The Dominant Perception of Islam with a View to Gender - Essay Example

Gender and Islam Gender is viewed today as a social construct. Seeing it as a social construction enables one to understand the significance of gender in Islam. The dominant perception of Islam with a view to gender is that it is a patriarchal religion or worse a misogynist religion where women inherit a secondary and subservient status. To better understand Islam and the significance of gender in it, it is essential to know certain facts. In Islamic society, religion permeates all areas of life. The western perception of secularity, of a separation between religion, politics and society does not prevail in an Islamic community. Islamic law is derived from the Qura’n, the revelation of God to Prophet Muhammad. Life in an Islamic society is supposed to follow the tenets of Islamic law. Islamic law includes prayer, fasting, pilgrimage as well as laws pertaining to family, crime and commerce. Islam however does not have an official clergy. Therefore Islamic law or sharia, meaning the path, was developed by the ullema, the scholars who have come to assume a position of power and status in Islamic society. It is the ullema who issue fatwas or religious edicts. However within Islam there have been voices of concern at a too strict interpretation of Islamic law without any consideration for the milieu into which Islam originated. The Egyptian Sheikh Muhammad Abduh had maintained that injunctions in the Qura’n relating to the observance of ibadat or tenets of worship were to be followed strictly but those relating to masdaba or rules of living should be interpreted with the consideration of the context they originated in. This is a view that is controversial and still unresolved in Islam. The view again that Islam is a patriarchal religion or misogynistic has been refuted by modern scholarly criticism which has proved that Islam inherited certain perceptions of women from biblical lore. Zayn R. Kassam states that interpretations about women entered Islam through certain strands of early Islamic literature such as the qisas al-anbiya, the asbab al-nuzul, the hadith, the tafsir and the fiqh. These were all oral sources of commentaries in Islam until they were collated and written quite later. The qisas al-anbiya literally means the “stories of the prophets” and was a principal source for the entry of biblical lore into Islam perhaps because the earliest Muslims were essentially converts from Judaism and Christianity. The asbab al-nuzul was incorporated into the tafsir, or commentaries on the Qura’n, providing an explanation of the particular reasons for a given revelation. The hadith were literary expositions of the Prophet’s words and deeds. The fiqh or jurisprudence took as its source the teachings of the Qura’n, the hadith, local customs of the time and prevalent legal reasoning. To state an example, the Qura’n does not mention the companion of Adam to have emerged from his left rib. Such an account is believed to have entered the broader Islamic frame of reference through the qisas al-anbiya literature. The fact that the extrapolation was stressed is largely because of the context surrounding early Islam. Prominent historians like Leila Ahmed states that early Islam encountered cultures such as Mesopotamian, Greek, Iranian, and Byzantine that had a patriarchal biased society. Eleanor Doumato has identified the source of much Qura’nic legislation as early Judaic and Christian legal practices. Early Muslim commentators thereby appropriated the biblical Eve as a more reasonable interpretation which suited the temperament of their subject people. These commentators used biblical figures of women to interpret a definitive model for the position of women. By this a concomitant definition of men also evolved. As Kassam points out however issues and tension in these interpretations remained. The status of Mary, mother of Jesus, was widely debated as well as the position of the Prophet’s wives whose sayings constitute a part of the hadith. Early commentators also worked through omission. Bilquis, Queen of Sheba, is ignored by such commentators though she is mentioned in the Qura’n itself. An example of an early theologist and commentator is al-Ghazali who linked piousness of a Muslim to the observance of sharia. Such moves on the part of such early commentators accorded to the sharia a semi-divine status which has made it a harder to seek reform in the laws. Kassam states that asking for reform in the sharia is opposed bitterly primarily for it would lead to a virtual admission that though the sharia may be inspired by the divine Qura’n, it itself is a construct of men. These issues then should be kept in mind when debating sharia and the position of women within it. The Qura’n on its part states that both men and women are equally responsible for their actions and responsibilities before God (33:35). The Qura’n also permits men to take up to four wives with the caveat that he shall do so only if he can provide for all his wives. However, the Qura’n also comments in verse 3:129 that one would not be able to have an equal relations with all four wives however much one wishes to. This has been interpreted as a qualifying statement that polygamy should be considered only at the last resort. Women are allowed to remarry while if divorced, the gifts and money given her at the time of marriage and during the marriage remain with the woman (2:229-232). Modesty is enjoined to both men and women by the Qura’n in dress and deportment (24:30-31). Women are enjoined to cover themselves from head to toe with the cloak (jilbab) because it would save them from harassment by strange men (34:59). Both men and women are to be punished by a hundred lashes if found to commit adultery (24:2). Such examples prove that Islam cannot be considered a misogynistic religion. The most repressive phrase in the Qura’n is to be found in verse 4:34 which declares that men are to be in charge of women because men have been made to surpass women and also because a man looks after women. Another verse against women would be verse 2:282 which grants that the testimony of two women be equal to one of a man. Again women can inherit but only till half of a man’s share (4:7, 4:11). It can be observed here how ullemas have interpreted these injunctions in the Qura’n in the modern world. Women activists who seek reform in Islamic law often stress that the bias against women arises not from the tenets of Islam but from “prerevelation and postrevelation social customs” (Kurzman, 21). They also stress that such anti-women statements emerge as mentioned earlier from conditions peculiar to seventh century Arabia and therefore not always practically applicable in modern times. Iran in 1979 voted to transform from a monarchy to an Islamic Republic. In Iran the clerical regime led by Imam Ruhollah Khomeini applied Islamic law with rigor and severity. Khomeini’s diktat that women be veiled at all times in public had led to wide protests by women. Also linked with this was the government repeal of the Family Protection Law of 1967 which had given women the right to divorce. John Esposito states that the Khomeini regime used a subtle ploy to defeat the protestors. It encouraged orthodox women, who belonged mainly to lower class traditional families, to insist on the veil in the workplace and public. It started a cascading reaction in Islamic society where women were dismissed for refusing to cover themselves up while simultaneously being rejected for new jobs. This is a continuing and prevalent condition in Iran for women. In a country like Malaysia however where there are many religious as well ethnically diverse communities, the functioning of Islam is different. Malaysia comprises of mainly three large ethnic communities as well as other small groups. The main communities are Malay, Chinese and Indian. Generally Malays are mostly Muslim while the Chinese and Indians follow their own religions. Islam was introduced to Malaysia through contact with Indian and Arab traders. Malaysia’s plural culture is witnessed in its politics, economy and religion. However in the recent past, divisions in the country have intensified based on religion. It should be noted that the country’s economy is mostly controlled by the Chinese and Indian communities. Malays generally are into small-scale agriculture but do also hold higher administrative posts in the government. It is being seen that Malays have become increasingly insulated in their country, favoring a pro-Malay, pro- Muslim attitude in all walks of social life. Being the religion of the Malays Islam has come to be associated with an ethnic population which is also “rural, poor, and noncommercial in its character” (Esposito, 179). The Malays again are deeply influenced by pre- Islamic beliefs, which derive from animist and Hindu traditions. The widely held belief in spirits and magic, sorcery etc. thrives with an orthodox interpretation of Islam. The recent decade has increasingly seen the role of Islam being intensified in Malaysian society. The efforts by the government to improve the economic situation of ethnic Malays have led to a large-scale migration from rural areas into cities. Esposito states that Malays have had immense struggles with the increasing modernization evident in the cities as well as rapidly encroaching into rural areas. Malaysia however has not witnessed the extreme forms of religious fanaticism and extremism that sometimes appears in Islamic countries. Women are employed in all walks of life, the veil is not common though women are expected to cover their hair and follow other Islamic guidelines. Pakistan is another Islamic country and has a turbulent history as well as present. President Zia-ul-Haq martial law regime which came to power in 1977 started a process of Islamization in the country. Prayer times were to be observed with regularity, fasting was to be stringently observed, television and films were vetted and censored. Women anchors in the television industry were rigorously scrutinized for adherence to modesty in dress and deportment. However such measures were not enough for orthodox Islamic groups like the Tehrik-i-Islami who attacked things from performances by foreign dance troupes to printing of women athlete’s pictures in the newspapers and mixed education as well as continued employment of women in the government. In 1979, the hudood laws came into existence. These laws related to offenses like theft, dacoity and adultery. The significant aspect of the hudood is the punishment for such offenses. A theft could result in amputation of a hand while adultery by married men and women could result in death by stoning or a hundred lashes. Unlike Taliban ruled Afghanistan however such a punishment has till now not been meted out. Esposito points out that such law affected only the poor while the rich were exempt. Esposito refers to the case of a blind girl who was sentenced to be flogged for adultery though the sentence was later reversed. An admission of affairs with a number of men by a Pakistani actress in the Herald, an English language monthly magazine, however did not bring any punitive action against her. Such omission brings to question the role of economics in the position of women under Islam. Benazir Bhutto the assassinated political leader and also the first female Prime Minister of Pakistan tried to justify the role of women in politics. In an article called “Politics and the Muslim Woman” she distinguished between a reactionary Islam and a progressive Islam. Interestingly she blames the mullahs or the ullema misinterpreting the spirit of Islam. Unlike Christianity Islam did not have a clergy, she points out, and growing education among Muslim men and women will endow them with an ability to read the Qura’n by themselves without any need for the mullah’s intervention or even participation. Like Bhutto, women in Islamic countries are increasingly trying to interpret the Qura’n by themselves. Bhutto admits that there are many ambiguous phrases in the Qura’n which can be interpreted in a conservative or progressive manner. However she points out that Islam was founded as a religion for justice and equality. Keeping that in mind Bhutto shares no doubt in the manner that the Qura’n should be interpreted. Bhutto also mentions the powerful role models among women that are provided in the Qura’n. She points out the role of Bibi Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet who stood by her father providing him with strength when he was ridiculed for spreading the Word of God. Bibi Fatima also fought politically after the unlawful usurpation of her father’s legacy as well as her property by the caliphate of Abu Bakr (Kurzman, 111). Bhutto says that the sharia as interpreted by the ullema ultimately target the poor while leaving the privileged unscathed. For an alternate picture about women one can refer to the women of Saudi Arabia. Carla Power in an article in Time details the peculiarities of life in a rich country for women. Though Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islamic law, women enjoy a relative amount of financial freedom. Saudi Arabia has women-only banks, which reflects their cloistered and segregated life but also points to their affluence. Arab women are well educated and financially astute, being citizens of an oil-rich country. This affluence has led them to storm certain bastions of male power like the stock exchange for investment options that go beyond traditional safe havens like the bank and property. Due to demand, the Kuwait Stock Exchange now has a women’s floor. Investment firms like Merrill Lynch, wealth management firms like Bridge Partners and Swiss banks like Clariden Few have targeted the estimated $11 billion parked in banks by rich women of the Gulf. Power comments on the quiet financial revolution taking place in Saudi homes. However restrictions have not vanished. It is still illegal for a woman to drive a car, to vote or be seen in public with a strange man. Within these restrictions however Saudi women have strived to prosper. Power gives a comment by the Managing Director of Bridge Partners who maintains that banks like his are not about women’s liberation but simply about money. Still certain concessions have been extended to Saudi women at least in the world of finance. There have been high profile women investment bankers like Nahid Taher, head of Gulf One Investment Bank, and Maha al-Ghunaim the head of Global Investment House. The reaction of conservatives to such financial independence in women has been restrained. One of the facts weighing on their minds would perhaps be the fact that the Prophet’s first wife was supposedly a wealthy trader herself. The Taliban is a ultra-religious, ultra-orthodox sect that believes in an extremely narrow interpretation of sharia especially in relation to women. The Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. Its members are orthodox and prominently from poorer origins. An article in the Asian News Digest by C.P. Chacko details the complete suppression of women under the Taliban regime. The Taliban had ruthlessly targeted women officials in the government, school teachers and women journalists. Malalai Kakar, a senior police officer was gunned down by the Taliban just months after she appeared in an article in the Independent, London, which enumerated life in a post-Taliban Afghanistan. Safiya Anayar, a 65 year old school teacher, who had strived to educate small girls at her own home at a time when the Taliban had banned education for women, was killed in 2006 by killers in their early twenties who were supposedly offered money to kill her by a mullah in Pakistan. An article in the October issue of Time has a article which mentions Habiba Sarabi, the Governor of Bamiyan province in Afghanistan. The article is about leaders in environment and so does not mention the pressures that may be faced by her on a personal and professional level in Afghanistan. However the article states that she takes a personal zeal in prosecuting people who litter and dirty Band-i-Amir, Afghanistan’s first national park. It can be said that Afghan women have not been cowered by the Taliban. It is not easy to bring out a unified picture of sharia and its relation to women. Islam is the world’s second largest religion. Its adherents belong to a universal brotherhood of Muslims but within their respective countries Islam is affected by the peculiarities of the country’s geographical situation, its history as well as its prosperity. Women in Islam countries are not always the silent, oppressed creature that western media is anxious to portray her. Works Cited Baker, Aryn. “Heroes of the Environment.” TIME 6 Oct. 2008:62. Chacko, C.P. “Women who took the Taliban and lost.” Asian News Digest 18 Oct. 2008: 7345. Esposito, John. Islam in Asia: Religion, Politics and Society. New York: OUP, 1987. Kassam, Zayn R. “Gender.” Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World. Ed. Richard C. Martin. Vol. 1. New York: Macmillan, 2004. Kurzman, Alan. Liberal Islam: A Sourcebook. New York: OUP, 1998. Power, Carla. “Money Talks.” TIME 8 Sept. 2008: 39-40. Read More