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Elevation of Women’s Status (part 1 of 5): World Views
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Description: Taken from a lecture that was given at McGill University in Canada on how Islam elevated the status of women. Part One: An explanation of the fundamental difference in world views between the West and Islam in regards to women, and a glimpse of Greek and Early Christian views on women.
By Ali Al-Timimi
- Published on 31 Dec 2007 - Last modified on 01 Apr 2008
Viewed: 2417 - Rating: 5 from 5 - Rated by: 7
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_-_World_Views_001.jpg) Islam has elevated the status of women in Islam. Many,
upon hearing this, might assume it to be an oxymoron because the prevalent idea
- at least in the West - is that Islam does not elevate the status of women,
but that Islam oppresses and suppresses women. In relation to this, it must be
said that today, there are basically two world views. These two views are
often in conflict - not only on the personal level where individual human
beings are making choices, but also on the international level in terms of the
debate over the authenticity and correctness of these two world views.
The first world view is the Western liberal view. A
view which claims to draw its roots from the Judeo-Christian tradition that
probably, upon investigation, is more well rooted in the ideas that appeared
after the reformation; ideas that are rooted in secularism and the world view
that appeared thereafter during the ‘era of enlightenment’.
The second view is that of the Muslims - the Islamic
world view, and this view says that its roots and ideas lie in the revelation
given by God (or Allah in Arabic) to Prophet Muhammad, may the mercy and
blessings of God be upon him. Those who proclaim this view say that it can be
used by humanity during all ages and times, and that its relevance and benefit
is not restricted to a certain period of time, geographic area or certain race of
human beings. Likewise, the adherents of the first view, that of Western
secularism and the liberal tradition, believe that their world view, ideas,
culture and civilization are the best for humanity. An American author of
Japanese decent (Francis Fukuyama) wrote a book entitled, “The End of Time”. In
this book he basically put forth the theory that human development in terms of
its ideas has concluded with this final period of liberal secular thought and
nothing more will come to humanity. However in his book he adds that that the
only part of the world which has not adopted this secular human view is the
Islamic world and proposes that there will be a conflict in terms of this
ideology in the Islamic world.
With that brief introduction, one of the topics of
contention between these two world views, that of the secular liberal view in
the West and the Islamic tradition, concerns women. What is the position and
status of women? How are women looked at? Are women elevated in one culture
and oppressed in another?
The Western view is that women are elevated only in the
West and that they are getting more and more rights with the passage of time,
while their sisters - they say - in the Islamic world are still being
suppressed. The Muslims who they encounter say that in actuality it is the
Islamic system that provides the true freedoms for men and women alike, and
women in the West as well as men, are deceived into an idea of freedom which
really doesn’t exist.
How women are understood in Islam cannot be properly
understood - and this is more significant, I feel - unless one understands
exactly what we might call the philosophical basis or ideological understanding
- since this is really a theological concept.
First, let’s review how exactly women were thought of
and understood in the western tradition, to compare and contrast perspectives.
We know that the western tradition sees itself as the intellectual inheritors
of the Greek tradition that existed before Prophet Jesus Christ, peace be upon
him, and so therefore many of the intellectual traditions of the West are found
to some degree in the writings of the early Greek philosophers like Aristotle,
Plato, etc.
How did they view women? What were the ideas of
Aristotle and Plato regarding women? When one reviews the works of these early
Greek philosophers, he finds that they had very disparaging views of women. Aristotle
in his writings argued that women were not full human beings and that the
nature of woman was not that of a full human person. As a result, women were
by nature deficient, not to be trusted and to be looked down upon. In fact,
writings describe that the free women in many aspects of the Greek society -
except for the very few women of the elite classes - had positions no better
than animals and slaves.
This Aristotelian view of women was later carried on
into the early Christian tradition of the Catholic Church. Saint Thomas of
Aquinas in his writings proposed that women were the trap of Satan. The issue
of Adam and Eve added a dimension to the earlier Greek ideas of Aristotle;
women were the cause of the downfall of man and therefore were Satan’s trap and
should be looked at with caution and weariness because they caused the first
downfall of humanity and all thus evil precedes from women. This type of
thought was persistent within the writings of the Church fathers throughout the
Middle Ages. In their writings we find this theme proposed in one aspect or
another. However, after the Protestant reformation Europe decided to free
itself from the shackles and chains of the Catholic Church. Ideas which have
been entitled as the Age of Enlightenment or thought of as such, caused them to
feel that they needed to free themselves from many of these ideas. Some of
these ideas were scientific in nature that the earth goes around the sun,
instead of the sun going around the earth; theological in nature, as in the
writings of Martin Luther; and also social in nature, like the position of
women in society. However, the writers of the Enlightenment still carried this
basic theme that was not much of a switch - women where not full human beings.
French writers during the revolution, like Rousseau, Voltaire and others,
looked at women as a burden that needed to be taken care of. Due to this Rousseau
in his book “Emile”, proposed a different form of education for women based
upon the fact that women were unable to understand what men were able to
understand.
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Elevation of Women’s Status (part 2 of 5): Between Two Extremes
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Description: A university lecture on how Islam elevated the status of women. Part Two: The stance taken by the West today as reaction to previous view, and the Islamic world view concerning women.
By Ali Al-Timimi
- Published on 07 Jan 2008 - Last modified on 01 Apr 2008
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_-_Between_Two_Extremes_001.jpg) This is the tradition that the West inherited and
thereafter we find in the 1800’s the first writings appearing by women and some
men calling for the change of these ideas. And with this we have the origins
of the first feminine movements. One of the first books written was the “Vindication
for the Rights of Women” by Mary Walsencraft which appeared in the 1800’s. Thereafter
the tradition of women receiving certain rights came. The first of these were
basically legal rights because until the 1800’s women were not able to own
property and were not able to dispose of their wealth as men did. It is very
well known that the first laws that allowed women to own property in the United States or in Europe appeared only in the last couple of decades of the 1800’s.
The Industrial Revolution caused another impetus,
another search, to this feminist movement. Women in the Industrial Revolution,
especially England, were forced to labor for many hours in the coal mines and
so forth, and would receive no pay whatsoever compared to men. So therefore
the first calling of the movement was that people who work the same amount of
hours deserved the same amount of money or pay.
Finally a break occurred in this century of basically
all which is understood from the Western tradition. Coming from the latter
feminist movement which appeared after World War II, a new movement called for
the emancipation of women not only in terms of legal rights, but it also
questioned some of the morals of society and called for greater sexual freedoms
for women and men alike. It contended that basically a lot of problems were
caused by the institution of marriage and the ideas of family and so forth. People
wrote concerning the need to break from these.
And finally in the 1990’s, the prevalent argument in the
West is that we should discuss genders, not sexes. This idea was expressed
recently in a book which came out a year ago called “The Age of Extremes”. The
author discusses the idea that there is no difference between male or female
and that gender is so only due to environment. So therefore we can change the
environment so that men could take the roles of women and women take the roles
of men by changing the education and climate. This is where it has ended up
now. So we find in this 2500 year old western tradition, we come from the
first extreme which was expressed by the Greeks, where women were denied their
essential humanity, to this extreme expressed today where there is no
differences between the sexes and it is an issue of gender, climate and
environment. This is, of course, a very brief summary of the first world view.
I didn’t do justice to those 2500 years in just those few minutes, but it just
gives us an idea.
The other view which I would like to talk about in more detail
is the Islamic view. How does Islam look at the issue of women? Well, first
of all, we should understand that Muslims unlike, for instance, the Greek
philosophers or the French writers after the French revolution, do not feel
that their concepts, ideas and beliefs are those of fellow men. But rather
they believe that what they are taught, what they believe, what they practice,
and all that is tied to this, is part of a divine revelation given to them by
God. And so, its truth and veracity is not questionable because of it being
revelation from God. The argument is that God knows best that which He created.
He created human beings, He is a God of wisdom, and a God of all knowledge and
so therefore He knows what is best. And He decrees that which is best for
humanity, His creatures. Therefore, Muslims try to live by a code of law which
is an expression of that belief.
Now I don’t want to discuss the various details of the
code of law because that, I feel, would not really benefit us in this lecture.
Although perhaps some of that might come out in the question and answer session
and I’ll be glad to entertain any questions you might have. But what I would
like to discuss is how does Islam look at women, i.e. what is womanhood in
Islam? Did Muslims believe like the early Greek writers or early church
fathers that women were not full human beings? Did they feel that women where
Satan’s trap, so therefore should be shunned and looked at as something evil
and dangerous? How did they perceive women? Upon investigating into the
traditions of Islam which is, as I said, based on revelation known as the Quran,
we find that it becomes very clear that Muslims are taught that men and women
share a single humanity - that they are equal in their humanity and that there
is no difference in the amount of human nature in them. We might now take that
for granted, but as I explained, the initial western civilization was based on
the fact that women were not full human beings.
So this being something that was taught 1400 years ago
was a revolutionary idea in the sense that it is only within the last 100 years
or so that the issue of women being full human beings has come to be accepted
in western intellectual circles. Initially, women were not considered full
human beings.
The Quran in describing the origins of human beings
tells them, the translation of which would be something like:
“O humanity! Verily we have created you from a single male
and a single female, and have made you into tribes and peoples so that you may
know one another. Verily the most honorable of you are those who are most
pious with God.” (Quran 49:13)
This verse in the Quran teaches that humans come from a
single male and a single female. The indication here is that the male and
female in terms of their human nature are at an equal level. Likewise another
verse, from a chapter which is known in the Quran as the chapter of Women -
because most of the issues discussed there are laws dealing with women - starts
off with a verse which could be translated as
“O humanity! Verily We have created you from a single soul,
and have made from it its mate…”
…this is a reference to Adam and Eve,
“…and have made from both of them many people, men and women,
and scattered them throughout the earth.” (Quran 4:1)
So here again is the issue of men and women and all
human beings coming from a single source, a single family, a single set of
parents. This shows that women share in full humanity with men.
Likewise in the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad, may
the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, - which is the second source of the
Islamic religion - we find that the Prophet Muhammad said in a hadeeth that
indeed verily women are the twin halves of men. The Arabic word shaqaa’iq,
which I translated as twin halves, means taking something and splitting it in
half. The understanding is that there is a single humanity, a single essence
which is shared, and there are twin halves of that - one is man and one is
women. This is repeated often in the Quran. The words of the Prophet Mohammad
also emphasize this. As I said, this is a very important concept to understand
when one reflects on how traditional western civilization looked at women as
not being full partners and not sharing in humanity. Although now, we might
not find much surprise to that because it is a given perhaps that men and women
are full human beings. But this is something that is a late occurrence in
western traditions.
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Elevation of Women’s Status (part 3 of 5): A Core Difference
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Description: A university lecture on how Islam elevated the status of women. Part Three: The difference between Islamic and Western World Views, and a glimpse of some of the rights granted to women 1400 years ago by Islam.
By Ali Al-Timimi
- Published on 14 Jan 2008 - Last modified on 01 Apr 2008
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Let us take it to another step, what is the aim of
humanity? What is the purpose for which human beings exist on earth, to what
ends do they strive? What will occur to them if they strive to those ends and
what will occur to them if they did not strive to those ends?
Since Islam is a religion which sees itself as
revelation from God and the truth, Muslims would feel that human beings have a
set purpose here on earth; that in everything of God’s creation there is wisdom.
There is nothing of God’s creation that does not have any wisdom. There is
nothing for sport or play and so therefore human beings have a purpose, and
that purpose has been elucidated for them in the teaching of Islam. They were
created to worship God. A verse from the Quran says that God says that He has
not created human beings except to worship Him. So therefore, the essence of
humanity is the same between male and female, and they also share the same aim
and that is to worship God. And that is the most important issue in the Islamic
culture and civilization.
You know that the Islamic culture and civilization is
rooted in religious belief. American civilization is rooted in what? In the
writings of the founding fathers of the United States of America. It is rooted
in the Declaration of Independence, the ideals which were placed therein. It
is rooted in the Constitution of the United States. It is rooted in some of
the arguments between monarchy or democracy which were written by some of the
early writers or founding fathers. So it is rooted in a political thought. Yes,
it might have some traditions which go back further and extend to certain ideas
like in parts of Christianity and so forth, but in its essence it is a
political thought, unlike Islam which is a religion in its essence.
The civilization of Islam - a civilization which is 1400
years old - is one which is rooted in religion. For a Muslim the greatest aim
is to serve God, to worship God alone, and that is what the word Muslim means.
Muslim is not a racial description, it is not an ethnic
category, Muslim means one who submits. Islam means submitting to the will of
God - the voluntary submission to God - so Islam is a religion of submission. Therefore,
in the most important aspect of the Islamic religion, we find that men and
women share in the same aim and are expected to have the same responsibilities,
in that men and women are both required or obligated to testify that there is
none worthy of worship but Allah alone - God alone - and that Muhammad is His
Messenger. Men and women are both obligated to pray five times a day, which is
the second pillar of Islam. They are obligated to fast the month of Ramadan. They
are obligated to make pilgrimage to Makkah. They are obligated to give charity.
They are obligated to have the same beliefs. They are obligated to have the
same type of morality and the same type of code of conduct and behavior.
Men and women share these essential ingredients of
Islamic behavior, which define a Muslim from a non-Muslim. And this is of
extreme importance because it breaks from the tradition of religions. For
instance fifty years before the birth of the prophet Muhammad, [may the mercy
and blessings of God be upon him], who was born around 560 CE, we find that
there was a gathering of bishops in France to discuss whether women possessed
souls or not, and that, if they do possess souls, what would be their purpose
on earth? Was it to worship God? And if they worshipped God, would they go to
paradise? In the end it was decided that, yes, women do possess souls - which
was a break from previous tradition - but that their purpose was not just to
worship God, but also to serve men.
In Islam, however, the basis of submission is not that
women are submitting to men, but that men and women together submit to God. So
therefore, when you read the passages of the Quran, it becomes very clear that
the obedient from among both the believing men and women receive paradise,
which is the greatest aim and objective in a Muslim’s life, and the basis of
that civilization. Likewise, those who are disobedient and who are renegades,
and who do not want to worship God also receive the same punishment whether
they are male or female. This is why throughout the Quran you find the wording
addressed to both males and females. The Arabic language like French has two
types of verbs, one representing the feminine and one the masculine. So in the
Quran you’ll find both categories of the human race, both sexes, being
addressed. This you find over and over and over. There is no need to now
recite all these passages, but they are there if anyone wants to know.
In summary we found three bases: that they share the
same humanity, that they have the same aim on this earth, and also, they expect
the same reward, which is the goal which they are working for collectively as
human beings. And this is a break as I said from the previous religious
traditions and also political and social understanding prevalent among the
philosophers before the coming of Islam. And as a result of that, we find that
Islam accorded women rights which perhaps we take for granted now, but were
given by God to men and women some 1400 years ago. These rights like the right
to own property, the right to dispose of property according to their own wishes
as long as they follow the laws of the religion of Islam, which apply the same
for men or women and the right to certain what we would call now political
rights, like the right to enter into a treaty with combatant, are something
very recent relatively speaking in the West.
One of the rights given by Islam in the time of the
prophet Muhammad was that if a woman gives a treaty to a combatant from a
non-Muslim attacking force - her treaty would be considered as was the case
with a female companion of the prophet Muhammad. In the Christian church these
companions would be called disciples for instance, the disciples of the Prophet
Muhammad are the companions as they are called. They were in the hundreds and
thousands not just twelve as with Jesus Christ, and there are both men and
women amongst them. When the prophet Muhammad came to Mecca, one of the women
companions by the name of Umm Hani, who was an inhabitant of Mecca and a
believer in the Prophet Muhammad, accorded certain relatives of hers protection
that they would not be harmed. Her brother who was one of the main companions
of the Prophet Muhammad and married his daughter, Ali b. Abi Talib, wanted to
execute two of these men who were known for harming the Muslims and fighting
against them. So Umm Hani went to the Prophet Muhammad and complained that she
had accorded them protection and the Prophet recognized her giving protection
to those two individuals.
This is what we might call, in the classification and
terminology that we now use, a political right. In the sense of according
protection for another person during the state of war is something which is
relatively new in the West and was a known tradition in the Islamic world 1400
years ago. Likewise, in terms of what we might call public participation,
there are certain acts of worship which are public acts of worship in Islam,
and there are certain acts of worship which are private. One of the public
acts is the pilgrimage, when men and women all make pilgrimage, and this is one
of the pillars of Islam. Likewise another public act of worship is the two
`Eid prayers which occur twice a year, once after the pilgrimage and once after
the pass of Ramadan. Men and women both participate in that publicly. Likewise,
we have a verse which shows that the social contract between men and women is
the same in Islam. This verse might be translated as the following:
“And the believing men and women are,”
what we might translate as,
“awliyaa”
- the word in Arabic for friends or allies or
supporters of one another,
“they”
- meaning men and women -
“bid to that which is correct”
i.e. they commend that which is correct,
“and they forbid that which is evil”
And this is a corrective process in society, removing
evil and commending that which is good. And then
“they perform the prayer”,
both men and women,
“they pay the alms”,
or the charity to the poor,
“and they obey God and His Messenger.” (Quran: 9:71)
And then God shows them the reward and that they are
those upon whom God will have mercy and God is Almighty and All-Wise.
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Elevation of Women’s Status (part 4 of 5): Equal yet Different
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Description: A university lecture on how Islam elevated the status of women. Part Four: Although, men and women, both in their humanity and spirituality, Islam teaches that they are different in their roles in life.
By Ali Al-Timimi
- Published on 21 Jan 2008 - Last modified on 01 Apr 2008
Viewed: 1857 - Rating: 5 from 5 - Rated by: 2
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So in this verse, we find that the social contract
between men and women, as individuals in the society, is the same, that they
both go for the highest goal of bidding or commanding that which is correct,
forbidding that which is evil, and that they share in the two major acts of
worship, which are the prayer and giving charity. They share in the beliefs
and obedience to God and obedience to the Prophet Muhammad, may the mercy and
blessings of God be upon him, and likewise, they share in the reward in the end
of obtaining God’s mercy. This is a very important concept, which is in
contradiction with what the western tradition is upon today, and that is as I
said as a result of the initial extreme of the Greek philosophers that women
did not share in humanity. As the result of that extreme another extreme
occurred - at least the Muslims consider it extreme – that there is no
difference between men and women.
So therefore, the idea of having genders – this is a
term which is not used in a biological sense, as we might use the word sex in a
biological sense for male and female, but the understanding today is that the
traits that define maleness or femaleness, the social traits and so forth are
determined by upbringing, culture, and environment and that there is no
inherent difference in the way men and women think or act or what their make up
is and so forth. And that is why they use the term gender.
This extreme resulted from the initial extreme that
occurred 2000 years ago, when the Greek thought that the women did not posses
humanity. So as a result of this 2000 year processes we now come to another
extreme – at least this is what Muslims would say – this extreme now is that
men and women are the same, that there is no difference.
Islam, although confirming that men and women do share
in the same essence of humanity, also confirms that men and women are different.
But does this difference mean that men are inherently good or women are
inherently evil? No. And this is why when you look at one of the verses in
the Quran that sheds light on this aspect, God says, recounting His creation,
that He is the One Who created the night, as it envelops, as it comes – if you
look at the horizon, it comes like a sheet enveloping the horizon – and He is
the One Who created the day as it comes bursting, shining, - that is how Sun
rises and He is the One Who created male and female. And then the next verse
says, verily, what you strive for – human beings are into different ends, diverse
ends - some strive for God’s pleasure, some strive for disobedience of God,
some strive to do good to humans, some strive to do harm, different ends. But
what is the example here? God mentions night and day and then mentions male
and female. The understanding is, yes, night has a purpose, and in the Quran
you always find verse after verse, describing that night has a wisdom behind it.
And also it tells humanity that had it been only night and no day human beings
could not live on earth. And this is now shown scientifically that if it was
only night and there was no sunlight, certain hormones of body would not be
able to reproduce and human beings would die. Life as we know it on earth
would not exist. And likewise, day has its wisdoms behind it. But can one
argue and say, that night is good and day is evil? No, and no Muslim would
believe that. And can one argue and say that day is good and night is evil? No.
Likewise, male and female also have their roles to play. But can one say that
the role of men is inherently good and the role of women is inherently evil? No.
And can one say the opposite to that - the role of women is inherently good and
the role of men is inherently evil? No. But they both have a role.
This is the main contention now between western thought
and Islamic belief. Western thought has basically accepted, except for maybe
some few corners perhaps in the Vatican or so, that men and women share in
their humanity and that they are the same. Muslims have believed this for 1400
years. But the difference is that in western thought, as a reaction to the
initial thought that women did not share humanity fully, the argument is that
the roles of men and women in society are only defined by culture, environment
and upbringing, therefore there is really no true role for men and no true role
for women and that we can switch this, if we just teach the society correctly.
But in Islam there is a defined role for men and a defined role for women. Who
is the one who defines this role for men and women? It’s their creator. This
is the major, if you want to use the term philosophical, even though it is an
inaccurate term in that sense, but we can just use if for the lack of better
term, philosophical, ideological or theological difference between the two
opposing arguments. Now with that said, it is important to understand that
when Islam gave these roles to men and women alike, it put responsibilities
equal to obligations to both. I will give you an example for that: Islam
senses that women have the nature of mother not by cultural tradition or by
sociological system but inherently are better in providing and taking care of
the offspring, that there is a bond there which goes beyond tradition. A
psychological bonding, a physical bonding, something which is more than just
traditions of human beings. As a result of that it has placed greater
responsibilities upon women towards their children are then those of men.
At the same time, the obligations that children have
towards their mother in Islam is greater than they have towards their fathers,
and this is why when the prophet Muhammad was asked by a man one was his
companions:
“Who should I befriend in this world?”
The prophet
Muhammad replied, “Your mother.”
And then the man
asked a second time, and the prophet replied your mother, and then a third
time, and again he replied your mother, and on the fourth time, he said,
“Your father.”
Likewise in the Quran we find that it tells human beings
that your mother bore you from one hardship to the other hardship, talking
about the labors and difficulties of pregnancy and childhood, and then fed you
for two years, suckled you, and tells us to be kind to our parents and reminds
us of our mother first before our fathers.
The point is that even though it has defined a role for
women with the children which is different than the role of the father, at the
same time it gives women honor and respect from their children which is greater
than that received by the fathers. The fathers do receive respect and their
honor, they are not just thrown out of the picture, but it is given to them and
according to the degree of their responsibility. And likewise, because the
mother inherently, not just because of cultural tradition, has something
inherent which makes that bond greater between her and her child then the male.
She receives a greater honor and respect from the child and at the same time
she is required to give a greater obligation.
I only gave that as an example to show you that while
Islam recognizes differences between the sexes, it does not accept the concept
that gender is just an issue of upbringing or cultural traditions, for there
are inherent differences in males and females, and as a result of that the
obligations and responsibilities of each of the two sexes are together. Imported
from that is another matter that even though men and women are different, they
are not in opposition to one another, which is the basis of much of the western
thought and especially of feminist traditions. That there’s a struggle between
men and women, “There is a battle of sexes”, as it is sometimes said in the
popular sort of designation. This doesn’t exist in Islam. Men and women work
in tandem, just like day and night revolve, and you live in day time and you live
in night time. You cannot live only in night, and you cannot live only in day,
likewise, men and women are not against one another, they are not pitted
against one another but rather they share in the same aim, the same purpose of
being, the same humanity. They have different roles, but these roles
complement one another and are needed by one another in order for the success
of humanity, not in this world, but also - of course since Muslims believe in
the hereafter- in the hereafter, which is the ultimate goal for Muslims.
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Elevation of Women’s Status (part 5 of 5): Conclusion
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Description: A university lecture on how Islam elevated the status of women. Part Four: How Islam saved the status of women.
By Ali Al-Timimi
- Published on 28 Jan 2008 - Last modified on 19 Feb 2008
Viewed: 1648 - Rating: 5 from 5 - Rated by: 1
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Now, I would like to make one final comment and then I’ll
leave it open for questions. Let’s look at the applicabilities of both of these
programs. We discussed a lot of ideas, thoughts and beliefs and historical
concepts, but when they are actually applied, which of the two view points is
more successful? Which brings more bliss to humanity? Is it the secular
western view or is it the Islamic view? I have a concrete example which I’d
like to share with you. When I was in Beijing this last summer for the UN 4th
world conference on women, there was a platform for action which was being
discussed by the different nations and organizations there. The aim of the
platform for action was to upraise, uplift, and to embetter the status of women
around the world, which are of course noble and correct aims; there is no
contention concerning that. The platform for action was divided into different
areas of concentrations, such as poverty, health, finances, conflicts and
violence and so forth, and one of which was the young girl. The 12th issue of
the 12 concerned areas for the platform for action concerned the young girl and
the status of girls - future women - in the world today. The country which was
hosting the conference, China is known for the practice of killing girls. The
reason why is because of their large population. Chinese couples are allowed
only one child and Chinese people by tradition view males as fewer than females,
so as a result will usually kill the female child, in hope that the wife gives
birth to a boy.
This is an issue which exists and due to the fact that
host was China, the United Nations didn’t really want to get into this issue,
nor want to talk about it much because it was not politically correct to
address that issue in China. Moreover, even though they might have passed
certain regulations, platforms for actions and certain commitments which they
have required upon citizens of the world to follow, most likely in the end perhaps
in twenty-five to fifty years, the status of the children in the world will not
have markedly improved.
One of the major reasons why the United Nations was
created for after World War II, was the slaughter of so many human beings, including
six million Jews in Europe, and yet fifty years later, in the year of the
fiftieth celebration of the UN, a genocide in Bosnia, Europe took place. All
the human rights acts, all of the declarations in the last fifty years and yet
a massacre still occurred. Now when the prophet Muhammad - may God raise his
name - was sent to the Arabs, the Arabs had the same practice of killing their
young daughters. Arabs would do such an act for a numerous reasons, most of
the time due to poverty. Being a desert people without industry and with
little means of trade, life was very difficult. As a result, out of fear of
poverty they would kill their young daughters and bury them alive. This is a
fact that is mentioned in the Quraan and was well known during the time of the
prophet Muhammad, may God raise his name. In the Quran, God condemns the killing
of young girls, the burying of them in the ground, and also the attitudes of
the Arabs towards girls. One verse in the Quraan says that:
“When he is given the good news that his wife is
given birth to a female child, a girl - his face becomes blackened and he
becomes ashamed. With shame does he hide himself
from his people, because of the bad news he has had! Shall he retain it on
(sufferance and) contempt, or bury it in the dust? …“ Quran
(16:58-59)
This is a condemnation of such a practice. Likewise many
of the companions of the prophet Muhammad - may God raise his name - before
they accepted Islam, killed their daughters. One man came to prophet Muhammad -
may God raise his name - and said: “I killed ten of my daughters in my
lifetime, will I receive paradise? For will God accept my repentance for this
sin, now that I have left this pagan religion of before, worshipping idols and
killing girl children and so forth?” Within one generation, within 23 years (the
duration that the prophet preached amongst the Arabs), the practice of killing
girls ended and no longer existed in Arabia. Likewise, it didn’t just stop there,
but a change in attitude came towards women, in all aspects.
In the Hereafter, people receive no other reward, but
paradise. Again that is the greatest aim for Muslims and that is their
motivation and reason of being. So Islam not only tried removing the negative
aspect of people murdering their own daughters, but also included the positive
aspect of educating girls and raising them in society; which brings me to my
final point. Human rights is something of course that we can look at the
previous declarations of human rights, irrespective of whether these are true
or false, but they have not been able to achieve the aims which they have
stated, as the example of human rights, and the mass killings of civilians in
Bosnia shows.
In conclusion, Islamic civilization unlike any other
civilization is based, of course on revelation, but it is in its essence
supported and founded by women. The first person to believe in Prophet
Muhammad – may God raise his name - was his wife Khadeejah, and it was through
her money and through her support and encouragement of him that the prophet was
able to spread the message of Islam in his first year of prophecy. The pagans
did not have the ideas of freedom of religion, that one can hold their own
beliefs. Such was not practiced by the pagans of Arabia - they saw this as an
insurrection, they saw this as a changing of their ways, so they sought to stop
it out by torture, by killing and by other means that they could. And
likewise, they tried to stop the Islamic revelation, this tradition, when the
prophet Muhammad - may God raise his name - preached at first the people of Arabia. Yet as a result from Muhammad’s message, there are over one billion Muslims in the
world today. They are in every single continent of the world, even in Beijing where the UN was convening. There was a mosque there which is over a thousand
years old. This shows how the growth of Islam and the sprit of Islam is not
just a Middle Eastern phenomenon or an Arabian phenomenon but extends to all
people and races throughout the world.
Where is this teaching from? Of course when prophet
Muhammad - may God raise his name - died after twenty three years of preaching
Islam, Islam only spread in Arabia. Islam was mostly spread by four or five
individuals who happened to be close to the prophet. One of them was the
prophet’s wife `Aa’isha. She is among the most to have narrated his statements
and likewise she is amongst the three, four, five who have mostly given
religious pronouncements, given religious verdicts, and explained verses of the
Quraan, as well as sayings of the prophet.
If one looks at any other civilization in the history of
humanity, seldom will they find women playing a role in its establishment where
it can be attributed to her efforts for its establishment. The famous Greeks –
like at the philosophers Plato, Aristotle and others - were all men. The early
church fathers writings’ were done by men and until today the idea of women
scholarship is limited in some areas of the church. The French writers at the
French revolution and Voltaire and the Russians were men. The founding fathers
of the United States were me. Islam is the only civilization which is known by
humanity where a leading input in terms of its transmission and establishment
was based upon the efforts of women. Central - and this is an historical
matter which is not open to interpretation, it is a fact - these are the people
who transmitted the prophet’s teachings, these are the people who supported it
hereafter. Those are just some thoughts and impressions concerning how Islam
uplifted women.
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