"Women and Islam--A Westerner's Perspective"

Posted by Doc Farmer

Wednesday, June 04, 2003

I've lived in the Middle East region for over

five years now.
And
although I'm not a female nor a Muslim, I think I've
got a bit of an
understanding of the position of women as regards the
religion of
Islam.

It's not what you've been led to believe, either.

First, let's get this misconception out of the

way straight up.
Female circumcision is NOT sanctioned or supported by
Islam. There are
some cultures that did this practice far before the
rise of the Prophet
Muhammad (pbuh), and there is nothing in my research
of the Noble
Qur'an
that suggests it is in any way discussed or permitted,
with the
exception
of a very rare medical condition. Male circumcision
is allowed, partly
due
to the roots of Islam going back to Abraham (Ibrahim),
and partly
because
of hygiene. Trust me, when you live in a desert,
there are certain
areas
you want sand to avoid.

Women do have rights in Islam, folks. Note that

I said Islam. I
did
not mention specific Middle Eastern cultures. That's
where the
conflict,
and some of the confusion comes in. I'll try to be as
accurate as I
can be
regarding this, although I'm sure there will be
exceptions to the rule.
There always are. In Judeo-Christian religions as
well...

Women have the right to get a divorce. So do

men. Their divorce
laws
actually seem to take the kids into the equation as
the primary
concern,
though. Western laws SAY they are for the kids, but
we all know that's
a
load of hooey. The courts do not beggar ex-husbands,
but the men must
take
their fatherly responsibilities (financial and
emotional) to heart.
And by
in large, they do. Those who don't are not well
thought of by their
peers.
Their male peers.

In that same regard, women generally hold custody

of the children
during their younger, more formative years. Boys
until age 6, girls
until
age 9. Then custody is normally transferred to the
father. However,
it is
important to note that custody is not exclusive. The
children are
afforded
all rights to visitation by the non-custodial parent
under Sharia law
(the
law set forth in the Noble Qur'an). There are, of
course, cases of
parents
kidnapping their kids. This seems to be a phase of
parental
selfishness
that transcends religion, however. It is not
supported in Islam,
Judaism,
Christianity or any other faith that I'm aware of.

Women can and do work outside the home. But

their primary
responsibility is the care of the family - especially
the kids. The
money
they earn is for themselves, and not for the
household. That's the
husband's responsibility. The wife can, voluntarily,
contribute to
household needs, but can never be compelled. The same
goes for a
wife's
inheritance.

Some countries here in the Middle East have

separate sections in
restaurants. One section is for single men, and the
other section is
for
single women and families. Malls and shopping centres
have ''family
days''
when single men are not allowed to shop (see also:
gawk at the babes).
This is partly cultural, but it also has an Islamic
element in that
women
are protected from the unwanted advances or attentions
of single men.

Islam does permit polygamy, but with limits. For

example, a man
cannot have more than four wives, and only if local
laws permit. And
also
if the other wives permit. Yes, they have a say in
the matter, folks.
The
husband has to ensure that he treats ALL wives equally
in matters of
finance, support, love and care of their children.
The husband has to
prove that he can afford to do this before he can
bring in wife number
two,
three or four.

And for those of you who think that this is

nothing more than
sexual
Olympics for the male, consider this. With increased
nookie comes also
the
increase in nagging, complaining and general annoyance
that come as
standard equipment with a female spouse. Usually the
increase in the
latter is the square (or more often, the cube) of the
former. Men must
think long and hard about that before taking in more
wives.

Me? Bitter after my divorces? Of COURSE not...

Then there is the veil. Or, more accurately, the

covering of the
head. The veil (covering of the face) is more an
outgrowth of the
nomadic
tribes of pre-Islam Arabia. It is a sense of
protection and privacy
again.
The covering of the head is a sign of respect shown in
most religious
cultures. Islam and Judaism share this concept.
Hasidic Jews cover
their
heads - males with the yarmulke, females with a scarf.
The same is
true
for Islam, just using different items or names for
those items.
According
to my sources, the wearing of a headcovering is
required for females.
Men
are not required to cover their heads, but it is a
generally accepted
practice. The veil is NOT required under Sharia law.

As to the abaya or burkha, that's one that I have

to admit
confuses me
a little. I can understand that women would want to
hide themselves
from
unmarried males in public places. Males are generally
jerks (no matter
what religion or culture) and Islam seems to
understand this. But the
abaya is not, from my admittedly limited study of
Islam, a mandated
thing.
Islam states that women, and men, must dress modestly
and
conservatively,
but that's about it. For guys here in the Middle
East, it's
traditionally
the thobe and guttrah (see also: the dress and the
tablecloth with the
fan
belt on top). For gals, it's generally a dress or
suit that doesn't
show
cleavage, shoulders, legs or arms down to the wrist.

Personal opinion here, but I think that ladies

wearing basic
black, in
the middle of summer, in the middle of a desert where
the temperatures
top
50 degrees Celsius (122F), may need some bit of a
cultural re-think in
the
Middle East. But that's cultural, not religious.
Even Coco Channel,
the
apocryphal inventor of the ''little black dress'',
would have to admit
that
it's not always a good idea to be your own Easy-Bake
Oven. Here in
Doha,
many women wear the abaya and the veil. But many more
don't. And
they're
not arrested or harassed for it. And those who are
Muslims are no less
Muslim because they don't wear the veil.

I'm kind of hoping that those women in the West,

who want to
''liberate'' the women of Islam, fail. Frankly, their
''liberation''
of
Western women has resulted in higher divorce rates,
lowering morality,
higher crime rates, the destruction of the traditional
(for over 6,000
years), family and the murder of over 40 million
innocent babies.
This, to
my mind, is not something they should proudly try to
export.