Women and Religion
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10IslamA.docx10 Islam A
GENERAL FACTS
Origins
We now turn to our fifth and final religion: Islam. As with Buddhism and Christianity, Islam has a historically identifiable founder whose name was Muhammad ibn Abdullah (570-632CE). He lived half a millennium after Jesus and a full millennium after Buddha Gautama. This makes Islam the youngest of the five religions that we are studying. Muhammad was born in the town of Mecca, Arabia, which was a bustling trade centre on the north-south caravan route from Syria to Yemen (see map). His father died before he was born and his mother passed away when he was about 5 years old. Thus, the young Muhammad knew firsthand the difficulties of orphanhood. He was initially raised by his grandfather and then by his uncle Abu Talib. His family clan was the largest and most prestigious in Mecca, but his uncle was not a rich man and Muhammad probably spent most of his childhood as a shepherd boy. Hence it is doubtful that he received a formal education.
When he was about 25 years old, he was given a job as caravan manager for a wealthy widow named Khadija, who was allegedly about 10 years older than Muhammad. She was impressed by his honesty and business acumen, but she was also attracted to him personally so she proposed marriage, which Muhammad accepted. It was an important turning point in his life because it gave him economic security and, eventually, time to pursue his deeper spiritual yearnings. The marriage to Khadija was a monogamous one (unusual for Arabia at that time) and she gave birth to four daughters (the most famous of whom was Fatima). She also gave birth to two sons but both died in infancy.
Around the year 610, when Muhammad was about forty years old, he was spending time in a small cave on Mt Hira, just outside Mecca. He often withdrew to this quiet place on a spiritual retreat of sorts, especially during the month of Ramadan. According to Muslim belief, on that particular night, which Muslims now call the “Night of Power”, an angelic being suddenly appeared and ordered him to speak in God’s name. Those first words of the angel, later identified as Gabriel (Jibreel), are recorded in the 96th chapter of the Qur’an:
Recite in the name of your Sustainer who has created man from a germ cell. Recite for your Sustainer is most beautiful, One who has taught man the use of the pen, taught him what he did not know.
Muhammad was terrified. He wasn’t sure if he was hallucinating or whether a desert spirit (jinni) was playing tricks on him. In a state of shock, he rushed home to Khadija who calmed him down. Over the next few days the angel kept re-appearing and Khadija, after consulting with her Christian cousin, concluded that it was a genuine messenger from the one God (“Allah” in Arabic). Her quiet support eventually convinced Muhammad that he was being called to be Allah’s spokesperson: a prophet. From that time until his death, the angel would occasionally deliver messages to Muhammad, usually when he entered into a sort of spiritual trance. Commentators note that these trances resemble those described by the Jewish prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. The messages were memorised by Muhammad and his followers, and eventually collected into the pages of Islam’s holiest book: the Qur’an (a word derived from the verb “to recite”).
The essence of Muhammad’s mission was to convince his fellow Meccans to turn from their pagan polytheism to belief in the one true God (Allah). There were some Jewish tribes in Arabia at the time, and small groups of Christians, but most Arabs were polytheistic. They believed in multiple divine beings all around them and each tribe had their preferred gods. In fact, Mecca was not only a trade town but also a pilgrimage centre. Its main religious focus was a rectangular stone building called the Ka’ba (a word that is linked to our English word “cube”). The Ka’ba housed over three hundred statues representing the different tribal gods. Pilgrimage was an important source of income for the Meccans, since there was little agriculture in the area due to its arid soils. Thus, it is not surprising to find that when Muhammad finally did begin to preach his monotheistic message, it fell on deaf ears since it would have meant the ruin of the lucrative polytheistic pilgrimage business. Muhammad attracted some followers, including members of his extended family and his right-hand man Abu Bakr. But the Meccan leadership opposed him and the early Muslim community suffered prolonged persecution in the form of ostracization, boycotts and physical abuse. Muhammad even had to send some followers to Abyssinia (present day Ethiopia) where the Christian king gave them shelter. The lowest point was the year 619 when both Khadija and his uncle, Abu Talib, died. Muslims call it the “Year of Sorrow”. It was now very dangerous and there was even an attempt on his life. At this low point Muhammad experienced what is known as the Night Journey. Muslims believe that, one evening, he was taken on a winged animal to Jerusalem and from there to heaven itself where he met other monotheistic prophets such as Abraham, Moses and Jesus.
Soon after this, an opportunity arose that effectively saved Muhammad and his community from destruction. He was offered the position of chief arbitrator in the town of Yathrib, about 400km north of Mecca, with the added promise that his new religious movement would be protected. Muhammad accepted and the relocation of the Muslim community from Mecca to Yathrib in 622 is known as “the Hijra”. So important is the event that it is reckoned as Year 1 of the Islamic calendar. The situation had now completely changed. On the personal front, the monogamous relationship with Khadija in Mecca was replaced by a series of polygamous marriages to eleven other women. On the political front, Muhammad was quickly accepted as the de facto leader in Yathrib, which was soon renamed Medina (“the town”). Many locals converted, thus swelling the numbers of followers and Islam began to emerge as the new force on the Arabian landscape. Muhammad was also given permission by God (via Gabriel) for the emigrants to raid Meccan caravans on the basis that they had been forced to abandon their property and assets in a hostile Mecca. This led to a series of three battles with Mecca: the Muslims won two and lost one. Eventually Muhammad negotiated a peace deal with Mecca but, in 630, the Meccans violated the terms and Muhammad rode down with an impressive army. Key Meccan leaders had already switched sides and the town effectively surrendered and converted to Islam, which was now the dominant political-religious system of Arabia. Then, just two years later, Muhammad fell ill with desert fever and died in the arms of his wife Aisha. He was buried in the floor of her bedroom and today his tomb is located on this very spot, surrounded by the magnificent Mosque of the Prophet – in Medina, not Mecca.
Unlike Jesus, who was eventually proclaimed by Christians as “God made man”, Muhammad is not divine in any way. However, he is considered by Muslims to be the greatest of human beings and a model for religious and ethical behaviour. His best-known title is “Seal of the Prophets”. This tells us that he is not the only prophet of the one God; he stands in the line of other, mainly Jewish, prophets who have gone before him. Thus, Muslims accept that much (but not all) of the Jewish Torah and the Christian gospel are true. It also implies that Muhammad is the last and most important prophet and that the Qur’an is God’s final word for humankind.
The name “Muhammad” in Arabic calligraphy
Main Subdivisions
Today there are approximately 1.8 billion Muslims in the world, making it the second largest religion after Christianity. Like Buddhism and Christianity, Islam has been missionary from the beginning, moving beyond its original cultural context in Arabia. Most Muslims are now found in what is commonly called “the Islamic crescent”: a region that stretches from northern Africa, across the Middle East and central Eurasia into south and south-east Asia (see green areas on the map).
The two main subdivisions within Islam are Sunni and Shi’ite. The Sunni majority consists of about 85% of all Muslims (approximately 1.5 billion) whilst the Shi’ite minority account for the remaining 15% (300 million). Most Shi’ites are located in Iran, eastern Iraq, Azerbaijan, Lebanon, and parts of Yemen and Afghanistan (see dark green on map). In many respects, there are not many differences between the two main groups in terms of key beliefs and practice. The Sunni tradition speaks about the “five pillars” of Islam
1. The statement of faith
2. The five daily prayers
3. The annual tax for the poor
4. The annual Ramadan fast
5. The annual pilgrimage to Mecca
The Shi’ites use a slightly different analogy. They speak about the five “roots” of religion: monotheism, justice, prophethood, leadership and final judgment. They also add ten “branches” which include daily prayer, fasting, almsgiving and pilgrimage.
One of the roots is “leadership” and this touches on the main difference between the two denominations. The issue is who should have taken over as leader of the Muslim community when Muhammad died. Sunnis accept that what actually happened was God’s will, namely that Muhammad’s close friend Abu Bakr was elected by the elders as “caliph” or leader. When he died, he was followed in turn by three other elected caliphs: Umar, Uthman and Ali. These four leaders are known as the “righteous caliphs” in Sunni Islam. After them, the caliphate became dynastic and was caught up in the politics of controlling a vast empire. In contrast, Shi’ites believe that the leadership should have gone to someone from Muhammad’s family. In the absence of a son, Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, Ali (husband of Muhammad’s daughter Fatima), was the obvious choice. Ali was eventually appointed as the fourth caliph but the tensions between the two groups led to civil wars and fragmentation. Shi’ites believe that the male descendants of Ali and Fatima are the true line of divinely inspired religious leaders (“Imams”).
Muhammad and the four righteous caliphs (Sunni)
The “hand of Fatima”: its five fingers symbolise
Muhammad, Fatima, Ali and their two sons Hasan and Husain. (Shi’ite)
Texts
The key religious text in Islam is the Qur’an (it can also be spelt Koran). As noted above, it is a collection of the messages that were purportedly given to Muhammad by the angel Gabriel over a period of about 22 years. Like Buddha and Jesus, Muhammad himself never wrote a book but his followers memorized these messages and wrote them down on palm leaves, stones and parchment. The first caliph, Abu Bakr, organized a committee to collect the pieces into a single text but it was only under the third caliph, Uthman, that a final, authorized version (with set verse and chapter order) was decided upon and all other copies destroyed. This became the definitive layout of the Qur’an as we know it today.
Because of its nature, the Qur’an is not an easy book to read. It is not a narrative of the life of Muhammad or the early community, nor is it a systematic explanation of Islamic faith organized according to themes. Each of the 114 chapters is traditionally identified as coming from either the Meccan or Medinan period of Muhammad’s life but no further dating is provided, and the chapters themselves are not ordered chronologically. In fact, they tend to be ordered by length (the chapters become progressively shorter as you work through the Qur’an). Moreover, the original context of each message is not provided so it is difficult to know what precise situation the divine message was addressing. In this sense, the Qur’an is reminiscent of the prophetic books of the Jewish bible like Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
Because Muslims believe that messages were communicated to Muhammad by Gabriel from Allah, the Qur’an is taken to be God’s word literally. Thus, there is no higher source of authority than the Qur’an. However, like any religious canon, the Qur’an does not address every single possible Islamic belief or practice in detail and, on occasions, there are various passages that do not seem to be in perfect agreement. In order to clarify Qur’anic silences or ambiguities, Muslims turn to another important source of information known as the hadith. The hadith are collections of the sayings and actions of Muhammad. Based on the notion that the next best guide after the Qur’an is the prophet himself, the hadith provides the example of Muhammad. So, hadith is not literally the word of God but it does provide information on how the Prophet lived out his faith. The hadith collections were compiled around 200 years after Muhammad’s death by leading scholars at the time. The collections are much bigger than the Qur’an; typically, they have thousands of anecdotes from his life. Tradition says that the scholars carefully filtered out dubious stories and retained authentic ones based on the number of witnesses and the line of transmission. In the Sunni tradition, the two most cited and reliable (“sahih”) hadith collections were compiled by Bukhari and Muslim (that’s his name). Shi’ites have their own hadith collections.
The two main Sunni hadith sources
Finally, the third important source of guidance for Muslims is shariah law. Unlike Buddhism and Christianity, Islam was a political movement as well as a religious one from its earliest days. Muhammad saw no fundamental inconsistency between being God’s prophet and God’s earthly ruler – which is why the Enlightenment idea of the “separation of Church and State” is a foreign one for traditional Islam. The result was an elaborate system of law known as shariah (literally “the path”), which deals with religious and civil life in an Islamic society. Today, most “Muslim nations” have a mix of secular and shariah law – the latter is often restricted to family law (eg. marriage and inheritance).
Countries that apply Shariah Law
One important thing to keep in mind is that there is no such thing as “the” Shariah law because there are various schools, which agree on many things but not all. The most obvious case is the different systems used by Sunnis and Shi’ites. But even in the Sunni world, there are least four traditional legal “schools” (madhabs): Hanafi, Hanbali, Maliki and Shafi’i. See the map below for where these different schools are predominant.
So, we will need to consider what these various texts (Qur’an, hadith and the shariah law schools) say about the status of women in Islam on a range of issues.
Islamic law schools
GOD & GENDER
As with other religions in this course, our first question is the gender of God in Islam. In Arabic, the word “ilah” means “a god” while the word “Allah” means “the one God”. So, it isn’t really the “name” of God, but rather the word that refers to the deity in a monotheistic system. Hence, Arabic Christians use the word “Allah” for “God” as well. We have seen in other religions, like Judaism and Christianity, grammatical rules can have an influence on the way people think about God. The Arabic language, like Hebrew and French, has two genders for its nouns: masculine and feminine. Also, like Hebrew and French, the personal pronouns follow the gender of the noun. There are only two personal pronouns in the third person singular: huwa (“he”) and hiya (“she”). Once again there is no word for “it” in Arabic. For example, the word shams (sun) is feminine, so when Arabic speakers refer to the sun they use the pronoun hiya (“she”). Similarly, the word qamar (moon) is masculine and so the pronoun huwa (“he”) is used. So what about the noun Allah (the one God)? Well it’s a masculine noun so grammar dictates that huwa (“he”) be used. But as in Hebrew and French, this grammatical tradition does not necessarily mean that God is a “he” any more than the moon is a “he”.
The word “Allah” in Arabic
So, apart from grammar restrictions, what does Islam say about the gender of Allah? One thing that is noticeable about Islam is its stress on the divine transcendence. As in Judaism, Islam holds that God is pure Spirit and, thus, has no physical body, male or female. Again, as in Judaism, Islam strictly prohibits any image of Allah. Thus, you will often see the word “Allah” written in Arabic in mosques and Muslim homes but you will never see Allah depicted in human form as in some Christian art. This would constitute one of the most serious sins in Islam: shirk (idolatry). The Qur’an explicitly states: "There is nothing whatsoever like unto Allah." (42:11).
The Qur’an is aware that there are religious systems that claim that God has a Son who became incarnate in male form (Christianity) or that God has three daughters (a pre-Islamic Arabian belief). Again, the Qur’an strongly rejects these ideas:
"He begets not, nor is He begotten. And none is like Him." (112:3–4)
“Exalted be the Majesty of our Lord, He has taken neither a wife, nor a son (or offspring or children).” (72:3)
The three daughters of Allah feature in the story about the “Satanic Verses” (the name of Salman Rushdie’s controversial 1988 novel). Basically, Muhammad thought that he received a message accepting the popular Meccan belief in God’s three daughters. Naturally, this pleased the Meccans. However, Gabriel soon appeared to Muhammad and explained that this revelation did not come from God but from Satan; thus, the verses had to be deleted.
The three daughters of Allah in pre-Islamic Arabian religion
The Islamic emphasis on God’s utter transcendence and uniqueness suggests that, much like Judaism, God has no biological sex and is, strictly speaking, beyond gender. But what about the imagery and metaphors used for God in Islamic tradition? Are they predominantly masculine or feminine? One place to investigate this question is the tradition of the “99 names of God”. These are not names in the usual sense of that term. Rather they are attributes and qualities of the one God. Most of these are taken from the Qur’an and the hadith, and the lists can vary. More importantly for us is whether they suggest masculinity or femininity? Well, neither “Father” nor “Mother” appears on the list, although “King” is there. But the overwhelming majority of these attributes are gender neutral; for example, just taking the first ten: Compassionate, Merciful, Sovereign, Holy, Peaceful, Security, Controller, Almighty, Compeller and Majestic. As in Hebrew, some qualities are masculine nouns and others are feminine such as “hikmah” (wisdom) and “rahim” (mercy).
The concept of maternal divine love is not absent from the tradition. For example, Bukhari reports in one hadith:
A woman had lost her child and was going around looking for him, her breasts flowing with milk. When she found her child, she joyfully put him to her breast and nursed him. The Prophet asked his Companions, "Do you think that this woman could throw her son in the fire?" They answered "No." He then said: "Allah is more merciful to His servants than this woman to her son." (Bukhari, 73.28)
In addition, we should note that Islam also compares the relationship between God and the soul to the romantic love between a man and a woman. We saw this already in Hinduism where Krishna represents the divine and Radha represents the human soul longing for unity with God. In Judaism, Hosea spoke of God as the faithful husband and Israel as his unfaithful wife; and the Song of Songs is interpreted to refer to the soul yearning for its divine lover. Similarly, in Christianity, Paul thought of the Church as the bride of Christ. The Islamic equivalent is the Sufi (mystical Islam) interpretation of the ancient love story between Layla and Majnun.
It’s an age-old tale: two persons, Layla and Qays, fall in love when they are young, but when they grow up, Layla’s father forbids the relationship. Consequently, Qays goes crazy with despair and is renamed “Majnun” (literally “mad”). He spends the rest of his life searching for his love. What is interesting is that it is the girl, Layla (literally “night”), who represents God while the male character, Majnun, represents the human soul. It is said that the story inspired the title of Eric Clapton’s famous song Layla.
MUHAMMAD & WOMEN
As with the Buddha and Jesus, we need to look at how the founder of Islam viewed and related to women in his own life. The first thing to note is that Muhammad’s mother, Amina, like the Buddha’s biological mother, died when he was very young. Unlike Mary, the mother of Jesus, Amina plays little part in the story of Muhammad, although Islamic tradition respects her as a good woman who gave birth to the greatest of prophets. Also like the Buddha, and unlike Jesus, Muhammad married. As we noted above, there were two phases to his married life: a monogamous relationship with Khadija in Mecca; and a series of polygamous marriages to 11 other women in Medina. The wives of the Prophet are highly revered in Islam and are called “Mothers of the Faithful”. Here is the traditional list:
Khadija – wealthy widow
Sawda – older widow
Aisha – young daughter of Abu Bakr
Hafsa – widowed daughter of Umar
Zainab bint Khuzayama – widow who died before Muhammad
Umm Salama – widowed aristocrat
Zainab bin Jahsh – widow who married then divorced Muhammad’s adopted son
Juwairiya – widowed daughter of a tribal chief
Ramalah – widowed daughter of a Meccan chief
Safiyah – widowed daughter of a Jewish tribal chief
Maymunah – widow from a Meccan family
Maria – Christian Egyptian servant girl
There are two features that we should note. First, ten of the women (all except Aisha and Maria) were widows, most of whom lost their husbands in military conflicts. In fact, the high rate of widowhood was one of the justifications for polygyny, which provided women with protection and economic security in an age that had little social welfare. We will return to polygyny in Islam later. Second, many of the women were daughters of key persons (either close allies or former enemies) and their marriages to Muhammad had a strategic element in cementing diplomatic ties.
The hadith collections give the impression that Muhammad was a good husband to all of his wives. He clearly enjoyed women’s company and a healthy sex life, although only two of his wives bore him children. His first wife, Khadija, gave birth to four girls and two boys but both boys died in infancy. His last wife, Maria, gave birth to a son but he also died in infancy. We are told that Muhammad helped with domestic chores and often confided in his wives, listening to them for advice. We have already seen how Khadija’s initial support of Muhammad (both psychological and financial) was critical in the initial stages of the new religion. Hafsa was feisty and willing to argue with Muhammad, which shocked her father, Umar. Umm Salama, probably the most intelligent of the wives, openly asked Muhammad one day why the Qur’an had little to say about women. And Aisha was often very frank in her opinion and once noted to her husband that “your Lord seems to satisfy your desire” – a comment on the fact that God conveniently agreed to allow Muhammad to change the order of his conjugal visits. The tradition claims that Muhammad treated all of his wives with fairness and equality, but there is also the impression that he was particularly fond of Aisha since he asked to be with her when he was dying. In addition, he often reminisced positively about his time with Khadija, which created some jealousy among his later wives.
There are three points of controversy concerning Muhammad’s marriages that we need to address. The first concerns the age at which Aisha became Muhammad’s wife and commenced sexual relations with him. The hadith claims:
Aisha reported that Allah's Apostle married her when she was seven years old, and she was taken to his house as a bride when she was nine, and her dolls were with her; and when he (the Holy Prophet) died she was eighteen years old. (Muslim 3311)
Naturally, this comes as a shock to most modern ears and often leads to accusations of child abuse. In defence of Muhammad’s good name, commentators point out that, first, there a clear reference to a time gap between the betrothal and the consummation, indicating that Aisha had attained puberty before conjugal relations commenced. Second, there is no mention of any controversy at the time, although another of his marriages caused quite a stir among his community (see below). This again suggests that it was normal for girls to marry at the onset of puberty in 7th Century Arabia. Third, some commentators also argue that other calculations concerning events in Aisha’s life suggest that she may have been older than nine. Yet the precedent of a much older Muhammad marrying a nine-year-old girl is sometimes taken as a literal example for Muslims to follow today. We shall return to the question of child marriage in Islam later.
The second controversial marriage was Muhammad’s seventh wife, Zainab bint Jaysh. She was married to Muhammad’s adopted son, Zayd. However, the hadith narrates how Muhammad and Zainab began to be attracted to each other. She suggested that she divorce Zayd and marry Muhammad, but he was reluctant to do so at first. In the end, however, that is what happened. Muslim commentators often argue that her marriage to Zayd was an unhappy one, giving some justification to the decision but it certainly generated concern among Muhammad’s followers since it appeared to break the fundamental taboo of not marrying your daughter-in-law. The tradition claims that Muhammad received a revelation from God allowing the union and the key point was that Zayd was his adopted son, not his biological son. Thus, Muhammad was legally free to marry her. One consequence of this revelation was that Islamic law does not grant automatic inheritance rights to adopted children. Moreover, Zainab did not help the situation by allegedly boasting to her fellow wives that their marriages were made on earth whereas hers was “made in heaven”.
The third controversial union was with the tenth wife, Safiya. She was the daughter of a Jewish tribal chief, who had just been defeated in a military battle with the Muslim army. Her husband had been killed in the fighting. According to the hadith, and in accordance with Arabian custom, the women of the defeated tribe were given as wives to the victorious soldiers but when Muhammad heard that the chief’s daughter was among them, he chose her for himself. We are told that Muhammad consummated the marriage that night and that, unbeknownst to Muhammad, a soldier kept guard at the tent in case of reprisal. Modern critics, especially those of Jewish background, often cite this as a case of military kidnap and forced marriage, but Muslim commentators defend the Prophet, arguing that Safiya agreed to the marriage and that their union brought security and peace to her tribe under the new alliance. Moreover, she converted to Islam and defended the authenticity of her Muslim faith against the doubts of some of Muhammad’s other wives.
The other important women in Muhammad’s life were his four daughters: Zainab, Ruqayya, Umm Kulthum and Fatima. Two of them (Ruqayya and Umm Kulthum) married the third caliph Uthman but both died before Muhammad. The youngest, Fatima, married Muhammad’s cousin Ali, which is why she enjoys considerable status in the Shi’ite tradition. In fact, Shi’ites believe that only Fatima was Muhammad’s daughter, claiming that the other three women were born of Khadija’s previous marriage. Similarly, Shi’ites are suspicious of Aisha since she was the daughter of Abu Bakr, the first caliph, who usurped Ali’s rightful place in their eyes.
Muhammad blessing the union of Fatima and Ali
BASIC EQUALITY?
Qur’an and hadith
Before we begin our investigation of specific issues that affect women in Islam, we should first ask what the Qur’an, the hadith and shariah say about women’s fundamental status: are women considered to be equal or subordinate to men in theory? Many commentators commence with texts that suggest basic gender equality. One of the most famous is the episode when Umm Salama, Muhammad’s sixth wife, flatly asked the Prophet why the Quranic revelations rarely mentioned women. In response, the following section of the Quran was revealed:
Surely the men who submit and the women who submit, and the believing men and the believing women, and the obeying men and the obeying women, and the truthful men and the truthful women, and the patient men and the patient women and the humble men and the humble women, and the almsgiving men and the almsgiving women, and the fasting men and the fasting women, and the men who guard their private parts and the women who guard, and the men who remember Allah much and the women who remember - Allah has prepared for them forgiveness and a mighty reward. (Qur’an 33.35)
The verse repeatedly uses the phrase “the believing men and the believing women”, explicitly mentioning both sexes each time. It is understood to be a divinely revealed confirmation of the fundamental equality between men and women in terms of membership and duty. Moreover, it is not only about earthly obligations but also about heavenly reward, which is for both sexes as well:
And whoever does good deeds, whether male or female, and he or she is a believer, these shall enter the garden, and they shall not be dealt with a jot unjustly. (4.124)
On this point, critics sometimes point to a hadith that suggests that the population of heaven and hell is not very balanced according to gender:
The Prophet said, "I looked into Paradise and found that the majority of its dwellers were poor people, and I looked into the (Hell) Fire and found that the majority of its dwellers were women.” (Bukhari 76.456)
On the face of it, the text seems to contradict the Quranic verses above that affirm the equal availability of heaven to both men and women who do good deeds. However, Muslim defenders of gender equality argue that a hadith is not as important as the Qu’ran. Furthermore, this particular hadith needs to be placed in its original context: namely an occasion where Muhammad was appealing to a group of wealthy women that they be generous with their donations for the poor. In other words, according to this interpretation, the text is rhetorical rather than literal. Muhammad states that heaven is full of poor people and the logical converse of this would be to say that hell is full of rich people (a common theme in religions, for example in Jesus’ teachings). However, he switches the inhabitants of Hell to “women” – in other words, the rich, apparently miserly women of his audience!
As we have seen, two of the most influential texts in determining the fundamental status of women in the Jewish and Christian traditions are the creation stories in Genesis: one that depicts men and women created together and both in the image of God (Genesis 1); and the other that depicts woman as a companion for man, created after him, from him and for him (Genesis 2). That second story continues with the episode of the serpent and the forbidden fruit. So, what does the Qur’an say about the first man and woman? Well, Eve (Hawwa) is never mentioned by name in the Qur’an but there are a number of verses that allude to both Genesis narratives. In chapter 4 it states:
Your Lord, Who created you from a single being (nafs) and created its (her) mate (zawj) of the same kind and spread from these two, many men and women. (4:1)
The reference to the creation of an initial “being” and subsequently a “mate” seems to echo the second Genesis account of Eve being created after Adam. However, scholars point out that nafs (being) is a feminine noun whereas zawj (mate) is masculine. So, the effect of grammar is that “he” (the mate) was created from “her” (the original single being). Some also speculate that the original being is androgynous, from which both sexes arise, possibly more in line with the Genesis 1 version. Importantly, nothing is made of the inherent superiority of the male over the female as a result of the order of creation.
In terms of the first sin, the Qur’an does not speak about Eve’s primary responsibility and guilt as we found in the New Testament. In fact, it explicitly speaks of the joint guilt of both persons:
Shaitan made them both fall from it, and caused them to depart from that (state) in which they were (2.36)
There are some hadith that, again, seem to contradict the Quranic position, apportioning blame to Eve:
The Prophet stated: Had it not been for Eve, woman would have never acted unfaithfully towards her husband. (Bukhari 55.61; Muslim 3471).
Furthermore, some critics cite a hadith that refers to Eve as “the crooked rib”, suggesting not only her natural inferiority (coming from Adam’s rib) but also her natural propensity for sin (“crookedness”). However, when one takes a closer look at the hadith concerned, its meaning is quite different:
Treat women nicely, for a woman is created from a rib, and the most curved portion of the rib is its upper portion, so, if you should try to straighten it, it will break, but if you leave it as it is, it will remain crooked. So, treat women nicely." (Bukhari 55.558)
Basically, it is warning men to be kind to women and not try to bend a woman against her nature or else she will “break”.
There are also a number of Quranic texts that strongly condemn the endemic Arabian practice of female infanticide, and by inference, also condemn the preference for sons over daughters:
When a daughter is announced to one of them his face becomes black and he is full of wrath. He hides himself from the people because of the evil of that which is announced to him. Shall he keep it with disgrace or bury it (alive) in the dust? Now surely evil is what they judge. (16.58-59)
When the female infant buried alive is asked, for what sin she was killed (81.8-9)
Another hadith that is often quoted on the status of women is Muhammad’s Farewell Sermon. We know that Muhammad and his followers moved to Medina in 622 (the Hijra) and he remained there until his death in 632. However, he made several annual pilgrimages to Mecca in the final years of his life. The pilgrimage of 632 turned out to be his last and the speech that he delivered there on this occasion was reportedly heard by 100,000 believers. The Sermon is recorded a number of times in the hadith with variations in wording. Scholars still debate whether these are the actual words spoken by Muhammad that day or a later edition.
Pilgrims gather outside Mecca each year
to hear the annual sermon by a prominent leader
What is interesting is that, although the Sermon is not long, women are explicitly mentioned. There are a number of sentences that underline gender equality and these are often quoted by feminists:
Treat women kindly...
You have rights upon your wives and they have rights upon you.... (Tirmidhi 104)
However, one version of the full text paints a very different picture:
Treat women kindly. They are like prisoners in your hands. Beyond this you do not owe anything from them. Should they be guilty of flagrant misbehaviour, you may remove them from your beds, and strike them but do not inflict upon them any severe punishment. Then if they obey you, do not have recourse to anything else against them. You have rights upon your wives and they have rights upon you. Your right is that they shall not allow anyone you dislike to trample your bed and do not permit those whom you dislike to enter your home. Their right is that you should treat them well in the matter of food and clothing. (Tirmidhi 104)
The image of a “prisoner” is hardly edifying and we shall return to the question of striking one’s wife later.
Shariah
Although most shariah laws apply equally to men and women, there are two cases which seem to imply that a woman is worth “half a man” in the eyes of the law and, thus, are often cited in the debate about gender equality.
i. Witnesses
The first is the status of a legal witness in court. In many (but not all) shariah courts around the world, the testimony of one women is indeed worth only half that of a man. In some cases, this applies only to family law matters but in other cases it may involve criminal trials. The critical Quranic verse usually cited to justify this rule is:
O you who believe! when you deal with each other in contracting a debt for a fixed time… and calling to witness from among your men two witnesses; but if there are not two men, then one man and two women from among those whom you choose to be witnesses, so that if one of the two errs, the second of the two may remind the other. (2.282)
Traditional arguments in support of the practice include claims that women are easily swayed, are not suited to such roles or have little interest in legal matters. Others speculate that the requirement for a second female witness is to protect the first from being harassed or pressured into “erring”. But there are Muslim writers who note that the Quranic text specifies that the 1:2 ratio applies in cases of “contracting debt for a fixed time”. In other words, they argue that it is not a general rule for all legal trials but is only for disputes about contractual loans. In addition, they point out that the Qur’an elsewhere proposes a 1:1 ratio of testimony weight in the case of accusations of adultery:
And (as for) those who accuse their wives and have no witnesses except themselves, the evidence of one of these should be taken four times, bearing Allah to witness that he is most surely of the truthful ones… And it shall avert the chastisement from her if she testify four times, bearing Allah to witness that he is most surely one of the liars. (24:6-9)
ii. Inheritance
The second legal instance where a woman seems to count for half a man is the question of inheritance. Again, the Qur’an specifies that a female relative would normally receive half of the amount that an equivalent male relative receives:
The male shall have the equal of the portion of two females (4:11)
Again, many argue that this rule needs to be placed in context. First, the pre-Islamic Arabian custom was that a female relative received no inheritance at all. So, the Quranic revelation was actually a major gain for women in that they now received something rather than nothing.
Men shall have a portion of what the parents and the near relatives leave, and women shall have a portion of what the parents and the near relatives leave (4:7)
Second, Islamic law (even today) requires that the males take responsibility for the upkeep of their spouses and female relatives. There is no such requirement on women, even if they earn an income or receive a wedding dowry. Thus, the inheritance rule reflects the presupposition that men are bound to support women by granting twice as much to the male relative than the female relative. Of course, it is a valid question to ask whether this principle should still apply in the modern world.
Video:
Women in Islam. Liberated or Oppressed?
Myriam Francois Cerrah
Start at 18.30 and finish at 32.40
Look for:
Does the Qur’an “support” or “advocate” gender equality?
The quote from Aristotle
The Quranic idea of “allies”
The examples of Muhammad, Aisha and Amra bint Abdul Rahman
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