by Dr. Ali Shehata
Women in Islam: Hidden and Glorious Past, Uncertain Present
✓ Islam honors the woman as daughter, sister, wife and mother.
✓ Islam gave women many spiritual and human rights (spiritual equality before God, property rights, the right to inherit, the right to consent to marriage, etc.) several centuries in advance of other societies, both secular and religious.
✓ Islam does not give license to men to beat their wives and it furthermore condemns the practice.
✓ Islam not only encourages, but even requires, that women be educated, especially in matters of religion.
✓ Islam affords every woman the right to attend religious services in the Mosque if they choose to go and specifically prohibits men from denying them that right.
✓ Islamic history, from its outset, proudly documents the lives of numerous female scholars who helped to spread Islam and preserve the purity of its teachings.
Introduction
Few subjects have been more controversial and intriguing than the role and position of women in Islam. The mere mention of women and Islam together often conjures up images of harems of veiled, submissive women in the desert whose whole purpose in life is the pleasure of their husband. In more recent times, these words have become darkly associated with oppression, domestic violence and barbaric forms of submission. Distorted images of Muslim women saturate media coverage, while critics condemn the religion of Islam for embodying all things anti-woman. While there are many parts of the world, even today, in which women seldom enjoy any real equality with men, Muslim women are repeatedly singled out as examples of the suppression and degradation supposedly brought about by the teaching of their faith.
The true reality behind many of these, and other, misconceptions regarding the position of women in Islam comes, most often, from cultural practices in those countries dominated by Muslims rather than from any true Islamic teachings. Yet in the beginning, it was in the harsh deserts of 7th Century Arabia that the real dignity and honor of the woman came rushing to life through the revelation of Quranic passages such as:
The Believers, men and women, are protectors one of another, they enjoin what is just and forbid what is evil; they observe regular prayers, practice regular charity, and obey God and His Messenger. On them will God pour His mercy, for God is Exalted in power, Wise. God has promised to the Believers, men and women, gardens under which rivers flow, to dwell therein, and beautiful mansions in gardens of everlasting bliss. But the greatest bliss is the good pleasure of God; that is the supreme joy. {9:71-72}
And women are due rights similar to the rights against them, according to what is equitable, but men have a degree (of responsibility) over them. And God is Exalted in Power, Wise. {2:228}
Also from the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad pbuh, we discover the new light that would illuminate the status of women, and would lead men to reconsider their whole attitude towards women. He did teach his followers,
The believers with the most perfect belief are also the best of them in manners and character. And the best of you are those who are best towards their wives. [Tirmithi]
In this chapter, the exact role of women in Islam will be clarified through a detailed exploration of the Islamic texts, with brief digressions from time to time to illustrate where culture has regrettably superseded religious practice in the lives of Muslims.
Before beginning this important discussion though, it is important that a few essential points be outlined. Firstly, when trying to understand the role of women in Islam, many people incorrectly try to compare Islamic teachings to modern secular social norms, believing incorrectly that these norms are actually Judeo-Christian teachings. In reality, modern society has cast off nearly all of the Judeo-Christian tradition, as it relates to women, long ago in favor of more secular, or non-religious, attitudes. Conversely, the majority of Islamic teachings in this matter are still rigorously adhered to by a number of communities today. For the sake of fairness, this study will begin by first comparing the secular society that existed in Arabia before Islam with secular society today, and then move forward to compare Judeo-Christian attitudes towards women with those of Islam.
Women in Pre-Islamic Arabia
The inferior view of women that characterized much of the world in the 7th century CE was also thriving in the pagan societies of Arabia, prior to the advent of the Prophet Muhammad pbuh. The social environment at that time was rampant with tribal rivalry, petty wars, plundering, and general chaos, lead by the male members of the various tribes. In such an environment, the status of women was unquestionably inferior.
Unfortunately, historical resources concerning Arabia before the coming of Islam in the 7th century CE are dreadfully limited yet, despite the limited consensus on a number of matters relating to the details of this period, many points can still be inferred from the Quran and Hadith as they were literarily unquestioned on these issues in their era.
Reminiscent of Hindu tradition, women in Pre-Islamic Arabia were looked down upon from birth as demonstrated by the Pre-Islamic Arabs practice of female infanticide. It was a common belief that male children were more honorable and useful to the family. They would soon grow to be able to help guard against enemies during the many tribal conflicts, and males could also work in the family trading caravans and farms. Dr. Faryal Sulaimani adds:
Also, since tribal wars in that era were nearly continuous in nature… Ancient Arabs valued the capture of hostages and women above that of cattle and booty, since the former were far more profitable to them. They could ask a high ransom for hostages, or exchange them for their own hostages. Another advantage of women captives was to marry them without a dowry, and to get more children, thus increasing their numbers and therefore their strength, which would raise their status among other tribes. Moreover, in taking women captive, greater humiliation is sustained by their enemy, so that sometimes the major aim of a man was to take the enemy's women captive in order to inflict shame and humiliation upon the enemy's whole tribe… Some even preferred death to being taken captive. ( Sulaimani, F. A. (1986). The Changing Position of Women in Arabia under Islam during the Early Seventh Century. Retrieved from: http://usir.salford.ac.uk/14814/1/361089.pdf)
Hence, fearing poverty and shame before their people, a number of fathers would bury their infant daughters alive in the desolate desert sands. God condemned this abhorrent practice in the following passage of the Quran:
And when the news of the birth of a female child is brought to any of them, his face becomes dark, and he is filled with inward grief. He hides himself from the people because of the evil of that whereof he has been informed. Shall he keep her with dishonor or bury her in the sand? Surely, evil is their decision. {16:58-59}
Furthermore, women were also not allowed to inherit, whether it be a daughter inheriting from her father, a wife from her husband, or a mother from her son. She also could not own property or hold any claims to wealth, except for women of high social stature (e.g., Khadija).
Also in many cases, a widowed woman was counted as part of her husband's property to be inherited by his male heirs, in which case she was often given in marriage to the deceased man's eldest son from another wife. (Nikah al-Muqt: This marriage also was called Nikah al Dayyzen which means "the hateful marriage" and Daizan was an epithet of reproach applied to a man who had made such a marriage. This marriage allowed a son to have his step-mother in marriage, after the death of his father. (Sulaimani, 1986, p.24). The Quran clearly abolished this degrading custom:
And marry not women whom your fathers married, except those marriages that have already taken place in the past; it was a shameful, detestable, and abominable custom indeed. {4:22}
If the widow was not married to her deceased husband’s eldest son, then she was bound to be inherited by her brother-in-law, a practice known as levirate marriage, and sanctioned in the Bible.( “If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband's brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel. And if the man does not wish to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall go up to the gate to the elders and say, ‘My husband's brother refuses to perpetuate his brother's name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband's brother to me.’ Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him, and if he persists, saying, ‘I do not wish to take her,’ then his brother's wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face. And she shall answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother's house.’ And the name of his house shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal pulled off.’” [Deuteronomy 25:5-10])
Yet, this forced inheritance of a woman was forbidden in the Quran:
O you who have believed, it is not lawful for you to inherit women by compulsion…. {4:19}
In pre-Islamic Arabia, one of his brothers would throw his clothes over her and thus claim her as his property, paying the dowry already paid by the deceased.( al-Tabari, Muhammad ibn Jarir. (n.d.). Tafsir al-Tabari.) The widow was not allowed to leave the home of her husband in either circumstance. She couldn’t exit such a marriage unless she paid a financial sum to ransom herself. (Shah, N. (2006). Women, the Koran and International Human Rights Law. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.)
Likewise, the power to divorce lied ultimately in the husband’s hand, and if he chose to divorce his wife, she was forced to remain in his home.( Ali, Jawad. (1955). Tarikh al-Arab Qabl al-Islam (The History of the Arabs before Islam). Iraq: Matba’a al-Ilm. Retrieved from: http://www.alhasso.com/arab-history-1.pdf) Regarding the ease of divorcing women, and the often resentful reasons behind doing so, Dr. Sulaimani concludes:
So divorce was an easy matter, a woman was just like a puppet in her husband's hands. He could play with her feelings, humiliate her and divorce and remarry her whenever he liked without her being able to defend herself and her life. And even more than that, before Islam, a husband could prevent his divorced wife from remarrying and could drive a bargain for his consent to the application of a suitor. (Sulaimani, F. A. (1986). The Changing Position of Women in Arabia under Islam during the Early Seventh Century. Retrieved from: http://usir.salford.ac.uk/14814/1/361089.pdf)
This disregard for the woman and her right to return to her birth family was as a result of the maternal family holding no significance, in contrast to the paternal family which held all the importance.
Children were often conceived out of wedlock due to the widespread promiscuity in Pre-Islamic Arabia. Wife lending was also common where husbands allowed their wives to live with, and get impregnated by, men distinguished by courage or nobility to produce highborn offspring. When they did marry however, there was no limit to the number of wives that a man could take at one time. Some historians have reported that it was customary for the men of the wealthy Quraish tribe of Mecca to have ten wives each, and sometimes even more. (Ali, Jawad. (1955). Tarikh al-Arab Qabl al-Islam (The History of the Arabs before Islam). Iraq: Matba’a al-Ilm. Retrieved from: http://www.alhasso.com/arab-history-1.pdf) Furthermore, women had no choice or right to refuse entry into any marriage as the decision regarding spouse selection was entirely in the hands of her guardian (father or eldest male relative in his absence), again unless she was of a privileged social class. “The marriage contract rested completely in the hands of the woman’s legal guardian whose words with regard to her marital status could never be questioned.”( al-Mubarkpuri, S.R. (2008). The Sealed Nectar. Riyadh: Dar-us-Salam Publications )
Moreover, women were often beaten severely for disobedience. In most of the tribes, they held little to no honor and were primarily seen as sexual objects for men’s pleasure. They were given the license to dress scantily outdoors, even while performing acts of ritual worship, such as circling around the Sacred House in Mecca naked (al-Tabari, Muhammad ibn Jarir. (n.d.). Tafsir al-Tabari.), for the pleasure and entertainment of the men in their societies. Though absolute nudity was a characteristic of slave women and avoided by free women in pre-Islamic Arabia. (Sulaimani, F. A. (1986). The Changing Position of Women in Arabia under Islam during the Early Seventh Century. Retrieved from: http://usir.salford.ac.uk/14814/1/361089.pdf)
Yet, similar to the other ancient societies, elite upper-class women in Pre-Islamic Arabia were allowed to hold certain positions of distinction in society and both the concept of goddess and priestess were well accepted in their tribal communities (Ahmed, Leila (1992). Women and Gender in Islam. New Haven and London: Yale University Press) (e.g., the wife of Musaylama the Liar who claimed she was a prophetess and was accepted as such by her followers). Other women were well known for their beautiful singing voices and were used effectively during wars to hasten the defeat of opposing armies.( Doubleday, V. (1999). The Frame Drum in the Middle East: Women, Musical Instruments and Power. Ethnomusicology. Vol. 43, No. 1, pp. 101134). They also commanded high wages (most often paid to their male “agents”) for their singing and even higher dowries for marriage. (Ali, Jawad. (1955). Tarikh al-Arab Qabl al-Islam (The History of the Arabs before Islam). Iraq: Matba’a al-Ilm. Retrieved from: http://www.alhasso.com/arab-history-1.pdf)
So in summary, a number of characteristics appear to be in common among many of the ancient societies in regards to their attitudes towards women. Common women in these societies were generally barred from owning property, choosing their own spouses or initiating divorce. They were generally seen as inferior and only useful for the entertainment, sexual or otherwise, of men. Yet, they were also generally free of any formal dress requirements and were in fact encouraged to cover as little of their body as necessary, short of absolute nudity. From a religious standpoint, certain privileged women were also allowed to hold high positions of honor in the religious structures of their societies as priestesses, prophetesses and even goddesses.
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