By Asghar Ali Engineer
MANY non-Muslims think that Muslim women are oppressed, forced to wear the veil and confined within the four walls of their houses. This is because we read everyday in the newspapers that the Taliban burn down girls’ schools and force women into wearing the veil, in fact have their women wrapped completely from head to foot.
This image of Muslim women has been further reinforced by the burka controversy which erupted in France. It would be justified if all Muslim women followed the strict code propounded by Muslim theologians which was evolved in the medieval ages and which they keep on justifying even today. But there is a big difference in what is theologically projected and the ground reality.
It may not be wrong if I venture to say that Muslim women have been defying the so-called theological code for more than a century now, and have gone even further in their public achievements. It is true that even today some Muslim theologians debate whether women are naqisul aql (have defective reasoning power) or not, but many Muslim women have superseded even Muslim men in several fields.
In Saudi Arabia where women are not even permitted to drive cars, a woman became a licensed pilot and has been flying aircraft. Now we get news from Malaysia that Farah al-Habshi, an engineer by profession, has been appointed as deputy of weapons and electrical officer onboard a spanking new Malaysian warship K.D. Perak. She has donned the white and blue Royal Malaysian Navy uniform. What is interesting is that she also wears the hijab to cover her head though not her face. She feels her hijab in no way comes in the way of performing her duties.
Malaysia is a Muslim country where orthodox ulema exercise a great deal of control over people’s lives. Recently even the government of Malaysia chickened out when the ulema took the stand that Christians in Malaysia could not use the word ‘Allah’ in their religious literature or in a newspaper. Muslim women face several problems in that country at the hands of conservative ulema in respect of family laws.
It is in the same country that a woman has been appointed naval officer for combat duty. Even in India women have not won the right to be on combat duty in the navy. Nor are they permitted to fly fighter planes or take up combat arms. They are also not allowed seafaring in warships. On the contrary, the Pakistan Army has women officers; the air force also has women fighter pilots on duty alongside their male counterparts.
Likewise, Ms Farah al-Habshi has recently participated in a naval exercise in Milan along with some other women. She was very articulate while answering questions by journalists. She is only one example out of many. Muslim women have excelled even in theological fields and quite independently of the traditional theologians. They have shown courage to challenge the orthodox ulema. Here I can give the example of Amina Wudud of the US who teaches Islamic Studies in Washington.
She believes that women can lead mixed prayer congregations, and led around 100 men and women in a Friday prayer a few years ago and delivered the sermon; this is quite unthinkable in the traditional Muslim world. It raised a storm of controversy, and Yusuf Qardawi, a traditional theologian from Qatar, wrote an article opposing a woman’s leading a mixed prayer congregation.
Some Kuwaiti women, who were elected to the Kuwaiti parliament after a great deal of struggle, fought for their right to go to parliament without the headgear. They fought their case in the supreme court of Kuwait and won. Many more examples can be cited of Muslim women daring the authorities, in pursuit of their rights.
But the vernacular media, which is interested in sensationalising issues, refuses to highlight Muslim women’s achievements and continues to portray them as submissive to traditional authorities and meekly accepting of their situation. This image of Muslim women has to change and the reality, which is much more complex, has to be understood.
This is not to deny that in many countries Muslim women are facing difficult problems and their liberation is not a foregone conclusion. However, it is also true that many of them are fighting and refusing to submit meekly. What gives us hope is their continued struggle and defiance of traditional authority.
It should also be mentioned here that many ulema and jurists have realised that medieval formulations on women cannot be easily enforced any more. Some of them, like Muhammad Abduh of Egypt, Maulvi Mumtaz Ali Khan of India and Maulana Umar Ahmed Usmani of Pakistan have expressed serious reservations about traditional theological formulations on women. The determined struggle on the part of Muslim women will force many more theologians to revise their positions and take the Quran, and not medieval theology, more seriously on women’s issues.
The writer is an Islamic scholar who heads the Centre for Study of Secularism & Society, Mumbai.
Source: Dawn
Date:2/12/2010
