Talk delivered by Sr. Aminah Mah at Curtin University, Perth on 31/08/2003 

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Most Merciful

All praises are due to Allah, we praise Him, we seek His help and we ask for His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Him from the evil that comes from within us, and from the wrong doings of our actions. Whoever Allah guides, no one can lead him astray and whoever has been left to go astray, no one can guide him. We bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah, and we also bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).

 “The status of women in Islam”

 The status of Muslim, among many topics of interest to non-Muslims, seems to always evolve around the theme of their rights, or a lack of it.  The media portrayal of Muslim women is usually along the lines of oppression and mystery. To prove my point, let me share a few stories with you.

“Since I called myself a feminist, my early reading centered around women in Islam. I thought Islam oppressed women. In my Womens Studies courses I had read about Muslim women who were not allowed to leave their homes and were forced to cover their heads. Of course I saw hijab as an oppressive tool imposed by men rather than as an expression of self-respect and dignity.”

– Karima Slack Razi (www.islamfortoday.com )

“Poor things. What about their treatment in Muslim countries?... I knew they were deluded, socialised/brainwashed from an early age, into believing this wicked way of treating women… the women are oppressed, …  I thought.”

“A Muslim! Kathy, how could you - a white western woman convert to a religion which makes its women second class citizens!”

Katherine Bullock (www.islamfortoday.com)

Definition of oppression:

Macquarie Student Dictionay, 1995, Jacaranda Press

Oppress verb

1. To cause hardship to or weigh heavily upon (afflict, burden)

2. To be cruel to (maltreat, persecute, suppress, tyranny)

Collins English Dictionary and Thesaurus, 1993, Harper Collins

Oppression:

Synonyms – abuse, brutality, calamity, cruelty, hardship, harshness, injury, iron hand, suffering, tyranny

Antoynms – benevolence, clemency, compassion, goodness, humaneness, justice, kindness, mercy, sympathy, tenderness

The last example is quite a story: written by a former radical feminist, and a broadcast journalist who also happened to be a Baptist from Oklahoma, Aminah Assilmi (www.islamfortoday.com) said,

“When I entered the classroom…the class was full of 'Arabs' and 'camel jockeys'. Well, I had never seen one but I had heard of them. …There was no way I was going to sit in a room full of dirty heathens! After all, you could catch some dreadful disease from those people. Everyone knew they were dirty, not to be trusted either. I shut the door and went home. …On Thursday I went back to the class convinced that God had put me there to save those poor ignorant heathens from the fires of hell.” 

Through her studies, she later became a Muslim, and she changed. She devoted much of her time studying and reading about Islam. She stopped going to bars and parties. As a result she was divorced by her husband. She lost custody over her children, because the court felt that the “unorthodox religion will be detrimental to her children”. She lost her job as an award-winning broadcaster, because she decided to wear the head scarf. She said the persecution was intense.

"I've been forced off the road before -- beaten up -- and I've never lifted a hand against anyone," Assilmi said. She tried wearing the face veil, but simply could not handle the pressure. The defining moment came when she tried to cash a check at her bank wearing the face veil. A bank security guard drew his gun preparing to shoot if she made any questionable moves.

Her family wanted nothing to do with her, her sister believed she should be locked up as she had clearly lost her mind, her father believed she should be killed before she placed herself deeper into Hellfire.

This is oppression, meted out at women who had chosen a different path than what is the cultural norm. Aminah’s story is not an isolated one. Many women faced similar tortures and injustice simply because they had chosen to submit to their Creator, Allah.

Aminah Assilmi’s experience took place over 20 years ago. One may argue that things have changed now. Yes, things have changed a lot. I must also admit that these cases do not occur everyday. And not every revert Muslim face the same level of oppression. Yet, we cannot deny that they still exist. In 1999, a woman, after converting to Islam, was sent home for wearing a head scarf to work, according to her, the supervisor “threw a fit” after he saw her dressed in hijab. (http://www.cair-net.org/ncalif/index.htm)

Oppression of Muslim women

There is some truth in what these women had seen.  Muslim girls, in countries such as France, Singapore and even Turkey, not allowed to go to school with their head coverings suffer oppression.  Girls deprived of their rights to education, to speak their minds, girls forced into arranged marriages, women suffering domestic violence, honour killings, so on and so forth, are oppressed. 

One could perhaps give non-Muslims the excuse for oppressing Muslim women due to their lack of understanding, their fear of the unknown, and even blame the sources of their information. Yet when Muslims oppress Muslim women, one must make a distinction between what constitute cultural practices and what is in the religion. The Islamic teachings are not always practised by Muslims.  Many cultural practices, even beliefs, are sexist. Throughout history, up till now, millions of women still suffer oppression. Muslim men who ill-treat their womenfolk lack understanding in the essence of Islamic teachings. They often quote verses out of context and use them to oppress women. These men are experts in claiming their rights, but are rather ignorant in fulfilling their rights towards their wives and daughters. As long as one continues to remain in a state of ignorance, the problem will persist. These people will never be able to do justice to a religion that came to liberate the weaker members of the society, namely, the women, the poor and the downtrodden from tyranny and injustice.

The status of women in Islam

What does Islam say about women?

Let me take you back to more than 14 and half centuries ago. Women in the pre-Islamic Arabia were among the most despised, ill-treated and oppressed of all. Families would dig a hole in the ground at the time a woman was giving birth, and as soon as the baby was born and had its gender identified, one of two decisions would be made. If the baby was a girl, she would be buried there and then; if it was a boy, the family would rejoice and celebrate!

Regarding this evil practice, Allah gave severe warnings to those who took part in this monstrous crime in a number of places in the Qur’an, that they will, on the day of Judgment, be questioned as to why the baby girls were murdered in this manner? Those people will surely have to suffer the consequences of their evil doings. (At-Takwir 81:8, 9, 14).

In reality, more and more women are attracted to Islam, partly due to the status Islam gives to women. Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations commented that the majority of converts are from the African American community and women of European heritage. (O’Crowley, 1999) (http://www.nj.com/features/ledger/bo695c.html)

 In Australia, it was believed that 4 out 5 converts are women. (Buckley, Salam 1995)

Allow me to share some evidences from the authentic sources of Islamic teachings, namely the Qur’an, the words of God, and hadith, which are narrations from the teachings, sayings and actions of the Prophet (pbuh).

In a hadith, narrated by Al-Mughira: The Prophet (pbuh) said: Allah (swt) has forbidden for you

1.     to be undutiful to your mother

2.     to bury your daughters alive

3.     not to pay the rights of the others (charity etc.)

4.     to beg of men (when it can be avoided). 

(Sahih Al-Bukhari, Vol. 3, Hadith no. 591)

Right to attain piety

Unlike women in the Jewish and Christian teachings (http://www.fountainmagazine.com/2003/women.html), Islam gave women absolute equal opportunity as men to attain piety. The emphasis is unmistakably clear in the following verse in the Qur’an:

 “Verily, the Muslims men and women, the believers men and women, the men and women who are obedient, the men and women who are truthful, the men and women who are patient, the men and women who are humble, the men and women who fast, the men and women who guard their chastity and the men and women who remember Allah much with their hearts and tongues, Allah has prepared for them forgiveness and a great reward.” (33:35)

·        Specifically mentions the nouns in the masculine and feminine form to dispel any confusion

·        Criteria to attain piety

·        Equal opportunity to strive for Paradise

Right to choose marriage partner and the right to fair treatment:

“O ye who believe! You are forbidden to inherit women against their will. Nor should ye treat them with harshness, …live with them on a footing of kindness and equity if ye take a dislike to them it may be that ye dislike a thing, and Allah brings about through it a great deal of good.” (4:19)

The Prophet (pbuh) in his attempt to abolish the unfair treatment of girls among the Arabs, left a number of narrations that “daughters were to be cherished, educated and supported until they reached the age of maturity: the reward for doing this was to be no less than Paradise.” (Al-Khattab, 1997, p.34).

Right to education

The Prophet (pbuh) said: “There is no poverty worse than ignorance” He also said: “Seek knowledge from cradle to grave.” Most importantly, he said, “Seeking knowledge is obligatory upon every Muslim.” (be it man or woman) (Ibn Majah)

He set aside special days to instruct women alone, and other days for open learning. Hundreds and thousands of men and women were uplifted and empowered by the gift of knowledge. Some of the great scholars in the Muslim world were students of women. One of the most prominent scholars among the early Muslims, was Aisha bint Abu Bakr (ra), who alone narrated 2210 prophetic teachings and sayings. There were only two other men during her time who could compete with her in this field of knowledge. She was held in extremely high regards where 2 of the famous jurists would always rely on Aisha’s authority of the narrations. It was said that one fourth of the injunctions of the Shari’ah are narrated from her. Her knowledge influenced the arena of politics, jurisprudence and the Islamic scholarship in general (Doi, 1989, pp. 140-141).

Two other examples from the learned women in history:

Asma bint Yazeed (ra), was an Ansari woman who learnt a great deal in Islamic knowledge and was known among Muslim men and women as a scholar of her time. (Badawi, Islam in focus, G:20, audio)

Rufia bint Saad Al-Aslami, founded the first Islamic Nursing school and clinic and laid down the first code of Nursing rules and ethics in the world 12 centuries before Florence Nightingale was conceived (Hussein, 1981).

Right to work in a field one excels

For some reason, when it comes to woman wanting to learn a “male dominant” subject, she is frowned upon, largely by Muslims. She gets told that her place is in the home and her duties are to look after her husband and children. We are repeatedly being reminded of these duties, that having interests outside these arenas are being made to look sinful. But look at the most pious of men, the Prophet himself, and his companions, who have the first hand understanding of the religion. They valued women’s talents of their time as much as that of men’s and that was why the Islamic civilization reached its peak in the centuries to follow. As Dr. Tariq Suweidan, speaker at the 2002 FAMSY annual conference once said, “you cannot build a nation hopping on one leg”. A lot of the restrictions on women did not come from Islam but from ignorance.  

During the time of the second Khalifah, Umar ibn al-Khattab, a woman by the name of Umm Shefa bint Abdullah (Badawi, Islam in focus, G:20, audio), proved herself to be outstanding in her fairness in business dealings that she was appointed by Umar to supervise business transactions in the market, in order to make sure that no one cheated or acted in dishonesty. To translate this into today’s terms it could be similar to the work of a public and consumer affairs officer.

If we take a closer look at this situation, we can say that even in a field that is predominantly run by men, a woman with outstanding ability was being appreciated, where her judgment and decision was respected and valued. This takes us to the point that as long as we carry out our duties with the intention to please Allah, and the work environment does not require us to compromise our practice as believing women, and stays in par with the natural ability and inclination God had intended for us, who is to dictate women in which field they can or cannot pursue?

The position of mothers

With regard to the position of mothers, Allah specifically reminded mankind of their responsibilities due to their parents, especially the extra hardship and sacrifice from their mothers:

“And We have enjoined on man to be dutiful and kind to his parents. His mother bears him with hardship. And she brings him forth with hardship, and the bearing of him, and the weaning of him is thirty months, till when he attains full strength and reaches forty years, he says: ‘My Lord! Grant me the power and ability that I may do righteous good deeds, such as please You, and make my offspring good. Truly, I have turned to You in repentance, and truly, I am one of the Muslims (submitting to Your Will). ‘” (46:15)

Other rights of Muslim women

Muslim women were the first in the history of mankind to receive inheritance. They were guaranteed financial security for life. This means they have the right to be supported financially by their close male relatives all their lives. Women can have ownership of property. A woman can also earn an income and her earnings belong to her alone. She is free to dispose of her wealth in whichever manner she wishes.  She is allowed to work in areas that do not compromise her practice as a believing woman, and as long as she does not put her marriage and children in disadvantage.

How about women in general?

It is an undeniable fact that women have had no or low status in many societies and faiths throughout history, even to this day and age. I’d like to share some interesting information with you for you to take away and reflect upon. In an article I read very recently, Dr. Sherif Muhammad, compared women’s rights according to the three monotheistic religions. At the end of his paper, he quoted from a pamphlet issued by the Dean of Women’s office at Queen’s University: that “In Canada, a woman is sexually assaulted every 6 minutes; 1 in 3 women in Canada will be sexually assaulted at some time in their lives; 1 in 4 women are at the risk of rape or attempted rape in her lifetime; and 1 in 8 women will be sexually assaulted while attending college or university; and a study found that 60% of Canadian university-aged males said they would commit sexual assault if they were certain they wouldn’t get caught.”  

This led me to look into the statistics in Australia. From a Women’s Safety survey by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2.6 million women had experienced one or more incidents of physical or sexual violence since the age of 15, of which, 2.5 million were perpetrated by men. 77% of victims of homicide are women and male offenders are responsible for 80% of these cases. (ABS 1996)

A global report released by Human Rights Watch on Women revealed an appalling record of abuses against the world’s women. Despite government pledges to respect women’s human rights, the report concluded that the abuse is often a result of the active participation or deliberate indifference of governments. The kinds of abuse include soldiers or security officers rape women as a tool of war or political repression; police and border guards traffick women into force prostitution; soldiers and camp administrators commit violence and discrimination against refugee and displaced women; guards rape women in prisons and jails; and police and courts turn a blind eye to violence and discrimination in the workplace, at home, and in the context of carrying out reproductive and sexual policies.

We cannot deny a hard fact that men are physically stronger than women. This leads me to the discussion, briefly on the difference in appearance between Muslim men and women. God commands us to cover, for many good reasons.  Allah says in the Qur’an regarding women’s code of dress, that “they should be known as believing women so as not to be annoyed.” (33:59). By covering up our beauty, by leaving our adornments at home, by facing the public with only what is absolutely necessary, we expand our personal space to a larger perimeter; the strict dress code is aimed at protecting the believing women from assault and other harms. By lowering our gaze and checking our manner of communication, that is our tone of voice and the content of our conversation, we reduce the chances of uninvited intrusion. The hijab, instead of it being an imprisonment, is seen by Muslim women as liberation, that we gain control over whom is allowed to see our beauty, and whom do we display our charm to. This code of dress and behaviour, protects us from unwanted attention, which further protects us from harmful violation which we do not have strength to fight against if and when it happens.

In the same token, Muslim men are instructed to lower their gaze, guard their chastity, dress and behave in modesty, to deserve the special companionship of their wives who preserved themselves for their eyes only. You can see everything is reciprocated. The rights and responsibilities go hand in hand with each other. The long term benefit for all these injunctions is that the society is protected from sexual exploitation and promiscuity. The bond of marriage is strengthened, and hence less broken marriages, and hence less troubled children. The rippling benefits of Islamic teachings always go way beyond what meets the eye, if one takes the time to ponder and reflect.

Conclusion

Mankind will continue to commit injustice, again and again, out of greed, out of hunger for power, out of selfish desires to conquer, to possess, if we forget that there is always the Supreme power over us. No matter how powerful we think we are, no one can escape death. Let us not forget, that one day, real Justice will be brought to our reality. Ignorance caused Aminah Assilmi to suffer oppression, ignorance caused Muslim women to suffer oppression, and women around the world will continue to suffer oppression if we neglect our duty to find out what equity and equality really mean. No one knows it better than the Creator Himself. For He is the Sole Designer of the universe, the Creator of man and woman, Who alone has the definite knowledge about how human should best treat each other, Who knows the very purpose of our existence. All we need to do, is to submit. The many questions people have about life have been answered to readers’ full satisfaction in the Qur’an, leaving many awestruck, at the precision, the authoritative and majestic tone, and the many facts revealed so long ago but have only been proven in recent years. The miracle of the Qur’an will continue to convince those who look for answers about life, with a truly open mind. Would you care to read it before it is too late?