Jaajef wa G-L,
I came across this article written by Shamina Sheickh, a leading female anti-aparthied activist, which I thought might be of interest to to
others on the list...any thoughts? It is in 2 parts as there was not enough space for the full text on one e-mail.
Yeenduleen ak jaama
Tony
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Women & Islam * The Gender Struggle in South Africa: The Ideological Struggle
MYM Islamic Tarbiyyah Programme '97 19 * 23 Dec, As-Salaam, KZN
Bismillah hir rah ma nir Rahim Alhamdulillah hil ladhi hadana li hadha wa ma kunna li nahtadiyya low la an hadhanallah
In the Name of God, Most Gracious, the Dispenser of Grace
All praise is to Allah, Who has Guided us to this. Were it not for His Guidance we would surely have been lost.
Introduction
We will be discussing an important arena of the Struggle in upholding the dignity of Muslim women in Islam and the Muslim community. That is the Ideological struggle * the struggle to grasp the existing controversial and conflicting perception of the status, position, worth and constitution of women * a perception used to control women¢s actions and status. For Muslims, this perception is supposed to be derived primarily from the Qur'an and Sunnah.
We will look into verses in the Qur¢an that deal with
principles and practices or law to ascertain the Qur¢anic concept of Women and Gender Identity. For Muslims the Qur¢an is the basis. I was also going to look at Hadith, but unfortunately this already looks like it will take all the time available.
A good book for you to look at on the Prophetic
Community is Leila Ahmed¢s Women, Gender and Islam.
But now I¢m going to look only at Qur¢an. The reason I want to look at it is in order to grasp the existing controversy and conflicting perceptions on the status, position, worth and constitution of women, perceptions used to control women¢s actions and status. The perception is that Islam has placed a low status on women and a higher one for men. We will look at the verses that deal with principles and practices or law to ascertain the Qur¢anic concept of women¢s gender identity.
An intellectual Exercise?
The question one could ask is: Is it just an intellectual exercise.
Some activists regard an ideological investigation as an "intellectual exercise" undertaken by people not involved in the real issues.
When I informed the ITP co-ordinator about the focus of this paper, this is how she responded inher email message to me:
" Regarding the brief itself, I have only to indicate that when this topic was suggested in the first place, I expressed that we have to look at new ways of tackling the issue because we always cover the same ground and get nowhere due to the stubbornness and even arrogance sometimes on the part of ourselves to accept what is actually a very black and white issue. That is why I suggested initially that, instead of trying to "emancipate" a group of middle-class, somewhat pampered women who really have no affinity to
the REAL issues facing the struggle for gender equality in this country, we devote our precious time to looking at ways for bringing the Gender Desk closer to reality, like the W.Cape has done. It is fine by me if you want to look at Qur'anic perspectives and all that, but I think that the idea that we are actually going to GET somewhere, or make known some things that were not known before, needs to be read with caution"
I think I agree with the co-ordinator, the liberal class does do that. But in Islam the Qur¢an applies to all, whether it¢s post-middle, pre-middle or working class. The same laws apply to the couple, the same laws apply to the man. And all classes need to know that because that forms the basis of their identity. So it¢s slightly different, and also I thought it was important that we deal with that, because in my experience * and I¢ve been working with women since I¢ve been the Gender Desk Co-ordinator more focussed on gender issues. And in Johannesburg they¢re working with women in divorce cases, women that have been beaten and a whole host of women. And the only advice that I could give them was one that the Qur¢an says this about you, gives you a status. Because I find it very difficult to tell somebody something that they don¢t believe in. I can¢t tell them, "Yes, get divorced." But I can tell them,
"You have a right to get divorced. The choice is now yours." I suggest that they go for some social welfare service. So I think there¢s a need for both kinds of things:
like the one Cape Town (MYM) has and the kind of thing*
What Cape Town does is integrate both. The more people know these issues, the more people will integrate them or deal with one only before the problem arises. So that¢s how it should go.
We cannot altogether dismiss the need for support and other social welfare services, and as long as the problems exist, it is essential that we have social welfare and other institutions that can provide necessary relief for victims. And these problems will continue for as long as there is
confusion regarding the correct and liberatory Qur¢anic position on women. We must tackle the problem itself and for Muslim women, Islam and the Qur¢an can be both a force of empowerment and undermining and disempowerment. It is the source Muslims accept
unflinchingly.
The conflict and, yes, sometimes confusion in our
understanding of Islam and gender status arises from the complex way in which a society works.
Forces within the Muslim community that cause
conflict and confusion in understanding Women, Gender & Islam. After 1400 years it appears that there is still confusion and conflict as to the status of women in Islam, and the role gender plays in an individual¢s worth in terms of status, position, potential and constitution.
Despite the overwhelming and strong position of Muslims that Islam liberated women 1400 years ago, you still find there¢s a problem. Some thought and practice within Muslim society does not reflect this conviction, giving rise to the accusation that Islam oppresses women, to which the Muslim community reacts emotionally with denial and
animosity, without reflecting inwardly and addressing the existing problems.
And I think the reason for this is the way the Muslim
community works. What makes Islam work in a Muslim community is a mixture of Islam, the context, an interpretation of Islamic text * Qur¢an and Hadith, culture, tradition, customs and the interests of those who are dominant in the community * those who hold the reigns of
power.
These elements are not necessarily negative. The
objective is not to apply some "purist" understanding of Islam based exclusively on the Qur¢an. In fact, the Qur¢anic and Prophetic method is to consider the other elements in order to provide a viable and practical solution to an event
or problem. The Qur¢an consists of Divine responses to particular questions within a particular context. Therefore it is essential that Islam and the Qur¢an are contextualised.
However, these elements that work within the Muslim community often do so at cross-purposes with conflicting agendas and motives. As a result we have conflicting messages. If somebody wants to subjugate women they will come with a different interpretation, they will do a whole host of things. So you¢ll find conflict: in interpretation, in understanding who women are. And people tend to interpret for their convenience. However, I don¢t think these elements are necessarily negative. In order for Islam to work it needs to be contextualised and not taking all these elements into consideration means you have not listened to one category or class of people. In fact the Qur¢an and the Prophet did exactly that. They took in to consideration the customs; they took in to
consideration a whole host of things in order to understand the laws within the context. It thus is often difficult to distinguish between these various elements. It is therefore not surprising that we are confused on the issues of women, gender and Islam and articulate and send conflicting messages.
Muslim Feminists
We¢re seeing a lot of Muslim feminists. Their books have been translated into English and even in small communities like in South Africa (I¢m sure all of us are being accused of being feminists). Muslim feminists face criticism from other feminists for insisting on maintaining the link to Islam in the gender struggle. The Muslim feminist looks to the Qur¢an and the Prophet as a force for liberation, but in this ideological struggle faces
tremendous opposition and criticism for "reinterpreting", "changing the Qur¢an", "following western feminists", etc. from the clergy, the community as well as other women.
These feminists insist that they are inspired by Islam and the women heroes of Islam who stood up for justice and human rights. And that Islam is a force of empowerment rather than of disempowerment.
Let¢s live as we Believe
There is a hadith which states a profound truth about human life: "If you don¢t live as you believe then you begin to believe as you live."
In order to live as we believe, and to understand what the Islamic and Qur¢anic identity of the Woman is, it is essential that we do an enquiry and investigation of the Islamic sources * the Qur¢an (in particular) and the practice of the Prophet¢s community. Because of the short
time available, I will focus here only on the Qur¢an.
The Qur¢an: Principles, Practices and Law
The Qur¢an is the first source of guidance, so we¢ll start by looking at what the Qur¢an says about the position and place of women and what role, if any, gender plays in
status of the individual.
Perhaps an important point to make before we begin discussing verses of the Qur¢an, however, is that all such discussion is based on contextual interpretation. No person can honestly claim to understand any part of the Qur¢an without any interpretation. During the Battle of Siffin, the followers of Mu¢awiyah once called for a cessation of hostilities between Mu¢awiyah¢s and ¡Ali¢s parties. They should, they said, accept the
Qur¢an as the arbitrator between them. Imam ¡Ali¢s response is very instructive. He said: "When Mu¢awiyah invited me to the Qur¢an for a decision, I could not turn my face away from the Book of Allah. The Mighty and Glorious Allah declared that ¡If you dispute about anything, refer it to Allah and His Apostle¢.
(However,) this is the Qur¢an, written in straight lines, between two boards (of binding); it does not speak with a tongue; it needs interpreters and interpreters are people."
In order to ascertain the status of men and women we will look at verses that lay down certain principles and verses that are reactions to particular contexts.
The Principles:
O Humankind! Be conscious of your Sustainer, who has created humanity out of one living entity, and out of it created its mate, and out of the two spread abroad a multitude of men and women. And remain conscious of God, in whose name you demand [your rights] from one
another, and of these ties of kinship. Verily, God is ever watchful over you! (4:1)
The points I¢d like to highlight here*
The source of all human creation is one living entity, unlike the biblical interpretation or understanding that men were created first and thereafter women, and women were created from men. Even upto recently, I had the idea that
women were created second also, and that men were created first and that women were created out of men.
And here it is quite clear that No, there was this one "entity" and Allah created men and women from it. So, women could have been created first or men could have been created first; it¢s difficult to say. What we know is that from one entity multitudes of men and women were
created. All individuals are born from one entity, according to this verse, and have the same status and equal potential to do good and evil.
This is such a positive verse, and there are many like that. Why do we choose to make more popular the "negative" ones like the one that can be interpreted that men can beat women. Why not this verse and on the basis of this
verse interpret that. If one comes to this first you know that gender doesn¢t play a part in spirituality or anything. If you come with the idea that you are inferior in the first place, your approach to a particular verse that applies to a
particular context will have to be negative, will have to see you as inferior. Whereas, if you have a positive one, it will have to be positive, it will have to accept that there is some kind of equality here. You¢ll need to interpret a verse on how you treat somebody according to what the Qur¢an says are basic principles or what basic essence of women or men is.
Verily, for all men and women who have surrendered themselves unto God, and all believing men and believing women, and all truly devout men and truly devout women, and all men and women who are true to their word, and all men and women who are true to their word, and all men and women who are patient in adversity, and all men and women who humble themselves [before God], and all men and women who give in charity, and all self-denying men and
self-denying women, and all men and women who are mindful of their chastity, and all men and women who remember God unceasingly, for [all of] them has God readied forgiveness of sins and a mighty reward. (33:35) This verse shows clearly that all spiritual and moral obligations of men and women are the same. And that the
ones capacity is not inferior to the others. It stresses the moral rights and moral obligations of men and women. And if God has given men and women the same obligations it is only because they have the same potential. God is Merciful. He won¢t apply greater responsibility than one can bear. Many a time what we have is people claiming that women are morally inferior or spiritually inferior. They menstruate, they are not capable, they cause fitnah. And the Qur¢an clearly states that The Merciful God can never place obligations greater than one
can bear. And if she¢s not spiritually whole or morally whole then you can¢t expect her to be equally moral and equally spiritual. And this verse says that we are equally so.
(to be continued..next week)
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