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Muslim Women and Community Life
By:
Dr. Ahmad Shafaat
(1985)
Women's participation in the work of
Islam and Muslims has so far been very limited. Most of our sisters
spend their spare time reading novels or watching video movies or
making telephone calls and social visits to each other, during which
they indulge in idle gossip and talk about who has more and better
material possessions (TV's, stereo and video sets, cars, houses,
etc.), unmindful of the words of God:
"You are occupied with competing
for more and more until you go down to your graves. But nay, you
will soon know (the reality)..." (102:1-3)
One reason that our sisters do not spend
part of their spare time for the work of Islam and Muslims, apart
from their own love of the life of this world, is the idea, held in
various religious circles with varying degrees of intensity, that
women should concern themselves exclusively with the work at home
and that the community work is the responsibility of men only.
Naturally this attitude either completely discourages Muslim women
from any social participation or it leads them to find social
participation in circles where Islamic values are not respected.
PARTICIPATION IN
CONGREGATIONAL PRAYERS
The idea about women's role being
limited to housework is, however, a creation of our own minds and is
not based on what God and His messenger have given us. Thus, for
example, mosques are meant to be the centers of Muslim participation
and even though some Muslims oppose women going to the mosques, the
Qur'an and Hadith leave no doubt that it is as desirable for
women to visit the house of Allah and pray there in congregation
as it is for men. One of the Qur'anic verses where reference
is made to congregational prayers reads:
"And establish regular prayer and
practice regular charity and bow down with those who bow down."
(2:43)
Here the verb "bow down" ('arka'u) is
in the masculine plural, but it is a well-known rule of Qur'anic
tafsir (and indeed of interpreting most pieces of writings) that
unless otherwise indicated all recommendations, commandments, etc.
delivered in the masculine plural are applicable to both men and
women. In this verse there is no indication of any kind that women
are excluded: just as the words "establish regular prayer",
"practice regular charity" are meant for both men and women, so also
the words "bow down with those who bow down" (i.e. pray in
congregation) are addressed to both.
A further proof of this is found in 3:43
where one of the most saintly women of all history is told:
"O Mary! Worship your Lord
devoutly; prostrate yourself and bow down with those who bow
down."
Interesting to note that God does
not command Mary to "bow down with those women who bow down" but
rather uses the masculine plural which, as we said earlier, includes
both men and women. God's command to Mary thus
means:
"bow down (in prayer) with those fellow human beings, men and
women, who bow down." The fact that this command is to Mary
who lived before Islam does not mean that it has no relevance to us.
Nothing that the Qur'an says about earlier men and women is without
relevance for us, for the Qur'an does not relate the stories of
earlier people just for our amusement. These stories are related for
some moral and spiritual lessons but unless there are indications to
the contrary they also form the basis of Islamic Shariah, as is
widely recognized by Muslim scholars(1)
Consistent with these indications in the
Qur'an, we find that in the time of the Prophet men and women alike
used to go to the mosque for their daily prayers, including fajr
(morning) and isha (night) prayers. This is one of the few
facts about the Sunnah in the days of the Prophet that has never
been doubted in the past fourteen centuries of Islamic history. Even
those who oppose women going to the house of Allah admit this. But
they, despite this admission, stop or discourage women from going to
the mosques because they think that Hadhrat `Umar, after noticing
that women on their way to the mosques were no longer safe, stopped
the practice. But we cannot base our conduct on this reported
decision of Hadhrat `Umar because in some ahadith the Prophet
specifically tells Muslims not to stop women from going to the
houses of Allah. Thus in Muwatta of Imam Malik, the Prophet is
reported to have said:
"Do not stop the maid servants of
Allah from going to the mosques of Allah."
Later, in the third century, Imam
Bukhari (born 194 A.H.), included in his sahih a similar
command of the Messenger of God:
"When the wife of one of you asks
about going to the mosque, DO NOT STOP HER."
If Hadhrat 'Umar stopped women from
going to the mosques, as he is reported to have done, then he did
exactly what the Messenger asked Muslims NOT to do. The question is,
did Hadhrat `Umar violate the teachings of the Prophet, perhaps
because he was not aware of the ahadith found in Muwatta and Bukhari?(2) Or
are these ahadith themselves not authentic?(3) Or
is it that the report about Hadhrat 'Umar stopping women from going
to the mosques is a false report?(4) It
is hard to say anything with certainty but one thing is crystal
clear: If on the one hand we have some explicit sayings of the
Prophet and on the other hand an equally reliable or unreliable
report about a suhabi's (companion of the Prophet) view, we
have no choice but to go by the sayings of the Prophet, especially
when the Qur'an also points in the same direction as the sayings of
the Prophet.
Let therefore Muslim sisters visit the
houses of Allah whenever they can. And as they do, they should also
take interest in the affairs of the mosques. In particular, they
should raise their voices against position-clinging people who are
trying to control some mosques of Allah.
PARTICIPATION IN OTHER
AREAS
In addition to participation in
congregational prayers and mosque affairs, Muslim women can and
should also involve themselves in other affairs of Islam and Muslims
according to their abilities, availability of time and energy. Islam
puts absolutely no limit to the level of women's involvement in the
affairs of Islam and Muslims. In the days of the Prophet and the
rightly guided caliphs, we see women taking part in jihad, not only
as water carriers and nurses but also as actual combatants. In the
battle of 'Uhad, for example, the Prophet was at one point facing
alone the attacks of the unbelievers. At that time a woman, Umm `Ammara,
along with other members of her family successfully defended the
Prophet. The first martyr in Islam was a woman, Hadhrat Summayyah.
In the caliphate of Hadhrat `Umar, Muslims came under attack from
the Roman army at a place called Marj as-Safar. A newly wed bride
among the Muslims, Umm al-Hakim, after her husband was martyred by
the Romans, fought all day alongside with other Muslims. Before the
day was finished, Umm al-Hakim had killed seven of the enemy
soldiers. Muslims paid their tribute to their heroine by renaming
Marj as-Safar as Qantara Umm al-Hakim.
In the days of the Prophet we also see
women running businesses or engaged in farming. The Prophet's first
wife, Khadijah, and Hadhrat Abu Bakr's daughter, Asma, were among
them. We see women holding administrative positions. After the
Muslim conquest of Makkah, the Prophet entrusted Umm Hani with the
task of deciding who should be given asylum. Hadhrat 'Umar appointed
Shifa' bint `Abd Allah as market supervisor who had the job of
checking corruption in the market. Probably on this basis Imam Abu
Hanifah held that women are entitled to be appointed as finance
officers and al-Tabari, quite logically, went further and held that
every administrative job can be entrusted to women.
In the days of the Prophet at least one
woman acted as imam in prayer, at least for people of her household
that included some slave males. Christian churches are still arguing
whether women should be allowed to become priests, but more than a
thousand years ago some Muslim jurists had already accepted that
women can be imams without exception.
It is true that the level of
participation of women in the affairs of Islam and Muslims was
extremely small compared to men, but that was not because Islam puts
any hurdles in the way of their participation. There are some
natural factors that keep the level of women's involvement lower
than that of men. Thus once women get married and have children,
they naturally get tied, for sometime at least, with the care of
children. Also, because in general they are physically more delicate
than men, women are less capable of withstanding the pressures of
the rough world outside. Then there is also the unfortunate tendency
on the part of many men to keep women out of the life of the
society, a tendency that existed even in the early days of Islam.
But the point is that as far as Islam itself is concerned, it would
like to see women participate in the affairs of Islam and Muslims as
much as it is possible for them to do within the limits of their
abilities and without neglecting their obligations as mothers,
wives, etc., just as it would like men to involve in those affairs
as far as is possible within their abilities and without
neglecting their duties as fathers, husbands, etc.
What we are saying here is different
from what some other writers say on the subject.
Their attitude can be summed up as follows:
"Yes, women can participate in every area of the collective life of
the Ummah, but it is better if they don't." What we are
saying here is that it is positively desirable and sometimes
obligatory that women, like men, participate in the collective
affairs of the Ummah whenever they can. This is because in
accordance with the principle of Qur'anic tafsir
(interpretation) alluded to earlier, the injunctions in the Qur'an
and Hadith about jihad, about acquiring and propagating
knowledge of Islam, about calling people to God, truth and justice
are not meant for men only but all Muslims whether men or women.
Just as commandments about such personal aspects of religion as
prayer, fasting, hajj, etc. are meant for both men and women (with
some adjustments regarding dress, etc.), so also the teachings of
Islam about these other social matters are meant for them both.
Notes
(1)
Thus, for example, Ibn Kathir, who speaks for a majority of scholars
of earlier times, says in his commentary on another verse about Mary
(3:36):
"(When the mother of Mary delivered her
child she said), 'I name her Mary.' This shows that it is
permissible to name a child on the same day that it is born. For a
rule of an earlier shari'ah is also (a part of) our shari'ah when it
is stated (in the Qur'an) and not contradicted."
By the same reasoning God's words to
Mary about praying in congregation should form part of the basis of
Islamic shari'ah.
Incidentally, the story of Mary teaches
us another point and that is that a woman can dedicate herself
full-time to the service of God and for this purpose live in a
mosque. When Mary's mother was pregnant with her, she, unmindful of
whether she is carrying a boy or a girl vowed to God:
"O my Lord! I dedicate to You
what is in my womb for Your service, so accept this from me."
(3:36)
What she had in mind was probably to
free her child when it came of age to live in the Solomon Temple (Masjid
al-Aqsa) and serve God and His sacred house. According to the
man-made customs of the Jews, in general only men devoted themselves
to God and His house in this way. So when she saw a girl, Mary's
mother said with a mixture of joy and irony:
"O my Lord! I have delivered a
girl" (3:36).
But
"God was well aware of what she
delivered" (3:36).
He purposefully gave her a girl in
response to her vow, so that the world may know that God accepts for
His service both men and women. He therefore "accepted (Mary) with a
gracious acceptance."
(2)
This is not impossible since there are other cases in which Hadhrat
'Umar reportedly held a view that was later found to be against a
sahih hadith. Thus Bukhari and Muslim report that Hadhrat `Umar
used to think that a person in the state of junub cannot do
tayammum when water is not available for bath. Ammar bin
Yasir mentioned to Hadhrat 'Umar that the Prophet had in fact
permitted him tayammum when he was once in need of a bath.
But Hadhrat 'Umar for some reason considered Ammar's report weak.
Later, however, Ammar's report was found sound and people began to
act upon it, and still do, despite Hadhrat 'Umar's rejection of it.
(3)
This is also possible, since Muwatta and Bukhari were compiled about
150 and 200 years after the death of the Prophet and this is a long
enough time for all kinds of false reports to find widespread
acceptance and end up even in the most carefully produced books of
Hadith.
(4)
In our view this is the most likely possibility. |