Is the Contemporary Perception of the Rights & Privileges of Muslim Women Quranic - Research Paper Example

 Introduction “Woman is recognized by Islam as a full and equal partner of man in the procreation of humankind. He is the father; she is the mother, and both are essential for life. Her role is not less vital than his. By this partnership she has an equal share in every aspect; she is entitled to equal rights; she undertakes equal responsibilities, and in her there are as many qualities and as much humanity as there are in her partner” (THE KORAN & WOMEN).Like most of the other religions, Islamic religion is also not free from controversies. Even though Bible is a sacred religious book for the Christians, many of the biblical teachings has been misinterpreted by different people and as a result different communities like Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox are existing in Christian community; all believe in the same God, same Bible, but with different interpretations of the biblical words. Same way Quranic teachings were also misinterpreted by many people. One of the most controversial findings about Quran is that it limits the freedom of the women or it discriminates between men and women. Critics often misinterpret some of the Quranic words for their own convenience and make use of it for their criticism against Islamic teachings. Some of the misinterpreted words from Quran are; “Women have rights that are similar to men, but men are "a degree above them." 2:228”. Lewd women are to be confined to their houses until death. 4:15. Men are in charge of women, because Allah made men to be better than women. Refuse to have sex with women from whom you fear rebellion, and scourge them. 4:34” (The skeptic’s annotated Quran). It is a fact that women are treated slightly differently by the Muslim religion. The freedom and luxuries enjoyed by the male community is limited for the women community because of some reasons. Women’s rights to work, dress, driving etc are controversial subjects and this paper briefly analyses whether the contemporary perception of the rights & privileges of Muslim women Quranic or not with respect to their freedom to work, dress codes, inherence rights, driving, wife beating etc. Freedom to work “Women can only be confined in homes as a punishment if they are guilty of lewdness and there are at least four witnesses to prove this charge [4:15]. Otherwise, they can not only go out but can also do job [4:32] to earn a living if they desire to and they can also take part in the government [9:71; 22:41]” (The Quranic Teachings). Quran teaches nothing against the women’s freedom to work. Women can engage in any kind of professional works if they are leading a normal life. But if they are guilty of lewdness, they need to stay at home or confined within the boundaries of the home. Men and women are considered slightly differently by Islam. Men have been given the full authority for the maintenance of the family and hence their domination in the family is allowed. Islam believes that men have certain qualities which the women lack and women have certain abilities which the men do not possess. “Men shall have what they earn and women shall have whatever they earn [4:32]. Although women can earn but due to biological reasons, they are incapacitated for considerable periods of time, to earn a living. Due to this fact it is obvious and natural that the responsibility for maintaining the family is vested in men. When women are given such protection then they must fulfil their functions as women faithfully and safeguard their potentialities [4:34]” (The Quranic Teachings). Biologically, both men and women are different and Islam does not allow women to engage in any kind of work during their menstrual periods. In other words a substantial period of time in a month, the men need to look after and work for the women in every month and it is logical to allow men a slightly upper hand in the family. “Men and women are each other's friends and benefactors. Both of them order what is right and stop (others from) what is wrong. They establish the system of Salat and arrange for giving Zakat. They obey Allah and His Messenger. These are the ones who will be blessed with kind protection and growth (like an embryo gets in mother's womb). This will be from Allah, Who is all powerful and His power is based on reason. [9:71]It is clear from the above that men and women equally participate in the affairs of an Islamic Government” (The Quranic Teachings). Muslim women can participate even in governments and no Quranic words prevent them from doing so. It should be remembered that government is the most powerful entity as far as a country is concerned and by allowing women participation in government, the message is that women are capable of doing any kind of tough jobs and nothing prevent them from doing so if they are capable enough. Dress Code of women in Quranic views Dress code of Islamic women is another big subject of controversy in many countries. As per the systems prevailing in traditional Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia, Muslim women cover their entire body including faces while going out of their home. But the Quran has given three laws regarding the dress codes of women; use best garments, cover your bosoms and lengthen your garments “[7:26] "O children of Adam, we have provided you with garments to cover your bodies, as well as for luxury. But the best garment is the garment of righteousness. These are some of GOD's signs, that they may take heed." This is the BASIC rule of DRESS CODE in the Quran. This is the first rule in WOMEN DRESS CODE in Islam”(Dress code for women according to Quran). Quran asks the women to cover their body as much as possible. It doesn’t mean that they should cover their face also. Islam believes in moral principles rather than dress codes. In other words, there is no point in covering the entire body of women if they do not have respect to the moral principles. Covering the body with dresses is only a symbolic representation that they are adherent to the moral principles of Islam. Women without proper dresses can provoke sexual energy in the minds of men which may lead towards unholy things. For example, consider women dressed in vulgarity trying to participate in the worship at a mosque. It is difficult for the men to concentrate their thoughts in the God if women with vulgar dresses stay near them. Sexual energy is a biological fact and need which is difficult for the human being to control. The only possible solution to escape from the sins is to avoid circumstances which provoke the sexual energy. The second rule of dress codes can be found at 24:31. “Here God orders the women to cover their bosoms whenever they dress up” (Dress code for women according to Quran). Bosoms have an important role in stimulating sexual energy as far as a male is concerned. Provocation of sexual energy at the wrong time at the wrong place is controlled by Islam. In order to prevent such untimely thoughts about sex and sexual activities, Islam asks the women community to cover their bosoms whenever they go out of their homes. "Hijab" is the term used by many Muslims women to describe their head cover that may or may not include covering their face except their eyes, and sometimes covering also one eye. The Arabic word "Hijab" can be translated into veil or yashmak. Other meanings for the word "Hijab" include, screen, cover(ing), mantle, curtain, drapes, partition, division, divider. The word "Hijab" appeared in the Quran 7 times, five of them as "Hijab" and two times as "Hijaban," these are 7:46, 33:53, 38:32, 41:5, 42:51, 17:45 & 19:17. None of these "Hijab" words are used in the Quran in reference to what the traditional Muslims call today. Hijab in the Quran has nothing to do with the Muslim Women dress code. While many Muslims call "Hijab", an Islamic dress code, they completely ignore the fact that, Hijab as a dress code has nothing to do with Islam and nothing to do with QURAN (Dress code for women according to Quran). In some traditional Muslim countries like Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, Muslim women were forced to cover their full faces whenever they go out. Head cover is a custom which is observed by even the Christian women at the churches. In some of the Christian communities, the women especially the married women need to cover their head using a cloth while attending church masses. “In Biblical times, women covered their hair as a sign of modesty and chastity, and the unveiling and loosening of a woman's hair was used as a sign of humiliation, in cases when a woman was suspected of adultery. (Numbers 5, 11-28)” (Domestic Felicity). Some married Jewish women also cover their heads with a cloth either fully or partially always while some others cover it while attending prayer at synagogue. “A well respected Rabbi once explained to a group of Jewish young women, "We do not find a direct command in the Torah mandating that women cover their heads, but we do know that this has been the continuing custom for thousands of years" (Dress code for women according to Quran). So it is not mandatory for either the Jewish or Christian women to cover their heads in the society. Same way, head covering should not be a compulsory custom for the Muslim women as it is observed in some traditional Muslim countries. But just to preserve the custom or the tradition, there is nothing wrong in covering the head, but not the face as it causes lot of inconvenience for the visibility of the women. Moreover it is a basic human right violation. God has given the senses to us for properly using it. Covering the face would be a deliberate attempt to disturb the functioning of the eyes, nose and the ears. The information gathered from seeing, smelling, and hearing is necessary for a human being to take good decisions and causing hindrance to such senses is not a good sign for a matured or civilized society. "And tell the believing women to subdue their eyes, and maintain their chastity. They shall not reveal any parts of their bodies, except that which is necessary. They shall cover their chests, (with their Khimar) and shall not relax this code in the presence of other than their husbands, their fathers, the fathers of their husbands, their sons, the sons of their husbands, their brothers, the sons of their brothers, the sons of their sisters, other women, the male servants or employees whose sexual drive has been nullified, or the children who have not reached puberty. They shall not strike their feet when they walk in order to shake and reveal certain details of their bodies. All of you shall repent to GOD, O you believers that you may succeed." 24:31(Dress code for women according to Quran). The essence of the dress codes given by Quran is that woman should never engage in any activity which provokes sexual energy to strangers. For that purposes, they need to take care while behaving with others especially with the strangers. If the women dress codes or body movements are vulgar, that will stimulate sexual desire in the hearts of the men dealing with them. So women should not deliberately engage in any activities which may provoke others sexually. "O prophet, tell your wives, your daughters, and the wives of the believers that they shall LENGTHEN their garments. Thus, they will be recognized and avoid being insulted” 33:59 (Dress code for women according to Quran). The third rule as far dress codes are concerned is the lengthening of the dresses which the women wear. It should be noted that tight jeans half skirts like dresses may project the women more sexually which the Islam don’t want them to do. It is a fact that a beautiful woman who wore a half skirt, may stimulate sexual energy even in the minds of a strict observer of Muslim religious principles. Human beings are weak as far as their will powers are concerned. It is difficult for a male to control or suppress his sexual energy for a long period even under normal circumstances. The attraction of a male towards a female is sexually oriented as far as all the living things are concerned. But all the religions prevent the human from engage in sexual activities like the animals. Sex is considered as a divine act by most of the religions and Islam is also not an exception. Sexual energy should be exhibited only at the right place at the right time as per the teachings of Quran. Moreover, sexual desire should not rule the wisdom of human being. The God has lot of visions about the human life on earth is concerned. Sexual energy is provided only to sustain the generation on earth. So, only controlled sex is allowed to human by the God in order to segregate them from animals and also to make him more aware of his other duties on earth. In order to keep the human more focused on his other missions on earth, sexual energy should be used only at a controlled manner and for that purpose women should never try to provoke the men for the stimulation of sexual energy when they engage in other missions. It is clear from the above discussion that the dress code for the Muslim women is righteousness and modesty as per the teachings of Quran. God knows that this modesty will be understood differently in different communities and that is why He left it open to us to decide for ourselves. Decide, after righteousness what is modesty. Modesty for a woman who lives in New York may not be accepted by a woman who lives in Cairo Egypt. Modesty of a woman who lives in Cairo, Egypt may not be accepted by a woman who lives in Saudi Arabia. Modesty of a woman who lives in Jidda in Saudi Arabia may not be accepted by a woman who lives in a desert oasis in the same country. This difference in the way we perceive modesty is well known to God, He created us, and He put NO hardship on us in this great religion. He left it to us to decide what modesty would be. For any person, knowledgeable or not to draw a line and make conclusion for God about the definition of modesty is to admit that he/she knows better than God (Dress code for women according to Quran). Inheritance rights of Muslim women The inheritance rights of women in Muslim community are another controversial subject. “The male shall have the equal of the portion of two females; then if they are more than two females, they shall have two-thirds of what the deceased has left, and if there is one, she shall have the half; and as for his parents, each of them shall have the sixth of what he has left if he has a child, but if he has no child and (only) his two parents inherit him, then his mother shall have the third; but if he has brothers, then his mother shall have the sixth after (the payment of) a bequest he may have bequeathed or a debt; your parents and your children, you know not which of them is the nearer to you in usefulness;[4:11]” (The Quranic Teachings). Women and men have different roles in the family and society as per the Quranic teachings. The maintenance of home and the homely expenses are solely the duty of the men as per the Islamic beliefs. In other words, the men are supposed to carry out the heavy responsibility of looking after all the members of the family irrespective of children, wife or parents. Such a heavy burden of expenses cannot be met by the men if the properties are equally distributed. The women community has fewer burdens as far as homely expenses are concerned and there is no logic in distributing the wealth equally for both men and women. Thus Islam advocates sharing of wealth; with the boys getting the double share compared to the girls. Women may not have many expenses except some personal expenses. She is secure under the custody of the male economically or financially as per the Islamic views. If she is a widow with children then the children should look after her whereas if she is a daughter the father should look after her. If she is a sister, the brother should look after her and of course if she is a wife, the husband has the responsibility of looking after her financially. “If she has no relations on whom she can depend, then there is no question of inheritance because there is nothing to inherit and there is no one to bequeath anything to her. However, she will not be left to starve; maintenance of such a woman is the responsibility of the society as a whole, the state. She may be given aid or a job to earn her living, and whatever money she makes will be hers. She is not responsible for the maintenance of anybody else besides herself” (THE KORAN & WOMEN). Thus the Muslim women are financially secure always and hence the Muslim inheritance right can be justified. Islamic women and Driving ‘118 Saudis had recently released a statement warning against the dangers of allowing women to drive. The list of the people who signed the statement included Sheikhs, imams, judges, Islamic scholars, Islamic university teachers, several heads of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice centers in the Kingdom, as well as some teachers at the Grand Mosque in Makkah and the Prophet's Mosque in Madinah’ (Women's Driving: Do We Need Another King Faisal?) On the other hand, some renowned scholars with moderate views like Sheikh Ayed Al-Qarni, a Saudi Islamic scholar, has said that neither the Qur'an nor the sunnah prohibits women from driving and that it is better for a woman to drive herself than to be driven by a stranger without a legal escort Again the traditional concept of Islam about women driving has nothing to do with the Quranic views. The male dominated traditional Muslim lobby utilizes or misinterprets the Quranic words to establish some norms in the society to preserve their supremacy. The globalization and liberalization policies adopted by many countries have made the exchange of people and culture smoother than before. The Muslim fundamentalists believe that the intrusion of western culture in Muslim countries would destroy the traditions and customs of the Muslim world and would thereby cause immense damage to the Muslim culture. Most of the privileges enjoyed by the Muslim male community would be lost if the Muslim women started to argue for their rights. Driving will help the Muslim women to visit many places where the westerners assembles and the interaction with westerners would educate them more about their rights. The male community doesn’t want to allow this and they are trying desperately to control the freedom of the Muslim women as much as possible. Wife beating in Islam As mentioned above, wife beating or punishment is another tactics adopted by the male dominated Muslim community in order to silence the women. They are conveniently forgetting that wife beating is not allowed in Islam any time under any circumstances. “There is however a condition in Noble Verse 4:34 where Allah Almighty seems to allow the husband to beat his wife, and that is after he gives her two warnings to stop showing ill-conduct and disloyalty toward him.  There is however a disagreement with some Muslim scholars on the interpretation of the word "beat" in the Noble Verse, because it could literally mean "hit" or "leave" (Is wife beating really allowed in Islam?). Most of the traditional Muslim scholars make use of the above quote from Quran to justify the wife beating. But in practice, wife beating is not taking place after any warnings. It usually took place without any warning at all. In the event of a family dispute, the Qur'an exhorts the husband to treat his wife kindly and not overlook her POSITIVE ASPECTS  (see Qur'an 4:19). If the problem relates to the wife's behavior, her husband may exhort her and appeal for reason. In most cases, this measure is likely to be sufficient. In cases where the problem continues, the husband may express his displeasure in another peaceful manner, by sleeping in a separate bed from hers. There are cases, however, in which a wife persists in deliberate mistreatment and expresses contempt of her husband and disregard for her marital obligations. Instead of divorce, the husband may resort to another measure that may save the marriage, at least in some cases. Such a measure is more accurately described as a gentle tap on the body, but NEVER ON THE FACE, making it more of a symbolic measure then a punitive one.  (Dr. Badawi) It should be noted that even in Christian community, the domination or the leadership of the husband in family matters is accepted. But the wife is equal to the husband in terms of the social status in Christian community. But is Muslim community the husband is the manager of the wife. Wife has no independent existence either in the family or in the society without her husband. It is a kind of dictatorship which utilized by the Muslim male community for taking undue advantages. “Muhammad’s viewpoint of women was that they "lack self-control" and thus for their own good, and societies’ good, they must be subordinate to and managed by their husbands” (Silas). Muhammad has expressed his views based on the conditions of the women in his era. On the other hand, the current women community has more self control than the male community and there is no point in misinterpreting Muhammad’s views at present. Muhammad has put forward his opinion which was suitable for the ancient community. It should be remembered that a country like Bangladesh is currently ruled by a Muslim Woman. It is difficult to imagine that she lacks self control or self management skills. Moreover, Prophet Muhammad has discouraged the wife beating measure.  "Do not beat the female servants of Allah;" "Some (women) visited my family complaining about their husbands (beating them). These (husbands) are not the best of you;" and"[It is not a shame that] one of you beats his wife like [an unscrupulous person] beats a slave and maybe he sleeps with her at the end of the day. In another hadith the Prophet (P) said: How does anyone of you beat his wife as he beats the stallion camel and then he may embrace (sleep with) her?” (Dr. Badawi) From the above observations, it is clear that wife beating is also not in line with the Islamic teachings. Conclusions The traditional Muslim male community interprets the meaning of the Quranic teachings word by word without going in depth, in order to take undue advantages and to suppress the thirst for freedom by the women community. Like biblical words, Quranic teachings can also be misinterpreted if we take the meaning word by word. We have to examine the circumstances and the other teachings associated with the controversial topics more deeply before arriving at the conclusions. Quran allows the women community to work freely and they can even join in the Islamic governments. Freedom of work for women has never denied by Quran. Quran teaches women to engage in activities which might not stimulate sexual energy on unwanted occasions. Vulgar dresses and unnatural movements should be avoided by the women. It is not compulsory for the women to cover their heads or faces with clothes under any circumstances as per the Quranic teachings; instead they should dress decently and behave decently. Women are allowed to get only half of what the men are getting from their parents as inheritance wealth. Inheritance rights of woman are justified since women don’t have any responsibility to spend for the maintenance of the family. The male min the family has the responsibility of covering the expense of family and hence it is necessary that he should get the major share from the father. Women driving have nothing to do with the Quranic teachings. As far as the women keep her loyalty to her family and husband, she should be allowed to drive and visit any places she wants. Wife beating is also not allowed in Islam even though some fundamentalists misinterpret Quran for doing so. Works Cited 1. Dr. Badawi, Jamal. “Is wife beating allowed in Islam?”. 10 November 2009. 2. “Dress Code for Women According to Quran”. 10 November 2009. 3. “Domestic Felicity”. 2008. 10 November 2009. 4. “Is wife beating really allowed in Islam?”. 10 November 2009. 5. Silas. “WIFE BEATING IN ISLAM”. 10 November 2009. 6. “THE KORAN & WOMEN”. 10 November 2009. 7. “The Quranic Teachings”. 10 November 2009. 8. “The Skeptic’s Annotated Quran”. 10 November 2009. 9. “Women's Driving: Do We Need Another King Faisal?”. 2005. 10 November 2009. 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