Faith : A fruitless debate
In the coming lines, an attempt is being made to deal with three critical issues relating to women in the West.
The issues are her status in the West in the past; her reaction to that status ; and the consequences of that reaction.
Before the Second World War, the status of women in the West was nothing to write home about. Disrespect and contempt could best describe how she was treated in the West in the past.
The dismal picture about her status could be summed up in the following points:
i) The West socially inherited two key civilisations, namely the Greek and Roman civilisations.
These two civilisations looked down upon women. The encyclopaedia Britannica has observed that, "in Athens, women's status had degenerated to that of slaves. Wives were secluded in their homes, had no education and few rights; and were considered by their husbands no better than chattels.
.... In ancient Rome, a woman's legal position was one of complete subordination, first to the power of her father or brother and later to that of her husband, who held paternal power over his wife. In the eyes of the law, women were regarded as imbeciles".
ii) Christianity did little to improve this situation having attached great importance to the erroneous belief given in Genesis in the Bible that it had been Eve's wrongdoing which caused Adam's ejection from the Garden of Eden.
The encyclopaedia Britannica indicates that Christianity regard women as temptress and as second-class human beings.
iii) Prominent among the rights women were deprived of were freedom of choice and right of ownership of property. Her very existence was submerged by the male gender. She was of no essence.
A classical case in point is the English Common Law which did not recognise the right of woman to ownership of property until 1887.
A revolt
Indeed, the diverse manifestations of subjugation which women were subjected to in early civilisations and in the West injected into them a feeling of dissent and revolt upon access to the least opportunity.
And, the French Revolution in the 18th Century and certain developments during the World War provided the tonic that ignited the revolt for their rights and which was excessively carried out to adversely affect their basic roles in the home.
The consequences
The above revolt by women in the West has led to grave and serious consequences for the home and society.
Notable among them are the following:
i) The revolt was a clear exhibition of intransigence against divine order relating to the family set up vis-a-vis the role of women leading to waywardness in faith in the creator.
ii) Involvement of women in physical works that should have been the preserve of men, thus, exposing women to depreciation in the tenderness of their physical make.
iii) A lot of families are in a mess due to the challenge posed by some women to the leadership role of the man in the family.
In any human setting, the absence of a clearly defined leadership role and structure leads to chaos and misdirection. And, the modern family has suffered a lot adversely due to the fact that liberal philosophy has emboldened women to challenge the leadership role of the man in the family.
iv) The quest for work outside the home, an upshot of the revolt, has led to the absence of motherly care in the home. And, undoubtedly, this has greatly contributed to the prevalence of wayward children in society on a global scale.
A fruitless debate
Is the debate on women in Islam and human rights necessary at all? Personally, I think it is a fruitless debate for the following reasons:
i ) Points raised on the status of women in Islam clearly indicate that Islam has honoured women in a manner that is unprecedented in the history of humanity.
Islam has, in realistic terms, not trampled on their freedom and rights in any way. What is usually trumpeted by the human rights activists relating to women in Islam are just figment of their imagination.
ii ) One of the complex and delicate issues of life is to use a particular mindset to judge any setting without necessarily understanding the basis upon which that setting is built. Unfortunately, human rights activists address women issues in Islam either from the angle of ignorance or prejudice.
iii ) The issue of "hijab" ( covering of women in islam) should not be addressed at all because Muslim women do cover their bodies as an expression of their freedom (which is their right) and a deep commitment to their Creator.
No woman is compelled to do so for it to be a human right issue. When Muslim women in the West are asked about their commitment to "hijab", the simple answer they always give is that it is their personal expression of commitment to what their Lord requires of them.
iv) Even in inheritance where a female takes half of the male’s properties, one needs to understand clearly the basis for that. It is absolutely an arrangement based on divine justice.
In Islam, the woman is not burdened to expend her wealth on her housing, clothing, feeding and maintenance. All these responsibilities fall on the shoulders of her husband brother or father.
The law goes to the extent of saying that whatever she expends from her wealth on any of the above variables of life, it is the responsibility of her husband to pay her back.
Justifiably enough, it makes sense that the male, who is burdened to expend on her, takes more of the estate than her. That is divine justice of the best kind.
The question then is, why the noise about women and their rights in Islam? It is a fruitless and baseless debate.
The writer is a Theologian/Educationist
