Re: Muslim Women


jamiil wrote:
Women in Islam

Fascinating article.
Well thought out and presented.
Gives lots to think about.

Mirelle
It was almost 17 years ago, when I was in the beginnings of what would
ultimately be a degree in Computer Science when I read in the Toronto
Star issue of July 3, 1990 an article titled "Islam is not alone in
patriarchal doctrines", by Gwynne Dyer. The article described the
furious reactions of the participants of a conference on women and
power held in Montreal to the comments of the famous Egyptian feminist
Dr. Nawal Saadawi. Her "politically incorrect" statements included :
"the most restrictive elements towards women can be found first in
Judaism in the Old Testament then in Christianity and then in the
Qur'ȃn"; "all religions are patriarchal because they stem from
patriarchal societies"; and "veiling of women is not a specifically
Islamic practice but an ancient cultural heritage with analogies in
sister religions".
The participants could not bear sitting around while their faiths were
being equated with Islam. Thus, Dr. Saadawi received a barrage of
criticism. "Dr. Saadawi's comments are unacceptable. Her answers
reveal a lack of understanding about other people's faiths," declared
Bernice Dubois of the World Movement of Mothers. "I must protest" said
panellist Alice Shalvi of Israel women's network, "there is no
conception of the veil in Judaism." The article attributed these
furious protests to the strong tendency in the West to scapegoat Islam
for practices that are just as much a part of the West's own cultural
heritage. "Christian and Jewish feminists were not going to sit around
being discussed in the same category as those wicked Muslims," wrote
Gwynne Dyer.
I was not surprised that the conference participants had held such a
negative view of Islam, especially when women's issues were involved.
In the West, Islam is believed to be the symbol of the subordination
of women par excellence. In order to understand how firm this belief
is, it is enough to mention that the Minister of Education in France,
the land of Voltaire, has recently ordered the expulsion of all young
Muslim Women wearing the veil from French schools! A young Muslim
student wearing a headscarf is denied her right of education in
France, while a Catholic student wearing a cross or a Jewish student
wearing a skullcap is not. The scene of French policemen preventing
young Muslim women wearing head scarves from entering their high
school is unforgettable.
It inspires the memories of another equally disgraceful scene of
Governor George Wallace of Alabama in 1962 standing in front of a
school gate trying to block the entrance of black students in order to
prevent the desegregation of Alabama's schools. The difference between
the two scenes is that the black students had the sympathy of so many
people in the U.S. and in the whole world. President Kennedy sent the
U.S. National Guard to force the entry of the black students. The
Muslim girls, on the other hand, received no help from any one. Their
cause seems to have very little sympathy either inside or outside
France. The reason is the widespread misunderstanding and fear of
anything Islamic in the world today.
What intrigued me the most about the Montreal conference was one
question :
Were the statements made by Saadawi, or any of her critics, factual?
In other words, do Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have the same
conception of women? Are they different in their conceptions ?
Do Judaism and Christianity , truly, offer women a better treatment
than Islam does? What is the Truth? and thus, the following article.
Let us begin by saying that it is not easy to search for and find
answers to these difficult questions. The first difficulty is that one
has to be fair and objective or, at least, do one's utmost to be so.
This is what Islam teaches. The Qur'ȃn has instructed Muslims to say
the truth even if those who are very close to them do not like it:
"Whenever you speak, speak justly, even if a near relative is
concerned" (6:152) "O you who believe stand out firmly for justice, as
witnesses to Allah, even as against yourselves, or your parents or
your kin, and whether it be (against) rich or poor" (4:135).
Another great difficulty, on this already sensible issue, is the
overwhelming breadth of the subject. However, as I was raised as a
Christian and expected to one day become a priest, for many years I
have studied and memorized much of the Bible and lately The
Encyclopaedia of Religion, and the Encyclopaedia Judaica as well as
the Qur’an in order to better understand Muslims and Judeo-Christins
position on women. I have also read several books discussing the
position of women in different religions written by scholars,
apologists, and critics. The material presented here represents the
important findings of my research. I don't claim to be absolutely
objective. This is beyond my limited capacity. All I can say is that I
have been trying, throughout this research, to approach the Qur'ȃnic
ideal of "speaking justly".
I would like to emphasize in this introduction that my purpose for
this study is not to denigrate Judaism or Christianity. As Muslims, we
believe in the divine origins of both. No one can be a Muslim without
believing in Moses and Jesus as great prophets of God. My goal is only
to vindicate Islam and pay a tribute, long overdue in the West, to the
final truthful Message from God to the human race.
I would also like to emphasize that I concerned myself only with
Doctrine. That is, my concern is, mainly, the position of women in the
three religions as it appears in their original sources not as
practiced by their millions of followers in the world today.
Therefore, most of the evidence cited comes from the Qur'ȃn, the
sayings of Prophet Muhammad, the Bible, the Talmud, and the sayings of
some of the most influential Church Fathers whose views have
contributed immeasurably to defining and shaping Christianity. This
interest in the sources relates to the fact that understanding a
certain religion from the attitudes and the behaviour of some of its
nominal followers is misleading. Many people confuse culture with
religion, many others do not know what their religious books are
saying, and many others do not even care.
The three religions agree on one basic fact: Both women and men are
created by God, The Creator of the whole universe. However,
disagreement starts soon after the creation of the first man, Adam,
and the first woman, Eve.
The Judaeo-Christian conception of the creation of Adam and Eve is
narrated in detail in Genesis 2:4-3:24.
God prohibited both of them from eating the fruits of the forbidden
tree. The serpent seduced Eve to eat from it and Eve, in turn, seduced
Adam to eat with her. When God rebuked Adam for what he'd done, he put
all the blame on Eve, "The woman you put here with me --she gave me
some fruit from the tree and I ate it." Consequently, God said to
Eve:
"I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you
will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband and
he will rule over you."
To Adam He said:
"Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree .... Cursed
is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life..."
The Islamic conception of the first creation is found in several
places in the Qur'ȃn, for example:
"O Adam dwell with your wife in the Garden and enjoy as you wish but
approach not this tree or you run into harm and transgression. Then
Satan whispered to them in order to reveal to them their shame that
was hidden from them and he said: 'Your Lord only forbade you this
tree lest you become angels or such beings as live forever.' And he
swore to them both that he was their sincere adviser. So by deceit he
brought them to their fall: when they tasted the tree their shame
became manifest to them and they began to sew together the leaves of
the Garden over their bodies. And their Lord called unto them: 'Did I
not forbid you that tree and tell you that Satan was your avowed
enemy?' They said: 'Our Lord we have wronged our own souls and if You
forgive us not and bestow not upon us Your Mercy, we shall certainly
be lost' " (7:19:23).
A careful look into the two accounts of the story of the Creation
reveals some essential differences. The Qur'ȃn, contrary to the Bible,
places equal blame on both Adam and Eve for their mistake. Nowhere in
the Qur'ȃn can one find even the slightest hint that Eve tempted Adam
to eat from the tree or even that she had eaten before him. Eve in the
Qur'ȃn is no temptress, no seducer, and no deceiver. Moreover, Eve is
not to be blamed for the pains of childbearing. God, according to the
Qur'ȃn, punishes no one for another's faults. Both Adam and Eve
committed a sin and then asked God for forgiveness and He forgave them
both.
The image of Eve as temptress in the Bible has resulted in an
extremely negative impact on women throughout the Judaeo-Christian
tradition. All women were believed to have inherited from their
mother, the Biblical Eve, both her guilt and her guile. Consequently,
they were all untrustworthy, morally inferior, and wicked.
Menstruation, pregnancy, and childbearing were considered the just
punishment for the eternal guilt of the cursed female sex. In order to
appreciate how negative the impact of the Biblical Eve was on all her
female descendants we have to look at the writings of some of the most
important Jews and Christians of all time. Let us start with the Old
Testament and look at excerpts from what is called the Wisdom
Literature in which we find:
"I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart
is a trap and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God will
escape her, but the sinner she will ensnare....while I was still
searching but not finding, I found one upright man among a thousand
but not one upright woman among them all" (Ecclesiastes 7:26-28).
In another part of the Hebrew literature which is found in the
Catholic Bible we read:
"No wickedness comes anywhere near the wickedness of a woman.....Sin
began with a woman and thanks to her we all must die" (Ecclesiasticus
25:19,24).
Jewish Rabbis listed nine curses inflicted on women as a result of the
Fall:
"To the woman He gave nine curses and death: the burden of the blood
of menstruation and the blood of virginity; the burden of pregnancy;
the burden of childbirth; the burden of bringing up the children; her
head is covered as one in mourning; she pierces her ear like a
permanent slave or slave girl who serves her master; she is not to be
believed as a witness; and after everything--death."
To the present day, orthodox Jewish men in their daily morning prayer
recite "Blessed be God King of the universe that Thou has not made me
a woman."
The women, on the other hand, thank God every morning for "making me
according to Thy will." Another prayer found in many Jewish prayer
books:
"Praised be God that He has not created me a gentile. Praised be God
that He has not created me a woman. Praised be God that He has not
created me an ignoramus."
The Biblical Eve has played a far bigger role in Christianity than in
Judaism. Her sin has been pivotal to the whole Christian faith because
the Christian conception of the reason for the mission of Jesus Christ
on Earth stems from Eve's disobedience to God. She had sinned and then
seduced Adam to follow her suit. Consequently, God expelled both of
them from Heaven to Earth, which had been cursed because of them. They
bequeathed their sin, which had not been forgiven by God, to all their
descendants and, thus, all humans are born in sin. In order to purify
human beings from their 'original sin', God had to sacrifice Jesus,
who is considered to be the Son of God, on the cross. Therefore, Eve
is responsible for her own mistake, her husband's sin, the original
sin of all humanity, and the death of the Son of God. In other words,
one woman acting on her own caused the fall of humanity. What about
her daughters? They are sinners like her and have to be treated as
such. Listen to the severe tone of St. Paul in the New Testament:
"A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I don't permit
a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.
For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one
deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner" (I
Timothy 2:11-14).
St. Tertullian was even more blunt than St. Paul, while he was talking
to his 'best beloved sisters' in the faith, he said:
"Do you not know that you are each an Eve? The sentence of God on this
sex of yours lives in this age: the guilt must of necessity live too.
You are the Devil's gateway: You are the unsealer of the forbidden
tree: You are the first deserter of the divine law: You are she who
persuaded him whom the devil was not valiant enough to attack. You
destroyed so easily God's image, man. On account of your desert even
the Son of God had to die."
St. Augustine was faithful to the legacy of his predecessors, he wrote
to a friend:
"What is the difference whether it is in a wife or a mother, it is
still Eve the temptress that we must beware of in any woman......I
fail to see what use woman can be to man, if one excludes the function
of bearing children."
Centuries later, St. Thomas Aquinas still considered women as
defective:
"As regards the individual nature, woman is defective and misbegotten,
for the active force in the male seed tends to the production of a
perfect likeness in the masculine sex; while the production of woman
comes from a defect in the active force or from some material
indisposition, or even from some external influence."
Finally, the renowned reformer Martin Luther could not see any benefit
from a woman but bringing into the world as many children as possible
regardless of any side effects:
"If they become tired or even die, that does not matter. Let them die
in childbirth, that's why they are there"
Again and again all women are denigrated because of the image of Eve
the temptress, thanks to the Genesis account. To sum up, the Judaeo-
Christian conception of women has been poisoned by the belief in the
sinful nature of Eve and her female offspring.
If we now turn our attention to what the Qur'ȃn has to say about
women, we will soon realize that the Islamic conception of women is
radically different from the Judaeo-Christian one. Let the Qur'ȃn
speak for itself:
"For Muslim men and women, for believing men and women, for devout men
and women, for true men and women, for men and women who are patient,
for men and women who humble themselves, for men and women who give in
charity, for men and women who fast, for men and women who guard their
chastity, and for men and women who engage much in Allah's praise--
For them all has Allah prepared forgiveness and great reward" (33:35).
"The believers, men and women, are protectors, one of another: they
enjoin what is just, and forbid what is evil, they observe regular
prayers, practice regular charity, and obey Allah and His Messenger.
On them will Allah pour His Mercy: for Allah is Exalted in power,
Wise" (9:71).
"And their Lord answered them: Truly I will never cause to be lost the
work of any of you, Be you a male or female, you are members one of
another" (3:195).
"Whoever works evil will not be requited but by the like thereof, and
whoever works a righteous deed -whether man or woman- and is a
believer- such will enter the Garden of bliss" (40:40).
"Whoever works righteousness, man or woman, and has faith, verily to
him or her we will give a new life that is good and pure, and we will
bestow on such their reward according to the best of their
actions" (16:97).
It is clear that the Qur'ȃnic view of women is no different than that
of men. They, both, are God's creatures whose sublime goal on earth is
to worship their Lord, do righteous deeds, and avoid evil and they,
both, will be assessed accordingly. The Qur'ȃn never mentions that the
woman is the devil's gateway or that she is a deceiver by nature. The
Qur'ȃn, also, never mentions that man is God's image; all men and all
women are his creatures, that is all. According to the Qur'ȃn, a
woman's role on earth is not limited only to childbirth. She is
required to do as many good deeds as any other man is required to do.
The Qur'ȃn never says that no upright women have ever existed. To the
contrary, the Qur'ȃn has instructed all the believers, women as well
as men, to follow the example of those ideal women such as the Virgin
Mary and the Pharoah's wife:
"And Allah sets forth, As an example to those who believe, the wife of
Pharaoh: Behold she said: 'O my lord build for me, in nearness to you,
a mansion in the Garden, and save me from Pharaoh and his doings and
save me from those who do wrong.' And Mary the daughter of Imran who
guarded her chastity and We breathed into her body of Our spirit; and
she testified to the truth of the words of her Lord and of His
revelations and was one of the devout" (66:11-13).
In fact, the difference between the Biblical and the Qur'ȃnic attitude
towards the female sex starts as soon as a female is born. For
example, the Bible states that the period of the mother's ritual
impurity is twice as long if a girl is born than if a boy is (Lev.
12:2-5). The Catholic Bible states explicitly that:
"The birth of a daughter is a loss" (Ecclesiasticus 22:3).
In contrast to this shocking statement, boys receive special praise:
"A man who educates his son will be the envy of his
enemy." (Ecclesiasticus 30:3)
Jewish Rabbis made it an obligation on Jewish men to produce offspring
in order to propagate the race. At the same time, they did not hide
their clear preference for male children : "It is well for those whose
children are male but ill for those whose are female", "At the birth
of a boy, all are joyful...at the birth of a girl all are sorrowful",
and "When a boy comes into the world, peace comes into the world...
When a girl comes, nothing comes."
A daughter is considered a painful burden, a potential source of shame
to her father:
"Your daughter is headstrong? Keep a sharp look-out that she does not
make you the laughing stock of your enemies, the talk of the town, the
object of common gossip, and put you to public shame" (Ecclesiasticus
42:11).
"Keep a headstrong daughter under firm control, or she will abuse any
indulgence she receives. Keep a strict watch on her shameless eye, do
not be surprised if she disgraces you" (Ecclesiasticus 26:10-11).
It was this very same idea of treating daughters as sources of shame
that led the pagan Arabs, before the advent of Islam, to practice
female infanticide.
The Qur'ȃn severely condemned this heinous practice:
"When news is brought to one of them of the birth of a female child,
his face darkens and he is filled with inward grief. With shame does
he hide himself from his people because of the bad news he has had!
Shall he retain her on contempt or bury her in the dust? Ah! what an
evil they decide on?" (16:59).
It has to be mentioned that this sinister crime would have never
stopped in Arabia were it not for the power of the scathing terms the
Qur'ȃn used to condemn this practice (16:59, 43:17, 81:8-9). The
Qur'ȃn, moreover, makes no distinction between boys and girls. In
contrast to the Bible, the Qur'ȃn considers the birth of a female as a
gift and a blessing from God, the same as the birth of a male.
The Qur'ȃn even mentions the gift of the female birth first:
" To Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth. He
creates what He wills. He bestows female children to whomever He wills
and bestows male children to whomever He wills" (42:49).
In order to wipe out all the traces of female infanticide in the
nascent Muslim society, Prophet Muhammad promised those who were
blessed with daughters of a great reward if they would bring them up
kindly:
"He who is involved in bringing up daughters, and accords benevolent
treatment towards them, they will be protection for him against Hell-
Fire" (Bukhari and Muslim).
"Whoever maintains two girls till they attain maturity, he and I will
come on the Resurrection Day like this; and he joined his
fingers" (Muslim).
The difference between the Biblical and the Qur'ȃnic conceptions of
women is not limited to the newly born female, it extends far beyond
that. Let us compare their attitudes towards a female trying to learn
her religion. The heart of Judaism is the Torah, the law. However,
according to the Talmud, "women are exempt from the study of the
Torah."
Some Jewish Rabbis firmly declared "Let the words of Torah rather be
destroyed by fire than imparted to women", and "Whoever teaches his
daughter Torah is as though he taught her obscenity"
The attitude of St. Paul in the New Testament is not brighter:
"As in all the congregations of the saints, women should remain silent
in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in
submission as the law says. If they want to inquire about something,
they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for
a woman to speak in the church." (I Corinthians 14:34-35)
How can a woman learn if she is not allowed to speak? How can a woman
grow intellectually if she is obliged to be in a state of full
submission? How can she broaden her horizons if her one and only
source of information is her husband at home?
Now, to be fair, we should ask: is the Qur'ȃnic position any
different? One short story narrated in the Qur'ȃn sums its position up
concisely. Khawlah was a Muslim woman whose husband Aws pronounced
this statement at a moment of anger: "You are to me as the back of my
mother." This was held by pagan Arabs to be a statement of divorce
which freed the husband from any conjugal responsibility but did not
leave the wife free to leave the husband's home or to marry another
man. Having heard these words from her husband, Khawlah was in a
miserable situation.
She went straight to the Prophet of Islam to plead her case. The
Prophet was of the opinion that she should be patient since there
seemed to be no way out. Khawla kept arguing with the Prophet in an
attempt to save her suspended marriage. Shortly, the Qur'ȃn
intervened; Khawla's plea was accepted. The divine verdict abolished
this iniquitous custom. One full chapter (Chapter 58) of the Qur'ȃn
whose title is "Almujadilah" or "The woman who is arguing" was named
after this incident:
"Allah has heard and accepted the statement of the woman who pleads
with you (the Prophet) concerning her husband and carries her
complaint to Allah, and Allah hears the arguments between both of you
for Allah hears and sees all things...." (58:1).
A woman in the Qur'ȃnic conception has the right to argue even with
the Prophet of Islam himself. No one has the right to instruct her to
be silent. She is under no obligation to consider her husband the one
and only reference in matters of law and religion.
Jewish laws and regulations concerning menstruating women are
extremely restrictive. The Old Testament considers any menstruating
woman as unclean and impure. Moreover, her impurity "infects" others
as well. Anyone or anything she touches becomes unclean for a day:
"When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her
monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will
be unclean till evening. Anything she lies on during her period will
be unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean. Whoever touches
her bed must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be
unclean till evening. Whoever touches anything she sits on must wash
his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening.
Whether it is the bed or anything she was sitting on, when anyone
touches it, he will be unclean till evening" (Lev. 15:19-23)."
Due to her "contaminating" nature, a menstruating woman was sometimes
"banished" in order to avoid any possibility of any contact with her.
She was sent to a special house called "the house of uncleanness" for
the whole period of her impurity. The Talmud considers a menstruating
woman "fatal" even without any physical contact:
"Our Rabbis taught:....if a menstruanting woman passes between two
(men), if it is at the beginning of her menses she will slay one of
them, and if it is at the end of her menses she will cause strife
between
them" (bPes. 111a.)
Furthermore, the husband of a menstruating woman was forbidden to
enter the synagogue if he had been made unclean by her even by the
dust under her feet. A priest whose wife, daughter, or mother was
menstruating could not recite priestly blessing in the synagogue. No
wonder many Jewish women still refer to menstruation as "the curse."
Islam does not consider a menstruating woman to possess any kind of
"contagious uncleanness". She is neither "untouchable" nor "cursed."
She practices her normal life with only one restriction: A married
couple are not allowed to have sexual intercourse during the period of
menstruation. Any other physical contact between them is permissible.
A menstruating woman is exempted from some rituals such as daily
prayers and fasting during her period.
Another issue in which the Qur'ȃn and the Bible disagree is the issue
of women bearing witness. It is true that the Qur'ȃn has instructed
the believers dealing in financial transactions to get two male
witnesses or one male and two females (2:282). However, it is also
true that the Qur'ȃn in other situations accepts the testimony of a
woman as equal to that of a man. In fact the woman's testimony can
even invalidate the man's. If a man accuses his wife of unchastity, he
is required by the Qur'ȃn to solemnly swear five times as evidence of
the wife's guilt. If the wife denies and swears similarly five times,
she is not considered guilty and in either case the marriage is
dissolved (24:6-11).
On the other hand, women were not allowed to bear witness in early
Jewish society. The Rabbis counted women's not being able to bear
witness among the nine curses inflicted upon all women because of the
Fall. Women in today's Israel are not allowed to give evidence in
Rabbinical courts. The Rabbis justify why women cannot bear witness by
citing Genesis 18:9-16, where it is stated that Sara, Abraham's wife
had lied. The Rabbis use this incident as evidence that women are
unqualified to bear witness. It should be noted here that this story
narrated in Genesis 18:9-16 has been mentioned more than once in the
Qur'ȃn without any hint of any lies by Sara (11:69-74, 51:24-30). In
the Christian West, both ecclesiastical and civil law debarred women
from giving testimony until late last century.
If a man accuses his wife of unchastity, her testimony will not be
considered at all according to the Bible. The accused wife has to be
subjected to a trial by ordeal. In this trial, the wife faces a
complex and humiliating ritual which was supposed to prove her guilt
or innocence (Num. 5:11-31). If she is found guilty after this ordeal,
she will be sentenced to death. If she is found not guilty, her
husband will be innocent of any wrongdoing.
Besides, if a man takes a woman as a wife and then accuses her of not
being a virgin, her own testimony will not count. Her parents had to
bring evidence of her virginity before the elders of the town. If the
parents could not prove the innocence of their daughter, she would be
stoned to death on her father's doorsteps. If the parents were able to
prove her innocence, the husband would only be fined one hundred
shekels of silver and he could not divorce his wife as long as he
lived:
"If a man takes a wife and, after lying with her, dislikes her and
slanders her and gives her a bad name, saying, 'I married this woman,
but when I approached her, I did not find proof of her virginity,'
then the girl's father and mother shall bring proof that she was a
virgin to the town elders at the gate. The girl's father will say to
the elders, 'I gave my daughter in marriage to this man, but he
dislikes her. Now he has slandered her and said I did not find your
daughter to be a virgin. But here is the proof of my daughter's
virginity.' Then her parents shall display the cloth before the elders
of the town, and the elders shall take the man and punish him. They
shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the girl's
father, because this man has given an Israelite virgin a bad name. She
shall continue to be his wife; he must not divorce her as long as he
lives. If, however, the charge is true and no proof of the girl's
virginity can be found, she shall be brought to the door of her
father's house and there the men of the town shall stone her to death.
She has done a disgraceful thing in Israel by being promiscuous while
still in her father's house. You must purge the evil from among
you." (Deuteronomy 22:13-21)
Adultery is considered a sin in all religions. The Bible decrees the
death sentence for both the adulterer and the adulteress (Lev. 20:10).
Islam also equally punishes both the adulterer and the adulteress
(24:2). However, the Qur'ȃnic definition of adultery is very different
from the Biblical definition. Adultery, according to the Qur'ȃn, is
the involvement of a married man or a married woman in an extramarital
affair. The Bible only considers the extramarital affair of a married
woman as adultery (Leviticus 20:10, Deuteronomy 22:22, Proverbs
6:20-7:27).
"If a man is found sleeping with another man's wife, both the man who
slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from
Israel" (Deut. 22:22).
"If a man commits adultery with another man's wife both the adulterer
and the adulteress must be put to death" (Lev. 20:10).
According to the Biblical definition, if a married man sleeps with an
unmarried woman, this is not considered a crime at all. The married
man who has extramarital affairs with unmarried women is not an
adulterer and the unmarried women involved with him are not
adulteresses. The crime of adultery is committed only when a man,
whether married or single, sleeps with a married woman. In this case
the man is considered adulterer, even if he is not married, and the
woman is considered adulteress. In short, adultery is any illicit
sexual intercourse involving a married woman. The extramarital affair
of a married man is not per se a crime in the Bible. Why is the dual
moral standard? According to Encyclopaedia Judaica, the wife was
considered to be the husband's possession and adultery constituted a
violation of the husband's exclusive right to her; the wife as the
husband's possession had no such right to him. That is, if a man had
sexual intercourse with a married woman, he would be violating the
property of another man and, thus, he should be punished.
To the present day in Israel, if a married man indulges in an
extramarital affair with an unmarried woman, his children by that
woman are considered legitimate. But, if a married woman has an affair
with another man, whether married or not married, her children by that
man are not only illegitimate but they are considered bastards and are
forbidden to marry any other Jews except converts and other bastards.
This ban is handed down to the children's descendants for 10
generations until the taint of adultery is presumably weakened.

The Qur'ȃn, on the other hand, never considers any woman to be the
possession of any man. The Qur'ȃn eloquently describes the
relationship between the spouses by saying:
" And among His signs is that He created for you mates from among
yourselves, that you may dwell in tranquility with them and He has put
love and mercy between your hearts: verily in that are signs for those
who reflect" (30:21).
This is the Qur'ȃnic conception of marriage: love, mercy, and
tranquility, not possession and double standards.
According to the Bible, a man must fulfill any vows he might make to
God. He must not break his word. On the other hand, a woman's vow is
not necessarily binding on her. It has to be approved by her father,
if she is living in his house, or by her husband, if she is married.
If a father/husband does not endorse his daughter's/wife's vows, all
pledges made by her become null and void:
"But if her father forbids her when he hears about it, none of her
vows or the pledges by which she obligated herself will stand ....Her
husband may confirm or nullify any vow she makes or any sworn pledge
to deny herself" (Num. 30:2-15)
Why is it that a woman's word is not binding per se? The answer is
simple: because she is owned by her father, before marriage, or by her
husband after marriage. The father's control over his daughter was
absolute to the extent that, should he wish, he could sell her! It is
indicated in the writings of the Rabbis that: "The man may sell his
daughter, but the woman may not sell her daughter; the man may betroth
his daughter, but the woman may not betroth her daughter." The
Rabbinic literature also indicates that marriage represents the
transfer of control from the father to the husband: "betrothal, making
a woman the sacrosanct possession--the inviolable property-- of the
husband..." Obviously, if the woman is considered to be the property
of someone else, she cannot make any pledges that her owner does not
approve of.
It is of interest to note that this Biblical instruction concerning
women's vows has had negative repercussions on Judaeo-Christian women
till early in this century. A married woman in the Western world had
no legal status. No act of hers was of any legal value. Her husband
could repudiate any contract, bargain, or deal she had made. Women in
the West (the largest heir of the Judaeo-Christian legacy) were held
unable to make a binding contract because they were practically owned
by someone else. Western women had suffered for almost two thousand
years because of the Biblical attitude towards women's position vis-à-
vis their fathers and husbands.
In Islam, the vow of every Muslim, male or female, is binding on him/
her. No one has the power to repudiate the pledges of anyone else.
Failure to keep a solemn oath, made by a man or a woman, has to be
expiated as indicated in the Qur'ȃn:
"He [God] will call you to account for your deliberate oaths: for
expiation, feed ten indigent persons, on a scale of the average for
the food of your families; Or clothe them; or give a slave his
freedom. If that is beyond your means, fast for three days. That is
the expiation for the oaths you have sworn. But keep your
oaths" (5:89).
Companions of the Prophet Muhammad, men and women, used to present
their oath of allegiance to him personally. Women, as well as men,
would independently come to him and pledge their oaths:
"O Prophet, When believing women come to you to make a covenant with
you that they will not associate in worship anything with God, nor
steal, nor fornicate, nor kill their own children, nor slander anyone,
nor disobey you in any just matter, then make a covenant with them and
pray to God for the forgiveness of their sins. Indeed God is Forgiving
and most Merciful" (60:12).
A man could not swear the oath on behalf of his daughter or his wife.
Nor could a man repudiate the oath made by any of his female
relatives.
The three religions share an unshakable belief in the importance of
marriage and family life. They also agree on the leadership of the
husband over the family. Nevertheless, blatant differences do exist
among the three religions with respect to the limits of this
leadership. The Judeo-Christian tradition, unlike Islam, virtually
extends the leadership of the husband into ownership of his wife.
The Jewish tradition regarding the husband's role towards his wife
stems from the conception that he owns her as he owns his slave. This
conception has been the reason behind the double standard in the laws
of adultery and behind the husband's ability to annul his wife's
vows.
This conception has also been responsible for denying the wife any
control over her property or her earnings. As soon as a Jewish woman
got married, she completely lost any control over her property and
earnings to her husband. Jewish Rabbis asserted the husband's right to
his wife's property as a corollary of his possession of her: "Since
one has come into the possession of the woman does it not follow that
he should come into the possession of her property too?", and "Since
he has acquired the woman should he not acquire also her property?"
Thus, marriage caused the richest woman to become practically
penniless. The Talmud describes the financial situation of a wife as
follows:
"How can a woman have anything; whatever is hers belongs to her
husband? What is his is his and what is hers is also his...... Her
earnings and what she may find in the streets are also his. The
household articles, even the crumbs of bread on the table, are his.
Should she invite a guest to her house and feed him, she would be
stealing from her husband..." (San. 71a, Git. 62a)
The fact of the matter is that the property of a Jewish female was
meant to attract suitors. A Jewish family would assign their daughter
a share of her father's estate to be used as a dowry in case of
marriage. It was this dowry that made Jewish daughters an unwelcome
burden to their fathers. The father had to raise his daughter for
years and then prepare for her marriage by providing a large dowry.
Thus, a girl in a Jewish family was a liability and no asset. This
liability explains why the birth of a daughter was not celebrated with
joy in the old Jewish society (see the "Shameful Daughters?" section).
The dowry was the wedding gift presented to the groom under terms of
tenancy. The husband would act as the practical owner of the dowry but
he could not sell it. The bride would lose any control over the dowry
at the moment of marriage. Moreover, she was expected to work after
marriage and all her earnings had to go to her husband in return for
her maintenance which was his obligation. She could regain her
property only in two cases: divorce or her husband's death. Should she
die first, he would inherit her property. In the case of the husband's
death, the wife could regain her pre-marital property but she was not
entitled to inherit any share in her deceased husband's own property.
It has to be added that the groom also had to present a marriage gift
to his bride, yet again he was the practical owner of this gift as
long as they were married. Christianity, until recently, has followed
the same Jewish tradition. Both religious and civil authorities in the
Christian Roman Empire (after Constantine) required a property
agreement as a condition for recognizing the marriage. Families
offered their daughters increasing dowries and, as a result, men
tended to marry earlier while families postponed their daughters'
marriages until later than had been customary. Under Canon law, a wife
was entitled to restitution of her dowry if the marriage was annulled
unless she was guilty of adultery. In this case, she forfeited her
right to the dowry which remained in her husband's hands. Under Canon
and civil law a married woman in Christian Europe and America had lost
her property rights until late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries. For example, women's rights under English law were compiled
and published in 1632. These 'rights' included: "That which the
husband hath is his own. That which the wife hath is the husband's."
The wife not only lost her property upon marriage, she lost her
personality as well. No act of her was of legal value. Her husband
could repudiate any sale or gift made by her as being of no binding
legal value. The person with whom she had any contract was held as a
criminal for participating in a fraud.
Moreover, she could not sue or be sued in her own name, nor could she
sue her own husband. A married woman was practically treated as an
infant in the eyes of the law. The wife simply belonged to her husband
and therefore she lost her property, her legal personality, and her
family name.
Islam, since the seventh century C.E., has granted married women
theindependent personality which the Judeo-Christian West had
deprivedthem until very recently. In Islam, the bride and her family
are under no obligation whatsoever to present a gift to the groom. The
girl in a Muslim family is no liability. A woman is so dignified by
Islam that she does not need to present gifts in order to attract
potential husbands. It is the groom who must present the bride with a
marriage gift. This gift is considered her property and neither the
groom nor the bride's family have any share in or control over it. In
some Muslim societies today, a marriage gift of a hundred thousand
dollars in diamonds is not unusual. The bride retains her marriage
gifts even if she is later divorced. The husband is not allowed any
share in his wife's property except what she offers him with her free
consent. The Qur'ȃn has stated its position on this issue quite
clearly:
"And give the women (on marriage) their dower as a free gift; but if
they, Of their own good pleasure, remit any part of it to you, take it
and enjoy it with right good cheer" (4:4)
The wife's property and earnings are under her full control and for
her use alone since her, and the children's, maintenance is her
husband's responsibility. No matter how rich the wife might be, she
is not obliged to act as a co-provider for the family unless she
herself voluntarily chooses to do so. Spouses do inherit from one
another. Moreover, a married woman in Islam retains her independent
legal personality and her family name. An American judge once
commented on the rights of Muslim women saying: " A Muslim girl may
marry ten times, but her individuality is not absorbed by that of her
various husbands. She is a solar planet with a name and legal
personality of her own."
The three religions have remarkable differences in their attitudes
towards divorce. Christianity abhors divorce altogether. The New
Testament unequivocally advocates the indissolubility of marriage. It
is attributed to Jesus to have said,
"But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital
unfaithfulness, causes her to become adulteress, and anyone who
marries the divorced woman commits adultery" (Matthew 5:32).
This uncompromising ideal is, without a doubt, unrealistic. It assumes
a state of moral perfection that human societies have never achieved.
When a couple realizes that their married life is beyond repair, a ban
on divorce will not do them any good. Forcing ill-mated couples to
remain together against their wills is neither effective nor
reasonable. No wonder the whole Christian world has been obliged to
sanction divorce.
Judaism, on the other hand, allows divorce even without any cause. The
Old Testament gives the husband the right to divorce his wife even if
he just dislikes her:
"If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he
finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of
divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, and if after
she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man, and her
second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce,
gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies, then her
first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again
after she has been defiled" (Deut. 24:1-4).
The above verses have caused some considerable debate among Jewish
scholars because of their disagreement over the interpretation of the
words "displeasing", "indecency", and "dislikes" mentioned in the
verses. The Talmud records their different opinions:
"The school of Shammai held that a man should not divorce his wife
unless he has found her guilty of some sexual misconduct, while the
school of Hillel say he may divorce her even if she has merely spoiled
a dish for him. Rabbi Akiba says he may divorce her even if he simply
finds another woman more beautiful than she" (Gittin 90a-b).
The New Testament follows the Shammaites opinion while Jewish law has
followed the opinion of the Hillelites and R. Akiba. Since the
Hillelites view prevailed, it became the unbroken tradition of Jewish
law to give the husband freedom to divorce his wife without any cause
at all. The Old Testament not only gives the husband the right to
divorce his "displeasing" wife, it considers divorcing a "bad wife" an
obligation:
"A bad wife brings humiliation, downcast looks, and a wounded heart.
Slack of hand and weak of knee is the man whose wife fails to make him
happy. Woman is the origin of sin, and it is through her that we all
die. Do not leave a leaky cistern to drip or allow a bad wife to say
what she likes. If she does not accept your control, divorce her
andsend her away" (Ecclesiasticus 25:25).
The Talmud has recorded several specific actions by wives which
obliged their husbands to divorce them: "If she ate in the street, if
she drank greedily in the street, if she suckled in the street, in
every case Rabbi Meir says that she must leave her husband" (Git.89a).
The Talmud has also made it mandatory to divorce a barren wife(who
bore no children in a period of ten years): "Our Rabbis taught: If a
man took a wife and lived with her for ten years and she bore no
child, he shall divorce her" (Yeb. 64a).
Wives, on the other hand, cannot initiate divorce under Jewish law. A
Jewish wife, however, could claim the right to a divorce before a
Jewish court provided that a strong reason exists. Very few grounds
are provided for the wife to make a claim for a divorce. These grounds
include: A husband with physical defects or skin disease, a husband
not fulfilling his conjugal responsibilities, etc. The Court might
support the wife's claim to a divorce but it cannot dissolve the
marriage. Only the husband can dissolve the marriage by giving his
wife a bill of divorce. The Court could scourge, fine, imprison, and
excommunicate him to force him to deliver the necessary bill of
divorce to his wife. However, if the husband is stubborn enough, he
can refuse to grant his wife a divorce and keep her tied to him
indefinitely. Worse still, he can desert her without granting her a
divorce and leave her unmarried and undivorced. He can marry another
woman or even live with any single woman out of wedlock and have
children from her (these children are considered legitimate under
Jewish law). The deserted wife, on the other hand, cannot marry any
other man since she is still legally married and she cannot live with
any other man because she will be considered an adulteress and her
children from this union will be illegitimate for ten generations. A
woman in such a position is called an agunah (chained woman). In the
United States today there are approximately 1000 to 1500 Jewish women
who are agunot (plural for agunah), while in Israel their number might
be as high as 16000. Husbands may extort thousands of dollars from
their trapped wives in exchange for a Jewish divorce.
Islam occupies the middle ground between Christianity and Judaism with
respect to divorce. Marriage in Islam is a sanctified bond that should
not be broken except for compelling reasons. Couples are instructed to
pursue all possible remedies whenever their marriages are in danger.
Divorce is not to be resorted to except when there is no other way
out. In a nutshell, Islam recognizes divorce, yet it discourages it by
all means. Let us focus on the recognition side first. Islam does
recognize the right of both partners to end their matrimonial
relationship. Islam gives the husband the right for Talaq (divorce).
Moreover, Islam, unlike Judaism, grants the wife the right to dissolve
the marriage through what is known as Khula'. If the husband
dissolves the marriage by divorcing his wife, he cannot retrieve any
of the marriage gifts he has given her. The Qur'ȃn explicitly
prohibits the divorcing husbands from taking back their marriage gifts
no matter how expensive or valuable these gifts might be:
"But if you decide to take one wife in place of another, even if you
had given the latter a whole treasure for dower, take not the least
bit of it back; Would you take it by slander and a manifest
wrong?" (4:20).
In the case of the wife choosing to end the marriage, she may return
the marriage gifts to her husband. Returning the marriage gifts in
this case is a fair compensation for the husband who is keen to keep
his wife while she chooses to leave him. The Qur'ȃn has instructed
Muslim men not to take back any of the gifts they have given to their
wives except in the case of the wife choosing to dissolve the
marriage:
"It is not lawful for you (Men) to take back any of your gifts except
when both parties fear that they would be unable to keep the limits
ordained by Allah. There is no blame on either of them if she give
something for her freedom. These are the limits ordained by Allah so
do not transgress them" (2:229).
Also, a woman came to the Prophet Muhammad seeking the dissolution of
her marriage, she told the Prophet that she did not have any
complaints against her husband's character or manners. Her only
problem was that she honestly did not like him to the extent of not
being able to live with him any longer. The Prophet asked her: "Would
you give him his garden (the marriage gift he had given her) back?"
she said: "Yes". The Prophet then instructed the man to take back his
garden and accept the dissolution of the marriage (Bukhari).
In some cases, A Muslim wife might be willing to keep her marriage but
find herself obliged to claim for a divorce because of some compelling
reasons such as: Cruelty of the husband, desertion without a reason, a
husband not fulfilling his conjugal responsibilities, etc. In these
cases the Muslim court dissolves the marriage.
In short, Islam has offered the Muslim woman some unequalled rights:
she can end the marriage through Khula' and she can sue for a divorce.
A Muslim wife can never become chained by a recalcitrant husband. It
was these rights that enticed Jewish women who lived in the early
Islamic societies of the seventh century C.E. to seek to obtain bills
of divorce from their Jewish husbands in Muslim courts. The Rabbis
declared these bills null and void. In order to end this practice, the
Rabbis gave new rights and privileges to Jewish women in an attempt to
weaken the appeal of the Muslim courts. Jewish women living in
Christian countries were not offered any similar privileges since the
Roman law of divorce practiced there was no more attractive than the
Jewish law.
Let us now focus our attention on how Islam discourages divorce. The
Prophet of Islam told the believers that:
"among all the permitted acts, divorce is the most hateful to
God" (Abu Dawood).
A Muslim man should not divorce his wife just because he dislikes her.
The Qur'ȃn instructs Muslim men to be kind to their wives even in
cases of lukewarm emotions or feelings of dislike:
"Live with them (your wives) on a footing of kindness and equity. If
you dislike them it may be that you dislike something in which Allah
has placed a great deal of good" (4:19).
Prophet Muhammad gave a similar instruction:
" A believing man must not hate a believing woman. If he dislikes one
of her traits he will be pleased with another" (Muslim).
The Prophet has also emphasized that the best Muslims are those who
are best to their wives:
"The believers who show the most perfect faith are those who have the
best character and the best of you are those who are best to their
wives" (Tirmidthi).
However, Islam is a practical religion and it does recognize that
there are circumstances in which a marriage becomes on the verge of
collapsing. In such cases, a mere advice of kindness or self restraint
is no viable solution. So, what to do in order to save a marriage in
these cases? The Qur'ȃn offers some practical advice for the spouse
(husband or wife) whose partner (wife or husband) is the wrong-doer.
For the husband whose wife's ill-conduct is threatening the marriage,
the Qur'ȃn gives four types of advice as detailed in the following
verses:
"As to those women on whose part you fear disloyalty and ill-conduct,
(1) Admonish them, (2) refuse to share their beds, (3) beat them; but
if they return to obedience seek not against them means of annoyance:
For Allah is Most High, Great. (4) If you fear a break between them,
appoint two arbiters, one from his family and the other from hers; If
they wish for peace, Allah will cause their reconciliation" (4:34-35).
The first three are to be tried first. If they fail, then the help of
the families concerned should be sought. It has to be noted, in the
light of the above verses, that beating the rebellious wife is a
temporary measure that is resorted to as third in line in cases of
extreme necessity in hopes that it might remedy the wrongdoing of the
wife. If it does, the husband is not allowed by any means to continue
any annoyance to the wife as explicitly mentioned in the verse. If it
does not, the husband is still not allowed to use this measure any
longer and the final avenue of the family-assisted reconciliation has
to be explored.
Prophet Muhammad has instructed Muslim husbands that they should not
have recourse to these measures except in extreme cases such as open
lewdness committed by the wife. Even in these cases the punishment
should be slight and if the wife desists, the husband is not permitted
to irritate her:
"In case they are guilty of open lewdness you may leave them alone in
their beds and inflict slight punishment. If they are obedient to you,
do not seek against them any means of annoyance" (Tirmidthi)
Furthermore, the Prophet of Islam has condemned any unjustifiable
beating. Some Muslim wives complained to him that their husbands had
beaten them. Hearing that, the Prophet categorically stated that:
"Those who do so (beat their wives) are not the best among you" (Abu
Dawood).
It has to be remembered at this point that the Prophet has also said:
"The best of you is he who is best to his family, and I am the best
among you to my family" (Tirmidthi).
The Prophet advised one Muslim woman, whose name was Fatimah bint
Qais, not to marry a man because the man was known for beating women:
"I went to the Prophet and said: Abul Jahm and Mu'awiah have proposed
to marry me. The Prophet (by way of advice) said: As to Mu'awiah he is
very poor and Abul Jahm is accustomed to beating women" (Muslim).
It has to be noted that the Talmud sanctions wife beating as
chastisement for the purpose of discipline. 39 The husband is not
restricted to the extreme cases such as those of open lewdness. He is
allowed to beat his wife even if she just refuses to do her house
work. Moreover, he is not limited only to the use of light punishment.
He is permitted to break his wife's stubbornness by the lash or by
starving her. For the wife whose husband's ill-conduct is the cause
for the marriage's near collapse, the Qur'ȃn offers the following
advice:
"If a wife fears cruelty or desertion on her husband's part, there is
no blame on them if they arrange an amicable settlement between
themselves; and such settlement is best" (4:128).
In this case, the wife is advised to seek reconciliation with her
husband (with or without family assistance). It is notable that the
Qur'ȃn is not advising the wife to resort to the two measures of
abstention from sex and beating. The reason for this disparity might
be to protect the wife from a violent physical reaction by her already
misbehaving husband. Such a violent physical reaction will do both the
wife and the marriage more harm than good. Some Muslim scholars have
suggested that the court can apply these measures against the husband
on the wife's behalf. That is, the court first admonishes the
rebellious husband, then forbids him his wife's bed, and finally
executes a symbolic beating.
To sum up, Islam offers Muslim married couples much viable advice to
save their marriages in cases of trouble and tension. If one of the
partners is jeopardizing the matrimonial relationship, the other
partner is advised by the Qur'ȃn to do whatever possible and effective
in order to save this sacred bond. If all the measures fail, Islam
allows the partners to separate peacefully and amicably.
Islam confers on women all the political and social rights, which man
enjoys. She is entitled to all the privileges bestowed upon man.
Beside worldly matters, women are also equal to men in the spiritual
sense. Allah says in the Qur'ȃn:
Surely, men who submit themselves to GOD and women who submit
themselves to HIM, and believing men and believing women, and obedient
men and obedient women, and truthful men and truthful women, and men
steadfast in their faith and steadfast women, and men who are humble
and women who are humble, and men who give alms and women who give
alms, and men who fast and women who fast, and men who guard their
chastity and women who guard their chastity and men who remember ALLAH
much and women who remember HIM - ALLAH has prepared for all of them
forgiveness and a great reward (33:36)
This verse makes it clear that Muslim women stand on the same level
with Muslim men and that they can attain to all those spiritual
heights to which men can attain. At several places in the Qur'ȃn,
believing men and believing women are addressed in the same language
and are made equally subject to the same commandments and entitled to
the same rights and privileges. Only their duties are different
because their spheres of activity are different.
When the Qur'ȃn speaks about the souls of human beings, it does not
differentiate between man and woman.
O ye people! fear your Lord who created you from a single soul and
of its kind created its mate, and from them twain spread many men and
women; and fear ALLAH, in Whose name you appeal to one another, and
fear him particularly respecting ties of kinship. Verily ALLAH watches
over you (4:2)
The words single soul in this verse signify man and woman taken
together. They are spoken of as one because they are two things
jointly performing one function. This verse affirms that women and men
belong to the same kind and species and that they have the same
propensities.
The chains of the physical body are broken in the spiritual sphere and
man and woman are regarded as one. The equality of the status of the
souls of man and woman is further emphasized when Allah also hints at
the fact that man and woman complement one another.
So their Lord answered their prayers saying, I will not allow the work
of any worker from among you, whether male or female, to be lost. You
are from one another. Those therefore, who have emigrated, and have
been driven out from their homes, and have been persecuted in My
cause, and have fought and been killed, I will surely remove from them
their evils and will cause them to enter gardens through which streams
flow - a reward from Allah, and with Allah is the best reward. (3:196)
The Qur'ȃn does not stop at this level, it continues to explain these
facts by different means and from different angles. The Qur'ȃn
mentions the vision Hazrat Moses (peace be upon him) and as an
explanation of one of the incidents in his vision we read:
And as for the youth, his parents were believers, and we feared lest
he should cause them trouble through rebellion and disbelief.
Here the expression his parents means the human body and soul because
the parents or the source from which springs all moral qualities is
the combination of the human body and soul which is the human being
himself.
Allah has created man as a free agent. He bestowed upon him great
natural powers to enable him to perform the highest deeds of virtue.
The human being can fulfil the great object of his life by making use
of these powers which spring from a combination of his body and soul.
But if these powers are not kept under proper control, they lead him
to disbelief and transgression. These powers have been brought under
proper control and their undue vehemence curbed by the commandments
and ordinances which Allah has revealed to the world in His religion.
Every human being is free to chose whether or not to follow the
guidance of Allah. His freedom is of two components. The freedom of
thought controlled by the mind and the freedom of feeling controlled
by the heart. The feeling of the heart is a consequence of the thought
of the mind. The former is subordinate to the latter. This is why the
two components of the inner self of the human being can be expressed
figuratively by the words his parents where the mind is likened to the
father who is the head of the family and the heart is likened to the
mother who is its body.
As the peace and tranquility of the children in the family depends on
the relation between the father and the mother and the combined
efforts of both of them, also the peace and tranquility of a person
depends on the harmony between his mind and heart as they form his
spiritual parents.
The morals and behaviour of any person are a result of the combination
of the actions of his mind and heart. If he does not profess the
religion of Allah, then this combination is, in Divine estimation, a
forbidden relation which produces illegitimate fruit. The person is
cast away from Allah and he lives in a ruinous hell. But when he
answers the call of Allah and embraces His religion and submits to
Him, his mind and heart combine together to fulfill the purpose of his
existence. Then this relation becomes legal and bears legitimate
blessed fruit. The person is brought to a new spiritual life and
attains to the peace and harmony of his inner self and he is rewarded
by the love and nearness of Allah.
Allah has hinted to this similarity when referring to women:
They are a garment to you, and you are garment to them. (2:188)
To understand this fully we need to understand the meaning of the word
garment which is mentioned here. The Qur'ȃn itself explains the
meaning of this word:
O children of Adam, we have indeed sent down to you raiment to cover
your shame, and to be an elegant dress; but the raiment of
righteousness - that is the best. That is one of the signs of Allah,
that they may remember. (7:27)
Here the Arabic word which was translated as raiment is libaas. A
raiment is used to cover our nakedness and also to to serve as a
decoration and embellishment and make us look elegant. But this verse
tells us more. It continues to tell us that the apparel of piety is in
fact the really fine raiment for us. Ordinary dress covers our
physical nakedness, while the apparel of piety covers our spiritual
and moral nakedness. So the verse reminds us that when we consider it
to be necessary to have good clothing to cover our physical nakedness
and use elegant dress to to look graceful, we should all the more be
anxious to cover our moral and spiritual nakedness. And the best
raiment for us is the apparel of righteousness and piety.
The word raiment is further explained in another verse of the Qur'ȃn:
And Allah has made for you, of that which He has created,things
affording shade, and He has made for you in the mountains, places of
shelter and He has made for you garments which protect you from heat
and coats of mail which protect you in your wars. Thus does He
complete His favours on you that you may submit to Him. (16:82)
The verse show that garments are used for protection form heat and
also for protection in battles. But again the verse tells us more. The
verse ends with the phrase Thus does He complete His favours on you,
that you may submit to Him. This draws our attention to the fact that
the real purpose of this favour from Allah is to enable us to submit
to Him. Hence we start to think about this verse in the spiritual
sense. The heat from which our garments are protecting us can be
understood as the ruinous hell within the inner self of a person who
is disobedient to his Creator. He creates this hell himself out of his
own choice and he has the ability to protect himself from it through
following the guidance of Allah.
Also, the protection in wars can be taken as protection in spiritual
battles. Islamic Jihad (striving for the cause of Allah). This can
best be done by serving the cause of truth with all one's might under
the command and guidance of a Divinely appointed reformer. This is
Jihad in the truest sense of the word. It can take the form of
preaching and dissemination of the teachings of Islam by peaceful
means. But the Great Jihad as termed by the Holy Prophet of Islam
(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) is the Jihad against ones
baser self. i.e., against ones evil desires and propensities or
against Satan.
So when we protect ourselves against our enemies in this spiritual
battle, we can attain to victory in the form of true submission to
Allah.

If we now combine the meaning of this verse with the meaning in the
previously mentioned verse, we understand that Allah has bestowed upon
us the ability to be righteous and pious so that we can protect
ourselves from all evil which prevents our souls from surrendering to
Allah.
We can also see that the word garment is used to signify the raiment
of piety which us the means of the protection of the soul against all
evil and hence, it is the means of attaining to true submission to
Allah.
With this understanding of the word garment, we can now return to the
original quotation:
They are a garment for you, and you are a garment for them. (2:188)
In the light of the above, we can now see that this expression can be
applied to the two components of the human inner self. Exactly as the
husband and wife complement one another and protect one another
against the enemies who threaten the peace of their family, the two
components of the inner self of the human being complement one another
and protect one another from all evil in their Great Jihad.
Righteousness will prevent a person from thinking wickedly and hence
it will protect from his heart from inclining towards evil and at the
same time righteousness will prevent him from evil desires which can
poison his mind with evil.
Thus, righteousness protects a person from the ruinous hell which can
be created by him through his disobedience to his Creator.
The two components of his inner self protect each other and adorn one
another with the raiment of piety and this will lead him to complete
submission to Allah.
After attaining to true submission to Allah and after following His
guidance, a person naturally awaits some results and gains. This is
again similar to the case of a husband and wife who, after
establishing their marriage, desire to have children. In this
connection Allah says:
Your wives are a tilth for you, so approach your tilth when and how
you like, and send ahead some good for yourselves and fear Allah and
know that you shall meet Him, and bear good tidings to those who obey.
(2:224)
The word tilth or in modern English 'tilt' means a piece of land
ploughed for sowing or actually sown with some crop or even under
crop. It also means crop or produce of a land. It is also used to
signify gain, acquisition or earning and also reward and recompense.
The wife is likened to a tilt here because she is like a tilt in which
the seed of progeny is sown to bear crop in the form of children.
A wise husbandman selects the best soil, prepares the best tilt,
secures the best seed and chooses the best time and manner of sowing
it. Similarly, a man should select a wife who is best suited as a
tilt, i.e., pious and well qualified and of loving nature for the
benefit of his children. He should love her and treat her well and
look after her so that her life will be happy and contented and she
may become best disposed to bring up the children well. Lastly, he
should keep himself in a state of good physical and moral health so
that his seed for his tilt may also be healthy in every respect. Then
he will ensure that he will reap a good harvest in the form of pious
and righteous children.
Considering this verse in the spiritual sense, we see that it is
giving advice for attaining to true and complete submission to Allah.
It tells a person to be careful about his ideas and opinions because
whatever good or evil he conceals in his mind will serve like a seed
for his inclinations and actions and it will bear good or evil fruit
for himself. So the words send ahead some good for yourselves means
plant a seed in your tilt for the good of your own selves. The means
of sending this good is found in the words fear Allah which shows that
if a person wants to reap a good harvest for his actions, he should
prevent evil from its very roots through being righteous.
The phrase and know that you shall meet Him can be taken as a
continuation for the words fear Allah which means that you should fear
Allah because one day you shall meet Him, on the Day of Judgement.
The phrase can also be taken as glad tidings, for those who will be
righteous will have the honour of meeting Allah in this life, which is
the aim of every true and sincere servant of Allah. This is followed
by the words and bear glad tidings to those who obey, which means that
this glad tiding is for the true believers. So this means that those
who believe sincerely and follow this injunction and become righteous
will secure for themselves the best results and gains. They will reap
good fruit and they will enjoy the love and nearness of Allah and the
true relationship with Him. The will be brought to a new life like a
newborn child and they will enjoy a life of peace and tranquility, and
inner paradise.
When a person gains good fruit out of following the guidance of Allah,
he becomes encouraged and he tries to strive more in this path so that
he can achieve more results and increase the good he gained out of it.
His inner self reaches the phase of parenthood. His will and behaviour
combine together to look after his faith and protect it. Exactly like
the parents who combine their efforts to look after their children and
protect them. His will submits completely to his Creator and he
becomes devoted to Allah's religion and protects and nourishes it like
the mother who nourishes her young children with love and care.
The Qur'ȃn has given us a practical example of this advanced stage of
human spiritual ascent in the person of Mary, the mother of Jesus
(peace be upon him):
And remember when the angels said: O Mary, Allah has chosen thee and
purified thee and chosen thee above the women of all peoples. (3:43)
Mary is the example of a righteous believer and a sincere follower of
the guidance of Allah. Again we read about Mary:
Then she brought him to her people, carrying him. They said 'O
Mary thou hast done a strange thing. O sister of Aaron, thy father was
not a wicked man nor was thy mother an unchaste woman'. Then she
pointed to him. They said, 'How can we talk to one who is a child in
the cradle?' He said, 'I am a servant of Allah. He has given me the
book and made me a Prophet; And He has made me blessed wheresoever I
may be and has enjoined upon me Prayer and alms giving so long as I
live. And He has made me dutiful towards my mother and He has not made
me haughty and unblessed. (19:28-33)
These verses tell us the story of Mary when she went to her people
carrying Jesus (peace be upon him). The word for carrying him means
that Mary believed in Jesus (peace be upon him) and helped him in his
mission. When her people told her that she has done a strange thing,
she silently pointed to Jesus (peace be upon him) who started
introducing his religion to them.
In the spiritual sense, Mary signifies a true believer and a sincere
follower of a prophet of Allah, who is acting upon the guidance
furnished by this prophet and who is preaching his religion to
others.
The words carrying him means that she has embraced his religion and
reflected it in her person. When she declared this to her people and
preached her religion to them, they rejected it because it was strange
and unknown to them. So she silently started introducing her faith.
She pointed to the truth by her behaviour and conduct, by her complete
submission to Allah and her true devotion to His service.
She became a manifestation of the Unity of Allah.
The disbelievers could see the spiritual station to which she had
attained. The fruits she achieved and gained proved the truth of her
beliefs and the prophet she followed. She taught the people to follow
the guidance of Allah through her actions which were in full
compliance with the commandments and ordinances of her religion.
The verses explain to us the perfect way of preaching a religion. Mary
signifies every sincere and true follower of a prophet of Allah
whether this follower is a man or a woman. A female example is used
because she is representing a person who reached this spiritual level
through sincerely following the example of a prophet of Allah and
though being a reflection of the prophet. Mary is also introduced as a
mother to indicate that she represents the true believer who who has
already attained to true submission to Allah and who has already
gained his fruit. He was granted a new spiritual life and has
established a strong relationship with Allah. He has now reached the
stage of looking after his faith and protecting it and nourishing it.
So he has spiritually reached the stage of motherhood of his religion.
This fact has been explained in the Qur'ȃn:
Allah sets forth for those who disbelieve the example of the wife of
Noah and the wife of Lot. They were under two righteous servants of
Ours, but they acted unfaithfully towards them. So they availed them
naught against Allah, and it was said to them, `Enter the Fire, ye
twain, along with those who enter.' And Allah sets forth for those who
believe the example of the wife of the wife of Pharaoh when she said,
`My Lord! build for me a house with Thee in the Garden, and deliver me
from Pharaoh and his work, and deliver me from the wrongdoing people;
And the example of Mary, the daughter of Imran, who guarded her
chastity - so We breathed there in of Our Spirit -and she fulfilled in
her person the words of her Lord contained in His books and was one of
the obedient. (66:11-13)
In these verse we can see three examples of three different states of
the inner self of a human being. The wives of Noah (peace be upon him)
and Lot (peace be upon him) represent the disbelievers who reject the
truth and do not benefit from the companionship of a righteous man or
a prophet of Allah. Their inner self is in a state which incites the
soul to evil. The wife of Pharoah stands for those believers who,
vthough passionately desiring and praying to get rid of sin, yet
cannot fully dissociate themselves from evil influences, represented
by Pharoah, and having arrived at the stage of the self-accusing soul,
sometimes fail and falter. Mary represents those righteous servants of
Allah, who have closed all avenues of sin and have made peace with
Allah and as a result, they are blessed with Divine inspiration. They
have reached the stage of the soul at rest.
Mary here represents those who attained to the true submission to
Allah. Her example can be followed by both men and women. The human
race was created for one purpose, the worship of Allah. Every person
whether a man or a woman is responsible to fulfill the purpose of his
existence. Starting with himself, he should combine the efforts of his
inner self together to attain to true submission to Allah. When he
reaches the state of peace and tranquility of his own self, he can
bring this paradise to his own home and family. This can be achieved
by the combined efforts of the members of the family, who should all,
individually and together as one unit, submit truly to Allah. Once
this is achieved, the sphere of their effort can be increased to
include other members of the society who should in the same manner
combine their efforts together to bring more people to the true
submission to Allah. Hence, the whole world can be brought to true
submission to Allah and peace and tranquillity can spread in the earth
thus bringing paradise to earth.
This is the essence of Khilafat which springs from the inner depths of
the human self. Khilafat combines together the efforts of the true
servants of Allah under one leadership to bring the whole world to the
true submission of Allah.
We who live in this age are very fortunate. We have witnessed the
rebirth of Islam, the true religion of Allah, which was brought to the
world by the best Prophet of mankind (peace and blessings of Allah be
upon him). The Promised Messiah (peace be upon him) revived this
religion by following in the steps of the Holy Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him) and he planted the seed of Khilafat
which is growing into a blessed tree by the efforts of his sincere
followers under the leadership of his true successors. This tree needs
the combined efforts of both men and women to keep it growing. May
Allah enable us all to nourish this tree and to be of the fortunate
ones who will bring the whole world to the true submission to Allah
and spread His unity throughout the universe. Amen.
Windows Users
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As-Salamu Alaykum

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