The emergence of human life on this earth brought face to face with
a number of situations that demanded solution, for unlike other species who lived and
acted within a perfect pattern of behavior, the human species had the freedom to choose
from amongst any number of growing possibilities.
Now, the Free
Will, although a rare and coveted gift, implies that if human beings can rise to lofty
sublime heights, they can also fall low into abysmal depths. Today we know that at a
number of crossroads, human being have taken a wrong turning only to return tired and
exhausted, with the prospect of beginning al over again. In their attitude towards the
world of matter, human existence ad its goals and purposes, human being s have traversed
many paths. The process has been painful and
prolonged, but nevertheless it has been a process of learning, of self-discovery and of
maturing. The history of human beings can be linked with the story of one individual—its
phases of childhood, youth, an the experience and mellowness of later years, in this
context the finality of “NUBUWWAH” or “MESSENGERHOOD” heralded by the
“QURAN” indicated the “coming of age” of human beings. They were no
longer to be tied to the apron strings of the “messenger of God”, but like a
mature grownup person to stand on their own feet and to move towards their destination, in
other words to live within the best pattern of human behavior given to them in the form of
“signposts” at the crossroads. These were embedded in the QURAN to be chosen at
will as one of many other possibilities. However, their acceptance demands not only an
inductive and objective approach but also a rich and varied experience, free from
prejudice and a level of emotional and metal
maturity. The Quranic signposts are for the grown-ups; those individuals and nations that
are still in the “childhood phase” will mss its beautiful experience.
In the are of
male-female relationship, human beings blundered into a blind alley of reducing the female
not only to a low statues but shifting her to position that transformed her into another
species as it were, separate and distinct from the human species. Naturally, this has been
an unhappy experience for the women but many men still do not appreciate the fact that
they too have robbed themselves of the happiness that could have been theirs.
Dependence
In nature’s scheme of things,
the make and the female amongst the various species emphasizes the biological difference,
designed for the perpetuation of the species. The female biological function incapacitates
the human female for a considerable period, so much so, that she is no longer capable of
participating alongside the make in the struggle for existence which must have been frightfully harsh and tough in that
“age of childhood”. Furthermore , the human baby is more helpless than the young’s
of other species, and this helplessness is also more prolonged. Thus this adds to the
mothers incapacity. This prolonged incacaptity ended up in her complete dependence on the
man who was not hindered in this manner for food, clothes and shelter. At the crossroads, the immaturity of man
took a wrong turn. The incapacity and helplessness of the female was looked upon as
inferiority and her economic dependence as a chance to enslave her. What was simply a
division of labor became a distorted philosophy of life, and means were now sought to
establish this master-slave equation on a permanent basis.
The methods to
enslave women run remarkably parallel to the cast Brahman’s efforts to keep the
untouchables in perpetual bondage. It has begun as a considered adequate for the purpose.
It was essential to close all does of opportunities for improvement, s it was laid down
that the untouchables could not possess anything, they were lot love on the crumbs from
the tables of the caste Hindus and wear their discarded clothes. Their destiny was to
serve the caste Hindus, disobedience to whom brought severe reprisals in this life and
affected the future re-births. The untouchables also were to have no access to knowledge,
another source of immense power. If any dared to hear the Vedas being read, his ears were
to be blocked by molten lead ; if he
attempted to read the Vedas, his tongue would be chopped off. Similar injunctions were
laid down for women. She could not possess property nor could she inherit any from her
father or husband ; she has no claim to her husbands earning. Until very recently this was
her fate in Europe. The Hindu Law stated that
she must depend on the make members of the family—father, brother, husband, and the
son. If anything was given to her, it was by way of
charity (incidentally, this is the origin of the fabulous dowry system in the
Indo-Pakistan subcontinent today).again as with the untouchables she was denied the power
of knowledge. Her place was the kitchen sink and education was irrelevant to her roles. An
education woman was considered a contradiction. Her destiny was to obey and serve her
husband who was her “majazi-Khuda”—i.e. the “visible God” before
whom she should prostrate, and disobedience to him invoked the curse of the Angels and the
wrath of God.
But a secret
dear lurked, in the mind of man, as it would in any vested interest, that sometimes,
somewhere a woman or for that matter and untouchable could revolt against such insane
concepts, for after all they were only ma-made and hence changeable a clever device was
this thought out, making such a change well-nigh impossible. These concepts were
incorporated in the h”sacred literature” and attributed to Divinity. Women and
untouchables were to lead a particular kind of life not because men and caste Brahmins
were cruel, but because it was the Will of God. All efforts to regain her position were
thus completely thwarted, and her motivations to do so were described as irreligious and
impious. Having started on this path, they ran the full gamut. Her slavery did not remain
restricted to the fundamental issues of ownership of property and access to knowledge.
More and more pious and religious principles were proclaimed and her statues brought more
and more harmony with the” Divine Programmed”. Woman is the course of all evil,
rang the voice of the preacher far and wife every nook and corner of the world. She is
stubborn and crooked for she was born of Adam’s rib. Is was further stated that Adam
was created first and she came later for his sake, to please him and relieve him of his
loneliness. She had to attract him and entertain him, for otherwise she would be failing
her feminine duty, from this it was just another step to become a mans toy and possession.
She lost her identity and in future shrew as to be known by the rebels of her father or
husband attached to her. Thus just like another peice pf property, she was to be used as
the whim and caprice of the make dictates. To further guarantee this, child marriages were
encourages and made sacrosanct. Marriages were said to be made in heaven, hence divorce
was unthinkable and widow remariggage a sacrilege.
The end of the
road was not yet in sight. Having stripped her of most of her human potentiality, she was
left with one exclusive attribute only—sex. And as misfortune of mankind would have
it, they managed to make the natural biological function dirty and sinful. The concept
that Divinity is Perfection and the Divinity was neither begotten nor does her be gent was
concluded as Sex being a barrier to perfection. The life of Jesus put a final stamp on it.
the theory that his was an “immaculate Conception” of the “virgin Mary”
, and that he himself remained unmarried left us no doubt about the woman’s roles as
a temptress. To keep away from her achievement. Woman’s humiliation was complete, she
now symbolized sex that was stigmatized as sinful. We know today that man can really
respect only those women with whom he can have no sexual relationship—mothers,
sisters and daughters.
Just as the
Biblical story of Adam and Even brought this phase to a climax, the traditional Muslim
literature and its social formation carried the whole Hindu, Christian and other sources
of cultural heritage with it to its logical conclusion. This world was made into
exclusively a mans world, and the woman as a piece of properly was shut behind the four
walls along with other possessions. The doors of the “harems” and “zananas”
opened only for the release of the mans sexual urges and then closed behind him just as
the floors of the latrine closed behind him after there classes of the call of nature.
‘Frailty
thy name…’
The male-female
relationship had run its full course. These religious and sacred theories and concepts
slowly and surely traveled into secular literature. Here the genius of great philosophers,
logicians, and littérateurs, and other gave a further twist to human thing,. Woman,
according to them, were “sweetly unreasonable”, and thoughtful woman was “an
intellectual monstrosity”, and “frailty, Vanity etc. thy name is woman”,
and so on and so forth, Quotations of such aphorism and proverbs will tickle a man even of
an otherwise mature development, and send him into gales of laughter. Since knowledge was
monopolized by men, there was no scope for the woman to contradict all this. These ideas
thus traveled beyond space and time, irrespective of cultural groups and sank feel into
the sub-conscious of not only men but women as well, making them ultimately their own
worst enemies. This is here dichotomy : She does not realize that nothing can stop her
from realizing her own resources and potentialities and becoming what she ought to be
instead she helps in perpetuating the distorted and shrunken image of herself as the
female of the human species.
This is where we
stand today. No doubt human beings are at also raising that they took a wrong turning.
They are retracing their steps back to the original crossroads, and trying a different
turning : but the issue is no longer as simply as it originally was.
Firstly, a
human mind is so constituted that when something is repeated very often and over a long
period, it becomes a way of life, and it appears ‘right’ and ‘natural’.
To convince all that a woman is not by nature stubborn or a source of all evils, it will
take time. Secondly, and this is very important and touchy, as long as we continue to reverse the so-called ‘Sacred Literature’,
its “Divine Authority’ will gag all the criticism and delay the revolution. It
was this realization that made Dr. Ambedkar, the Leader of the Untouchables, challenge
Mahatma Gandhi who claimed to be the champion of those same untouchables, to expunge and
down the Vedic verses that sanctioned untouchability. It in secular West woman has cut
through the barriers of economic dependence and ignorance to achieve freedom, but she
still suffers from the constant tension of losing ‘femininity’—her roles of
being attractive to man, of entertaining him, of being a symbol of sex—the role
assigned to her by the Bible, a Holy Book.
The Quran gives
guidance and hope at the crossroads of human confusion and despair. It knocks down one by
one the man-made idols from sacred pedestals, and comes forth as the charter of women’s
emancipation.
The Quran
proclaims that through the process of evolution “ both the human male and female were
created out of one single life cell” (Surah 4 : Verse 1). As such there is absolutely
no difference between a man and a woman on the basis of birth,. Both men and women are
honored and respected. All human beings by virtue of their statues as human beings are
respectable. Both of their actions and deeds. It is amply clear from this verse that Birth
as a determining factor for respect and honor is inhuman. It cannot determine inferiority
and superiority on the basis of a factor over which no child has any control. Brahmin or
Shudra, rich or poor, white or black, man or woman, none are responsible for their
condition as such. Thus at last woman has been liberated from the guilt of her birth as a
woman, and given a good start in life to become a what she ought to be.
Then in the
Quranic allegory of Adam the Biblical twists given to the status of women is put straight.
It has already been stated that men and women were created out of one single life cell,
they emerged together. A woman was not created afterwards to relieve mans loneliness. She
was not his plaything. She existed in her own right. She had her own unique individuality
and was not created for man. As discussed earlier she has been told until now that her
only attribute is sex. So to justify her existence, all through e centuries she has
flaunted he sex appeal around. The self-styled custodian of morality keep on preaching
against this sex appeal not realizing that it is they themselves who have reduced her to
this roles by denying her all other human attributes. She has nothing else to live for.
The Quran
attacks the root cause of the abberation and tried to convince both men and women that the
woman is also a human being. She possess all those attributes
and potentialities that every human being possess by birth. It is only after convincing
her of this that the Quran condemns , and logically enough, the all out campaign for sex
appeal in the Surah 24 : Verses 31. The Quran laments (Surah 43 : Verse 18) that
consequently women are so bred that they cannot live and think beyond outward show. They
have never been given the opportunity to actualize their genuine latent potentialities as
human beings. So they vainly try to fill in the vacuum with objects that have no real
worth. The serious things of life, if confronted with one, asks them nervous and they lose
their balance so much so, that weakness, helplessness and empty life are now regarded as
manifestation of “feminine” traits.
But this shall
not be the case when the Quranic Social Order id established. With the exception of
difference of biological function for the perpetuation of the species nothing else
distinguishes them from each other. On the contrary they are complementary to each other.
If men have the potentiality to develop their personality by harmonizing themselves with
the laws of Allah, then women also have a similar potentiality ; if peace according to the inviolable Laws of
Allah, then women can also participate in it by becoming its members: if men can restrain
their capabilities so as to develop them within the Laws of Allah, so can the women : if
men can vindicate the truth of their conviction through its practical implementation in
life, so can women vindicates it; if men can remain steadfast on the path they have
chosen, so can women; if men have the inexhastive capacity to be more and more in harmony
with the Laws of Allah hence they are set of this oath, so have the women this
inexhaustible capacity; if men can sacrifice lower values for higher clause, so can the
women: f men can exercise control and do not violate the limitations set on them, so cant
eh women ; if men can understand the Laws of Allah and focus their activities in life on
them, so can the women. Now then, if both men and women have equal capacities and
potentialities, their results should also be
the same for both of them. Hence in the Quranic Social Order both will enjoy protection
and security and all such other benefits and has that shall accrue from this order. Such
is the rich and varied life that a woman has the potentialities for. (Surah 33: Verse 35)
there could not
be a more complete and comprehensive rejection of all those theories and concepts the
vulgarized human existence. To downgrade women as “Naqis-ul-Aql’ and as the
weaker-vessel, led by Satan to eat the forbidden fruit pointing out thereby the man as the
innocent party, sounds to naïve and immature before the full human expansiveness and
profundity of the Quranic Verse. Men and women march together towards heaven or hell, with
equal responsibility and combined contribution. The Quran does not have anything
ambiguous. It points out that “Momin men and women are companions” (Surah 9:
Verse 71).
Economic Status
In Surah 4 :
Verse 32 it is stated that “to men belong what they have earned and to women belong
what they have earned”. Secondly, in surah 4 : Verse 11, the woman is given a share
in her fathers property as a matter of right. It is not doled out to her by way of
charity. Above all, the Quran aims at establishing an economic system, where every
individual will be given a basic economic security , thus the original and fundamental
course of her serfdom and loss of human dignity, is removed.
For men, to
ascertain the emergence of a new generation of women, who are independent and thoughtful,
demands a similar development on their own part. To fill his ‘harem’ with silly
giggling, pouting and decorative dolls is a condition and a phase in mans life that shows
his own emotional and metal immaturity. And to segregate the “zanana” by walls
and warders is the manifestation of an uncultured and indiscipline mind.
Child marriage
is out of the question. In surah 4 :verse 21, marriage is designated as a mutual contract,
and children cannot make a contract, or even when one partner is a child the contract is
meaningless. To select ones partner and make a “contract” explodes the myth of
‘marriages being made in heaven’, and logically incorporates in it the clause of
divorce or a separation and termination of contract by mutual consent. Both husband and
wife have equal rights in this for the Quran emphasizes that legally speaking women have
equal right corresponding to their duties. Men and women have still to realize what they
have been missing. All these centuries they have cheated themselves of this happiness, and
they will continue to do so until the “grow-up”. To oppose women’s
emancipation is a sign of immaturity. Once they know better they shall clamor for it as
they do in other areas of activity of economic and political freedom and scientific
development.
As mentioned in
the beginning the process may be long and painful. But in spite of all the setbacks and
the wrong turnings at different crossroads,
human experienced, if viewed not in the parochial sense, peace by piece, but as a
universal phenomenon, then it has been an “uninterrupted revolution”. Many wrong
decisions have ultimately been righted while others are still in the process of being
sought out. In our own lifetime we have witnessed annihilation of tottering values and
institution. Crowns have rolled down the thrones, slaves have broke not heir chains, the
world of matter had been conquered and slowly it is being realized that after all, women
are the female of the human species and bit a different separate species format he man.
The contribution
to fit Quran is that is can shorten the period and the pain of the “uninterrupted
revolution.” It is up to us to “economies our efforts”, as Dr. Iqbal put
it.