This
author firmly believes that Islam accords equal freedom and opportunities to
women to excel in all the fields of human thought and action, but of course,
remaining within the bounds of decency, modesty and propriety set by the
Shariah. We as Muslim s take pride in
the fact that Islam as a religion took lead in emancipating women from the
age-old bondages that had reduced women to being merely a shadow of men and a
peripheral existence in almost all societies around the world. Nobody has any right to deny the women what
the holy Quran and the Prophet, who is a Mercy on all Mankind, have so
generously bestowed on them, and that too in the name of Islam. Any move of
denial of rights to the women will not only dent the progressive image of Islam
but also weaken the efforts to get an exclusive share for the Muslim women in
Women Reservation Law. -- Prof. Akhtarul Wasey
Don’t Drive A Wedge Between
Islam And Women
By Prof. Akhtarul
Wasey
Strange noises are being made in response to the
Women Reservation Bill having been adopted by the Rajya Sabha. The chorus includes shrill protestations from
many much respected Muslim divines and scholars who are the least expected of
showing such a behaviour. They seem to pit Islam against women and that too
going against all that Islam stands for.
Islam never drives a wedge between men and women,
nor it at all segregates women. Far
from it, the holy Quran makes them interdependent as it considers them as
‘clothing’ to each other as spouses who wear each other, saving each other from
uncalled for exposure. For Islam, a
woman is not merely a ‘body’, to be sexually exploited, but an independent and
full-fledged human individual with an existence or a soul of her own which many
religion and cultures have denied her.
Women, according to Islam, have been bestowed with all the attributes as
men, but they surpass men in their delicacy and sensitivity.
During the life-time of the Prophet, women
enjoyed all the freedoms and rights that women in many societies are fighting
for even today. Women had complete economic autonomy in those times, which is
exemplified by the Prophet’s wife Khadija who ran a well-spread export-import
business and which never faced any restrictions from the Prophet. Prophet’s wife Aaisha was among the most
prominent in the fields of scholarship and education. Almost one third of the knowledge about
Islamic Shariah is believed to have been delivered to the posterity by her.
Zainab, the daughter of Husain, who gained martyrdom at Karbala, was a greater
orator and repository of Islamic wisdom. Rabia Bari is well-known among the
earliest Sufi Saints of Islam. Indian
history too bears witness to the women achievers like Razia Sultan and Chand
Bibi as rulers, Zaibun Nisa and Jahar Ara as poets and scholars and the
women-rulers of Bhopal who have left a great legacy of responsible and
responsive governance, education, particularly of women and enlightenment. Poet philosopher Iqbal and scholars like
Shibli Nomani and Syed Suleman Nadvi heaped praises on these women of Bhopal for
their extraordinary human qualities.
Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi, one of the greatest divines of Darul Uloom
Deoband had issued a Fatwa in favour of their rule.
The advances that the Muslim women are
registering in Islamic countries like Iran, Malaysia, Indonesia, Kuwait are
quite evident and well-recognized. Even King Abdullah has included a woman as
member of his cabinet in Saudi Arabia.
Khalida Edib Khanam in Turkey, Fatima in Libya, Jamila Bu Pasha are yet
other illumined examples of the women achievers who made themselves prominent in
the world of Islam.
Back home, how can one forget the glorious
resistance that Begum Hazrat Mahal had
put against the British annexation of Awadh. The wife of Hasrat Mohani, one of
the front ranking leaders of India’s freedom struggle made sterling
contributions to the Swadeshi movement.
No fatwa was ever issued to curb her activism. Post independence, Muslim women have forged
ahead whenever opportunity beckoned to them.
Justice Bibi Fatima enjoys the honour
of being the first Muslim Judge of the Supreme Court. Begum Qudsia Aizaz
Rusul, Maimuna Sultan, Begum Haamida Habibullah, Akbar Jahan who was the wife of
Sheikh Abdullah, Anwara Taimur, Mohsina Kidwai, Dr. Najma Heptullah, Mahbooba
Mufti and Dr. Syeda Saiyyadain Hameed are some other prominent Muslim women who
never faced any resistance from Islamic circles.
This author firmly believes that Islam accords
equal freedom and opportunities to women to excel in all the fields of human
thought and action, but of course, remaining within the bounds of decency,
modesty and propriety set by the Shariah.
We as Muslim s take pride in the fact that Islam as a religion took lead
in emancipating women from the age-old bondages that had reduced women to being
merely a shadow of men and a peripheral existence in almost all societies around
the world. Nobody has any right to deny
the women what the holy Quran and the Prophet, who is a Mercy on all Mankind,
have so generously bestowed on them, and that too in the name of Islam. Any move
of denial of rights to the women will not only dent the progressive image of
Islam but also weaken the efforts to get an exclusive share for the Muslim women
in Women Reservation Law.
Akhtarul Wasey is Head: Department of Islamic
Studies, Director: Zakir Husain Institute of Islamic Studies, Jamia Millia
Islamia (A Central University), Jamia Nagar, New Delhi-110025,
INDIA.
10:36 PM
Sultan Shahin
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