Women's Rights and Islamic Laws
Nowadays there is a strong voice in Muslim societies, among them Iran, which claims reinterpreting Islamic laws in favor of women’s rights.
But the question is that which Islamic laws may be reinterpreted to which extent? In other words, is a modern understanding of Islam able to enforce equality conforming to international norms and standards?
Briefly: Can Islam bear such reforms and still preserve its known identity as being Islam?
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Recently, Iran’s leader was quoted as saying “Some issues about women, which exist in religious jurisprudence, are not the final say. It is possible to interpret new points through research by a skillful jurist”. This quote may truly reflect the fact that this attitude not only exists between Women’s Rights Activists, but also enjoys the support of some Ayatollahs in Iran, especially those who try to make Islam more consistent with day to day life of a modern world.
This group of Ayatollahs claims that Islam would support such reforms, but how?
A brief description of the basis of such reforms form the point of Shiite is following. Firstly you will read a little about the way that an Ayatollah can state a Fatwa (religious decree), and then we will consider some of the issues related to women’s rights.
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There is an Arabic term in the glossary of Shiite, called ‘Ijtehad’. This word is derived from ‘Jahd’ which means ‘trying so hard’. Ijtehad officially means ‘the process of deriving Islamic laws from original resources’; and these original resources are: Quran, Tradition (quotes and behaviors of Holy Prophet and Infallible Imams), Reason, Ejmaa (general agreement of all Mujtaheds about the same law).
Those who study in theological schools after dome years (after passing some certain courses, including but not limited to: Arabic literature, Quran, History, etc) are recognized as Ayatollah which means that they are able to get into original resources and find God’s decree in every case.
The important part of the story is that some kinds of Fatwa may change during the ages. For example, consider the case of chess. Old Ayatollahs would agree that chess is forbidden in Islam. But Ayatollah Khomeini (founder of Islamic revolution) stated a revolutionary Fatwa that “Shiites are allowed to play chess if chess is not considered generally as a mean of gambling and as long as they do not bet on chess”.
This fatwa was a very important one: there are some quotes of Infallible Imams which state explicitly that ‘chess is forbidden’, But Ayatollah Khomeini concluded that though there is such an explicit ban on chess in Tradition, it is Gambling which is forbidden not chess itself.
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Now, let’s consider the case of inequality between Men and Women in financial issues of which Islam seems to be approving.
We have some verses in Quran which explicitly state that ‘woman should inherit half of a man’ or ‘money paid to the (family of a) male victim is 2 times of a female victim’. But some Mujtaheds today believe that this belongs to the time in which Woman was used to staying at home, and the only element of family which was economically active and had to be the only breadwinner was Man. In such a system, a Man is worth 2 times of a Woman and his loss would press the economy of family (and society) 2 times of a woman’s loss. Then, some Ayatollahs conclude that it is the financial values and responsibilities of the person which determines the rate of inheritance or blood money, not the gender.
Finally, in a modern life that man and woman work together and share the expenses of the family, also both of them are active workers or business doers in the society, the decree may change: man and woman may inherit equally, and the money paid to the family of a victim will be fixed whether that is he or she.
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Ayatullah cant understand the Quran maybe.because every verse of quran says that women’s rights must protect.but now ın ıran we cant see that..women must be in scarf..noone cant decide what she wear. ıt is women’s problem or not..she will explain all of her doing to the God .not to ayatullah..women can be in modern life and can do everything -with her scarf or not-..islam law is not to administer people’s religious life..islamic law is to administer with justice and to make people free in their life..
Islamic Laws set some limits for our behaviors, whether we decide to follow these limits or not: that is everybody’s personal choice that should be respected. note that in this post, Idid not dicsuss politics, but it was just about Islam itself, and those who may want to know more about its laws (Shiite Muslims I mean).
another matter: if you disobey some laws of Islam, what will happen to you? that is also God’s choise, which neither me nor anybody else can predict.
Please forgive this infidel for maybe being hopelessly naïve….. The last paragraph says something like “Times have changed, the circumstances are not the same as when the Qu’ran was written, so the rules don’t apply these days”
I find that absolutely obvious.
halalhippie:
Some Ayatollahs say that principles of Islamic rules may stiil be preserved while the decrees may change. in this case, they say that islam’s principle is that blood money should be determined due to financial value of the victim: if one is more valuable, his/her blood mony should be more.
Mohammad, this statement might make sense to some at this time and age, BUT this is very dangerous. This means they are changing CLEAR verses and statements in the Quran. This is not a chess game
So what are they going to change next? since our time is clearly so different than 1400+ years ago!
I can understand different interpritations of the Quran, which can be conflicting at times, but I question this approach.
I do believe in the statement above about changing the inheritance to what suits the family… etc. I would say, it’s my PERSONAL opinion.
what just happened up there? I quoted you in the 1st paragraph only..
anyways .. you got my point I guess
Hi Halalhippie, you hit the nail in the coffin. Overthrow the mullah
regime, kick imams out of social and political arena and allow women decide what to do. Allow women to walk hands in hand with her boyfriend, play soccer and volleyball wearing sorts, play
roles in movie and theater, compete in beauty peagant. Arrest the mullahs and force them to watch as a desensitisation program. I request Mohamed M don’t regurgitate the old book to
solve womens day to day affair. God granted you reason and commonsense. Apply it.
islam have some rules to limited our life.we obey or disobey them.but it is something between me and the god..the goverment or noone cant do anything about my religious life..islam have two part.one of it about our privaty religous life.other of it is our enviromental life.these about justice and rules of state.first one is about between me and the God.but second one is about me and soceity.so,noone cant say anything to first one.but state can say something about and can put punishment to me.
I said once, and repeat again: this post is not about politics. everybody’s choice should be respected while he/she acts within international norms. I do accpet this idea. this post is just about islam and how we can find the true message of God.
Rasha:
there is a very extensive body of debate behind these kinds of thoughts. though I can understand what you are concerned about, note that this view is not just based on ‘satisfying west and women’. it has a very long history in Islam (the role of Reason in Islam), and you know, it takes too much time to discuss about it.
Good to read that the Shi’ites accept this kind of interpretation. If you see what happens in Egypt for example.. some scholars who come with different interpretations are being declared as infidel. People just don’t want to hear it, which is sad because we have to keep in mind that we live in different times and Islam is not about ignoring that fact. We have brains for a reason.
Halim Kazi: are you being sarcastic ? Can’t really tell.
Let me give an example: in the New Testament, St. Paul was making a speech: some women were chattering in the background, and he say” women should be silent in public” (or something like that). Since then, it has been taken to mean that women should not hold public office, should not be clerics etc.
During the last generation, a lot of women have become clerics here in DK, and only the very most conservative (male) clerics oppose that.
I am a University student from the United States, and am taking a class on Women and Gender in the Middle East. Needless to say, I find this particular topic to be of interest!
As an outsider to the debate, I would like to ask Mohammad M., as well as other commenting, how they feel Islam is regarded by the rest of the world, and what sort of rumors you have heard of that spread “internationally” about Islam and the rights of women? (I feel that there is a lot of misunderstandings between those involved and the spectators abroad who read whatever the media serves up.)
I would also like to ask, although you have said that this was not a political post: What should Islam’s role be inside the government of Iran? Of any country? Should there be, as zeynebcan suggests, a distinction between religious contexts (where Islam presides in the form of a relationship with God) and that of the internal affairs of a nation (which everyone, regardless of faith must abide)?
Finally, I feel that there are many examples today of women who have shed their “housewife” status, only to be ridiculed and subjected to unnecessary harassment, both sexual, physical and otherwise. If there are to be major changes ahead where women have the same liberties as that of their male counterparts, how do we then go about changing the environment to be safe for them to experience new “freedoms”? How can Islam help?
~Lu
Ok, let’s see. Why did women wear the head scarf in the first place and tolerate being second class citizens? The men put them down and they were not aloud to be educated.
Muslim women are not promised any sort of salvation in the quaran. The point is, why live in absolute submission your whole life just to gain NOTHING in the end? Sure, the men get to go to heaven and enjoy the company of (many) women. Their wives don’t have any part of it.
As a Muslim woman I don’t live in absolute submission nor am I supposed to. The Quran does not demand that of us.
Women in Islam aren’t 2nd class citizens nor are they treated as such in most Muslim societies. The prophet’s first wife was a business woman involved in trade. During his time there were female doctors present as well. In at least 3 Muslim countries there were female presidents and/or prime ministers (I can’t say the same for the West.)
If you’re not a Muslim woman, then please, stop speaking for the rest of us who actually are. You don’t seem to know much about our lives, culture and values.
Emily, “Ye who believed Our revelations and were Muslims, enter the Garden, ye and your wives, to be made glad.” There are some questions that could be asked about that, but it does indicate that women are not denied heaven just for being female.
Esra’a, I was surprised by your statement that women aren’t treated as 2nd class citizens in “most Muslim societies.” Which society would you say is the most liberated when it comes to women’s rights?
How can you be surprised? This should be common knowledge by now.
I mean, the UAE has nude beaches. It’s a Muslim society. Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Morocco, you can walk around in tank tops and have equal opportunities in all of these countries. In Egypt, although there’s a lot of extremism going around, I would certainly not say that women are oppressed there.
I have many Egyptian female friends who are independent and powerful. Muslim societies in China, Russia, Canada, for the most part India, hardly any of the women are oppressed for being Muslim.
The first most powerful political positions for women were all in Muslim societies – Turkey, Pakistan, and Indonesia (female president.)
How can people go on to believe the bullshit that women have no rights in these cultures due to faith?
Because Saudi Arabia and Iran speak for the rest of us?
People need to get out more.
A couple of points I want to add:
First, the headscarf is also a cultural issue, not just a religious one. My Jewish Iraqi grandmother still wears a headscarf today, in the US and in Israel. Many older (and some younger) Arab Jewish women do the same.
And Esra’a, there were women prime minister/presidents in ~20 western countries, see here
So what? The point is that these Western societies don’t face the bullshit that many Muslims face on a daily basis. We don’t accuse you at every opportunity that your women are abused and oppressed. The idea is that we have just as much equal opportunities in terms of gender and the West has to wake up and realize this before pointing their fingers and laughing.