(The author Dr. Said Ramadan appears to be a keen observer of the then prevailing situation of the Muslim world. Respected readers may kindly remember that Dr. Said Ramadan expressed his view about the plight of Muslim Ummah about three decades ago. In the present time also his reflection on the Muslim Ummah in general and women-folk in particular has not lost its appeal. We feel happy to produce it before the readers for their kind perusal-Editor)
The second problem is that of the position of the womenfolk in Muslim society. In this regard also, as in regard to our social life as a whole, we are in a state of complete chaos, hotchpotch of competing forces; the remaining Islamic influence, our inherited traditions and extraneous influences which have crept into our life as a result of the enveloping wave of blind imitation of the West. This has created a myriad of problems in Muslim society, among which deserving of special attention is the problem of womenfolk. This is not so merely because women constitute something more than half the community. It is particularly pressing because it is a problem, which affects the family, the very basis of our social life, and because of the deep and inherent relationship that it has with those factors, which make for the cohesion of our society. It is in fact a problem that affects in its ramification most of aspects of our national orientation.
It is strange that we Muslims should neglect the important position of
women. The Shariah has placed such emphasis on it in connection with the lives of those
great men whom God entrusted with high tasks and whom He chose as the recipients of His
revelation-those noble souls ordained to deliver God's message to mankind. In the story of
Moses it is his mother, Pharaoh's wife and the daughter of Madyan who constitute great
figures. In the story of Jesus, his virtuous mother is a great pillar of the story. The
principal nobility and virtue among those who stood faithfully by the side of Muhammad
(SAWS) in his apostolic mission was Khadijah, the compassionate and noble lady of Mecca.
Indeed, the numerous verses of the Qur'an and the large number of prophetic traditions
which speak of woman's status and of her rights and responsibilities, are quite sufficient
to determine our attitude towards womanhood. The Holy Qur'an refers to their position
while comparing it with the position of men in the sight of God and proclaims it to be one
of complete equality:
"I shall not let the work of worker, male or
female, be lost. You issue from one another." (11: 195).
On other occasion it mentions the rights and duties of women as akin to
those of men before mentioning man's administrative leadership of the family.
"And they (women) have rights similar to those
(of men), according to what is equitable, and men are a degree above them." (11:228).
On still another occasion we find Islam pointedly stressing gentleness
and good behavior in the treatment of women. Said the Prophet in his last address:
"I advise you to be good to women."
It is not my intention to discuss the position of womenfolk in all its
ramifications. What I have to say will be quite brief, but nevertheless of serious
importance, for the time has come when we should be very clear as a number of questions
relating to this problem and attention to the solution thereof. It should be very clear in
our minds that woman, according to Islam, is intrinsically like her male partner. She is a
human being endowed with the same essence of nobility, which is shared by the whole human
species. As far as human quality is concerned, men and women are absolutely alike:
"O mankind! Revere your Lord, Who created you
from a soul and from that created its mate, Who thereof brought forth multitude of men and
women." (4:1).
Moreover, each one, man and woman, will be held responsible for his own
individual self:
"….and every one of them will come to God,
on the day of Resurrection, alone." (19:95).
This means that those who either believe, or whose behavior reveals the unconscious concept that woman is an inferior being who has to be subjugated, that she is merely an instrument for the self-indulgence of man-such people require a radical reorientation of their attitude towards womankind. Such people, by clinging to such unhealthy ideas, or through such unhealthy conduct, are grossly distorting God-given human nature and killing potentialities of thought, feeling and vitality in their partners of life.
It should also be clear that the unbridled self-will of certain women in other societies, or of those of our own who blindly imitate them, should not be countered by extremism on our part: by imposing on women what God has not imposed upon them, or by forbidding them what God has not forbidden. We should remember that women in the western world began to lean in the wrong direction from definite causes, at least some of which were undoubtedly related to social injustices, under the dead weight of which, women had languished for so long, imprisoned and ignorant, with no will or personality of their own. They revolted against this injustice-and this revolt was a completely natural and genuine one. Then they began to lean in the wrong direction, becoming stubborn and headstrong. The same type injustice continues to have its strong-holds in our own society, where there are still people, though very few, who are proud of the fact that since the wedding night when their wives were driven home, they have not seen the street once. There are still other who consider themselves entitled to beat their wives if they dare to disagree with their views and advance an opinion of their own. Again, there are those who spend year after year with their wives and daughters without sitting down to discuss a problem with them or attempting to make them share their views.
Who would claim that any of these has anything to do with Islam? On the
contrary, it is Islam that elevated women to heights of prestige, which have neither
precedent nor parallel in human history. At a time when womanhood in the West was held in
such a state of impurity that even a woman's was an evil pollution of the Bible, Qur'anic
manuscripts were held in the trust of the Lady Hafsa at Medina. At a time when Romans held
conference to debate whether woman was a "person" or a "thing",
Muhammad (SAWS) stood up to declare that "women
are but the sisters of men" and to shatter the pre-Islamic
era of darkness and injustice, so that a woman could argue with the Holy Prophet in the
courtyard of the mosque and say, "I have
been deputed to you on behalf of woman!" Indeed, it was
Islam which, for the first time, established the status of women full-fledged members of
human society and granted them the right to owe whatever they earned since the Qur’an
proclaimed:
"Unto men of fortune from that which they have
earned, and unto women of fortune from that which they have earned." (4:32).
Whatever standards of decency Islam has laid down in matters of dress
and behavior between man and woman, they are all with the sole intention of ensuring the
sanctity of the home and the inviolability of marital intimacy. Not one of these standards
could ever imply an attitude directed towards humiliation of woman as regards her social
status or her role in her relationship with man. When a newly married girl complained to
the Prophet that her father had chosen her husband without consulting her, he immediately
gave her permission to annul her marriage, to which she replied: "I have no personal objection to my husband and I accept him, but I
wanted it to be known that a father has no right to impose a husband upon his daughter
without her consent." In contrast to the then prevailing
ignorance and plutocracy of tribal traditions, Muhammad (SAWS) enjoined the quest of
knowledge as an integral part of faith, for men and women alike. He praised highly the
women of Ansar with:
"Blessed be those whose modesty never prevented
them from seeking knowledge."
Far from being rough or rude, Muhammad's (SAWS) consciousness of
women's tenderness and delicacy was so intense that even in the impelling harshness of the
desert, he gently appealed to Anjashah, the caravan driver:
"O Anjashah, slow down a little, for thy camels
are carrying glasses!"
This is only a glimpse of Islam: thus, how could we possibly be justified in so grossly distorting it by all sorts of misconceived traditions and beliefs? What could be more unjust, whether to Islam or to ourselves, than to misrepresent as we do, or rather to deform the beautiful features of Islam? And consider when?-at a time when we are encountering the movement of so-called progress and emancipation, which is advancing like a storm and wreaking havoc in our lives.
It is imperative to realize that the really weak points in our society are those that provide genuine cause for feminine revolt, which can subsequently take an extremist turn and ultimately lead to unbridled feminine self-will. If we are serious about resisting this unhealthy trends, it is our duty to call a stop where God has done so, and combat the deceptive, misleading elements we are encountering by adhering to what God has laid down for us. We should neither depart from anything which God has decreed out of weakness or compromise, nor add anything to it from extremism and severity.
These things are relevance for all Muslims. But they are of particular importance to those who are actively devoted to the revival of Islam. I fervently wish that such people would put these ideas into effect; would stop at the point where the Shariah stops, and have the courage to proclaim and insist on what God has made binding on us, and that alone. This is essential in creating a strong wall around whatever of virtue and purity remains in our society. It is to be hoped that by so doing the workers for the cause of Islam will have created a real barrier, one strengthened by the word of God and His Prophet, against the sweeping, devastating storm which threatens Islam today. For, if matters are not clarified, and confusion is allowed to reign as it does today, if the good aspects are not separated from the bad, both in theory and by good example, the result of this confusion is bound to be this: the good elements will be mistaken for bad, and both will be swept away by the rising storm. This will not be in the least surprising. For there is neither a divine code which is being sincerely adhered to, nor is there any social system based on experience and clarity of outlook, and God has not appointed a gendarme to regulate the conflicting traffic of good and evil.
by Dr. Said
Ramadan
Director, Islamic Centre, Geneva
Courtesy: Young Pakistan, September 24, 1968