| The Status of men and women | |
translated by Dr. Nadia Alam Dear Tahira, I wish I could say "may God bless you with progeny and the health to rear it," but first you would ask what I mean by a blessing. And if I told you that a blessing is a love-laden prayer, then you would ask what a prayer is, and once the need to ask the meaning of a prayer arises, the influence of that prayer is lost. Prayer or pleasantry, poem or song, each can only be influential if the well-wisher utters it and finds a response in the heart of the recipient. (This is eloquence.) If one needs to ask the meaning of it, the effect disappears. Tahira, answering your complaint is my pleasure, but I assumed that when I wrote to Salim, you were automatically included. You and Salim are a little different, and now I know that you feel very deeply about that. This has affected me greatly; especially your accusation that I, like many others, place more importance on sons than daughters and think that men are superior to women. However, your accusation is an indication of the depth of your thought and the intensity of your feelings, and I respect this because I also sense that it is dangerous to undervalue and disrespect women’s feelings and passions. (Don’t misunderstand the word "dangerous.") The imbalances that have arisen in this society ("this society" refers to the whole Muslim community) have one root cause: that men have not valued women’s existence. The truth is that he has never even attempted to understand women. In other words, he has not considered her worthy enough to understand. But what happiness has he gained by thinking this way? There is no comfort in sleeping with one eye open. Women’s status under current laws: Tahira, you have easily solved this issue in your mind that because the laws of shariah have been created by men, they have given themselves the upper hand and trampled the poor women. There is no doubt that the consequence of our laws (or customs and traditions) will be that which you described, but the reason is not what you think. If this attitude is considered sound, then from it follows that the male nature is such that it wants to have the upper hand and keep women subservient and dependant. You must remember that I wrote Salim a letter in which I made it clear that there is no such thing as "human nature." There are some inclinations that are a result of living an animal existence. As far as animals are concerned, there is no proof that males want to keep females subservient. Hence, the feeling in men cannot be a result of animal instinct. Besides animal instinct, those characteristics that are said to be part of "human nature" are in reality a result of, or brought out by, heredity, environment, upbringing, etc. That is, it is incorrect to say that because the laws of society were made by men, that is why women have such a low position. In contrast, it is appropriate to say that because these laws were created in an environment in which not justice, but oppression was the custom, and women were regarded with hatred, that is why according to law and thought women are considered subservient and dependant, inferior and contemptible. These laws are a product of the period of the monarchial system. As I have said many times before, our "Islam" has been compiled more or less during this era. You will see that the features of life during that time (regardless of gender) are pervaded by oppression and advantage. For example, according to the laws of that period, the ruling ranks have all the rights, and the public masses have none. The peasants can only beg for the king’s or prince’s charity. They can’t seek anything as a personal right. According to these laws, the landowners have all the rights. Whatever a farmer receives is on the level of a servant. A rich person can buy anything he wants in order to indulge his desires, but a poor person receives food itself as charity: "The poor receive so as to avoid evil glances, else luxury has been created for the rich." To the extent that these laws are concerned, a rich person can even buy a place in heaven with money, but a poor person must beg God for his salvation. It is obvious that in an environment where laws are made regarding controlling males, there is not much hope for women. The effect of Christian belief: In the case of women, not only oppression but hatred and contempt were raging in men’s hearts. There was an important reason for this. As I have written many times, traditional Islam is a patchwork of Jewish rites-worship, Iranian man-and-race-worship, and Christian priesthood. The priesthood views women in a very sinful way. Their dogma states that women are the source of all evil because they are responsible for leading Adam out of heaven. Women are thought to be the embodiment of Satan. Because they are the only participants in existence besides men, women in Christianity are the very source of evil, mischief, vice, and wickedness; therefore, they are seen as a thing worthy of hatred. This is supported by the fact that Jesus’ life as a celibate was a pattern for the pious persons of humanity. Christians went as far as to say that women lack souls. This reminds me of a funny story. There was a medicine man in the village where I used to live, Puraim Singh. He was an animal doctor as well as a people doctor. One day my mother had a pain in her kidneys and she told Puraim Singh so he could prescribe some medicine. He said that she wasn’t having kidney problems, and my mother replied that she had had this problem many times before, and she insisted that the source of the pain was her kidneys. Hakeem Singh said, "No auntie! You don’t have a pain in your kidneys because women don’t have kidneys! Only men have a heart and kidneys." My mother replied, "Puraim Singh, a she-goat is slaughtered every day at Muhamaddeen’s butcher shop and two kidneys always come out." To this Puraim Singh answered, "Oh auntie, goats are a different matter." Anyway, as I was saying, Christians believe that women are worthy of contempt and this belief has been transferred to Islam. This happened in the same society of despotism as was mentioned above. This was that period of our "Islamic Civilization" in which women were sold in bazaars as concubines, and it was permissible for any man to buy as many as he wanted and dispose of or sell them as he pleased. This was allowed according to shariah, and the shariah of mullahs still condones it today. The shariah, which is called Islam, was compiled in this kind of environment. It is an exercise in futility to try to find respect of humanity and the true status of women in the shariah. In support of and justification for these laws, such traditions (ahadith) are presented that state, "Woman is deficient in intelligence. She was made from Adam’s rib, that’s why she is always crooked like a rib. If you try to straighten her, she will break but she won’t become straight. The nation that admits women’s opinions in life’s business is doomed," and etc. When our code of ethics was compiled in light of these laws and beliefs, such absurdity concerning women was included on the level of universally accepted truths. A poem says:
If you would like to hear even more straightforward words, then consider Hayrwaris Shah, who is a reflection of the Punjabi society. I would send you some of his poems relating to women, but the problem is that I would have to translate the poem from farsi to urdu, and then explain what the urdu translation means. I don’t understand what the children of this generation will become upon finishing college and their studies. They forget their own language and aren’t able to learn another fluently. However, your generation is yet a blessing. I can’t even imagine what the coming generation will be like. But, we made your generation what it is and the coming one will be what you make of it. You nor the children of the next generation are to blame. Children conform to the worlds we place them in. Waris Shah: Another difficulty arises when discussing Waris Shah. A father cannot tell his daughter what this man has written. Even his softest words about women are that "women are the cunning and deceitful." A famous saying is mentioned in Surah Yusuf of Zulekha’s husband that "inna kayda kunna a’adheem" (12/27), i.e., "the traps of women are very deep." But this saying is presented as if it was a guidance from Allah. If anything is said in support of women a voice pops in from somewhere and says the husband need not say anything, Allah said Himself that "inna kayda kunna a’adheem." What higher testimonial can be presented? Following the "behest of Allah," Waris Shah also says that women are cunning. The word he uses to refer to women/girls (kunniyat) is analogous to "kunna" in the above verse, but this word is very comprehensive. You must have seen blossoms of the madar tree in the village. You probably also saw a "fruit" that looked like a mango. It’s called "spark of fire" (aag ki kunni). From the outside it looks like a harmless mango, but it is filled with poison. If it touches the tongue the bitterness reaches the throat. If it touches the eye, it blinds. This is "kunni." Now you can imagine what the phrase "a cunning woman" or "kunni" means. This is the conception of women in our society: from the outside they look like the fruit of heaven but have the characteristics of poison. But forget Waris Shah, he was from a superficial class of people. Highly educated people also believe that women are deficient in intelligence, ignorant and illiterate, and they are ready to present statistics in support of their belief. In other words, women are fist kept in the closet of illiteracy for ages, then the resulting illiteracy is used as proof of the assertion that women are deficient in intelligence! This is analogous to a custom practiced in China: girl’s feet were tightly bound at a very young age and as they grew their feet became small and deformed. The claim was then made that Chinese women were not worthy of walking. Women and Quran This awful treatment of women was a result of the laws and codes of conduct that took existence during that time. For Muslims, however, the standard for determining the correct status of women (or men) is neither the laws of the society nor its code of conduct. There is only one criterion, Allah’s book, of which without Iman one can’t claim to be Muslim. What status has the Quran given women? The details are very long and diffuse, and concerning the outcome of them an anecdote of Allama Iqbal comes to mind: he used to say that if he wasn’t Muslim and he read the Quran without knowing who the author was, he would conclude that it was the work of a woman who was reclaiming her gender’s usurped rights. There is no doubt that if on one hand, the different religions and civilizations of the world pushed women into vileness and inferiority, and on the other is the Quran, it will seem like the Quran is partial to women. The birth of mankind: First of all, the Quran refuted the general belief that God made man (Adam), then from his rib made woman (Eve). You probably already understand that the belief that humankind was born of a single duo (Adam and Eve) is wrong. The Quran introduces Adam as a representative of humanity. According to evolution, the origin of life began with a life cell that later spontaneously divided into two parts. One was the ovum, or female cell, and the other was the spermatozoan, or the male cell. This is also endorsed by the Quran: (4/1) "Oh humanity! Allah is He who created you from a unicellular bacterial existence and then made from it its pair (i.e., that unicellular bacterium divided into two parts) and the mingling of these cells created the great number of men and women in the world." Now you see that because of their creation, neither man nor woman is more graced or has precedence over the other. They both have the same origin of life and are two branches of that origin. Zauj, or spouse: Wherever the Quran mentions men and women as zauj, it doesn’t say that women are the zauj of men (like many urdu speaking people are used to). In fact, the Quran addresses this and says in 30/21 and 42/11 that He has made zauj for you from among yourselves. A zauj is a companion, and men and women are each other’s companions. These companions are such that they provide a completion each for the other. From this esteem, the meaning of zauj is "complementary to each other." In fact, the Quran says in 3/195: "The one of you is as the other." That’s why one alone cannot be called complete. The Quran then refutes the belief that woman was the cause of Adam’s fall from paradise. Satan trapped woman in his web of deceit, and then woman misled Adam, for which reason the two were guilty of sin and expelled from paradise. The Quran says that the laws apply to men and women equally and that they both have the competence to understand them. Potential for sin is present in both, and both can be misled (2/36). That’s why it is wrong to say that women are responsible for sin, and men are innocent. (2/36 refers to the guilt of Adam and Eve, and uses "huma" which is the Arabic dual. This means two persons are concerned.) Men and women are both worthy of honor: The Quran says in 17/70: "I have made Bani Adam honorable." By this is intended not just men, but women, too. In the Arabic language, when men and women are jointly addresses, the phrase "bani XYZ" is used. When Bani Israel appears in the Quran, both the men and women of the Israeli tribe are called upon. In this same manner when the Quran says (95/4) "fi ahsan-e-taqweem," both men and women are included. The addressees of the Quran are the whole of humanity, not just men. The Quran’s goal: You should, at this point, also understand that the goal of the Quran is to:
The principles of division of labor: Now look Tahira, regarding this balance the Quran says that you should think about the universe, and at this point the division of labor becomes evident. The sun provides heat. Rain provides dampness. The wind has certain characteristics and the earth has different ones. Only a mixture of these different forces could provide for the growth of a seed. Each element has its own duty in the amalgamation. Neither force has mastery over the other. Water is not superior to fire because it is wet, and fire is not superior to rain because it is hot. They have different characteristics and to achieve balance, both of these are essential. The purpose of this reciprocal mixing is so that the shortfalls of one element can be supplemented by another. So, for its growth and nourishment, a seed needs warmth as well as water. The sun has a shortfall which the water fulfills. Likewise, the water’s shortfall is made up for by the sunshine. Therefore, the purpose of this companionship is that one’s shortfall is erased through cooperation with the other. This is their correct status. But if one element, for example, the sun, assumes it is superior because it can do what rain can’t, then this is asinine behavior. Whatever is happening in the external universe is analogous to human life; division of labor also applies to humans. Men and women are like the different elements; they have many shared characteristics but there are some that one has and the other doesn’t. Confirming the law of the universe, the shortcomings of one are supplemented by the cooperation of the other. This way, one gender achieves superiority over the other, at various times. (4/32) states that if by one attribute men are superior, women are superior by another. For one gender to think it is better overall based on a single characteristic is wrong. Each gender should realize its shortcomings and that the companionship of the other fulfills those shortcomings. In other words, for a person to be complete it is necessary that he have the companionship of another (tarweej, which means to make a pair), and consequently a man is not "superior" to, but rather stands in need of, a woman for his fulfillment, and vice versa. Concerning this mutual and reciprocal relationship the Quran says in 30/21 "Allah has created mawwaddat and rehmat between you." These words are significant. Mawwaddat is usually translated as love and affection, but dawwun is a term used for a nail that joins two things in such a way that it becomes the basis of the strength between them. Thus, mawwaddat is the complete, perfect demonstration of the characteristics of a thing. To show how intimate men and women are in marriage the Quran likens them to each other’s garments (2/187). (Laconically, a husband and wife are each other’s garments and along with physical intimacy, they protect and cover each other.) The other word, rehmat, is defined as the means of sustenance and protection (like that which a fetus receives in its mother’s womb). Therefore, the meaning of 30/21 is that through the mutual companionship of a man and woman, each individual’s characteristics receive the means for growth and nourishment and achieve a balance. For men to think they are greater than women is a self-created, egotistical proposition that holds no balance in the laws of the universe. Some uniquely feminine characteristics: As I said above, most human characteristics are shared by men and women, for example: intelligence and insight. In these shared characteristics, both men and women stand shoulder to shoulder, but according to division of labor, women have been made such that their biological characteristics allow them to have children, and men sorely lack this ability. This function fills an essential need in the society, and is a great shortfall in men. By this standard women surpass men. The development of a child also occurs in the arms of the mother. A child is the product of its upbringing, and a nation is the product of the children of which it is composed. This is why in the Arabic language (and the Quran), the word "ummah" is used to describe a nation. The root of ummah is "umm" which means mother. Thus, according to the Quran, the responsibility of the creation and formation of an ummah or nation, is entirely the mother’s. This is a characteristic of women that men lack. In light of this, women are the bearers of a great responsibility and they occupy a great status in society and life. However, a major portion of a woman’s life is spent in discharging this duty and achieving the object. On a physical level, women don’t have the capacity to toil and perform hard labor to the extent that is required in some departments of life. This creates a shortfall in the society which men fill. Men spend their whole lives singularly trying to acquire nourishment (this is called earning a living). It is obvious that this is not an argument supporting the superiority of men over women. Women fulfill some male deficiencies and men fulfill some female deficiencies. You might think of it this way: women contribute to society in one way, and men in another. One gender is superior in one respect, and the other is superior in another; 2/34 "Allah has made one superior to the other (in different respects)." The Quran says the idea that men are somehow better than women because they spend what they earn on women, is a self-made egotistical notion. This self-made egotistical standard of superiority has been stretched so far that women ask themselves, "Why was I born a women? Why couldn’t I have been a man?" Allah says that in the kind of society He has envisioned this thought would never enter a woman’s heart. That’s why He says in 4/32 "The characteristics that Allah has given to any one gender are absolutely not a reason for discrimination, or to wish that you had the characteristics of the other gender." The spheres of women and men are separate, so their respective characteristics are separate as well. The question is, "Do these two complete their entrusted duties with the required effort and good balance?" Whoever tries hard to do a good job in his own field will receive a proportional share in the society’s prosperity. The aforementioned verse also says that your desire should be to acquire as much competency and guidance for endeavor in your field as you can.
Shared characteristics: Excepting the division of labor, all other human characteristics are shared by both men and women. Look in surah Ahzab: men and women are mentioned side by side for all of these characteristics (33/35). "If men have the competency to fully develop their personality by obeying God’s laws, then so do women. (al-muslimeen wal muslimaat) "If men can become members of a group that, understanding the inevitable consequences of Allah’s laws, is responsible for world peace, then women can be in that group, too. (al-mu’mineen wal mu’minaat) "If men are able to handle their aptitude according to Allah’s laws, then women are able, too. (al-qaaniteen wal qaanitaat) "If men are able to prove the truth of their da’wa, then women are, too. (as-sadiqeen was sadiqaat) "If men can be steadfast, so can women. (as-saabireen was saabiraat) "If men can advance their competency like the branches of a fruiting tree and better obey the laws of Allah, women can, too. (al-mutasaddiqeen wal mutasaddiqaat) "If men have enough self control to stop at a designated point, then women have control, too. (as-sa’imeen was sa’imaat) "If men can keep their inclinations within these codes, then women can as well. (al-haafitheen foroojahoom wal hafithaat) "If men are able to consciously understand Allah’s laws and keep them in sight at all times then women are capable to do so as well. (adh-dhaakireen allaha wadh dhaakiraat). "If both posses these characteristics then the results should be present equivalently. Thus, in Allah’s system, this is a means of protection for both and a great compensation for their actions." Now, do you see Tahira? According to the Quran:
As it is wrong for women to ignore the duties that they exclusively are able to perform, it is also wrong to keep them captive in that sphere and not allow them to enter the joint sphere. These two extreme cases will destroy the social system.
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