Muslim Women in Law and Society

Annotated translation of al-Tahir al-Haddad's Imra 'tuna fi 'l-sharia wa 'l-mujtama, with an introduction.

Ronak Husni, Daniel L. Newman, Ronak Husni, Daniel L. Newman

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2007
• ISBN:
  9781134112739
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Teologia e religione
• Subtopic: Teologia islamica

An extremely timely translation of a seminal text on the role of women in Muslim society by the early twentieth century thinker al Taher al-Haddad. Considered as one of the first feminist works in Arab literature, this book will be of considerable interest to scholars of an early "feminist" tract coming from a Muslim in Arab society. Awarded the 2008 "World Award of the President of the Republic of Tunisia for Islamic Studies"

Part 1
The law

1 Woman in Islam

Preface

It is most important to talk briefly about Islam and its legislative guiding principles before examining its view on the position of woman in society, so as to clarify its standpoint in this regard and to enhance the usefulness and truthfulness of the discussion of the topic.

Islam was a new doctrine in the life of Muslims in general, and Arabs in particular. We are most interested here in the changes it brought about with regard to woman, both in the confirmation of her civil rights and social position, and in the recognition of her role as a companion to man.

Arabs did not have a written Sharī^cā¹²⁴ to resort to; they were not used to an ordered structure or to following a set of rules except their own inner disposition, principles, manners and habits passed down through the generations, which became irrefutable values. These values were judged before a council of elders, whereas often conflicts were resolved through the sword and spear. Then came Islam with a whole new set of rules, laws and moral principles which ran counter to the ways by which previous generations used to live. Their original beliefs were sacrosanct to them and they used to consider them a source of Arab glory and of their pride in its history, which accounted for the fanaticism during the pre- Islamic period.¹²⁵ Up until then, no other movement or set of ideas had defended woman’s rights on the basis that she is a cornerstone of society and the other half of man. This was one of the most critical and difficult issues facing Islam.

Islam was not merely a religion of worship and prayer, divorced from the activities of human beings and what they did in life as we are led to believe from spurious texts by Sufi scholars. The purpose of prayer and worship is not to purify the soul and save man from the power of evil.

Islam was not just a guide for the future which was discarded by the then generation because of its frankness in its objectives to combat all the familiar customs. As such it did not have to wait for subsequent generations to accept that the Qur’ān really is the book of eternal life and a useful contribution, just like the works of ancient philosophers and contemporary schools of social thought. Islam wanted to be effectual in its day and effective in its influence on the souls and the state it established. The verses of the Qur’ān were revealed progressively, in response to various events as they arose. It did not create events in order to provide judgements on them. The Qur’ān is not classified into chapters according to its judgements on particular topics as was customary in other theoretical works and books. Its Sharī^ca was the result of various developments and events in people’s lives and its chapters were not put together beforehand to make people accept them. This is one of the most important reasons for its astonishing appeal in recent times.

Life is long and rich with stages that are characterized by specific features that give it significance. Approximately twenty years in the life of the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) were sufficient to establish Islam, but it required the abrogation of texts and rulings, taking into account this eternal law. On examining the course of Islam, everlasting through successive generations and centuries, how can we stand still, and not make any effort to adapt to the changes of time?

More precisely, what I am trying to say here is that we should take into consideration the great difference between what Islam brought and its aims, which will remain immortal in eternity, such as a belief in monotheism, moral behaviour, and the establishment of justice, dignity and equality among people. Furthermore, we have to consider the social situation and the deep-rooted mindset that existed in Arab society in the pre-Islamic era when Islam first emerged. The prescriptions for confirming or amending previous customs remained in force as long as these practices existed. Their disappearance, however, did not harm Islam as practices such as slavery,¹²⁶ polygamy, etc. cannot be considered inherent in Islam.

In order to understand better what is part of the essence of Islam and what is not, we should ask ourselves the following question: ‘Did Islam come for a particular reason?’ We could ask for example, whether Islam came in order to purify the souls of criminals and cleanse them from evil and criminal propensities, or whether it came to inflict punishment¹²⁷ on them for their actions and make an example of them? Did Islam come to bring about equality between the believers of God, irrespective of the deeds they have committed? Did it come to make woman, because of her femininity, inferior in life to man by virtue of his masculinity? Or did Islam come to make marriage a source of happiness in the family and the cornerstone of the nation’s progress, or to allow man complete control over divorce, which is now exposed to all manner of abuse?

The answers to these questions are clear even to those who examine Islam at a superficial level, and so we are able to look for the real Islam, distinguishing it from marginal elements that obfuscate the issue and, thus, prevent any misunderstanding on our part.

The essence and objectives of most divine laws are governed by two main principles: the moral conduct of people and their general needs in everyday life. They support them and provide a balance between the two so that they do not pull against each other in life. However, divine laws are more inclined to favour moral conduct and make them more dominant over human needs. Therefore, our Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) explained this in his great wisdom when he said: ‘I was sent to complete the noblest of morals’.¹²⁸

However, these ‘good’ eternal beliefs generally constrain the inclinations of human beings and their weaknesses, which manifest themselves in their upbringing and in legislation. They become gradually clearer to a person as he reaches maturity. This is exactly the road followed by Islam, as it is known to follow a gradual wisdom in the formulation of its legislation. A case in point of this wise strategy is the subject of woman. Islam took her out of the dark pre-Islamic days into the light of truth and freedom, and thus conquered previous beliefs embedded in the Arab psyche as people were embraced by the faith. It was left to the scholars and men in society to enlighten people through the same spirit that rescued woman from the dark pre-Islamic times. And so, we can now commence our discussion of the topic.

Consideration of woman as an individual

Islam opposed the negative feelings and hatred Arabs harboured towards girls. The Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) said in praise of girls: ‘I am the father of girls’.¹²⁹ From the outset, Islam legislated against female infanticide,¹³⁰ that heinous practice in pre-Islamic times, when baby girls were buried alive soon after birth. Islam thus eradicated one of the great injustices to which they were subjected. On this subject, the Qur’ān states:

And when any of them is given the good tidings of a girl, his face is darkened and he chokes inwardly, as he shall preserve it in humiliation, or trample it into the dust. Ah evil is that they judge.¹³¹

In another verse it speaks out against the hideousness, atrocity and terror of this practice and likens it to the end of the universe:

When the sun shall be darkened, when the stars shall be thrown down, when the mountains shall be moving, when the pregnant camels shall be neglected, when the savage beasts shall be mustered, when the seas shall be set boiling, when the souls shall be coupled, when the buried infant shall be asked for what sin she was slain, when the scrolls shall be unrolled, when heaven shall be stripped off, when Hell shall be set blazing, when Paradise shall be brought nigh, then shall a soul know what it had produced.¹³²

Islam treated both man and woman alike; they were both subject to the same duties and responsibilities. The Prophet had frequent meetings with women to explain the message of Islam, and their duties. At the same time, he showed them great respect and esteem they had never previously encountered from other men, which raised their spirits and endeared them to Islam. The noble Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) did not feel that his repeated meetings with women were a waste of his time as men in pre-Islamic times had believed and as some still do today. He wanted to enlighten their minds with knowledge and wisdom, so as to prepare them to exercise the rights they received from Islam. The Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) is reported as saying in the book entitled īhyā’ ^cUlūm al-Dīn (‘The Revival of Religious Sciences’) by Abū Hamid al-Ghazali¹³³ in the chapter on marriage: ‘He who has a daughter and who educates and feeds her properly shall be spared the fires of hell and be taken to paradise’.¹³⁴ The attention shown to woman by Islam is manifest in the Qur’ān where there is a whole sūra (chapter) devoted to her that is entitled ‘Women’ (al-Nisā’),¹³⁵ whereas she is mentioned in various other verses and sūras that discuss her rights and guide us in what we must do in consideration of woman and to confirm her rights.

Woman’s civil rights: testimony and justice

The respect given to woman did not stop at her as a person; rather, it was to prepare her to exercise the rights granted to her by Islam. While in pre-Islamic times woman was dissuaded by her family, and even her husband, from discussing non-essential matters, she was given a voice by Islam and was allowed to testify in tribunals against both men and women in all kinds of trials. The Qur’ān refers to the testimony of woman as follows:

And call in to witness two witnesses, men; or if the two be not men, then one man and two women, such witnesses as you approve of, that if one of the two women errs the other will remind her.¹³⁶

Women had never had this right, and were not accustomed to standing beside men to testify in a justice system, whose power and prestige had been increased by Islam. The fact that woman lagged behind man in all aspects of life made her less proficient in intellectual and mathematical tasks, especially since at that time she did not get her share of education and culture to prepare her for that. Islam took this weakness into account when it decided that a woman’s testimony is worth half that of a man. This was justified in the Qur’ān as follows: ‘If one of the two women errs the other will remind her’.¹³⁷ It did not justify it on the basis of a deficiency in her character as opponents to her emancipation are wont to claim. If the issue was not related to a matter of deadline, such as debts, but had to do with something that could be witnessed by sight or hearing, would we accuse woman here of having less developed senses than those of a man, or would we try and justify this on the grounds of a deficiency in her character? This is not why the Qur’ān justified the lessening of a woman’s testimony.

This assertion – if true – is even stranger in view of the fact that according to the jurisprudence of the four orthodox Islamic law schools¹³⁸ a woman is allowed to act as a judge to rule on differences between people in a role similar to that of a man. Abū-Hanīfa al-Nu,^cmān,¹³⁹ who was a contemporary of some of the Prophet’s Co...