elevation.pdf

Islam - Elevation of Women's Status

Shaikh Ali Al-Timimi

Assalaamu `Alaykum Wa Rahmatullaahi Wa Barakaatuhu

Al hamdu lillaah was salaatu was salaamu `alaa rasoolillaah, `amma ba`d:

The topic that I was asked to discuss here at McGill University is the elevation of the status of women in

Islam. Many, upon hearing the title of this lecture, might assume it to be an oxymoron because the prevalent

idea - at least in the West - is that Islam does not elevate the status of women, but that Islam oppresses and

suppresses women. So people might find the title in itself to be shocking or a curiosity at least.

In discussing this topic - since it appears to me that this is a mixed audience of Muslims and non-Muslims -

I'd like to make my remarks and comments brief. I will take no more than thirty to forty five minutes, and

then allow you an opportunity to ask your questions. Perhaps the question and answer session might be more

fruitful in addressing specific accusations, understandings or misunderstandings regarding the status of

women in Islam.

As we all know, in the world today, there are - for the overwhelming majority of humanity - basically two

world views. These two views are often in conflict - not only on the personal level where individual human

beings are making choices, but also on the international level in terms of the debate over the authenticity and

correctness of these two world views.

The first world view, which I am sure most of us are aware of, is the Western liberal view. A view which

claims to draw its roots from the Judeo-Christian tradition that probably, upon investigation, is more well

rooted in the ideas that appeared after the reformation; ideas that are rooted in secularism and the world view

that appeared thereafter during the 'era of enlightenment'.

The second view is that of the Muslims - the Islamic world view, and this view says that its roots and ideas lie

in the revelation given by God (or Allah in Arabic) to the prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam).

Those who proclaim this view say that it can be used by humanity during all ages and times, and that its

relevance and benefit is not restricted to a certain period of time, geographic area or certain race of human

beings. Likewise, the adherents of the first view, that of

Western secularism and the liberal tradition, believe that their world view, ideas, culture and civilization are

the best for humanity. Some of you might have read a book that came out a few years ago by an American

author of Japanese decent (Francis Fukuyama) called "The End of Time". He basically put forth the theory

that human development in terms of its ideas has concluded with this final period of liberal secular thought

and nothing more will come to humanity. However in his book he adds that that the only part of the world

which has not adopted this secular human view is the Islamic world and proposes that there will be a conflict

in terms of this ideology in the Islamic world.

With that brief introduction, one of the topics of contention between these two worlds views, that of the

secular liberal humanist in the West and the Islamic tradition, concerns women. What is the position and

status of women? How are women looked to? Are women elevated in one culture and oppressed in another?

The Western view is that women are elevated only in the West and that they are getting more and more rights

1 of 9

http://www.islambasics.com

with the passage of time, while their sisters - they say - in the Islamic world are still being suppressed. The

Muslims who they encounter say that in actuality it is the Islamic system that provides the true freedoms for

men and women alike, and women in the West as well as men, are deceived into an idea of freedom which

really doesn't exist. What I'd like to discuss this evening is exactly how Islam looks to women. And therefore

my discussion will be more upon - what we might say for the lack of a better term - the philosophical basis,

rather than the individual practices which vary from one country to the other. How women are understood in

Islam cannot be properly understood - and this is more significant, I feel - unless one understands exactly

what we might call the philosophical basis or ideological understanding - since this is really a theological

concept.

First, let's review how exactly women were thought of and understood in the western tradition, to compare

and contrast perspectives. We know that the western tradition sees itself as the intellectual inheritors of the

Greek tradition that existed before the prophet Jesus Christ (peace be upon him), and so therefore many of the

intellectual traditions of the West are found to some degree in the writings of the early Greek philosophers

like Aristotle, Plato and so forth.

How did they look towards women? What were the ideas of Aristotle and Plato towards women? When one

reviews the works of these early Greek philosophers, he finds that they had very disparaging views of women.

Aristotle in his writings argued that women were not full human beings and that the nature of woman was not

that of a full human person. As a result, women were by nature deficient, not to be trusted and to be looked

down upon. In fact, writings describe that the free women in many aspects of the Greek society - except for

the very few women of the elite classes - had positions no better than animals and slaves.

This Aristotelian view of women was later carried on into the early Christian tradition of the Catholic church.

Saint Thomas of Aquinas in his writings proposed that women were the trap of Satan. The issue of Adam and

Eve added a dimension to the earlier Greek ideas of Aristotle; women were the cause of the downfall of man

and therefore were Satan's trap and should be looked at with caution and weariness because they caused the

first downfall of humanity and all thus evil precedes from women. This type of thought was persistent within

the writings of the Church fathers throughout the Middle Ages. In their writings we find this theme proposed

in one aspect or another. However, after the Protestant reformation Europe decided to free itself from the

shackles and chains of the Catholic church. Ideas which have been entitled as the Age of Enlightenment or

thought of as such, caused them to feel that they needed to free themselves from many of these ideas. Some of

these ideas were scientific in nature, that the earth goes around the sun, instead of the sun going around the

earth; theological in nature, as in the writings of Martin Luther; and also social in nature, like the position of

women in society. However, the writers of the Enlightenment still carried this basic theme that was not much

of a switch - women where not full human beings. French writers during the revolution, like Rousseau,

Voltaire and others, looked at women as a burden that needed to be taken care of. This is why I believe it's

Rousseau in his book "Emile", which he wrote concerning the education of women, proposed a different form

of education for women based upon the fact that women were unable to understand what men were able to

understand.

This is the tradition that the West inherited and thereafter we find in the 1800's the first writings appearing by

women and some men calling for the change of these ideas. And with this we have the origins of the first

feminine movements. One of the first books written was the "Vindication for the Rights of Women" by Mary

Walsencraft which appeared in the 1800's. Thereafter the tradition of women receiving certain rights came.

The first of these were basically legal rights because until the 1800's women were not able to own property

and were not able to dispose of their wealth as men did. It is very well known that the first laws that allowed

women to own property in the United States or in Europe appeared only in the last couple of decades of the

1800's.

The Industrial Revolution caused another impetus, another search, to this feminist movement. Women in the

2 of 9

http://www.islambasics.com

Industrial Revolution, especially England, were forced to labor for many hours in the coal mines and so forth,

and would receive no pay whatsoever compared to men. So therefore the first calling of the movement was

that people who work the same amount of hours deserved the same amount of money or pay.

Finally a break occurred in this century of basically all which is understood from the Western tradition.

Coming from the latter feminist movement which appeared after World War II, a new movement called for

the emancipation of women not only in terms of legal rights, but it also questioned some of the morals of

society and called for greater sexual freedoms for women and men alike. It contended that basically a lot of

problems were caused by the institution of marriage and the ideas of family and so forth. People wrote

concerning the need to break from these.

And finally in the 1990's, the prevalent argument in the West is that we should discuss genders, not sexes.

This idea was expressed recently in a book which came out a year ago called "The Age of Extremes". The

author discusses the idea that there is no difference between male or female and that gender is so only due to

environment. So therefore we can change the environment so that men could take the roles of women and

women take the roles of men by changing the education and climate. This is where it has ended up now. So

we find in this 2500 year old western tradition, we come from the first extreme which was expressed by the

Greeks, where women were denied their essential humanity, to this extreme expressed today where there is no

differences between the sexes and it is an issue of gender, climate and environment. This is, of course, a very

brief summary of the first world view. I didn't do justice to those 2500 years in just those few minutes, but it

just gives us an idea.

The other view which I would like to talk about in more detail is the Islamic view. How does Islam look at

the issue of women? Well, first of all, we should understand that Muslims unlike, for instance, the Greek

philosophers or the French writers after the French revolution, do not feel that their concepts, ideas and

beliefs are those of fellow men. But rather they believe that what they are taught, what they believe, what they

practice, and all that is tied to this, is part of a divine revelation given to them by God. And so, its truth and

veracity is not questionable because of it being revelation from God. The argument is that God knows best

that which He created. He created human beings, He is a God of wisdom, and a God of all knowledge and so

therefore He knows what is best. And He decrees that which is best for humanity, His creatures. Therefore,

Muslims try to live by a code of law which is an expression of that belief.

Now I don't want to discuss the various details of the code of law because that, I feel, would not really benefit

us in this lecture. Although perhaps some of that might come out in the question and answer session and I'll

be glad to entertain any questions you might have. But what I would like to discuss is how does Islam look at

women, i.e. what is womanhood in Islam? Did Muslims believe like the early Greek writers or early church

fathers that women were not full human begins? Did they feel that women where Satan's trap, so therefore

should be shunned and looked at as something evil and dangerous? How did they perceive women? Upon

investigating into the traditions of Islam which is, as I said, based on revelation known as the Qur'an, we find

that it becomes very clear that Muslims are taught that men and women share a single humanity - that they are

equal in their humanity and that there is no difference in the amount of human nature in them. We might now

take that for granted, but as I explained, the initial western civilization was based on the fact that women were

not full human beings.

So this being something that was taught 1400 years ago was a revolutionary idea in the sense that it is only

within the last 100 years or so that the issue of women being full human beings has come to be accepted in

western intellectual circles. Initially, women were not considered full human beings.

The Qur'an in describing the origins of human beings tells them, the translation of which would be something

like "O humanity! Verily we have created you from a single male and a single female, and have made you

into tribes and peoples so that you may know one another. Verily the most honorable of you are those who are

3 of 9

http://www.islambasics.com

most pious with God." [49:13] This verse in the Qur'an teaches that humans come from a single male and a

single female. The indication here is that the male and female in terms of their human nature are at an equal

level. Likewise another verse, from a chapter which is known in the Qur'an as the chapter of Women -

because most of the issues discussed there are laws dealing with women - starts off with a verse which could

be translated as "O humanity! Verily We have created you from a single soul, and have made from it its

mate," this is a reference to Adam and Eve, "and have made from both of them many people, men and

women, and scattered them throughout the earth." [4:1] So here again is the issue of men and women and all

human beings coming from a single source, a single family, a single set of parents. This shows that women

share in full humanity with men.

Likewise in the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam) - which is the second

source of the Islamic religion - we find that the Prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam) said in a

Hadith that indeed verily women are the twin halves of men. The Arabic word shaqaa'iq, which I translated as

twin halves, means taking something and splitting it in half. The understanding is that there is a single

humanity, a single essence which is shared, and there are twin halves of that - one is man and one is women.

This is repeated often in the Qur'an. The words of the Prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam)

also emphasize this. As I said, this is a very important concept to understand when one reflects on how

traditional western civilization looked at women as not being full partners and not sharing in humanity.

Although now, we might not find much surprise to that because it is a given perhaps that men and women are

full human beings. But this is something that is a late occurrence in western traditions.

Let us take it to another step, what is the aim of humanity? What is the purpose for which human beings exist

on earth, to what ends do they strive? What will occur to them if they strive to those ends and what will occur

to them if they did not strive to those ends? Since Islam is a religion which sees itself as revelation from God

and the truth, Muslims would feel that human beings have a set purpose here on earth; that in everything of

God's creation there is wisdom. There is nothing of God's creation that does not have any wisdom. There is

nothing for sport or play and so therefore human beings have a purpose, and that purpose has been elucidated

for them in the teaching of Islam. They were created to worship God. A verse from the Qur'an says that God

says that He has not created human beings except to worship Him. So therefore, the essence of humanity is

the same between male and female, and they also share the same aim and that is to worship God. And that is

the most important issue in the Islamic culture and civilization. You know that the Islamic culture and

civilization is rooted in religious belief. American civilization is rooted in what? In the writings of the

founding fathers of the United States of America. It is rooted in the Declaration of Independence, the ideals

which were placed therein. It is rooted in the Constitution of the United States. It is rooted in some of the

arguments between monarchy or democracy which were written by some of the early writers or founding

fathers. So it is rooted in a political thought. Yes, it might have some traditions which go back further and

extend to certain ideas like in parts of Christianity and so forth, but in its essence it is a political thought,

unlike Islam which is a religion in its essence.

The civilization of Islam - a civilization which is 1400 years old - is one which is rooted in religion. For a

Muslim the greatest aim is to serve God, to worship God alone, and that is what the word Muslim means.

Muslim is not a racial description, it is not an ethnic category, Muslim means one who submits. Islam means

submitting to the will of God - the voluntary submission to God - so Islam is a religion of submission.

Therefore, in the most important aspect of the Islamic religion, we find that men and women share in the

same aim and are expected to have the same responsibilities, in that men and women are both required or

obligated to testify that there is none worthy of worship but Allah alone - God alone - and that Muhammad is

His Messenger. Men and women are both obligated to pray five times a day, which is the second pillar of

Islam. They are obligated to fast the month of Ramadan. They are obligated to make pilgrimage to Makkah.

They are obligated to give charity. They are obligated to have the same beliefs. They are obligated to have the

same type of morality and the same type of code of conduct and behavior.

4 of 9

http://www.islambasics.com

Men and women share these essential ingredients of Islamic behavior, which define a Muslim from a

non-Muslim. And this is of extreme importance because it breaks from the tradition of religions. For instance

fifty years before the birth of the prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam) who was born around

560 CE we find that there was a gathering of bishops in France to discuss whether women possessed souls or

not, and that, if they do possess souls, what would be their purpose on earth? Was it to worship God? And if

they worshipped God, would they go to paradise? In the end it was decided that, yes, women do possess souls

- which was a break from previous tradition - but that their purpose was not just to worship God, but also to

serve men.

In Islam, however, the basis of submission is not that women are submitting to men, but that men and women

together submit to God. So therefore, when you read the passages of the Qur'an, it becomes very clear that the

obedient from among both the believing men and women receive paradise, which is the greatest aim and

objective in a Muslim's life, and the basis of that civilization. Likewise, those who are disobedient and who

are renegades, and who do not want to worship God also receive the same punishment whether they are male

or female. This is why throughout the Qur'an you find the wording addressed to both males and females. The

Arabic language like French has two types of verbs, one representing the feminine and one the masculine. So

in the Qur'an you'll find both categories of the human race, both sexes, being addressed. This you find over

and over and over. There is no need to now recite all these passages, but they are there if anyone wants to

know.

In summary we found three bases: that they share the same humanity, that they have the same aim on this

earth, and also, they expect the same reward, which is the goal which they are working for collectively as

human beings. And this is a break as I said from the previous religious traditions and also political and social

understanding prevalent among the philosophers before the coming of Islam. And as a result of that, we find

that Islam accorded women rights which perhaps we take for granted now, but were given by God to men and

women some 1400 years ago. These rights like the right to own property, the right to dispose of property

according to their own wishes as long as they follow the laws of the religion of Islam, which apply the same

for men or women and the right to certain what we would call now political rights, like the right to enter into

a treaty with combatant, are something very recent relatively speaking in the West.

One of the rights given by Islam in the time of the prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam) was

that if a woman gives a treaty to a combatant from a non-Muslim attacking force - her treaty would be

considered as was the case with a female companion of the Prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa

sallam). In the Christian church these companions would be called disciples for instance, the disciples of the

Prophet Muhammad are the companions as they are called. They were in the hundreds and thousands not just

twelve as with Jesus Christ, and there are both men and women amongst them. When the prophet Muhammad

came to Mecca, one of the women companions by the name of Umm Hani, who was an inhabitant of Mecca

and a believer in the Prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam), accorded certain relatives of hers

protection that they would not be harmed. Her brother who was one of the main companions of the Prophet

Muhammad and married his daughter, Ali Bin Abi Talib, wanted to execute two of these men who were

known for harming the Muslims and fighting against them. So Umm Hani went to the Prophet Muhammad

and complained that she had accorded them protection and the Prophet recognized her giving protection to

those two individuals.

This is what we might call, in the classification and terminology that we now use, a political right. In the

sense of according protection for another person during the state of war is something which is relatively new

in the West and was a known tradition in the Islamic world 1400 years ago. Likewise, in terms of what we

might call public participation, there are certain acts of worship which are public acts of worship in Islam, and

there are certain acts of worship which are private. One of the public acts is the pilgrimage, when men and

women all make pilgrimage, and this is one of the pillars of Islam. Likewise another public act of worship is

the two `Eid prayers which occur twice a year, once after the pilgrimage and once after the pass of Ramadan.

5 of 9

http://www.islambasics.com

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: