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The Islamic Perspective on Women The problem of womens position in Islam is unclear and controversial. All information concerning this subject both printed and online should be judged carefully, because there is a lack of objectivity in all writings. It is accustomed that the rights that women are provided for in the Koran and by the Muhammad added much to the improvement of womens positions in Arabic world in pre-Islamic times. It is known that after the death of the prophet the condition began to get worse and step by step appeared to be the same as in pre-Islamic time. But the women movement of the Xxth century in the West pushed the shift in the conscience of the women in the East, appearing to be a basis for changes in the society in general. Women supporting feminist movement in the Arabic world up to the 80 s placed the upper position on the society structure, because their feminist views were shaped under the influence of the western movement.
But in the end of the Xxth century the eastern models of society began to shift from the western schemes, and it also affected the feminist movement in Muslim countries, adding many features that are inherent to Islamic conscience and viewpoints. And this is true not only for women of Muslim world, but also for women of the third-world countries. In addition, the women of the third world realize that the schemes that appeared to be successful in other countries wont necessarily have the same result in their society. This resulted in formation of special Muslim feminism. (Caner, 2004) The movements of feminism in Islamic world and in the West have many differences. For instance, one of the main points concerns dress code in general and veiling in particular. Hijab, the word in Arabic used to define a cloth or scarf to cover the hair and face that is customary worn by Islamic women.
This part of the dress is considered to be a symbol of womens obedience to men, humiliating womens identity and oppressing it by the western feminism. But for Muslim women veil is the part of traditional national clothes, making woman special and demonstrating her Muslim identity, and the veil is regarded as symbol of freedom and the difference between Muslim and Western world. The basic instructions concerning clothes in the Koran included dressing modestly and behaving modestly, and the message was to avoid demonstrating physical attractiveness to the opposite sex, and this referred to men as well as women. Koran also speaks that the clothing is not just a tool for hiding humans nakedness, but also a decoration to stress the beauty that was given to human body by the God. (Walters, 1998) In most discussions about womens position in the society there are two basic issues to be observed: a place that women occupy in the society and the place that women occupy in her family.
Despite these to spheres of life and activity are interrelated, they need careful consideration and must be observed separately. The commentators often speak that despite the shifts in the conscience and society of Islamic world, position of Muslim women in family still remain subordinate. Definite attempts to protect women and prevent for domestic violence in Muslim families are taken, but they are not enough to change the situation in the society for better. It is much spoken that the Muslim society should assume more effective measures in order to protect the wife abuse and help to make the family atmosphere healthier. At first, the society must recognize that the problem exists and it needs to be solved. Some commentators suggest creating groups of men and women that would be trusted by anyone.
These men and women should be trained as specialists in psychology, should be trained in preventing psychological crisis in the family and give advice. Unfortunately, the leaders of the nation do not recognize that the necessity in such support centers exists, but the activists of feminist movement try to attract more attention to the problem. (Asghar, 2004) The members of such centers should train more people in order to create such centers in cities and towns. The telephone numbers and the references of such centers must be available for those who want to turn for help. The specialists state that the most cases of family abuse are the cases of physical abuse. But, the cases of mental abuse are also frequent and, to some extent, they are more dangerous, as women may get used to mental abuses and accept it as the part of family life, as it doesnt produce an evident physical effect.
Abuse can take many other forms. The commentators say that the most frequently occurred cases include: verbal threats to divorce the wife, to remarry, or to take the kids away if she does not do exactly as she is told; intimidation and threats of harm; degradation, humiliation, insults, ridicule, name-calling, and criticism; false accusations and blaming her for everything; ignoring, dismissing, or ridiculing her needs; neglect and the silent treatment; spying on her; telling her she is a failure and will go to hell; twisting Islamic teachings to make her feel worthless because she is a woman; restricting her access to transportation, health care, food, clothing, money, friends, or social services; physical and social isolation; extreme jealousy and possessiveness; lying, breaking promises, destroying trust; etc. Emotional abuse can take place in public or at home. (Wadud, 2002) Another necessary measure to be assumed in relation to family violence is to pass necessary laws that would allow punishing Arabic men for their abuse. It is necessary not only for punishing but also for preventing domestic abuse. In case the man is aware for responsibility for his actions, he may avoid abusing his wife both physically or mentally. Of course, psychiatrists and police forces should also be involved in the most urgent cases. (Patel, 1999) It is no doubt that the most important role in assuming these measures is referred to the society.
Education and training the specialists also play a significant role. The Muslims should let women be aware of their rights and protect themselves. The programs of training and education will also let people know that the society is not going to be tolerant towards the cases of domestic abuse. Participation in the social and political life includes the opportunities to carry out the obligations to state and society. Taking part in political life includes various kinds of involvement in modern society. They are as follows: right to vote, to hold a position of a judge or lawyer, or to lead the nation as the head of government.
It is customary to think that the women in the Arabic world are deprived of their rights that allow people get involved into society life and political activity. However, this is not true. The history of Islam world gives precedents of womens involvement into society life and political activity. (Nahid, 2005) Since early times of the history of the Islamic world women were provided with the right to vote for the leader of the nation. The process of electing the leader presupposed that the leader should be approved by the people, and a kind of a contract should be assigned, where the leader of the Islamic world promises to improve the life of his nation and act according to the laws of the Koran and prophet.
The leader cannot be regarded as the legitimate leader unless he is approved by the people. The Koran allows women to take part in the process and tells the prophet to pay attention to the words of women: "O Prophet! Whenever believing women come unto thee to pledge their allegiance to thee... then accept their pledge of allegiance. " (Quran 60: 12) Women are also allowed to hold posts in political life of Islam. Among existing versions of Koran there is no version that forbids womens participation in political life of the country or even leading it. There were some Muslims scholars that discussed the possibility for Islamic women to hold positions of lawyers and judges.
Traditionally the leader of the nation in the Islam world must lead his people in prayer, and be imam. Many insisted that women cannot be the leaders of the nation as they were not allowed to lead the nation in prayer. But this argument was discussed and there are arguments against, which deny this notion. There were women who acted as imams: Umm Waraqa, an Ansari woman who was well versed in the Quran, lead her people in prayer. In addition to Umm Waraqa leading her family in prayer, a woman named Ghazal a, in the 7 th century A. D. , led Muslim men and women in prayer. (Patel, 1999) The term imam as it is given by Koran means that the leader should lead the nation, i.
e. his functions are not limited to prayer. The leader should help his nation follow the path of Islam. It means that the leader must know the lessons that are taught by Koran and follow the instructions of leadership given by the prophet, and be the example of behaviour for his people. Thus, leading the prayer is not a primary role for the leader and here the role of leader is symbolic, and those who insist that men cannot be led by women in prayer, are mistaken. (Kamlian, 2005) Thus, the experience and the examples from the history show that women appeared to be the leaders of the nation, and, even religious leaders. This conflict with the common notion that the women are deprived of their rights in Muslim society, but these occasional historical evidences also prove that this tendency should be promoted by the society, to provide women with all rights that are inherent to women in modern society.
Speaking about position of women in the Muslim world it is necessary to take into account cultural and traditional heritage of the Islamic society. There are the features that may seem abusive to the people that werent brought up and educated in the terms of Arabic society. But for the people who were born in the atmosphere if the Eastern culture these features would be essential. On the other hand, definite differences between the Eastern and the Western culture dont hide the evidence of necessary changes in the consciousness and society of the Islamic world. The most urgent and profound changes should be provided as regards to position of women in the society and family life. Bibliography Arab honor's price: a woman's blood.
New York Times, June 20, 1999 Asghar Ali Engineer. The Rights of Women in Islam New Dawn Press. April 1, 2004 Ergun Mehmet Caner. Voices Behind the Veil: The World of Islam Through the Eyes of Women. Kregel Publications. 2004 Divorced from justice.
Women's unequal access to divorce in Egypt. Human Rights Watch, December 2004 Diamond, Jane. Marie Stopes International in Yemen. British-Yemeni Society Journal, November 1998 Islamic feminism means justice to women. Interview with Margot Badran.
The Milli Gazette, 16 January, 2004. Islamic Medical Ethics. Special issue of Journal of Islamic Medical Association. January 1988. Kamlian, Jamaica. Islam, Women and Gender Justice.
Muslim World Journal of Human Rights. 2005 Nahid Asghar. Women in Islam. Sufism: An Inquiry. 2005 Patel, Sierra. The Media and its Representation of Islam and Muslim Women. Collection of essays entitled Young Women Speak: A Message to the Media, ed. By Jane Waghorn.
Women's Press: London. April, 1999 Wadud, Amina. A'islam's Legacy: the struggle for women's rights in Islam. New Internationalist. (vol. 345, May, 2002). Walters Delores M. Murshidat, midwives and nurses: women transforming health care and social relations in Yemen.
Yemen Update 40, 1998
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