required of women, there is without question a sense that the obligation of this pilgrimage is instructed upon men, who must make the physical journey as a demonstration of faith. For women, it is accepted that where it is not possible to otherwise make this journey, it should be done at least once in life with no further obligation. Many men will otherwise feel impelled to repeat the pilgrimage semi-regularly. Again, it has been held by many Islamic women who by point of belief decline to take this pilgrimage that the nine months of pregnancy in which a woman becomes a channel for creation and thus a conduit for God are reflective of the same commitment, sacrifice and faith. As a testament both to this connection and to the idea that one must be ritually purified in order to enter Mecca, "bathing for Ihram is Sunnah for both men and women, including menstruating women and those experiencing postnatal bleeding. After bathing and preparing himself, a. pilgrim, other than those menstruating or experiencing postnatal bleeding, prays the obligatory prayer, if it is time. Otherwise, he makes his intention by praying the two Sunnah Rakass which are made each time Wudhu is performed." (Al-Uthaimeen, 1) for women in the aforementioned condition, the Hajj is not required.

The purposes of the pilgrimage are manifold, with the observation of a set of scripturally-based rituals designing the geographical path and the actions of the event. Beyond these, the notion of community is inherently emphasized by the enormous gathering which moves in concert from one pilgrimage site to another across almost two weeks. A key principle to which pilgrims are expected to adhere is that of Ihram, which dictates a patience, courtesy and respect to one another Ihram is importantly also the name used for the two piece sheet designed to create a uniform physical presence of young and old, rich and poor, Arab or otherwise, all alike. Indeed, both men and women will don the Ihram for performance of the sacred rituals related to the pilgrimage. (Al-Uthaimeen, 1) All dressed in the spare white worshipping uniform, pilgrims will form a sea by which god can only identify the hearts and souls of men, with their physical appearances blending into one field.

Here, we can observe the ordinal steps of ritual which define the pilgrimage, specifically as they relate to the prophets of Islam. The arrival upon the Kabaa, towards which Muslims specifically face when they pray five times a day from anywhere in the world, must be followed by seven passes around the massive object. A view of this event captures an incredible sea of worshippers flowing like a human river in the footsteps of the prophet Mohammed, who it is said arrived at this spot some 1400 years ago to pay homage to Abraham.

The role of the woman as it is understood through the ritual reenactments are quite different from the unequal stance which is often assumed of Muslim women today, with Hagar and Ishmael given tribute as well. Exiled to the dessert valley that would become Mecca, Hagar would give birth to the numerous Arab peoples, and would be enabled to do so by the salvation of the angel Gabriel. In many ways, this story parallels the matriarchal role of the Madonna to Christianity, who was likewise guided by an angel in a time of crisis. Islam tells that Gabriel was sent down to bring water to Hagar in the desert in the midst of her frantic search. With quick-footed urgency, the pilgrims reenact this pivotal event by rushing between the two mountains where this was said to take place, seven times back and forth. This tradition helps to reinforce the important place of motherhood in the Islamic faith. Indeed, the sight and notion of thousands of Muslim men paying tribute to their spiritual mother is a moving demonstration of the spiritual importance of women and the high regard in which they are held by the original pretenses of the modern faith.

Following this event, on the 8th day of the Hajj, the pilgrims walk to the Mina valley, five full miles from Mecca. There are some traditions which are concerned with mass actions of a horde of worshippers, engaged in aggressive ritual reenactments of the religion's prophets. It is herein that we capture a glimpse of the hysteria and danger that are inherent in crowds of this scale, and which also test the limits of the state of ihram. In the al-jamarat, which witnesses the pilgrims reenacting Abraham's stoning of the devil in retaliation for tempting him to disobey god, three pillars are representative of Satan. The millions who have carried stones along the way of their pilgrimage will for days crowd the pillars and pelt the center. This can be a very dangerous event in which, historically, hundreds of people have been annually crushed and killed in a rush of enraptured bodies. Such traditions as this one make the Hajj a place of some peril to women. It is thus that the Hajj falls under the watchful umbrella of the Sh'riah. Here, it is demanded that women who will be making the pilgrimage travel either with a husband or with a male family member. As the legal code dictates, it is considered unacceptable for a women to travel for a length of more than two nights from home without this type of accompaniment. This is largely regarded as a means intended for the general protection of women against aggression, exploitation or unwanted sexual engagement which applies with specificity to the undertaking of the Hajj and its inherent demand that one spend roughly two weeks away from home. (Al-Uthaimeen, 1)

Another aspect of this pilgrimage which distinguishes the approach to be taken by men and by women in the performance of ritual also refers to everyday ritual and prayer in the Islamic faith. The counsel regarding even the audibility of the praying is considered with men and women instructed differently on the subject. Namely, it is said that "a man raises his voice when saying this and a woman says it so that only one beside her may hear her." (Al-Uthaimeen, 1) There are a number of ways to interpret this instruction which will depend largely upon the perspective of the interpreter. The Western perspective, already biased to the position the Islam is inherently gender unequal, will interpret this as a means to undermining female worship or a means of socially restraining the public presentation of women. However, a more neutral interpretation will again suggest that the connection inherently stated between woman and God in the context of motherhood denotes a lesser need to so vocally prostrate one's self.

This repeated focus on the high value placed upon the role of motherhood in the Islamic faith is underscored by the textual and social doctrines consistent in Islam, which promote familial obligations above all others. In relation to the defined importance of its legal coding, Islam is intensely focused on "the crucial role of the family in human society and therefore insists on assigning different well-defined roles to men and women." (Murad, 1) Particularly, women are assigned a role of domesticity that is forged by matriarchy. With motherhood serving as the cornerstone to the perpetuation of a religion that emphasizes shared community values as a means to preserving itself, women are considered to be responsible for the household and all which occurs therein. To the interpretation of the faithful, this is a very positive role for the women in the context of Islam.

Men, nonetheless, are seen as the household's head, responsible for bringing income to the home, for doling out authority and for determining the family's social rank. The religion will make the contention that the distinction in roles does not represent a hierarchical separation but an equality based on shared responsibility. However, as we will touch upon in discussions on the current disposition and contexts in which Islam is practiced, the extremity of Sh'riah interpretation often results in the subjugation of women, who in many settings are not permitted to pursue the same social, educational or professional opportunities as are men. Likewise, the practice whereby modesty in women is enforced by the requirement to remain covered in public implies a sense of ownership for the man which cannot be transgressed.

This is an issue which can be explored to its greatest depth with consideration of the head-covering tradition which serves as one of Islam's most visible symbols and as one of its most consistently criticized traditions. An article which engages differing viewpoints from within the Muslim faith on the subject helps to move this discussion into an illuminating direction. The article printed by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network recounts the discourse engaged by a panel discussion on the Kosovo-based television show, Life in Kosovo. Here, a number of professional women prescribed to the Islamic faith help to illuminate the gender implications of the rising tide of highly observant variations on this religion in the free, post-war period. The discussion, which centers around the Islamic tradition requiring women to cover their heads and faces when in public, is revealing of the way that gender roles and the way that these roles are communicated are likely to be perceived in a wide range of different ways by men and women alike. The debate featured in this article pits several ideas regarding the 'meaning' and communicated implication of the head-covering against one another as a means of offering the audience a fair diversity of positions on an emotionally sensitive subject.

Indeed, in Kosovo as well as in many of the western nations which fought to see it liberated from ethnic conflict, many intellectuals and mainstream institutions tend to view the scarf as a symbol of gender oppression. As the panel discussion demonstrates, there are practitioners of this expression of faith that hold the position that they are free to demonstrate faith in any manner which they see fit, and that the covering is produced not by societal pressures but by the good fortune to feel the loving embrace of Allah. It is this, and not gender imbalance, such women stress, that invokes the humbleness and modesty thereby implied. As a female language interpreter asserted, as a pointed response to what may be seen as the more mainstream secularism in many societies, "a woman raised in Islam has more freedoms and rights,' she continued, 'but people are not aware of the rights that the Koran gives women.'" (Life in Kosovo, 1) This is a contention which does run counter to expected ideas, from a position external to the faith, presenting an antithetical explanation for what many cultural contexts invoke their inhabitants to perceive as being pointedly sexist and demeaning. This bucks conventional views on that which is communicated by the head covering, and also calls into question the perspective held by some of the panelists here that they are equal to the task of being humble and virtuous before Allah without marking themselves publicly as a sex to be treated differently than man.

In the Birdwhistell text, we are given reason to pay due respect to distinction between positions taken here. Though in western culture it is a convention to draw a number of expectations based on presumptions regarding the relationship between women and Islam, and further, between this relationship and the decision to wear a head covering or the decisions not to. Specifically, it is appealing for many westerners who had adopted an increasingly gender-equal position, at least in larger institutional contexts such as work, family and religion, to view the tradition of head and face covering in Islam to be indicative of a specific sexual and gender subjugation directly related to the bylaws of the faith. Equally, western perspective inclines one to believe that a woman not wearing a head covering may not be considered a true Muslim.

These are views countered by many Islamic-based texts found in our research. Biredwhistell argues as a central and emphasized point of his research that "no position, expression or movement ever carries meaning in and of itself." (Birdwhistell, 5) Such is to suggest that, given the context of the Muslim religion, for one on the outside to render assumptions about the blanket conditions of women and their proscribed role in the religious order.

In the article, the panel of women engaged in discussion is drawn from the same national and ethnic context, and yet different views permeate the exchange and even draw impassioned, divergent position from the women present. At the crux of this article is a discussion on exactly what is communicated by the head scarf, or by the absence of this covering.

The panel's very existence is illustrative of the absence of a consensus on its meaning. Where its defenders believe both that the covering is a choice rather than an obligation, which those who choose Islam are entitled to display proudly, and that it is demonstrative of a woman deserving of respect for her piety, its detractors believe likewise that it is a choice, but one which a legitimate Islamic woman is entitled to bypass without suffering any credit to her respectability and Islamic credibility.

The discussion panel here offered is demonstrative of the sharp distinction in views on what is communicated by the head-covering, with those resolved to not abide this aspect of the faith speaking in an almost defensive tone in order to maintain that it is equally inappropriate to infer a meaning regarding one's level of piety based on her decision not to wear a head scarf. Again, we are presented with a reinforcement of Birdwhistell's assertion that it is not possible to project a meaning on a specific action or self-presentation that can be seen as somehow universal. Indeed, though it is tempting to view women opting not to wear the head-scarf as secular Moslems, a representative on the panel serving as an avatar for the office of the Prime Minister of Kosovo reaffirms both her faith and the determination that she and other Kosovo women should not be made to feel that they have to endure this identifying mark of male-perpetrated discrimination in order to be considered as worthy of the respect and protection of Islam. (Life in Kosovo, 1)

To this end, we find that on both sides of the debate there is a need to be recognized as communicative of a nuanced spectrum of paths to observance and yet a resistance to the ideas which are believed communicated about gender and faith by their counterparts. The article is very interesting in this way, essentially posting a debate that is very much unsettled and that may be characterized by a genuine distaste on either side from that which is perceived as being communicated.

Certainly, by way of this panel discussion, we can see that those in support of head-covering are resentful that the choice to wear this covering has been largely interpreted as bowing to the whim of a highly patriarchal faith. And in many ways, this perspective has been endorsed by the extreme abused committed against women in many Islamic settings and as a consequence of the alleged bylaws of the Koran. In contrast, it is apparent that those who choose not to wear the head-covering are resentful that they have been broadly categorized as being secular or un-Islamic. And in fairness, it is true that in many Islamic nations, the rarified decision by a woman to not wear a head-covering may be deduced as a pointed protest against a religious law which is essentially sexually imbalanced. However, there is a point to made in this common ground and it descends from Birdwhistell's contention on the subject of communicating meaning. To this end, the article examined here is demonstrative of the various shades of gray that color a topic which many view in rather black and white terms.

Ultimately, this discussion does lead to a reality, which is that in Kosovo as in other parts of the secular world, women who choose to don the head-covering do experience a greater degree of discrimination. As women on the pro and con side of the panel discussion agree, it is harder for a woman in a head-covering to find opportunities in the business world, to relate socially to friends and family choosing not to wear such a covering and in general, to avoid the staring and disparaging views of strangers. This is indicative that while Islamic women in secular societies intend to communicate the impression that they are virtuous and modest women before Allah, instead it is largely seen that they are devices to the communication of the idea that women are to be subjugated to men in their societies.

Neither view is necessarily 'accurate,' as the intentions, desires and beliefs of women throughout the Moslem and non-Muslim worlds will differ considerably in that which the wish to communicate by their presentation of themselves. This is quite revealing of the way that gender impressions can be communicated both intentionally and inadvertently, with the receiver's cultural disposition playing a substantial role in the way that this impression is interpreted.

This serves as one of the most important findings in our research, underscoring the notion that it is not the Islamic faith or the Quran which themselves have conspired the detain the equality of women. And as a point of fact, to many, the assumption that certain spiritual or ritual traditions in the faith inherently prevent the equality of women is one which can be held to a certain degree of cultural relativism, with a misunderstanding of the meanings of such traditions playing a part in the negative image which Islam bears to many in the Western world. However, at the core of this understanding is the notion that Quran does not instruct unequal roles for men and women but different roles as are inherent to the family and social structures. And in fact, a study of the textual scriptures will actually reveal a number of ways in which the Quran had come to break new ground in the establishment of social protection for women within the context of said family roles.

On the subject of inheritance, for instance, the Engineer text presents us with a nuanced discussion that helps to clarify this assumption. The text tells, as we have established, that "women had a role different from men's in Arabian society when the holy Quran was revealed. Without keeping this in mind we cannot draw proper conclusions from the concerned verses about inheritance in the Quran." (Engineer, 70) This proves to be an issue of central importance as this discussion reveals the perception or argument posed by many Islamic men arguing that the sheer fact that a woman's inheritance entitlements in the faith amount to roughly half of that which is said to be entitled to a man is illustrative of the view held by Allah that woman is inherently inferior or of lesser value in society than is man. This is a perspective which the Engineer text opposes vigorously, denoting this to be a misinterpretation or willful misuse of the Quran. Accordingly, we find that in many contexts where Islam has come to be seen in parallel to abuses against women, this is a direct reflection of the geographical and social culture therein and not an indication of that which is proposed by Islam. Shortly hereafter, we will take the national example of Pakistan, and other implied nations such as the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, in order to show that social parameters are the more impacting effecter of gender equality and especially abuses against women than are the words of the Quran or the Sh'riah.

On this issue of inheritance in fact is found to be a clear evolution in the recognition of entitlements to women upon the proliferation of Islam and in that, could be seen as a clear break from historical patterns of patriarchy that failed to account for women in this sense altogether. In fact, in the Middle East where Islam traces its roots and continues to display cultural dominance, it had previously been the case that women were largely at the arbitrary mercy of male judges, clergy and leaders in individual societies. Inheritance may or may not have been an opportunity availed to the women in any given social context. With the establishment of the codes put forth by the emergent faith, a new universal standard concerning the treatment of women could be observed to proscribe a consistent determination of inheritance entitlement. And though it is expressed with specificity by Allah that women are to account for half the inheritance sum entitled to the man, this is a misnomer when taken from its context. In fact, "it becomes clear that whereas women were not regularly, as a rule, given in any share in inheritance, the Quran ensured that they got it in their capacity as a daughter, wife and mother. The fact that they were given half of the share of male heirs is to be seen in its sociological and economic context." (Engineer, 71) to this extent, the text argues that it is appropriate to understand the language of the Quran in consideration of this issue as availing to women new rights formerly not accessible to them.

On this subject, we find a matter of consistency which applies to the whole of our discussion. The progressive nature of the Quran has often been undermined by the lagging sects of Islamic-contextualized society, which have often exploited the religious doctrine in the interests of social dominance. Indeed, as it impacts the issue of inheritance, Engineer notes that "it must be pointed out that Muslin society consistently violated the Quranic injunction to give women their due share in inheritance. The Quran was kind to women and the weaker sections but Muslim society was not so generous." (Engineer, 74) an historical perception of Islam as being unequal or even cruel in its treatment of women is founded not upon a faith with precepts of inequality but upon various cultures and contexts where this type of attitude has been fostered. So much is this evident today that we can literally observe societies which have descended from various forms of 20th century progress regarding human rights and women's liberties into deeply oppressive contexts where women are treated with derision and harsh terms of legal and familial inequality.

This would be the case in such deeply exploited geographical contexts as Afghanistan, where a decade of war perpetrated by Soviet and Western invaders had created a vacuum of power and leadership. In this void, the Taliban stepped in and instituted a form of extreme Islamic fundamentalism defined by its violent execution of interpreted Sh'riah principals and especially against its women who were forced into a regressive mode of subsistence. Afghtanistan would be directly reflective of a pattern impacting the whole Muslim world, geographically positioned as it has been in strategic locales of interest to Western, Soviet and, before that, European colonial conquerors. In the face of its subjugation and abuse, "the once great Muslim tradition of scientific inquiry and experiment had long since atrophied and died, leaving a society strongly resistant to the scientific spirit." (Lewis, 43) This would deliver a faith in many ways defined less by its own principals than by that which has come to contextualize it in the modern world.