Muslim Women, Islam and Feminist Islam
Muslim women bring prayers to Washington
http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20050408-070423-4489r.htm
Washington, DC, Apr. 8 (UPI) -- Two women -- one of them a veteran campaigner and the other a novice -- prayed beside men Friday in Washington's Islamic Center, the hub of America's Muslim community.
"It felt so beautiful," said Rahat Khan, a tax accountant from Maryland. "I was really proud and pleased to see all these Muslim men, creating space for us."
According to Nomani and her supporters, including an Islamic scholar Amina Wadud, Islam does not prevent women from leading prayers or Saying their prayers beside men. They note that even today, men and women pray side by side in Islam's two holiest mosques in Mecca and Medina, in Saudi Arabia.
Traditionalists, who have dominated mosques for centuries, disagree. They acknowledge that women pray in the same space as men in Mecca and Medina, especially during the annual pilgrimage when millions come to the two cities for Hajj. But they argue that these are very sacred places where men and women both focus on their prayers. In ordinary mosques, they say, a woman's presence can distract a man, particularly because Muslim prayers are more physical and involving bending, bowing and prostrating.
"If our presence distracts men, it is their problem, not our," says Nomani who came to Washington earlier this week to extend her campaign to the U.S. capital.
Muslim Women, Islam and Feminist Islam
The issue of woman in Islam was clear and never debated among Muslims. Allah (swt) created men and women and legislated general responsibilities for both, such as carrying the Daw'ah and holding the rulers accountable, in addition to designating specific responsibilities for each gender. Muslims acknowledged that sovereignty belongs to Allah, and the rules related to both men and women are Islamic rules deduced through ijtihad based upon the daleel. It was implicitly recognized among Muslims that the process of ijtihad and the concept of daleel are not sex-dependent, and thus, a "male" or "female" understanding of Islam never emerged. The only understanding that Islam produced for any concept or rule was the legal understanding based upon the daleel. As a result, all Muslims, whether man or woman, adhered to the Islamic rules in their entirety, and the Muslims with this understanding were saved from the "sex wars" that continue to plague the West until today.
It was this understanding that the Muslims lacked in dealing with the onslaught from the West regarding the status of women in Islam. The ideological invasion initiated by the West raised issues related to the Islamic Social System, such as why the man is allowed to marry four women and why the woman must cover her entire body except the face and hands. Even more damaging was the very concept of the status of women in Islam which the West constructed and propagated - a slave in a male-dominated society. The proper response to all of this would be to realize that the outlook of the West towards women stem from a specific viewpoint. The Muslims could have easily addressed this issue by presenting Islam with its intellectual basis, forcing the West to question whether the human being or Allah was fit to decide what status would be conferred to both men and women. However, the Muslims made a critical mistake by attempting to justify the status of women in Islam to accommodate the Western outlook. Some Muslims reacted to the accusations initiated by the West began by calling for Western ideas such as woman's liberation and equality between the sexes, thinking that doing so would stave off some of the attacks. As a reaction to this group, another section of Muslims went to the opposite extreme and claimed that the woman should not leave her home and are prohibited from trade, education, and politics. A third group emerged in an attempt to reconcile between the two camps, which was no more than an attempt to reconcile between Western thoughts and Islamic emotions.
The end result of these attempts to address this issue was a total disaster. As a direct outcome of these movements, the Muslim Ummah was faced with three options regarding the status of women: To adopt the Western model, which was based on a reaction to an incorrect viewpoint; or to adopt what was labeled as the "Islamic" model, which was a reaction to a reaction; or to adopt the model which attempted to mix Islam with the Western outlook, which was a compromise between two reactions. Further compounding the problem was the fact that the Muslims began to lose the distinction between Islam and various local cultures and traditions which did in fact discriminate heavily upon women. Many aspects of these traditions and cultures were deemed Islamic, particularly on the issue of women. This intermixing of Islam with local culture succeeded in magnifying the image among Muslims and non-Muslims that Islam is oppressive to women
Intellectual Rape Of Muslim Women
The Muslim world today faces a very grave situation. Not only have Muslims been disunited and removed from their homelands, but their women are ebing raped on a daily basis. I refer not only to the physical rape of our women but I also refer to �Intellectual Rape� of Muslim women.
When the Prophet Muhammad (saw) brought the message of Islam to mankind, it revolutionized the status of women; from granting her the basic right of life (not being killed for being female) to giving her rights in the economic, political and social spheres of life. Islam also placed great deal of emphasis on the need for knowledge for both men and women. Muhammad (saw) said: �The search of knowledge is a duty for every Muslim (male and female).�
The Quran states: �only those of his servants who are learned truly fear god.� (35:28)
If this is so then why is it that Muslim women of today are in last place in the intellectual race of knowledge, specifically Islamic knowledge? Where are the female scholars? The revival of women scholars can be brought about by following examples of Islamic history. Of the many female figures in the past, Aisha (ra) and Umm-al-Fadl (ra) were great scholarly women. They both fought in the way of Islam with the strongest weapon � knowledge. Aisha (ra) is remembered primarily for her intelligence and outstanding memory. She was one of the most reliable sources of hadith, reporting more than a thousand. Both men and women would approach Aisha (ra) for her vast knowledge of Islam. She was a great Muslim scholar of her time and to this day is held in the highest regard.
Umm-al-Fadl (ra) was the second woman to embrace Islam after Khadijah (ra) despite the fact that her husband remained non-Muslim. Her traits of powerful speech and expression of knowledge can be traced to an incident which occurred in medina. It was very often that the people gathered at Umm-al-Fadl �s (ra) house and both the Ansaar and Muhajiroon were present at the meeting. A dispute had broken out as the Ansaar questioned why they had to give up so much for the Muhajiroon. It was Umm-al-Fadl (ra) who appeased that conflict when she said that if anyone had knowledge, they would know that Islam is but a brotherhood and we must sacrifice for each other. She (ra) called for Muslims unity if anybody did not agree. She asked them to leave. The Prophet (saw) was also present was impressed by umm-al-Fadl�s understanding and expression of Islamic knowledge. Umm-al-Fadl was also responsible for a large dawah movement on the outskirts of Medina resulting in the conversion of more then one thousand people.
The lives of Aisha (ra) and Umm-al-Fadl (ra) show us what heights Muslim women can reach. We must take them as our role models in seeking knowledge and understanding the truth. Islam has encouraged and commanded us in the quest of knowledge. There are no limitations of Muslim women becoming scholars so why create them? Unfortunately, too many Muslims feel that ignorance means obedience so the Muslim women are not encouraged to come out of their intellectual slumber. This is the mentality that must be conquered and this letter is a wake up call to all Muslims: a call to fight against the �Intellectual Rape� Muslim women facing today. So if true Islamic revival is to occur the women as well as the men must pick up their armor of knowledge and fight together for the institution of Islam. Knowledge is the only thing, which can overcome the darkness of ignorance, which hangs over us today.
How Muslims Study Islam today
The Minds of Muslims are ingrained with garbage. The western notion of �freedom of expression, freedom of women, liberation of women, equality of women, concepts of Feminism, have made Muslim women to think from Woman�s point of view but not from a Muslim�s perspective. Hence we see Muslim women today learning the portion of Islam that covers or discusses issues pertaining only women: status of women in Islam, rights of wife over her husband, why women has to wear hijab but not men, why men are allowed to lead the prayer not women, why women have to pray behind men, why women are not allowed to travel without mahrem and etc. Muslim women tends to distant themselves from topics like Jihad, politics, economic system of Islam, political system of Islam, judicial system of Islam, laws of inheritance in Islam ( aeisha ra was champion in this subject matter, many sahabah ra use to come to her ra to ask questions on laws of inheritance in Islam) so on and so forth. People like Asra Nomani, (a Pakistani origin, has a 4 year old son from American boyfriend,) and Amina wadood, has played vital role in promoting Feminist version of Islam. The effect of such Femenist version of Islam could be seen in above article from washintontimes.
The method by which the Muslim acquires knowledge and thought is critical in determining the impact of the Islamic thoughts upon the individual. If the method of acquiring knowledge was correct and based upon research, profound thinking, and analysis (as Allah (swt) ordered) then it will produce effective results, and such a person will turn into an ideological person who thinks in a distinct manner. Allah (swt) orders the human being to think about many aspects of His Creation in a profound and enlightened manner: "Verily! In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and in the alternation of night and day, there are indeed signs for men of understanding." [TMQ 3:190]
"Do they not then consider the Qur'an carefully? Had it been from other than Allah, they would surely have found within it many contradictions." [ 4:821
"Tell Me! The water that you drink - is it you who causes it to come down from the rain clouds, or are We the Cause for it to come down?" 1TMQ 56:68-69]
"He is created from a fluid poured forth - proceeding from between the back bone and the ribs." ITMQ 86:6-7]
"Do they not look at the camels, how they are created? And at the heaven, how it is raised? And at the mountains, how they are rooted and fixed firm? And at the earth, how it is spread out?" [ 88:17-20]
In all of these ayahs, Allah directs the human being to think and analyze in order to build the Aqeedah of Islam within him through a definite conviction.
Thus, the method that Islam encourages in pursuing knowledge is based upon the intellect and entails thinking, research, and analysis. It is not built upon blind faith, emotional be] ief, or submission without any discussion. Such methods will not produce a dynamic Iman and cannot serve either as a foundation for a point of view of life or as a foundation to build other thoughts upon. A person who adopts Islam through these methods will remain a hostage to the concepts that he carried from his previous background. Although such a person may turn to Islam in a limited scope for such aspects as his ibadat, he will continue in his thinking to refer to other concepts. He will constantly shift between a superficial Iman that is not built upon a correct thinking process and indulging in discussion without a specific frame of mind, which will lead him either to diverging or straying from Islam altogether.
And he will not escape this spiral except by either compromising between what he adopted from Islam and whatever erroneous concepts he already possesses in order to bridge the gap, or by separating Islam from his thinking by restricting Islam to his rituals and thinking in a secular or pragmatic manner, or by deciding not to think at all except in his livelihood in order to save himself from diverting. All of these options are incorrect and, in reality, will not get the person out of this spiral. Eventually, this cycle with drain the person's power, particularly his intellectual capacity, which is the most valuable possession of man in this life. Such an endless spiral results from an incorrect method of adopting Islam and acquiring knowledge.
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