In a lecture delivered by Myriam Francois Cerrah at Logan Hall, University of London, Cerrah explained the fundamental role that Muslim women play in our contemporary times. Muslim women, all around the world, and in Britain in particular, are apparently capable of employing spirituality and religiousness in the practical world.
“I can think of a number of Muslim women who have successfully drawn on their spirituality as a motor to engage positively with the world; and that is certainly an encouraging sign. Our generation has a committed Muslim woman Nobel peace prize winner, Tawakul Karman, to look to as a recent precedent for the recognition of women’s contribution to the struggle for justice in their societies.
We have many examples of successful models of piety balanced with an interaction with the world - from authors, to inventors, politicians, to athletes, intellectuals, scholars, singers and even members of the film industry, who have sought, despite the pitfalls of any public platform, to maintain a religious integrity alongside their public work. They are often worth citing by name - Hawa Abdi is one of Somalia’s first female gynecologists and uses her own money to run a small hospital treating everything from war injuries to malnutrition; or Bahrain’s Ruqaya Al Ghasara, the first athlete to ever take part in the Olympics wearing a hijab back in 2004, hopefully inspiring many more young Muslim to get involved in sport. Or Eleanor Martin, a tremendously talented actress who runs the wonderful Khayyal theatre company in the UK, which brings Islamic storytelling to life and just recently produced a play for the Hajj exhibition at the British museum.
Despite undoubted difficulties faced by Muslims in the media, we have more and more inspiring women leading the way.
I wanted to list these examples from a range of fields, from the high profile to the grassroots, from politics, to sports, to highlight the innumerable ways in which Muslim women are already contributing to society. Our generation has a multitude of pioneers to look to for inspiration, to challenge us when we see limits and to make us strive to contribute, each in our own capacity.
So the question then poses itself, why is it that women - and not just Muslim women incidentally - struggle to make their mark.
To some extent, it is the narrowing of our identity to ‘women’, which is to blame - after all, Muslim women speakers are almost solely asked to speak on issues pertaining to women, as if somehow, men are the ‘neutral’ gender who can address all matter of worldly and other-worldly issues whereas women are only qualified to speak on women’s issues. I cannot recall the last time I attended an event in which the main speaker was a woman - and I’m not talking about a woman’s event either, I am talking about viewing women as figures of authority and reference within our community. I am talking about women addressing and teaching men - as well women.
Is there anything particular that women can bring that is unique to their perspective? To that I would answer: "Yes". Women’s life experiences, our struggles as a minority - not in the numerical sense -technically we outnumber men - but in terms of our power - are rarely heard or reflected. In many societies, including the UK, women still bear the bulk of responsibility for caring for elderly parents or relatives - we still do the bulk of child care and midwifery - where are our stories, our perspectives.
It is all too easy to pay lip service to the fundamental equality which Islam establishes between all human beings, but when it comes down to it, actions speak much louder than words.
There are very real barriers to the contribution of Muslim women. But they are not theological, they are not God given. On the contrary the models we find in the texts and in the earliest period of Islam are diverse and multifaceted. They were not all mothers.
There may be cases in which women derive considerable satisfaction through making their contribution to society through their investment in the home. There are women for whom, their incredible commitment to home making and child rearing is their contribution. And it is no minor one - they are forging their ideal and good for them.
Throughout the earliest periods of Islamic history, we find women in important positions within society, women as market inspectors, such as Samra bint Nuhayk al Asadiyya who used to go around the market commanding good and forbidding evil. Or Ash-Sharifa bint Abdullah, an early doctor or healer who was also involved in public administration and whose name is very present in early Muslim history.
In these cases, the examples of our sisters who find contentment in domesticity cannot be used as a whip to flog us. It is not the only model of female emancipation. The Prophet's (p.) daughter Fatima (a.s) was more homeward inclined - but Khadija, his first wife was a powerful businesswoman who employed her husband before proposing to him. Umm Salama was a powerful figure whom the Prophet consulted in his decisions and who participated in a number of battles.
Women are not the trampoline from which men get to launch into the world. There is saying that really grates on me, that “Behind every great man is a great woman”. Why should she be behind him, in the shadows, easing his advances and successes - if love and partnership means anything, it means supporting one another in your objectives, it is cushioning each others’ falls, it is easing each others’ burdens. Of the many successful men I know, how many of them have dutiful, devout wives at home who keep the wheels turning in order for these men to go out and do their thing. You cannot simultaneously bemoan the lack of women’s contribution to society and expect them to achieve the same things as men, whilst bearing the additional burdens - or as I like to call, the second full time job - of running a home and caring for a family, on their own.
As mentioned by His Eminence, the late Religious Authority Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadlullah (ra):
Allah created men and women to build life together and to complete one another all lifelong. Hence, Islam opened the door to women to wade through all the fields of struggle in life side by side with men, supporting each other, helping, and completing one another. Moreover, Islam did not separate them in roles, the thing that is clearly shown in His saying: "The believing men and believing women are allies of one another. They enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong..." At-Tawbah (09:71).
Once we understand that justice embraces everything positive in life, and that evil comprises everything negative in it, we will then realize that men and women are partners in building up life. And just like men are responsible of the society, women are also equally responsible of the society they live in. So, outside the framework of the specifically motherhood and fatherhood characteristics where they perform absolutely different functions, men and women have vast areas to conquer, building life shoulder to shoulder as human beings, equal in humanity. Accordingly, we can say that Islam had opened the door to women to enjoy life as a whole, in contrast to what some people may assume that it had tied them down in their characteristics as females.
The saying that Islam ties the woman down to a homemaker role is a frequently heard reflection on the way things are, and this is why it is worth discussing. But before going into the depth of the subject, we should point out the presence of two kinds of rulings in Islam: The first kind is the binding rules that necessitate the person to do something or not to do it, and they are called the obligation and prohibition rules. And the second is the rules that urge the person to do something but do not compel him to doing it; or exactly the opposite, wishing him not to do something but at the same time do not prevent him from doing it, and they are called the preferable and the detested, or the rules that allow the person the possibility of choosing whether to do or not to do and they are called the allowed.
Well, does Islam oblige the woman to be a housewife before and after marriage? According to Islam, not a single person whether a father, a mother, a brother or any relative, is authorized to legitimately oblige the woman to manage domestic work in her parental house before marriage. So, housework is not imposed on women just like neither the father nor the mother has the legitimate right to oblige the boy to handle housework.
Yes. She can take on this charge if she willingly volunteered to, out of the sense of responsibility towards the house that is taking care of her. And when the girl becomes a wife, the fact that she manages the domestic work in her house or does not, will also remain a voluntarily matter that is up to her to decide. The contract of marriage does not bind women, from a legal aspect, to do housework, not even to rear her children and take care of them, unless the two married people worked on including the performance of these works in the marriage contract under special terms.
But Islam does not consider that women’s housework as one of the marriage contract articles, and it also does not require the women to carry out any kind of jobs outside home to support her family or to contribute in supporting it. On the basis of the marriage contract, man can demand nothing from his wife but the rights to the private marital relationship and all what is related to it. Anything other than that, such as arranging the household affairs and bringing the children up, would not be imposed on her.
In a lecture delivered by Myriam Francois Cerrah at Logan Hall, University of London, Cerrah explained the fundamental role that Muslim women play in our contemporary times. Muslim women, all around the world, and in Britain in particular, are apparently capable of employing spirituality and religiousness in the practical world.
“I can think of a number of Muslim women who have successfully drawn on their spirituality as a motor to engage positively with the world; and that is certainly an encouraging sign. Our generation has a committed Muslim woman Nobel peace prize winner, Tawakul Karman, to look to as a recent precedent for the recognition of women’s contribution to the struggle for justice in their societies.
We have many examples of successful models of piety balanced with an interaction with the world - from authors, to inventors, politicians, to athletes, intellectuals, scholars, singers and even members of the film industry, who have sought, despite the pitfalls of any public platform, to maintain a religious integrity alongside their public work. They are often worth citing by name - Hawa Abdi is one of Somalia’s first female gynecologists and uses her own money to run a small hospital treating everything from war injuries to malnutrition; or Bahrain’s Ruqaya Al Ghasara, the first athlete to ever take part in the Olympics wearing a hijab back in 2004, hopefully inspiring many more young Muslim to get involved in sport. Or Eleanor Martin, a tremendously talented actress who runs the wonderful Khayyal theatre company in the UK, which brings Islamic storytelling to life and just recently produced a play for the Hajj exhibition at the British museum.
Despite undoubted difficulties faced by Muslims in the media, we have more and more inspiring women leading the way.
I wanted to list these examples from a range of fields, from the high profile to the grassroots, from politics, to sports, to highlight the innumerable ways in which Muslim women are already contributing to society. Our generation has a multitude of pioneers to look to for inspiration, to challenge us when we see limits and to make us strive to contribute, each in our own capacity.
So the question then poses itself, why is it that women - and not just Muslim women incidentally - struggle to make their mark.
To some extent, it is the narrowing of our identity to ‘women’, which is to blame - after all, Muslim women speakers are almost solely asked to speak on issues pertaining to women, as if somehow, men are the ‘neutral’ gender who can address all matter of worldly and other-worldly issues whereas women are only qualified to speak on women’s issues. I cannot recall the last time I attended an event in which the main speaker was a woman - and I’m not talking about a woman’s event either, I am talking about viewing women as figures of authority and reference within our community. I am talking about women addressing and teaching men - as well women.
Is there anything particular that women can bring that is unique to their perspective? To that I would answer: "Yes". Women’s life experiences, our struggles as a minority - not in the numerical sense -technically we outnumber men - but in terms of our power - are rarely heard or reflected. In many societies, including the UK, women still bear the bulk of responsibility for caring for elderly parents or relatives - we still do the bulk of child care and midwifery - where are our stories, our perspectives.
It is all too easy to pay lip service to the fundamental equality which Islam establishes between all human beings, but when it comes down to it, actions speak much louder than words.
There are very real barriers to the contribution of Muslim women. But they are not theological, they are not God given. On the contrary the models we find in the texts and in the earliest period of Islam are diverse and multifaceted. They were not all mothers.
There may be cases in which women derive considerable satisfaction through making their contribution to society through their investment in the home. There are women for whom, their incredible commitment to home making and child rearing is their contribution. And it is no minor one - they are forging their ideal and good for them.
Throughout the earliest periods of Islamic history, we find women in important positions within society, women as market inspectors, such as Samra bint Nuhayk al Asadiyya who used to go around the market commanding good and forbidding evil. Or Ash-Sharifa bint Abdullah, an early doctor or healer who was also involved in public administration and whose name is very present in early Muslim history.
In these cases, the examples of our sisters who find contentment in domesticity cannot be used as a whip to flog us. It is not the only model of female emancipation. The Prophet's (p.) daughter Fatima (a.s) was more homeward inclined - but Khadija, his first wife was a powerful businesswoman who employed her husband before proposing to him. Umm Salama was a powerful figure whom the Prophet consulted in his decisions and who participated in a number of battles.
Women are not the trampoline from which men get to launch into the world. There is saying that really grates on me, that “Behind every great man is a great woman”. Why should she be behind him, in the shadows, easing his advances and successes - if love and partnership means anything, it means supporting one another in your objectives, it is cushioning each others’ falls, it is easing each others’ burdens. Of the many successful men I know, how many of them have dutiful, devout wives at home who keep the wheels turning in order for these men to go out and do their thing. You cannot simultaneously bemoan the lack of women’s contribution to society and expect them to achieve the same things as men, whilst bearing the additional burdens - or as I like to call, the second full time job - of running a home and caring for a family, on their own.
As mentioned by His Eminence, the late Religious Authority Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadlullah (ra):
Allah created men and women to build life together and to complete one another all lifelong. Hence, Islam opened the door to women to wade through all the fields of struggle in life side by side with men, supporting each other, helping, and completing one another. Moreover, Islam did not separate them in roles, the thing that is clearly shown in His saying: "The believing men and believing women are allies of one another. They enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong..." At-Tawbah (09:71).
Once we understand that justice embraces everything positive in life, and that evil comprises everything negative in it, we will then realize that men and women are partners in building up life. And just like men are responsible of the society, women are also equally responsible of the society they live in. So, outside the framework of the specifically motherhood and fatherhood characteristics where they perform absolutely different functions, men and women have vast areas to conquer, building life shoulder to shoulder as human beings, equal in humanity. Accordingly, we can say that Islam had opened the door to women to enjoy life as a whole, in contrast to what some people may assume that it had tied them down in their characteristics as females.
The saying that Islam ties the woman down to a homemaker role is a frequently heard reflection on the way things are, and this is why it is worth discussing. But before going into the depth of the subject, we should point out the presence of two kinds of rulings in Islam: The first kind is the binding rules that necessitate the person to do something or not to do it, and they are called the obligation and prohibition rules. And the second is the rules that urge the person to do something but do not compel him to doing it; or exactly the opposite, wishing him not to do something but at the same time do not prevent him from doing it, and they are called the preferable and the detested, or the rules that allow the person the possibility of choosing whether to do or not to do and they are called the allowed.
Well, does Islam oblige the woman to be a housewife before and after marriage? According to Islam, not a single person whether a father, a mother, a brother or any relative, is authorized to legitimately oblige the woman to manage domestic work in her parental house before marriage. So, housework is not imposed on women just like neither the father nor the mother has the legitimate right to oblige the boy to handle housework.
Yes. She can take on this charge if she willingly volunteered to, out of the sense of responsibility towards the house that is taking care of her. And when the girl becomes a wife, the fact that she manages the domestic work in her house or does not, will also remain a voluntarily matter that is up to her to decide. The contract of marriage does not bind women, from a legal aspect, to do housework, not even to rear her children and take care of them, unless the two married people worked on including the performance of these works in the marriage contract under special terms.
But Islam does not consider that women’s housework as one of the marriage contract articles, and it also does not require the women to carry out any kind of jobs outside home to support her family or to contribute in supporting it. On the basis of the marriage contract, man can demand nothing from his wife but the rights to the private marital relationship and all what is related to it. Anything other than that, such as arranging the household affairs and bringing the children up, would not be imposed on her.