Inequality: Women and Islam

Tayis Lawson

Women studies

12/3/2013

Professor: Adriane Brown

Inequality: Women and Islam

Introduction

This blog explores the relationship between Muslim women and how they are regarded in Islam. All the articles and books that I have read regarding this topic vary in definition of what womens’ roles are in Islam. Women and the Koran by Anwar Hekmat discusses many important topics such as the primitive marriage laws, polygamy, and repudiation of a wife: male absolute power. The book Women in Islam was written by a different author for each chapter. It focused on polygamy and its benefit to Islamic women, how women are blamed for being raped in Islamic countries, and how the Qur’an teaches that women cannot be leaders. In Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, the book gave us an old Islamic perspective on the veiling of women during the Iranian revolution. I also read The Muslim Women’s League article they wrote regarding their perspective on Islamic sexuality. This blog is going to discourse the many difference ideas from each of these texts such as polygamy, marriage, divorce, and social status and how these structures and rules give men power over women in Islam.

Polygamy in the Muslim world

After reading Anwar Hekmat’s book which he wrote to his wife Mary Mandal, I now understand many critical issues Muslim women face in the Islamic world such as abuse, divorce laws, and child custody laws. This book purpose was “to show that despite all such self-deceiving, dogmatic, and not infrequently biased rhetorical statements, the social standing of woman was demoted by Islam. Even today she is still humiliated, abased, mistreated, and ignored” (Hekmat 10). The verse 4:3 in the Qur’an stated “marry of the women, who seem good to you, two, three, four”, why do men in the Qur’an get special privileges, what about women? This is one-sided privilege he said, polygamist must treat their wives with equality, but we all know that it is impossible and difficult to make everyone content at the same time.

As Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips writes, polygamy benefits Islamic women. Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips is a lecturer in Arabic and Islamic studies at the American University in Dubai and Ajman University in Ajman, United Arab emirates. He described polygamy as a practice in which a spouse of either sex may have more than one mate at the same time. In contrast, in the practice of polygyny, only the males may have more than one mate. Polygyny he said has been practiced for thousands of years by Muslim societies. Abu said he is not defending polygyny because Allah has already confirmed its validity as it clearly states in the scripture 4:3 in the Qur’an.  He argued that early Christians were polygynous, and that there was no scriptural account of Jesus prohibiting polygyny. Abu also said that Christian monogamy did not civilize the world; it only protected women’s rights. He went to say that in 1650 some Christian leaders were allowed to marry two women. But I believe in Christianity everyone have a different relationship with God.

Divorce laws and male power

The book Women and the Koran by Anwar Hekmat has a chapter on the repudiation of a wife: male absolute power. This chapter describes the word talaq and how it originated from when “Arab wanderers used to tie their camels’ legs and shackle them with a rope or a strap so that the beast would be unable to walk away from the tent or camp. In a pasture, the camels would be untethered and allowed to graze on the grass. To release a camel from a tether was called talaq, and this term has come to mean to release a wife from the marriage bond, in other words divorce” (Hekmat 227). It saddens me that women are being compared to animals. In the world today, those camels that were used for transportation are replaced by expensive cars, especially in the Middle East, but a rejection of women is still easy by men saying the word talaq. In Persepolis, the author talks about how when Ayatollah came into power the veil was strictly enforced and also challenged us with the idea of a woman as a prophet.  But I’m sure under the ruling of Ayatollah that is impossible.

According to Islamic law, “You are divorced,” or “You are dismissed,” (Hekmat 228) is all a man needs to say and the wife is dismissed from the house. The author said that sometimes “merely pointing his finger at the door is enough to dismiss his wife for good.” I learned from Women in the Koran that when a women is send away from her marriage, she do not have the right to remarry for at least three months. The waiting time is called idda, if the husband wants her back during that period he can revoke the divorce. By simply calling his wife back into the house terminates their divorce as easily as the dismissal was performed. During a marriage a man can divorce and call back his wife up to three times. He cannot take her back after the third repudiation unless she is married, Hekmat said. I think this law is abnormal; it is totally ignoring women’s rights. Generally speaking, I do not think any women in the world would appreciate such law because it diminishes a woman’s value.

Patriarchal system and women as men property

The religion of Islam treats a woman like a property of men. The Qur’an stated that “Men are in charge of women by right of what Allah has given one over the other and what they spend for maintenance from their wealth. So righteous women are devoutly obedient, guarding in the husband's absence what Allah would have them guard. But those wives from whom you fear arrogance first advise them; then if they persist, forsake them in bed; and finally, strike them. But if they obey you once more, seek no means against them. Indeed, Allah is ever exalted and grand” (Surah 4:34). Hekmat said a “woman is considered to be the property first of her guardian (usually her father) and then the ownership over her is transferred to her husband” (Hekmat 209). Women are definitely viewed to be under the superiority of men in the Islamic society. This patriarchal society existed in the early days in the world, which was practiced by not only Muslims, but many people. Today, I think it’s mostly found in Islamic countries.

Sexuality

Muhammad was quoted saying, “If a man invited his wife to sleep with him and she refuse to come to him, then the angels send their curses on her until morning.” Hekmat argued that why most married Muslim women “come to bed and satisfy her husband’s sensual desires; otherwise, she may be beaten by him and cursed by the angels of Allah, who apparently are commissioned to have a close watch over sexual affairs of a couple.” Why must women have to right to refuse sexual pleasures to men? Why must men have it their way? It is unjust that in men can marry as many wives, have the power to divorce a woman without any repercussions, and have more advantages when it comes to the inheritance laws. It also clearly states in the Qur’an that “unto you your religion and unto me my religion” (2:256) which Hekmat explained that the verses can be cited as proof that Islam is very liberal in its religious thought. Women are still not respected from what I have read in Women and the Koran.

Conclusion

In my opinion, in most Islamic countries women live very restricted lives. I find them segregated from the men and most of the time their role in the society is to stay home and take care of the family. In Muslim countries, from what I have learned, read, and viewed in the movies, when women leave the house and take public transportation, they usually sit in a separate section. I don’t think the Qur’an meant to deny women of such freedom, it has to do with the way people interpreted the Qur’an or maybe during Prophet Muhammad’s time the society was a very patriarchal one. Prophet Muhammad married many women and still when it comes to polygamy, marriage, and divorce in Islam, men is given all the advantages.

Work Cited:

Hekmat, Anwar. Women and the Koran: The Status of Women in Islam. Amherst, N.Y: Prometheus Books, 1997. Print.

Muslim Women's League. "Sexuality." Sexuality. Muslim Women's League, Sept. 1999. Web. 01 Dec. 2013.

Shakir, M H. The Holy Qur'an. Mt. View, Calif: Wiretap, 1990. Internet resource.

Speaker-Yuan, Margaret. Women in Islam. Detroit: Greenhaven Press/Thomson-Gale, 2005. Print.

Satrapi, Marjane, and Marjane Satrapi. The Complete Persepolis. New York: Pantheon Books, 2007. Print.