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Women, Islam & Equality
http://www.iran-e-azad.org/english/book_on_women/chapter3.html
The National Council of Resistance of Iran Foreign Affairs Committee
A publication of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council
of Resistance of Iran. Correspondence address: B.P. 18, 95430
Auvers-sur-Oise, France
Chapter Three - Islam: Beacon of Women's Emancipation
As a Muslim woman, let me proclaim that the peddlers
of religion who rule Iran in the name of Islam, but
shed blood, suppress the people and advocate export
of fundamentalism and terrorism, are themselves the
worst enemy of Islam and Muslims. The day will come
when they will be forced to let go of the name of Islam.
Maryam Rajavi, June 16, 1995(1)
The theocracy of the mullahs of Iran, who for 16 years have ruled and
issued decrees in the name of Islam and the Islamic Republic, is
recognized throughout the world as history's most misogynist regime.
For Khomeini and his retinue, gender is the primary distinction. The
mullahs' God, like themselves, is a misogynist torturer, constantly
calculating human beings' sexual offenses. They view woman as the
embodiment of sexual desire, the source of sin, and the manifestation
of Satan. She must be kept out of the public view at all times,
reserving her for use, under the absolute domination of men, for
sexual pleasure and reproduction. In this system of values, a woman is
never considered a human being, although as a concession, she has been
described on a par with children and the mentally imbalanced.2 At
other times, to discredit her views and testimony, she is classified
among thieves and "those who wage war on God."3
In his most famous book, Tahrir-ol Vasileh (Instrument of Writing), a
collection of his views and fatwas, Khomeini carefully degrades women
to a level less than that of slaves, and bordering on that of animals.
In the chapter on cleanliness, he declares women najes (filthy),
meaning that if men need to wash only once to cleanse themselves,
women must do so twice.4 In his view, the multitudes of women who
gather for prayers cannot hold collective prayers unless a man leads
them.5 Although Islam emphasizes praying collectively in the mosque,
Khomeini recommends that women pray at home, and even there, it is
better that they pray in the closet.6 Women do not have the right to
leave home without the permission of their husbands. Men have to
provide for their living expenses, but husbands are not required to
pay for their wives' serious illnesses.7 Denied independent means, the
wife must tolerate her condition, and await death.
From this perspective, everything finds meaning in the context of the
wife's attractiveness. If a woman refrains from creating an
environment which provides pleasure to her husband, he has the right
to beat her, and to add to the beating every day to force the wife
into submission.8 In such a situation, the husband need not even
provide for his wife's expenses. All these affairs are unilateral, and
are the husband's prerogative. The wife has but one responsibility:
total submission. The husband can divorce his wife in absentia: "In
divorce, it is not necessary for the wife to know, let alone agree."9
Khomeini has also sanctioned "temporary marriage," legitimizing
prostitution, specifying that a sum be paid to the woman for use of
her body.10
If we add to this collection Khomeini's fatwa sanctioning the rape of
virgin girls before their execution, and the fatwa permitting
executions of pregnant women, we arrive at a general understanding of
the views of the mullahs' mentor.
His disciple, Rafsanjani also calls for gender apartheid: "Equality
does not take precedence over justice... Justice does not mean that
all laws must be the same for men and women. One of the mistakes that
Westerners make is to forget this.... The difference in the stature,
vitality, voice, development, muscular quality and physical strength
of men and women shows that men are stronger and more capable in all
fields... Men's brains are larger... These differences affect the
delegation of responsibilities, duties and rights."11 Rafsanjani
describes an equitable division of labor as follows: "Women are
consumers, but men are to manage.." Even in the home, he does not
accept women as managers: "Running the affairs of the household and
financial matters are the responsibility of the husband."12
The Majlis deputies have similar views. They believe, for example:
"Women must be kept unaware..."13 "Women must accept that men rule
over them. The world must also realize that men are superior."14 The
head of the regime's Judiciary says: "Your wife, who is your
possession, is in fact your slave."15
These are glimpses of the misogynist mullahs' thinking, upon which
their all-encompassing, appalling suppression of Iranian women is
based. The have imparted a flavor of Islam to their views, and in the
name of Islam they advocate despicable hostility, a ploy unambiguously
condemned in the Quran: "And who does greater evil than he who forges
against God falsehood, when he is being called unto surrender?"16
The extent of Khomeini and his regime's distortion of Islam is
unprecedented in the past 1,400 years. In justifying their views on
the women's issue, the mullahs have ironically inverted the teachings
of the Prophet and Holy Quran on one of the most brilliant and
appealing aspects of Islam. One of the most telling features of the
Age of Jaheliat (ignorance)17 against which the Prophet of Islam arose
was the practice of burying baby girls alive. In other parts of the
world, women fared no better than in the Arabian Peninsula. The
emergence of Muhammed is inseparable from the dawn of women's
liberties in this period.
Islam is a far cry from what Khomeini and the mullahs would have us
believe. It is the religion of Towhid, or oneness, and worship of one
God. From Abraham to Muhammed, the leading women of the religion of
Towhid have shone forth, from Hajar (Abraham's wife), Asieh (Pharaoh's
wife who raised Moses), and the Virgin Mary, to Khadijeh (Prophet
Muhammad's wife) and Fatima (his daughter). The ideology of Towhid,
which is the basis of the Islamic worldview, opposes all
discrimination. Towhid makes a passionate call for the equality and
oneness of women and men. The Holy Quran says: "O mankind, We have
created you male and female, and appointed you races and tribes, that
you may know one another. Surely, the noblest among you in the sight
of God is the most god fearing of you."18
Islam is an invitation to all human beings to liberate themselves.
Throughout the Quran, women and men have been addressed in equal
terms. In not a single case is the criteria for women differentiated
from that for men. To stress the issue of equality, verse two of the
chapter Nisaa (Women) refers to the origins of women and men:
"Mankind, hear your Lord, who created you of a single soul, whether
male or female, and from the pair of them scattered abroad many men
and women; fear God by whom you demand one of another."
In verse 194 of Al-i-Imran (House of Imarn) it adds: "I waste not the
labour of any that labours among you, be you male or female - the one
of you is as the other."
These verses clearly reject any distinctions between men and women.
Women and men play an equal role in society, and there are no
differences in their spheres of responsibility. For the Quran, the
yardstick is one's actions and sense of responsibility. "... no soul
laden bears the load of another, and that a human being shall have to
his account only as he has laboured."19
Verses 72 and 73 of Ahzab (The Confederates), "We offered the trust to
the heavens and the earth; and the human being carried it", hold women
and men equally responsible, and reiterate that the element of
responsibility is the criteria for judging women's and men's actions
"That God may chastise the hypocrites, men and women alike, and the
idolaters, men and women alike; and that God may turn again unto the
believers, men and women alike."
Verse 36 of the same chapter says women and men have equal
opportunities to excel: "Men and women who have surrendered, believing
men and believing women, obedient men and obedient women, truthful men
and truthful women, enduring men and enduring women, humble men and
humble women, men and women who give charity, men who fast and women
who fast, men and women who guard their private parts, men and women
who remember God often - for them God has prepared forgiveness and a
mighty reward."
The next verse unequivocally warns: "It is not for any believer, man
or woman, when God and his messenger have decreed a matter, to have
choice in the affair. Whoever disobeys God and his Messenger has gone
astray into manifest error." One must ask Khomeini and the mullahs
where in the Quran and Islam is there talk of inequality between women
and men, of discrimination? How dare they call for the confinement of
women to their homes?
Pioneers in Conversion to Islam
It is not without reason that women flourished with the coming of the
Prophet of Islam, in an era when slavery and patriarchal tribal
societies were intertwined. Distinction, discrimination and inequality
are alien to the spirit of the Quran and Towhid. The first believer in
Islam was a woman, Khadijeh, the Prophet's wife, who devoted all her
wealth and her entire life to Islam. Her effective support played a
prominent role in the advancement of the religion. The second Muslim
was the Prophet's cousin, Ali ibn Abi Talib, and the third a woman,
Fatima bent As'as, a renowned woman from the Quraish and the mother of
Ali. Umar, the second Muslim ruler after the death of the Prophet, was
converted to Islam by his two sisters. Tradition tells us that when
Umar went to see his two sisters, he found them secretly reading the
Quran. The shocking encounter humbled this famous combatant of Arabia,
and within a few moments, he had converted to Islam.
The first martyr to the cause of Islam was also a woman, Somaya, wife
of Yasser and the mother of Ammar, one of the Prophet's great
disciples. Tortured along with her husband and son by Abu-Jahl, to the
very end Somaya urged them to remain steadfast.
By the sixth year after the Be'that 20, at least 23 of the first 63
Muslims were women. Many were slaves, who endured much torment and
hardship. Of the first ten Muslims, a group which includes Ali and
Abu-Bakr, the first caliph, four were women: Khadijeh, Fatima, and two
freed slaves, Lobaineh and Zonaireh. Both women had been the slaves of
Umar, the second caliph, but were recognized as equals when they
converted to Islam. The fifth Muslim woman, Ghozaiyeh, was a nomad.
Her purity and bravery was an inspiration to other women.
The hijrat (migration)21 by Muslim women marked a major step in the
path towards the liberation of women, at a time when the tribal system
dictated punishments of death or slavery for a wife who left her
husband. The ratio of migrant women to men is also significant. The
first group of Mohajerin, who left Mecca for the Red Sea and Ethiopia
five years after the Be'that (two years after the call to convert
became public), was comprised of 15 Muslims. The names of at least
four women, Leili, Um-Salameh, Sahleh and Roghieh, the Prophet's
daughter, have been recorded in the pages of history.
In a society where being female was itself a source of shame, and girl
children were buried alive by the thousands; a society which
considered woman as property which was inherited, and whose human
dignity was not recognized, the Prophet of Islam performed Bei'at (the
oath of allegiance) with each of his women converts, and insisted on
their participation in the most important decisions that affected the
Muslim society. Then he set about providing for women's civil rights
and formulating a constitution of their human rights.
His teachings abound in expressions of admiration for women, and
exultation of their status. Little girls found peace at his side. Many
times he was criticized by other men for "hugging goats and seating
them at your side," but he replied by referring to Fatima, his
daughter, as a part of his own being, and called her his mother.22
Inspired by the Word of God, he described her as Kowthar (the
fountainhead of continuity).
Women converts to Islam left their husbands and families in Mecca and
after much torment, migrated to Medina to join Muhammed. They were
with him in all arenas, including on the field of battle, where they
fought alongside the men. The young society of Medina founded by the
Prophet suddenly came face to face with women whose rights were
without precedent. On occasion, the men opposed and resisted these
changes, which included the right to choose one's spouse; the ban on
women's inclusion in a deceased man's inheritance; the ban on accusing
women of improprieties without due process; the right to hold
property, independent of men, and recognition of contracts and
business deals entered into by women independent of their husbands or
male family members; the right to seek recourse against their husbands
and male relatives; the right to travel and migrate; the right to
inheritance; the right to a share of war booty; the right to
guardianship of children; the ban on isolating women and various other
arbitrary forms of divorce; the right to teach, learn, and advocate
their views; the right to vote; freedom of expression; the right to
take part in all social decisions; and finally, and most importantly,
the right to leadership and directorship of the society.
The Right to Leadership
The Iranian mullahs say: "Regardless of a woman's knowledge, know how
and wisdom, she cannot lead."23 The clerics start with denying women
the right to be judges, and then deny them a leadership role. Mohammad
Yazdi, the head of the Judiciary, states: "Women cannot be judges;
that is, they cannot issue a verdict and cannot run the court in such
a way as to make the final decisions themselves."24 In Khomeini's
view, mothers have no jurisdiction over their children. A women cannot
even open a bank account for her child, let alone interfere in his or
her affairs. She has no rights concerning her daughter's marriage. All
these rights belong to the father or the guardian whom he designates25
"Woman's testimony in questions of defense, inheritance, divorce...,
leadership, justice, punishment and the appearance of the new moon,
have no credibility."26
In a statement issued in 1963, Khomeini opposed giving women their
rights and their election to public office. He described voting rights
for women as blatant "aggression" against "the Quran's unequivocal
decrees," and characterized advocacy of equality between women and men
as formal opposition to Islam.27 Contrary to Khomeini's false claims
about Islam, the Quran urges society to "consult with them," and it
was the Prophet's tradition to do so.
Citing eyewitnesses in his book Al-Maghazi, Vaqedi notes that in the
affair known as the Hodaybieh peace treaty (with the leaders of the
Quraish), which the Quran describes as a great victory, when the
Prophet finished the work on the treaty, he told his disciples: "Rise,
sacrifice a lamb and shave your heads" (as Muslims did when going to
Mecca for the Hajj). Not understanding the strategic importance of
this brilliant political maneuver by the Prophet, they did not obey
his order. This angered the Prophet, who returned to the quarters of
Um-Salameh, his wife who was traveling with him. When Um-Salameh heard
the story, she advised the Prophet to go ahead and perform the
sacrifice, and said his disciples would follow suit. The Prophet took
her advice, and when the Muslims saw him, they rushed to join him.
Islam does not stop short at merely consulting with women. Verse 73 of
Towbah (Repentance), ignored by the mullahs, refers to the equal
rights of men and women: "And believers, the men and women, are
leaders one of the other, they bid to honour, and forbid dishonour;
they perform the prayer, and pay the alms, and they obey God and his
Messenger. Those - upon them God will have mercy; God is All-mighty,
All wise."
Verses 98-102 of Al-i-Imran stress the need for vanguards and
leadership (whether male or female) for the furtherance of the Islamic
movement and the unity of the lay society: "And hold you fast to God's
bond, together and do not scatter; remember God's blessing upon you
when you were enemies, and He brought your hearts together, so that by
His blessing you became brothers. You were upon the brink of a pit of
Fire, and He delivered you from it; even so God makes clear to you his
signs; so haply you will be guided. Let there be one nation of you,
calling to good, and bidding to honour, and forbidding dishonour;
those are the prosperers. Be not as those who scattered and fell into
variance..."
Society of Equality & Fraternity (Qest)
The Quran describes the aim of social development as the establishment
of Qest, justice. Within society, Towhid, or monotheism (oneness),
means establishing social justice. In terms of human relationships, it
means equality, including between women and men: "Indeed, We sent our
Messengers with the clear signs, and We sent down with them the Book
and the Balance so that human beings might uphold justice."28
Thus, establishing social justice is the primary objective of Islam,
and women and men are equally called upon to work towards its
realization. This is a general law, that determines the relations
between women and men and between social groupings. It is hence the
responsibility of the leadership of any society in any given time,
namely the enlightened women and men of that society, to strive for
social justice and human equality, consistent with the social context
and historic period in which they live.
It can be said with certainty that what was considered to be the most
radical implementation of social justice and Qest during the Prophet's
time - an era of tribal economic and social relations, and of a
patriarchal slave society - cannot be considered sufficient in later
stages of social and historical development. There must be change, in
the same way that social justice took on new form and meaning in the
decades after the Middle Ages, when capitalism surfaced, and
especially after such great developments as the French Revolution,
Industrial Revolution, and independence of the United States. On the
threshold of the 21st century, when the world in many ways is taking
on a totally different look, social justice must attain new heights,
and the equality between women and men must enter the most progressive
phase of its evolution. This is the meaning of the enduring Qest,
called for in the Quran and true Islamic thinking.
It is, to put it mildly, naive to expect that the Prophet of Islam
could have implemented all the social and humanistic ideals and
objectives of Islam in the society which he ironically led.29 The
reality is that the society of his time consisted of a set of economic
and social relationships based on slavery, the level of social
consciousness was quite low, and his contemporaries could not tolerate
more than what was accomplished. Even those values and rights which
the Prophet introduced, reflecting the depth of his thinking and
justice-oriented radicalism, were met with bewilderment, opposition
and resistance by his disciples. The society was not ready for more,
as best attested by the fact that after the Prophet's death, it
regressed.
One can conclude from the absence of women in the Saqifeh Council30,
which decided on the issue of leadership after the death of the
Prophet, from their non-existence in the social and political arenas
after the Prophet's demise, and to history's silence on this matter,
that the succeeding patriarchal system never followed the Prophet's
example. After the Prophet, we have only glimpses of the activities of
the leading women of their time: the profound protests of the
Prophet's daughter, Fatima, to the politics of her contemporaries; and
the rebellion of Zeinab, Fatima's daughter, after the martyrdom of
Hussein ibn Ali, the Prophet's grandson. Subsequent women's movements,
for several centuries, were clandestine.
Muhammed's Revolution & Women
Although some believe that among some early Arab nomadic tribes, a
matriarchal system was dominant, they nevertheless acknowledge that
the ruling system was patriarchal. Human rights and an independent
identity for women were not recognized. The most important short-term
objective of the Prophet was to establish social institutions and a
civil constitution giving women an independent human identity, so that
they would be recognized in the same way that men were, and no longer
defined as slaves, cattle or a man's property.
The Quran says: "... to men is allotted what they earn And to women
whath they earn..."31, that, "It is not lawful for you to take of what
you have given them....,"32 and that, "O believers, it is not lawful
for you to inherit women against their will; neither debar them, that
you may go off with part of wha you have given them..."33 These are
examples of the steps taken to create an independent identity for
women. It is significant that the last verse was revealed in Medina,
after the formation of a civil society. Previously, it had been
impossible for the Prophet to actually implement such bans. What
meager property a woman might have was considered fair game, and no
safeguards protected even her own body. Taken as a whole, the
historical evidence indicates that sexual exploitation dominated the
culture of the day, and prostitution was well established in the
economic and social system. A verse in the Quran delivered the first
blow to this status quo: "But force not your young wives to
prostitutions when they desire chastity."34
In offering an interpretation of verses 151, 152 and 153 of An'am
(Cattle), the book, Ad Dar Al Manshur... , quotes Ebadeh ibn As-Samet,
the renowned disciple of the Prophet, as saying: "The Prophet of God
addressed his selfless disciples who had helped him during the
difficult years in Mecca and the Hijrat, asking them: `Which one of
you will swear allegiance (Bei'at) with me on these three verses.'"
The first part of this passage, on which the Prophet asked for and
received a solemn oath, says: "Come, I will recite you what your Lord
has forbidden you: that you associate not anything with Him and to be
good to your parents, and not to slay your children because of
poverty; We will provide you and them; and that you not approach not
any decency outward or inward, and that you slay not the soul God has
made sacred..."
It is understood that when the Prophet requested a special oath from
his disciples, it meant that the issue was difficult for even his
closest followers to accept and uphold. The children murdered on the
pretext of poverty included daughters. The pretext was also applied to
girls who were thought to bring shame upon the family, or daughters
who might be coveted by someone incompatible with the family's
stature. These were serious matters, and the victims were buried
alive. Historians write that some men prepared a small ditch prior to
the birth of their children, and in the event that the baby was a
girl, they put her in the ditch and poured dirt on her until she
died."... and when any of them is given the good tidings of a girl,
his face is darkened and he chokes inwardly, as he hides him from the
people because of the evil of the good tidings that have been given
unto him, whether he shall preserve it in humiliation, or trample it
into the dust..."35
Therefore, the first order of business for the Prophet was the fight
to eradicate this inhuman tradition, ensuring women and girls' right
to life. The issue had not been totally resolved even by the last days
of the Prophet's life, when some Muslims were still complaining about
his practice of putting his female grandchildren, (including Zeinab,
born to Fatima five years before the Prophet's death) on his lap and
kissing and caressing them. Clearly, the society in which he lived
could only take so much, and the Prophet faced serious obstacles in
changing the status quo of women.
A glimpse of the situation of a mature woman at the time is provided
by Abol Fotouh Razi in his book interpreting the Quran. Discussing
verse 23 of the chapter Nisaa, Razi writes: "During the Age of
Jaheliat (ignorance) and early Islam, it was customary when a married
man died, for one of his male heirs to place a piece of cloth on the
widow or on her tent, thereby becoming her owner. The woman would be
left on her own, without any rights or income, until such time as the
man wished to sleep with her. If this was not the case, the man would
seek compensation from the woman for letting her go, or would keep her
as a slave until she died."
Under such circumstances, it is clear that the mere mention of
independent legal rights for women would be met with resistance. The
Prophet, however, realized the equivalent of a bill of women's rights.
His male contemporaries were put off by what they considered his
bizarre practice of taking women so seriously as to accept their
conversion to Islam, let alone the conversions of slave women, a
subject of ridicule by the powerful men of the time. But not only did
the Prophet of God accept women, the Message of God revealed to him
addressed women. Gradually, verses were revealed which spoke of
women's status and rights in the family and society, and finally
verses about the equal status and rights of women and men.
Women's Dignity in Islam
Women whose human status had gone unrecognized in the savage
patriarchal society, arose during Muhammed's great revolution. The
Quran declares that rights must be taken, and not given: "God changes
not what is in a people, until they change what is in themselves..."36
The Prophet, therefore, was preparing the ground for women to part
take in their own liberation and fashion their destiny. The revolution
which began by banning the burying of live children, subsequently
recognized women's civil and economic independence, "... to men is
allotted what they earn And to women whath they earn..."37 and opened
new frontiers. Muhammed's revolution had to simultaneously move
forward in the cultural realm, creating basic social institutions and
contracts to safeguard women's human dignity and honor. In an era
dominated by sexual exploitation and insecurity, strengthening
familial relationships and the rights of the family was an important
step forward. In the absence of such safeguards, sexual exploitation
would undermine the realization of women's new bill of rights.
The Prophet steadily tightened the restrictions against exploitation
of women. One of the most radical policies was to protect women from
the charge of adultery, very prevalent at the time. If the slightest
suspicions were aroused, women would be murdered outright. The Prophet
accomplished this in a three-staged approach, where, finally, falsely
accusing someone of adultery was recorded among the eight mortal sins.
The first step was to ban the hurling of the charge. On the eve of the
Hijrat to Medina and the creation of the new society, the Prophet
signed a number of agreements, known as the Aqabeh agreements, with
those who had come from Yathreb (Medina). In these agreements, the
Prophet focused more than anything else on the rights of women,
specifying that the Muslims would "Refrain from adultery, not kill
their girl children, not hurl accusations, not steal, and not commit
improper deeds."
During the sixth year after the Hijrat, the campaign against
violations of women's dignity entered a new phase. Previously, there
was no specific punishment for accusing and defaming women, although
owing to an unprecedented guarantee, that is four credible witnesses,
the charges themselves were rejected. A woman's reputation and honor,
nevertheless, were still at risk. Verses 23-25 of Noor (Light)
rectified this problem: "Surely those who cast it upon women in
wedlock that are heedless but believing shall be accursed in the
present world and the world to come; and there awaits them a mighty
chastisement." Verse four of the same chapter states: "And those who
cast it up on women in wedlock, and then bring not four witnesses,
scourge them with eighty stripes, and do not accept any testimony of
theirs ever; those - they are ungodly,..."
The importance of this punishment can be better understood when
compared with the punishment for adultery, which is specified in verse
two of the same chapter: "The fornicatress and the fornicator -
scourge each one of them a hundred stripes..." This punishment would,
it should be recalled, only be administered after four witnesses had
testified to the occurrence of the act, as previously mentioned in
verse 15 of Nisaa. In this chapter, however, the punishment of the
accuser had not yet been specified, nor had the punishment for the
woman. Her life had been spared from revenge by her relatives, and she
was banished and confined to the home, but there were no punishments
for men who committed adultery.
Thus, from the time of the call to Islam and the pact on the eve of
the Hijrat to refrain from adultery and accusing women, until the
revelation of Noor, three other protective steps were taken: The
arbitrary punishment of women by their relatives was banned, but since
this was a matter of family honor, the falsely accused woman had no
protection. Men who committed adultery were not held accountable. The
second step was to make the punishment proportionate, and to equalize
the punishment of convicted men and women. In the third stage,
punishment for the accuser strengthened the ban on falsely accusing
women of adultery, a prevalent practice aggravated by tribal
vengeance.
There were many obstacles to the progress of the new legal
institutions on women's rights. Newly converted Muslims, who readily
sacrificed their property and their lives in the path of the Prophet,
adamantly resisted the change in age- old values and ruthless
patriarchal traditions. An example is to be found in one of the
Prophet's disciples, named Sa'd ibn Ebadeh. He was the chief of the
Bani Al-Khazraj tribe, one of the two great tribes in Yathreb, renamed
Medina. Akrame ibn Abbas writes that after the prohibition and
punishment for unsubstantiated charges of adultery were revealed, a
furious Sa'd ibn Ebadeh went to the Prophet and protested: "If I were
to find my wife while another man is on top of her, do I not have the
right to set her free before I can find four witnesses? I swear to God
that I cannot find four witnesses before the man has finished and left
the scene. And if I reveal what I have seen, I will be lashed 80
times." The Prophet turned to the Ansar (residents of Yathreb who had
converted to Islam) and said: "Did you hear what your leader was
saying?" They replied: "Do not blame him. He is a possessive person."
Then Sa'd told the Prophet: "I swear to God that the verses are God's
words, but I am baffled."
A short while later Sa'd's cousin, Helal ibn Omayeh arrived. He had
found his wife with a man who had been working in his garden. He
rushed to the Prophet and said: "When I went to my wife at night, I
found a man next to her. I saw this with my own two eyes and my own
two ears." So appalled was the Prophet by these words that he became
visibly angry. Helal went on: "I see the signs of anger on your face,
but God knows I am telling the truth and I am hopeful that God will
provide an opening." It was thought that the Prophet wanted to have
Helal punished. The Ansar were saddened that Helal shared the same
view as Sa'd, and they were wondering whether he would actually be
punished. Then another verse was revealed: "And those who cast it up
on their wives having no witness except themselves, the testimony of
one of them shall be to testify by God four times that he is truthful,
and a fifth time, that the curse of God shall be upon him, if he
should be of liars. It shall avert her the chastisement if she testify
by God four times that he is of the liars, and a fifth time, that the
wrath of God shall be upon her, if he should be of the truthful. But
for God's bounty to you and His mercy and that God turns, and is All-
wise...."38
This new form of irreversible divorce, which the Prophet implemented,
became known as reciprocal damning. Women were given several
concessions. First, the woman's life was spared. Second, the element
of shame in the accusation was rejected, and the honor of the woman
upheld. Third, in a question involving honor, of tremendous
importance, a woman was given the right to challenge her husband, to
save her life and honor, and to be free forever of the influence of a
husband who had accused her of adultery.
This was only one aspect of the great revolution which the Prophet of
Towhid embarked upon to establish a code of freedoms for women.
Muhammed had not come to institutionalize the whip, execution and
stoning; the Prophet of God had come to show human beings the
unlimited prospects of mercy and compassion, and to remove the
shackles of ignorance, oppression and tyranny from their minds and
bodies. In Muhammed's religion, falsely accusing women of adultery was
designated as one of the eight mortal sins, considered far more
important than not performing prayers or other religious rituals.
Islam put the punishment for false accusations of adultery on a par
with the punishment for adultery. What is more, it made conviction
conditional upon the testimony of four witnesses. Was this approach,
adopted by the Prophet, intended to expand the punishments, or to
eliminate, once and for all, such complaints' referral to the courts?
After Islam instituted the charter for women's freedoms, it set about
safeguarding these gains by preventing male tyranny in the family,
prohibiting various unjust methods of divorce, and limiting polygamy
with an eye toward monogamy.
Independence in Economic Affairs
Earlier in this chapter, we saw that after the death of the husband,
the wife or wives were inherited. A deceased man's property was taken
over by his tribe. The little that history has recorded suggests that
the situation of women in Iran and the Byzantine Empire was no better,
with the exception of concubines of the kings and nobility. A woman's
right to inheritance, set down in the Quran, was unprecedented. It
came about in the second half of the third year of the Hijrat, after
the end of the difficult Battle of Ohod. When the verses concerning
inheritance for daughters and women were revealed,39 there was an
uproar and men began to protest. Ibn Abbas, the renowned disciple of
the Prophet, said: "When the verses about inheritance came, a number
of people were upset about them, saying they give the wife one- fourth
and one-eighth, and the daughter half, and the son his share, even
though none of them fight with the enemy and capture war booty." Ibn
Abbas adds: "In the Age of Jaheliat, inheritance was given to the
fighting man only. They would give it to the eldest."
Writing about the events after the Battle of Ohod in his book
Almaghazi, Vaghedi quotes Jaber ibn Abdollah as saying; "We were
talking with the Prophet about the Battle of Ohod and remembering the
Muslims who had been killed, including Sa'd ibn Rabi'. The Prophet
told us to get up and leave. There were 20 of us when we arrived in
the neighborhood where Sa'd ibn Rabi' lived and the Prophet spoke to
us about him and asked God to give him peace. The wife of Sa'd got up
and said `O Prophet, Sa'd was killed in Ohod and his brother came and
took his inheritance. Two of his daughters are left without any
wealth. And you, as the Prophet, know that women are taken as wives on
the basis of their dowries.' The Prophet prayed for them and said,
`Nothing has been revealed on this matter.'" Jaber adds: "When we
returned, the Prophet went to his home. We saw him assume the position
[he was known to take] when the message of revelation would come, and
he was sweating on his forehead. Then he called for Sa'd's wife, and
when she came, he asked her, "Where is your daughters' cousin? Ask him
to come." The Prophet then sent some one to bring Sa'd's brother. When
he arrived, the Prophet told him, `Give two-thirds of your inheritance
to the daughters of Sa'd, and one eighth to your brother's wife. You
can do what you want with the remainder of the inheritance.'"
It is obvious how progressive it was to thus divide wealth among women
and men in a male-dominated society where women had no economic
standing. It should be recalled that this was an era of slavery. It is
also evident that the loyalists to the former system would strongly
oppose such radical reforms. The significance of this recognition of
women's economic independence can hardly be over-stated, in light of
the fact that today, 14 centuries after the advent of Islam, in some
western countries, women are in certain respects still economically
and legally dependent on their husbands, and do not have exclusive
rights to their own property.
Furthermore, the dynamism of Islam's teachings leaves no room for
doubt that hundreds of years after the emergence of the Prophet, Islam
bears a message of comprehensive economic equality between women and
men. It is on the basis of these teachings that the Mojahedin, a
democratic Muslim movement, not only call for equality between women
and men, but believe that for a certain period of time, affirmative
action must be taken to compensate for the economic and social
oppression of women.
Women in Social Struggle
Despite the general absence of women in history books, we come across
the names of more than 150 women during the time of the Prophet.
Previously we spoke about the right of women to take part in the
leadership of a society, a right affirmed in the verses of the Quran.
Nowhere in the Quran are women denied the opportunity to hold any
position of responsibility in any area of the society. In the young
society designed and built by the Prophet, it appears that women's
entry into the turbulent social scene began with their inroads into
the most "masculine" sphere of activity, namely battle.
Um Sanan, one of these women, says: "When the Prophet chose to go to
the Battle of Khaibar, I went to him and told him, `O Prophet of God,
I will accompany you to your destination. I prefer to provide water
and treat the ill and the wounded, if there are any, and I hope there
will be none.' The Prophet replied: `With God's blessings, you may
come along. You will be accompanied by other women, from your own
tribe and from others, who also sought permission to come. You can
accompany them or us.' When he conquered Khaibar, the Prophet gave us
a share of the war booty. I returned along with his wife, Um Salameh.
When we entered Medina, I was riding on a camel that belonged to the
Prophet. Um Salameh told me that the Prophet had given me the camel I
was riding."40
In the same book, Vaqedi writes: "The Prophet left Medina for Khaibar.
He was accompanied by 10 Jews, with whose help he fought at Khaibar
and whom he gave war booty equivalent to that of the Muslim fighters.
There were 20 women in his entourage which left for the battle scene,
including Um Salameh and Safieh (the wife and aunt of the Prophet)."
He quotes Umayeh Ghafari (bent Gheis) as saying, "Along with a group
from the Bani Ghaffar tribe, we went to see the Prophet and told him,
`We will accompany you in the direction you are going, and will treat
the wounded and help as much as we can.' The Prophet accepted and
said, `With God's blessings.'"
At the time, his decision was probably all the more unfathomable,
because women who did not appear capable of accomplishing much were
also allowed onto the field of battle. Omayeeh Ghaffari adds: "I was
only a young girl and the Prophet put me on board a four-legged animal
on top of some equipment." In her old age, she also described this
incident to another women, named Um Ali Bent Al Haakam. She referred
to the particular difficulties that go along with adolescence, and
said that the Prophet's attention to her condition amid the fighting
had been astounding. She said that after the end of the fighting,
which lasted for a week, the Prophet gave her a necklace from the war
booty which she kept until the last days of her life.
Khaibar, the wife of Abdollah ibn Enis, was also among the mojahedin
women. She was pregnant and gave birth during the fighting. When the
child's father brought the news of this unusual and problematic birth
to the Prophet, God's Messenger gave him some instructions about his
wife's nutritional needs and care. The daughter of Assem ibn Odai was
also born during a battle. They named her Sahleh (easy).
Obviously, the Prophet's intention in encouraging these women,
especially the young and pregnant, to go to the scene of battle was
other than to advance the cause. He sought a higher goal, namely the
struggle and victory of these women over the stereotype of being the
weaker sex oppressed by a patriarchal society.
Khaibar may have been the high point of women's active presence in
their society, but not the beginning. The turning point had come with
the Battle of Ohod, which occurred during the third year of Hijrat.
During the battle, a lack of discipline by some men had turned a
victory into a defeat, and many renowned men fled the field. More than
70 out of a force of several hundred were killed. At the height of
defeat and despair, a number of women rose to the occasion. Among them
were 14 relatives of the Prophet, including his daughter Fatima, who
was only 10 and carried water and food on her back for the combatants
and treated the wounded. More importantly, the women took up arms and
fought, especially to defend the Prophet's life.
On the eve of the Prophet's Hijrat to Medina, when the people of
Medina secretly signed a pact with Muhammed, two women, Nosaibeh and
Esmah, were among them and, like the men, pledged to defend him with
their property and lives. Nosaibeh took part in the Battle of Ohod.
She took charge of defending the Prophet, and killed two enemy
soldiers with her own hands. She received 13 wounds in this battle,
which took a year to heal.
Price for Women's Liberaty
The attractions of the new religion had caught the eyes of many in
Mecca, who kept their religion a secret. Others were so enthusiastic
that at their first opportunity, they left Mecca and migrated to
Medina. This threatened the sense of security among the leaders in
Mecca, who were afraid of losing their relatives and especially their
slaves. Thus, in the Hodaibieh peace treaty, in return for their
promise not to attack the Muslims and their allies, they included the
provision stipulating that the Prophet would return to them those who
had escaped from Mecca. The Prophet accepted this condition, but the
treaty had just been signed and the Prophet had not yet returned from
Hodaibieh when a major incident put the whole treaty at risk.
As the Prophet's great disciple, Ibn Abbas, recorded it, Sa'bieh, the
daughter of Hareth Eslemi, had joined with the Muslims. Her husband,
from the Bani Mahzzom tribe, went to the Prophet and citing the
agreement which had just been signed, demanded that his wife be
returned. Giving refuge to this woman was a critical decision for the
Prophet. Verse 10 of the chapter Mumtahana (The Woman Tested) settled
the matter: "O believers, when believing women come to you as
emigrants, test them. God knows very well their belief. Then if you
know them to be believers, return them not to unbelievers. They are
not permitted to unbelievers, nor are unbelievers permitted to them.
Give the unbelievers what they have expended..." To take care of the
matter of the agreement, Muhammed replied: "We have agreed to return
all men, not women." In the agreement it says, "any man who came to
you must be returned." In accordance with the verse, the woman's dowry
was returned to her husband, but she stayed with the Prophet and was
not sent back.
For the next two years after Sa'bieh's migration, when the Meccans
violated the pact and the Muslims conquered Mecca, other women left
Mecca for Medina. They included Omayeh, daughter of Bashar; Um
Kulthum, daughter of Aqabah; and Zeinab, the Prophet's eldest daughter
from Khadijeh. Except for Zeinab, whose husband later joined the
Muslims and converted to Islam, the other Mohajerin women remarried in
Medina.
Migrating despite great dangers, letting go of the old religion and
traditions, leaving husbands and family, and remarrying within the new
set of relations were truly giant strides undertaken by the women
inspired by the message of Islam. It was a unique opportunity to make
great progress toward women's emancipation. For his part, in accepting
them and especially in sanctioning their unilateral divorces from
former husbands, the Prophet took great risks and paid a heavy price
for their liberation.
Oath of Allegiance with all Women
After the conquest of Mecca, in the eighth year of the Hijrat, the
Prophet of Islam performed the oath of allegiance with all the women
in Mecca. Many women were still enemies of Islam, but Muhammed
nevertheless made a pact with them, the provisions of which are stated
in verse 12 of the chapter Mumtahana: "O Prophet, when believing women
come to thee, swearing fealty to thee upon the terms that they will
not associate with God anything, and will not steal, neither commit
adultery, nor slay their children, nor bring a calumny they forge
between their hands and their feet, nor disobey thee in aught
honourable,..."
According to the prevailing tribal system, Bei'at by the head of the
tribe sufficed, and there was no need for each and every member to
perform the oath of allegiance. Individual pledges by leading figures
had political significance. Therefore, the Bei'at with the women of
Mecca was meant to change these women, who were subordinate to the
system, into independent, emancipated women. Independent of their
husbands, fathers or their tribes, they individually made pledges and
thus accepted responsibility. This opened their path to progress. The
provisions of the pact also attest to the Prophet's attention to the
liberation of these women. The Prophet himself, and not the Muslim
society, were the reciprocal party to this oath. To encourage women to
make commitments and become emancipated, the greatest moral capital of
Islam and the new system, the Prophet himself, had entered into the
fray.
A review of the history of Muhammed's movement leaves no doubt the
Prophet of Islam took the women's issue very seriously, an approach
later emulated by his direct descendants.
Notes
1. The Lion and Sun, the Iranian Resistance's Journal, July 1995, p.
8. Maryam Rajavi, addressing live via satellite a 15,000-strong
audience of Iranians in Dortmund and milions of Iranians inside the
country on 16 June 1995.
2. Ruhollah Moussavi al-Khomeini, Tahrir-ol Vasileh (Instrument of
Writing), a collection of Khomeini's views and fatwas, (Iraq: 1963),
vol. 2, p. 494.
3. Ibid., vol. 1, p. 492.
4. Ibid., p. 18.
5. Ibid., vol. 2, pp. 237 - 238
6. Ibid., vol. 1, p. 151.
7. Ibid., vol. 2, p. 316.
8. Ibid., p. 305.
9. Ibid., p. 327.
10. Ibid., pp. 289, 313. 11. Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, interview in
Ettela'at, 7 June 1986.
12. Hashemi Rafsanjani, interview in Kayhan, 26 April 1984.
13. Ibid., 3 May 1984.
14. Abbas Abbasi, parliament deputy, Jomhouri Islami, 8 October
1994.15. Mohammad Yazdi, Head of the Judiciary, Ressalat,
15 December 1986.
16. The Quran, interperted, by Arthur J. Arberry, (Qum: 1962, Centre
of Islamic Studies), Sura LXI, Saff (Ranks), Verse 8, p. 581.
17. Jaheliat is the Arabic word for ignorance, referring to era in the
Arabian Peninsula before the rise of Muhammed in 611 A.D.
18. Ibid., Sura XIIX: Hujurat (Apartments), Verse 13, p. 538.
19. Ibid., Sura LIII: Najm (Star), Vesre 41, p. 552.
20. Be'that is a reference to Muhammed's designation as the Prophet of
Islam in 611 A.D. He was 40 years old at the time.
21. Hijrat is the Arabic word for migration which Muhammed and his
disciples undertook in 624 A.D. from Mecca to Medina after it became
impossible to spread the word of Islam in Mecca and following an
invitation by the Jewish tribes in Medina to the Prophet to set up
base in that city.
22. In Arabic the expression "Umm-e Abiha" (the mother of her father)
reflects the Prophet's respect for his daughter, Fatima and her
stature in the eyes of Muhammed.
23. Yazdi, op. cit.
24. Ibid.
25. Khomeini, op. cit., vol. 2, p. 13.
26. Ibid., p. 447.
27. The views of the Marjas (religious leaders) in Qom in February
1952, Saheefeh Noor (The Book of Light), vol. 1., p. 31.
28. The Quran, op. cit., Sura LVII: Hadid (Iron), Verse 25, p. 567.
29. The mandate of the Prophets is essentially an invitation to the
religion and far beyond leading the society. But the Prophet of Islam
had the mandate to establish an Islamic society.
30. Saqifeh Bani Sa'edeh was a council formed after the Prophet's
death to determine the leadership succeeding him. 31. The Quran, op.
cit., Sura IV: Nisaa (Women), Verse 32, p. 77.
32. Ibid., Sura II: Baqara (Cow), Verse 229, p. 32.
33. Ibid., Sura IV: Nisaa (Women), Verse 23, p. 75.
34. Ibid., Sura XXIV: Noor (Light), Verse 32, p. 356.
35. Ibid., Sura XVI: Nahl (Bee), Verse 58,59, p. 264.
36. Ibid., Sura XI: Ra'ad (Thunder), Verse 11, p. 240.
37. Ibid., Sura IV: Nisaa (Women), Verse 32, p. 77.
38. Ibid., Sura XXIV: Noor (Light), Verse 6-10, pp. 352-353.
39. Ibid., Sura IV: Nisaa (Women), Verse 11, p. 73.
40. Abridged from the Book Al-Maghazi by Muhammed ibn Umar ibn Vaqedi.
Date:Fri, 09 Sep 2005 11:39:37 +0930
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