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| Islamic Traditions
& The Feminist Movement: Confrontation or Co-operation? Dr. Lois Lamya' al Faruqi Whether living in the Middle East or
Africa, in Central Asia, in Pakistan, in Southeast Asia, or in Europe and
the Americas, Muslim women tend to view the feminist movement with some
apprehension. Although there
are some features of the feminist cause with which we as Muslims would
wish to join hands, other features generate our disappointment and even
opposition. There is
therefore no simple or "pat" answer to the question of the
future cooperation or competition which feminism may meet in an Islamic
environment. There are however a number of social,
psychological, and economic traditions which govern the thinking of most
Muslims and which are particularly affective of woman's status and role in
Islamic society. Understanding
these can help us understand the issues which affect male and female
status and roles, and how we should react to movements which
seek to improve the situation of women in any of the countries
where Muslims live. THE FAMILY SYSTEM: Some Muslim families are
"residentially extended" - that is, their members live
communally with three or more generations of relatives (grandparents,
parents, uncles, aunts, and their offspring) in a single building or
compound. Even when this
residential version of the extended family is not possible or adhered to,
family connections reaching far beyond the nuclear unit are evident in
strong psychological, social, economic, and even political ties.
Mutual supports and responsibilities affecting these larger
consanguine groups are not just considered desirable, but they are made
legally incumbent on members of the society by Islamic law.
The Holy Quran itself exhorts to
extended family solidarity; in addition it specifies the extent of such
responsibilities and contains prescriptive measures for inheritance,
support, and other close interdependencies within the extended family.[1] Our Islamic traditions also prescribe a
much stronger participation of the family in the contracting and
preservation of marriages. While
most Western feminists would decry family participation or arranged
marriage as a negative influence because of its apparent restriction of
individualistic freedom and responsibility, as Muslims we would argue that
such participation is advantageous for both individuals and groups within
the society. Not only does it
ensure marriages based on sounder
principles than physical attraction and sexual infatuation, but it
provides other safeguards for successful marital continuity. Members of
the family provide diverse companionship as well as ready sources of
advice and sympathy for the newly married as they adjust to each others'
way. One party of the
marriage cannot easily pursue an eccentric course at the expense of the
spouse since such behavior would rally opposition from the larger group.
Quarrels are never so devastating to the marriage bond since other
adult family members act as mediators and provide alternative sources of
companionship and counsel following disagreements.
The problems of parenting and generational incompatibility are also
alleviated, and singles clubs and dating bureaus would be unnecessary
props for social interaction. There
is no need in the extended family for children of working parents to be
unguarded, unattended, or inadequately loved and socialized because the
extended family home is never empty.
There is therefore no feeling of guilt which the working parent
often feels in a nuclear or single-parent organization. Tragedy, even divorce, is not so debilitating to either
adults or children since the larger social unit absorbs the residual
numbers with much greater ease than a nuclear family organization can ever
provide. The move away from the cohesiveness which
the family formerly enjoyed in Western society, the rise of usually
smaller alternative family styles, and the accompanying rise in
individualism which many feminists advocate or at least practice, are at
odds with these deep-rooted Islamic customs and traditions.
If feminism in the Muslim world chooses to espouse the Western
family models, it should and would certainly be strongly challenged by
Muslim women's groups and by Islamic society as a whole. INDIVIDUALISM VS. THE LARGER ORGANIZATION: DIFFERENTIATION OF SEX ROLES: This is a new brand of male chauvinism with
which Islamic traditions cannot conform.
Islam instead maintains that both types of roles are equally
deserving of pursuit and respect and that when accompanied by the equity
demanded by the religion, a division of labor along sex lines is generally
beneficial to all members of the society. This might be regarded by the feminist as
opening the door to discrimination, but as Muslims we regard Islamic
traditions as standing clearly and unequivocally for the support of
male-female equity. In the
Quran, no difference whatever is made between the sexes in relation to
God. "For men who submit [to God] and for women who submit [to God],
for believing men and believing women, for devout men and devout women,
for truthful men and truthful women, for steadfast men and steadfast
women, for humble men and humble women, for charitable men and charitable
women, for men who fast and women who fast, for men who guard their
chastity and women who guard, for men who remember God much and for women
who remember - for them God has prepared forgiveness and a mighty
reward" (33:35). "Whoever
performs good deeds, whether male or female and is a believer, We shall
surely make him live a good life and We will certainly reward them for the
best of what they did" (16:97).[2] It is only in relation to each other and
society that a difference is made - a difference of role or function.
The rights and responsibilities of a woman are equal to those of a
man, but they are not necessarily
identical with them. Equality
and identity are two different things, Islamic traditions maintain - the
former desirable, the latter not. Men
and women should therefore be complementary to each other in a
multi-function organization rather than competitive with each other in a
uni-function society. The equality demanded by Islamic traditions
must, however, be seen in its larger context if it is to be understood
properly. Since Muslims
regard a differentiation of sexual roles to be natural and desirable in
the majority of cases, the economic responsibilities of male and female
members differ to provide a balance for the physical differences between
men and women and for the greater responsibility which women carry in the
reproductive and rearing activities so necessary to the well-being of the
society. To maintain,
therefore, that the men of the family are responsible for providing
economically for the women or that women are not equally responsible, is
not a dislocation or denial of sexual
equity. It is instead a duty
to be fulfilled by men as compensation for another responsibility which
involves the special ability of women.
Likewise the different inheritance rates for males and females,
which is so often sited as an example of discrimination against women,
must not be seen as an isolated prescription.[3] It is but one part of a
comprehensive system in which women carry no legal responsibility to
support other members of the family,
but in which men are bound by law as well as custom to provide for all
their female relatives. Does this mean that Islamic traditions necessarily prescribe maintaining the status quo in the Islamic societies that exist today? The answer is a definite "No."
Many thinking Muslims - both men and women - would agree that their
societies do not fulfill the Islamic ideals and traditions laid down in
the Quran and reinforced by the example and directives of the Prophet
Muhammad, salallahu alehi wasallam. It
is reported in the Quran and from history that women not only expressed
their opinions freely in the Prophet's presence but also argued and
participated in serious discussions with the Prophet himself and with
other Muslim leaders of the time (58:1). Muslim women are known to have
even stood in opposition to certain caliphs, who later accepted the sound
arguments of those women. A
specific example took place during the caliphate of 'Umar ibn al Khattab.[4]
The Quran reproached those who believed woman to be inferior to men
(16:57-59) and repeatedly gives expression to the need for treating men
and women with equity (2:228, 231; 4:19, and so on).
Therefore, if Muslim women experience discrimination in any place
or time, they do not and should not lay the blame on Islam, but on the
un-Islamic nature of their societies and the failure of Muslims to fulfill
its directives. SEPARATE LEGAL STATUS FOR WOMEN: POLYGYNY: Islamic tradition does indeed allow a man to marry more than one woman at a time. This leniency is even established by the Quran (4:3).[5] But the use and perception of that institution is far from the Hollywood stereotype. Polygyny is certainly not imposed by Islam; nor is it a universal practice. It is instead regarded as the exception to the norm of monogamy, and its exercise is strongly controlled by social pressures.[6] If utilized by Muslim men to facilitate or condone sexual promiscuity, it is not less Islamically condemnable than serial polygyny and adultery, and no less detrimental to the society. Muslims view polygyny as an institution which is to be called into use only under extraordinary circumstances. As such, it has not been generally regarded by Muslim women as a threat. Attempts by the feminist movement to focus on eradication of this institution in order to improve the status of women would therefore meet with little sympathy or support. II. DIRECTIVES FOR THE FEMINIST MOVEMENT IN AN ISLAMIC ENVIRONMENT What can be learned about the future
compatibility or incongruity of feminism in a Muslim environment from
these facts about Islamic traditions?
Are there any general principles to be gained, any directives to be
taken, by those who work for women's rights and human rights in the world? INTERCULTURAL INCOMPATIBILITY OF WESTERN
FEMINISM: Since the history and heritage of Muslim
peoples have been radically different from that of Western Europe and
America, the feminism which would appeal to Muslim women and to the
society generally must be correspondingly different.
Those legal rights which Western women sought
in reform of English common law were already granted to Muslim women in
the 7th century. Such a
struggle therefore holds little interest for the Muslim woman.
In addition, it would be useless to try to interest us in ideas or
reforms that run in diametrical opposition to those traditions which form
an important part of our cultural and religious heritage.
There has been a good deal of opposition to any changes in Muslim
personal status laws since these embody and reinforce the very traditions
that we have been discussing. In
other words, if feminism is to succeed in an Islamic environment, it must
be an indigenous form of feminism, rather than one conceived and nurtured
in an alien environment with different problems and different solutions
and goals. THE FORM OF AN ISLAMIC FEMINISM: Above all, the movement must recognize
that; whereas in the West, the mainstream of the women's movement has
viewed religion as one of the chief enemies of its progress and
well-being, Muslim women view the teachings of Islam as their best friend
and supporter. The prescriptions
that are found in the Quran and in the example of the Prophet Muhammad,
salallahu alehi wasallam, are regarded as the ideal to which contemporary
women wish to return. As far
as Muslim women are concerned, the source of any difficulties experienced
today is not Islam and its traditions,
but certain alien ideological intrusions on our societies, ignorance, and
distortion of the true Islam, or exploitation by individuals within the
society. It is a lack of an appreciation
for this fact that caused such misunderstanding and mutual distress when
women's movement representatives from the West visited Iran both before
and after the Islamic Revolution. Second, any feminism which is to succeed in
an Islamic environment must be one which does not work chauvinistically
for women's interest alone. Islamic
traditions would dictate that women's progress be achieved in tandem with
the wider struggle to benefit all members of the society. The good of the group or totality is always more crucial than
the good of any one sector of the society.
In fact, the society is seen as an organic whole in which the
welfare of each member or organ is
necessary for the health and well being of every other part.
Disadvantageous circumstances of women therefore should always be
countered in conjunction with attempt to alleviate those factors that
adversely affect men and other segments of the society. Third, Islam is an ideology that influences much more than the ritual life of a people. It is equally affective of their social, political, economic, psychological, and aesthetic life. "Din," which is usually regarded as an equivalent for the English term "religion," is a concept which includes, in addition to those ideas and practices customarily associated in our minds with religion, a wide spectrum of practices and ideas which affect almost every aspect of the daily life of the Muslim individual. Islam and Islamic traditions therefore are seen today by many Muslims as the main source of cohesiveness for nurturing an identity and stability to confront intruding alien influences and the cooperation needed to solve their numerous contemporary problems. To fail to note this fact, or to fail to be fully appreciative of its importance for the average Muslim – whether male or female - would be to commit any movement advocating improvement of women's position in Islamic lands to certain failure. It is only through establishing that identity and stability that self-respect can be achieved and a more healthy climate for both Muslim men and Muslim women will emerge. NOTES REFERENCES Kamal Ahmad 'Awn, Al Mar'ah fi al Islam
(Tanta: Sha'raw Press, 1955) Muhammad 'Izzat Darwazah, Al Dastur al
Quran fi Shu'un al Hayat (Cairo: 'Isa al Babi al Halabi, n.d.). Mustafa al Siba'i, Al Mar'ah baynal Fiqh wal Qanun (Aleppo: Al Maktabah al 'Arabiyyah, first pub. 1962). |