From: joedees@bellsouth.net
Date: Sat Jul 13 2002 - 02:01:26 MDT
Islam and Women's Rights
By Azam Kamguian
Religion in general and Islam in particular are women's enemy.
Women's inequality is god's commandment, in Islam enshrined in
immutable law by Mohammad and eventually recorded in
scripture. In most countries under Islamic states or under the
influence of Islam, Koran's directives are incorporated into
contemporary law. Family law in these countries generally follows
the prescriptions of Koran. Veiling (hijab), divorce laws, a very
young legal age of marriage, custody of children, polygamy,
women's rightlessness in matters of employment, travelling,
choosing the place of residence, honour killing are all aspects of
Islamic Shari'a based on the Koran and Islam's doctrine. Together
with these, in countries under the Islamic states, women are
stoned to death for engaging in voluntary sexual relations and are
stripped of their basic human rights.
As many Western and Eastern apologists for Islam repeatedly tell
us that what is happening to women in the so -called Islamic
countries is not according to real Islam, and that real Islam is
egalitarian, I mainly refer to the Koran.
Laws about women are the most cruel, inhumane and cunning
aspects of the Koran and Islamic Shari'a.
Women are the Inferior Sex:
The rigid laws of Islam have deprived half of the population of
their basic human rights. The male is in charge of the female:
Koran 4:34, and the subjugated half is led to believe, through
Islamic teachings, that the supremacy of the man is the will of
Allah, and it has been predestined for women to live as
submissive, obedient wives. They are forced to accept that women
are inferior to men, that their testimony is equal to only half that
of the man, that they should inherit one - half of the male share,
that Allah doesn't want to see any women unveiled, that she may
not conserve with men except her father, or her brother. The
proper job and position for women is taking care of home,
children and to be a housewife. The majority of Muslim women
are brought up with the conviction that it is Allah's command for
them to be under male dominance and their fates are interwoven
with that of men.
In The Koran there are four so called neutral verses where women
are considered equal to men (at least not demeaning towards
women); to which apologists for Islam refer us repeatedly. Here
are those:
3: 195 "Their Lord responded to the: "I never fail to reward any
worker among you for any work you do, be you male or female,
you are equal to one another¦."
4: 124 "As for those who lead a righteous life, male or female.
While believing, they enter paradise; without the slightest
injustice"
16: 97 "Anyone who works righteousness, male or female, while
believing, we will surely grant them a happy life in this world, and
we will surely pay them their full recompense for their righteous
works."
40: 40 "Whoever commits a sin is required for just that, and
whoever works righteousness - male or female - while believing,
these will enter paradise wherein they receive provision without
any limits."
In opposition to above four so-called neutral verses, there are
hundreds of versed that deliberately defame and dehumanise
women:
An-Nisa 4: 34 "As to those women On whose part ye fear
disloyalty and ill -conduct, admonish them (first), (next) refuse to
share beds, (and Last) beat them (lightly); but if they return to
obedience, seek not against them means (of annoyance): For God
is Most High, Great (above you all)"
Al - Baqara 2: 223 "Your women are a tilt for you (to cultivate) so
go to your tilt as ye will, and send (good deeds) before you for
your souls, and fear Allah, and know that ye will (one day) meet
Him. Give glad tidings to believers, (o Mohammad)"
Al - Baqara 2: 222 "They questioned thee (O Mohammad)
concerning menstruation, Say it is an illness, so let women alone
at such times and go not unto them till they are cleansed."
Al - Baqara 2: 228 "Men, your wives are your tillage. Go into your
tillage any way you want."
"Women have such honourable rights as obligations, but men
have a (single) degree above them."
"Men are managers of the affairs of women because Allah has
preferred men over women and women were expended of their
rights."
4: 6 ¦ "And if ye are sick on a journey, or one of you cometh
from the closet, or ye have contact with a woman & ye find not
water, then go to clean high ground & rub your faces & your
hands with some of it¦"
33: 32-33 "O ye wives of the prophet! Ye are not like any other
women. If ye keep your duty (to Allah), then be not soft of speech
lest he in whose heart is a disease aspire to you, but utter
customary speech And stay in your houses. Bedizen not
yourselves with the bedizenment of the time of ignorance. Be
regular in prayer, & pay the poor due, 7 obey Allah & His
messenger ¦"
Hadith, Mohammad's Tradition:
"If a man and woman are alone in one place, the third person
present is the devil."
"I was shown the hell- fire and that the majority of its dwellers
were women who were ungrateful"
" If it had been given me to order someone to prostrate themselves
in front of someone other than God, I would surely have ordered
women to prostrate themselves in front of their husbands¦"
"A woman cannot fulfil her duties towards god without first
having accomplished those that she owes her husband."
"The woman who dies & with whom the husband is satisfied will
go to paradise."
"A wife should never refuse herself to her husband even if it is on
the saddle of a camel."
"Hellfire appeared to me in a dream & I noticed that it was above
all people with women who had been ungrateful. "Was it towards
god that they were ungrateful?" They had not shown any gratitude
towards their husbands for all they had received from them ¦
Even when all your life you have showered a woman with your
largesse she will still find something petty to reproach you with
one day, saying, "You have never done anything for me."
" If anything presages a bad omen it is a house, a woman, and a
horse."
" Never will a people know success if they confide their affairs to
a woman."
Veiling (hijab)
One of the most misogynist Islamic laws with respect to women is
the requirement for complete veiling (hijab) in accordance with
koranic tenets. The wearing of the veil was instituted by
Mohammad in the early days of Islam. Within about one hundred
years of his death, the institution of veiling and seclusion had been
spread all over the Middle East. One and a half centuries after his
death, the system was fully established.
The effect of all kinds of veils is the same, the woman is rendered
anonymous, a non -person, unapproachable, just a silent being
skulking along. She is taboo. The Islamic head- cover mentioned
in Koran 33: 59, and the curtain referred to in Koran 33: 53, which
was meant to separate the man from the woman. Why is Islam so
obsessed with keeping men and women part? Why have Islam
gone to such great lengths to maintain control over women? The
main reason for hijab is the need for controlling women's
sexuality. Veiling internalises the Islamic notion in women that
they belong to an inferior sex, and that they are sex objects. It
teaches them to limit their physical movements and their free
behaviour. Veiling is a powerful tool to institutionalise women's
segregation and to implement a system of sexual apartheid. It
signifies the subjugation and servitude of women based on Islamic
doctrine and Koranic teachings.
Much more than a way of clothing, hijab is the manifestation of
an outright Islamic misogynism and an antiquated view on
women's status. It is designed to control women's sexuality much
more effectively than any other religion or ideological system.
The following quote is attributed to Mohammad by a number of
Hadith collectors: "A woman is a pudendum (awrat) which is
proper to hide and cover; therefor when a woman goes out Satan
looks at her and desire to carry her from the road." In the eyes of
Mohammad, according to this quote, all male believers are
potential "Satans" who might try to take unconcealed women for
themselves.
Mohammad himself was one of the men who were unable to
control their lust upon looking at women. Once he visited the
home of Zayd, his adopted son, and there saw Zaynab, Zayd's
wife, half-naked. Mohammad's obvious desire for the woman
eventually led to the divorce of Zayd from his wife and shortly
thereafter Mohammad married her himself.
The law of veiling is not only humiliating to women, but it is an
insult to men. It is a clear indication that, in the eyes of
Mohammad; all Muslim males were sex-crazed. The obvious
Implication is that seeing a woman without a veil would cause the
typical Muslim male to lose control and that unveiled women
would constantly be subjected to unwanted sexual advances.
Veil (hijab) is imposed on women in many countries under the
influence of Islam, either legally or under cultural and social
pressure. During the last thirty years, hijab has been and continues
to be the political and ideological symbol of political Islam,
Islamic states and the Islamic movement in the Middle East,
North Africa and Central Asia. Women have been the first - hand
victims of this reactionary movement, and imposing the veil on
women by Islamic movement and Islamic governments has been
their fist bloody action to suppress the whole society.
In other countries, Saudi women typically don a billowy black
cloak called an Abaya, along with a black scarf and veil over the
face. Morality police enforce the dress code by striking errant
women with sticks. The women of Iran and the Sudan can expose
the face, but should cover the hair and the neck. Otherwise they
face arrest, imprisonment, flagging, cash fines; and if they refuse
it, they face knife and acid attack. Under Taliban, women of
Afghanistan had to wear burqa. Political Islamic groups
vigorously campaign to block reforms in women's civil rights in
the Middle East and North Africa. As long as Islam secludes
women from the public life, no real socio-economic progress is
possible.
The Wild and Naked Misogyny in the Koran
The most despicable expression one can ever come across is that
according to Hadith, women of heaven will be created in such a
way that after each sexual intercourse, they will become virgin
again. What a wild and naked misogyny! What an insult to women
and to humans! Here, I quote Koranic verses about Huris, virgins
and the sexist nature of Islam. These are few among many in the
Koran:
52: 17-20 "They will recline (with ease) on thrones arranged in
ranks. And We shall marry them to Huris with wide lovely eye.
There they shall pass from hand to hand a cup of wine."
37:40-48 "They will sit with bashful, dark - eyed virgins, as chaste
as the sheltered eggs of ostriches."
44:52-55 "Yes and we shall wed them to dark- eyed beautiful
virgins."
55:56-57 "In them will be bashful virgins neither man nor Jinn
will have touched before. Then which of favourites of your Lord
will you deny?"
78: 31 "As for the righteous, they surely triumph. Their gardens
and vineyards and high - breast virgins for companions, truly
overflowing cup of wine."
78: 33-34 "And young full - breasted (mature) maidens of equal
age, and a full cup of wine."
"Then which of the blessings of your Lord will you both (Jinn and
men) deny? (In beauty) they are like rubies and corals."
56: 7-40 "Owe created the Huris and made them virgins, loving
companions for those on the right hands."
55: 70-77 "In each there shall be virgins chaste and fair, dark eyed
virgins sheltered in their tents whom neither man nor Jinn have
touched before."
56: 22 "And there will be Huris with wide, lovely eyes as wives
for the pious."
56: 35-36 "Verily, We have created them (maidens) of special
creation. And made them virgins."
40: 45 "Surely for the God - fearing awaits a place of security
gardens and vineyards and maidens with swelling breasts."
The tidings: 30 "The Huris are ever - young women who have
wide eyes, flexing glances and swelling breasts."
Divorce
According to the Koran and Islamic law, a man has the right to
terminate his marriage whenever and wherever he pleases. It is the
absolute power of a Muslim male to repudiate his wife
unilaterally at his discretion. He needs no reason for a divorce; a
family quarrel or bad temper is sufficient. Divorce does not
require any court, judge, lawyer, or counsellor. One phrase from a
husband is enough to break the marriage bond: "you are divorced."
The Koran states: "If ye wish to exchange one wife for
another¦." (4:20), giving the absolute power to the man to
repudiate his wife and marry another without any formalities. In
fact more than two dozens verses in Allah's scripture explain the
modes of divorce (Koran 2: 226, 227, 228, 230 -37, 241, 242; 4:
19-21, 130; 33: 49; 58: 3, 4; 63: 1-7; 4: 35).
According to Islamic law, when a man wishes to divorce his wife,
all he has to do is to say: "you are divorced," or "you are
dismissed." In the second half of the 20th century, based on some
legal changes in some of the Middle Eastern countries, men are
required to be present in family courts and repudiated their wives
before a judge. A man may divorce a wife and call her back up to
three times. After the third repudiation, he cannot take her back
again unless she marries and is separated from someone else first.
Fear of poverty keeps many women locked in bad marriages, as
does the prospect of losing their children. Typically, fathers win
custody of boys over the age of six and girls after the onset of
puberty.
A woman can sue for divorce in the Islamic court on the specific
grounds, such as the impotency of her husband, non-payment of
maintenance, or his insanity. Cruelty is not sufficient grounds for
divorce because wife beating is enjoined in the Koran. When a
woman applies to the court for an injunction of divorce, and the
husband is not willing to repudiate her, the procedure can be very
lengthy and in most cases is futile.
The offering of financial consideration of some sort is commonly
the repayment of the bride- price. When the marriage is
contracted, a sum of money is stipulated to be paid by the husband
to the wife or her male kinsmen before or after the wedding. This
is called mahr (bride- price), which means marriage settlement or
dowry. A man who divorces his wife must pay the full amount of
the bride- price. When the wife agrees to buy her freedom, it is
called khula in Arabic, which means something belonging to the
wife is taken away from her. "There is no sin for either of them if
the woman ransom herself." (Koran 2:229) The text of the
scripture makes clear that the wife is actually paying money to her
husband to get her freedom. This is ransom money, reminiscent of
the ancient Arabian nomad's rite, which allowed the release of the
booty or captive of the raids after receiving a ransom or head -
price.
Thus, in Islam a man actually buys his wife when he bargains over
the bride - price (mahr) and sells his wife's freedom back to her
when a financial settlement is paid for by her for a divorce.
The legal Age of Marriage
At the age of 9, based on lunar year (when a girl is actually 8
years and 8 months) she is considered an adult and has to pray,
fast and cover herself by hijab and eligible to be married.
Mohammad's favourite wife, Aisha; according to evidence, was 6
when Mohammad met her, and nine when the marriage
consummated.
Custody of Children
According to Islamic law, woman cannot get custody of her
children, even if their father dies. In the case of divorce or death,
she surrenders her children to their father and /or his family.
Women's other Civil Rights
Women living under Islamic Law cannot travel, work, study, and
leave their houses without their fathers or husbands' permission.
They do not have the right to choose the place of their residence.
Under the terms of Koranic law, any judge fulfilling the seven
requirements (that he have reached puberty, be a believer, know
the Koranic laws perfectly, be just, and not be affected by
amnesia, or not born illegitimate, or be of the female sex), is
qualified to dispense justice in any type of cases.
According to Islamic Law, woman cannot choose her mate and is
not permitted to divorce him. Her husband can divorce without
her knowledge, and according to Shari'a, he is required to support
her for only 100 days.
Polygamy
According to the Koran a man can have four permanent wives and
as many temporary wives as he wants: 2: 3 And of ye are
apprehensive that ye shall not deal fairly with orphans, then, of
other women who seem good in your eyes marry but two, or three
or four, and if ye still fear that ye shall not act equitably, then one
only; or the slaves whom ye have acquired.
Al -Nisa 4: 24 "And all married women (are forbidden unto you)
save those (captives) whom your right hand possess. ¦" "Also
(prohibited are) women already married except those whom your
right hands possess: ¦"
33: 52 "It is not lawful for thee (to marry more) women after this,
nor to change them for (other) wives, even though their beauty
attract thee, except any thy right hand should possess (as
handmaidens): and Allah doth watch over all things."
Al - Nisa 4: 34 "Marry such women as seem good to you, two,
three, four; but if you fear you will not be equitable, then only
one, or what your right hands own; so it is likelier you will not be
partial."
23: 1,5,6 "Happy now the believers, humble is their prayers,
shunning vain conversation, paying the poor -due, and who
restrain their appetites except with their wives or the slaves whom
their right hands possess: for in that case they shall be free from
blame."
33: 49-51 "O prophet! We allow thee they wives whom thou hast
dowered, and the slaves whom thy right hand possesseth out of the
booty which God hath granted thee, and the daughters of thy
uncles, thy paternal and maternal aunts who fled with thee to
Medina, and any believing woman who hath given herself up to
the Prophet, if the prophet desired to wed her - a privilege for thee
above the rest of the Faithful. We well know what we have settled
for them, in regard to their wives and to the slaves¦; that there
may be no fault on thy part ¦ Thou mayest decline for the present
whom thou wilt of them, and thou mayest take to thy bed her
whom thou wilt, and whomsoever thou shalt long for those thou
shalt have before neglected, and this shall not be a crime in thee."
Honour Killing
Honour killings are an example of a practice that is commonly
associated with Islam. It has broader root and has been
incorporated into Islamic rules and Islamic law; Shari'a. It is based
in medireview tribal culture, in which a family's authority and
ultimately its survival is tightly linked to its honour. Muslim
perpetrators repeatedly justify their crime by referring to the
Koran that states harsh punishments for adultery.
*****************
Civilised humanity has slowly moved towards the equal treatment
of women and the recognition of women's equal rights. Religions
are one of the oldest and the most persistent obstacles on the way
of women's equality and freedom. Indeed, religion is women's
enemy and it is the nature of all religions particularly Islam to
look backwards to past ancient times and antiquated values.
Women will be universally equal someday, when that day comes,
it will arrive in spite of all religions and as a result of a just and
powerful fight against Islam and all other religions.
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