ROLE OF WOMEN IN ISLAM
Islam
is the meeting between God as such and man as such. It is at once a religion
and a civilization and social order based on the revealed principles of the
religion called the Shariah or the Divine Law. The shariah contains the
injunctions of the Divine Will as applied to every situation in life. It is the embodiment of the Divine Will.
Seen in this perspective the question of the role
of women in Islamic society may be addressed. The central issue to be addressed
in this regard is that in a
small but significant segment of Muslim society today there is a revolt of women against traditional Islamic society.
In
every civilization a reaction comes always against an existing force or action. In Islam also the very patriarchal and
masculine nature of the
tradition makes the revolt of those women who have become aggressively modernized more violent and virulent than let us say in Hinduism where
the maternal element has
always been strong. What many modernized Muslim women are doing in rebelling against the
traditional Muslim family structure
is to rebel against fourteen centuries of Islam itself, although many may not be aware of the inner
forces that drive them
on. It is the patriarchal nature of Islam that makes the reaction of some modernized women today so
vehement. Although very
limited in number they are in fact, more than Muslim men, thirsting for all things
Western. They seek to become modernized in
their dress and habits with an impetuosity
which would be difficult to understand unless one considers the deep psychological factors involved.
From the Islamic point of view the question of the equality of men and women is meaningless. It is like discussing the equality of a rose and jasmine. Each has its own perfume, colour,
shape and beauty. Man and woman are not the same; each has particular features and characteristics. Women are not equal
to men. But then neither are men equal to women. Islam envisages their roles in society not as competing but as complementary. Each has certain duties and functions in
accordance with his or her nature and
constitution.
PRIVELEGES AND DUTIES OF MAN AND WOMAN
Man possesses certain privileges such as
social authority and mobility against which he
has to perform many heavy duties.
·
First of all he bears all
economic responsibility. It is his duty to support
his family completely even if his wife is rich and despite the fact that
she is economically completely independent. A woman in traditional Islamic
society does not have to worry about earning
a living. There is always the larger family structure in which she can
find a place and take refuge from social
and economic pressures even if she has no husband or father. In the extended family system a man often
supports not only his wife, but also his mother, sister, aunts, in-laws
and sometimes even cousins and more distant relatives. Therefore, in city life the necessity of having to find a job
at all costs and having to bear the economic pressure of life is lifted
from the shoulders of women. As for the
countryside the family is itself the economic unit and the work is achieved by
the larger family or tribal unit
together.
·
Secondly, a woman does not
have to find a husband for herself. She
does not have to display her charms and make the thousand and one plans through
which she hopes to attract a future
mate. The terrible anxiety of having to find a husband and of missing the opportunity if one does not
try hard enough at the right moment
is spared the Muslim woman. Being able to remain more true to her own nature she can afford to sit at home and await the suitable match. This usually leads
to a marriage which being based on
the sense of religious duty and enduring family and social correspondence between the two sides is more lasting
and ends much more rarely in divorce than the marriages which are based on the sentiments of the moment
that often do not develop into more permanent relationships.
·
Thirdly, the Muslim woman
is spared direct military and political
responsibility although in rare cases there have been women warriors. This point may appear as a
deprivation to some but in the light of the real needs of feminine
nature it is easy to see that for most
women such duties weigh heavily upon them.
Even in modern societies which through the equalitarian process have
tried to equate men and women, as if there were no difference in the two natures, women are usually spared the military draft except in extreme circumstances.
·
In
return for these privileges which the woman receives she has also certain
responsibilities of which the most important is to
provide a home for her family and to bring up her children properly. In the home the woman rules as queen and
a Muslim man is in a sense the guest
of his wife at home. The home and the
larger family structure in which she lives are for the Muslim woman her world.
To be cut off from it would be like being cut off from the world or like dying. She finds the meaning of her existence
in this extended family structure which is constructed so as to give her the
maximum possibility of realizing her basic needs and fulfilling herself.
The Shari'ah therefore envisages the
role of men and women according to their nature
which is complementary. It gives the man the privilege of social and political
authority and movement for which he has to
pay by bearing heavy responsibilities, by
protecting his family from all the forces and pressures of society, economic and otherwise. Although a master
in the world at large and the priest
of his own family, man acts in his home
as one who recognizes the rule of his wife in this domain and respects it. Through mutual understanding and
the realization of the
responsibilities that God has placed on each other's shoulders, the Muslim man and woman are able to fulfil their
personal lives and create a firm family unit which is the basic structure of Muslim society.
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