WOMEN IN ISLAM

Asmaa (May Allah be pleased with her), the Prophets companion, obtained from him the definitive statement that women are in no way less than men.

Asmaa bint Yazeed ibn AlSakan was a woman from the Ansar, and a companion of the Prophet (Pbuh). She was distinguished for her sagacity and eloquence. Indeed, she was nicknamed the Orator of all Women. But she was also a woman of learning, and she reported the Prophets Hadith. She was clearly reliable as a reporter. Abu Dawood, AlTirmidhi, AlNassaie and Ibn Majah, as well as other major scholars of Hadith, related a total of 81 Hadiths of her reporting. As such, she ranks among the best learned of the Prophets women companions.

Asmaa also joined Muslim armies on several occasions. She accompanied the Prophet on his expedition that led to the fall of Makkah to Islam. She also participated in the great Battle of AlYarmook, against the Byzantines, during the reign of Umar ibn AlKhattab. She is reported to have killed nine enemy soldiers, using the pole of her own tent.

In order to appreciate her knowledge, we may relate the following story. One day she came to the Prophet as he was sitting with a number of his companions. Addressing him, she said Messenger of God, may both my parents be sacrificed for you. This was a traditional phrase of endearment, used mostly figuratively. I am an emissary from women to you. God has sent you as His messenger to both men and women. We believe in you and your Lord. Yet we, women, are restricted, home bound. We stay in your i.e. mens homes, give you your pleasure, and bear your children. You, men, have been favored over us with attending Friday prayer and congregational prayers in mosques, visiting the sick, attending funerals, offering the pilgrimage repeatedly, and with what is more than that fighting for Gods cause.When a man goes out intending pilgrimage or jihad, we take care of your property, sew your clothes, and bring up your children for you. Do we have a share of your reward

The Prophet turned to his companions asking them Have you ever heard a better statement by a woman than this one who is asking about matters of her faith They said We would not have thought that a woman would ever be able to express such meanings as this lady. The Prophet turned to Asmaa and said Listen, woman, and inform other women who sent you that a woman who is a goodly wife, keen to please her husband and doing what he likes is equal to all that. As she left, she was glorifying God and repeating statements of His oneness.

May God be pleased with Asmaa, the Prophets companion, who obtained from him this definitive statement that women are in no way less than men in their faith or their reward. It should be added that the Prophets words stress that the woman should always try to ensure that the atmosphere in her home is always relaxed and pleasant, so that she leads a happy marital life and her children grow up in a homely environment. As she takes care of the future generation, she earns as much reward as man who is assigned the task of looking after the present generation.

Muslim organisations have not shown interest and alacrity in clarifying their position on a host of issues, particularly those concerning women.

That the fatwa against terrorism issued by the Darul Uloom Deoband was a positive development in Indian political history is proved by the fact that it was supported even by the anti-Muslim BJP. And there can be no doubt that it sent a strong message to the extremists exploiting Islam to gain gullible recruits for their unIslamic cause. But unfortunately, Muslim organisations have not shown the same interest and alacrity in clarifying their position on a host of other issues, particularly those concerning women.

An article in The Times of India (The Ulema Strike Back, June 15) quoted Mahmood Madani of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind as saying that the ulema were forced to issue this fatwa because the western media had not stopped demonizing Islam. According to the same article, Kamal Farooqui of the Muslim Personal Law Board was of the opinion that the “new awaking” among the ulema was in response to secularists’ accusation that they were not coming out openly against terrorism.

This sophistical reasoning cannot fool the masses. Is terrorism the only anti-human issue against which a fatwa deserves to be pronounced? Has not the misinterpretation of the Quran on sensitive issues such as divorce, stoning to death for adultery, wife beating and child marriage defamed Islam enough? How can these self-appointed spokesmen of the Muslims ignore the fact the organisations in which they are members continue to victimize Muslim women through arbitrary legal decisions in the name of the shariah?

For instance, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board in its Nikahnama released in May 2005 tacitly approves instant triple talaq which renders a woman stranger to her husband within seconds. The same is true for child marriage which, shockingly, has been legitimised by the Board. Section 3 of the Nikahnama states that marriage between minors or to minors is valid if conducted on the approval of their parents or guardians. This is unacceptable because if the marriage of a child is performed while he or she is still a minor, Islamic law gives the minor the option to dissolve the marriage on attaining majority basically to protect the minor from an unscrupulous or undesirable exercise of authority by the parents or the guardian. This is known as Khiyar-al-Buloogh or the Option of Puberty and is based on a hadith in Mishkath-al-Masabih wherein the Prophet gave a minor girl the option to repudiate her marriage when she informed him that her father had given her in a marriage which was not to her liking.

The New York Times on March 22, 2007 reported that a German Judge turned down citing the Quran, a Muslim wife’s request for a fast-track divorce on the ground that her husband beat her from the beginning of their marriage. The Judge justified her ruling saying that the couple came from a Moroccan cultural milieu in which it is common for husbands to beat their wives because the Quran sanctions such physical abuse.

The Judge was obviously quoting one of the most mistranslated verses of the Quran (4:34) which supposedly allows wife beating. The mistranslated word is wazribuhunna which is derived from the root zaraba. Major commentators of the Quran including Ibn Kasir, Pickthall, and Maulana Maududi, the founder of Jamaat-e-Islami, have rendered this word as “beat them” ignoring the fact that the word zaraba has various other shades of meaning.

Out of the 49 times it occurs in the Quran, 31 times it has been used in the meaning of “to explain by giving an example.” Only 10 times it has used to mean “to strike” but mostly in the context of Moses “striking the rock” or the sea, and angels “striking the faces” of the sinners. The verse 4:34 actually talks about the various means at the disposal of a husband to bring about a reconciliation with his wife and obviously beating the wife cannot be an option to sort out differences. Therefore, the translation “beat them” is clearly not justified in this context.

Undoubtedly, the fatwa against terrorism is a step in the right direction, but it is not enough because the targeting of the entire community in the war against terror is not the only problem facing the Muslims. The internal issues discussed above too need a serious consideration by the ulema. For, in the case of the designs of “enemies of Islam” to defame the religion, the world knows that the entire community cannot be guilty at once. But in the case of the so-called shariah laws concerning triple talaq, stoning to death, the killing of apostates and other such issues, not just others, but the Muslims themselves realise that these are anti-human provisions not approved by the Quran.

(The writer is an executive committee member of Harmony India, Chennai, an organisation dedicated to communal amity and secularism. He can be reached at: faizz@rocketmail.com)