Islam and Womanhood - Part
1
ISLAM and WOMANHOOD
(Part One)
by Anwar Shaikh
WOMANHOOD
Of all mundane problems, relationship between man and woman is the
most significant. The imbalance causes mutual friction leading to
malevolence and misery. One of the major causes of this abrasion
is the fact that woman's sexual appeal gives her command over man
but his psychological make-up goads him to establish dominance
over her. To achieve this end, man has invented religion which
requires woman to obey man as god's Will. Here is an excerpt from
Anwar Shaikh's unpublished book "Sexual Conflict," which
disusses Islamic attitude towards womanhood.
Islam portrays woman as a sexual toy for man. The rise of Benazeer
Bhuto in Pakistan to premiership exposes the fallacy of the
Islamic doctrine, which has been upheld by the brute force of
sheer propaganda over the centuries.
Islam is not a code of life but an emotional trap prepared by the
power-seekers to fool an snool their fellowmen. Since it has never
been enforced in the entire history of Islam, it cannot be a
divine code.
ISLAM and WOMANHOOD
(Part One)
Being an offshoot of Judaism, Islam is governed by exactly the
same legend as the Jews and Christians but its interpretation of
the Adam-Eve episode is completely different. It does not
recognise asceticism. Thus celebacy or contempt of womanhood forms
no part of Islam. Though it prescribes a whole month of formal
fasting and believers are not allowed to eat or drink from dawn
till dusk, are permitted to indulge in sexual gratification from
dusk till dawn if they so desire.
Compared to Judaism and Christianity, Islam confers certain rights
on woman, and considering the social condition, of that time, it
raises the Prophet Muhammad to the status of a reformer. Of
course, Islam presented a patriarchal system as it had persisted
in the Middle East from time immemorial, but it sought to soften
its impact on woman. A father still had the right to dispose of
his daughter as he thought fit, but if she became a widow or
divorcee, her consent to remarriage had to be secured. It gave
certain property rights to women. It also laid down that a
divorced woman was a free woman, and the ex-husband must not
retain her forcibly, as had become customary. Nor could he deter
her from remarrying by exerting pressure. The divorced woman, if
pregnant, must be treated with kindness and respect, and had the
right to stay in her ex-husband's house at his expense. However,
if she chose to leave, he must provide her with sufficient means
of sustenance for a year. The prophet raised the prestige of woman
considerably by pronouncing that children's paradise lay at their
mother's feet, meaning that the key to Heaven lies in respecting
and serving one's mother.
Though a husband could divorce his wife at will, Islam gave her
the right of Khula, i.e. the legal right of separation, but she
had to do so through the Shariah Court and had to prove her
husband's cruelty and gross misconduct. The application of this
law is to be seen in Khurshid Bibi v Muhammad Amin (1967). The
Pakistani Supreme Court decided that a Moslem wife could obtain a
divorce on demand but she had to pay suitable compensation to her
husband.
Khula is a sound Islamic principle but it cannot be exercised on
demand; the woman must prove the guilt of her husband. Khula at
will is an un-Islamic innovation like many other modifications
entered into the legal codes of Moslem countries in the name of
Islam. For example, Tunisia has forbidden polygamy as well as the
husband's power to divorce his wife at will, and it is all done on
the authority of the Koran.
Except KHULA and a limited right to inherit property, Islamic laws
are repressive to the feminine gender. Though the Moslems all over
the world talk of Islamic rights of womanhood, the truth is that a
Moslem woman has no right except the right to please her man. In
fact, she is treated as a bait of conversion, and the reason for a
Moslem to hold on to his faith. It is because Islam identifies
salvation with the paradise which is a place of sexual merriment
and thus the abode of the most beautiful women called houris, who
are available to the followers of Islam only. What is a houri?
According to the Hadith TIRMZI (P.135-138).
1. A houri is a most beautiful young woman with a transparent
body. The marrow of her bones is visible like the interior lines
of pearls and rubies. She looks like a red wine in a white glass.
2. She is of white colour, and free from the routine physical
disabilities of an ordinary woman such as menstruation, menopause,
urinal and offal discharge, child-bearing, and the related
pollution.
3. She is a woman characterised by modesty and flexing glances;
she never looks at any man except her husband, and feels grateful
for being the wife of her husband.
4. A houri is a loving woman, free from odium and animosity.
Besides, she knows the meaning of love and has the ability to put
it into practice.
5. A houri is a recreated woman whose virginity has been restored.
The lucky believers who will have them, shall find them untouched.
6. A houri is an immortal woman. She speaks softly and does not
raise voice at her man; she is always reconciled with him. Having
been brought up in luxury, she is a luxury herself.
7. A houri is a girl of tender age, having large rising breasts
which are round, and not inclined to dangle. Houris dwell in
palaces of luxurious surroundings.
To increase the sexual appeal of Islam, another hadith declares
that man's virility shall be increased hundred-fold. Thus, Islam
equates salvation with carnal pleasures which houris, the
paradisiac women provide, thus confirming woman's role in Islam as
the object of sexual pleasures.
Since Islamic appeal to man is based on its colourful concept of
paradise, it seeks to place woman under the strict control of man.
Before mentioning some of its tenets concerning womanhood, it is
desirable to give an overview of the Islamic approach to the
fair-sex, which regulates her conduct in relation to man:
1. If a woman's conduct is mischievous or immodest, the husband
has the right to beat her up but must not break her bones. She
must not allow anybody to enter the house if her husband does not
like him. She has the right to expect sustenance of her husband.
(TR. P 439)
2. It is forbidden for a woman to be seen by any man except her
husband when she is made up or well-dressed. (TR. P 430)
3. A woman is not a believer if she undertakes a journey which may
last three days or longer, unless she is accompanied by her
husband, son, father or brother. (TR. P 431 )
4. A woman must veil herself even in the presence of her husband's
father, brother and other male relations. (TR. P 432)
5. She is forbidden to spend any money without the permission of
her husband, and it includes giving food to the needy or feast to
friends. (TR. P 265)
6. A wife is forbidden to perform extra prayers (NAFAL) or observe
fasting (other than RAMADAN) without the permission of her
husband. (TR. P 300)
7. If prostration were a legitimate act other than to God, woman
should have prostrated to her husband. (TR. P 428)
8. If a man is in a mood to have sexual intercourse woman must
come immediately even if she is baking bread at a communal oven.
(TR. P 428)
9. The marriage of woman to her man is not substantive. It is
precarious. For example if the father of the husband orders his
son to divorce his wife, he must do so. (TR. P 440)
10. A woman who seeks KHULA i .e. divorce from her man, without a
just cause, shall not enter paradise. (TR. P 440)
On the contrary, a husband can divorce his wife at will.
11. Majority of women would go to hell. (Muslim P 1431)
12. If a woman refuses to come to bed when invited by her husband,
she becomes the target of the curses of angles. Exactly the same
happens if she deserts her husband's bed. (Bokhari P 93)
13. The women who are ungrateful to their men, are the denizens of
hell; it is an act of ingratitude for a woman to say: "I have
never seen any good from you." (Bokhari P 96)
14. A woman in many ways is deprived of the possession of her own
body. Even her milk belongs to her husband. (Bokhari P 27)
She is not allowed to practise birth control either.
I must emphasise that the above narrative represents the cultural
conditions that prevailed in Arabia during the time of the Prophet
Muhammad. The success of his purpose depended on following and
reinforcing them. And so he did through the perpetuation of the
existing institutions such as:
1. Purdah,
2. Man's right to divorce at will; and
3. Polygamy.
An analytical look at these institutions reveals the reality of
Islamic rights which women are supposed to have:
1a. Purdah or masking a woman's face and other parts of her body,
is an old pernicious custom of the Middle East; it prevailed in
ancient Babylonia; no woman could go out unless duly masked, and
chaperoned by a eunuch or a male member of the family. Even
apartments in the household were separated to practise
segregation. Conditions in Assyria were no better. The
restrictions that applied to the Babylonian women equally governed
the lives of the Assyrian women who had to remain indoors where
darkness prevailed and breeze could not get in through the
curtained windows. Iran, once a great imperial power, was every
bit as strict in practising this custom. Possibly, Purdah
originated in Persia, and here imperial influence caused its
spread in the other middle Eastern lands. No upper-class woman in
Persia was allowed to go out except in a draped litter, attended
by eunuchs. This is what made woman a captive of the eastern man
to acknowledge his superiority. As the Bible came to the West, it
brought male chauvinism with it.
The Prophet Muhammad reintroduced this custom as a part of the
Islamic tenets:
" ... And say to the believing women that they cast down
their eyes ... and disclose not their adornment ... and let them
wear their veils over their bosom, and not disclose their
embelishments except to their husbands ..... not let them stamp
their feet, so that their concealed ornarment may be known
....." (Light: 30)
"And when you ask his (Prophet's) wives for anything, ask
them from behind a curtain; this is cleaner for your hearts and
theirs ...." (The Confederates 50)
This verse pertains to the believers and commdnds them not to ask
Prophet's wives for any object face to face but from behind a
curtain.
"O Prophet, tell your wives and daughters and the believing
women, that they keep their veils tight to them..."
(The Confederates 55)
With the passage of time these laws of veiling (purdah) became
more severe. Moslems of the Indian subcontinent provide a good
example of the evil influence of purdah. It cut off women from the
outside world to make them ignorant of the practicalities of life.
Segregation imposed by this custom had the same effect on the
lives or women as blinkers exert on a horse which gallops at the
behest of the rider without knowing its destination. Women knew
only what their fathers, husbands or sons wanted them to know. As
the interests of the male members lay in securing maximum fidelity
from women, all the male gossip was aimed at inventing stories of
female obedience. The Moslem community usually drummed up the
sanctity of an apocryphal Hadith (saying of the Prophet) which
stated that at noon when one hair of Fatima, the Prophet's
daughter, became bare, the sun hid itself hurriedly to provide her
with the Purdah (mask) of darkness. Women brought up on a diet of
such superstitious submission hardly needed any violence from man
to shut themselves in their homes which were nothing but private
jails. Domination of their religious beliefs made them enjoy the
sorrows of self-incarceration. Men, on the other hand, being free
from the watchful eyes of their women, indulged in sexual
gratification as they desired. Masculine attitudes became more
chauvinistic. If any woman ever complained about his sexual
behaviour outside the house, she qualified for black eyes, a
bleeding nose and the threat af divorce. Yet it is woman who was
blamed for the beating: it was her fault because she was not
obedient enough to put up with whatever he did! Had she kept her
mouth shut, he would not have been provoked. What a logic!
In the countryside, women had some freedom of movement. They did
not wear masks because they had to tend to the agricultural needs,
in addition to the domestic toils. They were just simple-looking
slaves devoid of feminine consciousness, engendered by the feeling
of beauty, delicacy and self-adornment. It was the educated urban
lady who could protest against women's servitude, but she had been
puzzled, muzzled and guzzled by the fear of Hell that was to roast
every disobedient woman. And the ladies who did not strictly
believe in the existence of Hell, never doubted the effect of the
powerful punches that their fathers, husbands and brothers could
shower on them, exceeding the profusion of any hailstorm.
Moslem woman's captivity through purdah, deprived her of the
economic independence which is the mainstay of western women's
freedom. She became a maternal machine charged with the duty of
producing chauvinistic boys and submissive girls - all to be
brought up in a totally unnatural setting of religious bigotry
praising Allah for the promise of Heaven to forget all about Hell,
which they dwelt in. Even the Hindu women who had never heard of
purdah were affected by this abomination. In the beginning, they
thought it fit to veil themselves for evading the lustful eyes of
their Moslem political masters, but later on, it was perpetuated
by their husbands to enjoy the benefits of male chauvinism.
2a. Man's right to divorce at will, was yet another cause for the
misery of Moslem women. I do not think that the Prophet could have
abolished this male prerogative which had prevailed in the Middle
East since time immemorial. Going as far back as to the reign of
Hammurabi (1792 B.C. - 1750 B.C.), the ruler of Babylonia, known
for his skill of law-making, we find that the Semitic way of life
was based on the superiority of man which automatically spelt
contempt for women's low status. For example:
a. If people suspected a womall of infidelity and raised fingers
at her, it mattered not that she was innocent. To satisfy the
honour of her husband she was expected to throw herself into the
river.
b. The code of Hammurabi prescribed death by drowning for an
adulterous wife and her lover. But her husband could secure her
pardon by making her run in the street entirely naked.
c. Divorce was man's prerogative. All that a husband had to do was
to restore his wife's dowry, if any, and utter the magic words:
"Thou art not my wife." But a wife could not dream of
such conduct. If she said: "Thou art not my husband,"
the full might of the law descended on her and she had to be
drowned in the river!
Islam retained the old Semitic tradition of allowing man to
divorce his wife without giving a reason for it. If he repeats
repudiation three times at once, that is, "I divorce thee, I
divorce thee, I divorce thee," then the marriage is finally
dissolved, but if repudiation is uttered only once, the husband
can revoke it within four months to restore his marriage, if he so
desires.
However, one must remember that the Prophet declared emphatically:
"Of all the lawful things, divorce is the least liked by
God." Again, the Koran laid a moral duty on the believers
that divorce was not for fun, to realise lusty dreams or political
ambitions:
"... Do not expel them from their houses, not let them go
forth except when they commit a flagrant indecency."
(Divorce: 1)
Islam also provides a safeguard for the crumbling marriage:
"And if you fear a breach between the two, bring forth an
arbiter from his people and from her people an arbiter, if they
want to set things right." (Women: 35)
Islam gave women certain rights which marked a definite
improvement on the Jewish, Christian and Hellenistic attitudes
towards the fair-sex, yet these rights were far inferior to those
of man:
"Women have such honourable rights and obligations, but their
men have a degree above them." (The Cow: 225)
" A degree above them" (Qawam) has been a source of
debate among the Moslem jurists for centuries. To be brief, the
male is held superior to the female: he can divorce her at will;
he can have four wives at the same time; he is twice as reliable
in a court of law as a woman and he receives twice as much by way
of inheritance as a woman.
Man's absolute discretion to divorce woman kept her in a lasting
tremor like the molecular dance. It was an act of making man a
despot. It is well known that power corrupts and absolute power
corrupts absolutely. This is what humbled, tumbled and jumbled
women's rights though they were supposed to be real; the inability
to wield a sword renders it useless even if it were made of the
finest steel.
Those who know the world of Islam, are aware of the fact that
absolute repudiation (thrice) is always done when a husband's
temper reaches the level of insanity. Instead of allowing the
husband to revoke such a repudiation, Islam made reconciliation
impossible by laying down a retributive law:
"If he divorces her finally, she shall not be lawful to him
after that, unless she marries another husband. If he (the second
husband) divorces her, then it is no fault in them to return to
each other, if they suppose they will maintain God's bounds."
(The Cow: 230)
It means if a husband divorces his wife, he cannot marry her
unless she weds another man first. Even then it is permissible
only if the other man divorces her of his own free will. It is no
good saying that the purpose of this restriction is to make man
think twice before he divorces her finally. The despotic powers of
a Moslem husband are the fountain of this evil. Had he not been
equipped with this authority, he would not have been able to
divorce at will.
3a. Now, I may say a few words about the Islamic institution of
polygamy:
In practice, the rights that Islam gave women proved very unreal
and untenable. Purdah cut off woman from social life and turned
her home into a prison. Her prestige, if any, was preyed upon by
polygamy which the Prophet imported into his religious system.
There is no doubt that women all over the world have been
subjected to polygamy in the name of God, but this is one Divine
Command they have loathed, and obeyed most reluctantly. Islam, in
many ways, is a carbon copy of Judaism, but Muhammad executed it
sagaciously. This is the reason that the Arabs succeeded in
building a magnificent empire but the Jews, despite being a great
people, ended up as the target of international hatred, havoc and
humiliation, quite contrary to Yahwe's promises of pomp, prestige
and paramountcy.
Polygamy, an old Jewish institution, was perfected by Solomon,
through demonstration of his sexual prowess to one thousand female
beauties excluding the Queen of Sheba. It was a luxury of the rich
and was not available to the poor Jews who dreamt of it but could
not afford it. Matters were made worse by Yahwe, the Jewish God,
who is more stern and less supple and whose retribution far
exceeds his propensity of remission. If a Jew wanted something he
had to toil for it or hoodwink the gentile at his own peril, but
Allah, the Moslem God, on the contrary, promised every faithful a
seat in paradise fulgent with female beauty, where he would be
given no fewer than seventy-two houris (ravishing young maidens)
just for waging holy wars to murder the infidels who refused to
acknowledge the spiritual hegemony of the Prophet. To a virile
man, especially during his prime, desire for sexual fulfilment
ranks as faith. Therefore, access to easy sex counts as the
greatest bait. To gratify man, Islam created a considerable
disparity between the rights of the opposite sexes:
1. Men are superior to women. (The Cow: 225)
2. "Your women are a tillage for you, so come unto your
tillage as you wish." (The Cow: 220)
Having raised the prestige of man way above women's station by
declaring her man's tillage whose only purpose is to act as a
maternal machine and meet his carnal demands, Islam authorises him
to administer her a dose of violence whenever she refuses him the
pleasure of dalliance:
" Chastise, banish them to their couches and beat them
(women); if they then obey you, look not for any way against
them." (Women: 35)
This is how Islam gradually prepares woman for the eventual
surrender, i.e. voluntary acceptance of polygamy, to escape the
threat of roasting Hell by playing up to man's sexual exorbitance:
"Marry such women, as seem to you, two, three, four; but if
you fear you will not be equitable, then only one.." (Women:
1)
Here the word "Equitable" is understood to mean that the
husband must show equal love and care for all his wives.
This is against the psychological truth because some people are
more loveable than others. The woman who is more vivacious shall
be loved more than the vindictive woman. Thus, the law is
basically defective.
In this connection, one should bear in mind that even a superman
is not free from the influence of his native culture, which his
mother imparts him right from the cradle and he grows up as a
member of a particular society. Even if he loathes most of its
traditions and develops an ardent desire to reform them, yet he
unconsciously remains under the sway of its several customs which
govern his life one way or another. Without this tendency he is
bound to feel a void in his personality.
The Prophet was a reformer but he was born and bred in an
essentially partriarchal society where man was held superior to
woman and thus acted as the dominant force. It is not surprising
that the Quranic laws of male superiority are fully supported by
the Hadith, the sayings of the Prophet, which carry religious and
legal authority in the world of Islam. This fact proves one thing
beyond a shadow of doubt, that is, though he wanted to improve the
lot of women, he did not think that it needed raising their status
to that of man's. Not only the excessive privileges of a Moslem
man prove it but the following sayings of the Prophet also
illustrate his views on the subject:
1. "The world and all things in it are valuable, but the most
valuable thing in the world is a virtuous woman."
A virtuous woman represents the apex of humanity. However, the
virtue of a Moslem woman is directly proportionate to the pleasure
she yields to her husband. After all, her status, according to the
Quran is that of "man's tillage." This is the reason
that a woman cannot enter paradise unless she has been a source of
delight to her husband.
2. "Every woman who dieth, and her husband is pleased wrth
her, shall enter into paradise."
Woman is there to serve man. This is the criterion of her
righteousness. It is for this reason that Islam entitles man to
chastise his wives:
3. "Admonish your wives with kindness; for women were created
out of a crooked rib of Adam, therefore, if ye wish to straighten
it, ye will break it; and if ye leave it alone, it will be always
crooked."
It shows the basic doctrine of Islam about womanhood, that is, she
is basically crooked, and man has the right to keep her under his
constant vigil; she must never be left alone. In fact, another
hadith expresses woman's position bluntly:
4. "I have not left any calamity more hurtful to man than
woman."
In Islamic culture, woman is nothing but an object of pleasure.
The purpose of purdah or hajaab (mask) is to restrict woman's
freedom, for keeping her every movement under close guard. It is a
shrewd attempt to cut her off from the rest of the world and
persuade her to accept imprisonment within the four walls of her
home in the name of piety. Obviously, a woman who ignores her
human rights to be free, also surrenders her entitlement to
monogamy, that is, one man, one wife.
Of course, Moslem women have accepted polygamy but that is under
duress, or more properly under spiritual blackmail. They have been
told that this is the command of Allah and disobedient women will
roast in hell. In the case of the Moslem woman, the concept of
paradise looms far more important because this is the place which
is chiefly meant for man's pleasure. Men who believe in the
prophethood of Muhammad, sooner or later will be housed in this
land of the blessed where they will be endowed with a
"healthy appetite" and given seventy-two ever-young,
most beautiful virgins with roving wide eyes and large heaving
breasts. But what will happen to women? The Quran is mainly silent
about this issue except at two occasions:
a. "He may admit the believers, men and women alike, into
gardens ..." (Victory: 5)
b. "Enter paradise, you and your wives, walking with
joy!" (Ornaments: 70)
It is quite obvious from these verses that paradise is not a place
of delight for a woman. If anything, it is another name for hell
in relation to her because she will have to share her husband with
no fewer than seventy-two houris (the paradisiac women) who are
bound to be much prettier than her. In such a situation, a Moslem
wife will end up as a menial servant in paradise. In fact, her
position will be far worse than a slave because as a general rule,
all women find polygamy singeing, suffocating and shattering. A
woman's basic requirement is man's love but her chances of getting
it in a crowd of seventy-two female rivals are quite slim, if not
non-existent. And even when it is likely, the machinations of the
co-wives are sure to destabilise the equanimity of her mind, the
true source of happiness. And what about the houris themselves?
Seventy-two of them being tied to one man! Woman cannot be
anything but a play- thing in Islam.
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