Women: Full Human Beings

or Less Than Men

A Critical Exploration of Islam and Secularism

By Amatullah*

(female slave of Allah)

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 Women: Full Human Beings
or Less Than Men
A Critical Exploration of Islam and Secularism.

By Amatullah*
(female slave of Allah)

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print line

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Table of contents:
Dedication

Glossary

Prologue

Part 1: Islam and Women

Chapter One: Are Muslim women truly less than men?

Chapter Two: Kinds of knowledge

Chapter Three: Power, control, domination and their relation to misogyny

Chapter Four: Sources of Islamic knowledge

Chapter Five: Patriarchy in seventh century Arabia

Chapter Six: Misogyny in Islamic knowledge sources

Chapter Seven: Why do powerful men hate women: projection and scape-
goating

Chapter Eight: Ways forward (part 1)

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Part 2: Secularism and Women

Chapter Nine: Secularism and misogyny

Chapter Ten: Language and misogyny

Chapter Eleven: Structuration theory and misogyny

Chapter Twelve: Ways forward (part 2)

Chapter Thirteen: Who will do the work?

Part 3: Secularism, Cultural Imperialism and Women

Chapter Fourteen: Secularism, cultural imperialism, and Muslim societies.

Chapter Fifteen: Knowledge within the cultural imperialism framework

Chapter Sixteen: Consequences of cultural imperialism

Part 4: Conclusion

Chapter Seventeen: Barriers to understanding

Epilogue

Acknowledgements

Appendix: Further readings

Notes.

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Dedication:

This book is dedicated to all seekers of truth and justice, whoever and wherever
they may be.

O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm in justice, witnesses for
Allah, even if it be against yourselves or parents and relatives. Whether one is
rich or poor, Allah is more worthy of both. So follow not [personal] inclination,
lest you not be just. And if you distort [your testimony] or refuse [to give it], then
indeed Allah is ever, with what you do, Acquainted. (The Quran 4:135)

O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm for Allah, witnesses in
justice, and do not let the hatred of a people prevent you from being just. Be just;
that is nearer to righteousness. And fear Allah ; indeed, Allah is Acquainted with
what you do. (The Quran 5:8)

Note: All translations of Quranic verses, except where specified, are taken from
the website www.quran.com.

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Glossary:

God: God, as I use the word in this book, is the Creator of all creation. He is the
only God as other than Him there is no one else worthy of worship. God is merci-
ful, omnipotent, unique. Throughout human history, for the guidance of human-
ity, He has sent his message as revealed scriptures through his messengers. Al-
though I have used the terms God, Creator, Allah, and Almighty at various junc-
tions in the book, they refer to the same being.

Islam: Islam, the world’s second largest religion, is a monotheistic religion which
teaches that there is only one God who has created all creation. God’s message is
delivered to humanity through prophets, revealed scriptures and natural signs.
The Quran is the primary scripture of Islam which has been revealed to humanity
through the Prophet Muhammad, (570-632CE), who is the last and final of all
messengers. The followers of Islam are called Muslims; presently, there are over
1.8 billion Muslims, which constitute about 24% of the world’s population.

Quran: Literally meaning the recitation, the Quran is the central religious text of
Islam. Muslims believe it is the direct word of God which has been revealed for
humanity through the final Prophet Muhammad. The Quran is divided into
chapters, called surah in Arabic, which are further subdivided into verses. When
Quranic verses are quoted, they are usually followed by two numbers with a
colon in between; the first number refers to the surah, and the second to the verse
of that surah.

Muhammad: Muhammad, born in Arabia in 570CE is the founder of Islam.

Muslims consider him to be the last Prophet sent by God to guide humanity. The
message he brought was the same monotheistic message as preached previously
by Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and other prophets. Muhammad united Arabia
into a single Muslim polity, with the Quran as well as his teachings and practices

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forming the basis of Islamic religious belief. In this work the terms Messenger
with a capital M and Prophet with a capital P refer to Prophet Muhammad.

Prophet: Prophets are the messengers chosen by God to convey the message to
humankind. Muslims believe Prophet Muhammad to be the last Prophet. The
Quran was revealed for humanity through him.

Sunnah: This is the body of literature dealing with the teachings, deeds, sayings,
silent permissions (or disapprovals) of the Prophet Muhammad.

Hadith: (singular hadith; plural hadiths) Hadiths, or Traditions, are the record of
the words, actions, and silent approval traditionally attributed to Prophet
Muhammad.

Fiqh: Fiqh, or Islamic jurisprudence, is the human understanding of the divine Is-
lamic law as revealed in the Quran and Sunnah. The Muslim jurists expand and
develop the law through their interpretations of the Quran, sunnah and hadiths.

Misogyny: Misogyny is the hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against wo-
men or girls. It manifests in numerous ways including social exclusion, sex dis-
crimination, hostility, androcentrism, patriarchy, male privilege, belittling of wo-
men, disenfranchisement of women, violence against women, and sexual objecti-
fication. Misogyny can be found within sacred texts of religion, mythologies,
western philosophy and eastern philosophy.

Violence against women: The UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence

Against Women states, “violence against women is a manifestation of historic-
ally unequal power relations between men and women” and “violence against
women is one of the crucial mechanisms by which women are forced into a sub -
ordinate position compared with men.” (taken from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/violence-against-women)

Secularism: Secularism, as defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is the in-

difference to, or rejection or exclusion of, religion and religious understanding.
As a way of organizing individual and collective life, it translates into modes

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where the principles of living are taken from the material world, without any re-
course to religion.

Sex: The state of being male or female based on reproductive organs.

Biological essentialism: The view that the behaviour of people can be explained
primarily by their biology or nature.

Sociology: Sociology is the study of society, culture, patterns of social relation-

ships, social interactions, and group behaviour of people in everyday life.

Gender: Gender refers to the social roles based on the sex of the person (gender
role) or personal identification of one's own gender based on an internal aware-
ness (gender identity).

Gender stratification: This refers to the unequal distribution of a society’s re-

wards, both material and non-material, on the basis of gender politics.

Gender politics: The debate about the role and relation of women and men.

Imperialism: Any country, which wants to rule over other people’s lands along
with its own, is called an empire. Empires rule near and distant lands and peoples
either by directly colonizing these areas through settlements or indirectly through
setting up local rulers who rule on their behalf; this arrangement is called imperi-
alism.

Islamophobia: Islamophobia, in the context of this book. means the fear of Islam
and Muslims which results in hatred, hostility and discrimination, both at an indi-
vidual and collective level.

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Prologue:

This is a book about women issues from two perspectives, the Islamic and the
secular, and questions the belief that women are less valuable than men. The first
part will deal with the Islamic perspective while the second part will explore sec-
ularism and its offshootsi in detail. At the outset I would like to state that this
book is not arguing that women are the same as men, or that all men or all wo -
men are alike, as it is obvious that people differ in physical characteristics, in
mental faculties, and in emotional makeups. What this book is stating is that
while acknowledging these differences in characteristics between women and
men, there is something which is common to all humans, irrespective of
whichever race, ethnicity, sex, or sexuality they identify with, and that common-
ality is being human itself. Put another way, this book is exploring if the human-
ity of women, both Muslim and secular is the same as that of men, both Muslim
and secular, or is there something about their sex which makes their humanity
different from that of men and hence more or less valuable.

While women issues have always been a matter of concern for women (and many
men) the end of 2017 has been a remarkable year as it has given currency to is -
sues which were long thought resolved. In 2017, the Harvey Weinstein ii scandal
rocked the Hollywood industry; what was different about this issue was that
while similar allegations have regularly surfaced time and again, this time it
gained a momentum rarely seen before. What had started as an individual accusa-
tion about a powerful producer harassing women log-rolled into a huge move-
ment that brought out in the open not only other powerful men and women in-
volved in exploitation, but also spot-lighted a system where powerful men can
get away with such behaviour with ease, and in many cases with their reputa-
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tionsiii and bank-balance more enhanced than before. As 2017 progressed, the
METOOiv movement, as it came to be called, quickly crossed over from Holly-
wood in USA to UKv, Vaticanvi, Francevii, and Pakistanviii amongst many other
countries. Women from across industries and professions including but not lim-
ited to the showbiz industry ix, the academiax, hospitalityxi, servicesxii, manufactur-
ingxiii and development/aid industryxiv have been continually speaking up against
the abuse they have had to suffer for decades.

That women have been on the receiving end of violence historically is a given;
some horrific examples of the cruelty include widows being burnt alive on the
pyres of their husbands in India (sati) xv, women being burnt at the stake as
witches in Christian Europexvi and girl infanticide in pre-Islamic Arabia. xvii While
such brutal policies are thankfully not the norm now, open and hidden violence
against women and children is an open secret in today’s world. In so called de-
veloped parts of the world, that is the rich industrial nations, female students are
raped in universities,xviii women working outside the home face overt or covert
harassment at work-places,xix are paid less than men,xx have fewer chances of pro-
motion than menxxi and often have to compromise between work and home. xxii In
the seemingly less developed parts of the world women deal with violence both
inside and outside home. In certain areas of the globe daughters are considered
inferior;xxiii in parts of South Asia girl children are drowned at birth xxiv whereas in
some areas of Africa female genital mutilation xxv is an accepted part of cultural
practices. In other places adult women can be killed for not having the right kind
of dowry,xxvi or even the right attitude.xxviiWomen (and children) disproportion-
ately bear the brunt of violence in situations of war and conflict; xxviii rape is
openly advocated as a war-policy in many wars. xxixWomen also face more
poverty and impoverishmentxxxas compared to other persecuted groups.

Some specific examples from across the Muslim majority societies are: men can
marry more than one woman without any consideration of the first wife’s will-
ingness;xxximen can divorce at will or even kill wives who ask for divorce; xxxii
young girls can be married to older men at puberty; xxxiiigirl-children are genitally
mutilated;xxxivwomen can be left out of inheritance; domestic violence is not con-
sidered a crime and in countries where it is considered a crime there are no penal-

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ties;xxxvwomen are used to settle family feuds; xxxvigang-rape of women is not only
allowed but encouraged;xxxvii two women are required for testimony; women can-
not travel without guardian;xxxviiiwomen are denied work opportunities outside
home; women’s household work is considered of no value; their roles as carers of
children and elders is downplayed; moral police force regulate behaviour and at-
tire of women in public places; xxxixwomen cannot drive automobiles;xlsexual har-
assment is considered playful behaviour by men; sexual violence is framed as
“boys will be boys;” women victims are reframed as perpetrators and blame is
shifted onto them xliby calling into question their “character,” their “manners,”
their “provocative behaviour,” and often just by their “being.”

Some examples of how traditions, norms and customs demean and devalue wo-
men are: men can “joke” openly about marrying other women; men can “joke”
about divorcing women; men can bully women simply for being women; men
can take the moral high ground when called out for their violence by claiming
women are being “menstrual,” “provocative,” “sensitive,” “angry,” “touchy,”
“ticklish;” women can be used as sexual bait to persuade men to buy products;
women can be used to prop up the ambience of male boardrooms.

The primary question this book tries to address is that if such women-directed vi-
olence has been around hundreds of years in the Muslim and secular countries,
what is it that fuels this rage and why has no concerted effort been made to stop
this violence once and for all? Since this violence is pervasive, it means that there
is either open or hidden approval for it, as without this tacit approval such rage
and violence would have ended long ago. This book aims to explore the factors
which allow this violence to go unchecked; it asks if Muslim women deserve this
behaviour because God sanctions violence against women because of their sup-
posed inferiority or is it because of reasons which are more obscure and not obvi-
ous to a casual observer. It also questions why violence persists in secular coun-
tries, and why is it that secular women are still not given their fair share in life.
Since secular countries believe in the separation of religion and politics, why is it
that even in those countries, where there are no obvious theological underpin-
nings in organizing social life, women are still less valuable than men.

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Usually there are two ways to deal with an issue which is considered a problem,
in this case violence against women. One way is to treat the issue as an indi -
vidual’s problem-e.g. acknowledge that a grave harm has been done, label the
perpetrator as a criminal, (in the case of Weinstein, consider him as a sex-addict)
and then remove the perpetrator from the scene. Although this is the generally ac-
cepted way of doing things, it only addresses the problem in a superficial way.
Since this approach ignores the causes of why the issue happens in the first place,
it leaves room for such issues to resurface, albeit in different settings and with
different people. The other way of problem solving, while taking in account the
first approach, puts the spotlight on the system where such abuse can go un-
checked for decades. This view proposes that the system is actually constructed
in a manner in which such abuses are in built in the system, and that the system
thrives on such issues. In such an atmosphere, the perpetrators of heinous crimes
have enablers,xlii who are people who actively help them in getting access to prey
or play their part in hushing up any enquiries or help in putting the blame on the
victims.xliii In sociological terms the first approach considers a single person (and
his friends etc) to be culpable, while the second approach suggests that rather
than any one individual being the problem, it is the entire structure/system which
is problematic.

Analysing the issue of women exploitation, what I find different/encouraging this

time is that rather than limiting this issue to an individual deviancy, as usually
gets done, the people affected have started questioning the system itself. Will this
issue be resolved satisfactorily or will it get blown over is something only time
will tell, but what is hopeful about this movement is that people have started
questioning how things like this could have gone on un-checked for decades and
why are such things happening across sectors, (showbiz xliv, Siliconxlv, politicsxlvi,
aidxlvii, Nobel academyxlviii) and countries (USAxlix,UKl, Australiali, Indialii,
Pakistanliii, Kenyaliv, and Chinalv) on an alarmingly regular basis. So what I find
encouraging is that the METOO is a movement, not an individual struggle.

I consider a movement to be a collective effort built on solidarity and coopera-

tion; it is a struggle which aims to bring down oppressive structures rather than
merely settle for a cosmetic remedy. In order to make my contribution to this lib-

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eration struggle, I have decided to write this book which will try to dig into wo-
men issues, consider why women issues are important, and explore why women
have been on the receiving end of systemic cruelty and violence across millennia.
For the ease of my dear readers I have divided the book in parts; the first part will
deal with women’s issues from an exclusively Islamic perspective, Since I am a
Muslim, in this first part, I will be using the Islamic perspective to analyse how
Islam treats women, what importance it places on women’s issues and why is Is-
lam synonymous with women-directed violence nowadays. In my explorations I
will be using the contextual approach; that is, I will try to situate Islam in the so-
ciety in which it was born, and trace how the existing society affected its mes-
sage, and how it in turn Islam was moulded by the various societies in which it
evolved and developed, and how this affected the position of women.

However, in the second part I will explore secularism to show that it is a miscon-
ception to think that secular societies are not misogynistic. lvi Secular societies
also exhibit the same level of misogyny and women-directed violence, although
the ways of expression may be different. I propose that the major difference
between Muslim misogyny and secular misogyny is not of the outcome, but
rather of the way the knowledge has been constructed within these worldviews.
The reason why I am interested in exploring misogyny in secularism is twofold;
one, because in today’s world ideas and ideologies are not limited to their place
of origin; rather they affect a much larger populace. Although I live in a country
which is non-secular all aspects of my life are impacted by secularism: from the
academic and popular books I read, to the movies that I watch, to the way I dress,
to the way social and economic policies are designed in my country, all these as-
pects are affected by what is created and produced in secular countries. Since the
ideas produced in a seemingly far away part of the world impact and shape my
identity, if that world celebrates misogyny then I am bound to be affected by this
phenomenon. Secondly, I consider secular women to be my sisters lvii so anything
which causes them pain should upset me. Thus, I want to make this effort inclus-
ive; I sincerely hope that my secular sister will find something relatable in this
book, and together we will be able to strive for a just and compassionate world.

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Part 1: Islam and Women:

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Chapter One:

Are Muslim women truly less than men?

This part of the book takes on women issues from an Islamic perspective; since it
is considered more or less self-evident in the Muslim majority societies lviiithat
women are inferior than men, have been created to serve them, have low intel-
lect, and need to be confined to homes, the question it explores is if these beliefs
are based on the actual words of the Quran or are such understandings rooted in
some other knowledge? To do so, this book sets out to critically investigate the
various knowledge sources of Islam and to explore who creates, collects, inter-
prets, and implements this knowledge, and how it is reproduced across space and
time.

A little about my reasons for writing this book:

Before I express my ideas about the topic, I would like to briefly mention who I
am and why have I addressed this particular issue. The question of who a person
is usually answered by stating one’s name, one’s occupation, and if more detail is
required then maybe her sex and perhaps her country of origin. Although some
dimensions of who I am could be stated in this form, I consider myself to be
much more than my name, my sex or any other label. I prefer to think of myself
as a traveler, and as someone who is continuously shaping and being shaped by
the journey, my identity is continuously evolving. I thus experience my identity
to be dynamic and fluid and find it limiting to confine myself to a name, a sex, a
specific race, ethnicity, or country.

However, some people may find such dynamism and fluidity problematic, and
may prefer a more space and time-bound introduction. To such dear readers, I
would like to introduce myself in a more conventional manner, which will also
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set up the stage for why I felt the need for writing this book. I am a woman, now
in my late 40s, who was born in a Muslim household in an Islamic country where
I have lived most of my life. While my country is Islamic, we are not an Arabic
nation, so the Islam I followed in my youth was probably different from what
was followed in other countries, and maybe in different households in my own
country. The Islam I saw my mother observing (my father was not particularly
observant) was quite easy going in its practices. She was quite particular about
offering daily prayers and keeping the annual fasts, yet never wore a veil or gown
to cover herself. Following her example, we five siblings were quite regular in
fasting while prayers were sometimes said and sometimes not.

The school I attended was a Christian missionary school; the curriculum, from
class one till class ten, included subjects like English, history, geography, science
and Islamic studies. School was followed by four years of college, after which I
graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree. The college curriculum also had elec-
tive subjects depending on our chosen fields of study, with Islamic studies being
an obligatory part of the four-year course. Along with school, we had a religious
teacher, the Qari, whose main task was to teach us to read the Quran in Arabic
language, as that was not our primary language. By the time I turned twenty or
so, I had studied Islamic Studies for about two decades, knew how to read the
Quran in Arabic, offered prayers intermittently, fasted the annual fasts regularly
and knew who my creator was and what He expected of me. To a casual ob-
server, I may have appeared to be a well-adjusted young woman who had com-
pleted her studies on time, was somewhat religious, and was now ready to get
married, but there was a hidden aspect to my life that only I knew, and that
knowledge was so terrible that I tried to hide it even from myself.

The big secret I was hiding was that I was not happy being a Muslim, and that I
did not like the creator who had created me. I disliked my maker because the cre-
ator I had been introduced to since my youth valued men over women, and not
only allowed men to beat women, but actively encouraged it. He was also blood-
thirsty, unforgiving, and enjoyed sending souls to Hell (a place of permanent
punishment for disobedient humans) for the slightest misdemeanor. He also let
oppression happen, watched in silence when mass-butchery took place and did

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not intervene when poor people died of hunger, children died of disease and other
injustices took place. I could go on with what made me unhappy with my creator
but it fell into few broad categories; (1) for the fact that he was He, that is a cre-
ator who considered himself male; (2) he created women inferior than men so he
was biased (2) he was cruel so lacking in mercy; and (3) he let injustice happen
so was unjust. To a secular person this may appear to be a trivial matter, but to a
person who at that time thought of her identity as that of a Muslim woman, this
was a terrible way to live. To live life as an obedient Muslim but to dislike one’s
creator in one’s heart implied that I was living two lives; in the visible realm I
was a practicing Muslim who had seemingly surrendered voluntarily, but in the
psychic reality I was a rebellious woman who questioned each and every divine
command.

Here I would like to mention that the realization that I was living a dual life came
at a much later time. While I was living this reality, that is in the various stages
of life, I was busy with day to day activities, and did not dwell on things too
deeply. I was a quiet introvert child, prone to being inactive and inert, but these
traits corresponded with being simultaneously angry, sad, and uneasy is some-
thing I figured out much later when some events occurred which forced me to ex-
amine and reflect on my life. For example, as a child I was like any other child
of my age and circumstances, but it was only in hindsight that I realized how
much shame, (for being unworthy) and guilt, (for not loving God) I was carrying
even at that young age. Similarly, until my mid-30s, although I thought I was
well adjusted to my then role of a respectable wife and a mother, later events
completely shattered the idea that I had adjusted to this identity.

The events which triggered this identity crisis have long passed but they brought
me to a crossroad where I had to decide if I could continue living a life which
was so contradictory. While many of us make minor or major adjustments and
compromises in life and carry on walking the assigned path, the situation I faced
had become so extreme that it was not possible to continue living in the old way.
The two main decisions I had to take in my mid 30s were whether I could con-
tinue in a marital situation that was becoming extremely intolerable, and if I
could continue living a Muslim? Actually, both decisions, one to do with material

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issues, and other regarding spiritual matters, were much more interlinked than I
had then thought, so the soul-searching I did regarding my marital situation also
helped in bringing clarity to the spiritual decision. After much reflection and de-
liberation, I chose to walk away from the marriage, but made a conscious choice
to remain a Muslim-in fact not only did I remain a Muslim, but after this reflec-
tive phase I decided to fall in love with God!

The answer to why I fell in love with Him is easy; before quitting the path that
had been my identity for so long I wanted to find out for myself what the mes-
sage of God as enshrined in the Quran was, and what I discovered during this
journey made the decision of falling in love the only rational choice. Until then I
had only read the Quran in Arabic without knowing its meaning, so my under-
standing of its teachings had been based mostly on what I had heard others say
and what I had seen my parents and other people around me do. Now that life
had thrown a curveball, it seemed the right time to explore the message firsthand,
so after more than thirty years of being a Muslim I undertook a serious study of
the Quran.

Over the next few years I consulted various translations and commentaries and
read what I could about Prophet Muhammad, the last Prophet through whom the
Quran was revealed for humankind. To say that the Quran was contrary to my
expectations would be a vast understatement. If I downplayed the stories I had
heard from others, and took the Quran on its own words, then there was not as
much misogyny (hatred of women; mis meaning hatred and gynae means relating
to women) as I had expected. Without doubt, there were a few verses which were
controversial, but I was already familiar with them; what surprised me were the
verses which put men and women at par with each other. For instance, while I
knew that Quran allowed men to beat wives, lixthere were verses which states that
men and women are akin to garments for each other, lxwhile others expressively
forbade people from character-assassination of women. lxiAnother verse prohibits
men from forcing women out of their homes in cases of marital discord. lxiiSome
verses allow a woman to leave a marriage without much ado, lxiiiwhile others ex-
pressively exhort men to make their wives, mothers, and daughters their heirs. lxiv

20
These early explorations of the Quran helped in putting my heart at ease and
slowly but surely, I started to understand that God was not the violent blood
thirsty creator that I thought I knew, but actually a merciful deity who was truly
compassionate and benevolent. The struggle was extremely slow for a peculiar
reason: whereas the Quran was categorically stating one thing, and which seemed
to be a reasonable way of being, the opinions I was hearing from scholars, (past
and present, through their books/writings/lectures etc.) and from people around
me were completely different, with this way of being was much harder. I think
this was the most painful part of the journey, because now I had to resolve an
even more challenging dilemma-should I follow my own intellect in understand-
ing the message or should I follow the generally accepted understandings as
given by other people, (who were quite often noteworthy scholars) even though
this understanding seemed to be completely contrary to what I had understood
the message to advocate.

In other words, was I willing to be an adult and follow my own path at the cost of
giving up on certain familiar traditions, some being almost 1200-1300 years old?
If I followed my own path, picking and choosing ways of being on my own, then
what I was effectively doing was elevating my intellect above that of the many
revered Islamic intellectuals. I was very hesitant in doing so, because at a subtle
level this implied a supremacist attitude, where I was valuing my intellect as su-
perior to that of respected scholars. Another barrier was the fear of sinning; while
I was consciously aware that what I was accepting/rejecting were “opinions” of
humans like me, hence not sacred like the Quran, and that I also doing so after
serious study, rather than whimsically, there was a very real unconscious fear that
I was about to commit a great sin. I can’t pinpoint exactly when I made the
choice to follow my own reason, but I do know that it was not an easy choice to
make, yet one that I have never regretted.

I would like to illustrate this dilemma with a specific example: the generally ac -
cepted understanding in the Muslim societies is that it is mandatory for a woman
to cover herself with a veil/ hijab (veil covers the face as well as the hair but a hi-
jab can be just a hair covering) in public places, as that is what God has com-
manded for her. Various scholars have interpreted this policy in myriad ways;

21
some have gone so far as to say that a woman should cover herself in such a
manner that not only should her face be completely hidden but of both eyes, only
one should be left open for seeing, while the other should also be covered. Since
I understood this dictate as a mandatory policy, I also wore a hijab (but not a face
veil) in my late teens even though my heart was not in it. Much later, when I read
the Quran myself, I came across the verse where this policy was stated. The verse
very categorically stated that Muslim women should cover themselves with a jil-
bab-an Arabic word for a cloth/scarf-when going in public places so they can be
identified as Muslim women and not be harassed/bothered.

Since along with studying the Quran I was also reading about the life and times
of Prophet Muhammad I knew that at certain times of his life, his bitter enemies
had started targeting his wives, daughters, and Muslim women in order to make
his life and mission difficult. There was one specific incident where some non-
Muslim men harassed a Muslim lady and killed a Muslim man who came to the
rescue of this lady. When this issue came in for arbitration, the killers made a
case that they were unaware that the lady was Muslim, hence were not responsi-
ble for paying any monetary fine (blood-money). Understood in this context, the
verse seems to be stating that by wearing a jilbab, Muslim women would be eas-
ily recognizable and would be better able to remain safe in insecure times.

To me the verses seem to be applicable to women in a certain specific situation

rather than a universal message; this would be akin to married men wearing a
ring in their finger as a sign that they are taken or Christian nuns wearing a cross
as a necklace to show that they follow the Christian religion. In fact, if under-
stood in today’s world, where anti-Islamic sentiment is on the rise and where
Muslim women are being targeted because their hijab reveals them to be Mus-
lim,lxvit may be possible to make a case that since the hijab makes identification
easier for attackers, women’s personal safety demands that they should consider
giving up the hijab so they can better blend in with other women and remain rela-
tively safer.

My Quranic explorations thus set me wondering why was it that verses which ap-
parently allow domestic violence or polygamy or a conservative dress code seem
to be more in currency than other verses which seem to give women much more
22
freedom than is normally acknowledged.lxviIn fact, if all facets of gender rela-
tions, as stated in the Quran are taken together as a whole, rather than as stand-
alone edicts, then the Quran seems to be far more liberating and empowering
than what is commonly portrayed. Since Quran claims to be a moral guidance
and a code of conduct for humankind, there is no denying that there are checks
and balances on people’s conduct in; there are many do’s and don’ts, some of
which are equally applicable to all people, while some are gender-specific. For
instance, the directive to be modest applies to men and women both but bosoms
should be covered is a directive only for women.

However, for me the more puzzling question is the rationale by which certain
verses are given more prominence than others. One answer could be to try and
solve this riddle by using a framework which approaches the Muslim gender rela-
tions from a knowledge and knowledge production process. This framework ex-
plores the different ways in which knowledge is understood, produced, and re-
produced, and how the entitlements and privileges accrued as part of this process
are distributed, that is who gets what from these entitlements and who is left out.

23
Chapter Two:

Kinds of knowledge:

Broadly speaking, there are two schools of thought regarding what knowledge is,
namely interpretivism and positivism. According to the interpretivists, when dif-
ferent people observe the same event, they interpret it differently from one an-
other. This view holds that people give meanings to events and observations in
many ways and there are multiple ways of viewing the same event. However, ac-
cording to the other school of thought, loosely termed the positivists, reality is
the same for all observers. No matter who is doing the observing, and irrespect-
ive of the circumstances, the reality is always the same and is universal across
space and time. For the people who hold this view, there is only one way know-
ledge can be understood, and anyone who does not hold that view is in error.
Thus, according to the interpretivists there can be many realities while for the
positivists there is only one way of interpretation. While interpretivists may ex-
tend their argument to the conclusion that there can be many truths rather than
only one truth, the positivists refute this understanding and advocate that there is
only one truth which holds true across all people, irrespective of their culture, re-
ligion, experiences, history etc.

My own position on this debate is that while the positivists may have sound argu-
ments in an inanimate setting (e.g. two molecules of oxygen and one of hydrogen
will produce water in any laboratory irrespective of which city or country they
are mixed in)in the context of social reality, that is about people and their lived
experiences, there can be many truths and each truth deserves to be given equal
respect. Depending on what is being explored, how it is being explored, and who
is doing the exploring, one can either be a positivist or an interpretivist, so rather
than placing myself in any one camp and getting into the futile superior v/s in-
ferior debate, I advocate that the approach should depend on the nature of the is-
sue and from which approach will true knowledge generated. Where the issue is

24
such that it can benefit from being studied in a laboratory using positivist as-
sumptions then that approach should be used. In other cases where issues are dif -
ferent and where observations are about people then interpretivist approach can
be used. Here I would like to categorically mention that by this I am not recom-
mending the mixed-methods approach which to me, seems to be an intellectual
sleight of hand. In the mixed methods approach in order to resolve the superior/
inferior debate the basic assumptions of the two approaches, which are funda-
mentally incompatible, are mixed in a rather crude way. This leads to a confusing
mishmash and leads to results which are quite perplexing. I am making a case for
using the two approaches independently depending on the issue being explored.

So how would these worldviews affect our readings of the Quran? For people
following a positivistic world view it would lead to relying heavily on a textualist
reading of the Quran. What this means is that such people would rely primarily
on the linguistic principles to determine the meaning of the text; for such inter-
preters the meaning of the Quran would be fixed and universal in its application,
with no possibility of change in its interpretation. For people holding an inter-
pretivistic worldview, the social, political, economic and historical context of the
Quran would matter as much as the linguistic principles. Thus, while the message
would remain universal, the interpretation of the text would be open to multiple
possibilities, depending not only on the circumstances in which it was being un -
derstood, but also the assumptions and world views the readers/interpreters were
bringing to it.

In trying to explore the question regarding misogyny and the hatred that Muslim
women experience I am taking the interpretivist approach. Since the message of
Quran is about how people, both as individuals and as collective members of hu-
man family can live a moral life, and the setting in which Quranic teachings need
to be applied is the dynamic social world, rather than a science laboratory, it
seems right to me to approach this knowledge from an interpretivist perspective.
My main premise then is that the eternal and timeless message of Quran can
be understood in different ways by different people and that this is perfectly
acceptable. This view does not challenge the universality of its principles which
are eternal and beyond time and space but proposes that its message can be un-

25
derstood differently across space, time, and cultures. Presently, when there are
nearly two billion Muslims spread all over the globe, this kind of approach al-
lows people to follow the Quran in their own cultures and settings with ease, but
for many others this very easy-ness seems to be problematic.

One thing I have found very illuminating is that for many people the very idea of
religion being easy is itself dissatisfying. Their understanding of knowledge, es-
pecially religious knowledge, is that it must be difficult and a person walking that
path should be in either physical or psychic pain. For such people the preferred
way of being religious is to choose the most difficult view/action in cases where
two or more equally legitimate options are available. While it is difficult to say
what motivates such choices, probably there is a sense that since walking a diffi-
cult path requires more effort, the reward will also be more than one would get if
one followed the easy path.

Another way in which the end of religion being difficult can be achieved is by
making religious understanding independent of one’s identities, customs, and tra-
ditions. To rephrase, people who would want to make being religious a hard path
to follow would prefer to approach Quranic teachings from a positivist world-
view. Since positivism allows for only one reality and for only one truth, if
people want to be Muslims, they will have to follow Quranic teachings in one
way only, irrespective of who they are, where they come from and where they are
going. Personally speaking, this way of being moral, which reduces a complex
human being to a sad and misshapen caricature of one’s true self seems to be a
most painful way of living, but for many others this seems to be the right way, so
I guess this is a matter of personal choice.

Since I am attempting to live my life as an interpretivist, I think this is the right

juncture where I can take on the Quranic verses which are considered misogyn-
istic and try to find alternative understandings to them. In order to illuminate the
verses, I will be referencing the works of the scholars who I am citing, but in
other debates I will be offering my own understandings which I will also ac-
knowledge.

26
Frequently asked questions:

Before I take on the questions, I would like to introduce the readers to some fea-
tures of the Arabic language which make it unique. Arabic language is a vast lan-
guage, sometimes having multiple words for one object/idea. Every object is con-
sidered either a masculine or feminine; in case of inanimate objects masculinity/
femininity is not based on biology but rather on traditional Arabic custom. E.g.
according to traditional usage a pen is a masculine and a tree is considered femin-
ine. Another distinguishing feature is that in case of quantity, along with single
and plural a double or a pair is also recognized. Special words and rules for de -
noting pairs (like two men, two women, and two books) are present. When ad-
dressing groups of people, the collective noun is inclusive of women and men,
but in case only men or only women are being addressed then there are exclusive
nouns. Thus, the default position while addressing groups of people is inclusive
rather than exclusive.

Why has Allah created women inferior than men? Since Eve has been cre-
ated from Adam’s rib, is she not designed to remain his sub-ordinate, in
terms of strength, intellect, genes?lxvii

As mentioned in the introduction, the belief that women are inferior than men is
considered to be self-evident in the Muslim majority societies so it is important
to trace the source of this belief. To do so one has to explore what the Quran says
about human creation and what He expects from women and men, but before
documenting that I would like to recount the popular creation story as has been
passed down from generations. According to the story, prior to creating humans,
God created two non-human creations: the angels made from light and the djinns
created from a smokeless, fire like substance. Then God decided to make the
world and populate it with human beings and other species. He created the man,
Adam, and ordered the angels and djinns to bow to Adam; the angels bowed but
Satan, the leader of the djinns refused on the grounds that he was superior than
humans as he was created from fire, which according to him was a superior ma-
terial, whereas Adam was created from clay, an inferior material.

27
As for women, God created Adam first and then made Eve, the woman, from his
rib. Since Eve was derived from Adam’s rib, she was not only subordinate to him
but was also made primarily for his comfort. Adam and Eve were put in a garden
where they could do whatever they wished, except eat the fruit of a particular
tree. Satan, the leader of the djinns, wanted his revenge, so he decided to plot
against them and make them rebel against God. He tempted Eve to eat the fruit
who in turn convinced Adam to do so. God was very angry with the humans for
this sin so as a punishment he banished Adam and Eve from the garden. Since it
was Eve who was responsible for getting Adam evicted out of heaven, henceforth
women were to be regarded with hatred, suspicion and contempt. Also, since wo-
man was created not only from man but also “for” him, her (and her daughters)
existence was merely secondary and of no fundamental importance.

To deconstruct this story and figure out how much of this is true it is important to
find out how human beings were created, and if women were fashioned in a way
different from men. Because if it is true that women and men were created differ-
ently and for different purposes, then there may be some merit in the argument
that men are superior than women. It is also important to investigate if Eve was
responsible for Adam’s sin? Regarding creation, the Quran says,

O mankind, fear your Lord, who created you from one soul and created from it
its mate and dispersed from both of them many men and women. And fear Allah,
through whom you ask one another, and the wombs. Indeed Allah is ever, over
you, an Observer. (4:1)

In this verse Almighty is stating that human beings have been created from “one
soul.” The same sentiment is also repeated in verses 6:98; 7:189; 31:28; 39:6. Al-
though most male commentators have assumed that the single soul is male, hence
refers to Adam, grammatically the Arabic word for soul, “nafs,” is feminine
whereas the word for mate, “zawj” is masculine. lxviii While this grammatical
conundrum does not seem to have bothered most commentators in their main-
stream interpretation of supposing Adam to be the first human creation, non-
mainstream commentators are open to the possibility that that “single soul,”
rather than being a man, is a substance/nature/ which is common to both Adam

28
and Eve, and it is from this common substance that the original human pair were
created.lxix

The phrase “and from it crated its mate” can be taken to mean that the mate was
created of the same nature as the original single soul, since to be “of/from” one
another can mean to be of the same type or character. lxxIt is very important to
stress this point because Muslim men derive their male privilege in part from the
mainstream understanding that since Almighty created Adam/man first and then
created Eve from his rib, therefore, women are created to be subordinate to men
and their purpose is to serve them. The Quran does not once state that Eve was
created from Adam’s rib; in fact “hawwa”, the Arabic word for Eve is not used at
all in the Quran. This derivative creation story, where Eve is created from
Adam’s rib, has originated in the Biblical tradition and is also referenced in the
hadith literature.lxxi

The alternative interpretation given above, on the other hand, proves that there is
no hierarchy lxxiiin the original creation as both women and men have been cre-
ated from the same substance and have the same type of natures. In such an un-
derstanding men cannot claim superiority over women in terms of their cre-
ation.lxxiii The statement about all human being created from a single could also be
meant to create brotherly and sisterly love between women and men, and also to
discourage boasting about one’s legacy, or supremacy based on gender, race, or
class, as ultimately all human beings are the descendants of the same parents. In
fact, when any one claims supremacy on others, either on the basis of gender,
wealth, or any other factor, then he is indulging in satanic logic. lxxivReaders may
recall that Satan refused to obey God’s order of bowing to a human because he
claimed that he was created from a superior material whereas humans were cre-
ated from an inferior material; that is he created a hierarchy of rank based on his
own evaluation of superiority even though God had given no such distinction to
fire over clay. Thus, every time we create a hierarchy where none exists, e.g. men
are superior than women; Muslims are superior than non-Muslims, we are fol-
lowing this satanic logic and disobeying God.lxxv

The question about Eve responsible for the downfall of Adam also has zero basis
in the Quran. In passage 2:35-36, lxxvi and 7:19-25lxxvii it is clearly stated that the
29
devil led both astray; neither Adam nor Eve have been singled out as being indi -
vidually responsible. It is important to note that since their creation, the human
couple shared everything as equal, be it the ability to make decisions, either right
or wrong, or the ability to restore oneself with God by accepting that they made a
mistake and repenting immediately.lxxviiiIt is also important to stress that in Quran
there is no “fall” of man as understood in the Judeo-Christian world. According
to the Quran, the ultimate destination of humankind was always the world; the
stay in the Garden of Eden (al-jannah in Arabic) was a type of transit where they
were supposed to learn some important lessons before stepping out. Although the
human pair did make a mistake by disobeying God, they repented immediately
and were forgiven by Almighty after which they continued their lives on earth.

Almighty says that He created humans to be vice-regents on earth; by giving

this position exclusively to men isn’t Almighty saying that it is only men who
are responsible creatures? It seems that Almighty wants women to be sub-
servient to men, so shouldn’t women accept their subordinate position with
gratitude and be content with what has been given to them.lxxix

To answer this question, one needs to investigate two further questions: why
were human beings created and does the biology of a person affect this purpose.
To put it in a different way, are men more valuable than women as they have
been created to be vice-regents, whereas women have been created to serve men.
I would like to answer the vice-regency issue before addressing the purpose of
human creation. According to the Quran, humans were entrusted to be vice-re-
gents (creations who exercise authority) in earth and as such have huge respons-
ibilities.

And [mention, O Muhammad], when your Lord said to the angels, "Indeed, I will
make upon the earth a successive authority." They said, "Will You place upon it
one who causes corruption therein and sheds blood, while we declare Your
praise and sanctify You?" Allah said, "Indeed, I know that which you do not
know." And He taught Adam the names - all of them. Then He showed them to the
angels and said, "Inform Me of the names of these, if you are truthful." (2:30;
2:31)

30
In verse 2:31, the word “adam,”which in Hebrew means, the surface of the
earth,lxxx can be taken as the universal prototype of all humanity, rather than an
exclusively male creation. “Adam” would thus refer to all humans who are cre-
ated out of soil/clay, in contrast to the djinns, who were created from a substance
akin to smokeless fire.lxxxi Understood this way the position of vice-regency,
“khalifa” in Arabic, and the knowledge given to “Adam” both become positions
and knowledge for all humanity, including women, rather than an exclusive priv-
ilege for men. In such an interpretation there is no room for considering women
to be the weaker sex in terms of their intellect and intelligence.

As for the purpose of creation, in various places the Quran states that creation as
a whole is created “in truth” lxxxii (15:85) and not for “play.”lxxxiii (21:16) Humanity
(both men and women) has been fashioned “in the best of stature” lxxxiv(95:4) and
has been created in order to serve God (51:56).

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

From the above verses it seems to be clear that the primary purpose of humanity
is to worship Almighty and to strive towards spiritual advancement and liberation
from oppression. This can be done by following the moral teachings of the Quran
which are its essence. The Quran holds women and men to be independently re-
sponsible for their moral conduct and makes no distinction between their intel-
lect, behaviour or genes. In verse 33:35 Quran states that men and women are
equal in front of God, both have been created to serve Him, and both sexes have
similar rewards.

Indeed, the Muslim men and Muslim women, the believing men and believing wo-
men, the obedient men and obedient women, the truthful men and truthful wo-
men, 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 pre-
pared forgiveness and a great reward.(33:35)

31
The Quran exhorts gender relations to be based on norms of decency and friend-
ship does not pit one against the other in an adversarial relationship; neither does
it expect women to serve men as their subordinates. The verse 9:71 states

The believing men and believing women are allies of one another. They enjoin
what is right and forbid what is wrong and establish prayer and give zakah and
obey Allah and His Messenger. Those - Allah will have mercy upon them. Indeed,
Allah is Exalted in Might and Wise (9:71)

In the above verse, the Arabic word “awliya” translated here as “allies,” refers to
mutual assistance and mutual reinforcement. lxxxvThe singular of “awliya”, “wali”
is also one of the attributes of Almighty, who is referred to as Al-Wali. In com-
mon usage, the term wali refers to the one who manages, or to someone who rep-
resents a minor, or someone who is a guardian and can be entrusted to look after
the affairs of others as well as that of the state. The beautiful verse above verse
calls women and men to remain mutually supportive to each other as they are
spiritual, emotional and physical allies of each other. This alliance between them
translates into concrete actions and human solidarity whereby they work cooper-
atively to ensure spiritual harmony and a just and compassionate world. lxxxvi

Even if men and woman are equal in way of creation, the Quran states men
are “qawwam” (in charge of; have authority) over women; does this not men
women are inferior? Men also have a “degree of advantage” over women
(4:34; 2:228) so that cements the understanding that men are superior. lxxxvii

The first verse in the above question is

Men are in charge of women by [right of] what Allah has given one over the
other and what they spend [for maintenance] from their wealth. So righteous wo-
men are devoutly obedient, guarding in [the husband's] absence what Allah
would have them guard. But those [wives] from whom you fear arrogance -
[first] advise them; [then if they persist], forsake them in bed; and [finally],
strike them. But if they obey you [once more], seek no means against them. In -
deed, Allah is ever Exalted and Grand (4:34)

32
The belief that men have absolute superiority over women comes from this verse,
as it is this verse which supposedly gives men complete authority over women.
However, the word, “qawwamun,” which is the plural of “qawwam,” has been
deliberately mis-interpreted in this way to promote this understanding. The root
word of “qawwam” is “qama,” which in Arabic may have as many as thirty
meanings. Some of these meaning are: stand up, comply, carry, rise up, provide
for, lift up etc.lxxxviii Ignoring these meanings, most translators have translated the
word as “authority,” or “management,”, thus rendering the verse as: “men have
authority over women,” and “men are in charge of managing women’s affairs.”
However, if the meaning is taken to be “provider” or “supporter”, then the mean-
ing of the verse is completely transformed. What the verse is now saying is that it
is the responsibility and obligation of men-be they husbands or fathers-to provide
for the household; by giving this responsibility to the male breadwinners, wo-
men, who already bear the difficult work of birthing children, are freed from this
additional responsibility.lxxxixTo reiterate, this verse is not giving any privilege or
authority to men over women; rather it is giving them the responsibility and duty
of providing for the women of the household. This verse in no way bars women
from working outside the home or contributing to the home finances if they so
desire; what it is saying is that the primary responsibility is of men, whatever
their role, be they fathers, brothers, or husbands.xc

Now comes the interesting part, which is often translated as “by [right of] what
Allah has given one over the other“ or “because of the favours that Allah
has given to one (men) over the others (women),” or “one has been given
superiority over the other.”The way the text is translated makes it seem
that the one who have more strength, excellence, or superiority are men but this
is not stated in the text itself, which is without any gender specification. An hon-
est reading suggests that this verse could also mean that some men are favoured
over some other men or women, and that some women are favoured over some
other women or men.xci

Another way the verse has been falsely interpreted is by translating the Arabic
word “qaanitat,” as “obedience,” and then reading the verse to mean obedience to
husbands. The Quran uses the word, for both women (qaanitat for devout women

33
in verses 4:34; 33:35; 66:5; 66:12;) and men (qaaniteen for devout men in verses
2:238; 3:17; 33:35;)xcii; in these usages, it refers to women and men who display
an attitude of subservience towards God. Hence what was meant as a directive to
be humble in front of God, has been taken to mean obedience to husbands! xciii
The Quran never orders a women to obey her husband, not does it state that
obedience to husbands is a characteristics of “good women”, or is an essential
part of being a Muslim.xciv

The other verse which seems to imply that men have advantage over women is
2:228

Divorced women remain in waiting for three periods, and it is not lawful for
them to conceal what Allah has created in their wombs if they believe in Allah
and the Last Day. And their husbands have more right to take them back in this
[period] if they want reconciliation. And due to the wives is similar to what is ex-
pected of them, according to what is reasonable. But the men have a degree over
them [in responsibility and authority]. And Allah is Exalted in Might and Wise
(2:228)

In this verse the degree that men have over women is only in the case of divorces,
as after divorce Muslim men can remarry immediately, whereas women, in order
to ascertain their pregnancy, have to wait a certain time period. xcv

Ok, so women are created equal and men are not in charge over them but
are merely breadwinners, but since Quran allows and encourages husbands
beating their wives, does it not mean that women are inferior?xcvi

The verse which seems to allow striking wives is

Men are in charge of women by [right of] what Allah has given one over the
other and what they spend [for maintenance] from their wealth. So righteous wo-
men are devoutly obedient, guarding in [the husband's] absence what Allah
would have them guard. But those [wives] from whom you fear arrogance -
[first] advise them; [then if they persist], forsake them in bed; and [finally],
strike them. But if they obey you [once more], seek no means against them. In-
deed, Allah is ever Exalted and Grand (4:34)
34
To understand this injunction, one has to read not only this verse, but also an-
other verse in the same sura, 4:128.

And if a woman fears from her husband contempt or evasion, there is no sin upon
them if they make terms of settlement between them - and settlement is best. And
present in [human] souls is stinginess. But if you do good and fear Allah - then
indeed Allah is ever, with what you do, Acquainted.(4:128)

Both the verses talk about marital discord in the context of a behaviour called
“nushuza;”in the first verse it is the wives who are displaying this behaviour
while in the second verse the husbands are exhibiting it. However, according to
popular understanding of these verses, when men fear “nushuza” from women
they should first admonish them, then separate their beds from them and then fi-
nally beat them. In contrast, when women fear “nushuza” from men the verse
seems to advice that they should seek a compromise.

As can be seen the Arabic word “nushuza” is the same in both verses but is often
translated differently. In case of women it is taken to mean “rebellion,” “ill-con-
duct,” “dis-loyalty,” whereas in case of men it is taken as “cruelty,” “desertion,”
“aversion.” Two questions arise here: first, why is the same word being translated
in two different ways and second, why is the Quran advocating two different
codes of conduct for the same behaviour of “nushuza”? In the first case the dir -
ective seems to be to beat women displaying nushuza, whereas in the other case
it recommends a compromise. I think the reason why translators have chosen dif-
ferent words for identical behaviour is because this allows them to translate the
rest of the verse in a way which justifies beating wives. By making the nushuza
of women qualitatively different from that of men, they can then translate “za-
raba” mean “to beat” and hence legitimize domestic violence; if on the other
hand nushuza was translated identically in both verses then this divinely sanc-
tioned licence would have to be revoked.

Regarding the difference in treatment of behaviour the confusion can be cleared

if we refer to Laleh Bakhtiar’s xcvii work on the meaning of the word “zaraba”,
commonly translated as “beat them.” According to her the word “zaraba” has
other meanings like: to encompass; to cast, throw or fling upon the ground; to set

35
a barrier; to engender; to make a sign or to point with the hand; to prohibit, pre-
vent or hinder from doing a thing one has begun; to seek glory; to avoid, or shun
or leave; to turn between hope and fear; and to go away. So, if the meaning of
“zaraba” is taken as “to go away,” then the translation of this verse, as given by
Laleh Bakhtiar, would become

Men are supporters of wives because God gave some of them an advantage over
others and because they spent of their wealth. So the females, ones in accord with
morality are the females, ones who are morally obligated and the females, ones
who guard the unseen of what God kept safe. And those females whose resistance
you fear, then admonish them and abandon them in their sleeping places and go
away from them. Then if they obeyed you then look not for any way against them.
Truly, God had been Lofty, Great. xcviii

To support this understanding of the verse I would like to offer two arguments.
The first argument is that another Quranic verse expressively forbids men from
injuring their spouses

And when you divorce women and they have [nearly] fulfilled their term, either
retain them according to acceptable terms or release them according to accept-
able terms, and do not keep them, intending harm, to transgress [against them].
And whoever does that has certainly wronged himself. And do not take the verses
of Allah in jest. And remember the favor of Allah upon you and what has been re-
vealed to you of the Book and wisdom by which He instructs you. And fear Allah
and know that Allah is Knowing of all things.(2:231)

As can be seen, in cases where divorce is certain Almighty is telling men not to
injure their spouses either physically or mentally. (the Arabic word “zaraar” also
means hurt, harm, use force or commit aggression). It seems only right then, that
if no injury is to be inflicted in cases where the intention is to undo the marriage
contract, (2:231) in cases where the intention is to continue with the marriage
(4:34) the directive has to mean to go away or put some physical space between
spouses to allow room for matters to cool down, rather than resort to beating
wives and aggravating an already tense situation.

36
The other argument is from the marital life of the Prophet himself. xcix Here read-
ers should be aware that marital relations play a very important role in the social
fabric of Islamic life and if this institution/arrangement is played around with,
then society as a whole becomes corrupted; thus, there are repeated verses sancti-
fying decent and moral conduct between genders. Although some religions, like
Buddhism and Christianity, consider celibacy (while not making it mandatory) to
be a superior way of being, others do not shed much light on the marital lives of
its founders. In marked contrast, the Quran openly advocates matrimony as the
preferred way of living life and gives detailed injunctions about gender relations.
In fact, an entire sura in the Quran is dedicated to the marital challenges faced by
the Prophet himself, when it seemed that due to external and internal pressures
divorce between the Prophet and his many wives was imminent. c In this ex-
tremely tense scenario, the Prophet did not lay a hand on any of his wives but in-
stead separated his living room from that of his wives, choosing to stay in a
sparse small room on top of the mosque for twenty-nine days.ci

Other than this major incident, there were other marital challenges that the
Prophet and his household faced, but not once, let me repeat, not once did he ever
hit any of his wives. So, if verse 4:34 were to mean “to hit” wives, then it seems
rather strange that the Prophet repeatedly disregarded this command, and instead
chose to separate himself from his wives. It becomes quite clear from his per-
sonal conduct, to me at least, that in cases of serious marital discord, the injunc -
tion for both men and women is to separate for some time so that both can think
and reflect on their future course of action.

Right, so even if Quran does not allow physical violence, by encouraging

polygamy doesn’t it endorse mental and emotional violence against wo-
men?cii

The verse which is quoted in favour of polygamy is

And if you fear that you will not deal justly with the orphan girls, then marry
those that please you of [other] women, two or three or four. But if you fear that
you will not be just, then [marry only] one or those your right hand possesses.
That is more suitable that you may not incline [to injustice](4:3)

37
Although this verse is a universal verse, there was a very specific context in
which it was revealed. The backdrop of this verse is a battle between the
Muslims and the pagans in which seventy Muslim men were martyred leaving
behind widows and orphans. Since Muslim women could not marry disbelievers,
as that would have defeated the very purpose of Islam, there was a very limited
pool of eligible Muslim men available. In seventh century Arabia, social life was
organized around extended clans and tribes and there was no concept of a state
taking care of these women and children. Also, many of these women had mi-
grated to Medina as Muslims, while their family and clans were pagans living in
Mecca. In such dire circumstances, in order to protect the orphans and to safe-
guard these Muslim women, the Quran allowed men to marry more than one wo -
man as a social welfare policy; the purpose of this social legislation was to make
men take on the additional responsibility of caring for widowed women and
orphans rather than to satisfy men’s supposedly superior sexual lust. Even in
these challenging circumstances, the Quran enjoins men to treat all wives with
justice, and if this cannot be done then counsels men to keep only one wife. It
should also be remembered that multiple marriages were a norm in pre-Islamic
Arabia; men could marry as many women (including their step-mothers) as they
chose, without taking care of their physical, emotional or financial needs. This
policy was effectively regulating men’s behaviour by limiting their spouses and
advocating men to marry widows who came with children rather than single wo-
men.

Another argument that this verse is conditional on social circumstances, rather

than a blanket permission for men to be polygamous can be found in the example
of the Prophet himself. The Prophet’s youngest daughter, Lady Fatimah, was
married to Ali ibn Talib, a first cousin of the Prophet, and together they had four
children. Once Ali came to his father-in-law (the Prophet) and asked his permis-
sion to take a second wife. Not only did the Messenger categorically deny per -
mission but also told Ali that he would not allow any act which would hurt his
daughter!ciii

Ok, I get that Quran does not allow men to beat women, nor does it encour -
age polygamy, but by making women cover their bodies, head and face

38
through the veil/hijab isn’t Almighty implying that women are a sexual mag-
net, hence need to be hidden from the male gaze? This coupled with the fact
that women cannot pray in mosques, because they are a source of men’s dis-
traction, means that women need to be kept away from communal life. Does
this not mean women are inferior and unfit for contributing in public life?

Some variations of the same themes are: Why has Allah made hijab obligat-
ory on women, thus denying them any physical identity? Why has Allah con-
demned women to remain enclosed in the domestic sphere?civ

(This is the backdrop of a general understanding that women should preferably

not go to mosques but if they still insist on going then should pray behind men;
the rationale given is that if women are ahead of men, they will prove to be a dis-
traction as men might get distracted by their movements, especially during pros-
tration.)

The verse that is understood to mean that women should cover themselves is
33:59

O Prophet, tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to
bring down over themselves [part] of their outer garments. That is more suitable
that they will be known and not be abused. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Mer-
ciful.(33:59)

As stated before, this was a directive revealed in the backdrop of a time when the
young Muslim community in Medina was under constant threat of being annihil-
ated. Since Muslim women were being specially targeted, this injunction was re-
vealed to protect them from this harassment. Its purpose was the identification of
women as Muslim so no later claims could be made that women were targeted/
injured out of ignorance. Other verses which are related to women’s attire spe-
cifically are 24:31.

And tell the believing women to reduce [some] of their vision and guard their
private parts and not expose their adornment except that which [necessarily] ap-
pears thereof and to wrap [a portion of] their headcovers over their chests and
not expose their adornment except to their husbands, their fathers, their hus-
39
bands' fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their brothers, their brothers'
sons, their sisters' sons, their women, that which their right hands possess, or
those male attendants having no physical desire, or children who are not yet
aware of the private aspects of women. And let them not stamp their feet to make
known what they conceal of their adornment. And turn to Allah in repentance, all
of you, O believers, that you might succeed. (24:31)

The verse preceding the above addresses men in the following way.

Tell the believing men to reduce [some] of their vision and guard their private
parts. That is purer for them. Indeed, Allah is Acquainted with what they do.
(24:30)

As can be seen, the above verses counsel both women and men to be modest and
mindful of decency in their daily activities. As for prayers, there is not a single
verse which forbids women from going to pray in mosques. When the Quran dir-
ects Muslims to establish prayer it does so inclusively and is applicable to all
Muslims irrespective of gender. (I will address the issue of women going to
mosques in detail later.)

Ok, things are making sense, but Almighty refers to the menstrual cycle of
women as impurity; doesn’t this mean women are impure hence of no
value?cv

The verse which details sexual conduct during menstrual cycles is 2:222

And they ask you about menstruation. Say, "It is harm, so keep away from wives
during menstruation. And do not approach them until they are pure. And when
they have purified themselves, then come to them from where Allah has ordained
for you. Indeed, Allah loves those who are constantly repentant and loves those
who purify themselves.(2:222)

The word “azan” translated as impurity in this verse has been used in other verses
as wellcvi; in these verses the word refers to pain/hurt/illness. If the above verse is
translated as “pain or hurt” then it is directing spouses not to have intercourse, as
this time of monthly cleansing is often accompanied by extreme pain; once

40
cleansing is complete it is permissible to have intercourse. Read this way, the
Quran rather than devaluing women, seems to be protecting them so that they are
not bothered unduly in times of physical and emotional cleansing.

Why has Allah allowed women to be maritally raped?cvii

The Quran actively condemns violence; the only time it allows pain to be inflic-
ted on other humans is in form of defence, never offense. If the Quran does not
sanctify violence against other humans, there is no way it will allow rape to occur
in a marriage. There is not a single verse in the Quran which gives husbands the
power to force their wives to have non-consensual sex with them. The verse
which has been interpreted to allow men to have non-consensual sex is the same
that I quoted above

And they ask you about menstruation. Say, "It is harm, so keep away from wives
during menstruation. And do not approach them until they are pure. And when
they have purified themselves, then come to them from where Allah has ordained
for you. Indeed, Allah loves those who are constantly repentant and loves those
who purify themselves.(2:222)

As can be seen this verse was revealed in case of a query about sexual conduct
during menstruation; in response the verse counsels men to approach their wives
once their menstrual cycle is over. Although the verse can be read as a counsel,
or advice, it has been conveniently interpreted as a command which allows men
to have sexual relations without their wives’ consent. It is this misappropriation
of meaning which has led to the popular interpretation that men can force them -
selves on their wives.

Why does Quran allow owning slaves and having conjugal relations with fe-
male slaves?cviii

The verse on which this understanding seems to rely is 4:24

And [also prohibited to you are all] married women except those your right
hands possess. [This is] the decree of Allah upon you. And lawful to you are [all
others] beyond these, [provided] that you seek them [in marriage] with [gifts

41
from] your property, desiring chastity, not unlawful sexual intercourse. So for
whatever you enjoy [of marriage] from them, give them their due compensation
as an obligation. And there is no blame upon you for what you mutually agree to
beyond the obligation. Indeed, Allah is ever Knowing and Wise.(4:24)

The above verse, which allows men to have conjugal relations with their female
slaves seemingly does justify slavery and concubinage (lawful sexual relations
with female slaves). This has been another thorny issue for me, as on a superfi -
cial level, it does seem that Quran has no issue with human bondage.

The answer to this dilemma lies in recalling that pre-Islamic Arabia, like other
contemporary societies of its time relied heavily on the labour of slaves, both
male and females. The Quran was extremely concerned about this state of affairs
and during the times of the Prophet meaningful reform which granted the existing
slaves an option to live dignified lives was a serious area of concern. cix One op-
tion was to set them free at once, but ensuring that these slaves were absorbed in
the society as dignified and valuable human beings was difficult, as new Muslims
found it rather hard to give up on old traditions and attitudes, with pride in their
superiority and noble lineage being their chief distinction. Understanding this
psychology of the new converts, various injunctions regarding what was permit-
ted and what was forbidden were spread over a period of twenty-three years; this
allowed the new Muslims to give up immoral attributes and adopt good ones at a
slower pace than had they been revealed at once. This is true of out-lawing alco-
hol, usury, adultery, and slavery as well. While the Quran did not outlaw slavery
at once, it advocated manumission (freeing slaves) as one way to redeem this in-
justice. There were different ways in which slaves were to be freed; for example,
freeing slaves was made a condition for penance for various sins.

Allah will not impose blame upon you for what is meaningless in your oaths, but
He will impose blame upon you for [breaking] what you intended of oaths. So its
expiation is the feeding of ten needy people from the average of that which you
feed your [own] families or clothing them or the freeing of a slave. But whoever
cannot find [or afford it] - then a fast of three days [is required]. That is the ex-
piation for oaths when you have sworn. But guard your oaths. Thus does Allah
make clear to you His verses that you may be grateful (5:89)
42
Another was that believers were directed to enter into a financial agreement with
those slaves who wanted freedom but were unable to pay money for their re-
lease--such slaves were to be freed immediately while they would pay owners
their price in the future.

But let them who find not [the means for] marriage abstain [from sexual rela-
tions] until Allah enriches them from His bounty. And those who seek a contract
[for eventual emancipation] from among whom your right hands possess - then
make a contract with them if you know there is within them goodness and give
them from the wealth of Allah which He has given you. And do not compel your
slave girls to prostitution, if they desire chastity, to seek [thereby] the temporary
interests of worldly life. And if someone should compel them, then indeed, Allah
is [to them], after their compulsion, Forgiving and Merciful.(24:33)

Finally, to end slavery completely, the Quran forbade the taking of prisoners of
war near the end of the Prophet’s mission, thus putting an end to creation of new
slaves. Meanwhile slavery was grudgingly accepted, with repeated verses urging
Muslims to treat their slaves with kindness.

Worship Allah and associate nothing with Him, and to parents do good, and to
relatives, orphans, the needy, the near neighbor, the neighbor farther away, the
companion at your side, the traveler, and those whom your right hands possess.
Indeed, Allah does not like those who are self-deluding and boastful.(4:36)
(“Your right hand possess” refers to slaves.)

In verse 24:33 the Quran especially forbids using female slaves as commodities
and as ways of earning money by forcing them into prostitution.

And do not compel your slave girls to prostitution, if they desire chastity, to seek
[thereby] the temporary interests of worldly life. And if someone should compel
them, then indeed, Allah is [to them], after their compulsion, Forgiving and Mer-
ciful.(24:33)

The above verse exhorts slave-owners to let their female slaves live a life of
chastity and not to force them into prostitution. In this context the verse 4:24
quoted in the beginning of this answer could simply mean that while female
43
slaves cannot be forced into prostitution, it is lawful to have conjugal relations
with them.

Since Quran equals the testimony of one man as that of two women does it
not mean that a woman is half the man hence inferior? Also does that not
imply that women are emotional beings who cannot be trusted to give wit-
ness in front of a judge/court?cx

The verse on which the argument of a woman being half the man is based is:
2:282

O you who have believed, when you contract a debt for a specified term, write it
down. And let a scribe write [it] between you in justice. Let no scribe refuse to
write as Allah has taught him. So let him write and let the one who has the oblig -
ation dictate. And let him fear Allah, his Lord, and not leave anything out of it.
But if the one who has the obligation is of limited understanding or weak or un -
able to dictate himself, then let his guardian dictate in justice. And bring to wit-
ness two witnesses from among your men. And if there are not two men [avail -
able], then a man and two women from those whom you accept as witnesses - so
that if one of the women errs, then the other can remind her. And let not the wit-
nesses refuse when they are called upon. And do not be [too] weary to write it,
whether it is small or large, for its [specified] term. That is more just in the sight
of Allah and stronger as evidence and more likely to prevent doubt between you,
except when it is an immediate transaction which you conduct among yourselves.
For [then] there is no blame upon you if you do not write it. And take witnesses
when you conclude a contract. Let no scribe be harmed or any witness. For if
you do so, indeed, it is [grave] disobedience in you. And fear Allah . And Allah
teaches you. And Allah is Knowing of all things.

The first point I would like to mention here is how amazed I am that in seventh
century Arabia the Quran considers women to be so competent that it is entrust -
ing them to act as witnesses in any matter, let alone financial matters! I think in
this respect Quran is so far ahead of its times that this needs to be contrasted with
our modern times where women are still considered to be unfit with money mat-
ters and for studying subjects like Finance, Arithmetic, Computing or Engineer-

44
ingcxi and even if they make careers in such fields, they are paid less than men for
the same work.

The second point is that this verse deals exclusively with financial matters and
sets out ways of recording monetary transactions so that no injustice should occur
in lending or borrowing matters: to ensure safety of both seller and buyer the
Quran enjoins that the transaction be conducted in the presence of two male wit-
nesses. What needs to be stressed here is that even in case of men, the require-
ment is that two witnesses should be present.cxii However, in cases where only
one man is available, then along with that one man, two women should also be
present. To summarize, in cases of only men acting as witnesses, a minimum of
two men are required while in cases of men and women as witnesses, three wit -
nesses, that is one man and two women are required.

The Quran itself gives the reason for this requirement in the second case: it expli -
citly states that the rationale for two female witnesses is that in case one lady for-
gets parts of the testimony, the other can remind her. Coming back to the context
of seventh century Arabia, where most women were kept illiterate and out of
public life, the requirement of two women is a safeguard that in case one lady
forgets the other one can remind her of what transpired during the financial trans-
action. To add any more meaning to what Almighty has said (women are half
than men; they are emotional etc.) is tantamount to playing with the sacred
verses. The third point is that this verse is directed to financial matters only and
cannot be applied to other situations where witnesses are required, e.g. criminal
cases like thefts, murders, or maternity cases, where the testimony of one woman
is clearly acceptable.cxiii

Regarding women being emotional and hence incapable of being witnesses, I

would like to remind readers that the first human being ever to become a Muslim
was Lady Khadija, the wife of the Prophet. While many of us may know that she
was the first woman to convert, what is often forgotten is that she was the first
human to testify that there is no god, but God, and that Muhammad is the mes-
senger. Although it may seem natural for a wife to testify in favour of her hus -
band, the Quran itself gives examples of two women, the wife of Noah and the
wife of Lot, both of whom refused to testify in favour of their husbands or to sur-
45
render to God. All Muslims, women and men, are following the example of
Lady Khadija when they testify that there is no god, but God and that
Muhammad is the messenger.

Since Allah has given women only half the inheritance of men does this not
mean that women are half of men?cxiv

The verses regarding inheritance are detailed in 4:11

Allah instructs you concerning your children: for the male, what is equal to the
share of two females. But if there are [only] daughters, two or more, for them is
two thirds of one's estate. And if there is only one, for her is half. And for one's
parents, to each one of them is a sixth of his estate if he left children. But if he
had no children and the parents [alone] inherit from him, then for his mother is
one third. And if he had brothers [or sisters], for his mother is a sixth, after any
bequest he [may have] made or debt. Your parents or your children - you know
not which of them are nearest to you in benefit. [These shares are] an obligation
[imposed] by Allah . Indeed, Allah is ever Knowing and Wise.(4:11)

The main point to be noted here is that the inheritance of men and women differs
according to their roles and not according to their sex; e.g. in cases of parents in-
heriting from their child’s death the proportion is the same for both, that is 1/6
will be given to mother and father each. In other cases, the proportion of distribu-
tion is different. It is only in the case of sons and daughters that the proportion of
division is 2:1, that is a son will inherit twice of the daughter. While a cursory
reading does make it seem an inequitable distribution, readers will recall that the
primary responsibility of being “qawwam” or breadwinners is that of men. When
the son inherits more, he must spend it on his female relations like wife, daugh-
ters, (sons too) mother, sisters, and on the household, whereas the daughter who
gets less gets to keep her entire share to herself. Thus, the son’s wealth gets spent
on the upkeep of the household, whereas the daughter’s wealth is hers to please.
Hence what appears an injustice is offset by the understanding of men as being
the “qawwam” /breadwinners.

46
Why is that Muslim men can marry non-Muslim women, but Muslim wo-
men cannot marry non-Muslim men?cxv

The verse 5:5 which allows Muslim men to marry Jewish and Christian women
says:

This day [all] good foods have been made lawful, and the food of those who were
given the Scripture is lawful for you and your food is lawful for them. And [law -
ful in marriage are] chaste women from among the believers and chaste women
from among those who were given the Scripture before you, when you have given
them their due compensation, desiring chastity, not unlawful sexual intercourse
or taking [secret] lovers. And whoever denies the faith - his work has become
worthless, and he, in the Hereafter, will be among the losers.(5:5)

Readers will remember that the Arabic collective nouns are inclusive, therefore,
when groups are addressed with a masculine pronoun, it actively includes all wo-
men. So, my understanding of this verse is that this permission is for men and
women both, therefore Muslim women can marry Jewish or Christian men
without any fear. It is only when this verse is read from a misogynistic perspect-
ive that this injunction seems to be applicable to only men. For example, in vari-
ous places in the Quran, the directives to establish prayers, fast, give wealth-tax,
perform Umra and Hajj, use the masculine pronoun, but no sane person would ar-
gue that they are not applicable to women. I believe the same rationale is true for
this verse.

Another argument I would like to give is that wherever the Quran wants to forbid
any act, it says so clearly and succinctly. The injunction that Muslim men and
women cannot marry pagan men and women is so clear there is no room for any
interpretation other than such a union is forbidden.

And do not marry polytheistic women until they believe. And a believing slave
woman is better than a polytheist, even though she might please you. And do not
marry polytheistic men [to your women] until they believe. And a believing slave
is better than a polytheist, even though he might please you. Those invite [you] to

47
the Fire, but Allah invites to Paradise and to forgiveness, by His permission. And
He makes clear His verses to the people that perhaps they may remember.(2:221)

So, my argument is that had Almighty wanted to prohibit marriages between

Muslim women and non-Muslim men, He would have said so categorically. Here
I would like to clarify another issue which bothers Muslims a lot, that is, can they
have meat which is slaughtered by Jews and Christians. While a lot of debate has
been generated on this issue, I personally feel that if Muslim people can marry
the People of the Book, then they can certainly eat their food, except those which
are completely forbidden (like pigs). Verse 5:5 categorically states that the food
of the people of the Book, that is the Jews and Christians, is allowed to Muslims.
The confusion seemingly arises because Muslims are instructed to slaughter an-
imals in a certain way, that is the animal should be alive when being slaughtered
and Almighty’s name should be pronounced over it; however, these conditions
are obligatory only for Muslims, and are not applicable to the people of the Book,
whose food has been made lawful without any conditions.

Last three questions; why does Almighty allow girl-child marriages?cxvi

The Quran encourages sexual relations to take place within wedlock; as such it
advocates to the believers:

You shall encourage those of you who are single to get married. They may marry
the righteous among your male and female servants, if they are poor. God will
enrich them from His grace. God is Bounteous, Knower.(24:32)

There is no injunction which dictates that boys and girls should be married as
soon as they attain puberty. In another verse dealing with orphans and their inher-
itance, Almighty specifically asks the guardians of orphans to handover their
wealth only when they are financially competent and can take care of their
money matters.

And do not approach the property of an orphan, except in the way that is best,
until he reaches maturity. And fulfill [every] commitment. Indeed, the commit-
ment is ever [that about which one will be] questioned.(17:34)

48
If the Quran is acknowledging the time it takes for young people to reach finan-
cial maturity, there is no way it would enforce a serious bond of marriage upon
children who are unfit for the physical, emotional, and spiritual requirements of
such a union. The notion that Quran encourages girl-child marriages has more to
do with the supposedly young age of Lady Aisha when she married the Prophet
than on any explicit verse of the Quran. (I will address this issue in the latter part
of the book.)

Second last question; since Almighty disallows women from being imams
(leaders) in prayers, or as rulers of states, does that not mean that women
are not fit to lead, hence inferior?cxvii

There is no verse in Quran which prohibits a woman from leading prayers or

from being a ruler of a tribe, nation, or any other collective entity. In fact, the
Quran mentions the story of a wise and democratic queen, called Bilquis, who in
the times of Prophet Suleman ruled a kingdom called Sheba.

Indeed, I found [there] a woman ruling them, and she has been given of all
things, and she has a great throne. (27:23)

She said, "O eminent ones, advise me in my affair. I would not decide a matter
until you witness [for] me."(27:32)

Another relevant example of a woman warrior/leader is that of Lady Aisha who

led 1500 or so men in the Battle of Camel cxviiialmost twenty years after the
Prophet’s demise. Considering that she was the wife of the Messenger, it would
be hard to make the case that despite knowing that women were forbidden from
leadership roles, she wilfully chose to violate a direct order of Almighty to lead
the forces. The Prophet also allowed one of his female companions Umm-e-
Waraqah to lead prayers in her community.cxix

Final question; by using the pronoun He for Himself isn’t God implying that
being a male is better than a female otherwise He could have used the pro-
noun She for Himself too?cxx

49
While it is true that Almighty uses the masculine pronoun for Himself when it
comes to telling us who He is, He says in 24:35.

Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The example of His light is like a
niche within which is a lamp, the lamp is within glass, the glass as if it were a
pearly [white] star lit from [the oil of] a blessed olive tree, neither of the east nor
of the west, whose oil would almost glow even if untouched by fire. Light upon
light. Allah guides to His light whom He wills. And Allah presents examples for
the people, and Allah is Knowing of all things.(24:35)

And in 112:1

Say, "He is Allah, [who is] One, Allah, the Eternal Refuge. He neither begets nor
is born, Nor is there to Him any equivalent."(112:1-4)

Thus, while it is a limitation of human language that he, she, or it must be used
for the Creator, the reality is that Almighty is beyond creation, gender, space and
time.cxxi

50
Chapter Three:

Power, control, domination and their relation to

misogyny:

(This chapter of the book explains why such misogynistic views have prevailed
for centuries in the Muslim societies by employing the concepts of power, patri -
archy, knowledge production and reproduction. If one wants to figure out why Is-
lamic history played out the way it did, then these concepts are necessary to un -
derstand. However, it is possible some readers might find this section technical/
boring/dry; to such dear readers I would advise that they skip this section and go
directly to the next chapter.)

Dear readers, in the preceding section I have tried to cover as many issues that I
could relating to the question of women’s perceived value in Quran. While I am
not saying that these interpretations are the final word in this argument, these al-
ternative explanations make the case that if the so-called controversial verses are
interpreted this way, then not only is Quran not misogynistic, but is rather very
compassionate and sympathetic towards women and women’s issues. It then
seems reasonable to ask the question that if these and similar views have been
proposed since early Islam, then why does Quran and misogyny seem almost
synonymous in the current era? I would like to address this perplexing question
by using the framework of power, control and domination. I propose that such
views have been around for the simple reason that men want power over wo-
men, so by actively producing and reproducing views which make men seem
more valuable than women, their task of controlling and dominating women
becomes relatively easier.

51
While power can be conceptualized in different ways, I am using a simple under-
standing: it is the capacity to make people do what one wants them to do irre-
spective of their willingness or unwillingness. In other words, it is the capacity to
control people and to make them surrender their will. An important thing to re-
member is that people who want to control cxxiiothers want to control all creation
not just specifically women; thus, power addicts want to subdue not only women
but also other men, animals, and even nature itself. People who like power, enjoy
being powerful, and want to dominate others are looking out for ways to attain
power and of trying to establish structures which give them unlimited authority.
The fact that power is accompanied with entitlements and privileges, that is, it is
inclusionary/beneficial to those who have it and exclusionary/punishing to those
who are lacking in it, is what makes its acquisition so necessary; were is just an
idea without any accompanying benefits and costs it probably wouldn’t have
found so many worshippers.

Another motivation of why people seek power, other than the wish to gain enti-
tlements and privileges can be found in the desire of certain people to feel omni-
potent, in command, and god-like. This desire of humans to be god-like and
eternal seems to be hinted in the Quran in the following verse.

Then Satan whispered to him; he said, "O Adam, shall I direct you to the tree of
eternity and possession that will not deteriorate?" (20:120)

The above verse seems to imply that humans harbour the wish to be eternal and
infinite, that is be more god-like, so Satan played on this subconscious desire to
persuade Adam and Eve to partake the forbidden fruit. For people of a certain
disposition, arranging and re-arranging people’s lives for no other reason except
that they can gives a boost which is incomparable with any other kind of feeling.
Such people are active seekers of power and are always looking for ways through
which they can acquire, enhance and maintain their commanding position. In the
real world, people who want to coerce and dominate others will try to create so-
cial arrangements which gives them such opportunities; one social system which
allows this is patriarchy.

52
Patriarchy and its relation to power:

In this chapter of the book I would like to introduce patriarchy, explain its char -
acteristics, and then describe how it has shaped the lives of Muslim women.

Patriarchy often understood as rule by father is much more complicated than that.
In its crude form, that is, taken to mean a household where decisions are taken by
the father, it may appear to be irrelevant, as in some parts of the world women
have displaced the father as the primary household figure. However, when under-
stood in the bigger context of society, rather than just domestic life, patriarchy
refers to a social system in which males (not just fathers) hold primary power and
predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege and
control of property.cxxiiiPatriarchy is an ideology, that is it is a belief system which
is associated with a with a set of ideas that acts to explain and justify this male
dominance either though a religious framework, or through a secular framework.
The ideas underlying religious patriarchy can be traced to the Judeo-Christian
myth whereby Eve, the first woman created by God, causes Adam, the first man,
to partake the forbidden fruit, and is thus responsible for the fall of Man. Differ-
ent versions of this myth can be found in other cultures as well. Secular patri -
archy is predicated on the ideas that women are biologically inferior to men,
hence they need to be in subordinate positions. Sociologists, however, tend to see
patriarchy as a social product and not as an outcome of innate differences
between the sexes and they focus attention on the way that gender roles affect
power relations in a society. Most countries laws and policies even if not expli-
citly acknowledged as such in their constitutions and laws are patriarchal and this
mindset is reflected in their social, legal, political, religious, and economic organ-
isations.cxxiv
53
Can any rationales be given for organizing the world in ways in which a particu-
lar group, the group of Muslim men in this case, is dominant while others are
non-dominant? According to Allan Johnson, there is one and only one reason to
construct/organize a world in such a way, and that is to promote the idea and
reality of supremacy by virtue of being a male.cxxvPatriarchy, like other power-ob-
sessed structures, is built on the idea of supremacy which means that a particular
class of people is superior to others and that this class of people is entitled to
dominate, control, and subjugate them. cxxvi

Patriarchy (and other structures of power and domination) will have certain char-
acteristics, which I am detailing below.

(1) The question of who belongs to these groups and who does not is one of
paramount importance i.e. how one becomes and remains a member is cru-
cial. Questions of who gets included and who is excluded are issues of para-
mount importance, as being a member gives certain advantages which are not
available to non-members. Such members don’t have to do anything difficult to
earn these privileges-the mere fact that there are members is enough. Similarly,
the excluded group doesn’t have to be lacking in anything to be excluded from
such entitlements- simply not-belonging is enough to deny them entitlements.

(2) The people in positions of power will be from the dominant group. In a
patriarchal setting, which traces power to the male father figure, the people in
power will be disproportionately males. Though the social setting may differ, e.g.
homes, places of worship, places of learning, places of work, places of public
gatherings like markets and parks, the people in power will be disproportionately
males. This does not mean that women will not be seen in positions of power, but
they will be so few that will be noticed. e.g. while teachers in playschools and ju-
nior schools may be disproportionately female, in positions of authority like vice-
principals, principals etc. males will be more than females. To rephrase, in a hier-
archy the top positions will be filled by males relative to females, and women in
power will be an oddity, if not a complete rarity. It would be worthwhile to men-
tion that this is not to say that all men will be in position of power, as majority of
men will be relatively powerless. Since such systems are deliberately designed to
be hierarchical it means that positions of power available will always be much
54
less that the number of people available.cxxviiWhat I am arguing is that the position
of powers which are available will be filled mostly with men, which is enough to
identify such an arrangement as a characteristic of a male-dominated society.

(3) The third characteristics of such systems of domination is obsession with

control: Such systems are obsessive about control because of the self-awareness
that they are unnatural and have been imposed on people. Hence there has to be
some way that people have to be indoctrinated and kept pliable, either through
socialization, propaganda, or through coercion, so they will interpret such sys-
tems as the natural order of being rather than as systems of oppression which
they really are. An interesting facet of control is that not only does the non-dom-
inant group need to be controlled but the dominant group also needs to ensure
that members of their group do not break rank and jump ship.

In a patriarchal system the dominant group of powerful men can control the non-
dominant group of women by devaluing them; this devaluing can be due to their
genes, their intellect or their humanness itself. The instruments used for achiev-
ing this kind of control may include social norms, scientific and non-scientific
knowledge, law, and policies; all will be designed in a manner which will penal-
ize and criminalize any conduct that may seem problematic for the dominant
group. Control within the dominant group would mean that powerful men would
have to ensure that other men also subscribe to patriarchal values, and do not be-
come a traitor to their cause by questioning patriarchy or by refusing to conform
to its rules. While this can be done in many ways, the knowledge framework (its
conception, production and reproduction) can be an excellent control tool.

(4) The fourth characteristic of systems of domination is that the system is

dominant group identified. What this means is that the dominant group and its
experiences are taken as the standard for people in general. In patriarchy this
would mean that men and their experiences are taken to be the standard against
which women’s experience is measured. This kind of standard setting, where
men’s way of experiencing things is the explicit and implicit standard for
gauging ideas, experiences, and things, is called androcentrism. What andro-
centrism means is that to be considered human in a male-identified society, one
either has to be male or to think and behave like one. Any other way of being be -
55
comes marked as being other or as someone different which is not only not-the-
norm but problematic. This marking of someone different as other becomes a
routine practice and can be seen in the language, (using mankind and taking for
granted that women are a part of mankind) traits valued in a society,(men are ra-
tional/ambitious, women are emotional/ambition-less) misogynistic jokes,(wife-
bashing, mom-in-law bashing), laws, ( women’s testimony considered less than
men; domestic violence as less than other violence) and policies (women paid
less than men for identical work).

This androcentrism is so routine that most men are completely oblivious to the
fact that such views belittle and humiliate women; when this is pointed out they
passionately argue that they respect women and would never ever think of be-
littling them. While some men may acknowledge androcentrism and try to
change, for most people androcentrism is a way of life and the realization that
that by doing so they are denying women their humanity is something even the
most enlightened men will have trouble conceding. Men in such dominant groups
can live in the luxury of obliviousness; that is, they don’t have to consider even
momentarily that women can have a valid argument which is different from their
own perceptions.

An example could be that it is almost an uncontested argument, at least in

Muslim societies that men have more sexual desires than women, hence indul-
ging in polygamy is acceptable behaviour. However, the counter argument, that
women are sexual beings too and desire sex much more than is acknowledged
makes men highly uncomfortable as it shows a mirror which is very discomfort-
ing. Because a fundamental directive in social settings of domination is that dom-
inant groups should never be discomforted by seeing or by being shown the mir-
ror such occasions need to be controlled and minimized. Thus, in patriarchal so-
cieties, just calling out men for being men can violate this prime directive and
this is what androcentrism has to supress and control.

(5) Another characteristic of dominant groups is that it is dominant group

centred. This means that the people who are talked about, whose views get
heard, whose stories get told, whose opinions matter etc. are the dominant group.
This is not to say that the non-dominant group’s stories do not get told; they do
56
but in a manner which is either mostly uncomplimentary or grudging at best. So,
in patriarchy the men are the people who not only do most of the talking, but
other men and women also talk about men. Their views, their opinions, their ex-
periences, their way of looking and understanding the world gets promotion and
currency whereas the non-dominant group’s concerns get devalued. The adage
that women should be mostly seen and little heard is a perfect example of male-
centred-ness.

(5) Supremacism is the foundation on which these structures rest: All struc-
tures which are power obsessed are built on the idea of supremacy; this means
that a particular class of people is superior to others and that this class of people
is entitled to dominate, control, and subjugate other.cxxviii While the people who
are in such a supremacist group may differ by degree, that is some may be active
supremacists while others may be of a lesser orientation, and some may have
more privileges while others less, this path automatically sets the members of
these groups on the path of least resistance; this is the path where even the low-
est-most members feel they are entitled to whatever privileges they have. In such
a scenario, even the slightest question about such arrangements is perceived as a
threat and an attack on the natural rights of the dominant group. For example, in
a patriarchal setup, even the most materially poor men will feel themselves to be
superior to women (many of who may be much richer) simply by identification
with the dominant group and will relish this identity of feeling powerful in an
otherwise bleak life.

(6)The people who are to be dominated are considered “others”: All systems
of domination justify their entitlement and advantages by separating the members
from the non-members by a system of discrimination known as “other-
ing.”cxxixThis means that real differences, or imagined differences, or even the ex-
pectation of differences is enough to conclude that the “other” is inferior and not
worthy of the same treatment as the privileged group. An inbuilt assumption of
othering rests on the notion that the group being othered is not like “normal”
groups, hence are ab-normal, flawed, and in need of correction.

Prejudice, the preconceived and unfavourable feeling one has towards others, is
one way through which a group of people can be “othered.” Some people of
57
dominant groups may act unprejudiced in their outward behaviours while in-
wardly they may hold prejudices which they themselves may be uncomfortable
to openly acknowledge. Many researches have been done which show that people
who claim to reject various forms of discrimination and prejudice may still ex-
hibit subconscious biases in their decision-making processes. cxxxFor instance,
while making hiring decisions, some people may show positivity towards women
in public but may express harsher views and expressions in private settings. Al-
though such biases may be subconscious, their effect and impact are the same as
had they been in play consciously; that is, they create a category of people who
are treated as “others” because of which they are tremendously disadvantaged.

The role of knowledge in making patriarchy seem the natural order of

things:

Dear readers, it should be noted that patriarchy is neither a natural system nor has
it been around for millennia because of any intrinsic worth; rather, great energy
and tremendous efforts, both open and hidden, have been required to keep it
functioning. One way the system has been kept going is through the knowledge
production process so here I would like to describe the role and function of
knowledge creation, production and reproduction in maintaining and fuelling the
patriarchal structure.cxxxi

Readers will remember that they are two major ways of understanding the world,
the interpretivist way and the positivist way. In an ideal world, seekers of know-
ledge would probably consider themselves either positivists or interpretivists or
even be bi-knowledgable, that is they may switch back and forth from one tradi-
tion to another without much ado, follow their own unique paths and that would
be the end of the matter, but unfortunately, this is not an ideal world nor are
things so simple. In the real world people not only want to follow their own paths
but also want the power to make others walk their path, either willingly or by co-
ercion; thus, those people who are power-seekers try to find ways through which
they can dominate others, and one way in which power can be acquired is
through the knowledge production and re-production process. cxxxii

58
Framing: To gain power through the knowledge production process certain
views are framed in a manner whereby it appears that the given views are the
only ones relevant to the issue at hand while contrary views, which may provide
a more balanced and nuanced picture are either downplayed or completely ex-
cluded. Here I would like to clearly mention that sometimes this kind of framing
is done out of ignorance, that is the framers are genuinely not aware that they
have limited the options because they themselves are aware of only certain
views. In such cases, and as a result of such framing while power and its priv-
ileges will accrue to certain people at the expense of others, a case can be made
that given the opportunity and with more knowledge they may revise their ori-
ginal views, so these cases can be given the benefit of doubt. In the cases which I
am discussing the framing is an intentional choice where certain opinions are de-
liberately excluded or disparaged, and others are intentionally promoted.

This kind of framing where certain unfavourable views are left out despite know-
ing that the presentation of such views would provide a more balanced picture
can only be understood as an intellectual fraud. In my opinion, if writings on
theories about knowing are not followed by discussing which theories get heard,
why and how they get heard and who benefits and who loses from these hearings
then at best it can be said that an incomplete picture is presented and at worst
there is a deliberate effort to keep the seekers in dark about a very important facet
of social life regarding knowledge as a source of power and domination and as a
vehicle for accruing privileges and entitlements. I believe that this has been the
case regarding misogyny in Islam. While views favourable to men have been
promoted passionately, efforts to keep similarly favourable views about women
out of the debate have also been done equally passionately. The next chapter of
the book will deal with the sources of Islamic knowledge and how they have
been constructed to promote patriarchy and misogyny.

59
Chapter Four:

Sources of Islamic knowledge:

To understand how patriarchy and misogyny remains embedded in Muslim soci-

eties and how men control and dominate women through producing Islamic
knowledge in self-serving ways, it is important to explore three related issues:
what exactly is considered Islamic knowledge; what are its sources; and how has
it been transmitted across centuries. As I mentioned earlier, Muslims consider the
Quran as the direct words of God which were revealed as revelations on Prophet
Muhammad and is considered a sacred text. Other than this there is Sunnah (the
practical traditions of the Prophet), hadiths (the sayings attributed to the Prophet),
and fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence). Of these, only the Quran is the direct word of
God; the sunnah and hadiths are actions and sayings of the Prophet while the fiqh
or Islamic jurisprudence are legal opinions which are based on this sunnah and
hadith literature.

Hadiths: the word “hadith” means a tale or communication; in Islamic literature

it refers to a narrative of the Prophet’s life and practices. The Prophet’s practices
are the Sunnah; although the words hadith/Sunnah are often used interchange-
ably, there is a subtle distinction. While the hadith refers to an oral report attrib-
uted to the Prophet, the Sunnah is a collection of practical religious rules, irre-
spective of it’s having a corresponding oral tradition. Thus, a norm contained in
the hadith is Sunnah, but a sunnah may not have a corresponding hadith.cxxxiii

The hadith literature was collected around two hundred years after the Prophet’s
death and relies on memory and transmission as the primary device of recollec-
tion. In its classic form a hadith has two parts; the chain of narrators who have
transmitted the report (the isnad), and the main text of the report

60
(the matn).cxxxiv Individual hadiths are classified by Muslim clerics and jurists into
categories such as sahih("authentic"), hasan ("good") or da'if ("weak").cxxxv How-
ever, different groups and different scholars may classify a hadith differently.

Historically, the hadith literature has served both religious and political functions.
In the religious realm, it is the hadith literature that has given some Quranic
teachings specificity; for instance, the Quran enjoins on every believer to offer
prayers but the timings and the way the prayer has to be performed can only be
determined by the way the Prophet performed these prayers. cxxxviThe hadiths were
also instrumental in giving people knowledge about the Prophet’s lifestyle so that
people could follow his example more closely. The political function of hadiths
can be observed in the governing of lands with different cultures and conditions
for which there was no Quranic precedent. Although the Quran is silent about the
ways in which the affairs of an Islamic society should be governed, when the
early Muslims conquered neighbouring territories, they needed a way of govern-
ing which would be in accordance with the Islamic way of life. The rulers, aware
that that any decision they took would carry weight if only it could be traced
back to the Prophet, needed the legitimacy of hadiths to settle claims about their
fitness to be leaders, modes of governance, and legal matters.cxxxvii

Although on our present times it may seem that hadiths have been an uncontested
part of Islamic knowledge since early times, this is not true; in fact the hadith lit -
erature has been contested since early Islamic history. cxxxviiiThese objections fall
under two types: the authority of hadiths and the authenticity of hadiths.

Authority. This objection to hadiths is based on the idea of elevating the hadiths
to be a parallel source of understanding, at par with the Quran. This can be con-
sidered an ideological stance as these early critics were wary of the idea of a
knowledge source which would compete with the Quran and were fearful that it
may even surpass it. The nature of revelation, the role of the Prophet as a trans-
mitter, and the nature of hadiths as being revealed to the Prophet are issues which
fall under this purview.cxxxix

Although with the passage of time, the proponents of this school of thought were
overshadowed by the hadith proponents and this school of thought all but disap-

61
peared, since the last hundred years or so there is a revival of a movement which
considers Quran to be the only authentic source of Islamic knowledge. Since the
modes and means through which information can be accessed has changed tre-
mendously in the past decades, with common people having access to knowledge
due to internet and mass publishing, this debate involves people from all spec-
trums and shades, many of who are quite enthusiastic in voicing their opinions. cxl

Authenticity. This critique of hadiths is not based on the idea of rejecting hadiths
as a source of guidance per se; rather it considers hadiths to be authentic or inau-
thentic on the basis of their contents. It considers to be inauthentic only those
type of hadiths whose subject matter is judged to be absurd or beyond belief.
Even though this critique does not reject hadiths completely, by raising objection
to certain hadiths and by voicing the possibility of faking hadiths, this critique
has not received a warm welcome. Issues about the memory, reliability, and piety
of the transmitters fall under the domain of authenticity. cxli

Causes of fabrications of hadiths:cxliiAs mentioned above, the concerns about

hadith fabrication has existed since early times. Some of the causes of hadith fab-
rications are:

Civil wars: After the death of the Prophet, the Muslims became divided on the is-
sues of succession; although the first four successors were chosen without any
manifest violence, during the reign of the fourth caliph, Ali Ibn Talib, these
smouldering tensions broke out in the open, leading to the first civil war. In this
war, and in the ones which followed, the Muslims became divided in many fac-
tions; since all factions were aware that the only way they would gain legitim-
acy and credibility in the eyes of the people would be if their stance was suppor -
ted by a Quranic verse or a favourable hadith, they started manufacturing hadiths
which glorified the leaders of one sect over another or demeaned the leaders of
other sects.

Heretics masking as Muslims: Another category of fake hadith were the hadiths
manufactured by people who had become Muslims in name only and wanted to
weaken the cause of the religion from inside. One fabricator of this type con-

62
fessed to faking four thousand hadiths; these fake hadiths forbade what was al-
lowed while allowed what was forbidden.

Different theological sects. With the passage of time, Muslim thinkers started de-
bating and philosophizing about the attributes of Allah, the nature of Quran, the
nature of free will and destiny; since there were diverse opinions this plurality
gave rise to various schools, each having its own viewpoint. cxliiiIn order to make
their opinion true, while all others false, many of these intellectuals created
hadiths which gave credence to their viewpoint while belittling the viewpoints of
other schools. Another reason for the manufacturing of fake hadiths was the de-
sire of certain scholars to elevate their school of jurisprudence over the others.
These scholars thus created hadiths which glorified the opinions of their schools.

To make people pious: Another category of fake hadiths had to do with making
people pious! Some people were concerned that common people were wasting
time in frivolous activities and it was their desire to bring them back to piety and
to engage with the Quran. To achieve their objective, these people made up
hadiths which glorified certain surahs of the Quran; such hadiths stated that read-
ers of these suras/chapters would get amplified reward. Other types of hadiths in
this category exaggerated the rewards of good deeds while condemning evil
doers to hellfire.cxliv

Storytellers, traders, and others: There was also room for storytellers who
weaved fake hadiths in their stores to enthral their audience and to either make
them laugh with joy or weep with sorrow! Creative traders also created hadiths
which glorified the product they were selling; hadiths which glorify a certain
food item (watermelon, lentils, grapes, beans, broad beans etc.) can be traced
back to these traders. And last but not the least, wise sayings which were preval-
ent in those times were converted into hadiths, so that people would take the wis-
dom in them more seriously!

As can be seen there were various reasons for manufacturing false hadiths. In
spite of full awareness of fake hadiths, the hadith literature has been considered
an important source of religious knowledge, so at this juncture I would like to
share some hadiths regarding how women were perceived in this literature.

63
Some hadiths regarding women:

Treat women nicely, for a woman is created from a rib, and the most curved por-
tion of the rib is its upper portion. So if you would try to straighten it, it will
break, but if you leave it as it is, it will remain crooked. So treat women nicely. cxlv

It was narrated from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) that
women will form the majority of the people of Hell. It was narrated from ‘Imran
ibn Husayn that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “I
looked into Paradise and I saw that the majority of its people were the poor. And
I looked into Hell and I saw that the majority of its people are women.” cxlvi

It is better for you to be stabbed in the head with an iron needle than to touch the
hand of a woman who is not permissible to you.cxlvii

Narrated by Ibn Mas'ud: Allah's apostle said: “(unveiled) woman is a cause of

corruption. once she goes out Satan beautifies her in the eyes of men (to seduce
her as well as them). at her home, she is the closest (to the face) of her lord.” cxlviii

Narrated by Abu Mousa al Ash’ari: Allah's apostle said: “if a woman uses per-
fume and passes the people so that they may get its odour, she is so-and-so,
meaning severe remarks. (i.e. about to commit adultery).”cxlix

Narrated by Fudhalah ibn ‘Ubaid: Allah's apostle said: “three persons are
doomed …. among them a woman whose husband is not present and provides for
her; yet she shows her charms to (foreign) men.”cl

The Prophet said, Were I to order anyone to prostrate himself before anyone else,
I would have ordered the woman to prostrate herself before her husband.cli

Umm Humayd, the wife of Abu Humayd al-Saa‘idi reported that she came to the
Prophet (Peace & Blessings of Allaah be upon Him) and said: "O Messenger of
Allaah, I love to pray with you." He said: "I know that you love to pray with me,
but praying in your house is better for you than praying in your courtyard, and
praying in your courtyard is better for you than praying in the mosque of your
people, and praying in the mosque of your people is better for you than praying
in my mosque." So she ordered that a prayer-place be built for her in the furthest
64
and darkest part of her house, and she always prayed there until she met Allah
(i.e., until she died). (Reported by Imaam Ahmad; the men of its isnaad are
thiqaat (trustworthy).clii

Abu Dawood under No. 876 narrates a hadith in Kitab al-Salaat under the title
"Insiraaf an-Nisaa’ Qabl al-Rijaal min al-Salaah" (Departure of Women before
Men after the Prayer). Ibn ‘Umar said that Allah’s Messenger (May peace and
blessings be upon him) said: "We should leave this door (of the mosque) for wo-
men." Naafi’ said: "Ibn ‘Umar never again entered through that door until he
died." Narrated by Abu Dawood under No. 484 in "Kitab as-Salah" under the
Chapter entitled: "at-Tashdid fi Thalik".cliii

Narrated by ibn 'Abbas: Allah's apostle said: "a woman should not travel except
with a dhu-mahram (her husband or a man with whom that woman cannot marry
at all according to the Islamic jurisprudence)." a man got up and said, "o Allah's
apostle! I intend to go to such and such an army and my wife wants to perform
hajj." the Prophet said (to him), "go along with her (to hajj)."cliv

As can be seen from the above hadiths, women have been predominantly por-
trayed as subordinate, stubborn and vile creatures who due to their wiles and se-
ductive ways are the prime cause of leading men astray, and for whom the most
befitting place is hell.

Fiqh (Islamic Law): Fiqh, literally meaning “understanding”, is the process

through which human beings discern and extract legal rulings from the sacred
text of Islam, the Quran, and from the hadiths. Although the Quran is the founda-
tion of Islamic law, the hadith is used as a secondary source for further clarifica-
tion and guidance. In cases where clear cut principles are not available in the
Quran and the hadith, Muslim scholars turned to ijtihad, which is the science of
interpretation and rule-making.clvAccording to the rules of ijtihad, in matters
where the Quran and hadiths were silent, it was permissible, (among other
things) to resort to local custom, as long as that custom was consistent with
Quran and sunnah; what this meant was that it was considered permissible to
supplement religious law with customary law. clvi As the Muslim empire expanded
after the Prophet’s death, new lands with new customs came into its fold; govern-

65
ing these lands meant that the diversity of their customs needed to be included in
the body of law. Resultantly, this cultural plurality led to the development of
hundreds of schools of jurisprudence, each best suited to its own community and
culture, with its attendant customs and traditions. Although there were hundreds
of schools, with time and due to political reasons, very few schools remain viable
today.clvii The most famous of them are four schools namely: Hanafi, Shafi’i,
Hanbali and Maliki.clviiiThese schools of law, collectively known as madahib, are
each named after its founder.

Although the schools mentioned above have differing opinions they all generally
agree that Islamic laws (1) change with the passage of time and change of place
or circumstances, (2) must avoid harm (3) may be discarded if the cause on
which they are based has become redundant (4) and must serve the public in-
terest.clix It needs to be stressed that this body of law is not uniform; rather it is
open to different interpretations and critiques. clx In fact, there are differences of
opinion within and across the schools, with vastly different outcomes for people
on the receiving end.

So, for instance, in the case of gender relations, while all four schools agree that
the husband can terminate the marriage unilaterally and extrajudicially, without
involving the courts, the Hanafi law only allows women to terminate marriage on
the grounds of sexual impotence. The Maliki law on the other hand acknow-
ledges a woman’s right to separation on basis of desertion, failure to maintain
her, cruelty, and the husband being inflicted with a chronic or incurable dis-
ease.clxi Another case of difference is the Hanafi law which allows to women to
stipulate that their husband will not remarry as part of the marriage contract; this
understanding is based on interpreting the injunctions about polygamy as per-
missive rather than mandatory. However, the other three schools consider a
man’s right to unilateral divorce and his right to marry as many as four wives to
be the essence of marriage and thus allow no contractual arrangement where this
right can be curtailed by the wife.clxii

Although the four schools do differ in the above situations all of them are unified
in their majority interpretations which give disproportionate power to men relat-
ive to women. Some cases where the four schools show their patriarchal mindset
66
are: considering the testimony of two women equal to one man; allowing hus-
bands to divorce wives at will, as men have never been required by law to show
that they had any reasonable/valid reasons to opt out of the marriage contract; let-
ting husbands decide what conduct is just and what is not. Although the Quran
insists that multiple wives should be treated equally and justly in polygamous
marriages, maintaining justice between co-wives has never been made a part of
law in such situations. What this means that there is no way a man can be legally
held accountable if he has shown injustice to any of his wives; rather the matter
of his justice is left to his conscience, as it is he, himself, who will decide
whether his conduct has been just or unjust.clxiii

67
Chapter Five:

Patriarchy in seventh century Arabia

Dear readers, in the preceding sections I have tried to explain what power is and
how knowledge is used as a tool in maintaining and perpetuating patriarchy,
power, and control. I also discussed the Islamic knowledge sources and showed
how these sources treat women issues. Before explaining how Islamic knowledge
has been constructed in ways which perpetuate patriarchy and misogyny, I would
like to talk in detail about the context in which Quran was revealed and what
kind of structures existed before Islam. I think a serious seeker of knowledge un-
derstands that Quran is a message which gives people the knowledge about living
a moral life, both as an individual and as a part of the collective. Although the
Quran itself claims that is for all times, and states it purpose as guiding all hu-
manity towards living a moral and noble life, clxiv it was revealed to Prophet
Muhammad in Arabia of the seventh century. Although the message of the Quran
was extremely egalitarian the people who were hearing this message were
steeped in their patriarchal culture and misogynistic traditions, as patriarchy and
its accompanying misogyny was already prevalent in pre-Islamic Arabia, clxv and
found this new way of being quite difficult to understand and follow.

The backdrop in which Quran was revealed was that of a pagan, patriarchal Ar-
abic society which had its own unique traditions and customs; some of these so -
cial, cultural, and political norms were worthy, while others quite unworthy.
Rather than wipe out this diverse and rich tradition, and start with a clean slate,
the Quran took a reformist approach; it sanctified some of these customs, either
in their original or improved form, revoked many others, and invoked new ones.
In my opinion, this reformist approach of the Quran, which explicitly acknow-
ledges that traditions, cultures, society and environment matter and that human
68
and spiritual development, while incorporating new values, can be built on older
norms and traditions is a great mercy to humankind, as it allows for believers
everywhere to merge their Muslim identities with other identities seamlessly and
without causing any visible or psychic conflict. (Whether they choose to do so or
not is a different matter altogether.)

That women (especially widows) slaves, poor people, orphans suffered grave in-
justices in Arabia, (and other parts of the world) before the advent of Islam is
something an honest seeker would probably acknowledge. clxviSome of the cus-
toms regarding women which were prevalent then included but were not con-
fined to were burying alive infant daughters, foregoing marital relation yet not di-
vorcing wives, polygamous practices, marrying step-mothers, not giving women
inheritance etc. Such customs of treating women as commodity or property are
only some examples of the barbaric practices routinely practiced in seventh cen-
tury pagan Arabia. In such times the Quran openly advocated women’s right to
be simply for being human, irrespective of any social relation. In complete con-
trast to patriarchal and paternalistic ways of being, in vogue then and sadly even
now, the Quran frames women as adults who are responsible for their conduct,
their decisions and their accompanying consequences. That this is a truly revolu-
tionary and empowering approach is something which an honest person would
also probably grant.

That being said, it should be remembered that Arabia of that time was a patri-
archal-tribalistic society; although Quran actively advocated a more egalitarian
society and to achieve this end redistributed the benefits and privileges of the
powerful in favour of the powerless, there were many who were not happy with
this kind of redistribution. Whereas some acquiesced relatively easily to giving
up their power and entitlements, others did so only reluctantly. For instance,
when the verses regarding the inheritance of the women were revealed there was
great consternation amongst men and they repeatedly asked the Prophet if all wo-
men were covered in the relevant dictates, or were any exceptions possible so
that women, in their roles as mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, could be left out
of the will? The answers to such queries and many probable scenarios regarding
inheritance was detailed in the Quran and is a blessing to women of all times.

69
Similarly, while the Quran allows polygamy in certain social conditions it does
so under strict conditions and as one remedy in a unique scenario; for example, in
cases of war where the death of male soldiers leads to many widows and orphans
in a society. In the backdrop of continual warfare in seventh century Arabia,
when there was no possibility of a welfare state, the Quran allowed men to marry
up to four women as a social legislation;clxviiit was clearly stipulated that these
marriages were solemn affairs and not based on frivolity or on unrestrained
sexual needs.

However, as time passed both these policies got distorted and nowadays, they are
present in forms which are not only unjust but also vulgar. While the Islamic
world is not a monolithic and to speak of universal practices would not be right, I
have personally heard of accounts where some groups, to deprive women of their
inheritance, sanctify the marriage of women to the Quran. clxviiiThe twisted logic
behind such heinous acts is that since Quran enjoins marriage the marriage has
been conducted; however, there is no reason to transfer wealth to such a married
woman.

The scenario of multiple marriages is also not much different. What was origin-
ally allowed by the Quran as a policy of redressing serious social issues has been
so distorted that today any man, irrespective of his reasons, can marry more than
one woman without suffering any overt social disapproval. By and large, a man
does not need to seek the permission of his first wife before contracting an addi-
tional marriage. As for that very important condition of the Quran on which this
legislation is based, that of maintaining justice between the multiple wives,
which in its essence rules out polygamy, that condition has been very conveni-
ently ignored and downplayed.

To understand and explain why these distortions happened, and why such a rad-
ical message became so conservative within such a short time, I would like to re-
turn to the knowledge framework I mentioned earlier to analyse this issue. As
stated earlier, as understood by Muslims, the Quran is the universal message of
God, and has been transmitted to humankind through the person of the Last Mes -
senger, Prophet Muhammad. Whenever the Prophet received a revelation, he
would recite it to his followers, who would learn it by heart. Seventh century Ar-
70
abia was an oral society, so reading and writing was a restricted skill; however,
there were some people who could write so the Quranic verses were written on
leather hides, paper, bones etc. The ministry of the Prophet lasted for twenty-
three years, during which time the Quran was revealed piecemeal. Before his
death, the Prophet compiled the Quran in the chronology that we have today;
however, this chronology is different from the way the verses were revealed.
That is, the Quran is not set according to the earliest verses first and the last
verses last, that is according to a historical timeframe, but has been set in a man -
ner which was revealed to the Prophet by the Archangel Gabriel. Almost fifteen
years after the Prophet’s death, the third caliph, Caliph Usman, undertook the
task of standardizing the Quran. He collected all the Quran copies that were in
circulation, standardized them, and sent them to different parts of the Muslim
empire, which had expanded far and wide by then. The Quran that is read all over
the Muslim societies is this version, and not a single word has ever been changed
or replaced.

So, with complete surety the Muslims can confidently claim that the Quran, that
is the Arabic message they are reading, is the same that the Prophet com-
piled,clxixbut complications arise when we try to understand how the meaning of
the text was interpreted. This difference in understanding the text was not a later
development, but interestingly, it started in the times and presence of the Prophet
himself. For instance, there is this very captivating story where Lady Hafsa, clxx
one of the Prophets wives, debated with him about the meaning of a certain
verse, putting forward an explanation that was different from what the Prophet
was advocating! I find this story to be so exhilarating that it makes me want to
laugh with joy and happiness; here is a well read, cerebral lady who is not afraid
to debate with the Messenger about what the message could mean. While some
aspects of this story illuminate the Prophet’s marital relations, the subtler aspect
whereby the message, in addition to its direct receiver, is open to interpretation to
all is what I find truly inspiring and liberating.

As the above story illustrates there were genuine issues with interpretations of the
text; when the Messenger was alive such debated could be resolved by taking the
matters directly to the Prophet since he was the authority on what meant what,

71
but after his death there was no one who could claim absolute knowledge about
the divine message or what a particular phrase or verse meant, and thus all opin-
ions were passionately debated and, mercifully, also recorded. I think that this
early variety of opinions is a great blessing as it shows that different people,
while being taught by the same teacher and sharing the same social and cultural
history, may understand knowledge differently; this leaves room for diversity and
plurality of views rather than a one-size-fits-all model. That the final message
from the Eternal Creator, who creates but is not created, and who is beyond space
and time, has historically been and even now can be interpreted in multiple ways
is what make it awesome and mysterious and gives it its great depth.

The state’s attack at female emancipation: Caliph Umar’s attempts at

rolling back policies regarding mehr and divorce:

After the Prophet’s demise, as time progressed in the Muslim societies a nascent
Muslim state began to take shape in Medina; simultaneously the Muslim Empire
began to conquer and annex new lands and peoples. This growth and develop-
ment in the Muslim land led to issues cropping up which were not present in the
times of the Prophet (as during his life the Muslim expansion was mainly limited
to within Arabia) and needed addressing in terms of policy and implementation.
Many issues arose but since this book is primarily concerned with misogyny, I
will focus on the aspect of the budding empire which deals specifically with wo-
men’s issues and will try to trace how the misogyny that is so common now
began to rear its ugly head at that early stage, the consequences of which are still
felt keenly today.

To illustrate my point, I would like to take up the case of Umar bin Khattab, one
of the closest companions of the Prophet, and the second Muslim Caliph. At the
time of the advent of Islam, Umar, a fiery man in his thirties, was a vocal oppon-
ent of the message and the messenger. He accepted Islam around the sixth year of
the message, becoming one of its strongest defenders. He also became the second
caliph of the Muslim state after the death of the Caliph Abu Bakar. While history
has commended him for his zeal, his bravery and his administration prowess, (the
Muslim empire greatly expanded under his rule) some decisions he undertook or
tried to take set a precedent which were quite contrary to the Prophet’s era. Had
72
Umar been just one Muslim amongst many, his decisions would only have af-
fected people in a limited way; as the most powerful head of the Muslim state,
however, he was no ordinary Muslim, hence his policies deserve a closer scru-
tiny, which I would now like to do.

Early historians openly acknowledge Umar’s volatile temperament and have re-
corded his patriarchal attitudes towards women. clxxiHe was known to beat his
wives;clxxiihistory books also record his merciless beating of his female slave who
had accepted Islam; to be fair this beating of slave happened when he was a pa-
gan.clxxiiiHowever, even when he became a Muslim, his misogynistic tendencies
remained a part of him. For instance, when the Muslims emigrated to Medina,
Umar was so disturbed by the relatively uninhibited customs of women of Med-
ina that he complained to the Prophet that Muslim women had started getting
more demanding after inter-mingling with Medinan women. clxxivSince he was the
father-in-law of the Prophet, he had close access to the Prophet’s entire house-
hold, by virtue of which he often interfered in the doings of the other wives, and
also got into squabbles with them. clxxvWhile the Prophet was alive such issues re-
mained petty but after his death Umar’s misogynistic tendencies started over-
flowing into his policies.

To shed light on this aspect of Umar’s policies I will take two examples, both of
which are related to marriages and divorces; the first example is about mehr,
while the second is regarding the dissolution of marriages. As part of the mar-
riage contract the Quran has made it obligatory for men to pay women a monet-
ary gift, called mehr (dower) in Arabic, at the time of the nikah. (This is not
bride-price, that is money the groom pays to buy the bride, as practiced now in
certain cultures). The obligatory mehr, depending on the financial wealth of the
groom and what the wife-to-be agrees to, can be a big or small amount, and is
meant for the financial security of the wife. Since mehr allows women some fin-
ancial control over their lives, women were extremely happy with this financial
innovation in their favour; however, Caliph Umar tried to roll back this very in-
novation during his caliphate.

The story goes that once during a sermon delivered in the mosque, Umar de-
clared that if any man fixed the mehr more than a certain amount, (400 dirhams
73
in those days) he would punish the said person and would also deposit the excess
money in the public treasury. However, a female companion of the Prophet chal-
lenged him there and then; she asked him by what authority was he imposing a
ceiling to mehr, the amount of which Almighty had left open-ended, and whether
Umar’s decree was more worthy than God’s injunctions? She then quoted the rel-
evant verse to him which states

And if you wish to have (one) wife in place of another and you have given them a
heap of gold, then take not from it anything. (4:20)

Umar had no answer to this direct and valid challenge, so he immediately re-
voked his policy saying that there was no harm in giving women more dowry
than 400 dirhams.clxxvi

The other case has to do with the way marriages and divorces are regulated in the
Quran. Before explaining the case, I would like to give some background so the
contrast between the actual policy and the innovation can become clear. Islam,
unlike Christianity, openly acknowledges the material needs of people and the
need of women and men to enjoy the company of each other. While it prohibits
fornication, it allows and encourages marriage; there are many verses which state
that through marriage men and women can find comfort in each other. All that is
necessary for a marriage to take place is that both spouses should be willing and
there should be two witnesses present; the presence of witnesses is to assure that
no party can misuse this knot; for instance, if one day a man decides to claim a
woman as his wife or a woman claims that a particular man is her spouse, both of
them will have to produce witnesses of good repute to make their claims valid.

However, the Quran also acknowledges that sometimes the wedlock can become
a tribulation for the spouses and has allowed for parting of ways in such cases.
Men and women both can leave marriages, but the way that the relationship is
terminated is different. If it is the woman wants to leave she has to get the mar-
riage annulled by returning the mehr. clxxviiIf it is the man who wants to discon-
tinue the relationship, then the man pronounces words to the effect, “I have di-
vorced you” which is enough for the knot to be dissolved. It needs to be stressed

74
that this decision must be a well-thought out rational decision, otherwise a di-
vorce is not valid.clxxviii

Although it may seem that such a way of divorcing gives a lot of power to men,
who can revoke the relationship instantly, there are checks and balances to ensure
that marriages do not get dissolved lightly. In cases where marital discord occurs,
the required procedure is that two mediators, one from the husband’s side and
one from the wife’s side, intervene to resolve issues and to bring about reconcili-
ation. This means that both spouses, through their representatives, are actively in-
volved in the process. Thus, contrary to mainstream understanding, although the
marriage can be dissolved by either spouse, this can happen only after the proper
procedure has been followed. Some other checks and balances to ensure that
marriages are not dissolved whimsically are: in cases where men divorce women,
the mehr need not be returned. clxxixDivorces can also not be given at times of
menstrual cycles nor can divorces be given if the wife is pregnant. The divorced
women also cannot be asked to leave the marital home. It is only when the di-
vorce is finalised that the divorced woman should leave the home. The Quran
also enjoins that maintenance for divorced women should be provided by the ex-
husbands.clxxx

However, as a mercy to his creation Almighty has not allowed the divorce pro-
nouncement to be the final matter, but rather allows a period of three months for
this decision to become final. What this means is that if within the next three
months the spouses decide that they are willing to compromise, and do not want
to part ways, then all they have to do is make that intention and they can resume
the relationships of being husband and wife. However, if the stipulated three
months have passed and there is no reconciliation then the divorce happens, al-
lowing both spouses to be single people. By setting a time limit to divorce, the
Quran forces men to take a decision; if a man wants to part ways, he is free to do
so after discharging his obligations, but if he wants to continue than he has to
live with his wife in a decent manner and be responsible for her material and
spiritual well-being.clxxxi

Now comes the most merciful part in this contract; if the ex-spouses feel that
they want to live together after the stipulated time has passed, all they have to do
75
is get married to each other again in the presence of two witnesses and they can
be spouses again. However, if they want to move on and marry other people they
can do so too. The story does not end here yet. If the two people decide to get
back again, either within the stipulated time period (where they will not have to
do the nikah) or outside the stipulated period (where a new nikah is obligatory),
and at some later point complications arise then the said couple can decide to part
in exactly the same manner; that is, the man can divorce the wife in the presence
of two witnesses, and if they change their mind within or outside the stipulated
time then they can get back together again. But if after getting together again for
the second time, matters reach a point where they decide to part again, then the
third divorce will be the final divorce, after which they cannot ever live together.
The only exception to this clause is that the divorced woman marries another
man and then parts way with him. In such a case she can marry her first husband,
but what is to be stressed is that this new marriage has to be dissolved for genu-
ine reasons. I will mention the mockery that has been made of this injunction in
the name of “halala” shortly.

What this means is that in cases of marital friction, Almighty gives spouses three
opportunities to get together again, and this too without any unnecessary drama.
Once the first divorce has been used and the people move on, they can get back
together at any point in their life without any difficulty. Since only one divorce
has been exercised, their reunion is not only possible, but can happen without
much ado. Even if they do not get back together again, then the remaining two
divorces are like a credit which one has in one’s account and can be drawn upon
if such a need arises. This is how the Quran regulates marital relations and offers
a solution to the dilemma of maintaining harmony between the sexes which has
so preoccupied humanity since eons. This kind of comfortable arrangement of
managing marital discord makes it easier to navigate an already complicated situ-
ation. However, it is this very ease that has been tampered with, and that too in
the name of the same God who gave this ease in the first place.

While the Quran has set a subscribed manner of divorce which I have explained
above, it is always worth repeating that Islam did not emerge in a vacuum. The
pagan Arabs were used to living life a certain way and even after conversion to

76
Islam found following the Quranic policies difficult, especially when it set limits
in their behaviour regarding usury, wine, women, slaves, wealth, and their un-
bridled lust for power. This was especially true in the case of marital relations, as
even the weakest member of the tribe, no matter how insignificant in the eyes of
other men, could be omnipotent in his own home. While the Quran clearly ad-
vocates that in case of divorce only one divorce can be exercised, it often
happened in the Prophet’s times that men would pronounce the three divorces in
one go and would later regret their behaviour. clxxxii In such cases the Prophet con-
sidered the pronouncement of three divorces as merely one. Not once in his min-
istry did he ever consider three divorces pronounced together as three; in fact he
displayed great anger when such cases where men had uttered divorces three
times simultaneously were brought to him.clxxxiii

However, after the Prophet’s death Caliph Umar revoked this very understanding
of the way divorce is given and took up a policy of considering three divorces
uttered together as final after which the concerned spouses could not ever recon-
cile.clxxxivWhile he punished men who uttered three divorces together with lash-
ing, he also accepted that such an uttering was a final parting of ways, and such
spouses could not reconcile again. The consequence of accepting this way of di-
vorce as valid was that the wives were cut adrift from all support in one fatal pro-
nunciation; home, husband, children were all lost to the divorced women. (In our
times, in cases where the woman’s blood family is not willing to take her back in
the family home, such women can end up in streets. Without any social support
such women find it very difficult to access legal courts in claiming rights regard-
ing their mehr, their dowry, their property, maintenance, or the custody of their
children. Consequently, such divorces result in extremely traumatic experiences
for women and children.)

The commonly accepted explanation offered for this complete break from the
Messenger’s way of doing things is that during his reign men had started pro-
claiming three divorces simultaneously which was becoming a huge social prob-
lem; to stop other men from doing so and hoping that this would set an example,
as other men would think before speaking, he started considering these proclama-
tions as final. While accepting that this scenario where men were proclaiming di -

77
vorces without thinking through their decision was probably true, as this had
been happening in the times of the Prophet, the explanation offered for his policy
still doesn’t make sense. Since this was not a novel situation, for which there was
no precedent of the Prophet to follow, all Umar had to do was follow the way
prescribed way and consider the three utterances as one divorce, while find some
other way of ensuring that men learnt to keep their emotions in control; e.g. by
imposing a hefty financial penalty on the men who proclaimed three divorces to-
gether.

Halala:

While the success of Umar’s policy as a deterrent is debatable, whether the

“halala” can be traced back to this decision needs greater research. A “halala” is
a devise that has been contrived up to make reconciliation between spouses pos-
sible when there is no room for any further reunion. Readers may recall that once
three divorces are used then the said couple can never re-marry each other, the
only exception being when a woman marries another man and happens to get di-
vorced. Now this divorce can never be by design, that is one can never marry
with the pre-set intention of divorce, as this is making a mockery of God’s words
who has enjoined marital relations for genuine togetherness. However, once Ca-
liph Umar set a precedent for considering three divorces given together as final,
irrespective of whether there was a true intention or not, there arose a problem
for men who later regretted their hasty pronouncement and wanted to reconcile
with their wives. Since they could not get together again, they found a reprehens-
ible way out, the halala.

This disgraceful arrangement works something like this: the couple who has di-
vorced and now wants to re-marry will find a suitable man who will marry the di-
vorced woman. Once the marriage has taken place and marriage has been con-
summated by having sexual intercourse, this man will then divorce her. clxxxv The
lady in question will complete her iddat, a time following the divorce in which
she cannot remarry so as to find out whether she is pregnant or not, after which
she can marry the first husband. According to this rationale, since the woman has
now been married and divorced, the Quranic injunction which allows such a wo-
man to marry her original husband can thus be implemented. What this rationale
78
completely ignores is that the Quran only allows such a marriage if the divorce is
not pre-planned. Hence an exception which has been allowed as a mercy in man -
aging complex relations of the heart has been transformed into a mockery and
travesty of the Quranic law and spirit, and this too because of a policy innovation
which was a complete break with the Prophet’s way of doing things.

That matters of the heart are complicated and that marriages are unions which of-
ten lead to challenges is something the Quran openly acknowledges. Here I
would like to bring up the example of a Muslim woman who came to the Prophet
complaining that her husband had declared that the lady in question was like his
mother, hence she was now prohibited to him. This way of declaring one’s wife
one’s mother, known as zihar in Arabic, was one way in which pre-Islamic Ara-
bian men divorced their wives. Now the said husband was contrite and wanted to
remain with his wife, so this lady came to the Prophet asking if there was any
way out. According to pagan Arabic custom the divorce had happened, but the
lady loved her husband and was arguing her case with the Prophet in favour of
her husband. While the Prophet was considering his decision, a revelation came
which declared that such a manner of declaring divorce was invalid in the first
place hence the marriage was intact. The lady who was arguing passionately in
favour of a man who had treated her so casually has been made immortal by the
Quran in Sura Mujadila.clxxxvi

Keeping this story in mind I would now like to explore what made Caliph Umar
find such simplistic ways of dealing with such complex issues like marriage and
its dissolution. Here readers should remember that matrimony is a very important
cornerstone of Islamic social life, so decisions regarding marriage and its dissolu-
tion need to be taken very seriously. The Quran clearly stipulates that divorce
must be a rational decision and can be decreed only in certain days; e.g. divorce
cannot be given when a woman is having her periods or if she is pregnant. Even
in these modern times, dissolution of marriages even though taken rationally, can
lead to severe financial and emotional challenges, especially to those women who
are not economically independent. Children too suffer greatly when their safe
world is shattered by their parent’s divorce, with custody issues further complic-
ating an already complex situation. If this is true nowadays, the financial and

79
emotional upheaval caused by divorces would have been much greater in the
days of early Islam. In such times, to make and enforce polices regarding mehr
and divorce in such a cavalier fashion, as Caliph Umar seems to have done,
seems to portray a deeply misogynistic personality.

Readers will recall that prior to Islam he was a man who held unsavoury attitudes
towards women and was known for his rough qualities. How much of this was
cleansed after his becoming a Muslim only Almighty knows; irrespective of what
was in his heart, when he got into a position of power he tried to enforce policies
which tried to take away the independence and liberty that had been given to wo-
men by God. Some well-meaning people suggest that since Umar immediately
revoked his decision regarding mehr, this is a sign of his flexibility, but for me
the more troubling aspect is that had he not been challenged so confidently by the
lady, who knows what the result might have been.

Similarly, in the case of the divorce, it has been argued that Umar did not intend
to set a precedent, and this was a policy applicable for his specific time only, but
here I would like to remind readers of another famous story where Caliph Umar
refused to pray in a Christian Church in Jerusalem, as he feared that later genera-
tion Muslims might consider his act as a precedent and start converting churches
into mosquesclxxxvii! For a man who was so wary of the outcome of his actions, the
argument that he took the decisions regarding mehr and divorces without being
aware of its potential consequences seems to be rather naive. This critique of his
misogynistic policies is not to make a case that Umar was not an accomplished
man; indeed, he undertook a great many reforms which had a positive and benefi-
cial impact. The purpose is simply to shed light on some aspects of his character
and his policies which have been relatively less highlighted or explained by male
historians in ways which ignore women’s voices and the effect it had on wo-
men’s emancipation. While some may consider this an individual’s action and try
to play down the import of these policies, these actions can also be interpreted as
the Muslim state’s early attempt to roll back progressive women policies, and to
take back the power and entitlements that were given to them only a short time
ago.

80
Irrespective of the intention, this was a warning to the women that whatever pro-
gress they had made and the rights that were given to them were now under at -
tack, and unless they were vigilant, things would revert to the status-quo slowly
but surely and this is precisely what happened. To highlight another important is-
sue, it should be stressed that the woman who challenged Umar on the mehr issue
did so in the mosque, so it is clear that in early Islamic times there were no re -
strictions on women going to mosques. Women were active in public life and
were so supremely confident in their own knowledge that they could openly chal-
lenge their ruler. In complete contrast, in many countries nowadays, it is almost
impossible for women to pray in mosques, as mosques have been colonized by
men and have been transformed into “boys’ clubs.” As for being knowledgeable,
women have been degraded to creatures of low intelligence and are by and large
considered unfit for public life.

81
Chapter Six

Misogyny in Islamic knowledge sources

If such u-turn regarding women’s rights could be comfortably executed within

the first decade of the Prophet’s death, it was but expected that similar innova -
tions would follow in later decades, and years and this is exactly what happened.
In this chapter I will trace how misogyny came to be a cornerstone of all sources
of Islamic knowledge, be it Quranic interpretation, hadith or fiqh. Before doing
that, however, I would like to give a very brief account of early Islamic events, so
that readers can understand the context in which this knowledge was being pro-
duced and reproduced.

The Prophet died in 632 AD without naming his successor; as soon as he died,
questions regarding his successor arose. Of the many contenders, some people
claimed leadership did on the basis of blood-ties; others did on the basis of asso-
ciation of belonging to a superior tribe. Although hotly contested, these matters
were resolved relatively amicably in the first few decades; however, civil war
broke out during the reign of Ali Ibn Talib, the fourth caliph. The civil war lead
to deep schisms within the Muslims and gave rise to multiple groups, each claim-
ing its legitimacy to rule.clxxxviii

Some of the questions that were being asked in these violent times were: what
did the Prophet say about civil war? How should Muslims behave in such turbu-
lent times? Of the various contenders to the caliphate, how should the best quali-
fied be chosen? And should one accept an unjust ruler if he guarantees peace or
should one oppose him, even at the risk of civil war? clxxxixAcutely aware that the
various contenders and their supporters could only justify their claims and ac-
tions by recourse to Quran, hadith, and jurisprudence, these factions competed

82
with each other to control the narrative, and to find Quranic interpretations,
hadiths, and legal interpretations which would favour their stance in contrast to
their opponents It was this political need which led to certain interpretations be-
ing preferred over others;cxc without understanding this historical and political
scenario, within which Quranic interpretations were being produced, it becomes
difficult to understand why the meanings that are so in vogue today are the pre-
valent views and not others.

Although the brief background given above may give the impression that polit-
ical power and religious power were cooperating with each other to develop and
control a particular narrative, it needs to be stressed that the consensus towards a
conservative understanding of the Islamic knowledge sources was neither a
smooth process nor happened suddenly. Rather this was an evolutionary process
as there were times when the religious scholars were persecuted mercilessly by
the political rulers; it was only gradually, and due to multiple reasons, that collu-
sion became the scholars and the political rulers became the norm, and co-opta-
tion of the scholars became prevalent. cxci The result of this co-optation was the
evolution of doctrines which diluted and subverted the egalitarian and non-hier-
archical message of the Quran in favour of kingship over democracy, of authorit-
arianism over egalitarianism, and of hierarchical models against non-hierarchical
ways of being. It was the preference for these authoritarian and hierarchical mod-
els, both in public and private life, which resulted in creation of Islamic know-
ledge which actively supported and perpetuated authoritarianism, patriarchy and
misogyny. In this knowledge construction, patriarchy can be seen as an extension
of authoritarianism; just like rulers are to be obeyed in the public life, men in
their roles as fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons are to be obeyed in the private
sphere.

Quranic interpretation and misogyny:

According to Muslim belief, Almighty revealed the Quran as the ultimate mes-
sage for guiding humanity to live a moral life. Although there is no doubt about
the divinity of the message, and that it has been revealed for humanity of all
times, it has been interpreted in particular ways since early times; this interpreta -
tion of Quranic verses is called exegesis. It needs to be stressed that these partic-
83
ular readings were political, not neutral; what this means is that since early times
the interpretations of Quranic verses gave power to certain people/groups over
others and at the expense of others; because of this political function the inter-
preters and their patrons were keenly interested in controlling the narrative and of
ensuring that only “right” interpretations became the norm.cxcii

Although the Quran does not support patriarchy or the superiority of one sex over
another in any way, the way it has been interpreted and the language that has
been used in its exegesis makes it seem like a message that is exclusively for
men, in which women are an afterthought. For instance, although the Quran
stresses that women and men have been created from the same soul, possess the
same attributes, and have the same capacity or moral choice, cxciiiexegetes have
found ways of interpreting the verses in which it seems that woman has been cre-
ated in a derivative way, that is from the rib of man, and is created to serve man.
Similarly, by understanding the gender-neutral term “insaan,” which simply
means a human,cxcivas the gender-specific “man”, the exegetes have given a
totally different meaning to the Quranic verses, making it seem that the verses are
primarily addressed to men.

Male exegetes have also appropriated the concept of vice-regency, “khilafa” in

Arabic, making it the sole prerogative of men while conveniently excluding wo-
men from this arrangement. While the concept of trusteeship is applicable to the
entire human race, not just men, male exegetes customarily interpret it as if it has
been used exclusively for men, and derive their privilege from this understand-
ing.cxcvAnother way male exegetes have interpreted Quran in misogynistic ways
is through their understanding of marriage and marital relationships. Although
the Quran advocates marriage to be based on the principle of love and harmony,
by understanding particular verses of the Quran in hierarchical ways, male ex-
egetes have inverted this egalitarian relationship into one of domination and con-
trol. The verse quoted in favour of husband having superiority over wives is 4:34.

Men are in charge of women by [right of] what Allah has given one over the
other and what they spend [for maintenance] from their wealth. So righteous wo-
men are devoutly obedient, guarding in [the husband's] absence what Allah
would have them guard. But those [wives] from whom you fear arrogance -
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[first] advise them; [then if they persist], forsake them in bed; and [finally],
strike them. But if they obey you [once more], seek no means against them. In -
deed, Allah is ever Exalted and Grand (4:34)

Although the Arabic word “qawwam” can be understood as “maintainers”, miso-

gynistic interpretations have understood it to mean “in charge”, “guardian” and
“rulers”.cxcviThe exegetes have also interpreted this verse to be applicable to all
women rather than a conditional statement; that is rather than advocating that this
verse is applicable in a specific scenario, and only certain men are maintainers of
certain women, their interpretation makes its scope universal in nature. Read this
way, the verse seems to suggest that all men are in charge of all women, for all
times and in all situations.cxcviiAnother way biased interpretations of this verse
have supported misogyny is by making it seem that the righteous women are
obedient to their husbands, even though the verse makes no such demand of wo-
men; “qaanitat”, the Arabic word used in the verse for obedient means obedience
to God which is what God expects from His human creation, both women and
men.cxcviiiAs for men beating wives, readers may recall, that the Arabic word
“daraba” can be taken to mean “to go away,” which completely transforms the
meaning of the above verse.cxcix

This misogynistic mindset is clearly visible in the way women’s evidence has
been reduced to half of men. Readers may recall verse 2:282 in which Almighty
sets out ways in which financial transactions should be recorded so that both bor-
rowers and lenders are protected. According to this verse such transactions
should be witnessed by two men, and if two men are not available, then one man
and two women should be witnesses. Although this verse is primarily about doc-
umentation regarding financial issues and is not about gender relations at all,
based on this verse exegetes have come to the conclusion that a woman’s testi-
mony is half of man, and also that she is a creature of low intellect, hence incap -
able of being rational. cc

Hadith knowledge and misogyny:

Another knowledge source which played an important role in legitimizing these

misogynistic interpretations were the hadiths. As mentioned earlier, knowledge is

85
one of the most important sources of power and control, so due to Muslim expan-
sion in surrounding areas, the need for power and control over the blossoming
empire was keenly felt. Over the next three hundred years, as Islam spread
around the globe, people of new cultures, new mores, and new traditions started
meeting Muslims. Although some converted while others did not, this interming-
ling of people led to new issues cropping up which had to be dealt with. Interest -
ingly, it was at the time of this unprecedented expansion of Islam that the need
for collecting the Prophet’s sayings was felt. The most cited rationale for the
need for hadith literature is that as new people came into Islam they wanted to
learn what was expected of them as Muslims, and what their behaviour should be
in day to day living, so it was necessary to understand more about the conduct of
the Prophet’s various activities.cci

While acknowledging this need as genuine, I suggest that more critical ap-
proaches need to be applied to the hadith literature to analyse how this was used
as a tool of control in an empire which was expanding, and whose subjects were
people of various colours, hues, cultures, and customs. This expanding empire,
like other preceding empires, was not safe from internal strife, as the elites of
these new territories, not content to be mere subjects, started demanding their
share in power, resulting in civil wars amongst various factions. During such tur-
bulent times, prescient sayings of the Prophet which seemed to elevate one fac-
tion over the another, or which seemed to recommend absolute obedience to the
ruler, no matter how decadent or corrupt, must have been very advantageous. cciiIn
such a charged political atmosphere, when the power to rule depended on produ-
cing favourable hadiths, competition for control of the tradition became a neces-
sary part of acquiring power.cciiiIn such times, while maintaining power and con-
trol over subjects via hadiths was one, if not the primary objective, the emancip-
ated Muslim female subjects became the particular target of this effort.

It was at this juncture of Islamic history that hadiths which generate loathing of
women started circulating widely. Since the expanded contact had brought
Muslims closer with Christians, Zoroastrians and Greeks, there was ample oppor-
tunity to trade stories regarding creation of the world, women, sex, and to further
embellish them with each repetition.ccivThus Christianity, with extremely hostile

86
view towards sexuality and sex, had a creation story which held Eve to be re-
sponsible for engineering the Fall of Man; this story while completely different
from the Quranic story became one of the corner-stones of the Muslim creation
story. Although the Quran holds the human pair to be jointly responsible for this
transgression, the hadith literature is filled with colourful stories about Eve and
her tempting wiles and manners; the fact that many of these hadiths and the de -
tails mentioned in them do not hold up to careful scrutiny ccvis considered a rather
inconsequential aspect of the juicier details.

The origin of veiling also lies in this creation story; in Christian lands, where
sexuality was considered shameful and women were regarded as temptresses, the
Church imposed veiling and seclusion on women, the thinking being that by be -
ing completely concealed women could hide their shame and not tempt men from
their serious pursuits.ccviIt was this already existing prevailing custom which the
conquering Muslim men appropriated and imposed on Muslim women, making a
clean break with the times of the Prophet. Since Islam already shared a common
heritage with the Jews and Christians, Abraham, Moses, Mary and Jesus being
highly revered people in the Quran, it was relatively easy to incorporate the miso-
gynistic stories of these traditions into the Muslim folklore and convert an egalit-
arian message into one of domination and submission, making it seem like God’s
creation rather than a man-made inversion! Thus hadiths which labelled women
as morally and religiously defective, evil temptresses, fitna/source of disorder for
men, fit for Hell, having weaker intellectual powers, unfit to rule, etc. became the
bedrock of misogynistic hadith literature.ccvii

To illustrate the misogyny found in hadith literature I would like to take up the
famous hadith which says those who entrust their affairs to a woman will never
know prosperity. Since women have been considered unfit to be political leaders
on the basis of this hadith, it is necessary to investigate if this hadith is true.
Fatima Mernissi does a wonderful job of giving the personal background of the
narrator of this hadith, Abu Bakra (not to be confused with Abu Bakar, the first
Muslim caliph) and of investigating when, why and to whom this hadith was nar-
rated.ccviii Readers can read the relevant details themselves, but for the purpose of
this book I would like to point out that this Abu Bakra was convicted of and

87
flogged for giving a false testimony in another case! In spite of knowing that the
narrator was convicted of false testimony the above hadith has been considered
sound enough to be included in the credible hadith books.ccix

Another famous hadith, narrated by Abu Hurayra says “the Prophet said that the
dog, the ass, and woman interrupt prayer if they pass in front of the believer, in-
terposing themselves between him and the qibla.” ccx In explaining this hadith and
the importance of qibla, Mernissi makes the point that aligning women with dogs
and asses makes her a being who belongs to the animal kingdom. Could the
Prophet really have said that? Although Lady Aisha refuted the above hadith, and
categorically stated that the Prophet offered prayers while she was between him
and the qibla, the collectors of the hadith chose to keep this hadith in their collec-
tion.ccxi Abu Hurayra, to whom numerous other hadiths are credited, was a late
convert to Islam; he converted around three years before the Prophet’s death. Re-
lative to the other Muslims, Abu Hurayra spent far less time with the Prophet;
however, he transmitted more hadiths than any other person. Because of this
factor, the authenticity of his narrations has been the subject of debate for centur-
ies.ccxii Umar bin Khattab is reported to have threatened him with exile if he did
not stop reporting so many hadiths! Lady Aisha specifically objected to many of
his transmissions which demeaned women.ccxiii

Misogyny in Fiqh:

As mentioned earlier, there were many Islamic law schools in early Islamic his-
tory, but with the passage of time, they withered away leaving four schools of
law, namely the Hanafi, Shafi’i, Hanbali and Maliki; the Islamic law that we
know today originated from these four schools. this law is not uniform but is
open to different interpretations and critiques. Readers may also recall that an ac -
cepted principle of fiqh/jurisprudence was that religious law was supplemented
with customary law and as the Muslim empire grew different lands with differing
customs and traditions came into the fold of Islam. Since all these areas espoused
patriarchal norms and values, when their scholars did ijtihad, their opinions and
interpretation reflected these customs and understandings. Also, since these
scholars were almost exclusively male, with the door firmly closed for any wo-

88
men participation in such endeavours, jurisprudence became solely men’s prerog-
ative.ccxiv

After the tenth century the work of the Fiqh scholars was more or less codified,
and in later times it was considered almost heretical to even question, let alone
challenge that work. Since this knowledge was created primarily by men who
were coloured by their lived experiences, they brought their own understandings
and assumptions into this knowledge production and re-production. Leila
Ahmedccxv captures this mindset beautifully when she says that the scholars of
those times had internalised their society’s assumptions about gender and women
and the power structures governing the relations between men and women ap-
peared normal and routine to them.

When these theologians, philosophers, and legists wrote the texts and their com-
mentaries, their assumptions and outlook towards women either silently or expli-
citly informed their texts and came to be the prisms through which they and later
scholars understood women and gender. All later knowledge was layered upon
this misogynistic understanding as the task of later judges was to imitate past rul-
ings and not give any original doctrines. ccxvi As time passed later Muslim jurists
and theologians kept on adding to this knowledge base; steadily but surely the
laws, policies, traditions, and customs of Muslim areas came to rest on this male-
constructed misogynistic knowledge which resulted in oppression and unequal
treatment of women.

I would like to illustrate this point with the way gender relations and marriage
have been understood by the classical jurists. The concepts of guardians and cus-
todian (“qiwamah” and “wilayah” in Arabic respectively) are the basic concepts
on which gender relations are interpreted in classical jurisprudence. ccxviiQi-
wamahccxviiirefers to the authority and the financial responsibility a husband has
towards his wife. Wilayahccxix refers to the right and duty of male family members
to exercise guardianship over female members, e.g., the right of a father over his
daughter when contracting marriage and the right of fathers over mothers in case
of child custody in divorce cases.

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As the underlying assumptions of these concepts is that men are strong, therefore
they protect and provide while women are weak so they obey and must be protec-
ted, these two concepts have been central in institutionalizing, justifying, and sus-
taining gender inequality since the times of classical jurists. ccxxThe marriage con-
tract is also based on this very understanding: that God made men “in-charge” of
women and placed them under male authority. ccxxiIn case of marriages, the jurist
used the model of commercial buying and selling to define the marriage contract;
in this contract, literally known as the “contract of coitus” or “aqd al-
nikah,”sexual access to the wife becomes the husband’s right, and the wife’s
duty, while maintenance, specifically shelter, food, and clothing, becomes the
wife’s right and the husband’s duty. To paraphrase, within such a marriage con-
tract, sexual submission by a woman is a man’s right in return for which he
provides maintenance for wife.ccxxii

In this exchange a husband acquires the right of access to the woman’s sexual
and reproductive faculties at the time of marriage; the difference between such a
married woman and a female slave is that the married woman retains the right of
her person, whereas a slave loses this right of personhood. It needs to be stressed
that this understanding makes a woman’s sexuality a commodity and an object of
exchange; this interpretation allows unequal construction of rights in marriage
and has been reproduced consistently through the rules that define polygamy and
divorce.ccxxiiiOther rights of men include the power to control his wife’s move-
ments and her excess piety.ccxxivThis means that a wife needs the permission of
the husband to leave the house, to seek employment, and to engage in worship
and fasting which are more than the obligatory requirements.

In the fiqh regarding marriage and divorce, a husband can unilaterally divorce his
wife whereas a wife either has to get the right of divorce inserted into the mar-
riage contract or petition the courts to obtain it. ccxxv The Shafi’I jurist Abu al-
Hasan al-Mawardi derives the right of the unilateral right of men to divorce wo-
men from the verse 65:1

O Prophet, when you [Muslims] divorce women, divorce them for [the com-
mencement of] their waiting period and keep count of the waiting period, and
fear Allah, your Lord. Do not turn them out of their [husbands'] houses, nor
90
should they [themselves] leave [during that period] unless they are committing a
clear immorality. And those are the limits [set by] Allah . And whoever trans-
gresses the limits of Allah has certainly wronged himself. You know not; perhaps
Allah will bring about after that a [different] matter. (65:1)

Rather than understanding this verse only this way, that is, as giving men a sub-
stantive unilateral right to divorce wives, it can be interpreted as a mechanism
which sets out the procedure through which men should divorce wives. This in-
terpretation would allow both women and men to initiate divorce, with men fol-
lowing the procedure in ways described in the verse. ccxxviHowever, most jurists
prefer to read this verse in the former way and justify this privilege by arguing
that since a husband is made financially responsible for the upkeep of his wife,
therefore, he deserves this special right. Another argument they give for re-
serving this right exclusively for males is that since women are overpowered by
whims and desires more than men, they are more likely to rush into divorcing
husbands!ccxxvii

Misogyny can also be seen the way the jurists understood the concept of
“awrah”, which are the private parts of the body which need to be covered, espe-
cially during prayers. Jurists interpret men’s awrah to be the area between knees
and navel, which needs to be covered during prayers. For women, their entire
body, except their hair and face, has been declared to be awrah/shameful, so must
be covered at all times, both during prayers and at all other times, including pub-
lic and private places.ccxxviiiBecause a woman’s entire being is shameful, there-
fore, her voice and her odour are also considered awrah. Closely related to wo-
men being “shameful” is how their being in public places causes fitna, or sexual
enticement and leads to chaos and social disorder. ccxxixBased on this understand-
ing jurists frown upon women being active in public, including their visiting
graveyards as that may also become a source of fitna!.

Concubinage: re-casting women as objects and commodities:

Another way women were severely oppressed was through interpretations re-
garding concubinage. As mentioned earlier, in the times of the Prophet the Quran
allowed men to have sexual relations with female slaves; ccxxxalthough this was al-

91
lowed, the implicit understanding was that as Islam would become more mature,
slavery in all its facets and forms would end. However, after the Prophet’s death,
the Muslims turned their attention towards neighbouring lands and were able to
conquer these territories in a remarkably short time period. These acquisitions led
to accumulating great power, wealth, and prestige, and procuring new slaves. To
put into perspective how remarkable this turn in fortune was, it should be noted
that when the Prophet died, he left nothing of value as inheritance for his only
surviving daughter and wives. Less than thirty years later the Muslim empire had
become so rich that Lady Aisha was given a state pension of 200,000 dirhams,
which was transported on five camels!ccxxxi

When the Muslim conquerors acquired these slaves, they chose to interpret the
Quranic verses regarding slavery in ways which suited their conquering lifestyle.
Although there could have been many policy options through which prisoners-of-
war could have been accommodated, yet the Muslim rulers and jurists chose to
keep the institution of slavery intact. This continuation of a policy which was
against the spirit of the Quran is another example where Muslim rulers and jurists
chose to interpret verses in manners suitable to them. In these early times ordin-
ary Muslim soldiers could be owners of eight to ten slaves, whereas the elite
Muslims could have a thousand slaves. According to some estimates, Al-Zubair,
the brother-in-law of Aisha, was the owner of one thousand slaves and one thou-
sand concubines. Ali, the Prophet’s son-in-law and the fourth Muslim caliph took
nine wives and many concubines after Fatima’s death. His son Hassan married
and divorced nearly a hundred women.ccxxxii

If such customs could exist amongst the early Muslims without any censure, then
it was no surprise that the increasing power and wealth, coupled with new know-
ledge and customs gained from the conquered people, would open the doors for
the later Muslim rulers and elites to adopt increasingly decadent and luxurious
lifestyles. This was especially true in the times of the Abassids, rulers from 750-
1258, who made Iraq the seat of their Sunni Muslim Empire. During this time the
sexual practices of the dominant classes blurred the lines between “woman”,
“slave” and “object for sexual use” and the Muslim rulers openly co-opted the
Zoroastrian customs of keeping huge harems and slaves. The Caliph al-Mut-

92
awakil (847-61) had four thousand concubines, while the more modest Caliph
Harun-al-Rashid (786-409) had concubines in hundreds. ccxxxiii

This practice was not limited to the elites but also flowed downwards; since an-
nexing new lands meant that soldiers had to be permanently garrisoned there, the
settler Muslims married amongst the local population of these lands. While the
soldiers contracted marriages with free women, it was easier for them financially
to keep concubines, as these slaves need not be given any dowry and could be
disposed of at will.ccxxxivIt should be remembered that none of these changes oc-
curred overnight; rather it was a slow and gradual transformation which eventu-
ally resulted in the devaluing of women to that of sexual commodities; even
those men who could not afford to own slaves themselves were involved in the
sale, purchase and transportation of slaves. ccxxxvThe entire society colluded in
making slavery not only possible but in establishing it as a very important institu-
tion of Muslim cultures. The marketing of people, especially female slaves, was
an everyday reality of Abbasid society. While most female slaves were destined
to be in domestic service, traders dealing in concubines sorted out the desirable
slaves from the less desirable ones; good looks, musical talents and vocal abilit -
ies were considered especially valuable traits.ccxxxvi

So, what did this kind of commodification do to the women, physically, emotion-
ally and spiritually? For the wives the threat of displacement by concubines was
an ever present danger and must have proved to be an excellent control tool to
bring them into line. For the concubines, whose personal as well as their chil-
dren’s well-being depended on being in favour of their owner, this kind of harem
life must have been a constant stressful struggle. Since being a wife was better
than being a concubine, harem politics and subterfuge became the norm with
concubines doing everything in their power to get the elevated status of a
wife.ccxxxvii

In these times, when the primary way in which men interacted with women was
that of master and slave, and when this life of buying and selling was a physical
and material everyday reality, subtler psychic relations were bound to change and
shift grounds; as a result of this shift women increasingly came to be seen as
commodities. Even in cases where the men interacting with women were not the
93
direct owners themselves, but were either acting as other men’s agents by pur-
chasing women on their behalf, or were training them, or were stocking them up
for future sale, the knowledge that a “woman” and a “slave” and an “object of
sexual use” were almost identical became the frame of reference of their every-
day lived reality; such a being could be bought, maintained and disposed of at
will. Concubinage was by no means the only way of commodifying women as it
was in these decadent times that the custom of marrying divorced or widowed
women lost favour, and virgins (the younger the better) became the coveted prop-
erty.ccxxxviii

Non-mainstream knowledge:

To be fair, since early Islam there have been attempts at constructing knowledge
which is more egalitarian, more inclusive and more democratic, so it would be
incomplete to write about Muslim knowledge without acknowledging the dis-
senting voices which came from the Shiites, Khawarijs, the Kharijis, the Sufis
and the Qarmatians. While there are differences within the groups, the main ele-
ment which sets them apart from the dominant orthodox group is their under-
standing about the nature of the Quranic message. According to Ahmed, who
writes specifically in context of the Sufis and Qarmatians, the main difference
was that these groups emphasized the ethical, spiritual and social teachings of Is-
lam as its essence while stressing that the activities of the Prophet were particular
to a specific time and were not generalizable in other times. ccxxxixThus they differ
from orthodox groups in their understanding of how the message was to be un-
derstood in the context of history, and whether its essence was a specific set of
ordinances to be applied across space and time irrespective of context, or whether
the social teachings had a more deeper purpose of achieving a more just and
more charitable society.ccxl

The presence of such radically different ideas is evidence that since its birth there
was no single Islam and different groups and classes interpreted Islamic dictates
differently. Although the proponents of such ideas and knowledge were merci-
lessly persecuted, and were often put to death, it is a sign of the remarkable spirit
of human beings that they will preserve and hand down knowledge which they
consider to be true from one generation to another in face of grave danger. While
94
the ideas of these groups did not become mainstream, they are still around and
can be explored by serious seekers. The Sufis, for instance, welcomed women
into their ranks and revered female as well as male mystics. The female sufi, Ra-
bia al-Adawiyya, (popularly known as Rabia Basri) was and is still considered
well above her male counterparts in intellectual abilities and spiritual prowess.
Within the Qarmatians, women were not expected to veil themselves and men
and women socialised together.ccxli

However, for majority of the Muslim societies, the orthodox interpretation came
to be the prevalent one and it is dominant to this day. It is due to the ideas of this
dominant knowledge discourse that the woman, who has been honoured by
Almighty to be His vice-regent on earth and who is meant to be a slave to her
Creator, has been reduced to a sexual object for the pleasure of men; her ability
and willingness to sexually satisfy her husband, and her fecundity in providing
children have become her defining features and if any woman dares to break this
mould there are plenty of ways of bringing her into line.

95
Chapter Seven

Why do powerful men hate women: projection

and scapegoating

A question which should occur to readers at this juncture is what drives this
misogyny, and what is that women have ever done to men that they have been
scorned like this for millennia across cultures and continents, as oppression of
women is much older than the Muslim societies. According to the much older
Greek mythology, men had existed with gods without any pain, labour, and dis-
ease; the woman was an afterthought.ccxliiAristotle, a Greek philosopher on whose
ideas Western civilization as we know today rests, taught that women were in-
ferior to men; he considered women to be childlike based on the evidence that
women had fewer teeth and that women did not go bald. ccxliiiSimilarly, Buddha
did not take females as his disciples and seemed to consider celibacy as the su-
preme way of being. Judeo-Christian tradition also has a brutal history of viol-
ence against women, with women being considered too unclean to recite the
Torah and to become pastors or deacons.ccxlivAccording to Eliezer ben Hyrcanus,
an early Jew,

The words of the Torah should be burned rather than entrusted to womenccxlv

And according to Tertullian, an influential early Christian theologian,

The curse God pronounced on your sex still weighs on the world. …You are the
devil's gateway…. You are the first that deserted the divine laws. All too easily
you destroyed the image of God, Adam. Because you deserved death, it was the
son of God who had to die.ccxlvi

96
Before I try to resolve this mystery, I would like to remind readers that patriarchy
is obsessed with power and control and will use every mean at its disposal to en-
sure that power remains in the dominant group while the non-dominant group re-
mains under control. A very important complementary aspect of power is that
where there is power, there is the very real fear of losing it so the people who
worship power are the most terrified people. ccxlviiThe thinking of power-worship-
pers goes something like this: since we are so enamoured of power and will do
anything to increase it, including snatching the power of others, hence it is reas -
onable to assume that other powerful men out there will also be out to snatch our
power, so we have to be constantly alert so that no one attacks us. This terror of
loss of power and strength is the primary driver which makes such men avoid in-
timacy, as they fear that letting their guards down may allow someone to steal
their power and leave them weak and powerless.ccxlviii

Intimacy here is not meant to be taken as erotic intimacy; rather it means the ad -
mission that human beings are interdependent and need other people for growth
and development. For some peculiar reason, powerful men find it extremely hard
to admit that they are dependent on others; consequently, they will try to avoid
any setting where they may be forced to acknowledge this inter-dependence.
This then is what patriarchy and misogyny is all about: stripped to the core
it is about the fear of intimacy, as to be truly intimate means accepting that
one is not omnipotent but is dependent on others for fulfilment; to re-state,
one is not a god but a mere human who is in constant need of other beings.

A device which is fundamental in coping with the terror and loss of independ-
ence is to divert all self-loathing at being considered weak and needy in one’s
own estimation outside of one’s self; this way of dealing with extreme discomfort
is called scapegoating.ccxlixWhat this means is that in any situation which causes
fear, self-hate, anger, guilt, frustration, and pain, these feelings are projected onto
another, often more vulnerable person or group. The group which has been
scapegoated serves two very useful functions: it calms any feeling of discomfort
in the dominant group; and simultaneously allows the dominant group to experi-
ence pleasurable feelings of piety and self-righteous indignation. In the case of
misogyny, men have projected their fear of loss of control onto women and made

97
them into scapegoats, righteously branding them as villains and themselves as
heroes.ccl

The beauty of scapegoating is that not only does it shift blame, but it also shifts
responsibility of correction on the scapegoated group. With this context in mind
the story of Eve being responsible for the fall of Adam from Eden begins to make
much more sense. The story, as told in the Judeo-Christian tradition and the
Muslim hadith literature, although not in the Quran, can be understood as an ex-
ample of repressed sexuality and anxiety issues of men. Since for many men the
loss of control in sex as well as other emotional interactions is a terrifying experi-
ence, they have converted Eve into a seductress who wiles not only Adam but
also the Devil. According to this thinking, since Eve and by extension all women
are temptresses and are responsible for the fall of man, they can be used for
sexual needs without being given any respect or value. ccli Furthermore, since wo-
man is created from man’s rib, therefore she is created for him and all her needs
are subordinate to his needs. Thus, Eve, and all her daughters who have tainted
mankind with their sins will not only live with this shame till eternity, but will
also accept submission obediently to atone for their sins.

While the Quran does not condemn Eve to such humiliation even once, Islamic
knowledge sources exhibit this scapegoating vitriolic in various shades. I will
talk about a couple of illustrative cases. The first one has to do with the human-
kind creation story. As mentioned before the Quran holds the human pair re-
sponsible for disobeying God’s directive of not eating the fruit of a particular
tree. While the name of this fruit is not mentioned anywhere, some scholars have
interpreted it to be a directive to not have intercourse! ccliiThe reasonings they use
is that since eating the fruit of the tree would lead to immortality and one could
only become immortal through having children, therefore this was a reference to
sexual activity. Hence, when the human pair disobeyed God, they indulged in
forbidden sexual activity. Another argument the scholars put forward to stress
this point is that since after disobedience, their shameful parts (their nakedness)
were revealed, therefore this necessarily means that they had indulged in sexual
activity.ccliii Once this assumption is made, then it becomes easy to hold the view
that the “sex instinct is the greatest weakness of the human race” cclivand there-

98
fore, the Islamic state would “prevent the sexual urge from running wild, to mod-
erate and regulate it in a system.” cclvSuch a regulated system would result in a
society where

“women’s sphere of activity should be segregated from that of man’s. They

should be entrusted with separate responsibilities in the social life according to
their respective natures and mental and physical abilities. And their mutual rela-
tionships should be so organized that they co-operate with each other within law-
ful limits, and do not transgress these limits to interfere with the duties of the op -
posite sex.”cclvi

The other illustrative case details regarding this sexual anxiety has to do with wo-
men visiting mosques to pray. When prayer was being established in the times of
the Prophet, women desired to come to the mosque to pray and to learn Islam
from him. Well aware of the thirst of women to be devout believers, he not only
encouraged women to come to the mosques but also let them be his companions.
He also allowed Umme Waraqah, a female companion, to be an imam (a person
who leads prayers). The multiple wives of the Prophet, whose homes were inside
the mosque compound, were also teachers to the women and would educate them
(and men too) in various aspects of Islam. After the Prophet’s death the women
continued their various activities without much ado but as time passed they were
made to stop praying in mosques. The rationale given for this break with the
Prophet’s time was that the presence of women in the mosques was a fitna, or
distraction to men, hence it would be best if women stayed at home. Various
hadiths claimed that it was best for women to pray in the innermost room of their
homes; the best women were those who were obedient to their husbands and if
they stayed at home and looked after husband that was tantamount to going to
mosques. While more honest scholars have said these hadiths are weak and wo-
men should go to mosques, they too advocate that women should pray behind
men because that is how it was done in the times of the Prophet.

This roll-back of a pro-women policy is a very illustrative case of how mean deal
with their fears and how they transfer blame on women. It seems that for men,
even a place as sacred as the mosque is not enough to make them turn their atten-
tion to the Creator, as the mere presence of women is enough to distract them
99
from their prayers. While an honest person would probably have questioned his
own weak faith and tried to strengthen his faith and attention both, Muslim men
collectively have held women to be responsible for their weak faith and by pro-
jecting their own weakness onto them have colonized public mosques. This ban
serves two purposes: first, it makes men feel superior as their faith is never
brought up for scrutiny; and second, in cases where women do dare to come to
mosques and unsavoury thoughts occur, women can be conveniently blamed, and
guilt can be shifted onto them. This casting of Eve’s daughters as femme fatales
and temptresses continues unchecked to this very day in other aspects of religion
as well. Even the explanation offered for why the Prophet let women pray in the
back rows is based on this understanding of women as full-time seductresses.
The common understanding offered is that the Prophet instructed women to pray
behind the men rather than in front to protect men from distraction. However it is
entirely plausible to turn this view around and suggest that the Prophet chose this
arrangement to protect women from the lust and penetrating gazes of men, who
as new believers were still trying to learn the sacredness of the mosque and find-
ing it rather difficult to show decency and respect to women!

Another less understood facet of patriarchy is that although on the surface it

seems to about powerful men controlling women, when analysed on a deeper
level it is about men competing with other men. According to Johnson, men con-
trolling women is neither the objective of patriarchy nor the main purpose.
Rather, the main driver of patriarchy is competition amongst men; in this com-
petition, women’s place is much more complicated than it seemingly appears. cclvii
From this perspective there are myriad functions that women perform in this all-
male competition: women serve as badges of success to enhance the reputation of
men as men can boast to other men how they have charmed more women than
the others. Crudely put this is how men keep a score on their manhood as the
more women they have seduced the manlier they appear in other men’s evalu-
ation.cclviiiIn another function, women are used as objects to be possessed and
competed for; they are the pivot around which male bonding occurs. For ex-
ample, when men regale other men with sexist jokes, usually about women’s
bodies, other men play along because they are aware that if they object, they will
become outcasts. Even in cases where men make a specific person’s wife the butt
100
of their jokes, the affected man is likely to keep quiet; he intentionally chooses to
be loyal to men over loyalty to his own wife because this allows him to be one of
the guys.cclix

A third function is that dependent women shore up the illusion that men are inde-
pendent, autonomous and always powerful. When men who are powerless in re-
lation to other powerful men come home and take out their anger and frustration
at their wives, the loss of manliness they feel at work in relation to their male
bosses, to give but one example, is compensated by the power they have over
women. If this rage and frustration were directed towards other men and at other
exploitative structures, there would be far greater danger to both individuals and
systems as whole. This function works like a safety valve and allows social order
to be maintained since no matter what other men do to powerless people, such
people can feel culturally superior to women and feel entitled to use them as tar -
gets of their anger and frustration.cclx

To conclude, patriarchy does not mean that men don’t need women; they do, and
many men are more than happy to fulfil their roles as providers, maintainers, and
protectors of women. What they are less willing to concede is the considerable
dependence they have on women in terms of emotional support, physical com-
fort, and other practical services that women provide. And what they just cannot
accept is women trying to be their equals or refusing to play the role that patri-
archy has carved for them; the main demand of this role is

“…the expectation that women will take care of men who have been damaged by
other men. When he comes home from work, her role is to greet and take care of
him, whether or not she’s been at work all day herself. On a deeper level, she is
supposed to make him feel whole again, to restore what he loses through his dis-
connected pursuit of control, to calm his fears—all of course, without requiring
him to face the very things about himself and patriarchy that produce the damage
in the first place.”cclxi

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Chapter Eight

Ways forward (part 1)

Dear readers, in the preceding chapters I have tried to show that it is not Islam
which devalues women; rather, it is the predominantly male interpreters of Is-
lamic knowledge who have made Islam seem a misogynistic and patriarchal reli-
gion. I talked about two ways of understanding knowledge, positivism and inter-
pretivism, and how texts can be interpreted differently, depending on the world
view one brings into the texts. I discussed how knowledge is constructed in par-
ticular ways to acquire power and to dominate and subjugate people. I then dis-
cussed patriarchy and tried to establish how religious knowledge has been con-
structed in particular ways to promote patriarchy, authoritarianism, and obedi-
ence, both in the public and domestic sphere. Although the Quran was, remains,
and will always be a radical and transformatory message for all humanity, male
scholars and political rulers have inverted this liberatory message into one of op-
pression and inequality and it is this oppressive understanding which is prevalent
even today.

This then is the paradox a worshipper of Almighty, who also happens to be a wo-
man, is faced with. She may want to know and love her Creator passionately but,
if like, me she has grown up in a mainstream Muslim household, her identity is
based on this very Quranic exegesis, hadith literature and fiqh understandings
which have degraded her into a being of no significance to the Creator, and of an
object of sexual gratification for men. Although she knows she is expected to sur-
render to her Creator wholeheartedly, such a surrender to a Creator who has de-
liberately humiliated and devalued her becomes impossible. This ambivalent
psychic situation leads to intense emotional pain; the irony is that even though
she may be aware that she is in pain, she will attribute the causes of this pain to
102
herself: maybe the pain is a punishment from God because she spoke with a male
cousin; maybe God is cursing her because she had improper thoughts about a
celebrity she saw on television; maybe it’s the angels cursing her because she
was not eager enough in conjugal relations with her husband; maybe this maybe
that. She will find explanations for her pain based on misogyny and will become
a self-misogynist, someone who hates her own self because of her gender. Here I
would like to take the liberty of slightly altering a saying of James Baldwin, cclxii

“To be a woman in this world and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage

and in pain almost all the time.”

This, then, is the situation that we women find ourselves today in. Could there be
a greater irony than the fact that we, as women, have been enslaved and encaged
in the name of the very God who sent his divine message for liberation and
emancipation of humankind, and encouraged each and every soul to “Read in the
name of thy God”cclxiii? Is it any wonder that so many young girls do not want to
follow a religion which has been so tainted with misogyny that the original is al-
most lost in the translation? Were it not so personal, I would have applauded the
mastery and craft of the brilliant people who over the centuries have managed to
subvert a message of emancipation and hope for all humanity into one of oppres-
sion and darkness. The Quran calls itself the Light, but because of its interpreta-
tion, for many girls, women, the poor, and the oppressed, the message comes
across as painful and dark.

It would have been tragic enough if this subversion was only about spiritual ali-
enation, but misogynistic understandings have badly affected the material exist-
ence of women in all Muslim societies. Laws, policies, customs, and traditions
which hurt women physically, emotionally, and spiritually can be seen across the
different Muslim countries, some of which I have already mentioned in the intro-
duction. The important question now is if anything can be done about this situ -
ation, or are we destined to remain enslaved? In the following section I would
like to offer some ways in which we can address this oppression.

Accept the problem: I think the first step that needs to be taken is to cour-
ageously admit that the mainstream understanding of Islamic legacy is problem-

103
atic not only for Muslim women of all classes but for people of colour, for con-
verts, for non-Muslims, for vegetarians, for pacifists, and for LGBTQ cclxivpeople
amongst many others. This acknowledgement is not meant to encourage the
“anything and everything is acceptable in Islam” model, but rather to accept that
the knowledge produced over the centuries has implicit biases and prejudices,
and these biases have been produced and reproduced deliberately in favour of
conservatism, orthodoxy, and of power concentration as opposed to inclusivity,
diversity, pluralism, and critical thought.

For instance, converts to Islam often have to struggle with the Middle Eastern/
Arabic bias that seems to be implicit in the way that Islam has been reproduced.
While the Quran is a message for all humanity and for all times, I think it is a fair
point to accept that it has been moulded to become an Arabic legacy. Thus, an
African, American, or Australian Muslim may be pushed into adopting the man-
nerisms/speech/behaviour of Arabic culture because she may be subtly guided
into believing that this is the only way of being Muslim. Although some may
continue walking this painful path, many others may simply choose to go back to
previous faiths and ways of being. Similarly, Muslim women converts may face
tremendous backlash not only from Muslim men but also traditional Muslim wo-
men for the way they dress and behave.

Reinvestigate the foundation of faith: The second step would be to accept that
each generation will ask questions which others might think are too basic and
have been already answered. In today’s secular and technologically advanced
world people, Muslims, specially the younger ones, will and should ask if Islam
is relevant in their lives and if being a Muslim really matters. Growing up in an
environment where Darwin’s theory of evolution is considered as a proven sci-
entific fact, they may even ask whether God exists and if we really need one? I
think the question most of us shy away from is if there is a need for any religion
at all in today’s secular world? While it is true that Islam was an innovation 1400
years ago, can such a strict monotheistic religion be of any benefit to us when pa-
ganism hardly exists?

Similarly, the question which women and other oppressed groups need to ask is if
Islam has anything for them which is better than the current ways of being? Some
104
other complementary questions that need to be asked are about the nature of the
Quranic message-do we consider Quran to be primarily a legal message or a
moral book which has a strong spiritual, ethical and egalitarian outlook? Another
question is our relationship to the message? Do we consider the message to be a
closed one, which has been understood once and for all, or is there any room for
interpreting it as a living dynamic text which has something to offer in times
which are vastly different from the Arabia of seventh century. We also need to
examine our views about the Messenger. Although there is no question about his
being a revered figure, are all his actions binding on all humanity till the end of
times, or is there room for making the argument that some of his actions were
cultural-specific, hence not generalizable?

I believe these question needs to be asked boldly and courageously both individu-
ally and collectively. It is only when we are truly convinced ourselves that we
will be able to satisfactorily answer other well-wishers as well as critics. Al-
though conservative Muslims may feel offended at such queries and may even
become angry, I think these are very relevant question and should be openly ad-
dressed and answered. Many of us probably feel defensive at such questions be-
cause we are Muslims by birth rather than by choice, and as such have accepted
the existence of God and the corresponding rights and responsibilities as articles
of faith. However, this untested belief is not enough to satisfy our children who
are growing up in a much more critical and sceptical world than we did; they
want solid evidence based answers rather than emotional ones and until we ad-
dress their concerns seriously, we will not make any real breakthrough. I believe
that just like the younger Muslims, all of us should also revisit our own relation
with God to reflect if our ideas about Him are compatible with the current know-
ledge. If we run away from new information which may make us uncomfortable,
and instead choose to base our relationship on past understandings made at times
vastly different from ours, then the result will probably be a dogmatic faith lead-
ing to stagnation and spiritual decay.

Educate ourselves: The next step is to educate ourselves as it is only through the
light of knowledge and understanding that we will be able to struggle against the
darkness of oppression. While we may think that we understand patriarchy and

105
oppression per se what we know is often deliberately constructed to obscure the
reality and to mislead us. The truth is far more complex and elusive and requires
concerted efforts if it is to be discovered. For instance, there is vast feminist liter -
ature, secular as well as religious, which is hidden from the people because main-
stream media prefer to keep it invisible. Either the mainstream media will ignore
such work or will critique it in ways which will be derogatory and belittling. Ac-
cording to Johnson,

“in fact, it’s a good idea not to rely on the mass media for meaningful analysis of
any form of privilege. The media ignore most of what is known about privilege,
and routinely focus on issues that have the least to do with it (“do men and wo-
men use different parts of their brains?”), that reflect the most flawed social
models of social reality (“Men are from Mars,..”), and that set women against
each other, especially when women attack other women.”cclxv

A good place to start would be basic text on women’s studies, both from a reli-
gious and secular perspective. After one has a good grip on the basic arguments
then we can move on to more critical work.

Create knowledge which is critical, inclusive, and diverse: A very important

step would be to create knowledge which is critical, inclusive and diverse and
openly challenges the mainstream views. Here I am reminded of an African pro-
verb

Until the story of the hunt is told by the lion, the tale of the hunt will always glor-
ify the hunter.

What this means from the “others” perspective, which includes women, people of
colour, disabled, pacifists, vegetarians, and transgenders along with other disad-
vantage people, is that all of us will have to understand that the mainstream Is -
lamic story has been skilfully crafted in favour of Muslim men and is deliberately
skewed against us, hence we ourselves will have to tell our own story. This al-
ternative story will have to encompass all sources of Islamic knowledge, includ-
ing Quranic exegesis, hadiths and jurisprudence. While challenging all oppress-

106
ive understandings, whichever source they are coming from, is essential, at the
same time, liberatory interpretations need to be actively produced.

I believe the main task is to read and interpret Quran in a manner which high-
lights its moral and ethical voice as traditional interpretation has reduced this
emancipatory message to a reductive legalistic one. It should be noted that of
around 6000 verses only 600 or so are legal in nature; of these 600, most deal
with worship rituals, leaving only about 80 verses that deal with legal matters in
a strict sense.cclxvi The patriarchal jurists, however, in their attempts at social con-
trol, focused on the legal aspect so much so, that the non-legal aspects became
secondary. To quote Saeed,
“The Quranic emphasis on nature and the creation of the natural environment as
signs of God was overshadowed, as were the historical references to peoples and
tribes, and the descriptions of the creation and development of human beings.
This emphasis on the legal aspect ignores the fact that the Quran gives little
space to strictly legal matters. At a statistical level, the number of verses with
strictly legal connotations is very small, numbering only 80 to 100 instances.
Even in the most generous assessment of their quantity, they cover only a small
portion of the Quran. (emphasis mine)”cclxvii

As I have tried to show the laws, policies, and social norms that are prevalent in
Muslim countries derive their legitimacy partly from a specific interpretation of
Islamic knowledge sources; thus what we think the religion says affects the way
Muslim women live their lives. By promoting an alternative humane and egalit-
arian interpretation, there is the possibility that on the basis of this interpretation,
women may mobilize politically to bring about radical transformation in society.

This is not to say that producing and promoting this alternative story will be a
smooth and easy venture as the institutions and the people whose power lies in
controlling the Islamic narrative will use every means at their disposal to squash
such attempts. However, to be frightened into submission without even fighting
the battle means that the oppression and violence that women have borne for mil-
lennia will continue unabated.

107
Doing exegesis. I think a fundamental task that women need to do is that of ex-
egesis, which is a study of interpreting the Quran. Some may say that the Quran
is 1400plus years old and has been interpreted extensively so what more could
one possibly add to the centuries worth of scholarship? My answer to this is that
when I ask for new exegesis I do not mean to say that the text or its principles
will change but rather the inclusion of unheard voices will bring with it new ca-
pacities and abilities which will broaden the range and depth of opinions and
open up the field of narrow scholarship to more diversity. When women and
other marginalized people will undertake the task of exegesis, it is probable that a
more organic, holistic, and complete view of what the Quran could mean may
emerge.

Why we need diversity in interpreting the Quran is that although the text itself is
timeless, every exegete who has ever undertaken this task has brought to it his
own prior knowledge in terms of his lived experience and his own unique back-
ground and this history has informed his interpretation whether consciously or
unconsciously.cclxviiiThe Quranic exegesis is a subjective work and every exegete
makes subjective choices; the problem arises when the exegete makes a choice
which is not necessarily the intent of the text and does not inform the reader that
this something not directly derived from the text but rather his own interpreta-
tion.cclxixIn such cases the exegete projects his view on the text and future readers
are completely unaware that what they are reading are opinions and not necessar-
ily what the text may be saying. Thus, when male exegetes interpreted the Quran
they interpreted the Quran through their own experiences and assumptions, and
women and women’s experiences were either left out completely, or were inter-
preted through the male vision and perspective.cclxx It is to correct these omissions
and biases that the work of exegesis needs to be undertaken immediately.

The critical exegetes need to assert confidently that Islam does not allow any one
person or an institution any monopoly on its interpretive meaning cclxxi and if a
particular verse can be read in a misogynistic way, the same verse can be under-
stood in an emancipatory way too. In such female-centric exegesis, the issues re-
lated to women should not be understood as isolated and fragmentary verses
which have been extracted in ways which divorce them from the overarching

108
Quranic ethic. Rather, these verses and injunctions need to be located within a
larger framework which helps in situating them in their true context and their ul-
timate purpose. This kind of framing will help overcome the biases which have
resulted from patriarchal readings where only a few verses have become the
dominant religious discourse on women’s issues, whereas the rest of the divine
message is understood to be the exclusive domain of men. cclxxiiTo illustrate how a
female-centric exegesis may look like, we need to distinguish between three
kinds of Quranic verses: verses with universal aims; temporary verses that are
confined in their application to the context of revelation; and verses that need
new interpretations in new social contexts. The verses with universal aims advoc-
ate universal values like justice, equality, fairness and respect at all times and
place humanity at the centre of all spirituality. cclxxiiiThe temporary verses are the
ones which met the specific requirement of the seventh-century Arabian context
but can be considered obsolete now, e.g. verses regarding distribution of war-
spoils, slavery, or corporeal punishment. The verses that need reinterpretation in
new contexts are the ones regrading marriage and family, and the spaces that wo-
men can confidently claim as their own.cclxxiv

Just to remind readers that exegesis by women is not an innovation but rather a
lost tradition, I would like to point out that in early days of Islam women were
active in this field of knowledge creation; cclxxvit was only later that women were
pushed out of arguably the most important link in the chain of Islamic know-
ledge. There are many examples where the companions of the Prophet consulted
his wives about the meanings of various verses.

Critical evaluation of hadiths: The second most important task is to critically

evaluate the Hadith literature as most of the misogyny is coming from the
hadiths. To highlight that aspect, I would like readers to remember that while
there were many women scholars who were considered hadith specialists in the
days of early Islam,cclxxvitheir work has been more or less marginalized from
mainstream knowledge and what is now considered legitimate is the work collec-
ted, codified, and interpreted mostly by men. While judging the intention of the
male transmitters and jurists who gave legal opinion based on these transmissions
is best left to Almighty, more attention needs to be paid to how their examined

109
and unexamined assumptions about how gender relation ought to be in a society
impacted their interpretations about what they had heard happened in the
Prophet’s times. All such hadiths need to be critically evaluated and the implicit
and explicit misogyny in them needs to be called out. For instance, in a very fam-
ous hadith it is said that although prostration to human being is forbidden but if
prostration were allowed, then a husband would be worthy of such prostration
from his wife. According to this hadith,

“Were I to order anyone to prostrate himself before anyone else, I would have
ordered the woman to prostrate herself before her husband.”cclxxvii

This hadith is in direct contradiction to the message of the Quran which re-
peatedly asserts that no one, except God, is worthy of worship and there is no
other being like Him. The view of God alone being worthy of worship permeates
the Quran. Keeping this in mind, one needs to seriously ponder if the Prophet
could really have said that if human worship were allowed then it would take the
form of husband worshipping without reflecting that such a scenario would
render his entire struggle null and void? Anyone with a discerning mind would
probably answer in the negative, but based on this and similar hadiths, Muslim
intellectuals have reduced Muslim women to sexual creatures whose only useful-
ness is in providing pleasure and comfort to men. A further insult to womankind
is that by making a woman’s eternal salvation conditional on her ability to please
her husband patriarchal scholars have had the audacity to deny women direct ac-
cess to Almighty!

I think that the principle that needs to be boldly stated in critical hadith evalu-
ation is that any hadith which is in direct contradiction to the Quran needs to be
called out. Rather than giving precedence to the hadiths, the resolution should be
made in favour of the Quranic interpretation. This is one of the most important
work that needs to be carried out on an emergency basis as the Islamic law is
based on these very misogynistic understandings of hadith literature.

(I read somewhere that several hadiths attributed to Lady Aisha were rejected by
the collectors. If those rejected hadiths could be revisited, they may provide an
invaluable databank to critical gender scholars who could then compare them

110
with the accepted hadiths to check the basis on which these Hadith were rejected.
If these hadiths were rejected for their content rather than for weak or broken
chain of transmission, a case could be made to show that the compilers were pro-
jecting their own mindsets and assumptions on the work they were doing and
were accepting/rejecting on the basis of what they thought should have been ap-
propriate in times preceding their own.)

Another issue that needs to be highlighted while evaluating hadiths critically is

the suppression and under-representation of hadiths which treat women favour-
ably. There are many hadiths which emphasize women’s full humanity; confirm
the right of women to acquire knowledge; encourage women to go to mosques;
allow women to be imams; elevate mothers over fathers; affirm that women
many women were unveiled in the Prophet’s times; and that a woman’s evidence
was accepted over a man.cclxxviiiCritical hadith work needs to use the knowledge
production framework to show that the reason why these why these hadiths are
less in currency relative to the few misogynistic ones is because they dilute the
power of patriarchy, which is something prejudiced male scholars and common
men are loath to let happen.

Critical look at fiqh/Islamic jurisprudence: This extremely important work

needs to be taken in tandem with exegesis and hadiths, as it is on this body of
legal knowledge that women have had to suffer tremendously. The most import-
ant aspect that needs to be pointed out is, that unlike the mainstream view that
Muslim law was operative the way we know it since the beginning of Islam, it
has actually been developed over a period of more than two centuries. Although
later orthodoxy portrayed this scholarly work to be independent of history or so-
ciological influences, in reality this knowledge and its elaboration originated in
the reasonings and customary practices of the scholars through a long and tedious
process.cclxxix

What this means is that the law that we consider to be so sacred today, and which
has been mostly compiled by the Hanafi, Shafi’I, Hanbali, and Maliki schools
has been understood, produced, and reproduced over a long time period, and by
people who while competent were nonetheless fallible men; each and every de-
cision they took was coloured by their assumptions, experiences, biases and pre-
111
judices and what they thought were appropriate gender relations. cclxxx Thus, it is
of utmost importance that that body of knowledge be combed for misogyny, and
the explicit or implicit assumptions on which decisions were made be minutely
scrutinized.

Feminist scholarship needs to show that all those who were/are speaking in the
name of Islam were/are offering their opinions or interpretations. Since these rul-
ings and interpretations are human opinions, not divine will, therefore they not
only open to challenge but in urgent need of reinterpretation. The link between
law and power, and how law is used to entrench the power of the religious and
political orthodoxy, needs to be made clearly visible.

We also need to clearly show the link between how these views/laws have af-
fected the “others” spiritually, emotionally and materially and have legitimized
“othering” and “de-humanizing” of precious lives. Thus, family law, pertaining
to marriages, divorces, and child custody is one area where male privilege is
rooted and is jealously protected by establishment Islam in Middle Eastern coun-
tries. Regarding countries like Pakistan and Iran, which have made the institution
of “Islam” as the formal basis of political power, successive governments have
actively proceeded to transform countries as well as homes into prisons for wo-
men, with the law of the land actively facilitating their exclusion, their oppres-
sion and their exploitation.cclxxxiAlthough women bear the cost of this violence
and oppression, by limiting their access to meaningful work, their societies de-
prive themselves of the creativity and productivity which women can bring into
the public arena.cclxxxii

Similarly, the social and political function that is served by patriarchy and miso-
gyny needs to be made more visible. One less understood function of such miso-
gynistic laws/policies/customs is that it encourages males, who may otherwise
vent their frustration at their poverty and powerlessness at the state institutions,
to target women as objects of their violence and frustration. From this perspect-
ive, misogynistic social systems, customs and laws are a safety valve which al-
low powerless men to direct their anger and violence towards even weaker wo-
men, thus letting states/countries continue with their corruption and exploitative
ways and policies.
112
 Critical look at the scholars: Another extremely important task which needs to
be done simultaneously with knowledge reappraisal is to conduct a critical ana-
lysis of the people who undertook the work of exegesis, hadith collection and in-
terpretation, and creation and compilation of fiqh historically to show which
Muslim courts they were aligned with, who their patrons were, and how their
scholarly pursuits intersected with their personal interests and relationships.

This critical biographical effort may illuminate where the biases, prejudices,
omissions and projections are and how/why they have been reproduced by the
next generation scholars without any meaningful critique. I think it is high time
that we courageously call out the male exegetes/scholars/intellectuals for their
biased scholarship and expose their supremacist attitudes openly because shying
away from this crucial task will give legitimacy to their views and will perpetuate
injustice and oppression.

A point which needs to be stressed is that since the very beginning, not only is -
sues regarding gender interpretation, but also matters regarding the political and
social organisation of Muslim societies, were contested and for every mainstream
opinion, alternative views were expounded. The only reason the orthodoxy was
successful in making its opinions the mainstream view was not because it was the
only legitimate interpretation, but because this view was held by the politically
dominant class, who had the power to punish and outlaw other views as heretical
and wrong.cclxxxiii

Critical appraisal of other knowledge and professions: I believe that along

with Islamic knowledge sources, other knowledge, disciplines, and professions
need to be critically evaluated for androcentrism, biases and prejudices. I would
like to illustrate this by using the example of criminal justice; in the gripping
courtroom fiction novel, “The Apple Tree Yard”, its author, Louise Doughty
gives insights as to how the criminal justice system is skewed against women and
how women and men many be judged differently for the same crime. Interested
in knowing more I looked up the author and came across one of her inter-
viewscclxxxiv in which she makes the argument that in criminal justice the morality
of a criminal is based on her gender; so although a male criminal may be labelled
by a judge as merely a liar, in case of a women she will be presented as deceitful,
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and manipulative. Similarly, how the criminal justice system treats women pris-
oners in comparison with males cclxxxv, how paroles are different for the dominant
group in relation to the otherscclxxxvi are all valid areas where we need more critical
scholarship. Other knowledge disciplines like science cclxxxvii, medicine,cclxxxviii en-
gineeringcclxxxix, economicsccxc, public policyccxci, academia ccxcii to name just a few
all need to be re-evaluated and their inherent biases and prejudices need to be
openly revealed.

Share this knowledge: Once critical knowledge is created it needs to be shared

extensively. I think we are particularly fortunate that we are living in times of so-
cial media which has allowed for hitherto invisible voices to be heard. This al -
lows us to share critical knowledge on online forums, in chat groups, and other
fora; we should also try to publish our work through independent publishing
houses. At the same time, it is extremely important to open the publishing in-
dustry to womenccxciii and to “others.” Thus, we need women not only as creators
of knowledge, but throughout the different stages of publishing; we need women
illustrators, women editors, women publishers, women distributors, women in
bookshops and libraries, women reviewers, women critics, and women in univer-
sities who decide curriculum etc.

Change laws and policies: Along with critical knowledge we need laws/
policies which are just, egalitarian and humane. Readers may recall that in the
section on Fiqh, I mentioned that despite common misogynistic assumptions
across all schools of law, there were difference of opinions between male jurists,
with certain schools favouring women rights more than others. Based on this his-
tory, Ahmed makes the valid point that a society which gives importance to the
ethical message of the Quran may someday result in laws which treat women
equitably.ccxciv

Although the overall Islamic law needs critical appraisal, family law is one area
where immediate reform is necessary and desirable. This can only be undertaken
if radically different re-readings and re-interpretations of the various injunctions
regarding marriage, consent, divorces, adultery, inheritances, witnesses etc. are
undertaken and implemented. The current basis of the Muslim marriage, which is
based on contractual model of buying and selling, and on the understanding that a
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husband has control of his wife’s sexuality, in return for which he provides for
her financially needs to be revoked This change can be brought out by revoking
the transactional relationship of the marriage in fiqh, and replacing it with mutual
affection and cooperation as the basis of marital relationship. ccxcvThe verse 30:21
sets out this loving relationship in the following manner

And of His signs is that He created for you from yourselves mates that you may
find tranquillity in them; and He placed between you affection and mercy. Indeed
in that are signs for a people who give thought. (30:21)

The same assumption, that the man is the owner of his wife’s sexuality also gives
the man the right to end the marriage unilaterally at any time. However, when the
underlying basis of marriage become love and affection, rather than a sexual
transaction, then the freedom to enter and leave a relationship becomes its start-
ing point. As mentioned earlier, if the verses on which men’s right to revoke mar-
riage are interpreted as a procedure, rather than as a command, then there is no
reason to prohibit women from divorcing their husbands. According to verse 65:1

O Prophet, when you [Muslims] divorce women, divorce them for [the com-
mencement of] their waiting period and keep count of the waiting period, and
fear Allah, your Lord. Do not turn them out of their [husbands'] houses, nor
should they [themselves] leave [during that period] unless they are committing a
clear immorality. And those are the limits [set by] Allah. And whoever trans-
gresses the limits of Allah has certainly wronged himself. You know not; perhaps
Allah will bring about after that a [different] matter. (65:1)

If this verse is understood as an advice, rather than a command, about how men
should divorce wives, then there is no reason why it cannot be interpreted to in-
clude women in it. This interpretation would allow both women and men to initi-
ate divorce, with men following the procedure in ways described in the verse.
According to Wadud, the Quran does not rule that men should have uncontrolled
power of nulling the marriage; men had this power before Islam; the Quran made
this power conditional and assigned responsibilities in the way it was to be
used.ccxcvi

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While some Muslim countries have now made it relatively easy for women to get
marriages annulled through courts, I believe the right to repudiate marriages
should be given to both spouses. In order to prevent hasty decisions divorce can
be made conditional upon a mandatory waiting period; only after the passing of
this time should the divorce become effective. For instance, in Malaysia, the law
requires that both spouses should come before the court to express their com-
plaints which then acts as an arbiter. Since this is traditionally what a woman
does, she faces no additional problems, but men have regarded this arbitration as
a hardship and as curtailment of their male privilege!ccxcvii

Regarding polygamy, although the Quranic verses regarding polygamy are in the
context of fair treatment of orphans, they are rarely interpreted in that con-
text.ccxcviiiThe only criterion in which polygamy is ever discussed is regarding
justice, and that too is rooted in the archaic idea of measuring justice in monetary
terms. Issues like fair distribution of time, equality in terms of affection, or on
moral, intellectual and spiritual support are not even taken into consideration. I
think the issue of justice in polygamy needs to be brought into law and the ex -
pansive view of justice, rather than the narrow view, needs to be made the
norm.ccxcix

One also needs to question if there is any rationale for polygamy nowadays. The
three common justifications given for polygamy are: a financially well-off man
should support more than one women so that unemployed/unprotected women
are taken care of; a man should re-marry if his wife is unable to have children;
men have more sexual appetite than women hence need more than one wife to
satisfy them.cccWadud’s rejoinders for all three rationales are: in the first case, the
assumption is that women are unproductive, do not work and hence need to be
taken care of. In today’s world where many women work, they do not need men
to support them. As for paid work, that is based on productivity, which in turn is
based on many other factors, gender being only one. To suggest polygamy as the
only answer to this complex issue is extremely naïve.

Regarding the childlessness issue, Wadud argues that the Quran does not make
this a reason for polygamy. A better solution could be adopting orphans. As for
the unbridled lust men supposedly have, a traditional reading of the Quran would
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suggest that men can marry four women to satisfy their lust but once they have
married four women then they should exercise self-restraint! This using of four
wives as sexual commodities and only then applying self-restraint is not only un-
Quranic, but a mockery of the message. Just like self-constraint and fidelity are
mandatory for the wife, these moral qualities are equally significant for men and
need to be enforced on the men as they are on the women. ccciI propose that men
should only be allowed to take second wives if they can prove to the courts that
their reasons are genuine, and they understand what just behaviour between co-
wives actually entails.

Similarly, the mehr (dower) which is an obligatory payment on the husband is

treated lightly and women are pressurized into waiving it away. This needs to be
enforced more strictly. Another very important issue I would like to discuss here
in the backdrop of my own divorce is that of financial issues in cases of divorce.
I was an educated woman but after marriage I became a housewife while my hus-
band set up his business and became quite well-off financially. We had three
children together. Since I was a homemaker there was no time/opportunity for
me to polish my professional skills, so at the time for my divorce I had an out-
dated academic qualification which was of no value in finding paid work. If my
family had not helped, I would have been completely unable to look after myself
financially. The point I am trying to make is that when men divorce women, they
do so without incurring any financial loss whereas the woman is left penniless
and destitute. I propose that at time of divorces all assets that have been made
after marriage, no matter if one or both spouses are in paid work, should be di-
vided equally between the ex-spouses. (The reason why the assets made only
after marriage should be split is to protect people from fortune-hunters.) This re-
form acknowledges that a man’s work is complemented by his wife’s domestic
work which although may not be paid is work nonetheless and a wife is as much
a contributor to his success as he himself is.

Another important area of concern are the laws/understandings regarding adul-

tery. The Quran enforces that punishments of adultery can only be given if four
witnesses testify that adultery took place. However, what exactly is adultery in
Quranic context is something which needs to be discussed more openly. Was it

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simply intercourse between consenting adults that Quran wanted to outlaw or
was the action in question something more than that? My own thoughts on this
issue are that adultery needs to be examined in the light of pagan practices. In
pre-Quranic pagan times multiple gods and goddesses were worshipped in Arabia
with the Kaaba being surrounded by 360 deities; in this pantheon three female
goddesses namely Al-Laat, Al-Uzza and Manat were specially honoured. In such
pagan societies, which were predominantly agricultural, pagan beliefs encour-
aged fertility ritesccciias they believed these rites encouraged the gods/goddesses
to make the earth more fertile. During the designated months people were en-
couraged to take part in fertility festivals where sexual orgies amongst the com-
mon people were common. As for the priests and priestesses of the various cults,
they indulged in sacred prostitution also known as temple prostitution and reli-
gious prostitution which occurred amongst the privileged cult officials. ccciii

While I haven’t come across any reference of this kind of behaviour being exhib-
ited during the Prophet’s mission, it is highly possible that it was this kind of
blatant display of sex which was being outlawed. (One explanation could be that
later historians chose to keep quiet about this aspect). I have drawn this inference
from the verse which calls for four witnesses to prove adultery; it seems that the
sex must be quite blatant, open, and exhibitionist if four witnesses are openly
watching this kind of sex. I have no evidence to prove my theory, but my point is
that we need to have an honest debate about what adultery is, and what it is that
is being outlawed. Maybe some readers who have studied paganism could offer
their understanding about this issue.

Another aspect which needs to be critically examined and reformed is inherit-

ance as this is one area where greedy male relatives do their best to cheat wives,
daughters and sisters of their legitimate share. I have already mentioned areas
where women are married to the Quran so that they can be cheated out of their
inheritances;cccivsuch abhorrent practices need to be punished strictly. Likewise,
in cases where the deceased have no sons but only daughters, orthodox under-
standings of the Quran do not allow daughters to get the entire inheritance in
cases; rather some portion of the inheritance is given away to male cousins etc.
Regarding the share which is given to sons and daughters, Wadud makes the fair

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point that if a widowed mother is cared for by one of her daughters, then the dis-
tribution which give the larger share to the son needs to be examined. cccv

Women as active decision makers in homes, places of worship, workplaces,

parks, sports centres, schools, universities, libraries, hospitals etc. A very
crucial area of concern is how the private and public spaces are governed and
who makes decisions regarding them. Although mosques in most countries do
not welcome women, even those mosques which are open to women tend to have
management which is men-dominated. All social areas be they public places,
parks, work, home, school etc. need to have more “others,” not as mere
showpieces but as active, important agents. With more women on board there is a
possibility that the andro-centrism built into policies maybe actively called out
and steps may be taken to ensure more openness and inclusiveness.

Actively work to make liaisons: It is important to stress that just challenging the
patriarchal knowledge sources is itself not enough for emancipation, as oppres-
sion is multi-dimensional and unless all dimensions are not questioned, sustain-
able change will not be easy to achieve. To bring about lasting political change,
women will have to organize politically and socially. To achieve this organisa-
tion, women need to actively reach out and make liaisons with other oppressed
people, as the struggle against power, control and domination is one that affects
all “others.” As mentioned before, oppression is about dominating others, which
include other powerless people. So, if there are avenues where we can join hands
with other oppressed, no matter what their form of oppression, and struggle
jointly towards dismantling the system then our task would be that much easier. I
am very hopeful that some men will realize their role as oppressors and be will-
ing to accept that while patriarchy, (and other similar systems of domination) is
not something they personally constructed, they do get privileges and benefits
which are denied to others, and may be willing to work with us for a just and
egalitarian social order.

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Part 2: Secularism and Women

120
Chapter Nine

Secularism and misogyny

This part of the book explores secularism to understand how women are treated
within a non-religious worldview, and whether women living in secular countries
are considered truly equal. Secularism, as defined in the Merriam-Webster dic-
tionary, is the indifference to, or rejection or exclusion of, religion and religious
understanding. As a way of organizing individual and collective life, it translates
into modes where the principles of living are taken from the material world,
without any recourse to religion. In politics, it means organizing state and gov-
ernments in such ways that religion and politics remain separate. A point worthy
of stressing is that secularism does not necessarily translate into a rejection of re-
ligion; rather it proposes that religion is the private matter of an individual and
should be kept separate from the sphere of politics. Thus, it shifts the focus from
“other-worldly” preoccupations into “this-world” concerns, with emphasis on
principles like individualism, reason, nature, science, development, and modern-
ity.cccvi

Since secularism is an ideology which stresses the separation of religion and

state, along with advocating values like reason, development, and modernity, it
would seem fair to think that in the secular parts of the world, mostly the rich
Western nations, misogyny would be a thing of the past and that part of the world
would provide equal opportunities and outcomes for both men and women. How-
ever, to the surprise of many, its opposite is true; misogyny in those parts of the
world is as prevalent as in any non-secular country. In fact, misogyny is at the
very heart of secularism.cccvii Although the term secularism has been employed in
various ways during different periods of time, in the nineteenth century it was
used to create a distinction between women and men, and between masculinity
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and femininity. In this understanding the public sphere was the domain of men,
while, religion, which was now to be a private matter, was for women. This res-
ulted in the exclusion of women from political participation, and to their subor-
dination in the family and labour market. It was only when the western nations
perceived Islam as a threat, cccviii that the vocabulary of secularism incorporated
gender equality as a primordial value; the purpose was to contrast the position of
women in secular countries with those living in Muslim countries and to show
that the Western women were emancipated while the Muslim women were op-
pressed and exploited.cccixThus the idea that secularism has always been a pro-
ponent of gender equality is an intellectual myth.cccx

Readers may recall that the Harvey Weinstein scandal started from Hollywood,
USA and moved over quickly to Europe. Just to give a few examples from those
countries,

Women Are Still Paid Less Than Men-even In the Same Jobcccxi

The data in this research shows clear evidence that women earn lower wages
than their male counterparts even when in the same role.

The deadly truth about a world built for men – from stab vests to car crashescccxii

Crash-test dummies based on the ‘average’ male are just one example of design
that forgets about women – and puts lives at risk

Apple criticised for making iPhones too big for women’s handscccxiii

“So to be clear: Apple has once again failed to update the only phone it makes
that fits the average woman’s handsize,” she said.

Serena Williams is calling out sexism in tennis. Here's why.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion has faced racist attacks for most of her ca-
reer,and after the match Saturday, she said she believes sexism is rampant in the
sport.cccxiv

Although these issues are quite different from one another one theme which is
common to all is that in all cases women are being treated differently than men in
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countries which are considered modern and developed. As can be seen, even in
the secular countries, women are disadvantaged in relation to men.

Biological essentialism and misogyny:

Mainstream secularism derives its roots from biology and biological essentialism.
The science of biology is based on a world view known as positivism which
holds that all knowledge is acquired through the physical senses which is then in-
terpreted through logic and reason. This view, primarily developed to study the
natural world (gravity, thermodynamics, etc.) is considered by mainstream re-
searchers to be equally valid while studying the social world, (the study of people
and their behaviours) and proposes that the behaviour of people can be explained
primarily by their biology or nature-this is known as biological essentialism.

According to biological essentialism the differences between men and women are
due to biological sex differences.cccxv Biology differentiates human beings as
either male or female based on their reproductive/bodily organs. When biological
essentialism is applied to the different behaviours exhibited by women and men
in terms of intellect, emotion, attitude etc., it suggests that these differences are
due to the sex differences and are essential for survival of the human species. cccxvi
Thus men, whose evolutionary role demanded hunting, had to be aggressive,
promiscuous, rational whereas women, who were designed to reproduce and look
after men and children, had to be nurturing, monogamous, passive and
caring.cccxvii Since biological essentialism considers the masculine qualities to be
desirable and important, while it labels the feminine ones as weak and unimport-
ant, it creates a world with misogyny at its heart; the only difference being that
this misogyny is legitimized not by religious sources, but by seemingly-neutral
scientific knowledge.cccxviii

Although according to this understanding sex is conceptualized in terms of op-

posites (or binaries) like male/female; man/woman; masculine/feminine, cccxix over
time the rationale on which biological supremacy is rooted has changed. While in
its early days it proposed that male dominance was due to larger muscular
strength and size of men, in the heydays of “socio-biology” it was believed that
men had a hormonal advantage over women. cccxx According to this theory, men

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display superior intellect than women because they have different hormones; thus
men are naturally superior. In the 1990s brain differences came in limelight; this
view proposes that since men use left sides of their brain more than their right
brain, they have a unique ability for doing complex tasks while women are better
suited to emotional tasks as they use the right part more.cccxxi

Sociological perspective: a different way of perceiving the world

Another way of looking at the world is through sociology which is the study of
human behaviour in groups, cultures, and societies. Sociology makes a distinc-
tion between sex and gender. Although, many people use the terms “sex” and
“gender” interchangeably, according to Wikipedia,

The distinction between sex and gender differentiates a person's biological

sex (the anatomy of an individual's reproductive system,and secondary sex char-
acteristics) from that person's gender, which can refer to either social roles
based on the sex of the person (gender role) or personal identification of one's
own gender based on an internal awareness (gender identity)cccxxii

The above understanding makes a distinction between sex and gender based on
biology (study of life) and sociology (study of societies). According to this un-
derstanding gender refers to the social meanings and value associated with being
a woman and a man in any given culture; thus, different cultures within different
times will have different understandings of what being a woman, or a man
means. This view, while not necessarily denying biology, uses history, tradition,
culture, and power in explaining the behaviour differences between women and
men and considers gender to be social roles which are assigned to women and
men. From a sociological perspective the qualities which are labelled feminine,
like being passive, sweet, compliant, sharing, caring, always cheerful, and which
women are supposed to exhibit are not present in women because of their bio-
logy, but because women have been taught since an early age to act this way.

Although sociological understandings of gender are now accepted in mainstream

academia and media, even now sociological debates seem to be confined within
narrow positivistic parameters, with the role of language and bigger structures

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shaping our lived reality being either ignored or ridiculed. The sociological mod-
els often used in explaining gender issues are closed models in which the interac-
tions between people and their environment is either downplayed or largely ig-
nored. To give a more complete picture of how gender is understood in secular
societies, and how misogyny prevails in such societies, I am using the socio-eco-
logical model. In contrast to the positivistic models, the socio-ecological model
stresses the interdependence and the interrelationships that exist within people,
their environment, and the society at large.

This model, although used less frequently, acknowledges the understanding that
human beings are not merely isolated individuals who happen to co-exist in the
same space, but are an inextricable part of a bigger world which affects them and
is in turn affected by them. From this perspective the understanding of who a wo-
man is and the choices she makes to live her life are not just her own free choices
but are either constrained or facilitated by the family, culture, and society in
which she is born. Even though it may seem that a modern secular Western cccxxiii
woman is an individual agent, free to live life according to her own wishes and
desires, she too is as confined by bigger structures as are her non-secular sisters.
Thus, to understand women’s issues, we need to be aware of the bigger pic-
ture and the multiple levels which affect their lived experiences, including
the individual level, (micro level), the social-interactional level, (meso-level)
and the structural level (macro-level) factors.

Socialisationcccxxiv as applicable to women in secular countries

In this section of the essay I would like to talk about gender socialisation cccxxv,
that is the process through which girls are taught to behave like girls and boys
like boys, and which institutions are involved in gender social control.

Socialization refers to the entire learning process which occurs almost from in-
fancy till old age through which we become what we are; that is, it is the mech -
anism through which we all learn to navigate lives in the context of our circum-
stances. Although our genes play an important part in our lives (e.g. our genes
determine the colour of our eyes or our heights) a significant part of our lives is
due to the socialization process whereby we pick up ideas, beliefs, attitudes, ac-

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tions and behaviours which are prevalent in our social sphere and make us what
we are. Primary socialisation occurs in our childhood when we acquire influences
from our parents, our siblings, our extended family and friends. As we grow
older the variety of influences also starts getting broader. This phase referred to
as secondary socialisation includes influences coming from our schools, reli-
gions, workplaces, media etc.

All these influences affect every fibre of our being; while most of us think that
we become what we are due to our own efforts, we are caught by surprise when
we find out how much of what we are is due to outside influences. What we like
or dislike to eat, what we like or dislike to wear, what books we read, what kind
of people we like, or dislike are to a great extent all products of socialisation.
Gender socialisation in this context means learning behaviours and attitudes
which are considered appropriate for a given sex. To paraphrase, this is the way
in which boys learn to be boys and girls learn to be girls. Since different societies
display different cultural, social and economic values therefore gender socialisa-
tion also varies within different societies. This learning happens through a variety
of influences or agents some of which I am listing below:cccxxvi

Agents of socialization:

Parents/Family: Parents being the primary caregivers have a tremendous influ-

ence on the growth and development of children. The way they interact with each
other, and with their children, not only shapes the children’s present but also their
future. An adult’s personality traits, her social adjustments and emotional devel-
opment are all dependent upon the parents to a large degree. Although in some
societies the parents are the primary caregivers, in other cultures family includes
grandparents, aunts, uncles, who are all critical in the socialisation process.

Sociologists identify four ways in which parents/family socialise gender roles in

their children: cccxxvii(1) shaping gender through toys and activities-girls being
given baby dolls while boys being gifted with action figures, trucks, telescopes
(2) differing interactions based on the sex of the child-girls being told by mothers
that girls should not shout; dads telling their sons not to “cry like a girl”
(3)serving as primary gender models-moms cook while dads watch tv (4)commu-

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nicating gender ideals and expectations-women should be shy and modest while
men should be aggressive and boisterous, or that men don’t cry.

Friends/peers: As children grow older, they make friends of their age in play-
parks, in day care centres, and in schools. In these interactions, where positive
evaluations from friends is of utmost importance, peer dynamics play an import-
ant role in producing and reproducing gender inequalities. The influence of peers
seems to be the strongest in middle adolescence, as opposed to early and late ad-
olescence. It seems that peer pressure on boys results in their becoming rule-ori-
ented, i.e. they seem to rely on formal rules to define what is right and wrong.
Girls, in contrast are peer-socialized into accepting responsibility roles where
they judge the merits of a situation based on personal relationships. cccxxviii

Schools: School authority figures like teachers and the educational curriculum
are instrumental in gender socialisation. cccxxixSome examples of this type of so-
cialisation are when girls are ignored in classrooms discussions, are discouraged
from taking part in physical sports, or are encouraged to take up careers which
are care-based like nursing, teaching, social work. Within school curriculum wo-
men are portrayed as passive and modest, whereas men are shown to be assertive
and ambitious. In addition, schools also provide a social context in which the in-
teractions between the students, between students and teachers, between students
and administrators all affect how young people are socialised into gender
roles.cccxxx

Media for children: Media means the means of communications like newspa-
pers, radio, television, books, cinemas, social media through which we get in-
formation about the world. Since very early childhood children are exposed to
multiple media influences like storybooks, cartoons, video games, each of which
socializes children into gender norms. So for instance when young children are
exposed to storybooks where the heroine is a passive person who has to be “res-
cued” by the “prince/saviour” girls pick up the lesson that in order to be ro-
mantically successful they have to be coy, helpless, demure while boys learn that
they have to be resourceful and actively take on dangerous activities.

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Media for young adults/adults: As the children grow into young adults they are
bombarded with sexualized and idealized body images through television,
magazines, cinema and social media. This idea, known as emphasized feminin-
ity,cccxxxisocializes young age girls into believing that an ideal woman is one who
is pretty and appeals to men thus the primary purpose of women is to be desirable
to men.cccxxxii By the same logic the ideal woman is one who is perpetually youth-
ful, beautiful and thin. Since for most girls this kind of body and image is im -
possible to attain, it badly affects the self-esteem of the girls who grow up with a
crippling negative self-image and dissatisfaction with their bodies. The boys, on
the other hand, are exposed to images which portray them as sexual hunters for
whom women are the ultimate reward. This idea known as hegemonic masculin-
itycccxxxiii, sets up boys and men to believe that they are superior than women
simply because they are male, and that it is all right to use women for their own
sexual pleasure; these ideas also open the door to pornography.

Science: Although in many societies, especially the secular ones, belief in reli-
gion has largely been replaced by belief in science, mainstream science itself
conditions women to behave in appropriate gender roles and to believe that they
are subordinate to men. For over a century science has posited that since women
on an average have smaller brains than men, therefore they are less intellectually
competent.cccxxxiv Another scientific argument advocating male superiority is
based on men using the left part of brain, which makes them more suitable for ra-
tional and intellectual work, whereas women who use more of the right part of
the brain are biologically prone to be more emotional and soft. cccxxxv Another sci-
entific theory relies on endocrinal differences to assert male superiority. Accord-
ing to this theory the higher levels of testosterone in men leads to their being ag -
gressive and dominant.cccxxxvi

Although the physical organ responsible for supremacy has changed over time,
from muscular strength, to endocrinal supremacy to larger brain size, the out-
come of biological essentialism has remained the same: since nature has designed
men superior therefore women must accept this design and not try to change
“natural laws” governing gender relations. Because conventional sex roles,
gender divisions of labour, and power differentials are biologically determined,

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therefore, women will remain women and men will remain men. This conditions
the girls from believing at a very early age that nature has designed them to be
submissive whereas it is the destiny of men to be aggressive and powerful. Sci-
ence also conditions women to believe that they are uniquely wired for caring
roles, whereas intellectual and rational work is what men are wired for. cccxxxvii
Thus women will not even try to study subjects like engineering, computer sci-
ences, accounting, finance because they have been socialised to believe that such
subjects are “difficult” and beyond their natural abilities. cccxxxviii

Work: Even though one may get the impression that in the 21 st century work-
places are open to all people and people are hired for their skills and abilities,
paid work, as currently conceived is greatly affected by gendered conceptions.
Although after an uphill struggle, workplaces are now open to women, the work-
place culture is designed in ways which channelize women into acting in ways
which are considered appropriate for women. Some of the methods through
which women are socialised into work are the ways they are perceived when they
try to break the mould or try to behave in different ways. Thus women who do
not subscribe to the womanly-roles at work, that is women who try to be active
and assertive rather than passive, are labelled as “dominating” “aggressive” or
“overbearing” whereas men who exhibit the same behaviour are considered as
showing leadership and confidence.cccxxxix This kind of negative labelling is useful
in keeping women submissive and womanly.

Even in higher paying prestigious jobs women are expected/socialised to do work

which men in a similar position would not do. Martin cccxl talks about an issue
where a male vice precedent asked a woman vice president to pick up a telephone
ringing in an office which did not belong to either of them. Though the lady in
question did as she was told, she later showed her anger and resentment at being
asked to do a secretarial task. (Secretaries are usually females too, but their job is
considered more mundane and less challenging than that of a vice president) The
man in question was taken by surprise when he was told that his behaviour was a
classic representation of how men in high tech corporations treat women in a
patronizing and unequal way. In this case the woman in question expressed her
resentment, probably because she had a prestigious position in the company

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which gave her the security to express her views, but in most cases, women just
go with the flow and do as they are told.

Religion: While a religious lifestyle may not be obvious in secular societies,

even in such cultures the interactions between women and men continue to be
based on religious understandings which have now taken on secular hues. So, al-
though people may not consciously subscribe to the Judeo-Christian ideas, they
may have internalized the myth that Eve is responsible for the downfall of Adam
and may base their lives on this unconscious conditioning. Thus, the story of Eve
has been the foundation on which the measures, rights, and the status of women
has been curtailed over the centuries. cccxli Although this bias may not be con-
scious, it serves to continue as a weapon against women who strive to challenge
male domination. Similarly, a critical reading of the discipline of law and crim-
inal justice shows that legal structures are based on misogyny and gender in-
justice is inbuilt in the structures and procedures of law.cccxlii

Effects of socialisation:

Dear readers, I hope that by understanding the socialisation process, it will be-
come clear that it is not women’s biology which makes them inferior; rather, so-
ciety has been constructed in ways to make women fail. As a result of the slow,
steady, and relentless gender socialisation which starts almost from infancy, and
comes from multiple sources, girls and women grow up with attitudes, beliefs,
skills and behaviours which are different from men. In most cases, the result is
low self-esteem in girls and women, who have to struggle throughout their lives
to find personal strength. A direct consequence of this low self-esteem is that
many such women will not even try to do things that they may have otherwise
done; e.g. study science and technology subjects, cccxliiiplay sports,cccxlivbe more vo-
cal/assertivecccxlv etc. Another consequence is that many such women will enter
and stay into romantic relationships with dominating, controlling men because
deep in their hearts they feel that it is their responsibility to mend such broken
men, and also that they deserve the bad treatment. cccxlvi The option to leave, even
where material circumstances may allow such a choice, may not even arise in the
mind of such women; rather they may try to find solutions which will further bur-
den them with physical, emotional and spiritual stress.
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Another consequence of low self-esteem caused by holding negative body im-
ages, which is a direct result of media constantly bombarding young girls/women
with beautiful, thinner-than-average build models, cccxlvii is that women become
deeply unhappy with their looks and bodies and to achieve the ideal look and fig-
ure, either starve themselves or become obsessed with beauty products/treatments
or both. When possible, they spend disproportionate amounts of their income on
products which promise to make them look beautiful. An irony of this phe-
nomenon is that when other women critique this unhealthy obsession with phys-
ical perfection, the media represents such critics as jealous women who are out to
spoil the women who enjoy being feminine!cccxlviii

Another effect of socialisation is that it becomes very difficult to acknowledge

that what we consider to be our own unique selves has been shaped by external
influences. Many of the beliefs, behaviours, and actions that we consider to be
natural or intrinsic are a product of the environment, but since we are exposed to
them day in and day out, they almost become an extension of us, and it becomes
difficult to see them as coming from outside. Even if at some stage, we do come
to appreciate how much of us is shaped by the environment, we like to think that
because of our unique willpower we will be able to resist these outside influences
or be able to bring about a change in our behaviour. What we fail to appreciate,
however, is that these influences are coming from multiple sources, are coming
constantly, and that a lot is being invested to ensure that they are successful.
Thus, no matter how strong our willpower, sooner or later most of us will get af-
fected by the socialisation process.cccxlix

Another important point I would like to stress is that socialisation is an ongoing

learning process and the ways we are influenced continues well into our old age.
For example, society may socialise older women into behaviours which may be
very different from those which older men exhibit. So, in my part of the world
there is an insulting proverb for older women who show zest for life and living in
old age which roughly translates into “old mare, red bridles” meaning that even
at such mature age their penchant for being alive/colourful is still active. Of
course, there is no similar humiliating proverb for older men; in fact, for men the
acceptable proverb is that “men and horses never grow old.” Even in secular

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countries, older women are ignored, and it is an unstated expectation that they
will quietly fade away, both in public and private life.cccl

Gender social control:

It is very important not to lose sight of the fact that although “socialisation the-
ory” may give the impression that this is a consensual process in which women
and men willingly participate, in reality many people revolt against pressures to
be conventionally gendered. I personally remember the fights my older sister had
with our mother about why she had to behave differently than our two older
brothers when she reached puberty. However, the success of the revolt depends
on the choices available, and the limiting constraints in particular contexts. Thus,
in a repressive family there may be no options for girls to openly exhibit their an-
ger and they may repress it, whereas in other families, girls may have more free-
dom to show their resentment, if only in front of their mothers. Similarly, if there
is the opportunity to express anger at work women will do so, but unfortunately
the sad reality is that there are very few ways in which women can break the
mouldcccli and not be considered trouble-makers as gender roles are reinforced
through countless subtle and unsubtle ways.ccclii

Gender social control refers to the mechanism of rewards and punishments which
are used to make people conform to appropriate gender roles; for instance, if a
girl does not behave the way a mother/father wants her too, the parents have a
range of options to choose from, from ignoring her to physically hitting her. Sim-
ilarly, academic experiences, from playgroups to university, can reinforce gender
stereotypes by rewarding girls for showing feminine behaviour and punishing
them when they do not conform.

In many areas of life women are controlled by the very assumptions on which a
particular body of knowledge is built. So for instance criminal justice system has
internalized the assumption that Eve is responsible for the downfall of Adam and
consequently justice administered to women is based on this anti-women
views.cccliii In criminal justice, the morality of a criminal is based on her gender;

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so although a male criminal may be labelled by a judge as merely a liar, in case
of a women she will be presented as deceitful, and manipulative and will be pun-
ished accordingly.cccliv

Similarly, institutional religion rewards feminine behaviour with paradise

whereas bad behaviour leads to eternal punishment in hell. According to one
popular religious understanding Muslim women who do not show gratitude to
their husbands will be in hell-fire. ccclv Although I could not find any reference to
Jewish or Christian women in hell, early Christian theologians were unequivocal
in their views that all women share Eve’s ignominy of original sin and bear the
guilt of being the cause of the fall of the human race. ccclvi So even if the women
are saved from burning in eternal hellfire, the guilt they carry for causing the fall
of the human race in enough to make this world hellish for them.

Workplaces reward women for their “cooperation” and penalise them for their
“aggression” through various mechanisms. Adamczyk,ccclvii in her article, gives
the reference of a report, Women in the Workplace, 2016, produced by Lean-
In.Org and McKinsey & Company. She writes,

“According to the report, men and women lobby for promotions, ask for
feedback, and negotiate salaries at the same rate. Yet employers and man -
agers treat them differently: They punish women for being pushy, while
showering men with tougher assignments, more training, and bigger
paychecks. The study found that women who negotiate for a promotion or
salary bump are 67% more likely than women who don’t to be labeled
“bossy,” “too aggressive,” or “intimidating.” And they’re 30% more
likely to hear that than men who negotiate.” ccclviii

In other places bosses expect to hug their female workers, stroke their necks and
make sexual innuendos and when staff complain this behaviour is explained
away by saying “hugs have become part of Ted Baker’s culture, but are abso-
lutely not insisted upon.”ccclix The implication in this statement is that women are
bad sports because they are not appreciating the company’s culture; this labelling
of women as “un-sportsman-like” too is a form of control.

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Consequences of gender differences: How gender affects a society’s distribu-
tion of rewards and punishments.

So why is it necessary to reinforce gender differences and why does the differ-
ence between women and men matter? It would not matter if both groups were
treated equally in terms of how they navigate life and the sort of opportunities
they have for growth and development, that is if they had equal access to wealth,
power and privilege. However, historically, women as a group have not been
given the same advantages that men get; in fact women have been greatly disad-
vantaged spiritually, materially and emotionally over the course of thousand
years of history, with biological essentialism being only the latest belief/ideology
which allows oppression of women in the name of scientific knowledge.

Gender Stratification: Over the last few millennia wealth, power, and privilege
have been unequally distributed across genders in almost all societies; this un-
equal distribution, based on genders, is called gender stratification and is a direct
result of politics. Politics, in its simplest understanding, means the process by
which society decides/determines who gets what, when they get it and how they
get it. In other words, politics deals with issues relating to exercise of power be-
tween individuals, families, groups, communities, and various levels of govern-
ment. These relations are based on power simply because in any social setting it
is the powerful who make the allocation decisions whereas the less powerful or
the powerless are expected to bow to these decisions. Although many women and
men may like to think of themselves as apolitical, that is not concerned with
politics, in reality every interaction between men and women, no matter where it
is being conducted (home, work, public park, mosque etc) is underlined with
what they get out of it and as such all interactions are political.

It is because of this oppression/injustice that women face that these issues

strongly matter. I posit that this unequal distribution of power, wealth and justice
is a social justice issue, social justice taken to mean fair and just relations

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between an individual and society. In Western and the older Asian cultures the
concept of social justice often refers to the process of ensuring that people fulfill
their societal roles and receive what is due from society and is measured by the
explicit and tacit terms for the distribution of wealth, opportunities and outcomes
for personal activity and social privileges. My thesis is that women are social-
ised into passive and submissive roles because men want to oppress women
and want to make it appear “normal” so that they can claim more wealth,
power, and privilege and women in relation to women.

Outcomes of gender stratification:

Supremacy: Gender stratification results in an androcentric world which normal-

izes male supremacy in every aspect of social relations, knowledge creation and
knowledge application. The most direct outcome of gender stratification is the
belief that men as a group are superior over women and as a result are entitled to
more power and privilege in relation to women. There is no need to position wo-
men inferior explicitly, as that is the default outcome of labelling men superior.
This belief also leads to “othering” which means that real differences or imagined
differences, or even the expectation of differences is enough to conclude that the
“other” is inferior and not worthy of the same treatment as the privileged group.
An inbuilt assumption of othering rests on the notion that the group being othered
is not like “normal” groups, hence are ab-normal, flawed, and in need of correc-
tion. Thus, at any point if a need is felt for any intervention it will be based on the
notion that it is women as a group who need to be educated, asked to change their
behaviours or corrected. So one of a classic way of dealing with cases where a
woman has been raped by a man is to portray the woman as a “slut” who brought
on the rape by “acting promiscuously”; thus men, who are the real perpetrators,
get away scot-free while the women victims and all other women learn the hard
way that in order to avoid future rapes women should behave more discreetly. ccclx
In a similar vein, some solutions that are offered when women are harassed are:
women should not drinkccclxi, they should not wear provocative clothes, ccclxii they
should not walk alone at night, ccclxiii they should be more assertive, ccclxivetc. These
interventions suggest that it is women’s fault that they are getting harassed or
raped, hence the onus of changing behaviour depends on them.

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Androcentrism in knowledge creation: Since secularism favours scientific and
theoretical knowledge, it has labelled this knowledge “masculine” and reserved
the right of its creation, and reproduction for men, excluding women on the
ground that this work detracts them from their natural reproductive and nurturing
role. The historical exclusion of women in the fields of psychology, anthropo-
logy, sociology, history, economics, medical sciences etc. has affected both the
content and direction of research. This exclusion has resulted in an androcentric
world, where men’s lives are taken to be the standard against which women’s be-
haviour, (and animal behaviour too) is compared and is often found to be “devi-
ant” or “lacking” in some way.

This androcentric bias persists even when women produce knowledge, because
the parameters they use to frame their research are already pre-designed in nar-
row ways.ccclxvThus, any research and knowledge orientation which questions the
status quo and has the social and political equality of all people as its objectives
is frowned upon by the mainstream scientists, who prefer “objective research,”
the phrase taken to mean any research which does not question the distribution of
power in a given social arrangement.

Devaluing women’s research: One way research produced by women is deval-

ued is by labelling the research to be lacking in empiricism, empiricism taken to
be the gold standard in scientific research. Empiricism, as used in research,
means that all theory is founded on observation and experience; to paraphrase,
rationally acceptable beliefs are knowable only through experience. Although
this seems admirable, the way it has been applied to science means that certain
subjects are labelled “unknowables” and therefore unworthy of scientific enquiry.
By deciding in advance what is knowable and what is not, any research which
explores the “unknowables” to prove that it is actually “knowable” is excluded;
however, if persistent people still carry on with the research then the charge that
is insufficiently empirical is enough to side-line it.ccclxvi

Another way women’s academic contribution is devalued is by the arbitrary nam-

ing of inanimate objects as “masculine/hard” and “feminine/soft”. This whim-
sical labelling occurs between scientists and their subjects of study; the relations
of different types of knowledge; or when describing the character of scientific
136
objectivity. By using such gender symbolism where there is no need for such im -
agery, certain ways of seeing the world get automatically downgraded; ccclxviifor in-
stance, humanities, which study the relationship between human beings and their
culture, gets labelled as soft science and loses out in prestige and funding. ccclxviii

Violence against women: Brutal and unchecked violence against women is an-
other consequence of gender stratification, as most women, no matter which
country they live in and which social class they belong, to face excruciating viol -
ence.ccclxix I have already mentioned the violence women have to face in the pub-
lic and private sphere, in both secular and non-secular countries.ccclxx

Internalised misogyny or internalised sexism: A very serious and relatively

less discussed consequence of gender stratification is internalised misogyny or
internalised sexism. What this means is that since women are socialised from
early infancy into believing that they are weak, passive, and incapable they start
believing these stereotypes to be true and internalise these beliefs. ccclxxi According
to the sociologist Michael Flood as quoted in Wikipedia,ccclxxii

“Though most common in men, misogyny also exists in and is practiced by wo-
men against other women or even themselves. Misogyny functions as an ideology
or belief system that has accompanied patriarchal, or male-dominated societies
for thousands of years and continues to place women in subordinate positions
with limited access to power and decision making. ... Aristotle contended that
women exist as natural deformities or imperfect males ... Ever since, women
in Western cultures have internalised their role as societal scapegoats, influ -
enced in the twenty-first century by multimedia objectification of women with its
culturally sanctioned self-loathing and fixations on plastic surgery, anorexia and
bulimia.”(emphasis mine)

Internalised misogyny allows oppressive practices to continue when members of

oppressors are not present. Since their self-image is based on these beliefs, many
women not only think themselves inferior, but also oppose other women who
may challenge such stereotypes. Thus, women who have internalised misogyny
may not only ridicule women who challenge oppression but also shame and hu-
miliate them for daring to challenge the status quo. This hostility towards other

137
women is sometimes referred to as “horizontal hostility,” ccclxxiiiand is one of the
ways in which challenges to entrenched interests are waived off as this internal
division creates disunity in the rank of the oppressed. It simultaneously perpetu-
ates misogyny as women themselves become active agents of their own oppres-
sion.

Some application of androcentric knowledge:

Women’s medical health: Traditional mainstream medicine, based on biological

knowledge, has dealt with “women’s health issues” in ways which frames wo-
men to be governed by cycles related to reproduction; pre-puberty, puberty, preg-
nancy, nursing and menopause. In the mid-19 th century, the relationship between
women’s genital organs, female sexuality, and unstable broad illnesses became
the focus of physicians, “hysteria” and “post-partum” beings some of the ill-
nesses which were exclusive to females. Since ovariectomy, the surgical removal
of the ovaries, was the only solution through which these problems could be re-
solved permanently, doctors performed these surgeries enthusiastically. ccclxxiv Al-
though the techniques of medical science have progressed, the mainstream idea
that women are synonymous with their reproductive function has not evolved; in
the current era, any physical or mental issues women face are linked to malfunc-
tion in hormones produced by the ovaries; since these hormones are considered
to be essential for the mental equilibrium the cure is in prescribing the hormones
secreted by ovaries as a replacement therapy.ccclxxv

Another example of how medicine has constructed women a particular way has
been through menstruation which has been viewed as a unique way of expressing
the vulnerable, unstable character of a woman’s fragile make-up. By framing all
phases of menstruation, from the first period in puberty to last one in menopause
and with everything in between, as times when women are supposedly subject to
powerful disturbances, women are perceived to be fundamentally flawed.ccclxxvi

Androcentric medical knowledge also leads to women’s issues, which are not re-
production based, being ignored or downplayed. An illustrative case would be of
heart diseases; although the general perception may be that women are more at
risk of breast cancer, women are two to three more times likely to die of heart

138
disease than cancer.ccclxxvii Since the symptoms of heart disease in women are
likely to be different from that of men, who report more tiredness and shortness
of breath, rather than the chest pain associated with male heart disease, these
symptoms don’t get recognized in routine medical check-ups. As a result, the
routine diagnostic tests like coronary angiography, or routine interventions like
stents or heart surgery, are prescribed far less for women relative to men. In fact,
women who have had a heart attack are 60% more likely to get the wrong dia-
gnosis in the first place!ccclxxviii

Women’s physical health: Because men’s lives have been taken to be the de-
fault setting for all experiences, while women’s perspectives are whitewashed
from all facets of life, all aspects of life be they science, economics, city plan-
ning, product design, and standard setting have been affected by the gender data
gap. An example is women’s safety in car crashes. Although men are more likely
than women to be involved in car crashes, when women are involved, they are
47% more likely to be seriously injured, 71% more likely to be moderately in-
jured, and 17% more likely to die. ccclxxixThis increase in danger is due to the way
the car is designed. Since the default driver and passenger of a car is the “aver -
age male”, and because women drivers and passengers are, on an average, shorter
than the average man, they are disadvantaged in every stage of car design; thus
the way they fit into the driving seat to how the rear seats support them all com-
bine together to put them at higher risk.ccclxxx

Another example illustrating how this gender data gap affects women can be
seen when setting the temperature standards for office buildings. The formula for
setting office temperature was developed in the 1960s around the metabolic rest-
ing rate of the average man. However, the metabolic rate of young adult females
performing light office work being much lower, the formula may overestimate
female metabolic rate by 35%. This means that offices are around five degrees
too cold for women so to remain comfortable women must dress warmly even in
summers.ccclxxxi

In work situations: Theoretical knowledge is aligned towards the needs of

mostly male managers, bureaucrats, and other men who exercise power in their
roles. Even when women do manage to reach these positions, they are greatly
139
disadvantaged as the knowledge of how these roles are to be played out force
them to act in ways which are “masculine.” Alas, when women do take on the
behaviours which are considered essential for success, that is they become vocal,
assertive, and ambitious, then derogatory terms like “bitches,” “manipulative” are
flung at them.ccclxxxii

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Chapter Ten

Language, misogyny, and secularism

As mentioned before, secular positivistic assumptions do not acknowledge the

role of language and social structures in the shaping of human lives. In contrast
to this approach, the socio-ecological model addresses the role language plays in
shaping the world and illuminates ways in which language is used to normalise
misogyny. In this chapter I discuss how women are portrayed in various media,
for instance books, jokes, movies, and advertisements and how this affects wo-
men’s attitudes and behaviours about their place in the secular world.

Language and in its role in social control:

Language, a means of expressing our ideas, our thoughts, our desires, our creativ-
ity, has also been used by the powerful to maintain their power and hegemony.
Although there is a famous saying that “a rose by any other name will still smell
sweet” the way things, ideas, people are labelled affects people when it limits
their options for action or changes their identity. ccclxxxiiiLanguage is thus not neut-
ral and passive, as is commonly assumed, but a highly political, cultural and so-
cial phenomenon. By determining the roles, expectations and opportunities for
women and men, language plays an important part in socialisation process. ccclxxxiv
Thus language, that is the way we use words and symbols and construct sen-
tences either leads to privileges or punishment. In this part of the essay I will give
various examples to show how ideas and language, whether textual, imagery or
symbolic, are used for dominating and oppressing women and how the same be-
haviours exhibited by women and men are labelled differently and lead to differ-
ent outcomes.

Women in media:
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Broadly speaking media represents both men and women in ways that limit their
potential. According to Wood, ccclxxxv

“Typically men are portrayed as active, adventurous, powerful, sexually aggress-

ive and largely uninvolved in human relationships. Just as' consistent with cul-
tural views of gender are depictions of women as sex objects who are usually
young, thin beautiful, passive, dependent, and often incompetent and dumb. Fe-
male characters devote their primary energies to improving their appearances
and taking care of homes and people. Because media pervade our lives, the ways
they misrepresent genders may distort how we see ourselves and what we per-
ceive as normal and desirable for men and women.”

Women in stories, movies, dramas: Mirat-ul-Aroos, (Mirror of the Bride) is a

very famous story in my part of the world. Writing in 1869, the male writer con -
trasted the behaviour of two sisters of which the elder was more independent
while the younger more prone to self-sacrifice. The outcome of the story was that
the older one was disliked by all whereas the younger one was praised for her
loving behaviour. The purpose of this story was to socialise women to encourage
girls/women to behave in correct and socially acceptable behaviour; although the
book is now dated, other newer versions of this story are peddled in countless
stories and plays.

Another famous book, non-fiction this time, was written by a religious scholar
Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi. Titled Behashti Zevar (heavenly ornaments) its tar-
get audience were married Muslim women. While the book has countless dos and
donts, I am just sharing one here:

“The wife can go to visit her parents once a week. She can go to visit all her
other relatives once a year. She cannot demand more than this. Similarly, her
parents can visit her once a week. The husband has the right to prevent them
from coming more often. All her other relatives can visit her once in the year and
not more than this. The husband has the right to prevent them from visiting her
more often. He can exercise this right over her parents and other relatives as
well. It should be borne in mind that relatives in this context refer to those relat-
ives with whom marriage is harâm forever. As for other relatives who do not fall

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within this category (such as cousins), they will be regarded as absolute
strangers.”ccclxxxvi

In most mainstream movies and dramas

“The universal female stereotype displays women as meek, sensitive, loving and
family-oriented compared to the standard male. Stereotypical femininity gener-
ally depicts women as sex objects that are young, thin, and smaller than men.
women tend to be categorized as housewives, sidekicks, martyrs, and victims in
films and T.V. programs, emphasizing their stereotypes by demonstrating passive
and dependent roles. The standard cultural image of a woman exemplifies beauty
and lust, as well as submissiveness to men. this sense of passiveness by women
can also propagate the belief that they are inferior of the two sexes; this can con-
tribute to the sense that rape is somehow acceptable.” ccclxxxvii

Media for children: Popular children stories like Cinderella and Snow White
present women as passive helpless creatures who need to be rescued by male
princes in order to lead happy, fulfilling lives. In the popular Walt Disney
movie, The Little Mermaid, this helplessness is taken to the extreme form when
the mermaid gives up her identity as a mermaid to become acceptable to her hu-
man lover. According to Wood,ccclxxxviii

“Even the Smurfs, formless little beings who have no obvious sex, reflect the
male-female, dominant-submissive roles. The female smurf, unlike her male com-
panion,' who have names, is called only Smurfette, making her sole identity a di-
minutive relation to male smurfs. The male dominance/female subservience pat-
tern that permeates mediated representations of relationships is no accident Be-
ginning in 1991, television executives deliberately and consciously adopted a
policy of having dominant male characters in all Saturday morning children's
programming.”

Women in adverts: According to Goffman, one of the pioneer researchers of me-

dia representation,ccclxxxixwomen in advertisements are portrayed as soft, vulner-
able, fragile, distracted, submissive, childlike, and confused. Men on the other
hand are shown to be confident, in control, and ware of their surroundings. Goff-

143
man argues that these representations have nothing to do with biology or natural
traits but are an expression of how cultures defines feminine and masculine. He
specially focuses on how body parts are used to send different messages. While
women will be shown caressing or fleetingly touching an object, men will hold or
grasp a similar object. Women will also be shown caressing their necks, their
arms; these self-touching are meant to show that women are sexual creatures and
are sexually available and accessible.

Women are also be shown lying down on beds, sofas, on the ground, and at the
feet of men more than women whereas men are shown standing upright and tall.
This too sends the message that the woman is vulnerable, subordinate and is open
to sexual advances.

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Women are also shown as dreamy, lost, not paying full attention and looking
away from the viewers. These poses imply that women are withdrawn from the
world and are unable to understand social situations. When adverts show such
dreamy looking lost women holding/gripping men tightly, the hidden message is
that women are in need of strong men who will help them navigate the world and
act as their protectors and saviours.

In jokes: Many jokes stereotype women, especially wives, by portraying them as

boring, nagging, troublesome and always ready for a fight. Marriage is portrayed
as an arrangement deserving of ridicule and jokes where the death of the wife is
akin to being freed from pain abound. Here is a sample joke which portrays the
essence of women, irrespective of any particular role, as hellish.

Q)Why do only 10% of women go to heaven?

A) because if all of them went it would be hell.

Women in power: Although there are no negative connotations attached to men

who seek power the women who seek power are labelled amongst others as
“shrew,” “bitch.” Implicit in this labelling is the belief that power seeking is in -
appropriate for men and power-politics should be left to men. Men and women
are expected to conduct themselves differently when speaking with women ex-
pected to be indirect and men direct. However, when a woman is indirect, she is
either “fuzzy minded” or “manipulative” and when she is direct she is “shrew” or
a “bitch.” According to Lakoff, cccxc

“The organization of conversation reflects the power discrepancy between men

and women, especially when we compare the empirical findings about the distri-
bution of turns between males and females with the traditional stereotypes about
who does more talking than whom. Floor-holding and topic control are associ-
ated with power in the conversational dyad. The traditional assumption is that
women do most of the talking, usually about nothing. Yet Spender (1980) found
that typically men hold the floor 80 per cent of the time. Further, even more sur -
prisingly, when male active participation dips below about 70 per cent both men
and women assess the result as "women dominating the conversation." Other re-

145
search shows that men generate most of the successful topics in mixed-group
conversation: women's attempts are ignored by both men and other women in the
group (Leet-Pellegrini 1980). Fishman (1978) suggests that, in intimate relation-
ships, women do the conversational "shitwork": getting even minimal responses
from men.”

Some other ways women are marginalized are: describing women by appearance
and men by achievement; describing men by their relationship to men but not de-
scribing men by their relation to women; referring to women as “girls” but giving
male figures the adult label “men.”cccxci

Not-naming: It is not only through labelling that power is exercised; in some

cases, not-naming or using a name which masks the violence are also political
acts. So, any experience that is discomforting to the powerful can be not given a
name or given a name which masks the horror of the experience. An illustrative
case is that of domestic violence. Although domestic violence was acknow-
ledged, it was labelled “battering” thus making it qualitatively different from vi-
olence which happens in a non-domestic setting and leading to lighter punish-
ments than those given to a criminal offender.

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Chapter Eleven

Structuration theory and misogyny

This chapter of secularism and women deals with the bigger structures which af-
fects women’s lived experiences and tries to show how these structures are built
on principles of supremacy and are designed to make women (and other power-
less people) oppressed and dominated. Although I have already explained power,
domination, and patriarchy when discussing Islam, this chapter explains the
concept of power and domination within a broad overview of structures like cap-
italism, patriarchy, racism and nationalism and how women are treated within
these systems.

In the previous sections I talked about how gender is shaped by the agents of so -
cialisation like family, peers, colleagues etc. and how language is employed in
the service of misogyny. However, in our lives there are still bigger structures
than these which affect our growth and development and either limit our options
or expand them. Though we may not be crystal clear about these structures, at
some level we intuitively know that some things are beyond our control as no
matter how hard we may try we do not get the desired results. Most of us have
been socialised into believing that “not getting the desired result” is because we
as individual lack something; that is our failure is a personal failing and as such
we need to do more work on ourselves, for instance learn to manage our time bet-
ter; be more efficient; become more disciplinarians. The truth of the matter is,
however, that the failing is not ours; rather it is the inevitable consequence of
these bigger social structures, and unless we understand them and hopefully do
something about them, we will not be able to get our due rewards.

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So, what are these structural factors and how do they affect what we get from
life? To deal with structural factors, the first concept that is essential to under-
stand is that of power. As mentioned before, I am using a simple understanding
of power, that of making people do what one wants them to do irrespective of
their willingness or unwillingness. People who are active seekers of power are al-
ways looking for ways through which they can acquire, enhance and maintain
their power. In the real world, people who want to coerce and dominate others
will try to create social arrangements/structures which gives them such opportun-
ities. It is important to note, that when talking about power and hegemony, there
is an unstated assumption, almost akin to an article of faith, that

“that men are more comfortable with power than are women; that it is right and
natural for men to seek and hold power; that for a woman to do so is strange,
marking her as un-feminine and dangerous. This belief allows a culture to ex-
clude women from full participation in any of its politics, not only in the most
typical and specific sense of that word, "the art or science of government or gov-
erning"; but also in the more general sense I am assuming here, "the ways in
which power is allocated and that allocation justified, among the members of a
society." In its latter definition, politics extends beyond government to other pub-
lic (and private) institutions.”cccxcii

Some such social systems which are built on power and control are capitalism,
feudalism, racism, sexism, ableism, nationalism, and underlying all these systems
is the grand social structure of patriarchy. All these structures are obsessed with
power and domination, so in this part of the essay I would like to briefly discuss
all of them and identify how women are treated within these systems. Although
all structures of domination are social diseases which affect everyone on the re-
ceiving end, subsets of people within the discriminated experience discrimination
in multiple ways which are much more aggravated and damaging; this idea is
called intersectionality. So, while all the systems detailed below prey on the
powerless, even within the powerless, the women, people with physical and men-
tal disabilities, HIV/AIDS affected people, children and elderly (and non-human
like animals, plants, the environment) suffer more than people who do not exhibit
these conditions in the same group. These are often among the most vulnerable

148
members of society, and are at greater risk of social, political and economic hard-
ship, as well as exclusion and violence; these compounded discriminations leads
to bleak and impoverished lived experiences.cccxciii

Capitalism: This is a social arrangement which is predominant since the seven-

teenth century. In this arrangement economic life is centred around two types of
people, the capitalists who are owners of capital and labour who are the suppliers
of physical labour. Capital means the money, machines and land necessary to
start production and labour is the raw human power that is required to produce
and distribute goods. In capitalist societies other people like the politicians, the
judges, the teachers, the artists, the religious teachers etc. all exist, but the main
actors participating in the economic system are the capital providers and the
people who proved physical labour and intellectual labour. Since owning large
lands for economic purposes has always been very expensive and raising huge
sums of money necessary to start and maintain operation is also very challenging,
of the world’s entire population only few percent are capitalists, that is, owners
of capital, while most of the population is labour, that is people who make their
earnings by their physical or mental labour.

This economic system affects women in a number of ways, some of which I am

mentioning here:

Capitalism ignores domestic work performed by women: Although it is com-

monly assumed that men work more than women, if the housework women do in
their homes like (cleaning, cooking, doing dishes, washing, providing social care
to children, spouse, parents and other relatives) is taken seriously, then women
do far more work than is acknowledged. However, capitalism does not recognize
women’s domestic work as work and does not even consider the possibility that
housework should be a paid category of work. Making women’s domestic work
invisible allows a distinction between private work (work done inside a home)
and public work (paid work done outside home) with the former being unimport-
ant and the latter being important. The assumption is that domestic work comes
“quite naturally” to women whereas men are more suited for productive public
work. Based on this assumption it becomes easy to consider domestic work as
feminine and of low value and men’s work as masculine and of high value.cccxciv
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Capitalism values women public work as less than that of men: Although women
have always been workers, both in hunter-gatherer and agricultural societies, in
the beginning of the capitalistic era they were confined to their homes. However,
with changing political and social realities, especially due to the shortage of la-
bour after the two world wars, women now work outside the home. Most of the
jobs that were and still are open to women are referred to as pink-collar jobs, that
is work which has traditionally been considered “women’s work.” Such work
may include nursing work, teaching, secretarial work, waitressing, or child-care
and is lower paid and valued less prestigiously in relation to other work. In other
fields of work, although women do the same work as men they are paid far less,
and they are also given less chances of advancements and promotions in work-
place.cccxcv According to Adamczyk,

“Almost half of the entry-level workforce are women, yet just 37% are
managers, the next rung up the corporate ladder. The disparity just gets
larger the higher you climb: 33% of senior manager jobs, 29% of VP posi -
tions, 24% of SVP roles, and 19% of executive spots belong to wo -
men.” cccxcvi

Another way capitalism exploits women is through the second shift phenomenon;
this means that working women come home to more work whereas working
men spend that time in leisure. Consequently, women are continually over-
worked, exhausted, and more prone to burnout.

Women suffer the brunt of economic depressions: In times when economic activ-
ity is curtailed, that is there is less paid work available, the women are the first
one to suffer. If they are living in countries where labour has some rights (e.g. in
tough economic times when few jobs are available, many governments give fin-
ancial help to unemployed people so they can wait out this tough time) women
are the first ones to be excluded from these rights. Also, in such tough times they
are pushed into doing work which is physically dangerous and is even more
poorly paid. For instance, in Mexico in some areas, women’s pay has collapsed
from being 80% of men’s pay to being 57%.cccxcvii

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Feudalism: This is another social structure which is based on power, control,
domination and hierarchy. Although it has been largely replaced by capitalism
the social and economic lives of people in many countries is still built around
feudalism. Before capitalism took roots the primary way of earning a living was
through agricultural production. As the dominant social system in medieval
Europe (from 9th -17th century) the nobility, who were the rich land-owning class
of those time gave military service to their kings in exchange for being granted
this land. The non-nobility people were the tenants on these lands whereas the
poorest people who were mostly the peasants and the serfs cccxcviiiwere obliged to
live on their lord's land and give him homage, labour, and a share of the produce,
notionally in exchange for military protection. cccxcixHowever, this seemingly be-
nign exchange was enforced by threats of violence as well as political and milit-
ary power.

Patriarchal feudalism is a subset of feudalism and can be understood to mean a

system where the sub-ordinated groups, be they serfs, women, and children, (es-
pecially poor women and children) worked long hours for their lords (also called
masters/superiors) in exchange for protection and security. cdIn this structure the
obvious hierarchy was that of the lords, below whom were the tenants, who were
followed by the peasants and the serfs. Within this visible hierarchy many other
collective interests were at work; while lords benefited from the labour of serfs,
men benefited by getting work which was somewhat better paid than women,
while women were left with the least remunerative forms of work. cdi

Religious understanding, as promoted by the Christian Church, served the in-

terests of the patriarchal feudalism within the peasant family in the following
way: Christian men had authority over their wives, while wives had no right to
refuse intercourse or to avert conception. This encouragement of fertility within
the wedlock bond produced a steady supply of labourers to work the land and
was beneficial both to the Church, which owned huge areas of land, and the no-
bility. Similarly, by denying poor women educational opportunities, provided
mainly by the Church in those times, and disallowing them positions of appren -
ticeships in trade or commerce, few alternatives other than marriage were left
open to women.cdii

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Nationalism: This is the belief that a person’s country is important and superior
to other countries and their own identity is strongly tied to their homeland. Ac -
cording to the Merriam-Webster’s dictionary nationalism is the “loyalty and de-
votion to a nation; especially: a sense of national consciousness exalting one na-
tion above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its cul-
ture and interests as opposed to those of other nations or supranational
groups.”cdiiiEach nation, within its ideology, assigns gender rules to its citizens.
In this ideology men are assigned the roles of the protector, the warrior, and the
labourers who work to make their nations great, the women are assigned the roles
of mothers, homemakers and the producers of warriors and martyrs for the cause
of nationalism. People who serve no nationalistic function are given no role in
this ideology; in such societies there is no role for people who may be intersexed
or the transgenders.cdiv

It seems that in cultures which were not nationalistic, there were no separate cat -
egories for men and women, and both sexes took equal part in social life. As a
result of imperialism,cdv the colonizing forces took over these people and imposed
the category of male and female over them, excluding women from the public
arena and confining them to their homes. According to Lugones, as quoted by
Bell,cdvi

“The white colonizer constructed a powerful inside force as colonized men were
co-opted into patriarchal roles… The British took Cherokee men to England and
gave them an education in the ways of the English… Cherokee women lost all
these powers and rights, as the Cherokee were removed and patriarchal arrange-
ments were introduced.” (p 21, Lugones, 2007).

By co-opting the men and giving them power over women the colonizers earned
the support and cooperation of the society’s men, simultaneously reducing any
resistance they may have faced from united efforts of men and women. Women
were the hardest hit within this nationalistic ideology.cdvii

“It is part of their history that only white bourgeois women have consistently
counted as women so described in the West. Females excluded from that descrip-
tion were… understood as animals in the deep sense of ‘without gender’, sexu-

152
ally marked as female, but without the characteristics of femininity.” cdviii (p 26,
Lugones, 2007).

Lugones further explains,

“Colonized females got the inferior status of gendering as women, without any of
the privileges accompanying that status for white bourgeois women.” (p 27,
Lugones, 2007).cdix

Although in our century direct colonization is a retreating phenomenon, as the

colonized people imbued with the spirit of nationalism struggled to get rid of
their foreign masters, unfortunately many nations have continued with the toxic
legacy of the colonizers. Thus, women who were previously subjugated by the
white masters, both men and women, are now being oppressed by men who share
the same skin colour but behave in ways which are “white”.

Racism: This is a social system which is based on the belief of the superiority of
one race over another, which often results in discrimination and prejudice to-
wards people based on their race or ethnicity. According to this ideology humans
can be subdivided into distinct categories that are different due to their social be-
haviour and their innate capacities; this difference in social behaviour and innate
capacities gets translated into hierarchies of superior races v/s inferior races. His-
torical examples of institutional racism include the Holocaust, the apartheid re-
gimes in South Africa, slavery and segregation in the United States, and slavery
in Latin America. Racism was also a foundational aspect of the social organiza-
tion of many colonial states and empires.cdx

A closely related idea is that of ethnicity, which refers to the division of human
groups based on qualities assumed to be essential or innate to the group (e.g.
shared ancestry or shared behaviour). Although it has been asserted that racial
differentiation is scientifically false, morally condemnable, cdxisocially unjust and
dangerous, and there is no justification for racial discrimination anywhere, in the-
ory or in practice, racist ideology can become manifest in many aspects of social
life. Racism can be present in social actions, practices, or political systems (e.g.
apartheid) that support the expression of prejudice cdxiior aversion in discriminat-

153
ory practices. Associated social actions may include nativism, xenophobia, other-
ness, segregation, hierarchical ranking, supremacism, and other social phe-
nomenon.cdxiii

Racial discrimination refers to discrimination against someone on the basis of

their race. Racial segregation is the separation of humans into socially construc-
ted racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a res -
taurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a bathroom, attending school, go-
ing to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home. Although segregation is
generally outlawed it exists through social norms as suggested by Thomas
Schelling's models of segregation and subsequent work.cdxiv

Racism and related inequality affect women much more deeply and differently
than they do the men within the discriminated group. Also, people with disabilit-
ies, HIV/AIDS affected people, children, and elderly suffer more than people
who do not exhibit these conditions in the same group. These are often among
the most vulnerable members of society, and are at greater risk of economic hard-
ship, exclusion and violence; discrimination against them is often compoun-
ded.cdxv

The intersection of discrimination based on race and gender has the most wide-
spread effects. Although this intersection had long been ignored, the 1995 Fourth
World Conference on Women, held in Beijing, recognized that “Many women
face additional barriers to the enjoyment of their human rights because of such
factors as their race, language, ethnicity, culture, religion, disability or socioeco-
nomic class or because they are indigenous people, migrants, including women
migrant workers, displaced women or refugees.”cdxvi

The Durban Declaration and Program of Action cdxvii declares that states “Are con-
vinced that racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance re-
veal themselves in a differentiated manner for women and girls, and can be
among the factors leading to a deterioration in their living conditions, poverty,
violence, multiple forms of discrimination, and the limitation or denial of their
human rights.” States further recognized “the need to integrate a gender per-
spective into relevant policies, strategies and programmes of action against ra-

154
cism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in order to ad-
dress multiple forms of discrimination.”cdxviii

Although the majority of the world’s poorest people are women if they belong to
minority groups then they are further affected by discrimination. Women suffer
disproportionately from discriminatory labour practices and are frequently forced
into underground or informal sectors. Members of racially discriminated groups
do not enjoy equal access to health, education or justice, and such access is fur-
ther limited for women.cdxix

Women who are victims of trafficking frequently also suffer from racial discrim-
ination; women from certain racial or ethnic groups may be particularly vulner-
able to trafficking or targeted by traffickers. Women refugees and migrants are
also more vulnerable to violence, lack of representation, and limitations on their
freedom of movement.cdxxWomen who are doubly discriminated against, both due
to gender and race, are frequently subject to violence. In armed conflicts, women
are sometimes explicitly targeted because of race or ethnic background. Rape and
other forms of violence against women have been used as weapons of war in con-
flictscdxxi throughout history.cdxxii

Ableism: This is a social system which discriminates against people it con-

sidered to be not-abled or disabled. Ableism is a form of discrimination or preju-
dice against individuals with physical, mental, or developmental disabilities that
is characterized by the belief that these individuals need to be fixed or cannot
function as full members of society. cdxxiiiThe defining feature of this structure is
that it considers those people who are labelled disabled as inferior to the non-dis-
abled. As a result of these assumptions, individuals with disabilities are com-
monly viewed as being abnormal, rather than as members of a distinct minority
community. Within such a system people are given advantages and opportunities
based on their non-disability while all others labelled as disabled are denied these
advantages and opportunities.

This type of power system assigns stereotypes to various disabilities (e.g. people
with weak eye-sight cannot be good employees; people with learning difficulties
cannot be good students) which are then used to justify policies which are pro-

155
abled while reinforcing discriminatory attitudes and behaviours towards people
who are disabled. Able-supremacist societies consider the disabled people as less
valuable or even non-human. The eugenics movement of the early 20 th century
could be considered an example of widespread ableism. cdxxivBecause disability
status has been viewed as a defect rather than a dimension of difference, disabil-
ity has not been widely recognized as a multicultural concern by the general pub-
lic as well as by policy makers.cdxxv

Women with disabilities face significantly more difficulties in almost all areas of
life be it in accessing housing, health, education or in getting equal pay, promo-
tions, bank-credit and bank-loans, and rarely participate in economic decision
making.cdxxviAccording to a study done by UNDP, the global literacy rate for wo-
men with disabilities is as low as one percent. Women and girls with disabilities
experience double discrimination, which places them at higher risk of gender-
based violence, sexual abuse, neglect, maltreatment and exploitation. The World
Bank reports that every minute more than thirty women are seriously injured or
disabled during labour and that those 15-50 million women generally go un-
noticed.cdxxvii

Patriarchy: Please see part 1 for a discussion on patriarchy and the characterist-
ics that systems of domination exhibit.

156
Chapter Twelve

Ways forward (part 2)

Dear readers, I have tried to show in the preceding chapters how gender relations
in secularism are predominantly based on biological essentialism; this perspect-
ive, by deliberately ignoring sociological concerns, offers a very simplistic and
limited view of who a woman is and what determines a woman. Thus secularism
needs to acknowledge that to understand the rich and complex lives of women,
biological positivism and narrow sociological models alone are insufficient in
explaining what makes a woman a woman; in fact we need to stress that over-re-
liance on biological knowledge has played a significant part in portraying women
as weak creatures who are passive agents of their destiny and who have no signi-
ficant part to play in the world.

In contrast to biological essentialism, a sophisticated understanding of the com-

plex phenomenon of gender needs to be placed in the context of a person’s mi-
cro, meso and macro environment. Who a woman is and what she gets from the
society in which she lives is based not only on her biological sex but also her cul-
tural and socio-political environment. Depending on where women are situated,
in the north or south or in urban or rural areas, they will face different facets of
gender oppression, notably through language, kinship relations, stereotypes, reli-
gion, culture, and through economic and structural inequality.cdxxviii

Since most societies are based on the principles of relentless competition and in-
dividualism, as opposed to mutual cooperation and collectivism, in such societies
pitting men against women, and women against women is considered a natural
order of things and any attempts to change the organising principles are deemed
to be an attack on the natural order. However, because this seems to be natural

157
order of things does not mean that these principles are static or set in stone. Over
the course of history courageous women, and many enlightened men, have
struggled against these oppressive structures and have managed to bring about
transformations which seemed totally undoable.

Although women have taken on these various aspects in their struggles, in many
cases the bigger structures like capitalism or patriarchy are not either understood
or perceived to be so embedded that resistance against them seems to be futile.
However, what needs to be understood is that a lot of energy, time, and sophistic-
ated control techniques are employed to keep these structures intact. As men-
tioned above, one of the characteristics of dominant social structures is their ob -
session with control. Since these systems are not natural but have been socially
constructed and imposed on humanity through centuries, and in the case of patri-
archy through millennia, therefore concerted efforts are needed to maintain their
architecture. These efforts range from the raw and brutal violence and coercion to
the softer and subtler socialization and propaganda techniques. The purpose of
these techniques is to create an illusion so that the oppressed humanity, who are
the majority, will perceive these systems to be natural and intrinsically just,
rather than as systems of oppression and enslavement which they really are.

Although some readers may feel dispirited at this point, I would like to draw the
attention of readers towards social movements like the chipkoo move-
ment,cdxxixand the anti-slavery movementcdxxx in which women not only took on
powerful interests but succeeded in getting the desired changes. However, I
would also like to stress that that entrenched interest will use every means at their
disposal to ensure that power remains concentrated, and that any gains made by
the powerless in one generation may be nullified in the next generation. I there-
fore make the case that we will have to be constantly vigilant, alert, and united,
for the powerful know very well that to remain masters they have to create dis-
unity in our ranks. Some concrete actions that we can take are given below. Al-
though I have explained many of them in the context of Islamic knowledge, I
think they can be equally applicable in a secular framework.

Accept the problem: I believe the primary action that we need to do is to accept
that the world is designed in a way which is advantageous to very few people
158
while being a place of immense suffering and oppression for the majority of hu -
manity (and for non-humans). Although this may seem like a small change, in
reality, this is a fundamental shift to one’s worldview and may not be easy to
achieve. Since most of us have been socialised into believing that the world is a
fair and just place which presents equal opportunities for all, we tend to attribute
any hardships we face to our own selves and our personal habits and try to con-
stantly change ourselves. Although there is nothing wrong in giving up undesir-
able habits, many of the problems we attribute to individuals are structural in
nature, hence beyond our individual efforts. The more worrying side of this
thinking is that although we may be personally comfortable, when we see others
in difficulty, we attribute this to their laziness and bad habits, so instead of being
compassionate, we become judgemental and harsh towards them.

Reinvestigate the foundations of secular knowledge: Another important task is

to re-investigate the foundations on which secularism is built. Although it is com-
monly accepted that secularism and gender equality go hand in hand, gender in-
equality was at the core of secularism in its original conception. cdxxxi By limiting
women to the domestic sphere, while reserving the important spheres of politics
and economics exclusively for men, the ideology of secularism was fundamental
in the subordination of women. It was only when other cultures needed to be de-
valued that gender equality came to the forefront cdxxxii: the trick was to paint secu-
lar countries as bastions of women emancipation, and in contrast to such women,
make the women of the devalued cultures look imprisoned, oppressed, and mar-
ginalized.cdxxxiiiWithout the wholehearted acceptance that secularism is a funda-
mentally misogynistic ideology, critical approaches will remain cosmetic; such
critiques, rather than challenging the values and ideals of the ideology, will re-
main narrowly focused on the mechanisms and techniques of secularism.

We also need to use more expansive models like the socio-ecological model to
understand complex realities. Such models necessarily point us in the direction of
using a multi-disciplinary approach to women’s issues. What this means is that in
order to understand women’s lives we need to use knowledge coming not from a
single field of study but from multiple fields like biology, psychology, sociology,
law and justice, media studies, linguistics, and public policy, to name just a few,

159
as it is only by using such diverse knowledge that the full extent of oppression
which women face in secular societies can become visible.

Educate ourselves: Another way we can bring about change is by educating

ourselves about how the world works and by rethinking how human history and
human evolution has played out. A good starting point would be to learn about
women’s movements and how they organized to bring about structural
change;cdxxxiv here I would like to caution that narrow social movements, which
exclude people whom they mark as “other”, be they women from the south, or
women of colour or powerless men, and which set modest reform objectives
rather than structural change, are likely to be part of the problem than the solu-
tion.

Critical appraisal of all knowledge disciplines and professions: Although bio-

logical essentialism gets its prestige because it is derived from science, most of it
is not true science. Rather it is a supremacist ideology, masking as science, and
gets currency simply because it fits comfortably with a worldview which is built
on entrenched power and privilege for the few, at the cost of many. cdxxxv Critical
scholarship needs to bring the hidden relationship between academia, media, and
power in the open and show more openly how vested interests fund academia and
media to get desired outcomes.

The fundamental assumptions of how empiricism has been understood also need
to be called out; although in theory it is an admirable idea, in practice it has been
applied as a doctrine which limits the ideas and topics which can be pursued in
science.cdxxxvi Thus, it is a restrictive way of looking at the world, where only the
areas that it considers permissible can be open to scientific enquiry. This type of
empiricism, in contrast to its noble ideals, has become a tyrannical methodology,
which like a powerful emperor, chooses and discards areas it considers to be
worthy of scientific life on a whimsical basis. Similarly, the relationships
between language and knowledge needs to be more actively pursued; what gets
labelled as masculine/hard/knowable and what is named feminine/soft/unknow-
able is itself a barrier to creating diverse knowledge; this power of naming needs
to be made more visible, and also needs to be challenged.

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The questions that need to be asked here is how the historical exclusion of wo-
men from theoretical inquiry has impacted the direction and content of research
in fields of biology, primatology, history, economics, anthropology, public policy
etc.cdxxxvii When critiquing knowledge construction it is important to challenge
ideas regarding hierarchy, lineage, property, community, and power as all these
constructs have been used to justify designing a world which is oppressive and
exploitative.cdxxxviii Without a meaningful critique of these ideas, and without
showing that these types of oppressive social organisations are socially construc-
ted and not due to some natural laws, we may achieve short term changes, but
meaningful success will remain elusive.

Critical evaluation of secular scholars: Another important task is to show how

secular scholarship is biased in favour of global power, and how knowledge that
is very narrow and limited is considered universal and eternal. Thus, classical
knowledge, including biology and sociology, have been deeply embedded in the
project of entrenching power and privilege. According to Connell, all classical
theory is a myth and had been created to aid the project of ruling people, both do-
mestic and non-domestic populations.cdxxxixSo although all scholars need to be ex-
amined for the worldview, biases and prejudices they bring into their research,
the founding fathers of major knowledge disciplines need to especially examined
as it is on their body of work the structures rest.

Create critical, inclusive, and diverse knowledge: A sophisticated understand-

ing of gender injustice and other forms of oppression and exploitation requires
understandings from diverse disciplines. Although biology is an essential pillar
of this knowledge, ideas and perspectives from sociology, social psychology, an-
thropology, humanities, public policy, law and justice needed to be incorporated
to develop a more organic, holistic worldview. I believe the most important
perspective that needs to be incorporated is one which is relational; what
this means is the acknowledgement that all creation is related to each other
in a fundamental and deep-rooted way; that we are a part of the bigger
whole; and that if one part is hurt or damaged the whole is damaged. This
shift in thinking may help end the relentless competition between women and

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men, as men may realize that they achieve their true potential only when they co-
exist harmoniously with women and other men.

Although this relational thinking is grudgingly being accepted in mainstream

knowledge and academic research the fundamental idea has been perverted and
corrupted. While mainstream knowledge now accepts that we may need others, cdxl
it is still rooted in the understanding that needing others is good for our own indi-
vidual development. Within this view, the mainstream ideas regarding human
nature, that human beings are primarily selfish, uncooperative, and competition
oriented are still not challenged. I believe that for any transformatory change to
happen, it is essential to challenges the mainstream ideas of human nature, and to
show that human beings are predisposed towards love, kindness, compassion and
cooperation.

Share the knowledge: Women oriented scholarship needs to make be more ac-
cessible to the general audience; although a lot of critical knowledge has been
created in the last few decades, most of it is still limited to academic journals and
is geared towards an academic readership. We need to be more open in how we
share this knowledge; social media is one forum through which sharing can be
achieved. Independent publishing houses is another way the message can be
shared. As I wrote in the first section, the entire publishing industry needs to be
more women-inclusive; the inclusion of women editors, women publishers, wo-
men distributors, women librarians, women critics etc. is bound to create more
space for women’s efforts to be seen and heard.

Actively form liaisons, engage in coalition building, join social movements to

change laws/policies: To make the world a just and happy place, women will
need to make liaisons with other oppressed people, as the category of “others” in-
cludes all powerless people. So while it may seem difficult to join hands with
men, as they seem to be the architects of patriarchy, in reality it is only few
powerful men who are the architects; the majority of men simply get the di-
vidends of patriarchy, that is they get the benefits simply because they are men. If
some of these men are willing to accept that they get undue privileges and bene -
fits, and they are willing to join hands with women to work for a just and com -

162
passionate world, I think they should be considered as friends and helpers as fun -
damental change can occur only through solidarity and unity.

Chapter Thirteen.

Who will do the work? (applicable to both Islam

and Secularism.)

So, who is going to do all this daunting work? As mentioned before oppression
and domination is kept going by great effort and any attempt to reveal it for what
it is or to bring in more humane and organic structures is likely to meet strong
resistance. Whenever there is any challenge to the entrenched power structure
and status quo, the keepers of the order will label such critical voices as “heresy”,
“innovation,” “against the national interest/security,” and even “blasphemy,” and
will try to silence them in any way possible. However, that does not mean that
the struggle is futile, as wherever there has been oppression there has been resist-
ance, and in many cases oppressive laws and policies have been dismantled and
replaced with better laws and policies.

Although the forces which promote the powerful at the expense of the powerless
have been a continuous motif in human history, people who resist oppression
have also always been a remarkable feature of history and it is these stories of
resistance which power future struggles. While history remembers Moses, Mary,
Jesus, Buddha, Confucius, Lao-Tze, Muhammad, Lady Khadija, Lady Hafsa,
Lady Aisha, Joan of Arc, Rani of Jhansi, Rosa Parks, Rosa Luxembourg, and
many others for their courage against oppression, what is truly hopeful is that

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none of these sages/prophets/seers/reformers were alone, but with them were a
multitude of awake people, both women and men, who were willing to sacrifice
everything for the sake of truth and liberation. Thus, I propose that all efforts to
dismantle this exploitative system will have to come from the oppressed classes
themselves, and it is they who will have to do all this work. Although I am hope -
ful that some members of the dominant groups may realize how they have col-
luded in injustice and be willing to give up their privileges and entitlements, for
most of us it is too big a sacrifice. Here I am reminded of the saying of Frederick
Douglasscdxli

“Power conceded nothing without a demand. It never did and never will.”

While confronting the powerful may seem a frightening task, I believe that no
matter where we are situated all of us have the power to transform. So, while we
may be labelled and treated as “others” we have to realize that each of us is a
catalyst for change, and is capable of much more than what we think we are. As
Helen Kellercdxlii aptly said

“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement.”

So for instance regarding my suggestion about critical evaluation of the know-

ledge disciplines and professions I am extremely grateful and thankful that a lot
of critical work has already been done by courageous women; Muslim women
scholars like Riffat Hassan, Ziba Mir-Hosseini, Fatima Mernissi, Leila Ahmed,
Azizah al-hibri, Laleh Bakhtiar, Amina Wadud, Asma Barlas, Kecia Ali are just
few who have worked on alternative readings of Quran, Hadith, and Fiqh. Simil-
arly, women of other faiths have written books/books which show how religious
interpretations of other faiths is as misogynistic as Islam. cdxliii Non-religious fem-
inist scholarship has done an amazing job at documenting how the world, social
life, and all knowledge is fundamentally misogynistic. cdxliv So, although new
knowledge needs to be created, perhaps some of us can compile the already exist-
ing knowledge and repackage it for newer audience.

Similarly, I have come across marvellous critical work done by students a part of
their studies; if that work was taken out, reviewed, amended and published in for-

164
ums accessible to public that would also prove to be rays of light. Many research-
ers, as part of their work, carry out researches which may be helpful in shedding
light on exploitation on oppression. Here I am reminded of a research I read on
the importance and advantages of microfinance. One of the researchers who had
carried out the research commented that although the research was carried out
within very specific parameters, had the community in question been provided
with better infrastructure rather than micro-loans, that would have resulted in far
better results for community development. Similarly, I know of a student who did
excellent theses research showing how the media sexualizes and commodifies
women. These are just two examples, but I am certain that there are innumerable
researchers who could make their personal contribution in this liberation struggle
if they shared what they had learned with the common people.

As for new knowledge, many of us who like to think and write may be associated
with some discipline either directly or indirectly, and if we try to speak and write
about how that particular profession is biased against the “others,” we can make
our contribution. Also, since as “others” we are everywhere, I believe we can
make small yet meaningful changes in our spheres; so for instance, people who
are responsible for hiring can bring in more diverse people for job placement,
propose better working conditions across the board, and subtly advocate more or-
ganic and diverse workplaces. As teachers and educators, we can discuss with
students how oppression is inbuilt into the society, and what measures can we
take to ensure that justice prevails. I am confident that the readers of this book
will be able to come up with far better suggestions and ways than the few I have
given; I am also hopeful that the more we are the better the chances of our suc-
cess. Will our voices be heard is debatable, but at least we will know we tried.

Although I am an optimist I would like to point out that though oppression can be
and should be confronted it is not necessary that we may see the desired change
in our lifetime. Here I am reminded of the example of Prophet Noah who
preached to his people for more than nine hundred years, yet his people refused
to pay heed to his call. For me the important part in this story is not that he didn’t
succeed but that he did not give up on the struggle and continued with his mis-
sion until God intervened. So what really matters is the struggle and not the out-

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come; we may not be able to see or bring any meaningful change in our lifetimes,
but hopefully we will leave behind a legacy which may spark transformation at
some other time. As Anna Julia Coopercdxlv said

“The cause of freedom is not the cause of a race or a sect, a party or a class-it is
a cause of humankind, the very birthright of humanity.”

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Part 3: Secularism, Cultural Imperialism, and
Women.

167
Chapter Fourteen

Secularism, cultural imperialism and Muslim so-

cieties.

Although secularism has been understood differently in different eras, since the
nineteenth century it has been used as a political ideology for very specific pur -
poses.cdxlviWithin this period, secularism has been promoted as a superior ideo-
logy, with the consequence that any society which does not does not subscribe to
its version of modernity, individualism and development is framed as being un-
der-developed, barbaric and unsophisticated. Since Islam has been a specific tar-
get of secularism, in this part I will explore how secularism, with its closely re -
lated ideas about imperialism cdxlviiand cultural imperialism, is directed towards Is-
lam, portraying it as a violent, backward, and misogynistic religion.

While I want to focus on how the knowledge produced within a secular-imperial-

istic framework portrays Islam as uniquely misogynistic, I would also like to take
this opportunity to show to readers, especially those who think that Islam is out-
dated in today’s times, how these ideas are not neutral; rather they are part of a
grander strategy to deliberately paint Islam as barbaric and outdated religion in
service of bigger imperial aims.cdxlviiiAnother reason why I want to go into some
detail regarding secular-imperialism is that I hope to show that secularism is also
a supremacist ideology and that secular societies are as prone to domination, op-
pression and violence as Muslim societies.

Any country, which wants to rule over other people’s lands along with its own, is
called an empire and this arrangement is called imperialism. Empires rule near
and distant lands and peoples either by directly colonizing these areas through
settlements or indirectly through setting up local rulers who rule on their behalf.

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Empire building is not a new phenomenon as Egyptian empires, Assyrian em-
pires, Babylonian empires, Roman empires, Muslim empires etc., have existed
since the last 3000 (or 4000) years of history; the raison d’etre of empire-building
of ancient history and modern imperialism of the last few hundred years is the
unapologetic loot and plunder of indigenous wealth for its domestic use. Along
with the wealth grab, empires also impose their own culture over the conquered
people. Thus, the customs, religions, traditions, language, social and moral norms
of the conquered people get transformed or replaced with those of the conquering
empire; this transformation is known as cultural imperialism. cdxlixBefore discuss-
ing the impact of imperialism and cultural imperialism on Islam I would like to
share a little history about Muslim and non-Muslim contact.

History of contacts between the Muslims and non-Muslims:cdl

7th till 10th century: The pagan Arabs, many of whom were traders, had trade re-
lations with the Christians, Zoroastrians in Iran, Iraq and Syria since pre-Islamic
times. After Islam became the established religion in Arabia in the seventh cen-
tury the Muslim armies conquered and annexed these lands; this expansion con-
tinued into North Africa and into Europe in the early eighth century. The con-
queror’s policy regarding the vanquished people was simple-all defeated people
could follow their religion but had to pay a tax to the Muslims in lieu of safety
and security.cdli

While the Saracens, as the Muslims came to be known, were considered a men-
ace by the European rulers, they were largely seen as one amongst many other in-
vaders rather than an existential threat. The day to day contact the Muslims had
with the local people, whom they tolerated as the “people of the Book,” mitigated
the hostility that the vanquished might have had. Since this was the time of the
flourishing of the Muslim empire, Cordoba in Spain being a centre of great learn-
ing, the negative attitudes the Christians had towards the “moors/Spanish
Muslims” also mellowed and this was a time of relative peace and co-exist-
ence.cdlii

Crusades or the Holy War: As Europe moved out of the dark ages in the elev-
enth century, it had managed to convert and assimilate all other invaders like

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Normans and Magyars; consequently the Muslims were not one amongst many
but the only enemy remaining. An important reason why Islam needed to be
wiped out was that it had started making converts in hitherto Christian lands as
many Christians, especially non-orthodox Christians who were persecuted by the
Greek church, converted to the new faith. cdliii This existential threat presented a
convenient opportunity for European rulers, who were fractured and involved in
turf wars, to brand the Muslims as “other” and to mobilize support for their territ-
orial ambitions. The secular European rulers were aided in this othering by the
religious leaders, who saw this as a heaven-sent opportunity to ensure that the
Church retained authority over worldly rulers. Thus in 1095 Pope Urban 2 issued
a call to all Christians in Europe to unite and fight against the “enemies of God.”
This rebranding of invaders as “enemies of God” allowed religion to become a
smokescreen behind which more earthly matters concerned with power, wealth,
and territory could be conveniently played out.cdliv

It was during the time of this holy war, or the crusades as they came to be known,
that the Europeans, to convince people to mobilize and fight the Muslims, la-
belled Islam as a heresy and Muhammad as a false Prophet; the knowledge pro-
duced by Christian scholars portrayed Muhammad as a pagan upstart who in his
lust for power and would indulge in violence and perversion. cdlv This casting of
Muhammad as a barbaric pervert man and Islam as a violent religion became the
basis for future scholarship; from this juncture, almost all knowledge would be
based on these two beliefs; namely Islam as a bloodthirsty religion which sanc-
tioned killing people at the drop of a hat, and its messenger as a man driven mad
by lust for power and women. The scholarship and popular accounts of this age
refers to him as a magician, a sorcerer, a seducer, a renegade Christian, an
adulterer, and an epileptic. This was not mere storytelling as its purpose was not
harmless entertainment; rather its objective was to debase Islam and construct it
as a dangerous enemy so that people could be motivated to take part in the holy
war.cdlvi

From 13th till 14th century: At the close of the thirteenth century and the end of
the crusades Europe moved into the modern era; this modern era was marked by
a shift in attitude towards Islam which was no longer seen as a threat to the

170
European nations. There were three major reasons for toning down the rhetoric:
the rise of nationalistic sentiments led to Europeans identifying themselves as
French, English, Spanish etc rather than primarily Christian. Thus there was no
need of an “other” to unite the disparate Christians in a simplistic Christians v/s
Muslims category as had been done in the crusades era; the authority of the
Church, the main anti-Muslim hate-monger, had been weakened; and the
Europeans were now more threatened by the Mongols than by Muslims. How-
ever, this relatively peaceful period, where Europe was mainly indifferent to Is-
lam was again transformed with the rise of the Ottoman Empire. cdlvii

From 14th till 17th century: The Ottoman Empire, under its Turkish founder Os-
man and his successors, brought an end to Christian rule by capturing Con-
stantinople in 1453, after which they turned to other parts of Europe. In this
period the conquerors were regarded as a political rather than religious threat as
the enemy was now a part of Europe and not outside of it. The fact that the Turks
were considered ethnically European also proved conducive in allowing other
European (Christian) rulers to form alliances with them. cdlviiicdlix Many Jews, who
were being persecuted in other parts of Europe, also found a home in the Otto -
man Empire. The knowledge of this time presents a contradictory image of the
Muslim Ottomans; on the one hand they were caricatured as violent, barbaric and
pervert, whereas on the other there was appreciation for their administrative ways
as well as for their overall grandeur. This appreciation turned sour, however,
when the Empire started to decline and began to lose its military superiority over
other European nations, who now went back to considering the Muslims as cor-
rupt, irrational, and dishonourable. Along with military ascendancy the image of
the European nations also underwent a transformation as their intellectuals re-
casted their origins as arising in continuity from the democratic political systems
of Greeks and Romans while whitewashing the Islamic history of Europe. This
whitewashing allowed them to portray themselves as the superior civilized heirs
of Greek and Roman civilization while the Ottomans (and by extension all
Muslims) could now be swept aside as ignorant despots, who were temperament-
ally suited to despotism rather than the democracy that was taking root in
Europe.cdlx

171
Enlightenment in the 17th century onwards and its effects on Muslims: En-
lightenment refers to a movement which resulted in transformation of ideas in
Europe around the 17th century. Prior to this period social life in Europe was
centred around God and Church; the Church propagated the doctrine that the cir-
cumstances of a person were due to God’s will so one should surrender to her
destiny and not desire any change in social circumstances. This doctrine was ex-
tremely favourable to the privileged who were able to bask in their luxurious and
decadent lifestyles with the complete confidence that this was God’s will. The
poor and the underprivileged, however, were destined to lead a life of great
misery and soul-crushing hard work; not only was there no reprieve for them,
their future generations were also destined to live life in a similar manner.

However, during the 17th century the intellectuals of those time began to question
these ideas and started advocating the ideas of liberty, freedom, and advance-
ment. The radical idea underlying these values was that Man, not God, was the
measure of all things.cdlxi Instead of being a mere pawn in God’s divine games,
the fate of Man was in his own hands and if he so chose, he could make his own
destiny. These ideas, which are credited for the shift from theocracy to a secular
worldview, gave rise to the age of Enlightenment which was built on values of
liberty, freedom and fraternity, and advocated a relatively more open society as
opposed to the strictly rigid one in existence before.cdlxii

However, this led to a dilemma: many of the same intellectuals who wanted to
reform their own societies and to improve the lives of people whom they con-
sidered worthy were not willing to consider these ideas as equally applicable to
the people in other parts of the world. The moral dilemma was that if these ideas
were considered universally applicable, then the advocators of such ideas would
have to criticise their own rulers for their aggressive barbarianism and lust of
other people’s lands, but this was something few intellectuals either actually be-
lieved in or were prepared to do.

Thus, an intellectual device was needed which would allow the European nations
to reconcile the ideas of liberty and equality with their imperial ambitions and al-
low them to appear civilized and cultured in their own estimation; this need gave
rise to the phenomenon of cultural imperialism. Cultural imperialism, as a
172
subtler version of the unapologetically violent imperialism, frames the nat-
ives of the lands which have been colonized, or are to be colonized, as bar-
barians and sub-humans who need to be civilized and taught ways of being
human. This portrayal inverts the rationale for empire as it conveniently and ef-
fectively not only masks the ruthless rape and plunder of native lands, but instead
makes benevolence as its primary motive. Since the empire is on a civilizing mis-
sion of making natives “human,” it follows that they should not only submit to
this humane mission willingly but be grateful for such compassion and benevol-
ence. However, if the sub-humans and lesser people do not understand that this
“civilizing mission” is for their own good, and do not display the required gratit-
ude, then they can be exterminated for their ungratefulness without any qualms.

It was at this juncture that the ideas of secularism were found to be useful: one
device the secularism ideology used was to frame the women of the barbarian so-
cieties as beings repressed, both physically and sexually. The veil came in partic-
ularly handy when framing Islam as it conveniently positioned veiled women as
oppressed women who were forced into being hidden, while unveiled Western
women were liberated and emancipated.cdlxiii

The knowledge produced during this time portrays the Muslims as backward,
primitive, unclean, undemocratic and rigid relative to the superior West. All real
and supposed shortcomings of the Muslims, like their lacking entrepreneurial
spirit, their being anti-modernity, and their oppression of women was traced to
the Quran and to the Islamic tradition. cdlxiv Such a construction was the inevitable
result of the methods which were employed to study the Muslims; the western in-
tellectuals deliberately chose to use classical texts as the only source of under-
standing Muslim societies while completely ignoring the historical context. cdlxv
This resulted in knowledge which was skewed in favour of dogma and tradition
at the expense of a nuanced and subtle understanding. After such a construction
of Muslims as backwards and in need of guidance, it was but inevitable that the
superior West would step in to civilize and enlighten the East.

England and France, as the leading two empires of 18 th and 19thcentury took upon
themselves this mission of “civilizing” (referred to as plundering and looting in
the literature of the indigenous people) the world but after the end of world war 2
173
in 1945, USA has become the champion of this civilizing mission. While the
USA does not officially call itself an empire it acts and behaves as one; and it too
employs the cultural imperialism strategy as an important component of its ruth-
less and hegemonic foreign policy.

The knowledge produced by US imperialists is centred around the idea of “bene-

volent supremacy.” What this means is that USA will champion liberty, demo-
cracy, and modernity throughout the world and this will be done by promoting
trade amongst its allies; if the terms of trade are favourable to USA rather than
the home country that is but the price that smaller countries will have to pay for
this “benevolence.” In cases where the receiving countries are not willing to play
this game, the options of toppling the governments of such countries through US
assisted military coups, and outright invasion are always available. cdlxvi A focus
on modernity also means that the religions, customs, cultures, indigenous know-
ledge and traditions of all people-including Muslims, whose talents and wealth it
wants to acquire-are framed as barbaric, cruel, unsophisticated, and hopelessly
outdated; while the language may be somewhat different, in this modus operandi
of using constructed knowledge to further its own imperialistic agenda, USA is
simply following the path of the older empires of the 19th century.

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Chapter Fifteen

Knowledge within the cultural imperialism

framework cdlxvii

This chapter of the book will specifically explore how imperialist knowledge has
specifically portrayed Islam by focusing on five stories that have been created,
produced and reproduced since the times of Western empire building in the 17 th
century onwards.

(1) There is one Islam: The original aim of the imperialist intellectuals was to
portray Islam as false religion and Muhammad as an impostor. When this aim
could not be realized it was morphed into portraying Islam as a monolithic reli-
gion, which could be understood solely through its classical texts. This framing,
by denying the richness, complexity and diversity of Muslim history, can then al-
low its framers to assert with complete confidence that Islam has inherent, static
characteristics, which make it violent, sexist, anti-modernity, and unfit for the
modern sophisticated world.cdlxviii All one has to do to prove this story untrue is to
bring the readers attention to the complex and diverse lives of the one billion plus
Muslims living in all parts of the world presently. The diversity in their histories,
their cultures, their traditions, their languages, their religious practices, their texts
is what makes the Muslim-majority societies such an interesting kaleidoscope.

(2) Islam is a uniquely misogynistic religion: The story that Islam is peculiarly
anti-women came to be actively propagated in the 19 th century. The fact that the
European people who manufactured these stories had almost no direct contact
with Muslim women was no hindrance in their empire-promotion mission; if
they believed that Muslim women were oppressed and no better than slaves, that
was enough to make their account true and it was now mandatory on empire to

175
venture out for a brave rescue mission, which it admirably did! That empires did
not allow their own white women to vote, or divorce, or remarry was not some-
thing the imperialist intellectuals would have been keen to highlight. cdlxix

It seems that the USA was also highly concerned about the plight of Afghan wo-
men as recently as the millennium, because one objective of US invasion was to
liberate the Afghan women from the clutches of the brutal, barbaric
Taliban.cdlxxApparently, the US drone attackscdlxxi(aka extra-judicial assassina-
tions) which blow Afghan women and children to smithereens is something that
needs to be placed in the broader context; the logic being that since these are car -
ried out with noble intentions of rescuing they should not be considered the same
as the barbaric, violent Taliban actions.

Another way this story is peddled by making Islam seem uniquely misogynistic
amongst the world’s major religions. The misogyny that Jewish and Christianity
knowledge exhibit is equal, if not greater, to Islamic traditions. I have already
mentioned the Christian creation story which humiliates Eve as a temptress,
while the messianic zeal with which women were burned as witches in Christian
lands has also been touched upon. Also discussed are how Judaism and Chris-
tianity both disallowed women voices in constructing religious knowledge. Just
to reiterate that there is no one-size-Islam, many Muslim majority countries
(Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia) have had women as heads-of-state whereas
USA has yet to do so.

(3) Islam is an inherently violent religion: The essence of this story is that Is-
lam is an inherently violent religion which encourages its followers to maim,
loot, plunder, and kill with impunity. Christianity, like Islam, rose to dominance
through conquest and conversion but only Islam is considered inherently violent,
whereas Christianity has been whitewashed to become an ideology which pro-
motes brotherhood and peace. Thus, any violence committed by a Muslim indi-
vidual is explained, not by his individual motivations, but by his being a Muslim
and by his religion. Needless to say, horrific crimes committed by non-Muslims
are never painted in terms of the perpetrator’s religious faith.cdlxxii

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(4) The Muslim mind is irrational and flawed: This story proposes that reason,
rationality, and science are alien to Islam and that Muslims are an intellectually
barren race. This caricature allows portraying Muslims as “terrorists” who are
“crazed, irrational, and fanatical” who attack Western countries because they
“hate us.” Their hatred “of us” is fuelled by envy, jealousy and an unsound mind,
hence the only solution is to kill them, or take them out with drone strikes, or ex -
terminate them in other ways.cdlxxiii Alternative accounts which propose political
and anti-imperial motivations for any such tendencies are never allowed much
space in carefully monitored public discourse.

(5) Muslims are incapable of democracy and self-rule: This story is weaved
around a few assumptions; the hot climate of Muslim countries makes the people
lazy and submissive and incapable of resisting tyranny; that despotism is a core
value of “Islamic civilization;” because of hierarchical systems of power Muslim
societies are incapable of change from within. Thus, it is the “white man’s bur-
den” to civilize, modernize, and democratize the East.cdlxxiv

Since the desired objective of such knowledge-construction has always been to

create hatred of Islam and Muslims, therefore the Islamophobia that we are see-
ing in our times is a sign that this attempt is achieving its objective. Islamophobia
in the context of this article means the fear of Islam and Muslims which results in
hatred, hostility and discrimination, both at an individual and collective level.

Two case studies illustrating Islamophobia and misogyny:

Readers will recall that the earliest intellectual attempts at maligning Islam por-
trayed it as a fake religion and Prophet Muhammad an impostor. While the first
objective could not be achieved, the second objective is still important for Is-
lamophobes, with concerted efforts being made to frame Muhammad as a deeply
flawed person. Here I would like to take up two case studies to illustrate how he
is portrayed as a paedophile and a sexual pervert; his conduct is then used to
prove that Islam is misogynistic as it allows young girls to be married to much
older men and also encourages polygamy.

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Muhammad’s marriage with Lady Aisha: If a seeker puts in the search term
“Muhammad as a paedophile” on google she will get 17,600 hits/leads. If she
chooses the Wikipedia link of these leads this is what she will find:

Throughout history, Christians (including saints and theologians)have con-

sidered Muhammad as a perverted deplorable man, a false prophet, and even
the Antichrist. During the Middle Ages he was frequently seen in Christendom as
a heretic, or possessed by demons. Some Christian thinkers have claimed that
Muhammad had originally been a prophet of the Christian God but was misled by
malevolent demons or perverted the word of God because of pride. Thomas of
Aquinas criticised Muhammad's promises of carnal pleasure in the afterlife. cdlxxv

So what exactly is going on here? Are the Muslims so blind that despite the evid-
ence they cannot see their Prophet for what he is-a paedophile and a pervert? Be-
fore I counter this claim, I would like to discuss a little about the Prophet’s life
prior to Islam. Muhammad was born an orphan, as his father Abdullah died be-
fore his birth. His mother, Lady Amna died when he was six, and his guardian
grandfather, Abdul Muttalib, when he was nine. Abu Talib, his paternal uncle
then became his guardian. In his childhood Muhammad learned how to be a
shepherd and as he grew older, he learned the art of trading from his tribe. Since
he was quite poor, he could not procure his own goods for selling; instead he be-
came an agent, one who buys and sells for other and charges a commission fee.
Around the age of twenty-five he was commissioned by Lady Khadija, a wealthy
(twice) widow (who was forty years old according to popular accounts) of his
tribe, to sell her goods in foreign lands. Impressed by his integrity and fair con -
duct she asked him to marry him and when he agreed the marriage was contrac-
ted.

The couple enjoyed a happy marital life and were blessed with daughters and
sons of whom only the four daughters survived. What is remarkable about this
marriage is that contrary to the polygamous customs of that time Muhammad re-
mained monogamous. When he was around forty he was chosen by Almighty to
be His messenger; Lady Khadija was the first person ever to witness this ministry
and to submit as a Muslim. This period was one of severe oppression, not only
for Muhammad but also for his family and his tribe, as the Meccan elites who
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could not bear this message outdid themselves in finding ways of torturing the
new Muslims. Lady Khadija died around the thirteenth year of Muhammad’s
ministry. leaving him alone to raise his four daughters and to face a hostile city.

After her death Muhammad contracted two marriages, one with Lady Sauda, a
mature lady (who was a widow) who could look after his household, and Lady
Aisha, a younger lady, purported to be of any age between six and seventeen, de-
pending on who is telling the story. So, why marry two women when the needs
of the household could be met with only one wife? To explain this seeming con -
tradiction, as he preferred to be monogamous when he was younger, I will have
to talk a little about the socio-political conditions of pre-Islamic Arabia. The
overall climate of the then Arabia was of continual warfare, so much so that four
months had to be especially dedicated to peace. During these four months, (three
of which were consecutive and one before them) which were agreed to by all
warring tribes, the Arabs could move freely amongst the land and go for pagan-
worshipping and other activities to different cities without any fear of being
looted, attacked or killed.

Once these four months were over the tribes would go back to their looting and
plundering ways. In such precarious and dangerous times, safety and security de-
pended on two factors; the strength of tribe itself and its alliances with other
tribes. Polygamous, inter-tribal marriages were one way of forging alliances with
other tribes; if men of one tribe contracted multiple marriages with women of dif-
ferent tribes, then the possibility of maintaining peace became more probable
with each marriage, as within such social arrangements, ties of tribal kinship
were considered as sacred as ties of blood. This arrangement allowed for peace
within a grand tribal alliance; since each member was considered equally valu-
able, thus no one within the alliance would dare to attack another member. It also
allowed for peace outside the alliance as potential enemies would be wary of tak-
ing on such a strong tribe. Since this arrangement allowed all tribes to be on more
or less equal footings with one another, this resulted in an overall peaceful atmo-
sphere, albeit a peace that was extremely fragile and precarious, with tensions
simmering under the surface.

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In this backdrop, Muhammad’s marriage with Lady Aisha and his subsequent
marriages with other ladies become the rational actions of a man who was for-
ging new ways of being in a tribal-patriarchal culture. At the time he contracted
the marriage with Lady Aisha, the Muslims were a small persecuted minority
who could be wiped out any moment. In fact, conditions had become so terrible
that Muhammad, along with the Muslims, took the un-precedented step of leav-
ing his tribe and migrating to a foreign city, Medina, whose people offered to
protect him and the others from the pagan Meccans. Being a foreigner/tribal-less
in Arabia was akin to being ex-communicated; thus it was the strong need of the
new Muslims to forge ties with one another so they could withstand this terrible
test and develop a new sense of identity/belonging which was beyond tribe and
city.

Readers should also remember that during these times the scenario that the new
Muslims may be completely annihilated was a grim possibility. No one could
have predicted then that this new religion would not only survive but flourish to
become a major world religion. Hence, in such critical times the need to fortify
the tiny community through alliances, whether through marriages, kinship, or
trade was an existential requirement. This was the backdrop in which the
Prophet, to fortify the new community and to cement the bond of Muslim-hood
undertook multiple marriages, Lady Aisha being the daughter of his beloved
friend Abu-Bakar, one of the earliest Muslim converts. He also married Lady
Hafsa, the daughter of Umar, whom readers met before. Not only did he marry
within his allies himself, he also arranged for suitable and worthy marriages
amongst the companions.

In this complex story, the age of Lady Aisha seems almost like a non-issue but
since this matter has been constantly exploited by the Islamophobes, let me say
that there are conflicting accounts of her age. Some historians put her age as six
at marriage, while others offer seventeen too. Here I would like Wikipedia to fur-
ther clarify the issue:

Muslim authors who calculate Aisha's age based on the more detailed informa-
tion available about her sister Asma estimate that she was over thirteen and per-
haps between seventeen and nineteen at the time of her marriage. Some narra-
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tions such as the following mention her menstruating: "Narrated 'Aisha: The
Prophet used to lean on my lap and recite Qur'an while I was in menses." and
"Narrated 'Aisha: The Prophet used to embrace me during my menses. He also
used to put his head out of the mosque while he was in Itikaf, and I would wash
it during my menses."

Colin Turner, a UK professor of Islamic studies, states that marriages between

an older man and a young girl, consummated once the wife reached what was
considered at the time to be adult age, were customary among the Bedouins, and
hence Muhammad's marriage would not have been considered improper by his
contemporaries. Karen Armstrong, the British author on comparative religion,
has affirmed that "There was no impropriety in Muhammad's marriage to Aisha.
Marriages conducted in absentia to seal an alliance were often contracted at this
time between adults and minors who were even younger than Aisha. This prac-
tice continued in Europe well into the early modern period."cdlxxvi

I personally like to believe that Lady Aisha was seventeen or so; the evidence I
offer for this belief is that the Prophet married his daughters at mature ages hence
it is impossible that he would behave towards others’ daughters in ways that he
did not choose for his own daughters.

Here I would like to contrast this attitude towards the Prophet with liberal west-
ern ideas of what is the right age for being sexually active, especially for girls.
France, which considers itself a bastion of individual liberty allows girls as
young as eleven year od to have sex with men. I am giving the headline of a case
which I came across in 2018.cdlxxvii

French girl, 11, 'not a child' say lawyers for man, 29, accused of sexual
abuse:Case rekindles debate about age of consent in France as family argue sus-
pect should be charged with rape.

The newspaper goes on to say:

France does not have a legal age under which a minor cannot agree to a sexual
relationship – although the country’s top court has ruled that children aged five
and under cannot consent. Lawyers for the suspect argued that the girl was con-
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senting and aware of what she was doing, while lawyers for the girl have said
she was simply too young and confused to resist. In a decision that shocked
many, the prosecutor’s office in the town of Pontoise decided to put the man on
trial not for rape but on charges of “sexual abuse of a minor under 15”. cdlxxviii
(emphasis mine)

So it seems that French are alright with children above five to be considered con-
senting adults! Some of the readers may be aware that intellectuals of France are
some of the most eager to caricature the Prophet cdlxxixand have been at the centre
of vicious Islamophobic campaigns. It seems fair to say that French liberals have
no issues with the French indulging in paedophilia so long as it is labelled liberal-
ism. Its only when the Prophet Muhammad is accused of it, and that too on
flimsy grounds, that it becomes a character perversion.

Muhammad’s marriage with Lady Zainab: The other case-study has to do

with Muhammad’s marriage with his paternal cousin Lady Zainab. The allega-
tion that Muhammad is a pervert and licentious man is based on this story which
gives colourful details of how this domestic coup was arranged. It is claimed that
the Prophet ended the marriage of Lady Zainab, who was married to his freed
slave Zaid, as once he saw her in a state of semi-dress; so enamoured was he by
this beautiful goddess that he forced his freed slave to divorce her and married
her himself.

Let’s deconstruct this story and see if it still seems believable after this break-
down. The first point I would like to make is that Lady Zainab was his paternal
cousin with whom he could have contracted a marriage prior to her marriage had
he wanted to do so. There was absolutely no bar, either cultural or religious, on
their marriage. The second point again has to do with her being his cousin; since
they were both familiar with each other the story that he suddenly became enam-
oured with her beauty is also beyond belief. The third point is that he was the
one who arranged the match between her and Zaid in the first place!

Readers will remember that the Quran was deeply concerned about slavery and
was revealing reforms through which the slaves could be assimilated in the soci-
ety as worthy and respected people. As an example of noble conduct, the Prophet

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freed Zaid, a slave boy gifted to him by Lady Khadija as a wedding present, even
before Islam and instead made him his son. This was an accepted practice in pre-
Islamic Arabia; slave owners could free slaves, declare them to be their sons,
with such sons inheriting from their fathers. Readers will also recall that despite
Quranic injunctions the haughty and proud Arabs were finding it difficult to give
up on bad habits and attitudes; they were finding it particularly difficult to con-
sider freed slaves, even if they were the sons of other nobles, as their equals and
worthy in all ways. When the Prophet arranged a match between this Zaid and
Lady Zainab, the couple could not get along; how much role the social status dif-
ference-Lady Zainab of the proud Quraish tribe, and Zaid being a freedman-
played between the two is open to speculation. Anyway, the couple were facing
severe marital difficulties and many a times the Prophet had to intervene to re-
solve their marital challenges. During such interventions, not once did the
Prophet advise the warring spouses to break the wedlock but instead asked them
to be patient with each other.

Almighty, however, had other divine plans; the Quran wanted to put an end to
pagan Arabian custom which allowed inheritance rights to those sons who were
previously slaves. According to new Quranic legislation, a claimed son was not
equal to a born son in inheritance matters, so from now on inheritance would be
only for blood-ties To make matters regarding paternity and maternity crystal
clear Almighty put His chosen messenger through a trial, which in the Prophet’s
own words, was one of the most difficult act of his ministry-he would have to
marry Lady Zainab, who according to pagan customs was his daughter-in-law!
Zaid, who was already looking for ways out of this tense match, willingly di-
vorced Lady Zainab who then married the Prophet.

This then is the story behind the licentiousness charge. I have already mentioned
how the secular intellectuals, mostly deliberately, chose to see Islam and its mes-
senger as divorced from cultural contexts and distorted facts to suit their imperi-
alistic agenda. If this story is told in its entirety, with how this marriage resulted
in inheritance laws being crystallized, then there is nothing for which the Prophet
can be held accountable. But to present a fair, balanced and complete picture has
never been the agenda of the secular intellectuals. While other aspects of the

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Prophet’s life have also been caricatured, portraying him as a sexual deviant
serves the double function of creating hatred in the mind of non-Muslims while
making Muslim women regard him with distrust and resentment. For Islamo-
phobes it makes available a pool of women, who because of their genuine discon-
tent, become a mouthpiece for anti-Islam sentiments from within the religion it-
self, without realizing how they have unwittingly become a pawn in the greater
game of Islamophobia. While there is no shortage of non-Muslim cdlxxxwomen ex-
hibiting Islamophobia the impact of Muslim women airing such views on forums
like youtube/TEDtalkcdlxxxi has an impact which is different and far more convin-
cing.

The second aim of the imperialistic intellectuals has been to portray Islam as a
uniquely misogynistic and anti-women religion completely ignoring the fact that
Judo-Christian religion and the Western countries exhibit as much, if not more,
misogyny. In the introduction I have already mentioned some examples of miso-
gyny across the globe. Here I would like to take up the example of the veil
(niqab) to show how cultural imperialism portrays women who wear the veil/
hijab to be oppressed and forced to do so against their will. This framing portrays
Islam to be a backward, misogynistic religion, which prefers to keep women hid-
den from sight.

Veil and the controversy surrounding it:

Before I offer my opinions on the veil and how a small piece of cloth has taken a
life of its own, I would like to share some views about what people think about it.

Women in Iran are pulling off their headscarves — and hoping for a ‘turning
point’cdlxxxii

“The niqab is a huge part of my identity. It’s a very spiritual choice—and now it
has also become a sign of protest,”cdlxxxiii

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Danish government proposes ban on full-face veils: Justice minister says wear-
ing of Islamic face coverings is incompatible with Danish valuescdlxxxiv

Former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has been accused of Islamophobia

after saying Muslim women wearing burkas "look like letter boxes".cdlxxxv

Although the first news makes sense as some Iranian women seem to consider
the veil a sign of oppression enforced on them by Iranian men, how is it that
people from UK, Denmark and many other European countries, who advocate in-
dividual liberty, freedom, and human rights are in favour of banning the veil,
even when women state they are wearing it of their free choice? The reason is
that cultural imperialism has framed the veil as a symbol of oppression of
Muslim women; according to this view Islam is a misogynistic religion as it im -
poses the veil on women which takes away their identity. In the Western world
where most people consider the veil to be oppressive, the very idea that many
women wear it of their free choice is abhorrent. Much more comforting to them
is the idea that women are coerced into taking the veil by patriarchal Muslim
men. These double standards are a complete contrast to other mainstream views
where girls as young as five are considered adults and free to have sex with older
men, or fourteen-year olds are considered responsible enough to take contracept-
ives to avoid pregnancy.cdlxxxvi

By completely ignoring Muslim women’s voices and agency in choosing the veil,
and instead seeing what they want to see, the West is as guilty of oppressing the
Muslim women as the many Muslim men and Muslim states which imposes the
veil on women irrespective of their choice. In both cases the stubborn refusal of
dominant groups to listen to women translates into treating Muslim women as
children who are incapable of making well thought, rational decisions. In fact,
the more the western liberals condemn the veil, the more Muslim women seem to
adopt it, thus making an exclusively religious symbol synonymous with their de-
sire to be autonomous moral agents.cdlxxxvii

Secularism and its foundational values:

185
Knowledge creation in imperialism serves two functions; one is to show how Is-
lam is a false and oppressive religion; the other is two glorify the values that it
considers fundamental to its own history. While the values which are considered
foundational have undergone many shifts, the ones which are currently in vogue
are liberalism, freedom, and human rights. While there is much to admire about
these values, there is much to critique about them too. However, the cultural im-
perialism project has turned them into universal values against which all other
people, irrespective of their histories, religions, cultures, traditions, and norms,
are judged and are often found wanting. I will briefly outline these values to
show how even these values are applied selectively and have been used for polit-
ical purposes of hegemony and empire.

Liberalism: This is one of the key values of Enlightenment. While understood in

myriads ways across space and time this ideology highlights the individual at the
expense of the social and is based on individual liberty and equality. These ideas
seem to translate into the political values of free and fair elections, civil rights,
freedom of the press, freedom of religion, and private property. It rejects the no-
tions like hereditary privilege, state religion, absolute monarchy, and the right of
kings to rule by claiming divinity (aka Divine Right of kings).

Freedom: Although this term could mean freedom to be achieve the tremendous
creative potential each person has it is used in a more limited sense in politics. In
politics it means having rights and civil liberties which can be exercised without
the state infringing upon such display. Freedom of speech, freedom of choice,
freedom of assembly, and freedom of association are some examples of this
value. cdlxxxviii

Human Rights: This value refers to the idea that all humans are equally valuable
and are based on ideas of freedom, justice and peace in the world.

To a casual reader these values would seem admirable and worth of being adop-
ted but to show how they are selectively applied in service of oppression, I would
like to use the well-known case of the hateful cartoons of the Prophet and con-
trast it with the reaction to Holocaust deniers and to Colin Kaepernick’s protest.

186
In 2005, a Danish newspaper published twelve cartoons which showed the
Prophet Muhammad in various forms, one picture portraying him as carrying a
bomb/missile in his turban. When Muslims vigorously protested against these
cartons the Danish newspaper responded by saying that these cartoons were an
attempt to contribute to the debate about Islam. Complaints that these cartoons
were a result of anti-Muslim prejudice were met with the response that the West
is a beacon of freedom of expression hence the Muslims must learn to respect
such freedom and not be too touchy about their Prophet.cdlxxxixNow contrast this
with the freedom of speech of those people who deny the Holocaust. Holocaust
denial refers to the belief of those who deny that Hitler, the ruler of Germany
during world war two exterminated six million Jews. To a fair person it would
seem that people who deny the Holocaust are merely using their freedom of ex-
pression like the Danish journalists, so they should be encouraged, but denying
the Holocaust is illegal in sixteen European countries with some countries actu-
ally making it a crime to deny the Holocaust! cdxc

Another interesting case of this hypocrisy is the case of Colin Kaepernick, a

black American football player who protested against racial injustice by choosing
to kneel on one knee, instead of standing, while the US national anthem was be-
ing played before the start of the 2016 NFL games. I doubt any readers would
find this problematic, as all he did was expresses his freedom of speech, but this
is so not how the West responded. cdxciHis right to express himself was met by
calls for protesting people to be fired, of people leaving the stadium, and in some
cases people refusing to watch the games at all. According to President Trump
such actions “disrespect our heritage” and

"Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects
our flag, to say, 'Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out, he's fired.
He's fired,'" cdxcii

I have given these examples to illustrate how seemingly decent values can be
used selectively, and on a case by case basis. Since the West considers such val -
ues to be the universal standards which all people need to adopt, it has invaded,
occupied, exterminatedcdxciii and raped its way into prey nations to take these val-

187
ues to them. All this in the name of liberty, human rights, freedom and demo -
cracy!cdxciv

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Chapter Sixteen

Consequences of cultural imperialism:

Now that I have given a broad overview of cultural imperialism, its aims, and its
history, I would like to talk about the consequences of this ideology.

Manufacturing and normalising Islamophobia: Since manufacturing and nor-

malising Islamophobia is the fundamental objective of the cultural imperialism
project, here I would like to discuss how anti-Islam hate and fear-mongering is
produced and spread, and how the average American, who is more likely be
murdered by white supremacists rather than be a victim of a terrorist attacks cdxcv
is distracted into worrying more about the latter while discounting the former.
The Islamophobia industry is a dynamic and flexible space which allows differ-
ent people and organisations to come together to work towards a common pur-
pose. The people who are involved in producing and disseminating this extremist
knowledge include bigoted bloggers, racist politicians, fundamentalist religious
leaders, media houses and religious Zionists, each having their own interests and
motivations. So it is that a small group of internet bloggers can morph into a
much bigger organization which may have the same or similar leadership. As an
example, Pamela Geller, an Islamophobic blogger, was able to join hands with
Robert Spencer to form the anti-Islam group Stop Islamization of America. This
group is a sub-group within the larger Stop Islamization of Europe; in 2011 both
groups merged to become the Stop the Islamization of Nations.cdxcvi

Another way Islamophobic knowledge producers come together is for financial

gains. Thus David Horowitz, the founder of The David Horowitz Freedom Cen-
ter, whose website states that the mission of the center is to

189
Defend free societies which are under attack from enemies within and without,
both secular and religious. The Center’s focus and the School’s curriculum have
two agendas:1. Identify the enemy and understand his nature and 2. devise ways
to attack and neutralize himcdxcvii

can hire the above-mentioned Robert Spencer to work for him for lucrative bene-
fits in producing knowledge which will achieve the desired goals of the center.
So who is this enemy who needs to be understood and neutralized? According to
the website, the “Left”, the “humanists,” and the “liberals” are the enemy
(amongst many others) who are

seeking to destroy America’s social contract in order to remake the world and
the individuals who inhabit it. Without this understanding it is impossible to ex-
plain how Americans, whatever their policy views, could collaborate with Amer-
ica’s enemies beginning with the communist totalitarians of the Cold War and
extending now to the Islamist barbarians seeking the destruction if Israel and the
United States. None of the above designations—certainly not “liberal”—can ex-
plain what binds Islam and leftism in an unholy alliance against Israel, America,
and the West. The Center has provided such an explanation in millions of pub -
lished words and hundreds of public events over the past three decades. Through
books like Unholy Alliance, The Black Book of the American Left and The Art of
Political War, the Center has provided a battle plan on how to fight this ever-ex -
panding, evermore destructive Left.(emphasis mine)cdxcviii

That Ms.Geller and Mr Spencer, the cofounders of the American Freedom De-
fense Initiative are as pro-Israelcdxcixas David Horowitz is evidence that anti-Is-
lam hatred is not merely irrational prejudice but is tied to a much bigger agenda
of political and regional hegemony.

Other people in the broad church of Islamophobia industry are the extremist
Christians who frame Islam as a competing religion which needs to be subdued.
People who inhabit this space include Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and John
Hagee.dAnother motivation of Islamophobic sentiments is its attraction in garner-
ing political votes; thus the far-right group in the Republican party, aware that
anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric translates into votes positions itself as

190
champions of national security while painting the Democrats as soft on immig-
rants and terrorists, both terms being euphemisms for Muslims.

Whether the above people/groups/coalitions actually believe Islam to be danger-

ous, or are in it for name, fame, glory, money, or as lackeys of the Zionist agenda
is something best left to Almighty. However, the point that I am trying to make is
that anti-Muslim sentiment is not something that has originated from scepticism,
but rather is a product that has been carefully designed and promoted for aims
that are much larger and opaque than what appears to the casual observer. This is
not to say that Muslims don’t commit violence or are not involved in criminal
activities; of course they are as likely to commit criminal acts as any other
people, but it is the conflation of acts of few individual Muslims with the entire
Muslim community and with Islam itself that is problematic and extremely dan-
gerous.

Promoting Violence: That the result of such fear mongering will result in viol-
ence is something that should not surprise anyone. When normal everyday folks
are bombarded with messages that they are under siege and should fear for their
and their loved one’s safety every second of the day, then it is to be expected that
some of them will consider violence to be the solution and turn on the com-
munity they think is responsible for their fear. Thus, the case of Anders Behring
Breivik, the white nationalist who in 2011 slaughtered at least 92 people in Oslo,
Norwaydi because he feared that the Muslims would take over Europe. According
to newsdii

The police identified him as a right-wing fundamentalist Christian, while ac-

quaintances described him as a gun-loving Norwegian obsessed with what he
saw as the threats of multiculturalism and Muslim immigration.

“We are not sure whether he was alone or had help,” a police official, Roger An-
dresen, said at a televised news conference. “What we know is that he is right
wing and a Christian fundamentalist.”

In the 1,500-page manifesto, posted on the Web hours before the attacks, Mr.
Breivik recorded a day-by-day diary of months of planning for the attacks, and

191
claimed to be part of a small group that intended to “seize political and military
control of Western European countries and implement a cultural conservative
political agenda.”diii

Another example of how this fear translates into violence is that of Craig Hicks
who, in February 2015, killed his three Muslim neighbours in a single attack in
USA. The Chapel Hill Police Department stated "preliminary investigation indic-
ates that the crime was motivated by an ongoing neighbor dispute over parking.
Hicks is cooperating with investigators."div

Projection and scapegoating: On a collective level, by framing the imperialistic

and hegemonic invasion as an “us v/s them” situation, where the superior “us”
are taking light/knowledge/democracy/human-rights to the inferior and barbaric
“them,” cultural imperialism makes it easy to acquire and plunder territory as the
domestic home population (more or less) fully support the imperialistic mission.
A narrative which presents the invaders not as ruthless conquerors, but as sa-
viours out to save the helpless women and children of the target country, makes it
easy for otherwise decent people to justify mass slaughter, butchery and rape.

What this means in terms of projection and scapegoating is that common every-
day people, who exhibit kindness and compassion in other areas, instead of feel-
ing guilty at being part of the barbaric mission of conquest, project their guilt
outwards and scape-goat the people on the receiving end as worthy of such beha-
viour because they are sub-humans and barbaric. This projection serves a double
function; the domestic population can be part of the dominant group and acquire
the benefits of membership, and simultaneously not suffer any guilt because the
people who are being exterminated are not decent humans like them but rather
sub-humans who are so beyond repair that they can be killed without any re-
morse.

Falsely framing the religion and its followers as same: In the case of Islam
cultural imperialism has committed the intellectual fraud of equating the religion
with its followers. Thus, it has very subtly and not very subtly made the conduct
of Muslims, and that too a very specific kind of Muslim, synonymous with the Is-
lamic teachings. For instance, cultural imperialism as practiced by USA frames

192
all Muslims as terrorists or terrorist sympathizers. So, what sort of problems does
this equation cause? An extremely serious problem could be that people ob-
serving the followers could come to the erroneous conclusion that if the followers
are behaving a certain way, then this must be what is proposed by the Islamic
teachings, whereas the teachings may be advocating something completely dif-
ferent. Because of the framing of Muslims as terrorists, people might believe that
this is what Islam teaches, whereas in reality Islam is strictly anti-violence, ex-
cept in cases where violence is used as self-defence.

An analogy would be that Christianity is a peace-loving religion, but if nations

with Christian rulers and Christian citizens wage a war against other countries,
e.g. USA war of Vietnam in 1967, does that automatically imply that Christianity
is a religion which promotes war and that all Christians are inherently violent? In
this case the decision makers were Christians, and many of the people who were
conscripted were also Christians, but to follow this up by suggesting that it was
their adherence to the Christianity religion which led to the war rather than polit -
ical and regional aims has never been the mainstream view. Similarly, if
Buddhism were to be judged by the conduct of the Buddhist monks in Myanmar
then Buddhism would have to give up its claim to pacifism. Thus, what I am try-
ing to propose is that equating a teaching (Islam, Christianity, Buddhism or any
other teaching) with its followers is problematic but since this is how cultural im-
perialism works this is a deliberate policy. So, for instance the Buddhist monks,
in collusion with the Myanmar military, have been complicit in genocide are por-
trayed thus by the BBC

Rohingya crisis: Meeting Myanmar's hardline Buddhist monksdv

Please note how the monks in the above news are merely “hardline” and not “ter-
rorists”. Apparently, perpetrators of acts like “Indiscriminate killing; villages
burned to the ground; children assaulted; women gang-raped” dvi which are con-
sidered to be "the gravest crimes under international law" are merely “hardline”
and not “terrorists” when their religion is any other than Islam. Similarly, in the
case of the above mentioned Craig Hicks, despite strong evidence that the
murders were fuelled by anti-Muslim hate, the police and the media refused to la-

193
bel these heinous murders as terrorism but instead labelled them as a “hate-
crime.”dvii

Creating confusion in the minds of serious seekers: Another problem of con-

sidering the teachings and the followers the same is that for a serious seeker of
truth, this kind of framing could lead to being in a constant state of doubt and
confusion at a certain time a casual observer might accept/reject the teachings
based on her observations of the followers without going to the source. So, for in-
stance if a seeker happens to come across people who are Muslims and is im-
pressed by their conduct, she may be willing to consider Islam in positive light.
However, if at some other times she sees other Muslims whose conduct is un-
worthy she might become double minded about her decision. This confusion sets
from framing the message and the followers as the same. However, if one differ-
entiated between the message and the followers and went to the source in the first
place, then it may be possible to arrive at an understanding which may be more
solid and less prone to doubts and confusions.

Why scapegoat Islam?

In the introduction to this part I have explained how the perception regarding
Muslims is dependent upon the extent to which they are considered an existential
threat. While anti-Muslim rhetoric has been a more or less constant in Western
scholarship since early days of Islam, the degree of vitriol and hatred has been
more fluid. Although there have been periods when negative stereotyping and ca-
ricaturing has been at its peak, there have been other times when things have
been relatively quiet.

Political Islam. However, since the last three decades or so this rhetoric has
again been notched up, with “political Islam” being the new demon which needs
to be subdued and exterminated. In her article on Political Islam, Deepa Kumar
talks about the argument made by Bernard Lewis. dviii He proposes that whereas
the West made a distinction between religion and politics as a result of Enlight -
enment, the Muslims were unable to do so because there was no similar scientific
and philosophical awakening in the Muslim world. According to him, while at
one point the Muslims admired the West for its achievements this

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“mood of admiration and emulation has, among many Muslims, given way to one
of hostility and rejection.”dix

He goes on to add that this mood of hostility and rejection “is no less than a
clash of civilizations—the perhaps irrational but surely historic reaction of an
ancient rival against our Judeo-Christian heritage, our secular present, and the
worldwide expansion of both.”dx

What he and other such partisan intellectuals fail to mention is that the West, des-
pite the end of formal colonialism in the 1960s has continued its dominance over
the Middle East and elsewhere through pliant local rulers. Since imperialism is
based on plunder of indigenous wealth, (cotton, jute, spices, minerals, slave la-
bour in slightly older times and primarily oil in our times) the USA and its allies
have invaded, attacked, and controlled countries from Egypt, to the Gulf mon-
archies to Afghanistan and Iraq. dxiWhile forming alliances with corrupt rulers
who are not accountable to their people is one way, waging war against people
whose rulers show some degree of independence has always been a desirable op-
tion for the United States. These wars, which are for the plunder and loot of indi -
genous wealth, are then framed as interventions based on human rights and
democracy and are sold to the home population as courageous acts of a brave na-
tion.

Here is an excerpt from a report on how to make Iraq democratic

Democracy lies at the heart of all of these discussions. President George.

W.Bush himself declared, “All Iraqis must have a voice in the new government,
and all citizens must have their rights protected.” As members of a prosperous
democratic society, U.S. citizens innately believe that democracy would be good
for Iraqis too. The most optimistic have even offered a vision of a future Iraq as a
“City on the Hill” for the Arab world that would inspire democracy throughout
the Middle East and beyond.”dxii

And here are some comments regarding Afghanistan

American policy must bear much of the blame for this state of affairs. Had the
United States not intervened in Iraq but devoted the immense resources it spent
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there on Afghanistan instead, perhaps the security situation in Afghanistan could
have been stabilized; perhaps democratization would then have had a better
chance to take root. More important, though, the American-led democratization
effort in Afghanistan appears to have been flawed from the beginning.dxiii (em-
phasis mine)

This coupled with US support for Israel has created great anger in Muslim-major-
ity societies and has been one reason why there is a backlash against dominant
imperialist values. However, rather than explain the Muslim uprising as political
expression of hate and anger, it is more convenient to label them as the irrational
acts of a people who are fundamentally violent, crazy and sociopaths simply be-
cause of their religion. That hard-line/extremist Muslim movements have also
been able to use this anger for their own ends and by framing their political
struggles as a holy war or “jihad” have been able to recruit ordinary people to
their cause is an interesting facet of knowledge creation and framing.

Transformatory power of Islam: promotion of unity, sisterhood and social

justice: I believe another reason that Islam has been constantly scapegoated since
its inception is because of the message itself. Although it is a continuation of the
Judeo-Christian message in contrast to Judaism wits its narrow focus on Jews as
chosen people and Christianity with its stress on the Church as an intermediary
between people and God, Islam is a religion for all humanity and offers a direct
connection with Almighty.

And when My servants ask you, [O Muhammad], concerning Me - indeed I am

near. I respond to the invocation of the supplicant when he calls upon Me. So let
them respond to Me [by obedience] and believe in Me that they may be [rightly]
guided. (2:186)

The message stresses that becoming a believer is a choice which is open to all
people and this choice should be made only after careful thought and rational
analysis.

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And of His signs is [that] He shows you the lightening [causing] fear and aspira-
tion, and He sends down rain from the sky by which He brings to life the earth
after its lifelessness. Indeed in that are signs for a people who use reason (30:24)

It also talks about a universal sister hood as opposed to narrow tribalism; I would
go so far as to say that it stresses human interconnectedness and social justice in
relation with other creation, whatever their outside form be (like animals, plants
or mountains, seas, and other galaxies).

And of His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the diversity of
your languages and your colors. Indeed in that are signs for those of knowledge.
(31:20)

It also openly acknowledges the material and spiritual side of human existence
and is quite complementary to science and scientific discoveries.

Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and earth, and the alternation of the night
and the day, and the [great] ships which sail through the sea with that which be -
nefits people, and what Allah has sent down from the heavens of rain, giving life
thereby to the earth after its lifelessness and dispersing therein every [kind of]
moving creature, and [His] directing of the winds and the clouds controlled
between the heaven and the earth are signs for a people who use reason.(2:164)

I think that it is because of these virtues that the message has been deliberately
blackballed because were the true message understood by people it would lead to
a radical way of organizing individual and collective life; in such a way of being
the focus would be on morality, social justice, and on achieving individual and
collective potential rather than on ruthless competition and exploitation. This ma-
terial-spiritual way of living, based on love rather than hate, is totally unaccept-
able to the few who thrive on division and hate, hence the concerted efforts to
malign and obscure any message which could benefit humanity at large.

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Part Four: Conclusion

198
Chapter Seventeen:

Barriers to understanding

Dear readers, now that we are nearly at the end of the book I hope that some of
you may feel more knowledgeable about dominant structures and may have some
strong arguments to take on people who are advocates of domination and oppres-
sion be they supporters of Muslim patriarchy, imperialism, secularism or other
similar structures. However, before you get into any such dialogue, I would like
to share some rejoinders and counter responses that you may encounter so that
you are well prepared for what you may face.

Denial: What patriarchy or what domination? The most common way which
keeps oppressive structures in place is to deny that they exist in the first place.
The deniers can be the architect of the structure or the primary, secondary or ter-
tiary beneficiaries but since they are the winners of this dominant construction,
they will use every ruse in the book to not see and deny what is going on. Their
answers may vary from “patriarchy is a figment of men-hating feminists” to “im-
perialism is so last century phenomenon as things are so much better now.”

One way this denial is kept going is by making oppression invisible. Because the
default position of framing issues in dominant structures is dominant group
centred therefore this invisibility is an important technique in this construction.
The oppressed people will either be given no voice or space to tell their stories or
their contributions and work will be devalued and made invisible. For example,
patriarchy doesn’t consider women’s housework as real serious work, but if a
man does the same work then he is glorified as if he is doing something very im-
portant and a deviation from the norm. Similarly, while men may keep the myth

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of male-supremacy going by believing they compete and beat other men fair and
square, it is in their interest to be blind to the unfair advantages they get due to
the many domestic chores that their wives, mothers, sister perform on their be-
half. (like cooking for them, doing their laundry, raising children, listening to
their stories etc.)

Another way the system serves the architects and the beneficiaries is by making
the oppressors invisible. An example could be the drone strikes which are carried
out by USA in its imperial foreign policy. By framing the victims who are blown
to pieces as “collateral damage” not only is this appalling crime against humanity
whitewashed but in fact by employing language which severs the connection
between the murdered as human beings, imperialists can mislead people into
thinking that the damage was inflicted on things rather than people. I personally
recall reading the term collateral damage in the newspapers without having a clue
that it referred to human beings, as my understanding was that this damage was
to building and roads, and being shell-shocked when I realized that the term was
talking about innocent women, men and children.

This invisibility of the oppressors and the oppressed allows the dominant group
to coast through life without much awareness of the causes or consequences of
privilege and the social oppression they produce. Thus, they can take partake in
constructing and participating in norms, customs, laws and policies which en-
trench power in their favour and not even consider it as a system biased towards
them. At some point if changes occur due to which the oppressors have to ac -
commodate the oppressed within them, the dominant group can produce ideas
and knowledge which label the oppressed as “others” and as people who are
looking for shortcuts and affirmative action plans so they can advance at the ex-
pense of the others. Thus, any man or any imperialist who is not overtly sexist or
overtly imperialist can show solidarity with the “others” by making the right
noises and by being an advocate of equality without discomforting himself from
making any fundamental changes in her own worldview and actions.

Some other ways denial can be manifested is by denying that a problem even ex-
ists (Muslim men don’t rape women); by acknowledging that a problem exists
but it is not too serious (women are wired for caring roles); blaming the victim
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(the woman was inviting rape by being dressed like a slut ; labelling the crime as
something else (rape as bad sex dxiv); not labelling the issue as a moral issue; or a
state of affairs about which nothing can be done.

Social systems, like individuals, are self-justifying and self-replicating structures,

so they too exhibit denial in varying forms. The inbuilt tendency of maintain nor-
malcy and the status quo puts systems on the path of least resistance where any
problem that arises is attributed to anything other than the system itself. Because
systems of privileges are organized in favour of the interests of the dominant
groups denial serves privilege by creating barriers for anyone to challenge the
system. The hierarchical system is itself a barrier as people on lower hierarchies
risk not only their own lives, but also their families lives if they start showing
their will, anger and resentment openly. An example could be the crime of hon-
our killings; countless women and girls all over the globe have lost their lives
(and their relatives too) when they have taken on their patriarchal family. dxv

Some less extreme but equally violent examples are when women try to convince
their male relatives to become aware and awake. The scenario can be as everyday
as an earnest husband asking his wife to explain why she is constantly tired and
angry all the time and then falling asleep mid-way or becoming distracted when
she is doing just that. Another could be settings where male friends accuse wo-
men of being “very angry” and “emotional” when they talk about oppressive
structures. Others could be to label men’s behaviour as normal heterosexual be-
haviour, where men are just being “naughty,” or “boys,” or “cute,” or “fooling
around or horsing around” while exactly the same behaviours by women are la-
belled as “slutty,” “shameful,” “vulgar,” “being a vile seductress.” Any attempt
at calling out the hypocrisy is waved away by cute statements like “life is too
short, so lighten up” and “men just don’t get it so no point in trying to explain
something they are not wired to get. dxviAll these settings invalidate women’s lived
experiences and make them into lesser beings.

Women and non-imperialists as co-creators and collaborators in oppressive

structures. Since social systems like patriarchy, secularism and imperialism are
built on interactions between men and women the story is put forward that since
men and women both are participants, therefore the structures are created with
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mutual cooperation and collusion. In such an understanding, since such structures
are supported by both men and women, there is no need to make a big deal out of
it. The answer to this is, that although it is true that women have learn to co-exist
with powerful men, as rebellion can lead to extermination and other losses, their
getting along with the status-quo is not a signal of their happiness with such a
state of affairs.

Since oppressive systems normalize pain, conflict and tensions and label them as
individual problems, as opposed to the consequence of the system itself, any ten-
sion generated in the psyche and in social relations is attributed to individual fail-
ings, or personal weaknesses, or simply an excitable nature. Thus, many women
may find the path of least resistance as one where they not only accept their cir-
cumstances but may actively work to keep the oppressive structures intact. I
think this collusion is more to do with the need to identify with the dominant
group, as this identification makes up for sense of shame at being inferior and
enables the co-operators to become oppressors in turn, and to get some part of the
rewards which may otherwise be denied to them. However, this co-optation does
not mean that women and men are equal co-creators of patriarchy, or that the sys-
tem serves their interests equally well.

So, in such an oppressive system, women will find ways to exist and find power
and influence in whatever roles and functions are assigned to them. Thus, if patri-
archy makes women into sexual property then women will find ways to control
that property to their own advantage; similarly, if they are confined to being emo-
tional caregivers then they will do their utmost to use emotion as leverage.

Similarly, when imperialism is imposed on prey population it suits the oppressors

to portray the prey as happy collaborators who like and need the superior values
which the colonizers bring. Thus, Lord Macaulay, one of the well-known archi-
tects of UK imperialism could say without any shame that

“The languages of Western Europe civilised Russia. I cannot doubt that they will
do for the Hindoo what they have done for the Tartr…We must at present do our
best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom

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we govern; a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste,
opinions, in morals, and intellect.” dxvii

False Parallels: A particularly effective smokescreen to keep oppression going is

to create false parallels where none exist. By equating the dominant class with
the dominated and treating them as collaborators the underwriters of oppression
deny the lived reality of the different classes within that system. Thus in a patri -
archal setting, men deny that such a system gives women and men different in-
terests, resources and experiences; rather the fiction is maintained that all people
have the same power, that they all participate in the same way, they have the
same reasons and that the consequences are the same too. This is done by por-
traying men and women as interchangeable in social situations and by showing
that women have power too, or that often men are the victims of abuse at the
hands of women.

For instance, one example of how a false parallel is created by saying that while
it is true that cultural myths treat women as unclean and temptresses this is bal -
anced out by framing the (Christian) Devil as a male figure; thus, this stereotyp-
ing is not a specifically a women’s issue but rather a human issue. The answer to
this smokescreen is that the Devil is not considered evil because of his maleness
but rather because of his disobedience to God. Eve on the other hand is inher-
ently evil and flawed because of her femaleness. In the first case the Devil’s
gender has nothing to do with his evilness whereas the latter case is framed en-
tirely on Eve’s gender. Such parallel comparisons make it easier to mask patri-
archy and to deflect any critical examination about power and privilege.

Thus, when women complain that life is hard for them, men jump in with their
experiences of difficulties, without considering for a moment that the two lived
experiences are completely different. So, for instance while negative stereotypes
(men are thick; they have two left-feet;) can hurt men on an individual level the
idea of maleness itself isn’t rooted in values of being dangerous, inferior, ridicu-
lous, disgusting, impure, unclean. Prejudice against women, on the other hand,
has far-reaching individual, social and spiritual consequences, with examples
ranging from women criminals being treated more harshly by the justice sys-
tem,dxviii to single mothers being excluded from food stamps dxixto being forcibly
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sterilizeddxx.Every expression of female prejudice corresponds to a system of
privilege and oppression which while harming individual women fuels the under-
lying structure which harms women more deeply and differently than does indi-
vidual male prejudice.

Men as victims: Another trick to keep patriarchy going is to show, often with
evidence that men too are at a disadvantage. Arguments like men die younger
than women, are more likely to be killed, or suffer from more diseases are pro-
duced to prove that men are victims too. However, what needs to be understood
is that this misery which men face is not due to patriarchy per se but other forms
of oppression which are in play simultaneously. An economic structure like cap-
italism, which is skewed in favour of the wealthy and against the poor, will
greatly oppress the poor male labourer; however, coupled with patriarchy, the ef-
fects of oppression on poor women will be much more damaging. While patri-
archy favours men over women, other structures like race, class, sexual orienta-
tion, and disability will affect how much privilege each man gets to enjoy and
how he experiences it. When men claim victim-hood, that is because of the other
forces at work, and not because of patriarchy per se; however, it is only because
of patriarchy that the most marginalized and oppressed man can claim superiority
over his own wife by proudly wearing the title of head-of-the-household.

Real power is with women: One of the most popular rejoinders to deny that men
are specially privileged is the idea that women have power too, especially in their
roles as mothers.dxxiThe rational is that since nature has endowed women with
creative powers, thus no matter what men do they cannot compete with women in
this regard. Men, on the other hand, have to work hard to achieve any distinction
in life so the truth is that it is the women and not the men who have an unfair ad -
vantage! What this story does is trap women into thinking their primary reason
for being is mother-hood; coupled with the story that good mothers are self-sacri-
ficing and unconditionally loving it sets up cultural expectation where mothers
who try to be more than just mothers are ridiculed, shamed and humiliated. The
mother-power myth keeps women unclear and distracted about themselves and
their potential and allows agents of patriarchy (fathers, husbands, physicians,
child development experts etc.) to control them.

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205
Epilogue

Dear readers, we are finally at the end of the book, the primary theme of which
was to address why women across the globe face violence and oppression. When
I was addressing this question from the Islamic perspective I questioned if the
Quran and other complementary texts are misogynistic texts or is misogyny an
attitude which is prevalent in Muslims. As a Muslim I approached the issue from
the perspective of a Muslim woman who was disturbed by an androcentric Cre-
ator and wanted to find out wanted to find out if any alternatives were available.
The second issue was to explore the reasons of why women in the secular world
are also subjected to similar violence and oppression; in that part I have tried to
show that secularism is as fundamentally misogynistic as mainstream Islamic
knowledge. As a non-secular person, I approached this issue from the perspective
of a woman whose lived experience is deeply impacted by what is produced in
secular countries.

When I started writing this book, I was unaware that the same framework, that is
of power and dominant groups would illuminate both perspectives, but to my sur-
prise it does so quite well. As a non-secular woman, I can now see much more
clearly how the dominant group narrative has been shaping and colouring my un-
derstanding and perspectives about my religion and my world. Living in a patri -
archal, imperialistic world, where these world-views are taken to be the natural
order of existing social arrangements, I can now understand that when I believed
I was unworthy to my Creator, it was not the Creator who was saying so, but
rather interpretations of the Quranic verses which were often undertaken by an-
drocentric and misogynistic interpreters within patriarchal Muslim empires. Re-
framing a gender-less Creator as a male figure and redistributing the original
206
egalitarian gender-relation framework in their own favour, most Muslim intellec-
tuals have knowingly and deliberately committed intellectual fraud ceaselessly
over the last fourteen hundred years. As per the dominant framework, to expect
the majority of the interpreters of the current era to acknowledge this intellectual
fraud, and to leave the dominant group with all its entitlements and privileges
willingly would be an exercise in wishful thinking.

Similarly, when I was disquieted by following a religion which was considered

archaic, barbaric and out-dated that was the workings of cultural imperialism at
its best. By presenting Quran as a text which promotes violence, both in domestic
sphere as well as in public places, and whose followers are barbaric cruel sub-hu-
mans, nations with imperial designs have made their hegemonic and cruel
policies palpable not only to their own public but have also made the taking of
innocent Muslim lives completely guilt-free. Again, to expect the members of
this group to walk away from the entitlements accrued by virtue of membership
would be simplistic. Any effort to dismantle such systems and to redistribute en-
titlements and privileges will have to come from the non-dominant groups them-
selves.

What complicates this situation further is that a person can belong to a number of
different groups where the power dynamics may be quite different, e.g. as a wo-
man a person may in a non-dominant position due to her sex, but the same wo-
man maybe a member of the dominant elite class if she is from a wealthy back-
ground. In such situations, where more than one force is at play, it seems to be
easier for people to acknowledge they are being oppressed, but extremely diffi-
cult for them to admit that they are simultaneously oppressors too. So, for in-
stance, in my part of the world, where hiring domestic staff to do household
chores is the norm, and where working women like me want regulated working
hours as well as other facilities like day-cares at work so that we can maintain a
healthy work-life balance, it would seem only fair and just that we would want to
give our domestic staff the same facilities.

However, it is not unusual to hear both women and men not only deny the do-
mestic workforce similar facilities, but enthusiastically advocate the opposite. In
fact, I often hear women who complain of being overworked at office say
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without any feeling of dissonance that their often overburdened house maids are
lazy and are always looking out for ways to avoid work. Another example is
where women may want respect and equality for themselves from their husbands
and in-laws, yet actively encourage their sons to treat their daughters-in-laws as
shabbily as possible. Many horrendous crimes against women are committed by
the collusion of women. For instance, in India mothers actively help sons in
burning women who are thought to have brought insufficient dowry. dxxiiThis hy-
pocritical mindset, where we want one thing for ourselves, yet actively work to
avoid others getting the same is set out in the Quran in the following way:

Woe to those who give less [than due], Who, when they take a measure from
people, take in full. But if they give by measure or by weight to them, they cause
loss. Do they not think that they will be resurrected for a tremendous Day -The
Day when mankind will stand before the Lord of the worlds? (83:1-6)

To me the spirit of the above verse is about hypocrisy and how without any feel-
ing of guilt we apply one standard to our own conduct while a completely differ-
ent one to others. Another verse where Quran calls out people for saying one
thing while not doing the same themselves is

Do you order righteousness of the people and forget yourselves while you recite
the Scripture? Then will you not reason? (2:44)

This concept, where we can blatantly apply two different standards to the same
conduct is called rationalisation in psychology. What it means is that in order to
justify our conduct we apply reasonings and logics which will try to make a dis-
tinction between the conduct in question; thus a woman who wants respect for
her own self may justify not giving the same respect to her maid/daughter-in-law
by rationalising that the maid/daughter-in-law is rude, inattentive and inherently
lazy thus it is all right to shout at her and call her names and even physically
strike her. Similarly, white feminists find it convenient to deny the lived experi-
ences of oppressed black womendxxiii while Muslim feminists may find it easy to
devalue experiences of women who belong to a different sect. Here I am re-
minded of a quote by R.D.Laing

208
“We are all murderers and prostitutes-no matter to what culture, society, class,
nation one belongs, no matter how normal, moral, or mature one takes oneself to
be.”

My understanding of the above sentiment is that deep inside we have a dark core
which makes it easy for us to judge others for sinning, while being completely
oblivious to the idea that we are sinners too, only of a different kind. Thus, while
we all condemn murderers and prostitutes for their shameful sins, we like to for-
get that just because we haven’t committed these sins yet does not mean that that
we may not become murderers or prostitutes in the future, or that we have not
committed other sins which may be far worse than these ones. Were we to be-
come better aware of our own failings and moral lapses perhaps we might be able
to show more humility and compassion for the plight of others.

I think one way out of this dilemma where we are pulled and pushed by different
forces, and where we are conflicted by the various roles we are playing, is to un-
derstand that if we want true freedom for ourselves, then we will have to let go of
others we have enslaved, either deliberately or un-knowingly. Different people
may understand liberation differently, but I think true liberation comes when a
person is not only free herself but has no desire to control and dominate others. It
seems only right that people who don’t like being powerless in one setting should
try not to dominate others where they are in a superior position. Implicit in this
acknowledgement is the idea that no matter how powerless we may be in one
role, we may have more power in other areas, and it is only by giving up our con-
trol over others that we can be free ourselves.

Another point I would like to mention is that throughout the book I have tried to
show that knowledge is not neutral but rather it is socially constructed in the ser-
vice of bigger social forces. However, to come to the intellectual realization that
knowledge is not neutral, but rather it has been constructed to serve the interests
of patriarchy, secularism, and cultural imperialism is one thing; to open one’s
heart to this understanding and to throw away the weight of accumulated know-
ledge and wisdom is completely different. From a Muslim perspective, while on
a rational level a seeker may realize that if one wants to understand the message
then one has to go back to the only source which has been sanctified by Almighty
209
himself, the one and only sublime Quran yet she may still hesitate because there
are a number of formidable obstacles that she will have to cross some of which I
am listing below.

Obstacles in seeking the Light:

(Note: some obstacles given here concern Muslim women exclusively, but I be-
lieve the others are equally applicable in a secular framework.)

A subtle obstacle may be that since women are glorified for their supposedly
high tolerance for pain, especially in childbearing, for many female seekers a
pain-filled life may be considered a natural way of being. Thus, many of us will
not even realize that other ways of being are possible; while most of us may not
even acknowledge the pain others may rationalize it as being the cost one has to
pay to lead a moral and upright life and thus not even become a seeker.

Once this hurdle has been crossed and seekers are ready to begin their search,
probably the biggest hurdle they will face is the way misogynistic hadith and jur-
isprudence literature has been preserved. The way Islam has been taught and
propagated via the Islamic schools over the last fourteen hundred or so years has
resulted in the Islamic literature, especially the hadith and jurisprudence scholar-
ship, becoming more important than the Quran itself; in fact in some schools of
Islamic law the Quran is barely consulted and all the curriculum is based on the
hadith and jurisprudence.

The sanctity of this human literature has been maintained by manufacturing and
promoting hadiths which have made critical analysis of the Quran and Hadith it-
self a sin thus closing it to any critical scrutiny. When someone tries to go back
to the Quran as the primary source, she is not only ridiculed for considering her
own intellect to be superior but is castigated as being a denier of the Prophet’s
legacy. She may argue passionately that she is not a denier of the Prophet’s way;
in fact when she asserts that Quran does not allow husband to beat their wives,
she is following his example, because there is not even one incident of the
Prophet hitting his wives even in times of immense marital challenges, but all de-
bate is futile. What matters is what the Prophet said, not what he did! And all that

210
he apparently said, even when contrary to what he did, is set in stone, hence un-
questionable. What is amazing is that this remarkable obstinacy is in complete
contrast to the Quran, which encourages people to use their own intellect in dis-
covering their Creator.

Another challenge is that if a seeker somehow does manage to find the courage to
consider Quran the primary source, with Hadith and fiqh being supplementary,
and comes across certain hadiths or some legal opinions which seem to be in dir-
ect violation to the Quran, will she be willing to follow the message while letting
go of the traditions, no matter how firmly believed? That is, will she be willing to
walk the walk and forge her own independent path; although some may dare to
do so this is an even bigger challenge for the following reasons:

(1) Firstly, this transition requires a person graduating from an infantile-mode

into one of adult-mode. An infant is someone who has to let others make de-
cisions for her because of constraints of age, whereas an adult is someone who
make her decisions freely. While in theory it seems that the best decision making
should be done rationally, that is analyse all possible options based on one’s cur-
rent knowledge, and then after weighing the pros and cons choose the best, in
reality most of us avoid conscious decision making. The reason is that if our de-
cision is truly our own choice then we will have to accept responsibility for its
consequences which may turn out to be favourable or unfavourable. However,
for most of us accepting responsibility seems to be almost impossible, so rather
than be adults, most of us prefer to remain in infantile mode. What this regression
allows us to do is to block and deflect any blame or recrimination on ourselves; if
things don’t go according to plan, we can say with a clean conscience that since
we did not make this decision, it is not our responsibility.

(2) The second reason why one may not follow her own path is our deep need to
remain part of the group. Since loneliness and separation and its accompanying
anxiety is the deepest hidden fear of humans, they will try their utmost to remain
part of the herd. Any decision which may entail exile from the group is to be
avoided at all costs. And it is almost certain that independence of mind and
thought by the few will be rewarded with exile by the many, as most of us like
things to remain as they are and will subtly and un-subtly punish those who try to
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rock the boat. The exile inflicted by the herd on the ones who are trying to strike
out on their own can lead to physical, emotional, mental or spiritual breakdowns;
fearing such a fate many of us may just find it easier to let things be.

(3) The third reason is that the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual effort re-
quired to first discover the path and then to walk the walk itself becomes an
obstacle, as this walk must be walked daily, weekly, monthly, yearly till the end
of life. The Quran talks about an idea called “jihad,” an Arabic word meaning
struggle, and while it does include a struggle outside, in its true spirit it encom -
passes a struggle with one’s own self. Thus, walking the path is a struggle not
only against inertia and laziness but against complacency. According to a
Chinese proverb

You never enter the same river twice

My understanding of this is that life is dynamic at every moment as it is not only

the outside environment that is changing but we ourselves are also changing. In
such a situation our ways of looking and interpreting the world cannot remain
static, as both the observer and the observed are constantly transforming. For
many of us this dynamism becomes extremely problematic, as it requires the ac-
ceptance of our perpetual ignorance. So rather than accept our ignorance and
struggle to find ways of being enlightened, many of us choose to deny this dy-
namism, and prefer to live within the safety and security of out-dated ways of be-
ing.

What all these psychological factors mean in the context of seeking is that for
most of us making the choice to follow our path is too difficult, and many of us
may prefer to remain in the current state than seek any altered state of being. I
don’t know how many will be able to take this road, but I believe that for those
who do make the choice of discovering and walking the path, the ultimate reward
is freedom-freedom from illusion and freedom from false knowledge. Such a per-
son will understand that she is Almighty’s vice-regent on earth and is responsible
for the well-being of not only herself, but others around her; in her role as an
autonomous agent she will accept responsibilities, duties and obligations which
others may find agonizing. To a casual observer such a person may appear to be

212
exactly as she was before, often constrained by socio-economic, political and cul-
tural factors, but a subtle observer may see her for what she truly is-a soul free in
body, mind and spirit, a joy to her own self and a blessing for others.

May Almighty make us all free. Amen.

213
Acknowledgements:

Dear readers, many thanks to all of you for reading this book and for coming this
far. Before parting company, I would like to acknowledge that nothing in this
book is original, as all that I have written is based on the work of people who
have courageously taken on patriarchy, imperialism and oppression much before,
and much more eloquently than I could ever do. While I have used different
sources, including books, academic articles, newspaper articles and websites, I
have been especially inspired by the works of Allan Johnson, Ziba Mir-Hosseini,
Azizah al-Hibri, Asma Barlas, Leila Ahmed, Amina Wadud, Joan Wallach Scott,
research conducted by Innocenti Institute, Deepa Kumar, and Nathan Lean.

In fact, I humbly acknowledge that their original work is much more subtle, com-
plex, and nuanced than this book and is well worth the time and effort of being
read in entirety. It is also highly likely that I may have understood their work dif-
ferently than what they may have intended. While giving new meaning to exist-
ing work is what makes knowledge alive and dynamic, there is always the danger
of projecting something completely opposed to the original. If any of the original
authors read this work and feel that I have misconstrued their views, please ac-
cept my apologies in advance.

I would also like to acknowledge Wikipedia, which I have consulted extensively

for this work, and would like to offer my thanks to the countless unseen and un-
celebrated volunteers who take out time to enrich this great public online library.
As a novice author I found it extremely difficult to navigate copyright issues, so I
am truly grateful that Wikipedia is there for people like me. Some well-wishers
did express the views that Wikipedia is not a reliable source so I should not be

214
referencing it so frequently; my opinion in this matter is that it is the responsibil-
ity of the writer to make sure what she is referencing checks out from other
knowledge sources, be it Wikipedia or any other source. Although I have not
cross-checked every reference, I have found Wikipedia to pass the reliable test by
and large.

I would also like to acknowledge my immediate family and extended family,

without whom I would not be the person that I am. By extended family I mean
the people with whom I share bonds of love, which to me are as sacred as bonds
of blood. In this broad category I include friends, their families, my teachers, my
colleagues and everyone else from whom I have learned, irrespective of whether
I met them in person or not.

I close with the prayer that at least some parts of this book, if not all, will inspire
women both religious and secular, to become more aware of their potential and
of the power Almighty (or nature) has vested in them as agents of peace and so-
cial justice. I hope that by becoming aware that is not God or nature who has de-
valued them but rather a male-driven patriarchal setup, they may be more willing
to actively play their role in creating knowledge, laws, policies, norms and cus-
toms which are inclusive and emancipatory to humanity and creation, irrespect-
ive of gender, class, colour, religion, nationality etc. I also hope that the issues
raised by this book will encourage some men, both Muslim and secular, to reflect
that although having power over women (and other men) may seem to be attract-
ive, this constant struggle to maintain adversarial relations takes it spiritual and
psychological toll on them too. If men surrender to accepting the friendship of
women (and men) as coequals, and learn to coexist with love and harmony, they
may realize tremendous opportunities for true growth and development and
achieve far more than they are otherwise able to do.

215
Appendix: Further Readings

Feminist Islamic Work

Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate (1992) Leila
Ahmed

Contemporary Issues in Islam (2015) Asma Afsaruddin

Women, Family, and Gender in Islamic Law (2008) Judith E. Tucker

In the House of the Law (2000) Judith E. Tucker

Shari’ah on Trial: Northern Nigeria’s Islamic Revolution (2017) Sarah Eltantawi

Women and The Transmission of Religious Knowledge in Islam (2015) Asma

Sayeed

Women in The Mosque: A History of Legal Though and Social Practice (2014)
Marion Holmes Katz

Sexual Ethics in Islam: Feminists Reflection on Quran, Hadith and Jurisprudence

(2016) Kecia Ali

Marriage and Slavery in Early Islam (2010) Kecia Ali

The Veil and the Male Elite: A Feminist Interpretation of Women’s Rights in Is-
lam (1992) Fatima Mernissi

The Forgotten Queens of Islam (1997) Fatima Mernissi

216
Islam and Gender:The Religious Debate in Contemporary Iran(1999)Ziba Mir-
Hosseini

Men in Charge? Rethinking Authority in the Muslim Legal Tradition (2015) eds
Ziba Mir-Hosseini, Mulki Al-Sharmani, Jana Rumminger

The Islamic Worldview:Islamic Jurisprudence-An American Muslim Perspective

(2015) Azizah Al-Hibri

Speaking In God’s Name: Islamic Law, Authority And Women (2001 )Khaled
Abou El Fadl

Muslima Theology: The Voices of Muslim Women Theologians (2013) eds Ed-
nan Aslan, Marcia K.Hermansen, elif Medeni

Qur’an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman’s Perspective
(1999) Amina Wadud

“Believing Women” in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Readings Of The Quran

(2002) Asma Barlas

Gender Equity in Islam: Basic Principles (1999) Dr Jamal A.Badawi

Marriage, Money And Divorce In Medieval Society (2005)Yossef Rapoport

Woman versus Man: Socio-legal Gender Inequality in Pakistan (2003) Rashida

Patel

Sufi Narratives of Intimacy:Ibn’ Arabi, Gender and Sexuality(2017) Sadiyya

Shaikh

Feminism in Islam (1999) Riffat Hassan in Feminism and World Religions edited
by Arvind Sharma and Katharine K.Young State University of New York Press
pp248-278

Some websites:

http://karamah.org/about

217
www.sistersinislam.org.

www.zibamirhosseini.com

https://www.musawah.org/

www.riffathassan.info

http://www.keciaali.com/

Readings on patriarchy, gender, feminism, and secularism

The Gender Knot: Unraveling Our Patriarchal Legacy (1997) Allan Johnson

What is patriarchy? Gender Basics (2004) Kamla Bhasin

Understanding Gender (2000)Kamla Bhasin

Patriarchy: Theorizing Feminism Series (2007) V. Geetha

The End of Patriarchy: Radical Feminism for Men (2017) Robert Jensen

The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty are used Against Women (1990)
Naomi Wolf

50 Key Concepts in Gender Studies (2004) Jane Pilcher and Imelda Whelehan

Undoing Gender (2004) Judith Butler

Women and Power: A Manifesto (2017) Mary Beard

Why does Patriarchy Persist? (2018) by Carol Gilligan and Naomi Snider

Delusions of Gender: How our Minds. Society and Neurosexism Create Differ-
ence (2011) Cordelia Fine

The Gendered Brain: The New Neuroscience that Shatters the Myth of the Fe-
male Brain (to be released) Gina Rippon

Why I Am Not A Feminist: A Feminist Manifesto (2017) Jessica Crispin

218
Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger (2018) Rebecca
Traister

Sex and Secularism (2017) Joan Wallach Scott

Formations of the Secular: Christianity, Islam, Modernity (2003) Talal Asad

Encountering Religion: Responsibility and Criticism after Secularism (2017)

Tyler Roberts

Black Freethinkers: A History of African American Secularism (to be released)

Christopher Cameron

Religion of the Field Negro: On Black Secularism and Black Theology (2017)
Vincent W.Lloyd

Readings on Imperialism

Orientalism (1978) Edward Said

Culture and Imperialism (1994) Edward Said

Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire (2012) Deepa Kumar

The Fear of Islam: An Introduction to Islamophobia in the West (2015) Todd H. -

Green

American Islamophobia: Understanding the Roots and Rise of Fear (2018)

Khaled E. Beydoun

The Islamophobia Industry: How the Right Manufactures Hatred of Muslims

(2012) Nathan Lean

Islamophobia: Making Muslims The Enemy (2007) Peter Gottschalk and Gabriel
Greenberg

Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies A People (2014) Jack Shaheen

The Politics of the Veil (2010) Joan Wallach Scott

219
Islamophobia and Racism in America (2017) Erik Love

Notes:

Prologue:

220
i
Cultural imperialism is an important aspect of secularism; I address the issue of cultural imperialism and islamophobia
in a separate chapter.
ii
:https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/may/25/harvey-weinstein-arrest-movie-mogul-downfall-what-happened

https://images.dawn.com/news/1178603
iii
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/30/arts/television/louis-ck-returns-metoo.html
iv
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me_Too_movement
v
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/jul/31/metoo-campus-universities-sexual-assaults-women
vi
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/03/01/vatican-magazine-hits-clergys-exploitation-nuns/
vii
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/17/world/europe/france-harassment-twitter-weinstein.html
viii
https://nation.com.pk/29-Apr-2018/-metoo-in-pakistan
ix
https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/936826/Anne-Marie-Duff-Shameless-Me-Too-Harvey-Weinstein-James-
McAvoy
x
https://www.thelily.com/academias-metoo-moment-im-really-struck-by-how-endemic-this-is/
xi
https://labour.org.uk/press/corbyn-announce-package-workplace-policies-hospitality-workers/
xii
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-44045291
xiii
http://www.alperservices.com/blog/2018/02/think-manufacturers-arent-affected-by-the-metoo-movement-think-again/
xiv
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/01/racism-harassment-aid-sector-oxfam
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/16/one-in-three-un-workers-say-they-have-been-sexually-harassed-in-past-
two-years
xv
http://www.indianchild.com/sati_in_india.htm
xvi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch-hunt
xvii
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_pre-Islamic_Arabia
xviii
https://www.theguardian.com/education/mortarboard/2014/jan/27/rape-culture-campus
xix
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/10/25/two-five-women-have-sexually-harassed-workplace-poll-shows/
xx
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/research-finds-women-paid-less-than-men-in-90-of-sectors
xxi
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/aug/23/gender-pay-gap-average-18-per-cent-less-uk-women
xxii
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-business/11213344/Work-life-balance-myth-is-finally-dead.html
xxiii
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discrimination_against_girls_in_India
xxiv
https://www.ibtimes.com/deadly-preference-male-offspring-killing-baby-girls-india-pakistan-1406582
xxv
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_genital_mutilation
xxvi
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/10280802/Woman-killed-over-dowry-every-hour-in-
India.html
xxvii
https://tribune.com.pk/story/353572/nearly-1000-pakistan-women-killed-for-honour/
xxviii
https://womensenews.org/2014/07/women-suffering-heavily-in-mideast-violence/
xxix
https://www.unicef.org/sowc96pk/sexviol.htm

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/13/philippines-rodrigo-duterte-orders-soldiers-to-shoot-female-rebels-in-
the-vagina
xxx
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/02/14/women-poorer-and-hungrier-than-men-across-the-
world-u-n-report-says/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.98f5efe6ab6b
xxxi
https://www.dawn.com/news/1171757
xxxii
https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/gvze5m/women-seeking-divorce-in-turkey-are-being-murdered-by-their-
husbands
xxxiii
https://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/afghanistan_70031.html
xxxiv
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/jun/17/women-somalia-hell-worst-world
xxxv
https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/03/19/iraq-strengthen-domestic-violence-bill
xxxvi
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/apr/21/pakistan.declanwalsh
xxxvii
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/09/allegations-widespread-rape-south-sudan-conflict-170917192307648.html
xxxviii
This was a law in Saudi Arabia which has only recently been changed;

http://www.arabnews.com/node/1094681/saudi-arabia
xxxix
https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/egypt-islam-sharia-salafists-coptic-christian-muslim-441323
xl
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/06/23/middleeast/saudi-women-driving-ban-lifts-intl/index.html
xli
https://images.dawn.com/news/1182212
xlii
https://www.dawn.com/news/1438463/the-reckoning

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/oct/13/harvey-weinstein-allegations-hollywood-enablers
xliii
https://deadline.com/2017/12/caa-apologizes-to-anyone-let-down-1202220778/
xliv
https://www.geo.tv/latest/195974-pakistani-model-mujahid-rasool-opens-up-about-rampant-sexual-harassment-in-
industry-pakistani-model-mujahid-rasool-opens-up-about-being-asked-for-sexual-favours-in-return-for-success
xlv
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/metoo-sexual-harassment-rallying-cry-hits-silicon-valley-n813271
xlvi
https://www.newsweek.com/metoo-politics-britain-parliament-698906

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/married-tory-minister-andrew-griffiths-12919581
xlvii
https://www.health24.com/Lifestyle/Healthy-workplace/News/sex-scandal-rocks-unaids-executive-director-must-step-
down-20180510
xlviii
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/06/12/europe/nobel-prize-scandal-jean-claude-arnault-charged-rape-intl/index.html
xlix
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-44201412/metoo-women-take-action-against-subway-gropers
l
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-41633857
li
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/metoo-makes-waves-in-australia-with-workplace-sex-harassment-probe-1870330
lii
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-43881129
liii
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/01/metoo-spreads-to-kenya-pakistan-and-china-after-sexual-harassment-and-
assault-allegations.html
liv
https://www.nation.co.ke/oped/opinion/Are-we-ready-for-MeToo-campaign/440808-4612408-n3squ3z/index.html
lv
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-03/top-buddhist-monk-accused-in-china-s-growing-metoo-
movement
lvi
The third part will discuss secularism and cultural imperialism, while the fourth part will be the conclusion.
lvii
https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-evolution-human-origins/genetic-adam-and-eve-all-humans-are-descendants-
one-man-and-woman-who-021536

Part One: Islam and Women

Chapter One: Are Muslim women truly less than men?
lviii
I have used the term Muslim-majority societies rather than Muslim world to underscore that there is no single uniform
Muslim world; while more than a billion people are Muslims they are living in different parts of the world and have their
own cultures, norms and worldviews. Hence this complex presence and diverse ways of being and living cannot be can -
not be reduced to a single Muslim world.
lix
Men are in charge of women by [right of] what Allah has given one over the other and what they spend [for mainten-
ance] from their wealth. So righteous women are devoutly obedient, guarding in [the husband's] absence what Allah
would have them guard. But those [wives] from whom you fear arrogance - [first] advise them; [then if they persist], for-
sake them in bed; and [finally], strike them. But if they obey you [once more], seek no means against them. Indeed, Allah
is ever Exalted and Grand. (4:35)

lx
It has been made permissible for you the night preceding fasting to go to your wives [for sexual relations]. They are
clothing for you and you are clothing for them. Allah knows that you used to deceive yourselves, so He accepted your re -
pentance and forgave you. So now, have relations with them and seek that which Allah has decreed for you. And eat and
drink until the white thread of dawn becomes distinct to you from the black thread [of night]. Then complete the fast until
the sunset. And do not have relations with them as long as you are staying for worship in the mosques. These are the lim -
its [set by] Allah, so do not approach them. Thus does Allah make clear His ordinances to the people that they may be -
come righteous. (2:187)

lxi
And those who accuse chaste women and then do not produce four witnesses - lash them with eighty lashes and do
not accept from them testimony ever after. And those are the defiantly disobedient, (24:4)

lxii
And when you divorce women and they have [nearly] fulfilled their term, either retain them according to acceptable
terms or release them according to acceptable terms, and do not keep them, intending harm, to transgress [against them].
And whoever does that has certainly wronged himself. And do not take the verses of Allah in jest. And remember the fa-
vor of Allah upon you and what has been revealed to you of the Book and wisdom by which He instructs you. And fear
Allah and know that Allah is Knowing of all things. (2:231)

lxiii
Divorce is twice. Then, either keep [her] in an acceptable manner or release [her] with good treatment. And it is not
lawful for you to take anything of what you have given them unless both fear that they will not be able to keep [within]
the limits of Allah . But if you fear that they will not keep [within] the limits of Allah, then there is no blame upon either
of them concerning that by which she ransoms herself. These are the limits of Allah, so do not transgress them. And who -
ever transgresses the limits of Allah - it is those who are the wrongdoers. (2:229)

lxiv
For men is a share of what the parents and close relatives leave, and for women is a share of what the parents and
close relatives leave, be it little or much - an obligatory share. (4:7)
lxv
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/11-year-old-canadian-girl-says-attacker-cut-her-hijab-with-
scissors_us_5a592601e4b03c418965992a
lxvi
Sometimes I wonder if I had been aware of all these teachings rather than only the controversial ones in my founda -
tion years perhaps, I may have not disliked the creator as much as I did, and would have saved myself a lot of guilt and
negativity.
Chapter Two: Kinds of knowledge
lxvii
I am basing this answer on the works of Seyyed Hossein Nasr, and Amina Wadud respectively.

Seyyed Hossein Nasr:The Study Quran. A New Translation and Commentary

Commentary On 4:1 and 2:30.
Amina Wadud (1999) Qur’an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman’s Perspective.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr:The Study Quran. A New Translation and Commentary
Commentary On 4:1 and 2:30.
lxviii
Since the “nafs” is grammatically feminine, a literal translation of the verse should be

O mankind, fear your Lord, who created you from one soul and created from her her mate and dispersed from both of
them many men and women. And fear Allah, through whom you ask one another, and the wombs. Indeed Allah is ever,
over you, an Observer. (4:1)
lxix
Ibid:commentary on 4:1
lxx
Ibid: commentary on 4:1;Amina Wadud also favours this interpretation.
lxxi
I will discuss the Hadith literature shortly under the section “Sources of Islamic knowledge”. Presently, I am using just
the Quranic text to find out what the Quran says about these matters.
lxxii
A hierarchy is an arrangement of items (objects, names, values, categories, etc.) in which the items are represented as
being "above", "below", or "at the same level as" one another.
lxxiii
Abdulaziz Sachedina(2009)Islam and the Challenge of Human Rights pp:132
lxxiv
Azizah Y. al-Hibri (2003) An Islamic Perspective on Domestic Violence pp:197-200
lxxv
ibid

lxxvi
And We said, "O Adam, dwell, you and your wife, in Paradise and eat therefrom in [ease and] abundance from
wherever you will. But do not approach this tree, lest you be among the wrongdoers.” (2:35)
But Satan caused them to slip out of it and removed them from that [condition] in which they had been. And We said,
"Go down, [all of you], as enemies to one another, and you will have upon the earth a place of settlement and provision
for a time.” (2:36)

lxxvii
And "O Adam, dwell, you and your wife, in Paradise and eat from wherever you will but do not approach this
tree, lest you be among the wrongdoers.” (7:19)
But Satan whispered to them to make apparent to them that which was concealed from them of their private parts. He
said, "Your Lord did not forbid you this tree except that you become angels or become of the immortal." (7:20)
And he swore [by Allah] to them, "Indeed, I am to you from among the sincere advisors." (7:21)
So he made them fall, through deception. And when they tasted of the tree, their private parts became apparent to them,
and they began to fasten together over themselves from the leaves of Paradise. And their Lord called to them, "Did I not
forbid you from that tree and tell you that Satan is to you a clear enemy?" (7:22)
lxxviii
Abdulaziz Sachedina (2009) Islam and the Challenge of Human Rights pp:132
lxxix
I am basing this answer on the work of Asma Lamrabet (2015) An Egalitarian Reading of the Concepts of Khilafah,
Wilayah and Qiwamah in Men In Charge? Rethinking Authority in Muslim Legal Tradition (2015) editors Ziba Mir-Hos-
seini, Mulki Al-Sharmani And Jana Rumminger
lxxx
Seyyed Hossein Nasr:The Study Quran. A New Translation and Commentary

Commentary 2:31
lxxxi
[ Allah ] said, "What prevented you from prostrating when I commanded you?" [Satan] said, "I am better than
him. You created me from fire and created him from clay."(7:12)

lxxxii
And We have not created the heavens and earth and that between them except in truth. And indeed, the Hour is
coming; so forgive with gracious forgiveness. (15:85)

lxxxiii
And We did not create the heaven and earth and that between them in play.(21:16)

lxxxiv
We have certainly created man in the best of stature (95:4)
lxxxv
Asma Lamrabet (2015) An Egalitarian Reading of the Concepts of Khilafah, Wilayah and Qiwamah in Men In
Charge? Rethinking Authority in Muslim Legal Tradition (2015) editors Ziba Mir-Hosseini, Mulki Al-Sharmani And
Jana Rumminger
lxxxvi
Ibid

Riffat Hassan gives another interesting alternative interpretation of the creation story; interested readers can check
Riffat Hassan: An Islamic perspective (1990) in Women, Religion and Sexuality: Studies on the Impact of Religious
teachings on Women edited by Jeanne Becher World Council of Churches Publications Geneva pp 93-128 and Feminism
in Islam (1999) in Feminism and World Religions edited by Arvind Sharma and Katharine K.Young State University of
New York Press pp248-278. Also available at www.riffathassan.info
lxxxvii
I am basing this answer on the work of Asma Lamrabet (2015) An Egalitarian Reading of the Concepts of Khilafah,
Wilayah and Qiwamah in Men In Charge? Rethinking Authority in Muslim Legal Tradition (2015) eds Ziba Mir-Hos-
seini, Mulki Al-Sharmani And Jana Rumminger. The second half of this answer is based on the works of Amina Wadud
(1999) Qur’an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman’s Perspective.pp:74
lxxxviii
ibid
lxxxix
ibid
xc
ibid
xci
ibid
xcii
The gender-correct words are: qaanitat for devout women and qaaniteen for devout men.
xciii
Amina Wadud (1999) Qur’an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman’s Perspective.pp:74
xciv
ibid pp:77
xcv
ibid:68

Some other scholars who have offered alternative interpretations of verse 4:34 are:
Riffat Hassan (1999) Feminism in Islam in Feminism and World Religions edited by Arvind Sharma and Katharine
K.Young State University of New York Press pp248-278;
Asma Barlas (2002) Believing Women in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Quran
Azizah al-Hibri(1997)Islam, Law and Custom: Redefining Muslim Women’s Rights
Khaled Abou El Fadl (2001) Speaking In God’s Name: Islamic Law, Authority And Women
Amina Wadud (1999) Qur’an and Woman:Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman’s Perspective.
Readers can also consult a wonderful article on the different interpretations of verse 4:34 by Nikhat Sattar titled “Verse
4:34 (beating wife)-a comparative analysis of variant interpretations at
http://www.exploring-islam.com/uploads/1/3/5/1/13515754/verse_4_34_a_comparative_analysis5.pdf
xcvi
The answer to this question is based on the work of Laleh Bakhtiar in The Sublime Quran Original Arabic and Eng -
lish Translation Volume 1
xcvii
ibid
xcviii
ibid.
xcix
This part is based on my understanding. Although my own understanding is based on reading the works of many other
scholars, I find it difficult to pin this answer to any one person, hence I have attributed it to my understanding.
c
Surah Ahzab, 33rd Surah of Quran.
ci
In the Meccan part of his life, quite contrary to the custom of those times, he was in a monogamous marriage with Lady
Khadija for 25 years, but after her death he migrated to Medina, where he married eleven (thirteen according to other
sources)other ladies over the course of the next ten years. These marriages were not the actions of a lecherous man
driven mad by his lust, as has often been claimed by biased historians, because had that been his character then he could
have done that in his prime age, rather than show this aspect of his character at the mature age of 53. There were various
reasons, personal, tribal, social and political due to which he contracted these marriages. I will address this issue in-depth
later in the book.
cii
This answer is based on my understanding. Although my own understanding is based on reading the works of many
other scholars, I find it difficult to pin this answer to any one person, hence I have attributed it to my understanding.
ciii
https://icraa.org/prohibiting-ali-from-a-legal-marriage-alleged-inconsistency-of-the-prophet/
civ
This answer is based on my understanding. Although my own understanding is based on reading the works of many
other scholars, I find it difficult to pin this answer to any one person, hence I have attributed it to my understanding.
cv
ibid
cvi
See 2:262; 2:263
cvii
ibid
cviii
ibid
cix
Pls. check note 16 in Riffat Hassan (1990) An Islamic perspective in Women, Religion and Sexuality: Studies on the
Impact of Religious teachings on Women edited by Jeanne Becher World Council of Churches Publications Geneva
pp:93-128
cx
This answer is based on my understanding. Although my own understanding is based on reading the works of many
other scholars, I find it difficult to pin this answer to any one person, hence I have attributed it to my understanding.
cxi
https://uk.remonews.com/women-and-girls-less-likely-to-be-considered-for-brainy-tasks-study-world-news/
cxii
Although the Quran requires two males to act as witnesses, I have never heard anyone propose that this means that one
male is half a man, hence two men are needed to make one complete man!
cxiii
It needs to be stressed that in cases where women knew more than the men, the Prophet accepted the evidence of wo-
men unhesitatingly. In paternity cases the evidence of a single woman was enough to decide the matter.
Sahih Bukhari, Vol 4, Number 2660.
cxiv
This answer is based on my understanding. Although my own understanding is based on reading the works of many
other scholars, I find it difficult to pin this answer to any one person, hence I have attributed it to my understanding.
cxv
ibid
cxvi
ibid
cxvii
ibid
cxviii
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Aishah#ref18749
cxix
Dr Jamal A.Badawi (1999) Gender Equity in Islam: Basic Principles
cxx
This answer is based on my understanding. Although my own understanding is based on reading the works of many
other scholars, I find it difficult to pin this answer to any one person, hence I have attributed it to my understanding.
cxxi
Interested readers can watch this video by Nouman Ali Khan on his explanation for using the pronoun He for
Almighty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CY-Vhtc2O7c

Chapter Three: Power, control, domination and their relation to misogyny

cxxii
This control is different from the term self-control. Self-control means that a person is in charge of one’s life and has
some power to shape one’s circumstances. People who are controllers want to take away this self-control of others; in the
context of this book control means that powerful men want to take away the power of women to be in charge of their own
lives.
cxxiii
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriarchy
cxxiv
ibid
cxxv
Allan G. Johnson (1997) The Gender Knot: Unraveling Our Patriarchal Legacy
cxxvi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supremacism
cxxvii
This hierarchical design, where the positions of authority, relative to the number of seekers, are quite few is itself a
contributing factor to domination.
cxxviii
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supremacism
cxxix
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism
cxxx
https://contemporaryfamilies.org/hiringdiscrimination/
cxxxi
Although there are many social arrangements which benefit from making knowledge a source of power, but the one I
would like to specifically talk in the context of this part of the book is patriarchy. Others could be imperialism, (superior -
ity of a particular nation), racism supremacy based on race) elitism (supremacy based on wealth), ableism, (supremacy
of able-bodied), heterosexuality (supremacy based on sexual orientation).
In the first part of the book I will talk about patriarchy and how it has affected the position of women in Islam and in the
second part I will address the other social arrangements and how they affect women.
cxxxii
Others way through which power can be acquire may be through force, through personal charisma, through heredity
etc.

Chapter Four: Sources of Islamic knowledge

cxxxiii
Asma Barlas (2002) Believing Women in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Quran pp:43
cxxxiv
Anver M Emon (2012) Sharia’a and The Modern State in Islamic Law and International Human Rights Eds Anver
M Emon, Mark S Ellis, And Benjamin Glahn Pg 52-71
cxxxv
Asma Barlas (2002) Believing Women in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Quran pp:42
cxxxvi
ibid 43
cxxxvii
ibid 44
cxxxviii
Aisha Y.Musa (2008) Hadith as Scripture: Discussions on the Authority of Prophetic Traditions in Islam
cxxxix
ibid
cxl
ibid
cxli
ibid
cxlii
I have used the following two sources for dealing with fabrication of hadiths:

http://www.al-mawrid.org/index.php/articles/view/causes-of-hadiith-fabrication;
Dr.Abu Ameena Bilal Philips (2007) Usool Al_hadeeth: the Methodology of Hadith Evaluation.
Interested readers can also refer to Fatima Mernissi’s book Women and Islam: An Historical and Theological Inquiry
(1991) pp45-48 to read more about hadith fabrication.
cxliii
Some of these groups are:Kharijis; shi’is; Qadaris; Jabris; Murji’is; Mu’tazilis;sufis
cxliv
http://www.al-mawrid.org/index.php/articles/view/causes-of-hadiith-fabrication
cxlv
http://www.alsiraj.net/English/misc/women/html/page21.html
cxlvi
Narrated in Sahih Bukhari, 3241
cxlvii
https://islamqa.info/en/answers/21183/shaking-hands-with-a-non-mahram-woman
cxlviii
https://rasoulallah.net/en/articles/article/1389
cxlix
ibid
cl
ibid
cli
https://www.islamweb.net/en/article/149397/obeying-the-husband-is-the-key-to-paradise

clii
https://islamqa.info/en/answers/3457/ruling-on-salaat-ul-taraaweeh-for-women
cliii
https://islamqa.info/en/answers/1200/evidenceprohibiting-of-mixing-of-men-and-women
cliv
https://hamariweb.com/islam/hadith/sahih-bukhari-1862/
clv
Azizah al-Hibri(1997)Islam, Law and Custom: Redefining Muslim Women’s Rights
clvi
ibid
clvii
ibid
clviii
These are the four Sunni schools of law. The Shiites, a Muslim sect, have their own understanding of jurisprudence,
but since I am not competent to deal with that branch, I have relied on the Sunni understanding in this work. Almost all
Muslim countries have formally adopted one of these schools as the primary basis of their family laws.
clix
ibid
clx
Leila Ahmed (1992) Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate
clxi
ibid
clxii
ibid
clxiii
Ibid

Chapter Five: Patriarchy in seventh century Arabia

clxiv
While this is the prime purpose of the message, this knowledge, like any other knowledge and depending on one’s in -
tentions and motivations, can be used for liberation or enslavement.
clxv
Azizah al-Hibri (1982)A Study of Islamic Herstory: Or how did we ever get into this mess? in Women's Studies
International Forum Volume 5, Issue 2 pp:207-219
I highly recommend this article to readers who want to know more about the patriarchal structure of Arabia and its
neighbouring cultures and societies.
clxvi
Leila Ahmed in Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate (1992) makes the interesting case
that women had more sexual autonomy in pre-Islamic Arabia and that Islam limits this. While acknowledging this to be
true, I think an important question is to consider the purposes of this autonomy. Was this true sexual liberation or were
other forces at work? For instance, in pagan cultures fertility rites play a very important role, so if women were sexually
autonomous, could it be that this behaviour benefitted the pagan society in some way? To restate, would the women who
did not partake in this sexual activity, either by choice, or through other limitations, i.e. old, disabled, not deemed to be
attractive, have been allowed to live a worthy life simply for being human. i.e. would they have been considered human/
valuable without this role?
clxvii
Rashida Patel (2003) Woman versus Man: Socio-legal Gender Inequality in Pakistan
clxviii
https://eng-archive.aawsat.com/theaawsat/features/married-to-the-quran
clxix
Leila Ahmed in in Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate (1992) suggests that the pro -
cess of compilation of the Quran was not as seamless as traditional accounts make it seem. Some problems which may
have affected the Quran were: different versions of the Quran were present since early times; the Arabic letters were in -
complete which allowed multiple readings of the same text; of the many dialects available, choosing only one of many
could affect the meaning. Thus, the choice of settling on one version as the Quran was itself an act of interpretation.
pp:94
clxx
http://www.islamswomen.com/articles/hafsah_bint_umar.php

It seems that once the Prophet said that certain people would go directly to Heaven. Lady Hafsa refuted this by saying
that according to the Quran verse 19:71 everyone would have to pass over Hell, before going to Heaven.
clxxi
Amina Wadud (1999) Qur’an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman’s Perspective.
clxxii
Tafseer Ibn-e-Kaseer: please refer to commentary on 4:34
clxxiii
Ibn e Hisham: Biography of Prophet Muhammad.Volume 1
clxxiv
Leila Ahmed (1992) Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate
clxxv
Muhammad ibn Sa’d (1995) The Women of Medina pp:128
clxxvi
Tafseer Ibn-e-Kaseer: please refer to commentary on 4:22
clxxvii
That a woman, no matter what her class, could walk away from a marriage in seventh century Arabia because she no
longer wished to stay with her husband, is such a radical innovation that I am amazed how women can not fall in love
with God for just this one blessing. By contrast, it was only in the nineteenth century that women were able to get di -
vorces in the Christian world.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/heartbreaking-history-of-divorce-180949439/
clxxviii
In some understandings the divorce also requires two witnesses while others do away with it. I personally am in fa -
vour of the first understanding for the simple reason that since a divorce is a reversal of the nikah it should follow the
same procedure.
clxxix
This is one reason why women prefer to set high dower amounts; since the husband has to pay the dower if he initi-
ates the divorce, a high dower amount becomes an incentive to not divorcing wives.

clxxx
And for divorced women is a provision according to what is acceptable - a duty upon the righteous. (2:241)
clxxxi
In pre-Islamic Arabia men could separate from their wives without divorcing them; these men could then marry as
many women as s they wanted whereas their wives could not remarry as they were technically still in wedlock. By setting
a time limit to divorce, Almighty curtailed the power of men to keep their wives in matrimonial limbo.
clxxxii
Here I would like to bring up another related issue; while Quran prohibits the drinking of alcohol, this prohibition
was revealed piece-meal. The Quran is very much aware of the psychology of human beings and acknowledges that since
humans are created weak, they will find it difficult to give up bad habits in one go. So how much of these divorces were
given in alcoholic stupor or fits of rages, and hence not even truly valid, is a question which needs serious reflection.
clxxxiii
Tafseer Ibn-e-Kaseer: please refer to commentary on 2:230
clxxxiv
A consequence of accepting three divorces uttered together as final is that it gives husbands power to end relation -
ships without following due process of mediation and reconciliation. Nowadays, husbands who want to unilaterally di -
vorce their wives just send a short message service, through mobile phones, that they have divorced their wives and that
is enough to end the marriage!
clxxxv
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-39480846
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/nikah-halala-islamic-scholars-one-night-stand-divorced-muslim-women-marriage-
1029887-2017-08-16
clxxxvi
Muhammad ibn sa’d (1995) The Women of Medina pp 253-254

I highly recommend readers to find the original source and read the entire story as it is a very illustrative case study about
romantic matters.
clxxxvii
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosque of Umar (Jerusalem)

Chapter Six: Misogyny in Islamic knowledge sources.

clxxxviii
Please see Fatima Mernissi (1991) Women and Islam: An Historical and Theological Inquiry pp: 36-42 for an ac-
count of the succession history. Readers may also recall that this was the time when fake hadiths, supporting one faction
over another, were produced.
clxxxix
ibid pp:33
cxc
it can only be wondered that were the Quran (and complementary knowledge) not used for this purpose, perhaps we
may have had a different world today.
cxci
Interested readers should read Leila Ahmed and Asma Barlas for an indepth account of how religious knowledge was
produced and shaped to serve political needs.
cxcii
Asma Barlas (2002) Believing Women in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Quran
cxciii
Amina Wadud (1999) Qur’an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman’s Perspective.
cxciv
http://www.daralislam.org/portals/0/Publications/AllHumansareOnePeople.pdf
cxcv
Asma Lamrabet (2015) An Egalitarian Reading of the Concepts of Khilafah, Wilayah and Qiwamah in Men In
Charge? Rethinking Authority in Muslim Legal Tradition (2015) editors Ziba Mir-Hosseini, Mulki Al-Sharmani And
Jana Rumminger
cxcvi
ibid
cxcvii
Azizah al-Hibri(1997)Islam, Law and Custom: Redefining Muslim Women’s Rights
cxcviii
Amina Wadud (1999) Qur’an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman’s Perspective.
cxcix
Laleh Bakhtiar in The Sublime Quran Original Arabic and English Translation Volume 1
cc
Abdulaziz Sachedina(2009)Islam and the Challenge of Human Rights pp:135
cci
Here a question comes to mind that if hadiths are essential for interpreting the Quran, as is said today, then how were
the Muslims of the times preceding Hadith collection practicing Islam? Were they ignorantly following their own whims
or was the Quran enough for them?
ccii
Anver M Emon (2012) Sharia’a and The Modern State in Islamic Law and International Human Rights Eds Anver M
Emon, Mark S Ellis, And Benjamin Glahn Pg 52-71
cciii
Asma Barlas (2002) Believing Women in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Quran
cciv
Leila Ahmed (1992) Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate
ccv
Seyyed Hossein Nasr The Study Quran A New Translation and Commentary Commentary2:35
ccvi
Leila Ahmed (1992) Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate
ccvii
Asma Barlas (2002) Believing Women in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Quran pp:45
ccviii
Fatima Mernissi (1991) Women and Islam: An Historical and Theological Inquiry pp:49-61
ccix
ibid
ccx
Qibla refers to Mecca, the direction towards which Muslim offer their prayers.
ccxi
Fatima Mernissi (1991) Women and Islam: An Historical and Theological Inquiry pp:62-81
ccxii
Khaled Abou El Fadl (2001) Speaking in God’s Name: Islamic Law, Authority And Women note 43 pp:415
ccxiii
Ibid: pp49
ccxiv
Azizah al-Hibri(1997)Islam, Law and Custom: Redefining Muslim Women’s Rights
ccxv
Leila Ahmed (1992) Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate pp:82-83
ccxvi
Leila Ahmed (1992) Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate
ccxvii
Ziba Mir-Hosseini (2015) Muslim Legal Tradition and the Challenge of Gender Equality in Men in Charge? Re-
thinking Authority in Muslim Legal Tradition (2015) eds Ziba Mir-Hosseini, Mulki Al-Sharmani and Jana Rumminger
ccxviii
Although the Quran does not use the word “qiwamah,” the concept is derived from the term “qawwamun” which
appears in the Quranic verse 4:34.
Men are in charge of women by [right of] what Allah has given one over the other and what they spend [for mainten -
ance] from their wealth. So righteous women are devoutly obedient, guarding in [the husband's] absence what Allah
would have them guard. But those [wives] from whom you fear arrogance - [first] advise them; [then if they persist], for -
sake them in bed; and [finally], strike them. But if they obey you [once more], seek no means against them. Indeed, Allah
is ever Exalted and Grand (4:34)
Introduction (2015) by Ziba Mir-Hosseini, Mulki Al-Sharmani and Jana Rumminger in Men In Charge? Rethinking Au-
thority in Muslim Legal Tradition (2015) editors Ziba Mir-Hosseini, Mulki Al-Sharmani and Jana Rumminger.
ccxix
The second term “wilayah” does occur in the Quran in various contexts but in a sense which does not endorse men’s
authority over women; in fact all Quranic verses which are used to develop the doctrine of wilayah in marriage guardian -
ship do not have the terms, wali or wilayah in them.
Please see note 2 in Introduction (2015) by Ziba Mir-Hosseini, Mulki Al-Sharmani and Jana Rumminger in Men in
Charge? Rethinking Authority in Muslim Legal Tradition (2015) eds Ziba Mir-Hosseini, Mulki Al-Sharmani and Jana
Rumminger.
ccxx
Introduction (2015) by Ziba Mir-Hosseini, Mulki Al-Sharmani and Jana Rumminger in Men in Charge? Rethinking
Authority in Muslim Legal Tradition (2015) eds Ziba Mir-Hosseini, Mulki Al-Sharmani and Jana Rumminger
ccxxi
ibid
ccxxii
Ziba Mir-Hosseini (2012) Women in Search of Common Ground: Between Islamic and International Human Right
Law in Islamic Law and International Human Rights eds Anver M Emon, Mark S Ellis, And Benjamin Glahn pp:291-303
ccxxiii
ibid
ccxxiv
ibid
ccxxv
Anver M Emon (2012) Sharia’a and The Modern State in Islamic Law And International Human Rights Eds Anver
M Emon, Mark S Ellis, and Benjamin Glahn pp:52-71
ccxxvi
ibid
ccxxvii
ibid
ccxxviii
Ziba Mir-Hosseini (2011) Criminalising Sexuality: Zina Laws as Violence against Women in Muslim Contexts in
International Journal on Human Rights, Issue 15
https://sur.conectas.org/en/criminalising-sexuality/
ccxxix
ibid
ccxxx
Tafseer Ibn-e-Kaseer: please refer to commentary on 23:6. An interesting point to be made is that these verses were
considered applicable only for men. Reportedly, once a case about a woman who had sexual relations with her slave was
presented to Caliph Umar. Umar had the slave’s head shaved and had him exiled. He also told the woman that from now
on she was forbidden to have relation with any Muslim man.
ccxxxi
Leila Ahmed (1992) Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate
ccxxxii
ibid
ccxxxiii
ibid
ccxxxiv
ibid
ccxxxv
ibid
ccxxxvi
ibid
ccxxxvii
ibid
ccxxxviii
ibid
ccxxxix
ibid
ccxl
Ibid
ccxli
Ibid

Chapter Seven: Why do powerful men hate women: projection and scapegoating.
ccxlii
Charlie Campbell (2011) Scapegoat: A History of Blaming Other People
ccxliii
ibid
ccxliv
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordination_of_women_and_the_Catholic_Church

Karen Armstrong (1993) End of Silence: Women and Priesthood

ccxlv
https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/torah-study
ccxlvi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_the_patristic_age#Woman_as_the_root_of_all_evil
ccxlvii
Allan G. Johnson (1997) The Gender Knot: Unraveling Our Patriarchal Legacy
ccxlviii
Please see Why does Patriarchy Persist? (2018) by Carol Gilligan and Naomi Snider for a wonderful perspective on
the psychological functions of patriarchy
ccxlix
Neil Burton, M.D. (2013) The Psychology of Scapegoating: Is the time ripe for a new wave of scapegoating
ccl
ibid
ccli
Sexual intimacy is a fundamental human need; however, the intimacy of the act makes it extremely uncomfortable for
some people. In such situations, sexual interaction is conducted in such a way that the act of union itself becomes trans -
formed into one of submission; since one partner dominates and the other submits, no loss of power is felt. This trans -
formation of sexual union into one of submission allows control-oriented men to use women to fulfil their needs without
any consideration of their partner’s pleasure or needs. It also allows the illusion of omnipotence to continue without too
much trouble to the psyche.
cclii
Javed Ahmad Ghamidi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVZnjjczjOI
ccliii
There is no reason to assume that the nakedness of the human couple was necessarily due to sexual activity. A per -
fectly plausible explanation is that Almighty gifted the human pair garments meant to be worn during their stay in the
Garden. By disobeying God, whatever the nature of the disobedience, they proved themselves to be unworthy of this
abode. Resultantly, as a sign of displeasure of God, they were expelled from the Garden; simultaneously, the gifts of
heavenly garments were also taken away from them.
ccliv
Mawlana Mawdudi as quoted by Roy Jackson (2019) Mawlana Mawdudi and Political Islam:Authority and the Is-
lamic State pp:138 To be fair Mawlana Mawdudi does not consider the forbidden fruit to be symbolic of sexual activity.
He arrives at his conclusions regarding sexual instinct through a different logic.
cclv
Abul A’la Mawdudi (1939) Purdah and the Status of Women in Islam pp:62
cclvi
ibid pp:104
cclvii
Allan G. Johnson (1997) The Gender Knot: Unraveling Our Patriarchal Legacy
cclviii
I wonder if “honour killings” can be better understood from this perspective; when a woman loves a person who is
not acceptable to her male guardians, then she has brought shame to them in relation to other males, and this shame can
only be compensated by taking the lives of the people responsible for this loss of honour/manliness.
cclix
Allan G. Johnson (1997) The Gender Knot: Unraveling Our Patriarchal Legacy
cclx
ibid
cclxi
Allan G. Johnson (1997) The Gender Knot: Unraveling Our Patriarchal Legacy pp:63

Chapter Eight: Ways forward (part 1)

cclxii
James Arthur Baldwin was an African American novelist, playwright, and activist. The original quote of James Bald-
win is
“To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.”
cclxiii
Sura 96: these are the first ever words of the Quran revealed to Prophet Muhammad.
cclxiv
LGBTQ is an acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer or questioning. These terms are used to de-
scribe a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity
cclxv
Allan G. Johnson (1997) The Gender Knot: Unraveling Our Patriarchal Legacypp;233-234
cclxvi
Anver M Emon (2012) Sharia’a and The Modern State in Islamic Law and International Human Rights eds Anver M
Emon, Mark S Ellis, and Benjamin Glahn Pg 52-71 pp:55
cclxvii
Abdullah Saeed (2005) Interpreting Quran pp:16
cclxviii
Amina Wadud (1999) Qur’an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman’s Perspective.
cclxix
ibid
cclxx
ibid
cclxxi
Asma Barlas (2002) Believing Women in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Quran
cclxxii
Ziba Mir-Hosseini (2015) Muslim Legal Tradition and the Challenge of Gender Equality in Men in Charge? Re -
thinking Authority in Muslim Legal Tradition (2015) editors Ziba Mir-Hosseini, Mulki Al-Sharmani and Jana Rum-
minger
cclxxiii
ibid
cclxxiv
ibid
cclxxv
Asma Barlas (2002) Believing Women in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Quran pp:45
cclxxvi
Sheikh Muhammad Akram Nadwi has compiled a book by the name of Al-Muhaddithat: The Women Scholars in
Islam in 2007. Amazon gives the following introduction about this work on their website: This book is an adaptation of
the Muqaddima or Preface to Mohammad Akram s 40-volume biographical dictionary (in Arabic) of the Muslim women
who studied and taught hadith. It presents, samples and reflects on the information in the dictionary. It demonstrates the
central role Muslim women have had in preserving the Prophet s teaching, which remains the master-guide to under -
standing the Quran as rules and norms for life. Non-Muslims ignorant of the history here documented, and some Muslims
afflicted by a different ignorance, have argued that education for women carried no importance in normative Islam. The
opposite is true. Within the bounds of modesty in dress and manners, women routinely attended and gave classes in the
major mosques and madrasas, travelled intensively for the knowledge, transmitted and critiqued hadith, issued fatwas,
etc. Some of the most renowned scholars among men have depended on, and praised, the scholarship of their women
teachers. The women, in short, enjoyed considerable public authority in society, not as an exception, but as the norm.
Akram has pointed up a huge body of information hitherto so dispersed as to be hidden. This information deserves further
study, context and analysis; it is essential to understanding the role of women in Islamic society, their past achievement
and future potential.
cclxxvii
https://www.islamweb.net/en/article/149397/obeying-the-husband-is-the-key-to-paradise
cclxxviii
Asma Barlas (2002) Believing Women in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Quran pp:46
cclxxix
Leila Ahmed (1992) Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate
cclxxx
ibid
cclxxxi
ibid
cclxxxii
Ibid pg 242
cclxxxiii
Ibid pg 239
cclxxxiv
https://www.thebookseller.com/profile/louise-doughty-interview
cclxxxv
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jan/04/discrimination-women-prison-recidivism
cclxxxvi
https://www.futurity.org/done-women-parolees/
cclxxxvii
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0277539594900027
cclxxxviii
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/08/japanese-medical-university-admits-discriminating-against-female-
applicants
cclxxxix
https://www.theguardian.com/science/head-quarters/2018/mar/08/bridging-the-gender-gap-why-do-so-few-girls-
study-stem-subjects
ccxc
https://www.fastcompany.com/40475986/this-alternative-study-of-economics-cuts-out-centuries-of-bias
ccxci
https://asu.pure.elsevier.com/en/publications/race-and-gender-bias-in-three-administrative-contexts-impact-on-work
assignments in state supreme courts
ccxcii
https://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2014/oct/26/-sp-female-academics-dont-power-dress-
forget-heels-and-no-flowing-hair-allowed
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/04/metoophd-reveals-shocking-examples-of-academic-sexism
ccxciii
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/may/11/are-things-getting-worse-for-women-in-publishing
ccxciv
Leila Ahmed (1992) Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate
ccxcv
Men in Charge? Rethinking Authority in the Muslim Legal Tradition (2015) eds Ziba Mir-Hosseini, Mulki Al-Shar -
mani, Jana Rumminger
ccxcvi
Amina Wadud (1999) Qur’an And Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from A Woman’s Perspective.
ccxcvii
Ibid
ccxcviii
ibid
ccxcix
Ibid
ccc
Ibid
ccci
ibid
cccii
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertility_rite
ccciii
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_prostitution
ccciv
Rashida Patel (2003) Woman versus Man: Socio-legal Gender Inequality in Pakistan
cccv
Amina Wadud (1999) Qur’an And Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from A Woman’s Perspective.

Part 2: Secularism and Women

Chapter Nine: Secularism and misogyny
cccvi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secularism
cccvii
Joan Wallach Scott (2017) Sex and Secularism
cccviii
Readers can read the part titled “secularism, cultural imperialism and women” in this book for a brief history of rela-
tions between the Western and the Islamic societies.
cccix
To explore how secularism itself has become a politically motivated ideology and how it is employed in the service
of Islamophobia, please see, The Politics of the Veil (2007) and Sex and Secularism (2017) by Joan Wallach Scott
cccx
Joan Wallach Scott (2017) Sex and Secularism
cccxi
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jwebb/2016/03/31/women-are-still-paid-less-than-men-even-in-the-same-job/
#74867bcd4709
cccxii
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/feb/23/truth-world-built-for-men-car-crashes
cccxiii
https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/technow/apple-criticised-for-making-iphones-too-big-for-womens-
hands-869040.html
cccxiv
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/09/09/us/serena-williams-sexism-tennis-controversy/index.html
cccxv
http://www.raewynconnell.net/2013/03/feminisms-challenge-to-biological.html
cccxvi
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/mar/02/the-gendered-brain-by-gina-rippon-review
http://www.raewynconnell.net/2013/03/feminisms-challenge-to-biological.html
cccxvii
http://www.raewynconnell.net/2013/03/feminisms-challenge-to-biological.html
cccxviii
Joan Wallach Scott (2017) Sex and Secularism
cccxix
Victoria Robinson and Diane Richardson (2015) Introducing Gender and Women’s Studies
cccxx
http://www.raewynconnell.net/2013/03/feminisms-challenge-to-biological.html
cccxxi
http://www.raewynconnell.net/2013/03/feminisms-challenge-to-biological.html
cccxxii
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_and_gender_distinction
cccxxiii
The Western world, like the Muslim societies, is not a monolithic. Women living in different part of the Western
world face different realities; however, in contrast with the Islamic societies, these countries are richer, and more techno -
logically advanced. Hence my usage of the term Western to encompass the women living in these areas.
cccxxiv
A major part of this discussion is taken from

John, N. A., Stoebenau, K., Ritter, S., Edmeades, J. and Balvin, N. (2017). Gender Socialization during Adolescence in
Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Conceptualization, influences and outcomes. Innocenti Discussion Paper 2017-01,
UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti, Florence.
Although the authors of this research focus on low and middle-income countries, I believe that this process is at work in
rich secular countries, hence I have used this data to highlight socialisation is secularism.
cccxxv
Although in this part I have linked socialisation with secularism, I would like to stress that socialisation is common
to all societies, whether secular or non-secular. The modes and techniques of the socialisation process may be different,
but the objective is always to maintain social order and stability.
cccxxvi
Gender socialisation during adolescence in low and middle-income countries: conceptualisation, influences and out-
comes. UN 2017. Innocenti Discussion Paper 2017-01, UNICEF Office of Research Florence.
cccxxvii
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialization
cccxxviii
Gender socialisation during adolescence in low and middle-income countries: conceptualisation, influences and
outcomes. UN 2017. Innocenti Discussion Paper 2017-01, UNICEF Office of Research Florence.
cccxxix
http://www.child-encyclopedia.com/gender-early-socialization/according-experts/role-schools-early-socialization-
gender-differences
cccxxx
http://www.child-encyclopedia.com/gender-early-socialization/according-experts/role-schools-early-socialization-
gender-differences
Also, it is important to acknowledge that in non-secular countries the very act of going to school/colleges and receiving
education in many cases pushes the boundaries of traditional gender norms, as in many countries, girls are taken off
school after they become adolescents. Some of the reasons for this behaviour can be: girls are needed at home to help
with household chores especially in minding younger siblings; if schools are far away or in other villages then the walk to
the school may be unsafe; in prioritizing education between children investing in boys’ education may be more helpful in
bringing in future incomes. In such societies, leisure, the time taken to relax, is also differently constructed for boys and
girls. Since in many countries cultural norms dictate that girls be segregated from boys as they attain puberty, girls are
expected to spend their free time home while boys are given more independence and allowed to spend more time outside
home. This results in girls being expected to more socialisation influences from family while boys get their cues from
their peers. Even at homes girls are expected to help their mothers in domestic chores so can that time really be con -
sidered leisure is debatable.
cccxxxi
https://purushu.com/2016/02/hegemonic-masculinity-and-emphasized-femininity.html
cccxxxii

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jan/10/disney-daughters-children-princesses
cccxxxiii
https://purushu.com/2016/02/hegemonic-masculinity-and-emphasized-femininity.html
cccxxxiv
From Eckert, Penelope and McConnell Ginet, Sally. (To appear). Language and Gender. Second Edition. Cam -
bridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriarchy Research has shown that there is no significant difference between the intelli-
gence of men and women.
cccxxxv
From Eckert, Penelope and McConnell Ginet, Sally. (To appear). Language and Gender. Second Edition. Cam -
bridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.
cccxxxvi
ibid
cccxxxvii
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/10/women-girls-less-likely-considered-brainy-tasks-study
cccxxxviii
http://www.child-encyclopedia.com/gender-early-socialization/according-experts/role-schools-early-socialization-
gender-differences
cccxxxix
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/jobs/07preoccupations.html
cccxl
Patricia Vancey Martin (2003) “Said and Done” v/s “Saying and Doing”: Gendering Practices, Practicing Gender at
Work in Gender And Society, Vol. 17, No. 3 pp:342-366
cccxli
http://witcombe.sbc.edu/eve-women/3eveidentity.html
cccxlii
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_law#Feminist_philosophy_of_law
cccxliii
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080905153807.htm
cccxliv
https://www.nhs.uk/news/lifestyle-and-exercise/pe-lessons-put-girls-off-exercise/
cccxlv
https://www.activia.co.uk/blog/why-women-are-seen-as-abrasive-when-being-assertive-at-work
cccxlvi
Robin Norwood (2004) Women Who Love Too Much
cccxlvii
http://www.pbs.org/perfectillusions/eatingdisorders/preventing_facts.html

The average American woman is 5’4” tall and weighs 140 pounds. The average American model is 5’11” tall and weighs
117 pounds. Most fashion models are thinner than 98% of American women.
cccxlviii
Naomi wolf (1990) The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty are used Against Women
cccxlix
I would like to stress that socialisation is not necessarily a negative process as it is through socialisation that social
and cultural continuity is attained. Its only when socialisation is used to reproduce oppression and injustice that it be -
comes a destructive process.
cccl
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/21st-century-aging/200908/the-invisible-years
cccli
https://www.dawn.com/news/1450969/men-and-their-manners
ccclii
https://www.activia.co.uk/blog/why-women-are-seen-as-abrasive-when-being-assertive-at-work
cccliii
https://www.thebookseller.com/profile/louise-doughty-interview
cccliv
ibid
ccclv
Sahih Bukhari, The book of Belief, Volume 1, Book 2, Number 28
ccclvi
http://witcombe.sbc.edu/eve-women/3eveidentity.html
ccclvii
http://time.com/money/4509368/lean-in-mckinsey-women-corporate-america/
ccclviii
ibid
ccclix
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/ted-baker-hugging-forced-harassment-fan-reactions-social-media-
twitter-a8664371.html
ccclx
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46207304
ccclxi
https://metro.co.uk/2017/01/23/this-morning-guest-tells-women-to-think-about-what-you-wear-to-prevent-rape-
6400037/
ccclxii
ibid
ccclxiii
https://qz.com/536228/women-who-drink-smoke-and-stay-out-after-9pm-invite-rape-a-beijing-court-says/
ccclxiv
https://www.bbc.com/news/video_and_audio/features/world-22267953/22267953
ccclxv
Elizabeth Anderson (1995) Feminist Epistemology: An Interpretation and A Defense, Hypatia vol. 10, no. 3
ccclxvi
ibid
ccclxvii
ibid
ccclxviii
https://www.humanitiesindicators.org/content/indicatordoc.aspx?i=11
ccclxix
http://responsibilitytoprotect.org/index.php/role-women-in-armed-conflict/410-who-says-domestic-violence-
against-women-is-widespread-worldwide

ccclxx
Please see prologue
ccclxxi
http://www.culturalbridgestojustice.org/programs/sexism/internalized-sexism/
ccclxxii
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internalized_sexism
ccclxxiii
ibid
ccclxxiv
Fabiola Rohden (2008) The Reign of Hormones and The Construction Of Gender Differences História, Ciências,
Saúde – Manguinhos, Rio de Janeiro, v.15, Suppl., June 2008. Available at:http://www.scielo.br.
ccclxxv
ibid
ccclxxvi
ibid
ccclxxvii
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jun/14/women-with-heart-diseases-are-dismissed-and-its-
killing-them
ccclxxviii
ibid
ccclxxix
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/feb/23/truth-world-built-for-men-car-crashes
ccclxxx
ibid
ccclxxxi
ibid
ccclxxxii
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/jobs/07preoccupations.html

Chapter Ten: Language, misogyny and secularism

ccclxxxiii
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labelling
ccclxxxiv
Shahid Siddiqui (2014) Language, Gender, and Power: The Politics of Representation and Hegemony in South
Asia
ccclxxxv
https://www.nyu.edu/classes/jackson/causes.of.gender.inequality/Readings/Wood%20-%20Gendered%20Media
%20-%2094.pdf
ccclxxxvi
http://www.islamicbulletin.org/free_downloads/women/bahishti_4_5_6_7.pdf
ccclxxxvii
http://historyofrapeculture.weebly.com/contemporary-rape-culturepopular-culture.html
ccclxxxviii
https://www.nyu.edu/classes/jackson/causes.of.gender.inequality/Readings/Wood%20-%20Gendered%20Media
%20-%2094.pdf
ccclxxxix
https://genderdisplays.wordpress.com/theory/

The Codes of gender: Documentary by Sut Jhally based on Erving Goffman’s work
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxxvr0ex8MI
Jean Kilbourne on how advertisements portray women
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy8yLaoWybk
cccxc
Robin Lakoff (2003) Language, Gender and Politics. Putting “Women” and “Power” in the Same Sentence in The
Handbook of Language and Gender (2003) eds. Janet Holmes and Miriam Meyerhoff
cccxci
Shahid Siddiqui (2014) Language, Gender, and Power: The Politics of Representation and Hegemony in South Asia

Chapter Eleven: Structuration Theory and Misogyny

cccxcii
Robin Lakoff (2003) Language, Gender and Politics. Putting “Women” and “Power” in the Same Sentence in The
Handbook Of Language And Gender (2003) eds. Janet Holmes and Miriam Meyerhoff
cccxciii
http://www.un.org/en/letsfightracism/women.shtml
cccxciv
http://www.cadtm.org/How-Patriarchy-and-Capitalism
cccxcv
ibid
cccxcvi
http://time.com/money/4509368/lean-in-mckinsey-women-corporate-america/
cccxcvii
http://www.cadtm.org/How patriarchy and Capitalism combine to aggravate the oppression of women
cccxcviii
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/serf
cccxcix
https://uk.search.yahoo.com/search?fr=mcafee&type=D211GB384G0&p=what+is+feudalism
cd
https://blog.oup.com/2011/02/patriarchal-feudalism/
cdi
https://blog.oup.com/2011/02/patriarchal-feudalism/
cdii
https://blog.oup.com/2011/02/patriarchal-feudalism/
cdiii
http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/80/who-makes-a-nation-an-examination-of-nationalism-gender-and-
membership-in-the-nation
cdiv
ibid
cdv
Please see part 3 of this book for an explanation of imperialism.
cdvi
http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/80/who-makes-a-nation-an-examination-of-nationalism-gender-and-
membership-in-the-nation
cdvii
ibid
cdviii
ibid
cdix
ibid
cdx
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism
cdxi
"International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination". Office of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights. Retrieved December 23,2011.
cdxii
Prejudice, the preconceived and unfavourable feeling one has towards others, is one way through which a group of
people can be considered inferior.
cdxiii
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism
cdxiv
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism
cdxv
http://www.un.org/en/letsfightracism/women.shtml
cdxvi
ibid
cdxvii
In 1997, the General Assembly decided in resolution 52/111 to hold the World Conference against Racism, Racial
Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance. It was held in 2001 in Durban, South Africa and it was a landmark
event in the struggle to improve the lives of millions of human beings around the world who are victims of racial discrim -
ination and intolerance. The Conference adopted by consensus the Durban Declaration of Programme of Action (DDPA),
which provided an important new framework to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
It encompasses measures such as securing development, fighting poverty, strengthening education and improving respect
and awareness for human rights.
http://www.wfuna.org/durban-declaration-and-program-of-action
cdxviii
ibid
cdxix
ibid
cdxx
ibid
cdxxi
https://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/rohingya-girls-gang-raped-myanmar-army-1490278
cdxxii
ibid
cdxxiii
Castañeda & Peters, 2000 quoted in Laura Smith, Pamela F. Foley, and Michael P. Chaney, “Addressing Classism,
Ableism, and Heterosexism in Counselor Education”, Journal of Counseling & Development, Summer 2008, Volume 86,
pp 303-309.
http://disabledfeminists.com/2010/11/19/what-is-ableism-five-things-about-ableism-you-should-know/
cdxxiv
Olkin & Pledger, 2003; Reid & Knight, 2006 quoted in Laura Smith, Pamela F. Foley, and Michael P. Chaney, “Ad-
dressing Classism, Ableism, and Heterosexism in Counselor Education”, Journal of Counseling & Development, Summer
2008, Volume 86, pp 303-309.http://disabledfeminists.com/2010/11/19/what-is-ableism-five-things-about-ableism-you-
should-know/
cdxxv
Laura Smith, Pamela F. Foley, and Michael P. Chaney, “Addressing Classism, Ableism, and Heterosexism in Coun -
selor Education”, Journal of Counseling & Development, Summer 2008, Volume 86, pp 303-309 as quoted in
http://disabledfeminists.com/2010/11/19/what-is-ableism-five-things-about-ableism-you-should-know/
cdxxvi
https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/issues/women-and-girls-with-disabilities.html
cdxxvii
Ibid

Chapter Twelve: ways forward (part 2)

cdxxviii
http://www.cadtm.org/How-Patriarchy-and-Capitalism Combine to Aggravate the Oppression of Women
cdxxix
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Chipko-movement
Chipko movement, also called Chipko andolan, was a nonviolent social and ecological movement by rural villagers, par-
ticularly women, in India in the 1970s, aimed at protecting trees and forests slated for government-backed logging.
cdxxx
http://abolition.e2bn.org/people_38.html
cdxxxi
Joan Wallach Scott (2017) Sex and Secularism
cdxxxii
Please read the part on secularism and islamophobia
cdxxxiii
Joan Wallach Scott (2017) Sex and Secularism
cdxxxiv
http://www.raewynconnell.net/2013/03/feminisms-challenge-to-biological.html
cdxxxv
http://www.raewynconnell.net/2013/03/feminisms-challenge-to-biological.html
cdxxxvi
Elizabeth Anderson (1995) Feminist Epistemology: An interpretation and a defense, Hypatia vol. 10, no. 3
cdxxxvii
ibid
cdxxxviii
Joan Wallach Scott (2017) Sex and Secularism
cdxxxix
http://www.raewynconnell.net/p/theory.html
cdxl
This is one reason why scholarship on the empathy brain and the neuroscience of empathy are becoming popular.

Chapter Thirteen: Who will do the work? (applicable to both Islam and secularism)
cdxli
Frederick Douglass was a former slave who became one of the great American anti-slavery leaders of the 1800s.
cdxlii
Helen Adams Keller was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deaf-blind person to
earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.
cdxliii
Karen Armstrong (1993) End of Silence: Women and Priesthood

Rachel Elior (2005) Men and Women: Gender, Judaism and Democracy
cdxliv
Although I have referenced the work of only a few feminist scholars in my work, there is tremendous academic and
non-academic scholarship produced by feminists. Please check the additional knowledge sources in the appendix section.
cdxlv
At 65 years old, Anna Cooper became the fourth African-American woman to earn a doctorate when she received her
Ph.D. in history from the University of Paris-Sorbonne in 1924. She died on February 27, 1964.

Chapter Fourteen: Secularism, cultural imperialism and Muslim societies

cdxlvi
To understand how secularism itself has become a politically motivated ideology and how it is employed in the ser-
vice of Islamophobia, please see, The Politics of the Veil (2007) and Sex and Secularism(2017) by Joan Wallach Scott
cdxlvii
A cursory understanding may present imperialism and patriarchy as two different world views; however, as systems
of domination and oppression the two share a lot in common, with both seriously impacting Islam as a religion.
cdxlviii
Because of the way Islam is presented in mainstream Western media, many young Muslims living in such areas are
either ashamed to be Muslims or feel that Islamic way of life is incompatible with modern lifestyles. This part of the es -
say is specially dedicated to such people. I hope that after reading this part, they may be encouraged to reflect that the
one-sided picture they are presented with is a political product and serves much bigger geo-political aims.
cdxlix
https://www.britannica.com/topic/cultural-imperialism
cdl
Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire (2012) Deepa Kumar
cdli
ibid
cdlii
ibid
cdliii
ibid
cdliv
ibid
cdlv
ibid
cdlvi
ibid
cdlvii
ibid
cdlviii
ibid
cdlix
ibid
cdlx
ibid
cdlxi
Here the Man refers to an exclusive type of Man; these ideas were not applicable to the working class, most women,
or the slaves in colonies.
cdlxii
https://www.livescience.com/55327-the-enlightenment.html
cdlxiii
Joan Wallach Scott (2017) Sex and Secularism
cdlxiv
Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire (2012) Deepa Kumar
cdlxv
ibid
cdlxvi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Perkins_%28author%29

Chapter Fifteen: Knowledge within the cultural imperialism framework

cdlxvii
This part of the chapter is taken from the following work of Deepa Kumar;

Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire (2012) Deepa Kumar.

cdlxviii
ibid
cdlxix
ibid
cdlxx
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/women-war-and-peace/full-episodes/peace-unveiled/
cdlxxi
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10402659.2015.1094326?src=recsys&journalCode=cper20
cdlxxii
Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire (2012) Deepa Kumar
cdlxxiii
ibid
cdlxxiv
ibid
cdlxxv
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Muhammad
cdlxxvi
ibid
cdlxxvii
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/14/french-girl-11-not-a-child-say-lawyers-for-man-29-accused-of-
sexual-abuse
cdlxxviii
ibid
cdlxxix
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Hebdo
cdlxxx
https://deadline.com/2018/10/fox-news-contributor-lisa-daftari-has-rutgers-speech-canceled-islamophobia-cited-
1202482124/
cdlxxxi
ttps://uk.video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?
fr=mcafee&p=woemn+who+left+islam+you+tube#id=2&vid=f2469cde9f090ee3523568b3656ce185&action=click

cdlxxxii
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/symbol-of-oppression-or-expression-of-faith-how-
viewpoints-on-the-veil-vary-9050175.html
cdlxxxiii
A 21 year old Muslim girl quoted in Banning Muslim Veils Tend to Backfire:Why do countries keep doing it?
(2018) By Sigal Samuel
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/08/denmark-burqa-veil-ban/566630/
cdlxxxiv
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/06/danish-government-proposes-ban-on-full-face-veils
cdlxxxv
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-45083275
cdlxxxvi
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/devon/4756724.stm
cdlxxxvii
https://www.alternet.org/story/14826/the_veil%3A_resistance_or_repression/
cdlxxxviii
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom
cdlxxxix
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jyllands-Posten_Muhammad_cartoons_controversy
cdxc
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_against_Holocaust_denial
cdxci
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Kaepernick
cdxcii
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-wants-nfl-police-brutality-protesters-colin-kaepernick-sacked-heres-670001
cdxciii
https://www.iraqbodycount.org/

https://www.salon.com/2018/03/20/the-iraq-war-15-years-later-lies-deaths-and-lessons-we-still-havent-learned/
cdxciv
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/democracy-in-iraq/

Chapter Sixteen: Consequences of cultural imperialism

cdxcv
https://www.newstatesman.com/world/north-america/2018/03/americans-are-more-likely-be-attacked-far-right-
terrorists-islamists
cdxcvi
Nathan Lean (2012) The Islamophobia Industry: How the Right Manufactures Hatred of Muslims
cdxcvii
https://www.davidhorowitzfreedomcenter.org/
cdxcviii
Ibid
cdxcix
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-23064355
d
Nathan Lean (2012) The Islamophobia Industry: How the Right Manufactures Hatred of Muslims
di
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/world/europe/24oslo.html
dii
ibid
diii
ibid
div
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Chapel_Hill_shooting
dv
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41263073
dvi
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-45341112
dvii
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/why-cant-media-describe-chapel-hill-murders-terrorism

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/11407844/Chapel-Hill-murders-Is-Stephen-Hicks-a-
terrorist.html
dviii
Deepa Kumar (2011) Political Islam: A Marxist Analysis in International Socialist Review, Issue 76
dix
Bernard Lewis as quoted by Deepa Kumar in Political Islam: A Marxist Analysis in International (2011) Socialist Re -
view, Issue 76
dx
ibid
dxi
https://chomsky.info/20080424/
dxii
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/democracy-in-iraq/
dxiii
http://mepc.org/commentary/us-and-democratization-afghanistan
dxiv
Part Four: Conclusion
Chapter Seventeen: Barriers to understanding
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/05/31/feminist-germaine-greer-says-most-rape-is-just-bad-
sex/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.7019c2142065
dxv
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samia_Sarwar
dxvi
Mark Gungor video on brains of men and women

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQ9L9YBJkk8
dxvii
http://www.tamilnation.co/culture/macaulay.htm
dxviii
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/oct/02/the-myth-of-the-she-devil-why-we-judge-female-criminals-more-
harshly
dxix
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mom-denied-food-stamps-shoots-kids-kills-self/
dxx
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/lawreports/8321601/Woman-with-learning-difficulties-could-be-
forcibly-sterilised.html
dxxi
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/24/turkeys-president-recep-tayyip-erdogan-women-not-equal-men

Epilogue
dxxii
https://www.smh.com.au/world/india-burning-brides-and-ancient-practice-is-on-the-rise-20150115-12r4j1.html
dxxiii
https://mic.com/articles/125084/the-brutal-truth-every-white-feminist-needs-to-hear#.SUfj6ZNPY