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Woman and Society

Woman and Society

Author:
Publisher: www.al-islam.org
English

This book is corrected and edited by Al-Hassanain (p) Institue for Islamic Heritage and Thought

Alhassanain (p) Network for Islamic Heritage and Thought

Woman and Society

Author: AlBalagh Foundation

www.alhassanain.org/english

IN THE NAME OF ALLAH

Table of Contents

Preface 4

The Definition of Society 5

Why did Social Life Grow? 6

The Elements of Building Society 9

Biological and Psychological Differences between Man and Woman 11

Woman and Material Civilization 12

The Woman in Islam 16

Woman During the Lifetimes of the Prophets (a.s.) 20

Preparing the Women to fulfill their Tasks 24

Building through Family Relationships 27

Woman and Family Economy 29

Work and Islamic Law 31

The Work of a Wife 32

Woman and Political Work 34

Epilogue 38

Endnotes 39

Preface

Praisebe to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. Peace and blessings be on Muhammad, his holy family, and the righteous among his companions.

Human society is always in need of woman.For she constitutes half or more of its existence. Whoever considers carefully human history will conclude that woman played an important role even during the most backward historical periods, though this role was hidden in the shade or disappeared from sight.

Modern civilizations have formally underlined the role of the woman and her rights. However, since its coming, Islam has summoned woman to practice her role in life and to shoulder her responsibility in building human civilization. Allah, the Exalted, said:

"So their Lord did respond to them (saying) `I will not suffer the work of any of you that works to be lost, behe male or female, the one of you being from the other,...'" Holy Qur'an (Aal-Imran , 3:195)

Indeed woman was neglected in pre-Islamic era of ignorance `Jahiliyah ', and yielded to the manners of dishonor and lowliness. However, in Islam, she has gained her personality and become an example for all believers. Islamic history witnessed eminent women, who played important roles. Among them wereKhadija , the mother of believers, and Fatima, the chief of women of the world (a.s .).

Ignorance happened in some Islamic countries in the last centuries as it happened in other countries in the world. Hence, woman in such countries fell short of practicing her leading role in life. Thus, it is important for woman to understand the Islamic concepts concerning her. Accordingly, she will be able to play her role in developing society.

Without doubt, this role is different from that in material societies.For such societies have deprived woman of her dignity and her character. They have used her for a trade and information commodity. Moreover, capitalists and the ambitious ones have used her as a toy to play with. This method removes woman from her womanhood, her motherhood, her high position, and her gentle sentiments. So, she will gain nothing except crime, isolation, despair, violence, and the tragedies of the disorderly family.

Our dear readers, the study before you, acquaints you the role of woman in an Islamic society. Praisebe to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.

Al-Balagh Foundation

The Definition of Society

Society is a human organization which is composed of individuals, and joined with each other through ideological links and limited vital interest. This is the general definition of society. As for the links and relationships in Islamic society, they are grounded in Islam.

Thus, we can define Islamic society as follows: "It is a political group of people residing in a certain area of the earth. It believes in Islam. Its relations and its life regime are based on Islam." Therefore Islamic society is ideological. It has its own qualities that distinguish it from other societies. It is distinguished by its beliefs, its values, its ethics, its laws, its life regulations, its behavior, and its customs. The Holy Qur'an has summarized these qualities as follows:

"(This is) Allah's coloring and who is better than Allah incolouring ; while Him (alone) do we worship." Holy Qur'an (Baqara 2:138)

Why did Social Life Grow?

The growth of society and social life is among the basic matters which must be scientifically studied. For such a study will help us understand the reason why society and social life grew.

To understand the Islamic theory concerning the growth of society and social life, we must consider carefully theQur'anic verses that talk about these matters. Meanwhile theseQur'anic verses urge man to build human society based on firm foundations and principles. Among them are:

Allah, the Exalted, said: "O people! Verily We have created you of a male and a female, and made you in nations and tribes, that you mayrecognise each other; Verily the most honored of you with Allah is the one of you who guards (himself) the most (against evil), ..." Holy Qur'an (Hujurat , 49: 113)

He said: "And of His signs is that He created for you from yourselves, mates that you may dwell (inclined) unto them, and caused between you love and compassion: Verily in this are signs for a people who reflect." Holy Qur'an (Rum, 30:21)

He, the Glorified, said: "What!do they distribute the mercy of your Lord? (It is) WeWho did distribute among them (even) their livelihood in the life of this world, and We did raise some of them above the others in rank, so that some of them may take the others in subjection; and the mercy of your Lord is better that whatever they hoard." Holy Qur'an (Zukhruf , 43: 32)Studing and analyzing these verses show us the reasons why society grew. Among them are:

1. The basic factor for the growth of society is the general natural law of marriage. The instinctive structure of man and woman represents this law. Both, man and woman are the main factors for the growth of social life.

This instinctive relationship between man and woman is based on love and mercy. So, it leads totranquillity . For this reason, the Holy Qur'an regards woman as the base oftranquillity . That happens through the psychological and socialtranquillity of man and of social life in general. That is because the psychological and the physical relationship between man and womanterminates psychological tension. It also ends the instinctive and psychological energy and leads to the principle of balance between man and woman. For this principle depends on perfection through the general natural marriage law.

Consequently, man and woman must shoulder their responsibility to build a sound righteous society.For they are the source of tranquility, love, affection, and mercy in social life.

2. Acquaintance: The second reason which caused man to build a social life is acquaintance among human beings based on the instinct of social life. Regarding this view, the philosophers said: "Man is social by nature." Social and psychologicalexperments have shown that man feels tranquility and rest through his social life with others. For this reason Allah, the Most High, said: "So that you may know one another." This phrase shows that there is a human motive behind forming society or social life.

3. Exchanging interests: The third reason for buildingsociety, is the exchange of various material interests. Indeed Allah wanted individuals to be perfect through their psychological, bodily, and intellectual abilities. He also wanted this perfection to be achieved through exchanging interests among individuals.

The individual has diverse needs and demands. He cannot secure them all by himself. So, he needs others, and others need him. These differing abilities lead to differing productions and services which the individual offers to others. Concerning the exchange of these productions, interests, and services, which are offered to satisfy needs, the Qur'an says: "...andWe did raise some of them above the others in rank, so that some of them may take the others in subjection;"1

Social function has grown on this base. The principle of the functional social growth has also been explained according to this base. Namely, society grows as bodily organs do. Then it carries out its function as bodily organs do.

Thus, the Qur'an explains the material and human reasons for the growth of society. The role of woman becomes prominent clearly and basically through these elements. In other words, woman plays a functional, psychological, and material role in social life. For woman constitutes the greater part in society. The census has shown that the number of females is more than the number of males.

According to the theory of functional perfection, explained by the Holy Qur'an, shows that the role of the woman and the role of man are both studied within the frame of Islamic aims and values. So, woman is not a secondary element nor is she an additional being, though the human experience has shown the role of the man in building science and economy is greater than that of woman. While, the role of woman in building the psychological base of the family is greater than that of the man.

The Qur'an expresses this fact by saying: "and from it did He make his mate that he may dwell resting unto her." Hence it is the husband who feels at ease with the wife and is quiet through living with her. So, she is the center of attraction and the frame oftranquillity , affection and love.

The Qur'an talks about `tranquillity ' in numerous places. With that, we can understandtranquillity which the wife secures for her husband. We understand that through Allah's words, the Exalted: "And of His signs is that He created for you from yourselves, mates that you may dwell (inclined) unto them, and caused between you love and compassion." "...then madeHe from it its mate," We may also understand `tranquillity ' in society when we understand the Qur'an's description of the relation between the husband and wife as the relation of `tranquillity , affection, and mercy'.

Therefore, we must study the wordtranquillity `sakan ' in numerous places in the Qur'an in order to understand its social and family meanings. He, the Exalted, said: "...and has made the night for rest," It means that people become tranquil at night.2 He, the Most High, said: "...and pray for them; verily your prayer is assurance (of peace) for them;" It means that they become tranquil through your prayers and their hearts become quiet through them. Heretranquillity or calmness means sobriety, not losing motion.

"He it is who sends down tranquility into the hearts of the faithful." It means that He has found steadfastness and tranquillity.3The linguists have explained the meaning of `sakan ' or calmness, by saying: "Sakana al-rih , meaning the wind has abated.Sakan al-nafs ba`da al-idtarab , meaning the soul has became tranquil after the disorder.Sakan also means all things with which the soul is intimate, such as the wife,fire( ), mercy, blessing, and daily-bread."

"Sakina meanstranquillity , stability, sobriety, and dignity."5

With this, we understand the meaning ofsakan ortranquillity which the wife provides for her husband and her family. In other words we understand thatsakan means rest, stability, sociability, mercy, blessing, and dignity. With this we also understand why the Qur'an has used the word `sakan ' with different meanings.

Scientific studies have indicated that man's psychological conditions have effects on his activities in life. It is well-known that the psychological conditions of the man and woman affect their social activities, such as agriculture, industry, trade, teaching, medicine, and the like.

Hence, material production decreases when the man leads a life full of family difficulties and psychological tension. Such a man will have no ability to carry out his social duties as good as possible. Meanwhile, he will have tense relations with his work mates. Therefore, the nature of the relations between the man and woman affects the level of production and development.

Moreover, the woman plays a significant role in building society intellectually, materially, and morally, for she brings up and educates her children. The child will have a good character when he leads a life free from anxiety, tension, and family problems. Besides, he will have good relations with others, unlike the child who has a troubled character when he leads a life full of family problems. Such a child may have bad and aggressive behavior. So, corrupt education is the reason for all crimes that occur in society.

The mother contributes as the father does in other fields. She contributes in positive education. She has the ability to make her child love work and to be punctual and to urge him to study hard. Such a child will continue his education and develop his creative abilities. Then he will be a productive element through his experiences and his scientific and practical specialization. However, the child is dependent and lazy when his parents do not take care of him.

Such a child will be dependent on others, moreover, there will be many dependent elements that will decrease production andstagnate scientific, economic and social life. Thus, there is a close relationship between education and development, production, morals, and social life. So, the role of the woman is significant in social building in all fields.

The Elements of Building Society

The relationship between the individuals in social life is like the relationship between the letters of a language. If the letters come together and are well organized, a linguistic structure will happen and convey human thinking and picture all human feelings and life.

Such separate individuals are unable to form a certain society unless they come together and form well-organized ties to regulate their behavior and activities. These ties and relationships are the elements of the building of society. They are as follows:

1. Belief: Belief is regarded as one of the strongest human ties that connect the members of society to each other. It turns them into a unit as firm as one body. The Holy Prophetic tradition says: "You see believers show mercy toward one another, like each other, and feel pity for one another. (They are) like the body. When a part of it (the body) complains, all the body responds to it through (showing) sleeplessness and fever."6

Hence, belief has practical, behavioral, emotional, and psychological reflections and effects on all human links. Their effects begin from building to reform. Moreover, they preserve social structure. So, we find the Holy Qur'an explaining this link, says: "And the believer men and the believer women, they are guardians to one another; they enjoin good and forbid evil..." Holy Qur'an (Tawba , 9:71)

This blessed verse confirms that those who believe in Allah, the Glorified, and His message support each other. It also fixes a psychological and intellectual base, which is the strongest of all the bases of social building. In this concern, the holy verse regards the woman as a basic element in the circle of support. Thus, the woman shoulders the responsibility of social building, change, and reform. In this respect she is equal to the man.

2. Laws and regulations: Law is defined as: "A group of rules that regulate the behavior of individuals in society. General authorities force them to respect law."7

So, social law is a means to regulate the movement of society as natural law regulates the movement of the atom and the stars. Society cannot develop without law.

As for Islamic law, it is concluded from the Qur'an and the purifiedSunnah . Hence, Islamic law regulates Islamic society according to Islamic precepts. Meanwhile it takes care of the biological and psychological nature of both man and woman. According to this scientific principle, Islamic law is divided into three parts. They are as follows:

A. Laws and precepts that concern the woman.

B. Laws and precepts that concern the man.

C. General laws and precepts that concern both the man and the woman. They represent the wider area of Islamic laws and precepts. This kind of regulation, which takes care of gender, urges both man and woman to move and be active in two areas of movement and activity. The first area concerns their gender. The other includes all society.

3. Islamic traditions and customs: Islamic society has traditions and customs. They are one of the distinguished elements of Islamic society. Hence, they should be preserved.

4. The need of services and exchangeable interests (production): This is clear through this holy verse: "...and We did raise some them above the others in ranks, so that some of them may take the others in sub-jection ...". This verse shows that need moves individuals to form society to exchange interests as other creatures do in their naturalenviornment . Through that, the individual secures his need and participates in developing human life.

The needs of the individual and society always develop. The man and the woman differ in their administrative, psychological, physical, and intellectual abilities and inclinations. So, functional specialization sometimes occurs spontaneously; it sometimes results from the individual when he chooses his social function, namely the work which he fulfills in society, such as agriculture, medicine, trade, education; the Islamic state sometimes achieves it intentionally, for it is responsible for regulating the abilities of society to satisfy the needs of the individual and to solve the problems that result from all kinds of need.

Now we will briefly discuss woman's role in this respect.

Biological and Psychological Differences between Man and Woman

Psychologists and doctors say that there are axiomatic scientific differences between man and woman. In other words they say that man and woman have different biological and psychological differences. Accordingly, the social function of the woman is different of that of the man. Hence, social life is righteous when man maintains his manhood and woman maintains her womanhood. Scientific studies have shown that the hormones of the ductless glands take part in forming the behavioral and psychological differences between the man and the woman. In the meantime, the nervous system participates in that too.

The Holy Qur'an has explained these differences between man and woman. It says: "And covet not that by which Allah has raised some of you above others; for men shall have of what they earn; and women shall have of what they earn; and ask Allah of His Grace; verily, Allah knows all things." Holy Qur'an (Nisa ' 4:32)

Moreover, the purified Prophetic traditions (Sunnah ) underline that both man and woman should preserve their gender. It prevents women from imitating men. Meanwhile, it prevents men from imitating women.

Psychological studies and experiments were applied on psychological deviation of both men and women. They have shown that some men try to imitate women, and some women try to imitate men. They have indicated that this state is a kind of deviation, and that this state may be controlled and treated through education, social measures, and reorganization of the character. The holy traditions have scorned and cursed such people.

The greattraditionist and jurist,Hurr Amily , may Allah have mercy on him, has mentioned numerous traditions under the title: "It is not permitted for women to imitate men and vice versa."

It was reported on the authority of Imam al-Sadiq (a.s .) and Abu Hassan al-Rida (a.s .), who said: "I hate that men imitate women."8 The meaning of hatred here is prohibition or not permitted as it has been mentioned in the tradition cited above. It was reported on the authority of Imam al-Sadiq (a.s .), on the authority of Allah's Apostle Muhammad (s.a.w .), who said:

"Allah's Apostle scorned the man who imitates women, and prevented the woman who imitates men in her clothes."9 (It was reported) on the authority ofIbn Abbas , who said: "Allah's Apostle (s.a.w .) cursed the men who imitated women and the women who imitated men."10

These differences between man and woman force us to admit that there are functional differences in some of the vital fields and duties which the man and woman should perform. According to this discussion, we are able to limit the differences between the man and woman in social function.

Woman and Material Civilization

To study the history of nations and societies throughout its ages, shows the sufferings of the woman and how has she exploited andpersecuted.?

No ideology or belief has saved the woman from persecution and sufferings like Divine principles represented in its perfect and prettiest form i.e. the immortal Islamic message. Before talking about the value, rights and the notable position of the woman in Islam, it is necessary to mention some statistics about the persecution and sufferings of the woman in the material civilization headed by America and Europe that declare the rights of the woman.

The figures and statistics underline that the woman is persecuted and enslaved in these cultures. French News Agency: "1.3 billion human beings lead a life of abject poverty in the world. 70% of them are women. There are about 2.3 billion illiterate women in the world.

"One-third of the women in Norway, America, Holland andNewsland are subject to sexual exploitation "Every eight seconds one woman is mistreated. Every six minutes one woman is violated."

The News Agency added: "Half a million women die during pregnancy and its symptoms. 40% of them are young girls."The wages of 828 million women ranging from 30-40% less than those of men. 10% of bank considerations include them." In another report announced by American Federal Police says: "According to a study made by American Ministry of Justice, 310 thousand women are raped every year."

According to the report of French News Agency from Washington, there are about half a million sexual assaults against women every year."

According to the latest figures issued by F.B.A. the police announced only the existence of 140 thousand attempts of violation in America.

The Iranian Newspaper,Ittila'at ,No.20401 , quoted a report from Rome as follows: "The wave of violence has increased among the Italian families. The instances of murdering fathers by sons and of sons by fathers have increased more than they had been before."

The Italian Newspaper,Larpoblika , wrote lately from the annual report of the Euro Union for Statistics, in the first ten months of the year 1994, 192 incidents of family violence were recorded in Italy; 129 of them ended to murders. According to this report, this kind of violence led to 112 murders in 1993.

It is worth mentioning, 40.1% of these family murders occurred in the north of Italy; 43.8% occurred in the south of Italy; 16.1% occurred in the middle of Italy.

Most family murders in 1994 occurred in the Province of Lombardy, in the north of Italy.Jumhuri Islami Newspaper, No.4485,Autumn of 1994, mentioned the following report:

"Epidemiology Magazine, affiliated to the World Health Organization (WHO), No.11, Summer of 1993, published the latest world figures concerning AIDS in various areas of the world. " WHO has recorded that the number of AIDS cases was 718,894 in June, 1993. "(371086) cases were in America; 247,577 cases were in Africa; 92,482 cases were in Europe; 4,188 cases were in Australia; 3,561 cases were in Asia.

"The number of cases per countries is as follows: 289320 cases were in the U.S.A.; 38,719 cases were in Tanzania; 36,481 cases were in Brazil; 31,185 cases were in Kenya; 34,611 cases were in Uganda; 26,955 cases in Britain; 24,226 cases in France; 21,008 cases in Zaire; 18,347 cases in Spain; 16,860 cases in Italy; 14,655 cases in Congo.Besides there are other cases in other countries.

"We see that the U.S.A. not only occupies the first position in Aids cases but also it is extremely differing from the counties that follow. Besides, if we take into consideration the percentage of the figures, we will find that those infected by AIDS in the U.S.A. constitute 40% of the infected in 150 countries in the world. Nevertheless, the population of the U.S.A. constitutes only 5% of the population."

The Iranian Newspaper,Ittila`at , No. 20482, May 21, 1995, conveying its correspondent in Madrid, reported: "In the year 1960, 82% of the children lived under the care of their fathers. Nowadays, 60% of them live without fathers. Divorce and the stubbornness of mothers forced fathers to abandon their houses. After mentioning the above-mentioned figures, David Blink Horn, an American writer, said in his book `America without Father': `To have good fathers needs exemplary (righteous) women. This is the reason why fathers abandon their houses'

"In a report from America, the reporter of the Spanish Newspaper, Al-Payis , said: `Being partial toward the woman in American society led to the damage of the fathers there. It has prevented children from the care of their fathers. So, it has become a difficult dream to secure fathers in America."

Concerning the conditions of the children in Britain, the Newspaper,Ittila `at , No. 20407, January 1995, reported the following account from IRNA News Agency, London:

"In a report, the United Nations strongly criticized the conditions of the children in Britain and the laws and regulations of taking care of the children in that country.

"According to this report, prepared by the Children's Rights Committee affiliated to the United Nations Organization, the laws ruling in Britain concerning the health,eduacation and social insurance of children pay no attention to the interests of the children there.

"The specialists in the Children's Rights Committee think that the laws concerning the children in Britain only concentrate for punishing and imprisoning the deviated children and teenagers. " Among the criticisms in the report is that the number of poor children has increased, the average of divorce has increased, the authorities have decreased their relives to poor families, and the number of children and teenagers, who loiter andbeg in streets, has increased.

"The writers of the report expressed their worry about the mistreatment, sexual and physical exploitation from which children suffer.

"According to what the sources of the United Nations mentioned, the reports of this organization on the conditions of the children in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark have criticisms similar to those in the report about Britain."

An Iranian Newspaper,Jumhuri Islami , No.4485, mentioned the following: "According to IRNA News Agency from Bonn, the report of Germany Statistics Office mentioned in the year 1993 that the number of mothers who brought up their children by themselves increased each year. The report added that there were 455 thousand mothers in the eastern states of Germany (21% of all mothers in these states) who brought up their children by themselves.

"Besides there were 915thousnad mothers out of 7 millionmother (12% of mothers) in the western states of German brought up their children by themselves.

"Thus, there were one million 370 thousand mothers out of 9 million 260 thousand in Germany who brought up their children by themselves.

"According to this report, 46% of these mothers in the eastern states and 30% of them in the western states did not marry officially, and 43% of these women divorced their husbands. As the children in Germany are under the care of mothers, therefore, they should take the responsibility of bringing them up.

There are over 9.26 million mothers in Germany. They have children under 18 years old. 5.4 millionof them work outside their houses full time or part time in addition to their responsibilities in their houses and the tasks of bringing up their children. It is worth mentioning, the average of divorce has doubled since 1968. It has increased from 65 thousand cases in 1968 to 135 thousand cases in present years. Every year 390 thousand contracts of marriage are recorded in Germany. However, 33% of them end with divorce. This ratio reaches 50% in the large cities such asHamborg .

Ittila`at Newspaper, No.20503, reported the following from the United Nations-IRNA:

"The American's contribution to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), incomparasion with its national income, is less than that of the industrial counties in the world."

The officials of UNICEF announced that and added: "Though America occupies the second position after Japan through paying 9.7 billion dollars as an aid to UNICEF, this sum of money is only 0.15% of its national income. Holland and the Scandinavian countries occupy the first position in this respect, for their aid is 0.8% of their national incomes.

"The officials of UNICEF expressed their concern with the low contributions from rich countries to the under developed countries. Then, they added: `This happens at the time when the importance of supporting the growth and health of children and of improving the conditions of the work ofmothers exetremely increases.'

"According to this account, 13 million children die in the world every year of pneumonia, diarrhea, and measles. " Besides 200 million children in the world suffer from the lack of vitamin C which leads to blindness."

Ittila`at Newspaper, No.20370, 15 December 1994, in another report adds. In the report it has been mentioned: "Tehran-IRNA: There are a half million children who loiter in America. Orphanages will be built for them. However, the American society regards this as a shame against it.

"SusanFildiz , the analyst of the Washington Times Newspaper, wrote: "Many fatherless children live under the care of foster families. They are subjected not only to hitting, abuse and mistreatment, but also, they are killed." "Fildiz said: "The quality of the treatment of society towards its children is an important sign for the real identity of that society."

"She added: `The number of the children who loiter in America increases day by day to the extent that the police sometimes find new-born babies in garbage cans. In such cases, financial aid is not enough for mothers. Rather, it is necessary to find special centers to meet the basic needs of these children.'"

The Woman in Islam

Why is the attack against Islamic attitude towards Woman?

Studying this matter (woman's rights in Islam) is among the importantcivilizational andinellectual matters and affairs at the present time. The opponents of Islam, their followers, and those who have no knowledge of Islamic thought, precepts and concepts still continue their oppressive attack against Islamic thought and law, claim that the woman is oppressed in Islam.

Studying and analyzing the elements of this intellectual battle between Islam, materialism and secularism, we can conclude that the axle of the battle moves around a basic matter. The matter is that the secular thought tries to spread sexual dissoluteness and corruption.

According to this theory, the woman will become a tool for enjoyment and instinctive satisfaction which destroys the family, society, and the woman.While, Islam honors the woman and raises her from this low level. It also grants her rights and position to allow her to share with man in building life and expressing her humanity according to human bases which we will mention briefly in this study.

Before discussing this matter, it is important for us to mention the basic reasons of this battle (of the rights of the woman) and accusing Islam of depriving woman of her rights.

Muslim writers and thinkers, the propagators of Islam, the religious scholars, the foundations of the Islamic message and culture, and especially as it concerns the children of the Moslem communities in the non-Islamic countries and especially in America and Europe should explain this important matter through researches, studies, conferences, seminars in all various political, psychological, social, family, andcivilizational fields.

We can summarize the reasons which lie beyond the attack against the Islamic thought as follows:

1. The confusion between the backward customs and social Islamic theory:

Muslim writers, thinkers, and propagators should clarify suchconfusion, for the opponents of Islam, those who are deceived by corrupt material thought, and those who confuse concepts have no ability to distinguish Islamic concepts from the social customs existed in backward Islamic societies. Such customs are contrary to the essence, principles and methods of Islam that regulate society, sexual relationships and the foundations of the relationship between man and woman.

So, the opponents of Islam attribute such backward customs to Islam to distort it, intentionally or out of ignorance. It is necessary for us to differentiate between the present society of Muslims and the Islamic society based on Islamic principles.

This social backwardness in the society of Muslims is part of the general backwardness in the fields of science, knowledge, development, industry, health, etc.

Some sociologists derive a distorted picture concerning the social position of the woman from the rural of Muslim countries such as Egypt, Iraq,Morroco and the desert areas of Peninsula. Thus, they diagnose the problem of the woman through the backward rural or desert view that oppresses the woman. Then, they give a distorted picture about the Muslim society, for its members are Muslims. They forget that such concepts and practices have no relation with Islam. We firmly believe that such concepts and practices oppose Islamic values and teachings. Meanwhile, Islam has devoted part of its thought, laws, and values to change these conditions.

2. Ignorance of Islam:

Among the problems which Islamic thought faces in our present time is that the people, in Europe, America, and other non-Islamic countries, are ignorant of Islam and have no correct knowledge of the simplest principles of Islam. In other words, they have a distorted picture of Islam. They think that Islam is based on fable, terrorism, bloodshed, and tribalism. They do not know that such ideas have been created by the enemies of Islam, such asorientalists , Zionists, and church foundations.

Thus, Western man knows nothing about Islam except distorted pictures. If Western man understands the essence of Islam, surely he will embrace it through rationale.

To understand this problem more clearly, let us return to the speech addressed by German President, RomanHotsogh , on the occasion of honoring Mrs. Ana MaryShmil , a Germanorientalist , who received a peace prize from the German Book Association in 10/1/1995. Some people opposed giving a peace prize to Mrs.Shmil , for she supports the Islamic thought, treats it justly, and summons people to understand Islam and to change the distorted picture which the European ministers made about Islam and Muslims.

In response to those who opposed giving a peace prize to Mrs.Shmil , the German president said: "There is a phenomenon that seems clear in our relations and dealings with Islam in our present time. We do not accuse falsely of the German public opinion when we say that many of us think that Islam is the religion of inhumane penal law, non-tolerance, oppression against woman, and aggressive roots. However, this is narrow-mindedness which we must change. In turn, we must remember the wave of enlightenment that maintained great parts of the western inheritance six or seven centuries ago, and that it found itself before a style of western thought. Without doubt, it was radical and non-tolerant."11

In another part of his speech, the German president indicated that the Europeans showed enmity toward Islam, for they had no knowledge of it. Thus, in his speech, he asked them: "Isn't it possible that we do not understand Islam because it depends on deep popular faith, while we are in a secular society?

"Have we the right to classify the pious Muslims with the radical terrorists because we have no sound feeling towards the mockery at the religious feelings of others or because we are unable to express this sound feeling?"12

Then, the German president admitted that he had no knowledge of Islam until he read the books of Mrs.Shmil . In thisregared , he said: "I did not know the numerous Islamic trends in the history of Islam except through the books of Ana MaryShmil . Perhaps, other than I witnessed the same experience. Indeed we are in need of understanding each other."13

Then, the German president summoned (people) to understand Islam to adopt another attitude towards it. Thus, he said: "I confess that there is no other option before us except that we must increase our knowledge of the Islamic world. That is if we want to achieve human rights and freedom."14

Then he added: "Indeed, the real reason for longing for understanding Islam and its rich civilization arises from our belonging to a civilization differing from it. Mrs.Shmil has moved this longing in my soul. I hope that others than me do the same."15 "Mrs.Shmil has paved the way for us to meet Islam." 16

The battle of granting a peace prize to theorientalist Shmil in Germany in 1995, the agreement of the learned political public opinion in Germany, which is among the most important countries in modern history, and the victory of the front ofShmil , which means the victory of the trend that summons (people) to understand true Islam and to adopt an attitude towards it, among this advanced class of thinkers and politicians, among the foremost being is the German president, whose important speech we have read, all these denote that Muslim writers, thinkers, artists, and scholars think men should shoulder their responsibility towards Islam.

Besides, religious foundations and clergy men should shoulder their responsibility towards it. They should spread the true Islam that moves intellect, heart, and conscience. They should follow the method of the Qur'an when they summon people to believe in Allah, the Glorified: "And call you unto the way of your Lord with wisdom and kindly exhortation and dispute with them in the manner which is the best;... " Holy Qur'an (Nahil 16:125)

Thatcivilizational battle, which took place in Germany and ended for those who summoned people to understand Islam, shows us that Islam is great and that man is ready to understand it, regardless of his faith. This battle is clearly shown in the Qur'an: "Go you untoPharaoh, verily he has transgressed (the bounds). Then speak you both unto him a gentle word,happly he may get admonished or fear (Our punishment)." Holy Qur'an (Taha 20: 43-44)

From this we understand that the Qur'an summons the propagators of Islam to hold true faith and communicate it to those who have intense enmity towards Islam. Meanwhile, it summons them to leave despair and to open a door to hold intellectual talks. That is because the conditions of talks differ from time to time. In other words, the talks may be rejected today but are accepted tomorrow. What is rejected through one way is accepted through another way.

3. Lust and Sexual Deviation:

Perhaps, among the most prominent motives of those who demand the freedom of woman or sexualdessolateness is the motive of lust or sexual deviation. The Holy Qur'an talks about these motives and their danger and denotes their destructive effects. Allah, the Most High, says:

"But followed after them a succession who neglected prayers and they followed lust, so they shall soon meet perdition,. " Holy Qur'an (Maryam , 19:59)

He said: "(It has been) made to seem attractively fair unto men, the love of the lust for women and sons and the hoarded treasures of gold and silver..." Holy Qur'an (Aali-Imran 3: 13)

He said: "...but desire those who follow their own lusts that you should deviate a great deviation." Holy Qur'an (Nisa'4: 27)

In these verses, the Holy Qur'an explains the danger of lust and that it represents `ghay ', which means (the ignorance that arises from a corrupt belief) and `mayl ', which means (turning away from righteousness and moderation), which has been mentioned in another verse:

"Those who hinder (others) from the path of Allah and seek to make it crooked; and they in the hereafter, they are the disbelievers." Holy Qur'an (Hud 11:19) There is a practical proof in the reports and figures which we have mentioned about sexual deviation. The Qur'an has explained it to people and warned them against it.

4. Inherited Malice and Fear of Islam:

Among the motives of the campaign against Islam and distorting its attitude towards woman is the inherited malice against Islam and distorting its principles and high values. This malice began from the day when the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w .) made public his mission. Then it increased during the Crusades and after them. Through blind imitation, Europe has inherited spite and hatred towards Islam.

It has spared no effort to distort the plain principles of Islam and to mislead public opinion, because Islam is acivilizational mission that will destroy their interests, end their oppression and domination over the world in general and the Muslim world in private. The fears of Europe of Islam have increased since the beginning of Islamic awareness and the appearance of Islam as a plan which the Islamic movements have adopted, and which a live experience has embodied through establishing Islamic states, such as the Islamic Republic in Iran.

The super powers have gathered their hirelings everywhere to resist Islamic awareness and to destroy the Islamic plan and its propagators and the holders of its banner.

Islamic Opposition To Socialism

Socialism calls for the destruction of tradition and its replacement by a radically egalitarian system.

The socialist distributive system isunIslamic because it ignores differentiation arising as a result of contract and trade, but considers only the pattern of distribution.

Socialist materialism is incompatible with the ant materialism of Islamic ideology.

The idea that the means of production must be in the hands of the masses, or the party that represents them, is contrary to the idea of hierarchical rule found in Islam, which, though it may be for the benefit of the people, does not give the people any right to the means of production.

More specifically, with regard to feminism, where socialism opposes the family as an expression of exploitative class relations, Islam seeks to support and encourage the building and maintenance of families. Family ties are exceedingly important in Islam. So Islam and socialism are diametrically opposed on this point.

All forms of feminism with socialist leanings are in agreement with the aim of ultimate destruction of the family. All reject any sort of gender differentiation andcomplementarity . As such, they are fundamentally opposed to Islam.

Many of the forms of feminism that reject socialism, nevertheless retain the absolute egalitarian and anti-family principles of the socialists, and so Islam will oppose them no less than it does more orthodox forms of socialism.

Islamic Opposition To The Philosophical Attitude Of Feminism

The moral values espoused by feminists, whether equality feminism orgynocentric feminism, are not values supported by Islam. In feminism the goal is absolute freedom to choose to live as one pleases without interference of social customs or regulations assigning specified roles to men and women. Justice in Islam means everything being in its proper place, not absolute equality, let alone feminine superiority in all areas.

The determination of justice in Islam requires the wisdom and insight that result from study of and living according to the patterns set by the Prophet (s) and Imams (as) .

Philosophical thought in Islam, like all the aspects of Islamic culture, is a reflection of taw ld. All things are seen as having an underlying unity as effects of God as ultimate cause, or as modes of His self-disclosure.

Reason is championed as a vehicle for understanding taw ld. Feminist philosophical thought, on the other hand, moves in the opposite direction. Instead of searching for some underlying unity in being or causation or appearance and reality, feminism is occupied with the discovery of conflict; feminism sees hidden forms of subjugation lurking beneath virtually every text, every theory, every social or cultural phenomenon.

It displaces the idea of a harmony between the masculine and feminine with outrage against the oppression of the female through gender differentiation. Reason itself is considered a tool of oppression, and reliance on reason is disparagingly called 'logo-centrism.'

The ideal of the philosopher in Islamic culture is of one who has gained victory over the wiles of his base soul through the employment of the intellect. The intellect dominates over the soul of the philosopher, who thereby loses interest in what is considered desirable by worldly standards.

The ideal of the feminist thinker one finds in feminist writing is of a woman who is preoccupied with her own experiences and who uses those experiences to uncover the roots of women's oppression in gender differences which she overcomes through an effort of desire unconstrained by patriarchy.

The ideal of Islam is nearness to God, and social relations are governed by a spirit of obedience to God, in which justice is conceived as a proper balance that satisfies the demands of moral conscience, social custom, and the explicit commands of God.

In feminism, by contrast, all of theology is subordinated to its program of liberation, in which the ideal is a social freedom that makes its own absolute moral claims on behalf of equality and the abolition of gender based differences in social role, that demands a revolution in social customs, and that rejects the explicit commands of God.

Islamic Opposition To Feminist Political Theory

Islamic political theory sees injustice in terms of rebellion against God. It is because rulers usurp authority for the satisfaction of their own desires instead of submitting to the divine will that they perpetrate injustices on other people, their own subjects and their neighbors. The sin against God is primary, and this is expressed in injustice to others.

This political view is magnified inShi'i theology. The dispute over the caliphate arises because some were unwilling to submit to the choice of God for leadership. All accept that 'Ali was designated for some sort of leadership role, but the supporters of other choices for caliph refused to accept this designation or its extension to the realm of politics.

With this refusal, for whatever reason, a spirit of something quite foreign to the complete submission required by Islam is displayed. The primary sin is that of disobedience to God. The injustices done in the violent attempts to hold power are the natural consequence of this sin.

Feminist political theory, on the other hand, sees the primary sin in the subjection of women to male authority. All other social injustice is interpreted on the basis of this, and the elimination of any subordination of women to men is seen as the key to the elimination of all other forms of injustice.

Islam aims at bringing the human ever nearer to the divine. Thus, the aim of the political order, in Islam, is the creation of an environment conducive to the worship of and obedience to God through which proximity to Him is gained.

This requires the establishment of a condition of social harmony and balance in which each component of society, its institutions, practices, cultural forms, discourse and individual members, each find their fitting place to approach divinity in complete submission.

The aim of the political order in feminism, by contrast, never gets beyond freedom to violate the constraints of traditional gender roles, forming relationships and even communities without any form of hierarchy, subordination, or gender differentiation such as is found in the families of virtually all cultures.

Islamic Opposition To Feminist Theology

Since there is no holy trinity in Islam, no God the Father nor God the Son, the concept of God in Islam is not as gender specific as it is in Christianity. In the Arabic of the Qur’an, masculine pronouns are used to refer to God, but this provides little leverage for the development of the sort of critique feminists have leveled against the Christian concept of God.

Goddess feminism, on the other hand, is clearly incompatible with the teachings of Islam. The God of Islam is not a woman, and He has no daughters.

Theological discussions of the attributes of God indicate very clearly, however, that there are feminine and masculine aspects of divinity and even that the feminine has priority.1

Now, asWolfson has argued in his study of Islamic theology,2 discussions of the names and attributes of God play a role in Islamic theology comparable to discussions of the Trinity among Christian theologians.

So, not only is the Islamic concept of the divinity free of the male bias present in the concept of the Trinity, but the closest thing we can find in Islam to the idea of relations internal to divinity discussed in Christianity in terms of the Trinity is the idea of the divine names and attributes in which not only is there an absence of bias against the feminine, but the feminine is dignified as paramount. God's mercy precedes His wrath.3

Feminism As Cultural Imperialism

Feminism has long been a favorite weapon in the arsenal of the colonialist powers. The colonialists used feminism in order to berate the cultures of the lands they governed, to win local support for Europeanization, and to provide moral justification for imperialism.4

Europeans understood Islam very poorly prior to the twentieth century. The misunderstandings had been entrenched since the crusades when a disinformation campaign was employed to bolster the war effort. One of the aspects of this campaign concerned gender in Islam.

Islam was condemned because of polygamy, sensuality, and the imprisonment of women behind the veil. Even in the eighteenth century many Europeans believed that Islam teaches that women have no souls.

During the nineteenth century, the European colonialist powers, particularly the English, built upon these common misunderstandings to justify a program for the eradication of Muslim culture. Victorian anthropology contributed to the idea that the culmination of human evolution was to be found in England, and that it was therefore natural and fitting for the British to rule over other peoples.

At the same time, a vocal feminist movement was emerging in England itself. The colonialists made use of the arguments of English feminists in their own rhetoric to claim that because Muslims oppressed their women, their mores had to be replaced by 'civilized' European mores.

Colonial feminism was thus used against other cultures in the service of colonial rule, particularly against Muslim cultures, but in different variations it was also used against local cultures in India and Africa.

The colonialists argued that the fundamental reason for the comprehensive backwardness of Muslim societies was the prevalence of Islamic customs pertaining to women. The veil became the symbol for the degradation of women and chief target of colonialist propaganda.

In order for Muslim societies to progress toward civilization, the women in these societies would have to learn to dress and behave like European women.

Evelyn Baring, the 1st Earl of Cromer, was the British consul-general of Egypt from 1882 to 1907, and he made frequent use of feminist arguments in his attacks against Islam, claiming that Islam degraded women while Christianity elevated them, yet in England Cromer were a founding member and a president of the Men's League for Opposing Women's Suffrage! Prominent in his statements about Egypt was that only by abandoning the veil could Egypt reap the benefits of the introduction of Western civilization brought by the colonialists.5

Christian missionaries also focused on the role of women in Islamic societies to justify claims of the superiority of the Christian religion and the need for missionary activities in Muslim lands under the protection, of course, of colonialist military prowess.

In addition to colonialist rulers and missionaries, Western feminists also propagated the idea that Islamic precepts pertaining to women should be abandoned. Leila Ahmed states:

Others besides officials and missionaries similarly promoted these ideas, individuals resident in Egypt, for example. Well-meaning European feminists, such as Eugenie LeBrun (who took the young HudaSha'rawi under her wing), earnestly inducted young Muslim women into the European understanding of the meaning of the veil and the need to cast it off as the essential first step in the struggle for female liberation.6

The legacy of colonialist feminism persisted through the neo-colonialist period to the present. Western feminists continue to criticize Muslim societies with special attention given to the veil, which is still seen by feminists as the symbol of the suppression of women by Islamic patriarchy.

Members of the upper classes in Muslim societies who adopted Western modes of dress, manners, home decor, and intellectual fashions also accepted colonialist feminism. The first feminists from the indigenous populations ofcolonialized countries were those of the upper classes who were educated in Europe or European schools.

Nationalist leaders in Muslim countries, such as Ataturk and Reza Shah, were the next to adopt the rhetoric of colonialist feminism as part of their programs of modernization. They were in basic agreement with to sort of values and worldview held by the colonialists.

They also agreed with the colonialists that their own cultures had to be reformed to come up to the standards of European civilization. Their only difference with the colonialists was that they wanted to direct the program of modernization themselves. They would not allow Europeans to govern their countries, but they themselves would govern their countries as the Europeans would, or perhaps even more ruthlessly.

The values and fashions learned from the colonialists by the upper classes were to be imposed on the society as a whole. The most striking symbol of this was the attempt to outlaw traditional Islamic modes of dress.

In 1936, Reza Shah declared the emancipation of women and made women's Islamic covering illegal. In 1963, women were granted the right to vote, and in the Family Protection Act, polygamy was made illegal and women were given custody of their children in case of divorce.

The Family Protection Act was revoked after the victory of the Islamic Revolution of Iran, when this law and many of the other measures introduced by feminists were denounced along with the rest of the colonialist legacy as contrary to the aims of Islam.

The connection between feminism and cultural imperialism is clearly indicated by Sachiko Murata:

It seems to me that feminists who have criticized various aspects of Islam or Islamic society base their positions upon a worldview radically alien to the Islamic worldview. Their critique typically takes a moral stance. They ask for reform, whether explicitly or implicitly. The reform they have in view is of the standard modern Western type. Among other things, this means that there is an abstract ideal, thought up by us or by our leader, which has to be imposed by overthrowing the old order. This reform is of the same lineage as the Western imperialism that originally appeared in the East as Christian missionary activity. The white man's burden gradually expanded its horizons-or reduced them, depending on how you look at it. Salvation was no longer touted as present in Christianity, but in science and progress.7

Prof. Murata goes on to observe that the feminist critique takes a decidedly moral stance for granted, and on the assumption that any sort of subordination of women to men is wrong and oppressive, goes on to denounce Islam, as well as most other traditional systems that contain rules governing gender relationships.

It is here that Muslims have to stop and ask whether the moral assumptions being used to condemn their religion are really acceptable. Islam has its own morals and jurisprudence grounded in a metaphysics that has been delineated through the course of centuries by Muslim philosophers, Gnostics and theologians.

The point is not that there can be no injustice in Islamic societies, but that Muslims will not be able to solve their social problems as Muslim by acquiescence to the social and cultural hegemony of the West.

Both feminine and masculine are double-edged swords. Each has a negative and a positive evaluation. If the rigidly“patriarchal” stress of some contemporary Muslims is to be softened, this can happen only when they place renewed stress on femininity as a positive quality and masculinity as a negative quality.

And Muslims will be able to do things as Muslims-not as imitation Westerners-only if they look once again at the spiritual and intellectual dimensions of their own tradition.8

Notes

1. See Sachiko Murata, The Tao of Islam (Albany: SUNY Press, 1992), especially part 2.

2. H. A.Wolfson , The Philosophy of theKaldm (Cambridge: Harvard, 1976).

3. Murata (1992), 55, 203-222.

4. This is explained in detail by Leila Ahmed in Women and Gender in Islam (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992), 150ff. Most of what follows in this section is a summary of information presented in Ahmed's work.

5. See Cromer's Modern Egypt, 2 vols. (New York: Macmillan, 1908), cited in Ahmed (1992), 152-153.

6. Ahmed (1992), 154.

7. Sachiko Murata, The Tao of Islam (Albany: SUNY Press, 1992), 4.

8. Murata (1992), 323.

Conclusion: The Islamic Struggle Against Feminism

The brief points made above, though sketchy, should be sufficient to show that the incompatibility of Islam with feminism is profound. It is not just a disagreement about how Islamic law is to be interpreted or what sort of rights should be accorded to women.

Islam and feminism have contradictory views on the most fundamental issues in metaphysics, ethics, social and political philosophy and theology.

Muslim women have also argued that feminism is an ideology relevant only to the lives of Western affluent women, and that even for them it has only resulted in making them into quasi men or sex objects. They have also pointed out that while Muslim women see their own most important roles to be mother and wife feminist ideology belittles the importance of these roles in its combat against gender stereotypes.

The most obvious marker of the struggle against feminism by Muslim women isHijab (the canons of modesty in Islamic dress). While feminists have taken the scarf to be a symbol of their subjugation to men in Muslim societies, the faithful take it to be a symbol of respect and modesty.

The Prohibition By Islam Of The Oppression Of Women

No prohibition is given greater emphasis in Islam than that against injustice. In the Qur'an, particular attention is drawn to various areas in which there is a potential for injustice against women, but in general it is social acceptability and moral conscience to which appeal is made in order to discern what is just from what is oppression.

The laws of Islam set outer limits, but that does not mean that whatever falls within the perimeters is condoned. With respect to worship, for example, the law specifies the outward conditions for correct prayer, fasting and ritual purity, but one may offer formally correct prayer in ways considered repugnant (makruh ) even with respect to external form. It is rather trite to mention, additionally, that validity of external form is no guarantee of interior soundness (ihsan ).

According to ahadith related by bothShi'i and Sunni sources, on his last pilgrimage, the Prophet (s) said,“O people! Fear Allah regarding women, for you have taken them in trust from Allah.” Since what is taken in trust must be properly cared for, some scholars have allowed that the legal religious authorities may intervene even when there has been no explicit violation of Islamic precepts in case of mistreatment of a wife by her husband.1

The Misuse Of Islam For The Oppression Of Women

Islam has been and continues to be misused as an instrument for the oppression of women. This happens in various ways. Sometimes men take advantage of the position of women in Muslim societies to deny women opportunities that should be protected were Islam properly practiced. The dictates of Islam against injustice to women are simply ignored, and Islam itself is falsely used as an excuse for this.

An example of this is the way the Taliban in Afghanistan misuse precepts of sexual segregation to deny women educational opportunities and access to health and other facilities. Another way women are oppressed in Islam is when the letter of the law is observed but its spirit is violated. Instances of this are too many to even begin giving examples. These are issues that need to be addressed by men and women in Muslim societies today.

Because of the abuses that exist, feminists argue that Islamic law should be changed, but there are other ways to fight abuse. More attention needs to be paid to the spirit of Islamic teaching. Islamic law should not be seen as a framework within which one can get away with whatever one likes with impunity.

Muslims need to be just as careful about the need to mold themselves according to the ideals taught by Islam as they are careful about conformity to its legal injunctions. The feminists seem to share the same blindness as those who use Islamic law as a pretext to oppress women, neither can see beyond the law to Islamic values and ideals.

The issue is addressed in some detail byShahid Mutahhari who recognizes the problem and describes it as follows:

These cruelties are the outcome and an offshoot of a wrong conception of Islam, which, according to them, says:“A woman must bear such cruelties like a terminal cancer patient.” This has created an impression of Islam that is more harmful than any of the evil propaganda against our faith.2

Shahid Mutahhari calls for the organization of Islamic women's movements in order to oppose the injustices done to women in Muslim society:

In our country we are in need of a women's movement, but we need a pure Islamic movement and not a dark and gloomy European movement.3

Muslim Women's Movements

Struggles for the elimination of oppression to women based on an acceptance of Islam may be termed Islamic women's movements. In the modern period, Islamic women's movements arose as a reaction against feminism, although they concerned themselves primarily with the improvement of the conditions of women in Muslim societies.

It is not always clear whether organizations and individuals base their struggle for the improvement of the conditions of women on Islam or on a feminist ideology disguised as acceptance of Islam. Nor is this a black and white distinction.

It appears that a considerable number of Muslim women influenced by feminist ideas sincerely believe that the proper interpretation of Islam is one that calls for absolute equality (i.e., identity) of rights for men and women and the elimination of all distinctions based on sex found in Islamic law as traditionally interpreted.

On the other hand, other Muslim women may sincerely but incorrectly believe that there are no valid arguments within Islamic jurisprudence for reform of the traditional interpretation of the law. So, among Muslim women's movements, as opposed to explicitly secularist feminist movements, we will find some to be firmly grounded on an attempt to be guided by God's final revelation as taught by His chosen Prophet, Muhammad (s), while others will attempt to manipulate the teachings of Islam for their own agendas, whether these are feminist or traditionalist agendas, and there will be much gray area between pure faith and hypocrisy, as there always is in matters of religion.

Feminists have taken note of the great popular support for Islam among women in Muslim countries. Some have responded by calling the Muslim women foolish or duped. This seems to be the attitude of Leila Ahmed. She claims that women are attracted to the moral ideals of Islam and are unaware that the legal ramifications of Islamic law put women at a disadvantage. This is an incredible hypothesis, to say the least.

It is hard to imagine a Muslim woman who has not heard that Islam has different rules of inheritance for sons and daughters, let alone one who is unaware of sex based differences in the marriage laws.

Some feminists have admitted that the Islamic movement has actually improved the status of women, regardless of whether improvement is judged by feminist or other standards.Haleh Afshar admits that the revival of Islam after the victory of the Islamic Revolution has been“almost literally a God­send” in the context of which Iranian women have fought“against their political, legal and economic marginalization....Throughout, their arguments have been anchored in the teachings of Islam, theKoranic laws and the traditions and practices of the Prophet of Allah.” 4

Afshar's attitude appears to be that if Islamic rhetoric can be used to win feminist objectives, this can justify compromises with Islam.Ziba Mir-Hosseini seems to agree:

I argue that, contrary to what the early literature contends, and what remains implicit in the later wave, the impact of the revolution on women has beenemancipatory , in the sense that it has paved the way for the emergence of a popular feminist consciousness.5

Mir-Hosseini , likeAfshar , seems to think that it may be worthwhile making compromises with Islam in order to achieve feminist objectives. She refers to all women's movements as feminist, regardless of whether they are based on feminist ideology or Islam, although she offers the following conclusion about the indigenous 'feminism' she sees emerging in Iran:

This process has inadvertently been nurturing an indigenous 'feminism' which is as much rooted in Iranian family structures as it is in the interaction of Islamic and Western ideals of womanhood. It could emerge only after challenging and rejecting the state-sponsored and Western-inspired 'feminism' of thePahlavis , as well as the liberal-leftist feminism of 1970's women's liberation, and yet in the process assimilating some of the features of both.6

We can only pray that Muslim women's movements comprising both Muslim women and Muslim men will continue to be advance in their struggle against injustice and will continue to provide an alternative to feminism so that the family is strengthened rather than undermined in loving obedience to the Most Merciful of the Merciful.

Notes

1.Murtaza Mutahhari , The Rights of Women in Islam (Tehran: WOFIS, 1991), 314, 309-312.

2.Mutahhari (1991), 306.

3.Mutahhari (1991), 66.

4.Haleh Afshar , “Women and the Politics of Fundamentalism in Iran,” inHaleh Afshar , ed., Women and Politics in the Third World (London:Routledge , 1996), 126.

5.Ziba Mir-Hosseini , “Women and Politics in Post-Khomeini Iran,” inAfshar (1996), 143.

6.Ziba Mir-Hosseini (1996), 163.

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Islamic Opposition To Socialism

Socialism calls for the destruction of tradition and its replacement by a radically egalitarian system.

The socialist distributive system isunIslamic because it ignores differentiation arising as a result of contract and trade, but considers only the pattern of distribution.

Socialist materialism is incompatible with the ant materialism of Islamic ideology.

The idea that the means of production must be in the hands of the masses, or the party that represents them, is contrary to the idea of hierarchical rule found in Islam, which, though it may be for the benefit of the people, does not give the people any right to the means of production.

More specifically, with regard to feminism, where socialism opposes the family as an expression of exploitative class relations, Islam seeks to support and encourage the building and maintenance of families. Family ties are exceedingly important in Islam. So Islam and socialism are diametrically opposed on this point.

All forms of feminism with socialist leanings are in agreement with the aim of ultimate destruction of the family. All reject any sort of gender differentiation andcomplementarity . As such, they are fundamentally opposed to Islam.

Many of the forms of feminism that reject socialism, nevertheless retain the absolute egalitarian and anti-family principles of the socialists, and so Islam will oppose them no less than it does more orthodox forms of socialism.

Islamic Opposition To The Philosophical Attitude Of Feminism

The moral values espoused by feminists, whether equality feminism orgynocentric feminism, are not values supported by Islam. In feminism the goal is absolute freedom to choose to live as one pleases without interference of social customs or regulations assigning specified roles to men and women. Justice in Islam means everything being in its proper place, not absolute equality, let alone feminine superiority in all areas.

The determination of justice in Islam requires the wisdom and insight that result from study of and living according to the patterns set by the Prophet (s) and Imams (as) .

Philosophical thought in Islam, like all the aspects of Islamic culture, is a reflection of taw ld. All things are seen as having an underlying unity as effects of God as ultimate cause, or as modes of His self-disclosure.

Reason is championed as a vehicle for understanding taw ld. Feminist philosophical thought, on the other hand, moves in the opposite direction. Instead of searching for some underlying unity in being or causation or appearance and reality, feminism is occupied with the discovery of conflict; feminism sees hidden forms of subjugation lurking beneath virtually every text, every theory, every social or cultural phenomenon.

It displaces the idea of a harmony between the masculine and feminine with outrage against the oppression of the female through gender differentiation. Reason itself is considered a tool of oppression, and reliance on reason is disparagingly called 'logo-centrism.'

The ideal of the philosopher in Islamic culture is of one who has gained victory over the wiles of his base soul through the employment of the intellect. The intellect dominates over the soul of the philosopher, who thereby loses interest in what is considered desirable by worldly standards.

The ideal of the feminist thinker one finds in feminist writing is of a woman who is preoccupied with her own experiences and who uses those experiences to uncover the roots of women's oppression in gender differences which she overcomes through an effort of desire unconstrained by patriarchy.

The ideal of Islam is nearness to God, and social relations are governed by a spirit of obedience to God, in which justice is conceived as a proper balance that satisfies the demands of moral conscience, social custom, and the explicit commands of God.

In feminism, by contrast, all of theology is subordinated to its program of liberation, in which the ideal is a social freedom that makes its own absolute moral claims on behalf of equality and the abolition of gender based differences in social role, that demands a revolution in social customs, and that rejects the explicit commands of God.

Islamic Opposition To Feminist Political Theory

Islamic political theory sees injustice in terms of rebellion against God. It is because rulers usurp authority for the satisfaction of their own desires instead of submitting to the divine will that they perpetrate injustices on other people, their own subjects and their neighbors. The sin against God is primary, and this is expressed in injustice to others.

This political view is magnified inShi'i theology. The dispute over the caliphate arises because some were unwilling to submit to the choice of God for leadership. All accept that 'Ali was designated for some sort of leadership role, but the supporters of other choices for caliph refused to accept this designation or its extension to the realm of politics.

With this refusal, for whatever reason, a spirit of something quite foreign to the complete submission required by Islam is displayed. The primary sin is that of disobedience to God. The injustices done in the violent attempts to hold power are the natural consequence of this sin.

Feminist political theory, on the other hand, sees the primary sin in the subjection of women to male authority. All other social injustice is interpreted on the basis of this, and the elimination of any subordination of women to men is seen as the key to the elimination of all other forms of injustice.

Islam aims at bringing the human ever nearer to the divine. Thus, the aim of the political order, in Islam, is the creation of an environment conducive to the worship of and obedience to God through which proximity to Him is gained.

This requires the establishment of a condition of social harmony and balance in which each component of society, its institutions, practices, cultural forms, discourse and individual members, each find their fitting place to approach divinity in complete submission.

The aim of the political order in feminism, by contrast, never gets beyond freedom to violate the constraints of traditional gender roles, forming relationships and even communities without any form of hierarchy, subordination, or gender differentiation such as is found in the families of virtually all cultures.

Islamic Opposition To Feminist Theology

Since there is no holy trinity in Islam, no God the Father nor God the Son, the concept of God in Islam is not as gender specific as it is in Christianity. In the Arabic of the Qur’an, masculine pronouns are used to refer to God, but this provides little leverage for the development of the sort of critique feminists have leveled against the Christian concept of God.

Goddess feminism, on the other hand, is clearly incompatible with the teachings of Islam. The God of Islam is not a woman, and He has no daughters.

Theological discussions of the attributes of God indicate very clearly, however, that there are feminine and masculine aspects of divinity and even that the feminine has priority.1

Now, asWolfson has argued in his study of Islamic theology,2 discussions of the names and attributes of God play a role in Islamic theology comparable to discussions of the Trinity among Christian theologians.

So, not only is the Islamic concept of the divinity free of the male bias present in the concept of the Trinity, but the closest thing we can find in Islam to the idea of relations internal to divinity discussed in Christianity in terms of the Trinity is the idea of the divine names and attributes in which not only is there an absence of bias against the feminine, but the feminine is dignified as paramount. God's mercy precedes His wrath.3

Feminism As Cultural Imperialism

Feminism has long been a favorite weapon in the arsenal of the colonialist powers. The colonialists used feminism in order to berate the cultures of the lands they governed, to win local support for Europeanization, and to provide moral justification for imperialism.4

Europeans understood Islam very poorly prior to the twentieth century. The misunderstandings had been entrenched since the crusades when a disinformation campaign was employed to bolster the war effort. One of the aspects of this campaign concerned gender in Islam.

Islam was condemned because of polygamy, sensuality, and the imprisonment of women behind the veil. Even in the eighteenth century many Europeans believed that Islam teaches that women have no souls.

During the nineteenth century, the European colonialist powers, particularly the English, built upon these common misunderstandings to justify a program for the eradication of Muslim culture. Victorian anthropology contributed to the idea that the culmination of human evolution was to be found in England, and that it was therefore natural and fitting for the British to rule over other peoples.

At the same time, a vocal feminist movement was emerging in England itself. The colonialists made use of the arguments of English feminists in their own rhetoric to claim that because Muslims oppressed their women, their mores had to be replaced by 'civilized' European mores.

Colonial feminism was thus used against other cultures in the service of colonial rule, particularly against Muslim cultures, but in different variations it was also used against local cultures in India and Africa.

The colonialists argued that the fundamental reason for the comprehensive backwardness of Muslim societies was the prevalence of Islamic customs pertaining to women. The veil became the symbol for the degradation of women and chief target of colonialist propaganda.

In order for Muslim societies to progress toward civilization, the women in these societies would have to learn to dress and behave like European women.

Evelyn Baring, the 1st Earl of Cromer, was the British consul-general of Egypt from 1882 to 1907, and he made frequent use of feminist arguments in his attacks against Islam, claiming that Islam degraded women while Christianity elevated them, yet in England Cromer were a founding member and a president of the Men's League for Opposing Women's Suffrage! Prominent in his statements about Egypt was that only by abandoning the veil could Egypt reap the benefits of the introduction of Western civilization brought by the colonialists.5

Christian missionaries also focused on the role of women in Islamic societies to justify claims of the superiority of the Christian religion and the need for missionary activities in Muslim lands under the protection, of course, of colonialist military prowess.

In addition to colonialist rulers and missionaries, Western feminists also propagated the idea that Islamic precepts pertaining to women should be abandoned. Leila Ahmed states:

Others besides officials and missionaries similarly promoted these ideas, individuals resident in Egypt, for example. Well-meaning European feminists, such as Eugenie LeBrun (who took the young HudaSha'rawi under her wing), earnestly inducted young Muslim women into the European understanding of the meaning of the veil and the need to cast it off as the essential first step in the struggle for female liberation.6

The legacy of colonialist feminism persisted through the neo-colonialist period to the present. Western feminists continue to criticize Muslim societies with special attention given to the veil, which is still seen by feminists as the symbol of the suppression of women by Islamic patriarchy.

Members of the upper classes in Muslim societies who adopted Western modes of dress, manners, home decor, and intellectual fashions also accepted colonialist feminism. The first feminists from the indigenous populations ofcolonialized countries were those of the upper classes who were educated in Europe or European schools.

Nationalist leaders in Muslim countries, such as Ataturk and Reza Shah, were the next to adopt the rhetoric of colonialist feminism as part of their programs of modernization. They were in basic agreement with to sort of values and worldview held by the colonialists.

They also agreed with the colonialists that their own cultures had to be reformed to come up to the standards of European civilization. Their only difference with the colonialists was that they wanted to direct the program of modernization themselves. They would not allow Europeans to govern their countries, but they themselves would govern their countries as the Europeans would, or perhaps even more ruthlessly.

The values and fashions learned from the colonialists by the upper classes were to be imposed on the society as a whole. The most striking symbol of this was the attempt to outlaw traditional Islamic modes of dress.

In 1936, Reza Shah declared the emancipation of women and made women's Islamic covering illegal. In 1963, women were granted the right to vote, and in the Family Protection Act, polygamy was made illegal and women were given custody of their children in case of divorce.

The Family Protection Act was revoked after the victory of the Islamic Revolution of Iran, when this law and many of the other measures introduced by feminists were denounced along with the rest of the colonialist legacy as contrary to the aims of Islam.

The connection between feminism and cultural imperialism is clearly indicated by Sachiko Murata:

It seems to me that feminists who have criticized various aspects of Islam or Islamic society base their positions upon a worldview radically alien to the Islamic worldview. Their critique typically takes a moral stance. They ask for reform, whether explicitly or implicitly. The reform they have in view is of the standard modern Western type. Among other things, this means that there is an abstract ideal, thought up by us or by our leader, which has to be imposed by overthrowing the old order. This reform is of the same lineage as the Western imperialism that originally appeared in the East as Christian missionary activity. The white man's burden gradually expanded its horizons-or reduced them, depending on how you look at it. Salvation was no longer touted as present in Christianity, but in science and progress.7

Prof. Murata goes on to observe that the feminist critique takes a decidedly moral stance for granted, and on the assumption that any sort of subordination of women to men is wrong and oppressive, goes on to denounce Islam, as well as most other traditional systems that contain rules governing gender relationships.

It is here that Muslims have to stop and ask whether the moral assumptions being used to condemn their religion are really acceptable. Islam has its own morals and jurisprudence grounded in a metaphysics that has been delineated through the course of centuries by Muslim philosophers, Gnostics and theologians.

The point is not that there can be no injustice in Islamic societies, but that Muslims will not be able to solve their social problems as Muslim by acquiescence to the social and cultural hegemony of the West.

Both feminine and masculine are double-edged swords. Each has a negative and a positive evaluation. If the rigidly“patriarchal” stress of some contemporary Muslims is to be softened, this can happen only when they place renewed stress on femininity as a positive quality and masculinity as a negative quality.

And Muslims will be able to do things as Muslims-not as imitation Westerners-only if they look once again at the spiritual and intellectual dimensions of their own tradition.8

Notes

1. See Sachiko Murata, The Tao of Islam (Albany: SUNY Press, 1992), especially part 2.

2. H. A.Wolfson , The Philosophy of theKaldm (Cambridge: Harvard, 1976).

3. Murata (1992), 55, 203-222.

4. This is explained in detail by Leila Ahmed in Women and Gender in Islam (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992), 150ff. Most of what follows in this section is a summary of information presented in Ahmed's work.

5. See Cromer's Modern Egypt, 2 vols. (New York: Macmillan, 1908), cited in Ahmed (1992), 152-153.

6. Ahmed (1992), 154.

7. Sachiko Murata, The Tao of Islam (Albany: SUNY Press, 1992), 4.

8. Murata (1992), 323.

Conclusion: The Islamic Struggle Against Feminism

The brief points made above, though sketchy, should be sufficient to show that the incompatibility of Islam with feminism is profound. It is not just a disagreement about how Islamic law is to be interpreted or what sort of rights should be accorded to women.

Islam and feminism have contradictory views on the most fundamental issues in metaphysics, ethics, social and political philosophy and theology.

Muslim women have also argued that feminism is an ideology relevant only to the lives of Western affluent women, and that even for them it has only resulted in making them into quasi men or sex objects. They have also pointed out that while Muslim women see their own most important roles to be mother and wife feminist ideology belittles the importance of these roles in its combat against gender stereotypes.

The most obvious marker of the struggle against feminism by Muslim women isHijab (the canons of modesty in Islamic dress). While feminists have taken the scarf to be a symbol of their subjugation to men in Muslim societies, the faithful take it to be a symbol of respect and modesty.

The Prohibition By Islam Of The Oppression Of Women

No prohibition is given greater emphasis in Islam than that against injustice. In the Qur'an, particular attention is drawn to various areas in which there is a potential for injustice against women, but in general it is social acceptability and moral conscience to which appeal is made in order to discern what is just from what is oppression.

The laws of Islam set outer limits, but that does not mean that whatever falls within the perimeters is condoned. With respect to worship, for example, the law specifies the outward conditions for correct prayer, fasting and ritual purity, but one may offer formally correct prayer in ways considered repugnant (makruh ) even with respect to external form. It is rather trite to mention, additionally, that validity of external form is no guarantee of interior soundness (ihsan ).

According to ahadith related by bothShi'i and Sunni sources, on his last pilgrimage, the Prophet (s) said,“O people! Fear Allah regarding women, for you have taken them in trust from Allah.” Since what is taken in trust must be properly cared for, some scholars have allowed that the legal religious authorities may intervene even when there has been no explicit violation of Islamic precepts in case of mistreatment of a wife by her husband.1

The Misuse Of Islam For The Oppression Of Women

Islam has been and continues to be misused as an instrument for the oppression of women. This happens in various ways. Sometimes men take advantage of the position of women in Muslim societies to deny women opportunities that should be protected were Islam properly practiced. The dictates of Islam against injustice to women are simply ignored, and Islam itself is falsely used as an excuse for this.

An example of this is the way the Taliban in Afghanistan misuse precepts of sexual segregation to deny women educational opportunities and access to health and other facilities. Another way women are oppressed in Islam is when the letter of the law is observed but its spirit is violated. Instances of this are too many to even begin giving examples. These are issues that need to be addressed by men and women in Muslim societies today.

Because of the abuses that exist, feminists argue that Islamic law should be changed, but there are other ways to fight abuse. More attention needs to be paid to the spirit of Islamic teaching. Islamic law should not be seen as a framework within which one can get away with whatever one likes with impunity.

Muslims need to be just as careful about the need to mold themselves according to the ideals taught by Islam as they are careful about conformity to its legal injunctions. The feminists seem to share the same blindness as those who use Islamic law as a pretext to oppress women, neither can see beyond the law to Islamic values and ideals.

The issue is addressed in some detail byShahid Mutahhari who recognizes the problem and describes it as follows:

These cruelties are the outcome and an offshoot of a wrong conception of Islam, which, according to them, says:“A woman must bear such cruelties like a terminal cancer patient.” This has created an impression of Islam that is more harmful than any of the evil propaganda against our faith.2

Shahid Mutahhari calls for the organization of Islamic women's movements in order to oppose the injustices done to women in Muslim society:

In our country we are in need of a women's movement, but we need a pure Islamic movement and not a dark and gloomy European movement.3

Muslim Women's Movements

Struggles for the elimination of oppression to women based on an acceptance of Islam may be termed Islamic women's movements. In the modern period, Islamic women's movements arose as a reaction against feminism, although they concerned themselves primarily with the improvement of the conditions of women in Muslim societies.

It is not always clear whether organizations and individuals base their struggle for the improvement of the conditions of women on Islam or on a feminist ideology disguised as acceptance of Islam. Nor is this a black and white distinction.

It appears that a considerable number of Muslim women influenced by feminist ideas sincerely believe that the proper interpretation of Islam is one that calls for absolute equality (i.e., identity) of rights for men and women and the elimination of all distinctions based on sex found in Islamic law as traditionally interpreted.

On the other hand, other Muslim women may sincerely but incorrectly believe that there are no valid arguments within Islamic jurisprudence for reform of the traditional interpretation of the law. So, among Muslim women's movements, as opposed to explicitly secularist feminist movements, we will find some to be firmly grounded on an attempt to be guided by God's final revelation as taught by His chosen Prophet, Muhammad (s), while others will attempt to manipulate the teachings of Islam for their own agendas, whether these are feminist or traditionalist agendas, and there will be much gray area between pure faith and hypocrisy, as there always is in matters of religion.

Feminists have taken note of the great popular support for Islam among women in Muslim countries. Some have responded by calling the Muslim women foolish or duped. This seems to be the attitude of Leila Ahmed. She claims that women are attracted to the moral ideals of Islam and are unaware that the legal ramifications of Islamic law put women at a disadvantage. This is an incredible hypothesis, to say the least.

It is hard to imagine a Muslim woman who has not heard that Islam has different rules of inheritance for sons and daughters, let alone one who is unaware of sex based differences in the marriage laws.

Some feminists have admitted that the Islamic movement has actually improved the status of women, regardless of whether improvement is judged by feminist or other standards.Haleh Afshar admits that the revival of Islam after the victory of the Islamic Revolution has been“almost literally a God­send” in the context of which Iranian women have fought“against their political, legal and economic marginalization....Throughout, their arguments have been anchored in the teachings of Islam, theKoranic laws and the traditions and practices of the Prophet of Allah.” 4

Afshar's attitude appears to be that if Islamic rhetoric can be used to win feminist objectives, this can justify compromises with Islam.Ziba Mir-Hosseini seems to agree:

I argue that, contrary to what the early literature contends, and what remains implicit in the later wave, the impact of the revolution on women has beenemancipatory , in the sense that it has paved the way for the emergence of a popular feminist consciousness.5

Mir-Hosseini , likeAfshar , seems to think that it may be worthwhile making compromises with Islam in order to achieve feminist objectives. She refers to all women's movements as feminist, regardless of whether they are based on feminist ideology or Islam, although she offers the following conclusion about the indigenous 'feminism' she sees emerging in Iran:

This process has inadvertently been nurturing an indigenous 'feminism' which is as much rooted in Iranian family structures as it is in the interaction of Islamic and Western ideals of womanhood. It could emerge only after challenging and rejecting the state-sponsored and Western-inspired 'feminism' of thePahlavis , as well as the liberal-leftist feminism of 1970's women's liberation, and yet in the process assimilating some of the features of both.6

We can only pray that Muslim women's movements comprising both Muslim women and Muslim men will continue to be advance in their struggle against injustice and will continue to provide an alternative to feminism so that the family is strengthened rather than undermined in loving obedience to the Most Merciful of the Merciful.

Notes

1.Murtaza Mutahhari , The Rights of Women in Islam (Tehran: WOFIS, 1991), 314, 309-312.

2.Mutahhari (1991), 306.

3.Mutahhari (1991), 66.

4.Haleh Afshar , “Women and the Politics of Fundamentalism in Iran,” inHaleh Afshar , ed., Women and Politics in the Third World (London:Routledge , 1996), 126.

5.Ziba Mir-Hosseini , “Women and Politics in Post-Khomeini Iran,” inAfshar (1996), 143.

6.Ziba Mir-Hosseini (1996), 163.

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