What sometimes favoured open and flexible interpretations in Islam related to people’s common good and interest (Al Maslaha) may, in the case of women, have had exactly opposite consequences: when taking into account the often static customary practices of the societies for which law scholars issued rulings — and by which they naturally were often influenced — it became natural to issue restrictive, sometimes partial and biased interpretations of the Texts. This was because of the influence of cultural context on the reading itself. The Texts’ higher, universal ends were then restricted by the closed prospects of cultural singularity, which drew on the latitudes offered by constant awareness of customs (‘urf) and of the Al Maslaha in support of its own legitimacy. The social environment can either open up or restrict the prospects of a verse or hadith: one can see that in the case of women — because the issues are sensitive and necessarily linked to traditions and relations to power and authority — a relations–restrictive projection almost always prevailed since existing cultural practices had to be preserved or legitimated. Access to the power of knowledge, to intellectual and financial autonomy, to the job market, and to political choice and commitment, was often restricted and denied, not in the light of the Texts alone, but through the decisive refraction of cultural contexts.
Male and female fuqaha’ (experts in Islamic jurisprudence) as well as anthropologists, historians, sociologists, and ethnologists (again, both women and men) must work together in an extensive process of critical studies, reinterpretations, and analyses of the societies for which — and in which — the Texts are to be understood and implemented. A corpus of higher objectives (and the corresponding applied ethics) must be established before any circumstantial analysis of Texts and environments to avoid running the risk of being misled by the letter of some texts or the cultural shackles of past or contemporary societies. Only in this way can the deductive work of implementing injunctions become meaningful: being faithful to the message without fearing to disturb social frameworks, power relationships, and the traditional roles placed on women as a result of partial understanding of the message (or more prosaically, of the will to preserve clearly understood male interests). Reconciliation with the liberating substance of Islamic teachings requires this.
One should begin by clearly defining the fundamentals and order of discourse about women. The approach through objectives does not allow us to overlook speaking about women’s being, their spirituality, autonomy and responsibility, and the essential and social meaning of womanhood. Men, fuqaha’, can sometimes touch on those dimensions, but it is women who must, from within, refuse to accept that religious discourse about them should be merely legal and, in effect, curtailed, since it deals with interpersonal relations without elaborating anything about womanhood. Therefore, the first liberation that should be worked out — and that can lead the whole community of believers the world over to evolve — consists of producing a discourse on womanhood that restores the link with meaning rather than single-mindedly focusing on norms. The spiritual awakening and revival that run through Muslim majority societies and elsewhere, and in which women are particularly active agents, require new discourse about the meaning of faith, worship, freedom and social commitment. It is also true that some confuse this quest for meaning — at the heart of the global culture and with the loss of former points of reference — with a return to the most rigid traditional sources that seem to protect both meaning and norms. Resolving the complex equation of the present by referring to an idealised past model is typical of crisis situations, loss of confidence and the need for protection against social evolutions that escape the control of those involved.
This is why the discourse must rely on in-depth studies of all the dimensions of women’s being. This means, beyond norms, raising such issues as the acquisition of knowledge (about Texts and all the other sciences) for women; the meaning of their dignity and welfare in all that has to do with their minds, hearts and bodies; their inalienable autonomy and the essence of their freedom in the mindscape of social representations as well as in group structures, without overlooking the question of the essence of womanhood and related factors. The initial liberation process is demanding.
Even before turning to the issues of social discrimination and power structures in human groups, earlier reflection about faith, spirituality, and the quest for meaning is required. Nothing, or very little, is said and worked about the issue of the meaning of the quest and of the encounter with a spirituality that should be a promise of liberation and autonomy. The higher objectives of ethics about the inner being require educating the conscience, respecting the being’s dignity, and seeking inner balance, love, sincerity, humility and contemplation. This is an invitation to elaborate a fundamental, feminine philosophy of being, of autonomy and of freedom likely to deal with both the most rigid traditional representations and the most modern subjective projections. Suggestions must be offered for a social presence and for the involvement of women enabling them to become reconciled with their inner beings and the essence of their freedom, refusing reductions and alienations, whether in the woman as function of the past or in today’s woman as sex object.
Reflection about women as subjects must be combined with fundamental reflection about women’s being itself. The latter determines the essence of womanhood in its dignity, while the former grants women the means to be free. The point is not only to fight discrimination — although this struggle is imperative — but also to make society change in the light of the questions today’s women ask about themselves and ask societies about the quest for meaning, their welfare and the freedom of their being.
Much has been said in the West about Muslim women’s dress, intended by the latter as an expression of modesty and by some, in modern societies, as a sign of discriminatory submission. Often in reaction, Muslim institutions or scholars have been seen to offer dress as the ultimate expression of faith or as an act of resistance against western cultural imperialism. In all cases, the debates have reduced the meaning of modesty itself in the order of means and ends. In the spiritual order, in reflection about being and freedom, understanding the meaning of modesty (whether for men or for women) cannot be limited to the issue of visible modesty in dress. The latter must be part of a much more fundamental approach integrating the meaning of spiritual, psychological and intellectual modesty along with modesty in dress. At a time when women are too often confined to either strictly normative or mainly aesthetic representations, this reflection about the essence and meaning of modesty smacks of protest and liberation. Resistance begins in such depths.
This does not prevent fundamental reflection about social questions; quite the opposite. For reasons that have to do with being, conscience, but also simply physiology, women relate quite specifically to life, commitment, children and education. Never have our societies been in such urgent need of this feminine input in approaching some issues that are indeed broader than the “mere” question of women. Yet one of women’s major contributions to their cause may well lie, not merely in resisting the discriminations and alienations that directly affect them, but in their specific way of approaching the social crises that involve all of us. Here again, the issue should be approached from the source, which may result in a new way of defining the priorities of social and political commitments. This means starting by refusing to enter men’s political universe by approaching politics in the same way as men do. This would be nothing less than another form of alienation. This issue is highly specific and requires deep, global questioning about the cause and contribution of women in modern times.
From the point of view of the fuqaha’, of men and of women themselves, the priority is to get rid of social and media representations about the “West”, which restrict debates to the issues of models or forms. Thus, the western cultural model is seen to require resistance through emphasis on an “Islamic answer” essentially relying on the formalism of social roles or of dress. The answer is insufficient; it can be observed every day. Far from any formalism, then, or rather in opposition to all formalisms, commitment for the recognition of women’s being and involvement must start by questioning goals and not only perceptions. Prior to any collective, social or political commitment process, women must — along with men — determine the outline of a religious and humanist understanding and discourse reconciling women with their function as free, autonomous and responsible spiritual agents. By relying on this approach, which rereads the Texts in the light of higher goals, it becomes possible to think about women’s presence and major contributions to the development of contemporary societies while undertaking reforms of the discriminations they continue to suffer. We must clearly refuse to accept that a woman with the same training and skills as a man should experience job discrimination or be paid only 70 per cent of a man’s salary, that she should be barred from responsible posts because of being a woman, that pregnancy should be considered a handicap or that she should be compelled to submit to the male imagery that still dominates the job market. Fuqaha’ legal councils including women scholars, specialising in Texts as well as in the study of social logistics, must speak out on those questions of rights, justice and equality. This is part of the long-run reform of mind-sets and social dynamics; it requires determined commitment in the fields of education, social work and collective psychology. Restrictions, deadlocks and perversions of the message insensibly affect all universes of reference, and the Muslim world, torn between rejection and imitation, does not at present make any major contribution to this fundamental reflection.
Women must struggle against all formalist dictatorships: both those that impose the headscarf without belief in the practice coming from the heart and those that imagine all objectified female bodies fit into a size six dress; those that compel women to stay at home for religious reasons and those that send them back home after the age of 45 for aesthetic reasons.
Source: Gulfnews
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umlJJFVgYVI
Thank you for an interesting article. Defining the essence of a woman is a great project that will transform social relations. I have always marveled at the fact that the womb of females (not only human beings) is the sacred space that the Almighty chose as the zone of ongoing Creation of life. As with all sacred spaces, we will only start to understand the depth of its meaning when we consider deeply how this relates to all around (and within) it. Would it be correct to venture that the body of a woman, and especially her womb, is the most sacred space in our (created) physical reality? If so, she is surely embodied with certain strengths that nurtures and protects this trust. If we can start understanding what these strengths are, we can develop a deeper understanding of the innate value that she brings to humanity.
I applaud your writing as a woman that has seen much of the world from various perspectives… religions, cultures, environments, in times of war and peace, at home and abroad. I have taught many in every environment I have encountered, that we are all equal and that the call to love, in it’s purest form, is the true meaning to life. I spent twenty years in the military, serving a country that becomes more lost from the truth, that follows like blind sheep the media. As a child, instead of listening to all the voices and instructions given, I always followed my heart, listened with my inner voice, tested what I was taught or given. As a daughter, sister, soldier, then mother, and wife…. I would sacrifice anything for those I truly love, at times, have given up all of my own comforts for my enemies not knowing how they would respond. At 42, I would do it all again. I have been to the middle east, stood against injustice on both sides, against everyone’s fear of what would become of me. A woman will do beyond anything most men will, because pride and respect, means nothing compared to love.
If more would listen with open hearts and minds, the world would be a better place. But the Deaf and Dumb still roam the Earth without many true shepard’s left.
I fully agree that there is an urgent need for radical reassessment of the identity of women. Even the Western world, after decades of feminism, is not all the way there: despite a lot of progress, Western women still seem to feel pressured to outdo men by acting, talking and even dressing (the business suit…) like men in order to be accepted as equally capable. As mentioned in Prof Tariq’s article, the identity of Muslim women has for so long been shaped according to a paternalistic (and sometimes self-interested) perspective, and we are finding it difficult to open our minds to broader possibilities without abandoning Islamic principles.
What is most saddening, perhaps, is that many women, including those educated enough to teach religion to others, seem to fully subscribe to this paternalistic analysis of women’s identity and role. There is, for instance, the traditional formula that men are 9 parts rational and 1 part emotional, whereas women are the reverse – a view promoted by female religious teachers!
The sad result of women being taught that their capacity and role is limited, is that women stop thinking altogether. They attend religious classes, but it is just to be reminded of what they have been taught before. A large part of the time in such classes is spent by the teacher replying to questions as to whether such and such an activity is halal or haram, and usually the teacher gives a basic answer without prompting the women to think through the issue with a view to understanding it in a broader perspective, so that in future they would be able to think for themselves. The women also keenly follow the teacher’s instruction on the finer points of performing prayer, but the spiritual aspect of prayer, and the purpose of it in our lives, is not touched upon – considered beyond their comprehension, perhaps. The thinking capacity of so many women thus becomes dulled; and these are the women who educate our children from a young age…
Although it is obvious that male minds must be reshaped, it is also true – perhaps equally so – that women themselves must be willing to reshape themselves. Many women become comfortable with the limited role they are given, and are thus unwilling to make the effort to move out of that comfort zone. Change is, of course, a scary thing (though it can also be exciting…), and it is especially scary for women who have been trained not to think. Hopefully the Internet-connected generation will be more broadly informed and more open-minded.
Our Muslim community, and indeed the world, is the loser when we fail to acknowledge, develop and make full use of the huge and valuable resource of women. One of the most meaningful verses in the Qur’an regarding this is Sūrah Al-Tawbah verse 71: “And the believers, men and women, are one another’s protecting friends.” This verse succinctly states the intricate and subtle complementarity of men and women; equal partners in family, community and world affairs. Wa Allahu a’lam.
How can you be a woman’s body that has been medicinally emprisoned for years on end, for reasons that are illogical, to be in a bottomless pit in hell on earth where some evil power is stalking the mind and soul, occupying the body, blood being messed up, to be drowning in the grave, used and abused by others in existence and in the spirit, unable to be? Noone messes with the Will of God in a natural active body in life. This is an unacceptable state of being. This is how a lonely unknown Muslima child is negatively challenged beyond limits.