Does Islam Need Feminism?

Fatima Barkatulla, June 2014.

Does Islam Need

Feminism?

Islamic Feminism Camps

1.

Islam needs feminism - all religions do.

2.

Islam needs feminism - It has been

misinterpreted by men.

3.

Islam doesnt need feminism but Muslims

do.

Feminism:
A Brief History

The Christian Church

1 Timothy 2
12. But I permit not a woman to teach, nor
to have authority over the man, but to be in
silence.
13. For Adam was first formed, then Eve.
14. And Adam was not deceived, but the
woman being deceived was in the
transgression.
15. Yet she shall be saved in childbearing, if
they continue in faith and love and holiness
with propriety.

Satan tempts Eve. She is

responsible for the downfall
of man. Man made in the
image of God
Genesis 3: Adam blames Eve, God tells the woman her pain
and childbirth are due to her sin.
Celibacy the peak of piety, man sovereign over the woman.

Witch Hunts
No women & only
certain men have access
to the Bible.
15th 17th Century
Catholic church endorsed
the seeking out and
execution of witches

85% of witches were women

Between about 40,000 and 100,000 killed.

Witch Hunts
What else is woman but a foe to friendship, an inescapable
punishment, a necessary evil, a natural temptation, a desirable
calamity, a domestic danger, a delectable detriment, an evil of
nature, painted in fair colors...The word woman is used to mean the
lust of the flesh, as it is said: I have found a woman more bitter
than death, and a good woman more subject to carnal lust...She is
more carnal than a man, as is clear from her many carnal
abominations...Therefore a wicked woman is by her nature quicker
to waver in her faith, and consequently quicker to abjure the faith,
which is the root of witchcraft...
Malleus Maleficarum. Hammer of the Witches

Eighteenth Century
During the Enlightenment: No property rights,
earnings belonged to husband, no legal identity apart from
their husbands, no university entry, mother had no right to
custody of children.
Jurist William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of
England: By marriage, the husband and wife are one person in
law...
Mary Wollstonecraft: A Vindication of the Rights of
Women, emphasised education, individualism, liberty of
women - foundation of feminism.

Nineteenth Century
In the US: first woman allowed to address a lawmaking body, first female doctor accredited, married
women allowed property.
1869: Girton College for Women (Cambridge)
1870s: Women first allowed into Universities in Britain
but could only attend lectures not gain degrees.
Oxford University archives October 2007
Feminist first used.
1892: Women in New Zealand can vote

Early Twentieth Century

First wave of feminism:
Suffragette Movement gains momentum
Women allowed to get degrees
World Wars: women have to work.
1918: Women over 30 given the vote
1928: Women over 21 can vote
Rise of individualism: doctrine that the individual is
the basic unit of society and freedom of action for
individuals.

60s & 70s Second wave

The sexual revolution: promiscuity, womens bodies are
theirs to do as they please, protests for abortion.
1967: the contraceptive pill available in Britain & abortion
legalised
Beginning of WLM
1971: Ms magazine founded (funded by CIA). Free Love anti-marriage.
1975 Sex discrimination act.
Anti nuclear family, anti-motherhood: Gender is a
construct, no maternal instinct, 24 hour childcare, low
breastfeeding rates.

Up to today
Post-feminism or 3rd Wave
Fourth Wave: more international, multi-cultural,
fighting media sexism, equal pay...
1980s: AIDS epidemic
2001: Unmarried heterosexual couples & homosexuals
can register partnership.
2002: Lesbians and unmarried couples can adopt
children.
2013: Same-sex marriage becomes law in England and
Wales.

A Holistic Look at
Women in Islam

Getting away from the

reductionist approach
Homing in on one or two laws when Islam is
comprehensive and holistic
Taking things out of context
It is unjust
We also fall into the trap

Islam = Submission to the Creator

Islam Submission to Man

Who is the Creator?

The Creator of
Men & Women
The Creator is the Rabb (Our Master)
The Creator, Allah, alone deserves to be

worshipped
Allah is the highest authority for men and women.

Allah is not male

And that He created the two pairs,

the male and the female
Quran 53:45

Why ?
Arabic has no neuter, and the use of the masculine is normal in
Arabic for genderless nouns.
Allah refers to Himself as Huwa.
No male attribute is implied, any more than feminity is implied

by the grammatically female gender of neuter plurals.

Muslims do not use a masculine God as either a conscious or unconscious

tool in the construction of gender roles. Prof Maura ONeill, Women

Speaking, Women Listening: Women in Interreligious Dialogue

Allahs names & attributes

Different from creation
He has many attributes, the modality of His attributes
are unknown to us:
Al-Adl: Absolutely Just
Al-Hakeem: All-Wise
Al-Aleem: All-Knowing
Al-Wadud: Loving

Allah knows, you dont

But perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for

you; and perhaps you love a thing and it is bad for
you. And Allah Knows, while you know not.
Quran 2:216

The Quran

How does God communicate

with women?

The Quran
The Arabic speech of Allah - not the speech of man.
Addresses both men and women (and Jinn!)
Women had and have equal access to the revelation
from the beginning.
Hafsa was the safekeeper of the Quran
Aisha was a Mufassirah of the Quran.

The Quran
Az-Zarqani 9th Century scholar: The Quran is
the Arabic Speech of God which was revealed to
Muhammad in wording and meaning and which has
been preserved in the compiled written pages of the
Quran and has reached us by recurrent reporting.

Purpose of Life for Men & Women

[He] who created death and life to test you [as to] which of you is best
in deed - and He is the Exalted in Might, the Forgiving Quran 67:2

And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me.
Quran 51:56

Allah values the contribution

of men & women

And their Lord responded to them, Never will I allow to be lost the work of
[any] worker among you, whether male or female; you are of one another. So
those who emigrated or were evicted from their homes or were harmed in My
cause or fought or were killed - I will surely remove from them their misdeeds, and
I will surely admit them to gardens beneath which rivers flow as reward from
Allah, and Allah has with Him the best reward. (3:195)

Both men & women have

equal spiritual potential
Indeed, the Muslim men and Muslim women,
the believing men and believing women, the
obedient men and obedient women, the truthful
men and truthful women, the patient men and
patient women, the humble men and humble
women, the charitable men and charitable
women, the fasting men and fasting women, the
men who guard their private parts and the
women who do so, and the men who remember
Allah often and the women who do so - for them
Allah has prepared forgiveness and a great
reward. Quran 3:35

Allah promises both

men & women

Whoever does righteousness, whether male or female, while he is a

believer - We will surely cause him to live a good life, and We will
surely give them their reward [in the Hereafter] according to the
best of what they used to do. Quran 16:97

Men & women are not the

same
And the male is not like
the female Quran 3:36

The Hereafter
Islam teaches us that:
True success for men and women is success in
the hereafter.
This life is not the real life
This life is a test. We will be rewarded and
punished accordingly.
There will be a day when justice will be meted
out to all: the oppressors and the oppressed.

Both men & women have equal

opportunity for success & will not
be wronged

And whoever does righteous deeds, whether male or female, while being a
believer - those will enter Paradise and will not be wronged, [even as much
as] the speck on a date seed. Quran 4:124

Whos better, men or

women?

O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female

and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one
another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is
the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and
Acquainted. Quran 49:13

Stop competing
& comparing!

And do not wish for that by which Allah has made some of
you exceed others. For men is a share of what they have
earned, and for women is a share of what they have earned.
And ask Allah of his bounty. Indeed Allah is ever, of all
things, Knowing. Quran 4:32

Women in the Quran ~

look it up...

One of the first verses: condemns Female-infanticide. (81:8-9)

Al-Mujadilah: Khola bint Thalabah (Surah 58)
The Mother of Musa (28:7-13)
The wife of Pharoah (66:11-13)
Mary, the mother of Jesus (3:35-51) (66:11-12)
Aisha (24:11-26)
Mothers: Allah acknowledges their huge effort (31:14) &
(46:15)
Wives: describes as garments for one another. (2:187)

The Prophet
The creator sent us a guide to embody and explain the Quran
He told us everything we need to know to get to Jannah and
protect ourselves from the Hellfire.
He encouraged raising daughters.
He had four daughters, marriage was his Sunnah.
Held special classes for women.
Women approached him for justice.
He took the counsel of women: Umm Salamah, Khadijah.
In his last speech he told men to treat women well.
Was never violent towards a woman.

Women in Arabia before Islam

Very male chauvinistic society

No inheritance
No say in marriage
Considered property of husbands
Burden on society
Baby girls buried alive
Her money & property belonged to her husband
Not equal to men
Exchanged for goods and services
Were inherited

Women after Islam

Within 20 years infanticide wiped out
Women and men are equal, but not the same.
Equal in their servitude and spiritual potential, given certain
concessions

Most aspects of religion the same as men.

Both rewarded equally, both have rights and responsibilities.

Right to Inheritance
Right to initiate marriage, divorce, choose & refuse.

Women after Islam

Keeps her name
Right to own property and dispose of it as she
wishes: All of her money and property is hers.
Permissibility to work

Men required to give dowry in marriage

Right to financially be provided for by men

Protected not exploited

Full recourse and access to courts of law

Women after Islam

Marriage contract: may stipulate any conditions.
Education: encouraged to learn, became scholars and
teachers.
Aisha was a legal authority, her students.

Thousands of female scholars in Islamic history.

The first university in the world set up by Fatima AlFihri in Morocco
Protected from exploitation, motherhood honoured.

 Prof. Ruth Roded in her book Women in Islamic

Biographical Collections: From Ibn Sad to Whos Who:
If U.S. and European historians feel a need to
reconstruct womens history because women are
invisible in the traditional sources, Islamic scholars are
faced with a plethora of source material that has only
begun to be studied. [ . . . ] In reading the biographies
of thousands of Muslim women scholars, one is
amazed at the evidence that contradicts the view of
Muslim women as marginal, secluded, and restricted.

 As to women, as many, if not more than men, are to be seen in

the streets [i.e. going about their daily activities, etc] [] I think
I never saw a country where women may enjoy so much liberty,
and free from all reproach, as in Turkey [...] The Turks in their
conduct towards our sex are an example to all other nations; [...]
and I repeat it, sir, I think no women have so much liberty, safe
from apprehension, as the Turkish and I think them in their
manner of living, capable of being the happiest creatures
breathing.
Lady Elizabeth Craven, A Journey Through the
Crimea to Constantinople, 1789

The Turkish wife has been called a slave and a chattel. She is
neither. Indeed, her legal status is preferable to that of the majority
of wives in Europe, and until enactments of a comparatively recent
date, the English was far more of a chattel than the Turkish wife,
who has always had absolute control of her property. The law
allows her the free use and disposal of anything she may possess at
the time of her marriage, or that she may inherit afterwards. She
may distribute it during her life or she may bequeath it to whom she
chooses. In the eyes of the law she is a free agent. She may act
independently of her husband, may sue in the courts or may be
proceeded against, without regard to him. In these respects she
enjoys greater freedom than her Christian sisters.
- Z. Duckett Ferriman, 1911

Three contentions
Inheritance

Two women witnesses

Women Imams

Two Women Witnesses

Allah is the lawgiver, All-Wise, All-Knowing.

Shariah is sophisticated.
Depends on the case. In some cases 1 womans

witness carries more weight than even 10 males.

Lots of cases where one womens witness is always

accepted: narrating Hadeeth, beginning of Ramadan.

Inheritance
Allah instructs you concerning your children: for the male,
what is equal to the share of two females.
First of all, look at who the Lawgiver is
Depends on the case. Sometimes women inherit more
In Islam a woman is financially served by male members of
her family.
If she inherits it is for herself one person.
If he inherits it is for everybody under his charge, for paying
dowry etc.

Women Imams
No coincidence that it is in our times that we are asking
this question. Social pressure.
Women can be the Imam of a salah
Men cant pray behind them
Why didnt Aisha ask to lead the prayer?
Is it Allah you are trying to please? You desires? Society?
Abu Hurayra reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless
him and grant him peace, said, The best of the rows for the men is the
first row and the worst is the last row. The best of the rows for the
women is the last row and the worst is the first row. [Muslim]

Male bias in interpretation

Based on fundamental premises:
That women scholars did not interpret or contribute
significantly.
Men are unable to be fair to women thats sexist.
Why are there so many laws in favour of women?
That our understanding of the Quran and Sunnah
could be superior to the Sahabah and the Ijmaa of
scholars.
That the meaning of the Quran is not preserved.

The Quran & its meanings

are preserved
Indeed, it is We who sent down the Qur'an and indeed, We will
be its guardian.
This knowledge will be carried by the trustworthy ones of every
generation: they will expel from it the distortions of the
extremists, the fabrications of the liars, and the wrong
interpretations of the ignorant. [Bayhaqi, Sunan, 10:209]
My ummah shall never unite upon misguidance. [AlTirmidhi, no.2255]

 Ibn al-Qayyim:
Inventing an explanation with regards to the Book of Allah
to which the Salaf and the Scholars are in opposition
necessitates one of two things:
1. either the explanation is in itself a mistake, or
2. that the sayings of the Salaf which run contrary to it
are in error!

And no one with an ounce of intellect would doubt

that the one whose saying is in opposition to that of
the Salaf is the one who is mistaken and in error.
Mukhtasar as-Sawaiqul-Mursalah (2/128)

But what about the oppression of

women taking place in Muslim
communities?
Oppression of men and women is taking place

It is because Islam is NOT being implemented

Feminism is not
the solution

Feminism is not the solution

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Feminism is unjust it is gender asabiyyah.

Feminism is unclear
Feminism denies the human reality
Feminism is materialistic
Feminism is gender individualism
Feminism has not been an adequate solution

1. Feminism is unjust
Men and women need justice
Feminism ignores privileges women have
traditionally enjoyed.
Feminism calls for favouring women
Ignores the oppression of men =
GENDER ASABIYYAH
It is about self-interest: Individualism

2. Feminism is unclear
Women need clear solutions
Feminists argue over what the shared
values of feminism are.
Feminism comes in many factions:
conservative feminism, liberal feminism,
socialist feminism, radical feminism
No clear position on many issues.

3. Feminism denies the human reality

Feminism is subjective
Feminist core values keeps changing and many
previously held beliefs have been disproven
3 examples:
1. Gender is just a construct
2. Maternal instinct is a myth
3. Sexual freedom will liberate women

Gender is a construct
There is nothing biological about men and
women that should inform their roles.
Woman is merely what society, men, the male
gaze has defined and influenced her into being
from a young age.
One is not born, but rather becomes, a
woman. Simone de Beauvoir author of The
Second Sex (1949)

Why Gender Matters, physician & psychologist Dr.

Leonard Sax:
During the Dark Ages - that period from the mid1960s to the mid-1990s...it was politically incorrect to
suggest that there were innate differences in how girls and
boys learn and play
Today we know that the innate differences between girls
and boys are profound.....Boys and girls do differ from
one another in systematic ways that should be understood
and made use of, not covered up or ignored.
Boys and girls play....learn...see the world...hear
differently.

In The Female Brain by neurobiologist Dr.

Louann Brizendine:
The female brain is not
just a smaller version of the
male brain - they are wired
differently.
Scientists have documented
an astonishing array of
structural, chemical, genetic,
hormonal and functional brain
differences between women
and men.

Maternal instinct is a myth

In 1963 Betty Friedan (1921-2006) said being a wife and
mother is a means of keeping women subordinate to men.
WLM demanded free 24hour nurseries.
Bottle feeding became the
norm.
Children dont need their
mothers just good
childcare.

 The Mommy Brain The Female Brain, By Dr.

Louann Brezendine
She talks about the phenomenon of babylust in
women, & huge changes to the brain during and
after pregnancy, some permanent.

Psychologist Steve Biddulph, Raising Babies

1 in 20 British parents "slam" their children into fulltime nursery care, from 8am to 6pm, from the age of
six months.
Theres been a trebling in 20 years of number of
under 3s in daycare. An epidemic of mental health
problems has taken place among children and
adolescents in that time span.
Early Childcare: Infants and Nations at Risk by psychiatrist
Peter Cook:
..daycare is the greatest threat to our future mental
health.

Sexual Liberation
Anti marriage & nuclear family Germaine
Greer (The Female Eunuch)
Marriage is slavery Simone De Bevouir
Free Love movement
In mid-20th century: WLM (Womens Liberation
Movement) demanded free contraception and
abortion on demand and the womans right to
define her own sexuality freely including to be a
lesbian.

Today, womens and girls bodies are widely

denigrated as inanimate objects to be publicly
scrutinised, judged, maintained and manipulated
for the benefit of others; they are shared public
property. A female body is deemed an object
that could and should be made beautiful -at
almost any cost- for the benefit of those looking
at it The Equality Illusion, By Kat Banyard

Liberation hasnt happened, even sexual

liberation didnt happen...what happened was
that commercial pornography was liberated,
fantasy was liberated, but people werent
liberated.
Things have got a lot worse for women since I
wrote The Female Eunuch.
Germaine Greer in BBC TV Documentary

Blurred Lines: The New Battle Of The

Sexes

 In UK 200 000 babies a year- (500 a day) are

aborted. Over one and a half thousand are over 22
weeks.
In US 1.2 million babies a year - 3333 a day are
aborted!
80000 prostitutes in UK
1 in 10 men in the world have visited a prostitute
2.5 million victims are currently being trafficked.
Sex trafficking is the fastest growing criminal
industry in the world.

 Prostitution is legal in 22 countries

According to feminist charity Rape Crisis: 85,000
women are raped on average in England and Wales
every year
Over 400,000 women are sexually assaulted each year
1 in 5 women (aged 16 - 59) has experienced some
form of sexual violence since the age of 16.
Every second 28 000 people viewing porn

 According to NatCen research group:

300 000 fathers dont pay to support children
& 1 million children have no man at all in
their life.
According to the Gingerbread Society:
The number of single parent families has
more than trebled since 2nd wave. 92 % of
them are mothers.

5. Feminism has not lead to

the emancipation of women
Women are more enslaved to
various industries than they were.
UN Womens Rights Document
Female Infanticide September
1995
Exploitation of women
Objectification of women
Women wanted it all. Now they
have to do it all.

6. Feminism is Gender
Individualism
Feminists define themselves first and foremost as Female
individuals rather than human beings part of a species or
members of a family or as creations of a Creator.
Interests of the individual trump any other concerns.
The individual is the basic unit of society.

Feminism is Materialistic
Judges women on their
economic worth:
- How much they earn
-How much power they have

About perceived wordly

success without concern for
the next life.
Governments funded 2nd
wave - want womens taxes.

On the other hand

- Islam is just
- Islam is clear

- Islam is not materialistic

- Islam is not individualistic

- Islam changed the world.

- Islam accounts for the human reality

To those who say Islam

needs Feminism
We invite you to take a closer look at Islam.
We have good reason to believe that the Quran
is revelation from our Creator.
He has the picture, we have the pixel.
He cares for the interests of men and women.

To those who say Islam has been

interpreted with a male bias
Allah guided us with Islam and promised to preserve
the guidance. Arrogance of your claim.
A call to return to the Quran, Sunnah and the way of
the Sahabah. To hold on fast to their way.
You are devaluing the scholarly contribution of women.
You are devaluing the example of the female
companions.
Make pleasing Allah your priority not society or your
desires.

To those who say Muslims

need feminism
Feminism hasnt and wont solve the root causes of
oppression. Justice for all is what should be our concern.
Fallacy of ...as long as I get to define feminism..
Islam is the holistic solution to the problems of women
and men.
It is Islam we should be calling to and the values of
Islam.
We can work with others for a common cause.

Questions?

Patriarchy
Patriarchal refers to power relations in
which womens interests are subordinated to

the interests of men Chris Weedon, author of Feminist

Practise and Post-structuralist theory

Misogyny
Hatred or dislike of, or
prejudice against women.
Oxford English Dictionary