The Limits on Women’s Lives

Why do Muslim men spend an inordinate amount of time worrying about what
Muslim women are or aren't allowed to do? It would seem that the very act of
women not covering their heads is responsible for the current abyss that the
Muslim world finds itself in. And if we could only be assured of female
subordination, then all our ills would be gone; our past Islamic glory would
be recreated.

This, and the related issue of does Islam "discriminate" against women and
if so why, continue to puzzle me. Especially since I have an abiding admiration for Islam -
a true miracle for all times, but especially for the society that it was
introduced into. Centuries of needed change telescoped into a mere 23 years
with the Prophet's guidance and leadership (someone who couldn't read), can
only be explained in terms of a miracle! So why does Islam seem to place so
many limits on women's lives and why are men today so obsessed with (to the
exclusion of many other seemingly more important facets of Islamic life) their
enforcement.

Two reasons come to mind. The first is that many Muslim men
today feel a sense of profound impotence at their inability to viably compete
in a world in which the kuffaar are so clearly winning. The world is not
theirs any more - they are left far, far behind and talk of past glory can
only take them so far. The only place that they can exert control in is at
home, by dominating their women. After all, if he can come home and
terrorize his womenfolk into submission, well then, he is master of his
domains isn't he? Therefore, he must fight to retain this last bastion of his
power.

The second reason, and there is no running away from this, for anyone who has
made a close study of Islam and the Quran, is that Islam has allowed major
concessions to male biology at the expense of women. To me, the most damaging
to women's cause is the following verse (sura 4, verse 34, Pickthall
translation) revealed at the time that a woman complained to the Prophet that
her husband had slapped her, and what would be the punishment. "Men are in
charge of women, because Allah had made the one of them to excel the other,
and because they spend their property (for the support of women). Good women
are obedient. They guard their unseen parts because Allah has guarded them.
As for those from whom ye fear rebellion (nushz, interpreted by translator as
arrogance, refusing to consent to sex), admonish them and banish them to beds
apart, and scourge them. Then if they obey you seek not a way against them".

N. J Dawood has a slightly different translation. "Men have authority over
women because God has made the one superior to the other and because they
spend their wealth to maintain them. Good women are obedient. They guard
their unseen parts because God has guarded them. As for those from whom you
fear disobedience, admonish them and send them to beds apart and beat them.
Then if they obey you, take no further action against them".

Professor Ahmed
Ali has the most favourable translation of this verse in which he omits the
words "beat" or "scourge" and gives a lengthy footnote explanation of why he
doesn't think Allah really meant to say that (he was a pretty "liberal" man,
and I have looked at many others that are similar to the translations given
above).

So how do we reconcile Quranic verses like these (and there are many others)
with what we would like to think - that Islam couldn't be condoning violence
towards women? As, I said earlier, the explanation lies in the fact Islam
conceded to male biology. Men have a primal, biological need to control
female behavior because, until recently when DNA testing became available,
there was no way that a man could be sure that the offspring that his woman
had ha, was really his own. The only way that he could be sure he was
propagating his own genes and spending his time and energy in the support of
his own children and not somebody else's, was by restricting his women's
activities. So her activities had to be restricted. In an Arab environment
of debauchery and hedonism when the Prophet had to make so many revolutionary
changes, I am sure this appeared to be a minor concession, especially since
it made perfect biologic sense.

The problem was further compounded by the sentiments of two of
our Khulfa-i-Rashideen - Hazrat Omar and Hazrat Ali. Hazrat Omar believed in
strict control of his women. Many of you may remember the story from Islamiat
about when he discovered that his sister had converted to Islam and was even
holding meetings of Muslims in her house, "he beat her so badly that marks
were left on her". After he himself converted, there are many reports that he
pleaded with the Prophet to show more strictness to his wives and that
because of the Prophet's lenient attitudes, the women of Hijaz were becoming
disobedient. He is reported to have struck his wife Jamila Bint Thabit "so
hard that it knocked her to the ground". Hazrat Ali's views were colored by
the unfortunate involvement of Hazrat Aisha in the Battle of the Camel (also
known as the first Islamic Civil War or the First Fitna). Many of the "women
shouldn't be leaders" sentiments prevalent in various Islamic traditions can
be traced to him.

So, with this background how do we resolve the issue of women's rights and
freedom today? As an aside, I haven't even bothered to compare the rights
that Islam gives to women of other religions. There's no issue there -
Islam wins hands down. These other religions have
convenient reform movements that they can hide behind. We are left explaining
why our religion is so anti-women - a point of course the anti-Islam Western
media belabors endlessly, as if Islam's specific purpose in coming into
existence was to hold its women captive and maltreat them. Are any solutions
possible? As a first, I would like to suggest that we view matters in
context. For example, we know that Islam condoned slavery, it did not outlaw
it (although there are many admonishments on treating slaves kindly, and
freeing them was a major sewaab). Yet, every fiber of our modern being tells
us that slavery is morally wrong, that it is inhuman, a crime against human
dignity. So this must have been another concession of Islam to the prevailing
environment. Islam recognized that men were not perfect, and its ultimate
success depended on that realization. I think this is a powerful argument
against the mistreatment of women sanctioned by the "fundamentalists" today.
Also, the fact that men can now find out by genetic testing what they could
never have known before, should serve to reduce their in-built paranoia that
their women are up to some mischief if they step outside the house or their
fear that if a na-mahram man sees their wive's face, the attraction that he will
(surely) feel by the act of gazing upon her will lead the wife astray.

As for the abyss that the Muslim Ummah is in today - I have no ready answers!