Lecture
Given on Saturday March 04th 2000 In the Cultural and
Social Center In the Symposium Held within Sat. & Sun. 04th
& 05th March 2000 About:
Women
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most
Merciful
Women in the Balance of the Islamic Law Compared
with Their Actual State in the Western Society
I am
going to talk about the woman s duties and rights in the balance
of the Islamic Law, regardless of the reality of the Islamic
societies, which differ one from the other in the extent to which
they adhere to the verdicts of the Islamic Law.
First;
in the Holy Qur an, Allah addresses men and women equally, both
with the honorable address and the human value in which they
participate, when He says, for example: Whoever works righteous,
whether male or female, while he (or she) is a true believer,
verily to him We will give a good life [Al-Nahl 16:97], and
Verily, the Muslims, men and women, the believers, men and women,
the men and the women who are obedient (to Allah), the men and
women who are truthful, the men and the women who are patient,
the men and the women who are humble (before their Lord Allah),
the men and the women who give alms (i.e. Zakat ), the men
and women who fast (within and without Ramadan), the men and
women who guard their chastity and the men and women who remember
Allah much with their hearts and tongues, Allah has prepared for
them forgiveness and a great reward (i.e. Paradise). [Al-Ahzab
33:35].
Second; The Qur an imposes what the Islamic
Law calls The mutual responsibility undertaken by the man and the
woman Thus it makes the man responsible for looking after the
woman, and makes the woman responsible for looking after the man
when it says: The believers, men and women, are Awliya
(helpers, protectors and supporters) of each other, they
enjoin what is right and forbid what is evil . [Al-Tawbah
9:71]
Third; Islam decides a wide spectrum of
duties imposed on both men and women as it decides a wide
spectrum of rights enjoyed by both sexes. But what might be the
source of the duties which go abreast with both? What is the
source of the rights given to both of them?
In reply, I
say: The source of the duties that the man and the woman
bear is their servitude to Allah, The Great and The Almighty, and
their being absolutely possessed by Him, and since the attribute
of servitude never varies in the male and the female, the duties
that Allah demanded from both were also exactly the same. Should
we review the commissions that Allah imposes on His servants, the
veracity of what I say will appear clearly. We may meet a few
cases excepted from this general rule, where there are duties in
which men and women are not equal, but when we meditate on them,
we find that masculinity and femininity have nothing to do with
them.Other factors, certainly, should be playing another role,
exactly as those which appear between the men themselves and
result in variation in the duties among them.
Whereas the
source of the rights granted to the man and the woman is
represented in the sense of humanity they assimilate, and since
the sense of humanity is the same in men and women and never
varies, no man will be higher in rank than a woman, or a woman
higher than a man, because the rights Allah endowed upon each of
them are alike. Should there be cases beyond this rule, they are
certainly not attributed to the quality of masculinity and
femininity. They are really attributed to contingents requiring
such difference, a point which will be clear enough through the
examples I am going to mention.
It is necessary, when
laying such comparison, to inquire about the source of the woman
s duties and rights in the Western societies. The reply that we
clearly discern from the witnessed reality she lives in is that
the source of the duties going abreast with her lie in the
material interests, whereas the source of her rights lie in her
femininity.
One of the outcomes of the dominion of the
material interests which represent the source of the woman s
duties resulted in the appearance of various sorts of despotism
and injustice, most of which befell the woman because she is
commissioned by the dominion of this material stimulus to sustain
herself no matter whether she be a girl in her parents house or a
wife under the shelter of her husband as long as she is strong
enough to practice any work and earn her living by
herself!..
Accordingly, what was the consequence the West
has realized from surrendering to this source?
There have
been two results: First;it annihilated the family as a whole when
it destroyed its most essential component, because the family
only relieves and survives through the feeling of solidarity
which flows among the hearts of its members, and is represented
in the husband s responsibility for the wife and the parents
responsibility for the children, a feeling which was condemned to
death by the philosophy of realism which made every individual
responsible only for his/her own self. Second; the West, thereby,
exposed the woman s femininity to destruction because she has
been forcibly thrust to work. She has not gone to work optionally
for making more money. A condition that caused her to be deprived
of the opportunity of choosing a job that fits her and accords
with her femininity. Should she be fortunate, she would attain an
easy job, otherwise she would approve of any other work when she
finds no better.
In such an environment, and under the
dominion of such necessity, the differences between men s and
women s labors certainly disappear. Therefore, no matter how much
hard and laborious the work practiced by men be, a lot of women
are found to have exceeded them to it, driven by the inevitable
necessity.
On the other hand, the consequence of the
dominion of her femininity, which workably represents the first
source of the woman s rights, is that no sooner does her
femininity disappears and the brilliancy of her youth fades than
all the phenomena of dignity and respect, which she had already
enjoyed, vanish and may be replaced by various types of abuse and
humiliation.
Laws written on paper may state something
different from what I have said, but the painful realities which
befall the Western woman who has passed the stages of youth and
middle age eradicate, and never leave, any trace of the dominion
and charming enchantment of the texts of law.
A lot of
asylums of a special kind are widely met with in America
nowadays. Those asylums are prepared for receiving the women who
managed to escape from the downpour of blows and limb break by
their husbands or friends. Asylums are usually surrounded by
ornamented decorations for camouflaging so that the buildings
which shelter them may not be known, and the herd of the
ill-fated women remain out of reach, in order not to be followed
by their husbands and friends to the place of safety so as to
beat them and hurt them!
Mr. Richard F. Jones, the
professor at the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynecology in
America, has written an article about this horrific and epidemic
phenomenon titled, Domestic Violence, Let Our Voices be Heard .
He starts his article saying: An epidemic is attacking our
country. It is a very awful epidemic which we cannot skip. Then
he added: Within every second a woman is beaten and put to death,
or has a limb broken, by a friend or a husband. Everyday we
witness the consequences and influences of such striking in the
rooms of emergency in our offices and clinics!
I can,
accordingly, say, It is most likely that all women in the West
suffer from this epidemic save those who have had the chance of
occupying high posts or distinguished social ranks.
In
comparison with such a reality, in which the Western woman lives,
a woman in our Islamic societies (bearing in mind that the
Islamic system and education still prevail in most of them)
possesses a high rank, which becomes exceedingly higher when she
grows older and older. The old aged woman in an Islamic house is
undoubtedly the first ladyin it, She has the operative word in
the house, and all its members treat her with respect and glory.
A treatment which originatthe fact that the source of women s
rights in Islam is her humanity, as I mentioned beforehand, and
the Islamic education is (by Allah s Grace) still effectual in
our Arab and Islamic societies no matter whatever we speak about
the Muslim s negligence in adhering to their Islam and being
disciplined to its systems and ethics.
The dependency of
the Islamic Law on this source (i.e. the woman s humanity)
resulted in realizing the aim of Islam at making women enjoy the
right of practicing labor which, in quality ought to be lawful,
provided that her sufficient sustenance ought to be by way of the
liability of her father or her husband; then her endeavor to
labor will be for her luxury and for improving her standard of
living, not induced by necessity. She can thereby preserve
herself from the laborious works which never fit her femininity.
On the other hand, the work wage, according to what the Islamic
Law decides, correlates with how proficient the worker is. It has
nothing to do with the identity of the worker, because the male
and the female are equal in wage as long as the standard of
proficiency in achieving it be the same. This rule should be
observed in the schedule of priorities when works pack.
Another
effect of the same source also is the equality between the male
and the female in the right of consultation whether in selecting
the members of its council, in participating in its membership
with the men or in selecting the ruler and pledging allegiance to
him.
* * *
Alas, some people stimulate criticism
contradicting with the facts I have clarified above. They, for
example, pause at the Qur anic Verse in which Allah, The All
High, says Men are qawwamun (the protectors and
maintainers of women) [Al-Nisa 4/43]criticizing. They
give the word qawwamun the false sense which accords with
their criticism; i.e. that the man is supreme over the woman in
marital life, and entitled to use humiliation and oppression over
her, whereas the meaning known linguistically, and legally
reliable, of this word is care and managementshe
feels under the protection of the man without humiliation or
oppression which the Islamic Law warns of.
It is
scientifically and practically decided that the woman is pleased
and relieved in her marital life when she feels that she is
beside her husband and under his protection, a fact which
Istravella, a German doctor, decides. Had she been destined to
have an opposite marital life so that she be the protector and
attendant and the man be under her care, she would have
consequently fallen into horrible wretchedness.
Another
example is represented in what they say: The Qur an makes the
woman s testimony equal to half the man s, which proves clearly
that she gains only what equals half the man s share of the
rights.
In reply, I say: Those who studied the Islamic
Law know that its attitude towards the value of the woman s
testimony is exactly the same as that of the Western laws and
societies. Just as other laws, the Western laws are interested in
the element of testimony at the stage of investigation and
collecting information, not at issuing those verdicts. It is also
known that these laws do not differentiate between men s
testimony and that of the women. It is also proven that the
Islamic Law absolutely accords with the positive laws in this
regard. The investigator, accordingly, has to resort to the
available correct testimonies, in which case men and women are
exactly alike, whereas depending on the testimony according to
Allah s Words: And if there are not two men (available), then a
man and two women. [Al-Baqarah 2:282], is sought at issuing the
verdict, and the testimony is then considered a support to
issuing the verdict.
If the Islamic Law lays the condition
of requiring two women in place of one man to depend on the
testimony in this case, positive laws never regard her testimony
in such a case at all. They even disregard the man s
testimony.
The reason for which the Qur an lays the
condition of two women to testify in place of one man in
financial case has nothing to do with the woman s femininity as
some people imagine. It springs from a basic condition in the
testimony itself, represented in the witness s being highly
related to the subject to which he testifies no matter whether
the testifier be a man or a woman. When the subject of dispute is
more relevant to women and a woman is more acquainted with its
details (such as nursing, offspring or sucking) then the woman
has the priority in giving testimony. Being more relevant to men
(such as criminality, burglary and murder) priority in giving
testimony then shifts to the man.
Another matter they
arouse when they imagine that the woman s share in inheritance
always equals to half the man s share of it, depending on
what Allah, The All-High says: To the male, a portion equal to
that of two females. [Al-Nisa 4:11] ! It is mere an illusion
springing from deep inexcusable ignorance, for the Qur an decides
this verdict only in one case: when the testator dies leaving
male and female children or brothers and sisters. It is well
known that both of the son and the brother make their sisters
their partners in possessing the rest of the inheritance after
the owners of the other shares have had their shares. In such a
case the brother- who has made his sister a partner-receives
twice as much share as his sister who has been made partner. In
all the other cases the man and the woman are equal in the
limited inheritance portions, and the woman s potion may even
exceed the man s in many cases.
Another point of criticism
is their disapproving preventing the woman the right of
nominating herself for presidency in the Islamic society. In
short, I say to those who protest: a large number of the tasks
that the Muslim leader undertakes are purely religious, such as
Friday and the Id (feast) prayers and oratory, prayer of
rain and eclipse, etc. It is also known that a woman cannot
practice such rituals of worship personally at all times.
Moreover, she is to undertake such rituals while she is in a rank
at which she represents an example to be followed by
others.
Regardless of such private excuse, the actualities
of history from the earliest ages up till now agreed, and still
agree, with the attitude of the Islamic Law. Should you have a
deep look at the names of those who have been nominated as kings
and presidents since the most ancient history up till now, you
will find that the women who undertook such positions never
exceed a dozen in number. The most prominent example in this
regard is the USA which calls upon the women of the world to
demand the restoration of their rights. We have neither heard of
a single woman ever undertook presidency in it, nor heard of any
woman ever nominated herself to presidency in it ever since it
was born up to date.
I reckon these are the only points of
criticism mostly mentioned concerning women under Islam in the
West. What we say about the tragic society in which women live in
the West however is so much. I have alluded to few of them in
this epitome, and expect that the dialog and discussion to follow
will give way to further explanation and clarification.
Finally,
all the praises and thanks be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.