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HVK Archives: TOI: "While Islam as a religion empowers women ....."

TOI: "While Islam as a religion empowers women ....." - The Times of India

Zeenat Shaukat Ali ()
3 October 1996

Title : While Islam as a religion empowers women,
Muslim societies still permit inequality
Author : Zeenat Shaukat Ali
Publication : The Times of India
Date : October 3, 1996

The vital factor in the debate over the empowerment of Muslim women is
whether or not contemporary Islam can be visualised as an "emancipatory
force." As the world of Islam is not monolithic, Muslims differ in their
reflec- tions on this issue. It is generally held that though autonomy is
available to women, it is contained and demarcated, and therefore the
space for women to nego- tiate, even partially, stems from prevailing
restric- tions.

Most works on the position of women in Islamic societies, either generally
uphold sceptical occidential accounts of women as being mercilessly
repressed by their fundamen- talist male counterparts or the equally
objectionable reverse trend - an apologia in defence of their rights
which, however, are rarely honoured in the Muslim world. To understand
how these categories culminated and devel- oped, it is useful to
distinguish pre-Islamic systems from Islamic values.

The Koran, which is the primary source of Islam, unfolds the vision of
Divine Attributes as one of Rubiyat or providence, Rahmat or mercy and
Adalat or justice.

It further emphasises that the mutaqueen or those who abstain from
impurities, the saleheen or those who put things right, the musleheen or
those who reform and improve the conditions of society, and the mufleheen
or those who practise equity and admit of the rights of others, are on the
right path. These have direct a bear- ing on the concept of social justice
and there is no special reference to either gender in the given contexts.

In its ideology, the Koran instills a spirit of humanism, directly linking
iman or faith to amal or action. This is summed up in the directive
"Believe and act righteously."

In the same vein, the Koran elaborates the idea that the creation of
humankind is "in the best of moulds." The composite connection of being
conscious of God and con- scientiousness towards God's creation are seen
in Haqq Allah (obligation to God) and Haqq on Nas (obligation to society).
in the realm of obligation to society, no taqlif (duty) is ever imposed
without a corresponding right. Thus the Koran says: "Women shall have
rights similar to those against them" (H.Q. 2:228). Central to the issue
of family law is Haqq al Nasl or respect for family and community. It is
therefore a peculiar paradox that despite the Koran's basis of adl or
justice and avowal of human equality, Muslim societies have permitted
various forms of inequality in relation to gender.

Besides, the Koran, as the embodiment of responsible freedom, considers it
to be one of its major concerns to liberate humankind from the dangers of
autocracy, ethnic- ity, racism, chauvinism or anything that subjugates the
human spirit. Several modern scholars such as Muhammad Abduh and Raahid
Rida have recognised the Koranic text as providing the key to opposition
against serfdom and slavery. To do away with customary traditions that
had resurfaced, an insistence on ijtehad or the exercise of reason, both
at the individual and collective level, was advocated as a means to
liberating Muslim thought from such outmoded tribal shackles.

However, for this purpose, it is necessary to carefully study the pure
text of the Koran, to perceive the dis- tinction between the Koran itself
and its exegesis, interpretations and annotations and later
jurisprudential superstructure.

Such a necessity arises since the historical and cultural accretions of
scholars are sometimes confused, by the majority of Muslims, as part of
the Koranic message.

Also, in the early part of Islamic history, there was an output of
productive literature based on attempts by scholars to communicate their
understanding of the text. In the modern era there is still a struggle to
relate the universal message explicitly to the present-day condi- tions.
Further, it cannot be denied, that during centu- ries of sociopolitical
hostilities between the Western and Muslim worlds, in their desire to
discredit Islam, the accident has deliberately given expression to disrup-
tive literature, where methods of investigation have not corresponded to
the idea of historical fairness, other- wise so strictly insisted upon,
resulting in both paro- chial literature and Muslim xenophobia.

With regard to the role of women, major traditional literature spells out
opinions in which women have sometimes been under-represented. Due to the
re-enforce- ment of the tribal patriarchal system after early Islam, the
overall status of women most Muslim countries was often and is still
relegated to the background. Today, Islamic resurgent movements are
filled with qualified Muslim women who sincerely seek a precise link
directly to the primary sources in an effort to emerge from their long
felt segregation.

Feminist critiques have argued that since the rights of women were not
directly curtailed by the Koran and au- thentic tradition, it was
necessary to crystallise and determine the Koranic intent regarding the
role of women.

Inspired by the basic concept of social justice stressed in Islam, there
were protests against the generally accepted opinions of those scholars
who presented women in a restrictive light, under the guise of what they
defined as "Islamic." Women scholars pointed out that equating and
confusing Koranic understanding with exeget- ical works was a
methodological shortcoming, giving a peculiar and restrictive definition
to the word "Islamic." They insisted that the word "Islamic" must have
an unequivocal and unambigious connection with the Koran, claiming that
reflection of the word would other- wise, at some stage, be equated with
the reflections of scholars and blur the broader vision of Koranic percep-
tion. Such dialectical disqualifications, feminist scholars felt, must be
weeded out to restore a fresh and original approach to the Koran.

They further tried to discern the problems in Koranic interpretation
relating to equal rights for women. The- argument they presented was that
the Qur'an was revealed in stages. Thus, according to the correct process
of

Koranic interpretation, the final commands of God must be taken as
normative and final. For example, while earlier revelations discourage
intoxicants and gambling (2:219, 4:43), later revelations clearly condemn
and prohibit them (5:93-94). Thus, if someone claims that on the basis of
2 : 219 the Koran permits the consumption of alcohol, one would have to
quote the final verse, 5:93- 94, to show that Islam prohibits such acts.

Thus we see that the universal truth, wisdom and justice of the Koran
continue to shed a guiding light even on the problems that have resulted
from misunderstanding its noble message. The solution to the troubled
relations between men and women lies in being guided by the spirit of the
book, which exhorts men and women. to develop "love and mercy" (30:21)
towards each other.


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