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Ideals and role models for women in Qur'an, Hadith and Sirah
Exhibitions portray ideals: all that is best in a person's work, a
society, a period of artistic endeavour and so on. A talk at an exhibition
should do the same, so I shall begin by putting forward the ideals of Islam
concerning women, and their role models. I shall show how these ideals are set
forth in the Qur'an, which Muslims consider to be the revealed word of God -
Allah - in the Arabic language, and also refer to the Hadith and Sunnah, the
reports of the sayings and the model practice of the Prophet Muhammad*. These
two sources make up the basis for the Islamic law, Shari'ah, the body of
legislation and moral guidance constructed by the Muslim scholars. Although the
Qur'an is taken as unchallengeable, each Hadith is open to well-founded
scholarly question as to its authenticity; and the interpretations given to the
Qur'an and Hadith, which frequently result in differences of opinion, are open
to still further questioning. The many different opinions expressed by the
scholars give latitude to Muslims to choose between them to find acceptable
guidelines. The Islamic law is not as monolithic and unchangeable as it might
appear, although it does have a base of absolutes on which to stand.
This preamble is important with regard to women in Islam, because it has often
been observed by Muslim scholars that the Islamic family law as practised in
some Muslim countries bears little resemblance to the liberating and sympathetic
treatment of women pioneered by the Prophet Muhammad himself (pbuh). Even
Mawdudi, considered by some to be among the most conservative of modern Islamic
revivalist commentators, Abul A'la Mawdudi, has criticisms to make of the why
Indian Muslim law has been practised1. So it is important to distinguish between
current, or even past practice, and the spirit of the law - the ideals as laid
down by Allah in the Qur'an and exemplified by the Prophet Muhammad*. Most
modern writers on Women in Islam are agreed that it is vital to go back to these
original sources and reinterpret them in the context of the societies in which
we all live now in order to clear up corruptions which have been incorporated
into the laws, both from indigenous cultural sources and European colonialist
efforts to, as they thought, `reform' the Shari'ah. So it is to these original
sources, the Qur'an and Hadith, that I shall mainly refer.
The Qur'an has much to say both ABOUT women, and TO women. One Surah is called
`Women', another is named after Maryam the mother of Jesus (pbuh). Women appear
in many other parts. In stories of the prophets we have
- Hawwa (Eve) the wife of Adam, no longer
the temptress who leads Adam to sin but a partner jointly responsible with him
and jointly forgiven by Allah soon afterwards.
- There is the wife of Nuh (Noah) (pbuh) who
betrays her husband and is held up along with the wife of Lot as an example of a
disbeliever (66:10-11).
- There is the wife of Ibrahim, who laughs
at the news the angel brings, of the baby she is to have in her old age;
- the wife of Pharaoh, who saves the infant
Musa (Moses) (pbuh) and, along with Maryam, mother of Jesus, is one of the two
female examples of the good believer held up in Surah 66:10 & 11.
- The wife of Aziz, who tried to seduce
Yusuf (Joseph), is nevertheless treated with some sympathy, when she shows her
friends how handsome he is and they all cut themselves with their knives because
they are distracted by his beauty;
and there are more women besides.
It is noteworthy that the four women I have mentioned as examples are presented
to both male and female Muslims to show how it is possible to be true believers
in difficult circumstances, and disbelievers in favourable circumstances.
- The two good
examples believed in spite of the attitudes of those close to them, Pharaoh's
wife saving Moses from her husband's wicked command to kill all the Hebrew
firstborn sons, and Maryam confronting accusations of immorality when she
brought home her baby after the virgin birth.
- The two bad ones disbelieved in
spite of being married to prophets of Allah. In neither case do these examples
show the traditional picture of the `submissive' woman.
Then there are the contemporary women of the Prophet's household, his wives and
daughters. One of his wives, Umm Salamah, complained to him that the Qur'an was
addressed only to men, and then a long passage was revealed to the Prophet*
addressed clearly to men and women in every line, which states clearly the equal
responsibilities and rewards for Muslim men and women.
"For Muslim men and women - for believing men and women, for devout men and
women, for true men and women, for men and women who are patient and constant,
for men and women who humble themselves, for men and women who give in charity,
for men and women who fast (and deny themselves), for men and women who guard
their chastity, and for men and women who engage much in God's praise - for them
has God prepared forgiveness and great reward".
(Qur'an 33:35)
Aishah, his youngest wife, caused a scandal when she went out into the desert to
look for a necklace she had lost there and got left behind by the caravan. She
was rescued by a young man and came back with him and rumours spread that she
had been dallying with him. This caused great pain to her and to the Prophet and
it was a long time before they were relieved by another revelation (24:4),
demanding that people making such accusations against chaste women must produce
four eye witnesses to the act or suffer a flogging themselves and have their
evidence rejected ever after.
There are passages specifically addressed to the wives of the Prophet as a
group. For example:
O Consorts of the Prophet! Ye are not like any of the (other) women. If Ye do
fear (Allah) be not too complaisant of speech, lest one in whose heart is a
disease should be moved with desire, but speak Ye a speech (that is) just.
And stay quietly in your houses, and make not a dazzling display, like those of
the former times of ignorance, and establish regular prayer, and give zakat
(welfare due) and obey Allah and His Messenger. And Allah only wishes to remove
all abomination from you, Ye members of the family, and to make you pure and
spotless.
"..And recite what is rehearsed to you in your houses of the Signs of Allah and His
Wisdom, for Allah is All-Subtle, All-Aware."
Qur'an 33:32-34
Other passages are addressed via the Prophet to his wives, daughters and the
women of the believers.
Still others were revealed in answer to questions from ordinary women, like the
one concerning the practice of divorce by abstinence within the marriage (zihar).
A woman complained to the Prophet about this practice, which left the woman with
no sexual satisfaction, but still not free to marry another husband and a verse
was revealed condemning this practice.
"Allah has indeed heard (and accepted) the statement of the woman who pleads with
thee concerning her husband and carries her complaint (in prayer) to Allah..."
Qur'an 58:1
Another passage was revealed in answer to a woman's complaint about the way her
husband wanted to have intercourse with her (2:223).
So the Qur'an is a book which has a lot to say TO women and ABOUT women. What
does it say? We have already seen that it does not condemn all women in the
image of Eve as Christianity has been known to do; that it is often on the side
of women who complain about injustice, in marriage, divorce and in false
accusation. How does it view the creation of woman? Is she just a part of Adam
and an afterthought? This is what it says, in the first Ayah (verse) of Surah
an-Nisa - The Women:
"O Mankind, be conscious of your duty to your Lord Who created you from a single
soul, and from it created its mate (of the same kind) and from them twain has
spread a multitude of men and women."
Qur'an 4:1
`A single soul' is neither male nor female, although it could be understood to
mean Adam it is not necessarily so. In fact `soul' is feminine and `mate' is
masculine! Not that I'm suggesting that women came first, because in other parts
of the Qur'an the creation of Adam is described. But the gender relationship
here is ambivalent. And the mate was created from the `soul' not the humble
`rib'. No Muslim scholar could ever argue, after reading this, as some
Christians have done, that women do not have a soul! They are made of the same
soul as men. Their capacity for good and evil is identical with that of men. In
49:13, of the Qur'an we find that it is good deeds and awareness of Allah which
make the believer, male or female, noble in the sight of Allah:
"...Indeed the noblest of you in the sight of Allah is the most pious."
and in 40:40:
"Whoever does right, whether male or female, (all) such will enter the garden"
.
The works of male and female are of equal value and each will receive the due
reward for what they do:
"Never will I suffer to be lost the work of any one of you, male or female..."
Qur'an 3:195
"Whoever works righteousness, man or woman, and has faith, verily to him will We
give a new life that is good and pure, and We will bestow on such their reward
according to their actions."
Qur'an 16:97
The same duties are incumbent on men and women as regards their faith:
For Muslim men and women - for believing men and women, for devout men and
women, for true men and women, for men and women who are patient and constant,
for men and women who humble themselves, for men and women who give in charity,
for men and women who fast (and deny themselves), for men and women who guard
their chastity, and for men and women who engage much in God's praise - for them
has God prepared forgiveness and great reward.
(Qur'an 33:35)
There are a few exceptions: women are given exemption from some duties,
- Fasting when they are pregnant or nursing or menstruating,
- Praying when menstruating or bleeding after childbirth, and
- The obligation to attend congregational prayers in the mosque on Fridays.
- They are not obliged to take part as soldiers in the defense of Islam,
although they are not forbidden to do so.
But under normal circumstances they are allowed to do all the things that men
do.
- Even when they are menstruating, on special days, like the two EId festivals,
they are still allowed to come to the EId prayers, and menstruating women can
take part in most of the actions of the Hajj pilgrimage.
But are women's duties in social life different and complementary as most
scholars assert? Is their sole function to keep house and bear and rear children
while the men do everything else? Does the fact that they suffer disruption to
their health when they menstruate make them unsuitable for any job outside the
house, and fit only to maintain a happy and peaceful home, as Mawdudi would have
us believe? This is an argument that is grossly exaggerated by male scholars
everywhere to justify all kinds of discrimination against women. Mawdudi would
have us believe that women scarcely enjoy a few days' sanity in their lives, so
disruptive are the effects of menstruation and childbearing. No doubt there is
some truth in his description of such disruption, and allowances should be made
by men, and other women for this, but this does not disqualify women from any
task that men can do any more than it disqualifies them from creating happy and
well-run homes.
Nor is there any basis in the Qur'an or Hadith for such an attitude. The Qur'an
mentions menstruation in 2:222:
They ask thee concerning women's courses. Say: `They are a hurt and a pollution,
so keep away from women in their courses, and do not approach them until they
are clean. But when they have purified themselves, Ye may approach them as
ordained for you by Allah.'
According to the interpreters of Islamic law, this means only that sexual
intercourse is not allowed at such times, but any other form of intimacy is
still permissible. To put it briefly, menstruation may be messy and painful but
it is not a major disability.
Islamic law makes no demand that women should confine themselves to household
duties. In fact the early Muslim women were found in all walks of life. The
first wife of the Prophet, mother of all his surviving children, was a
businesswoman who hired him as an employee, and proposed marriage to him through
a third party; women traded in the marketplace, and the Khalifah Umar, not
normally noted for his liberal attitude to women, appointed a woman, Shaff'a
Bint Abdullah, to supervise the market. Other women, like Laila al-Ghifariah,
took part in battles, carrying water and nursing the wounded, some, like Suffiah
bint Abdul Muttalib even fought and killed the enemies to protect themselves and
the Prophet* and like Umm Dhahhak bint Masoud were rewarded with booty in the
same way as the men. Ibn Jarir and al-Tabari siad that women can be appointed to
a judicial position to adjudicate in all matters, although Abu Hanifah excluded
them from such weighty decisions as those involving the heavy hadd and qisas
punishments, and other jurists said that women could not be judges at all. The
Qur'an even speaks favourably of the Queen of Sheba and the way she consulted
her advisors, who deferred to her good judgement on how to deal with the threat
of invasion by the armies of Solomon. (Qur'an 27:32-35):
"She (the Queen of Sheba) said, `O chiefs, advise me respecting my affair; I
never decide an affair until you are in my presence.' They said, `We are
possessors of strength and possessors of mighty prowess, and the command is
Thine, so consider what thou wilt command.' She said, `Surely the kings, when
they enter a town, ruin it and make the noblest of its people to be low, and
thus they do. And surely I am going to send them a present, and to see what
(answer) the messengers bring back.'"
Women have sometimes headed Islamic provinces, like Arwa bint Ahmad, who served
as governor of Yemen under the Fatimid Khalifahs in the late fifth and early
sixth century.
A much vaunted Hadith that the Prophet said, `A people who entrust power to a
woman will never prosper', has been shown to be extremely unreliable on several
counts. It is an isolated and uncorroborated one, and therefore not binding in
Islamic law, and in addition there is reason to believe it may have been forged
in the context of the battle which Aishah the Prophet's widow led against the
fourth Khalifah Ali. In view of the examples set by women rulers in history, it
is also clearly untenable and false.
To sum up, the qualifications of women for work of all kinds are not in doubt,
despite some spurious ahadith to the contrary. Women can do work like men, but
they DO NOT HAVE to do it to earn a living. They are allowed and encouraged to
take the duties of marriage and motherhood seriously and are provided with the
means to stay at home and do it properly.
The Muslim woman has always had the right to own and manage her own property, a
right that women in this country only attained in the last 100 years. Marriage
in Islam does not mean that the man takes over the woman's property, nor does
she automatically have the right to all his property if he dies intestate. Both
are still regarded as individual people with responsibilities to other members
of their family - parents, brothers, sisters etc. and inheritance rights
illustrate this. The husband has the duty to support and maintain the wife, as
stated in the Qur'an, and this is held to be so even if she is rich in her own
right. He has no right to expect her to support herself, let alone support his
children or him. If she does contribute to the household income this is regarded
as a charitable deed on her part.
Because of their greater financial responsibilities, some categories of male
relations, according to the inheritance laws in the Qur'an, inherit twice the
share of their female equivalents, but others, whose responsibilities are likely
to be less, inherit the same share -mothers and fathers, for instance are each
entitled to one sixth of the estate of their children, after bequests (up to one
third of the estate) and payment of debts. (Qur'an 4:11):
"For parents a sixth share of the inheritance to each if the deceased left
children; "
If no children, and the parents are the (only) heirs, the mother has a third; if
the deceased left brothers (or sisters) the mother has a sixth...
Women are thus well provided for: their husbands support them, and they inherit
from all their relations. They are allowed to engage in business or work at home
or outside the house, so long as the family does not suffer, and the money they
make is their own, with no calls on it from other people until their death.
Nor are women expected to do the housework. If they have not been used to doing
it, the husband is obliged to provide domestic help within his means, and to
make sure that the food gets to his wife and children already cooked. The
Prophet* himself used to help with the domestic work, and mended his own shoes.
Women are not even obliged in all cases to suckle their own children. If a
divorcing couple mutually agree, they can send the baby to a wet-nurse and the
husband must pay for the suckling. If the mother decides to keep the baby and
suckle it herself, he must pay her for her trouble! This is laid down in the
Qur'an itself, (2:233):
"The mothers shall give suck to their offspring for two whole years, if the
father desires to complete the term, but he shall bear the cost of their food
and clothing on equitable terms...If they both decide on weaning, by mutual
consent, and after due consultation, there is no blame on them. If Ye decide on
a foster-mother for your offspring, there is no blame on you, provided Ye pay
what Ye offered on equitable terms ..."
What basis does all this leave for the male attitude that women are only fit for
maternal and household duties?
Nevertheless the womanly state in marriage is given full respect in Islam, and
so are the rights of children. No Muslim woman could feel ashamed to say she was
only a housewife. She is the head of her household, although the husband has the
final say in major decisions. According to a Hadith:
The ruler is a shepherd and is responsible for his subjects, a husband is a
shepherd and is responsible for his family, a wife is a shepherd and is
responsible for her household, and a servant is a shepherd who is responsible
for his master's property.
Hadith: Bukhari
The wife must defer to her husband in respect for the fact that he maintains and
protects her out of his means (Qur'an 4:34), but not if he tries to make her
break the laws of Allah. Likewise children's obedience and respect for parents
goes only to the limits set by Allah. If the parents try to make them disobey
Allah, then it is their duty to disobey the parents. If the husband wilfully
fails to maintain his wife, she has the right to divorce him in court.
Women are also entitled to respect as mothers: Allah says in the Qur'an (31:14):
And we have enjoined on man (to be good to his parents: in travail upon travail
did his mother bear him...
The Prophet* said:
Paradise lies at the feet of mothers...
and in another Hadith the Prophet* told a man that his mother above all other
people, even his father, was worthy of his highest respect and compassion.
In cases of divorce, the mother has first claim to custody of the young
children, followed by other female members of her family, if she remarries or is
unable to look after the children. The right reverts to the husband's family
only after the children reach an age of greater independence, which varies
according to the school of law, and then the wishes of the child must be taken
into consideration, if the example of the Prophet* is to be followed. In a
disputed case, he asked the child:
This is your father and this is your mother, so take whichever of them you wish
by the hand.
Hadith: Abu Dawud, Nasa'i, Darimi
The boy went to his mother.
In another case a woman approached the Prophet telling him that her husband had
embraced Islam while she had refused to do so, adding that her daughter was
being deprived of mother's milk as her father was taking her away. The Prophet
made the child sit between mother and father and said both of them should call
her. The child would go to whoever she chose. The child responded to the mother.
The Prophet prayed to Allah to guide the child and the child then chose the
father, and hence Rafi (the father) took the child (Hadith: Abu Dawud)3
Yet in this country it is still a novelty to give the child such rights.
Although the Islamic marriage contract is a civil agreement between the two
parties, not a sacrament like the Christian one, it is not just a relationship
of material convenience. The words used to describe marriage in the Qur'an are
poetic and beautiful:
"And among His signs is this: that He created for you mates from among
yourselves, that Ye may dwell in tranquillity with them, and He has put love and
mercy between your hearts, verily in that are Signs for those who reflect."
Qur'an 30:21
"They are your garments and Ye are their garments"
Qur'an 2:187
Love, mercy, intimacy and mutual protection and modesty are the qualities
expected of an Islamic marriage. Even in Paradise marriage remains as one of the
great joys:
"Verily the Companions of the Garden shall that day have joy in all that they do;
they and their spouses will be in groves of (cool) shade reclining on thrones of
(dignity); fruit will be there for them, they shall have whatever they call for;
`Peace', a word (of salutation) from a Lord Most Merciful."
Qur'an 36:55-57
Husbands are expected to treat their wives kindly during marriage and even
during and after divorce. Allah says in the Qur'an:
"... Live with them on a footing of kindness and equity. If Ye take a dislike to
them, it may be that Ye dislike a thing, and Allah brings about through it a
great deal of good".
Qur'an 4:19
The Prophet* said:
The most perfect believers are the best in conduct and the best of you are those
who are best to their wives.
(Hadith: Ibn Hanbal)
Married couples are urged in the Qur'an to deal with one another in a spirit of
mutual consultation and agreement, even when contemplating divorce and the
custody of children:
"... If they both decide on weaning, by mutual consent, and after due
consultation, there is no blame on them ..."
Qur'an 2:233
How much more so, then, should this spirit predominate in the happy marriage!
Marriage is also intended by Allah to be fruitful. In the Qur'an He tells us:
"... He has made for you pairs from among yourselves, and pairs among cattle; by
this means does he multiply you..."
Qur'an 42:11
"Your wives are as a tilth for you ..."
Qur'an 2:223
Yet contraception has never been forbidden in Islam, as the Prophet* gave
permission for the withdrawal method, so long as the wife agrees. By analogy
other methods of preventing conception are also allowed.
The practical aspects of marriage are covered by the marriage contract, in which
the wife can specify conditions, and many Muslim women have taken advantage of
this to take to themselves the right of divorce if, for example, the husband
takes another wife (CARDS on Polygamy). It must include a marriage gift -
sadaqah or mahr - to the wife from the husband, of an amount and nature agreed
between them. Usually, according to custom and convenience - a practice later
endorsed in the Shari'ah - a young inexperienced woman would be represented in
the negotiations by a `marriage guardian' or wal_ who is there to see that her
interests are served. This wal_ should be her father or grandfather, but it is
possible for some older or more experienced women to appoint any person of their
choice to act for them. When the Prophet* married the widow, Umm Salamah, her
son acted as her wal_, and the Prophet* asked his permission to marry her. (Ibn
Rushd) The wishes of close relations, in particular parents, must be taken into
consideration, and their permission must be asked. According to some ahadith it
is better to break off a marriage which displeases one's parents, as they are
the gateway to Paradise.
Parents have a responsibility to help their children find spouses,
Umar Ibn al-Khattab and Anas reported God's Messenger* as saying that it is
written in the Torah, `If anyone does not give his daughter in marriage when she
reaches 12 and she commits sin, the guilt of that rests on him.'
Hadith: Baihaqi
and
Abu Sa'id and Ibn Abbas reported God's Messenger* as saying: `He who has a son
born to him should give him a good name and a good education and marry him when
he reaches puberty. If he does not marry him when he reaches puberty and he
commits sin, its guilt rests only upon his father.
Hadith: Baihaqi
But parents have no right to force young women to marry against their will after
they have reached marriagable age. There is much evidence in the Hadith to show
that forced marriages are not legal and the wife has the right to have them
annulled:
Ibn Abbas reported that a girl came to the Messenger of Allah, Muhammad* and she
reported that her father had forced her to marry without her consent. The
Messenger of Allah* gave her the choice ... (between accepting the marriage and
invalidating it).
Hadith: Ibn Hanbal
In another version the girl said,
`Actually, I accept this marriage but I wanted to let women know that parents
have no right (to force a husband on them).
Hadith: Ibn Majah
The Prophet* also advised that couples should see one another before getting
married, so there is no Islamic basis for the custom of marrying young couples
who have never set eyes on one another. If a woman does find that she cannot
bear the man she is married to, even because she finds him ugly, Islamic law
makes it possible for a court to give her a divorce from him. It is only
necessary to prove that she hates him irrevocably - the court does not need to
probe into the reasons for the hatred. The Prophet* granted divorces to at least
two women in such circumstances. One of them, Jamila, the sister of the
hypocrite Abdullah Ibn Ubayy, told the Prophet* about her objection to her
husband Thabit Ibn Qais:
Messenger of Allah! Nothing can keep the two of us together. As I lifted my
veil, I saw him coming, accompanied by some men. I could see that he was the
blackest, the shortest and the ugliest of them all. By Allah! I do not dislike
him for any blemish in his faith or his morals, it is his ugliness that I
dislike. Had the fear of Allah not stood in my way, I must have spat on him when
he came to me. ... I am afraid my desperation might drive my Islam closer to
disbelief.
The Prophet asked her if she would return the garden Thabit had given her, and
she agreed to do this and was given a divorce.4 Thabit did not do any better
with his other wife, Habibah. And there are also examples of similar cases from
the times of the first three Khalifahs.
Ideally speaking, women in Islam are treated like queens, indeed they are better
protected than our British royal family is now! Not only are they are allowed to
divorce their husbands, rather than live apart and unable to remarry, like
Princess Diana, but they are also protected from scandal-mongers. No-one is
allowed, without permission, to invade their privacy in their houses (24:27-28)
not even their husbands when they return from a long journey. Men are not
allowed to treat them with disrespect, to look at them more than once, or to
touch them -even, some Hadith seem to show, to shake their hands - and if anyone
spreads rumours about their chastity without the support of four eye witnesses
to the act itself, they themselves are liable to punishment in this life and the
hereafter (24:23)!
To make this demand for respect abundantly clear to the men, the wives of the
Prophet are asked in the Qur'an to be modest in their appearance, and behaviour,
to stay quietly in their houses and not make a great display of themselves as
some well-known people were (and still are) prone to do; not to speak too
pleasantly to men for fear of `those in whose hearts is a disease', and to be
pious and virtuous and pure.
Ordinary Muslim women too are urged to lower their gaze and wrap themselves
closely in their outer garments, letting their head-coverings fall over their
neck opening, so that they may be recognised as respectable women and not
molested. The Prophet's wives are also reported to have covered part of their
faces with their cloaks when they were among strange men. Those who regard
veiling as a form of exploitation should ask themselves which is more
exploitative of women, the mini skirt or the veil?
Many Muslim women, from the Prophet's wives onwards, have aspired to the same
degree of modesty and virtue as these passages enjoin and yet managed to
participate actively in society by doing good deeds, working to help support
their families, and/or pursuing their education. Women figured prominently among
the earliest scholars of Islam. The Prophet's wife Aishah was one of the
foremost transmitters of Hadiths and, like other wives and Companions of the
Prophet was often surrounded by students wanting to learn from her: one of her
pupils, Urwah Ibn az-Zubayr said:
I did not see a greater scholar than Aishah in the learning of the Qur'an,
obligatory duties, lawful and unlawful matters, poetry and literature, Arab
history and genealogy.
Abu Musa al-Ash'ar_ said:
Whenever we Companions of the Prophet* encountered any difficulty in the matter
of any Hadith we referred it to Aishah and found that she had definite knowledge
about it.
Hafiz ibn Hajar said:
... it is said that a quarter of the injunctions of the Shari'ah are narrated
from her.
The Prophet* was keen to see that women were educated in Islam as well as the
men and ordered the men to pass on what they had learned to their women:
Return home to your wives and children and stay with them. Teach them (what you
have learned) and ask them to act upon it.
Hadith: Bukhari (CARD)
Muslim women have the right to have education from their husbands and if not, to
go elsewhere to get it. An early Muslim scholar, of the Maliki school of law,
named Ibn al-HÆjj, otherwise a strict critic of the over-liberal behaviour of
the women in Cairo, wrote:
If a woman demands her right to religious education from her husband and brings
the issue before a judge, she is justified in demanding this right because it is
her right that either her husband should teach her or allow her to go elsewhere
to acquire education. The judge must compel the husband to fulfil her demand in
the same way that he would in the matter of her worldly rights, since her rights
in matters of religion are most essential and important.
al-Mudhkal
Women can be educated by men. The Prophet sent Umar Ibn al-Khattab to teach the
women of the Ansar:
It is reported by Umm `Atiyah thaat when the Messenger of Allah came to Madinah,
he ordered the women of the Ansar (Muslims of Madinah) to gather in one house,
and sent Umar Ibn al-Khattab to them (to convey the teachings of Islam). He
saluted them while standing at at the door of the house and they returned his
greeting. Then he said, `I am a messenger of the Messenger of Allah, sent
especially to you.'
Hadith: Bukhari
And women taught men too, not only the wives of the Prophet but many others
later were teachers of men, e.g. Aishah bt. Sa'id Ibn Abi Waqqas, who taught the
first compiler of Hadith, Malik; and Sayyida Nafisa, granddaughter of al-Hasan,
the Prophet's grandson, who taught Imam Shafi'i, and much later a woman taught
Ibn al-Arabi, the famous Sufi thinker and greatly influenced his thought.
According to the Prophet*:
It is the duty of every Muslim (male or female) to seek knowledge.
Hadith: Bukhari?
Women's views were listened to, respected, and usually supported, by the
Prophet* as we have seen. Another example is when the Prophet's pilgrimage to
Makkah was stopped by the Makkans who made an agreement with him that he and the
Muslims could return the following year. He told the people to shave their heads
and offer their sacrifices where they were, but they did not obey, so he asked
his wife Umm Salamah, and she advised him to lead them by doing so himself. He
took her advice, and it worked. His successors, even the rather male chauvinist
Khalifah Umar, did their best to follow his example in this. Umar, trying to
regulate the exorbitant demands for mahr marriage gifts that women were making
had to retreat after a woman stood up and disputed with him, quoting the Qur'an
to support her case:
Umar forbade the people from paying excessive dowries and addressed them,
saying: `Don't fix dowries for women over 40 ounces. If ever that is exceeded I
shall deposit the excess amount in the public treasury.' As he came down from
the minbar (platform), a flat-nosed lady stood up from among the women audience
and said:
"It is not within your right.' Umar asked: `Why should this not be of my right?'
She replied, `Because Allah has proclaimed, "Even if you had given one of them
(wives) a whole treasure for dower, take not the least bit back. Would you take
it by false claim and manifest sin?' "(Qur'an 4:20)
When he heard this, Umar said: `The woman is right, and the man (Umar) is wrong.
It seems that all people have deeper wisdom and insight than Umar.' Then he
returned to the minbar and said, `O people! I had restricted the giving of more
than four hundred dirhams in dower. Whosoever of you wishes to give in dower as
much as he likes and finds satisfaction in so doing, may do so.'
Hadith: Ibn al-Jawzi
Umar also used to seek the counsel of Shaffa the market inspector, pay due
regard to her and hold her in high esteem. (Ibn Hajar al-Isabah quoted by Hasan
Turabi)
So, to conclude, these are the ideals to which Muslim women can aspire and
frequently have done in the past. In a truly Islamic society, they are
guaranteed
- personal respect,
- respectable married status,
- legitimacy and maintenance for their children,
- the right to negotiate marriage terms of their choice,
- to refuse any marriage that does not please them,
- the right to obtain divorce from their husbands, even on the grounds that
they can't stand them (Mawdudi),
- custody of their children after divorce,
- independent property of their own,
- the right and duty to obtain education,
- the right to work if they need or want it,
- equality of reward for equal deeds,
- the right to participate fully in public life and have their voices heard by
those in power,
and much more besides. What other religion, political theory, or philosophy has
offered such a comprehensive package???
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