The Veil and the Male Elite: A Feminist Interpretation of Women's Rights in Islam

235 Pages·1991·20.98 MB·english

by  Fatima Mernissi

Many of the designations used by Inanufacturers and sellers to distinguish their
products are claill1.ed as tradelnarks. Where those designations appear in this book
and Perseus Books was aware of a tradelnark claill1, the designations have been
printed in initial capit~lletters.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mernissi, Fatin1.a.
[Harell1 politique. English]
The veil and the luale elite : a fenunist interpretation of wOlnen's rights in
Islaln /
Fatiu1.a Mernissi ; translated by Mary Jo Lakeland.
p. Cll1..
Translation of: Le harell1. politique.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-201-52321-3
ISBN 0-201-63221-7 (pbk.)
1. WOlnen in the Hadith. 2. WOlnen in Islan1.. 3. Muhalunud, Prophet.
d. 632-Views on WOlnen.
BP135.8.W67M4713 1991
297' . 12408-dc20 90-47404
elP
Copyright © Editions Albin Michel S.A. 1987
English translation © Perseus Books Publishing, L.L.C. 1991
All rights reserved. No part of this publication Inay be reproduced, stored in a re
trieval systeln, or transnutted, in any fornl or by any Ineans, electronic, ll1echan
ical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written pennission
of the publisher. Printed in the United States of fullerica. Published Sil11ultane
ously in Canada.
Perseus Books is a l11elnber of the Perseus Books Group
Cover design by Marge Anderson
Set in 11/13-point Bel11bo by Hope Services (Abingdon) Ltd, Great Britain
8 9 10 11 03 02 01 00 99
Contents
Preface to the English Edition VI
Acknowledgments X
Map of Arabia at the Time of the Hejira XU
Introduction
1
PART I Sacred Text as Political Weapon
The Muslim and Time IS
I
2 The Prophet and Hadith 25
3 A Tradition of Misogyny (1)
49
4 A Tradition of Misogyny (2) 62
PART II Medina in Revolution: The Three Fateful Years
5 The Hijab, the Veil 85
6 The Prophet and Space 102
7 The Prophet and. Women
115
8 ~U mar and the Men of Medina 141
9 The Prophet as Military Leader 161
The Hijab Descends on Medina
10 180
Conclusion
Notes
APPENDICES
Appendix Sources
I 217
Appendix Chronology
2 223
Index
227
Preface to the English Edition
Is Islam opposed to women's rights? Let us take a look at the
international situation, to see who is really against wom.en.
Is it not odd that il1 this extraordinary decade, the 1990S, when
the whole world is swept by the irresistible chant for human
rights, sung by women and men, by children and grandparents,
from all kinds of religious backgrounds and beliefs, in every
language and dialect fron1 Beijing to the Americas, one finds only
one religion identified as a stun1bling block on the road to true
democracy? Islam alone is condemned by n1any Westerners as
blocking the way to women's rights. And yet, though neither
Christianity nor Judaism played an important role ill promoting
equality of the sexes, n1illions of Jewish and Chistial1 women
today enjoy a dual privilege - full hun1an rights on the one hand
and access to an inspirational religious tradition on the other. As
an Arab woman, particularly fascinated by the way people in the
modern world manage and integrate their past, I am constalltly
surprised when visiting Europe and the USA, who "sell" them
selves as super-modern societies, to find how Judeo-Christian
their cultural atmosphere really is. It may escape them, but to an
outsider Europe and the USA are particularly rich in religious
influences, in myths, tales, and traditions. So much so that I
continually find myself asking questions such as "What do you
mean by St George and the Dragon?" simply so that I can follow
conversations.
Westerners make unconscious religious references constantly in
VI
Preface to the Edition
En<~lish
their daily activities, their creative thillking, and their approach to
the world around them. When Neil Armstrong and his fellow
astrol1auts walked on the m0011 on July 20, I969, they read to the
millions watching them, including us Muslims, the first chapter of
the Book of Genesis: "In the Beginning God created the Heavens
and the Earth . . ." They did 110t sound so very modern. They
sounded to us very religious indeed, in spite of their spacesuits.
When I went to the USA in I986 I was surprised to see preachers
Christiall-style mullahs - recitillg day-long sermons on satellite
television! SOllle banks alld businesses evidently found it worth
their while to fillance whole days of religious transmissions,
poured free of charge into Anlerican homes. Here is a clear message
for those who doubt Islam's capacity to survive nlodernity, calling
it unfit to accompany the age of higher technology: why should
Islam fail where Judaism alld Christiallity so clearly succeed?
What can we women COllclude fronl the Euro-American
situatioll? First, we see religion call be used by all kinds of
organizations in the modern world to promote money-nlaking
projects; and second, since Islam is no more repressive than
Judaism or Christiallity, there must be those who have a vested
interest in blockillg women's rights in Muslim societies. The cause
must again be profit, and the question is: how and where can a
businessman who profitably exploits women (whether the head of
a multinational or a local bazaar entrepreneur), find a source in
which he can dip his spurious rationale to give it a glow of
authenticity? Surely not in the present. To defend the violation of
women's rights it is necessary to go back illtO the shadows of the
past. This is what those people, East or West, who would deny
Muslim women's claim to democracy are trying to do. They
camouflage their self-interest by proclaiming that we can have
either Islam or delllocracy, but never both together.
Let us leave the international scene and go into the dark back
streets of Medina. Why is it that we find some Muslim men saying
that women in Muslim states cannot be granted full enjoyment of
human rights? What grounds do they have for such a claim? None
- they are simply betting on our ignorance of the past, for their
argument can never convince anyone with all elementary under
standing of Islam's history. Any lllan who believes that a Muslim
..
VB
Preface to the En<.<?lish Edition
woman who fights for her dignity and right to citizellship
excludes herself necessarily from the umma and' is a brainwashed
victim of Western propaganda is a man who misunderstands his
own religious heritage, his own cultural identity. The vast and
inspiring records of Muslim history so brilliantly completed for us
by scholars such as Ibn Hisham, Ibn Hajar, Ibn Sa~ad, and Tabari,
speak to the contrary. We Muslim women can walk into the
modern world with pride, knowing that the quest for dignity,
democracy, and human rights, for full participation in the political
and social affairs of our country, stems from no inlported Western
values, but is a true part of the Muslim tradition. Of this I am
certain, after reading the works of those scholars mentioned above
and many others. They give me evidence to feel proud of my
Muslim past, and to feel justified in valuing the best gifts of
modern civilization: human rights and the satisfaction of full
ci tizenshi p.
Ample historical evidence portrays women in the Prophet's
Medina raising their heads from slavery and violence to claim their
right to join, as equal participallts, in the making of their Arab
history. Women fled aristocratic tribal Mecca by the thousands to
enter Medina, the Prophet's city in the severith century, because
Islam promised equality and dignity for all, for men and women,
masters and servants. Every woman who came to Medina when
the Prophet was the political leader of Muslims could gain access
to full citizenship, the status of sahabi, Companion of the Prophet.
Muslims can take pride that in their language they have the
feminine of that word, sahabiyat, women who enjoyed the right to
enter into the councils of the Muslim umma, to speak freely to its
Prophet-leader, to dispute with the men, to fight for their
happiness, and to be involved in the managemellt of nlilitary and
political affairs. The evidence is there in the works· of religious
history, in the biographical details of sahabiyat by the thousand
who built Muslim society side by side with their male counterparts.
This book is an attempt to recapture some of the wonderful and
beautiful moments in the first Muslim city in the world, Medina
of the year (the first year of the Muslim calendar), when
622
aristocratic young women and slaves alike were drawn to a new,
mysterious religion, feared by the masters of Mecca because its
V1l1
Preface to the E1'lJ~lish EditioH
prophet spoke of matters dangerous to the establishment, of
human dignity and equal rights. The religion was Islam and the
Prophet was Muhammad. Al1d that his egalitarian message today
sounds so foreign to many ill our Muslim societies that they claim
it to be imported is indeed one of the great enigmas of our times. It
is our duty as good Muslims to refresh their memories. Inna
nafa f!at al-dhikra (of use is the reminder) says the Koran. When I
finished writing this book I had co~e to understand one thing: if
women's rights are a problem for some modern Muslim men, it is
neither because of the Koran nor the Prophet, nor the Islamic
tradition, but simply because those rights conflict with the
interests of a male elite. The elite faction is trying to convince .us
that their egotistic, highly subjective, al1d mediocre view of
culture and society has a sacred basis. But if there is one thil1g that
the women and men of the late twentieth century who have an
awareness and enjoyment of history can be sure of, it is that Islam
was not sent from heaven to foster egotism and mediocrity. It
came to sustain the people of the Arabian desert lands, to
encourage them to achieve higher spiritual goals and equality for
all, in spite of poverty al1d the daily cOl1flictbetween the weak and
the powerful. For those first Muslims democracy was nothing
unusual; it was their meat and drink and their wonderful dream,
waking or sleeping. I have tried to present that dream, and if you
should find pleasure in these pages it is because I have succeeded in
some small way, however inadequate, in recapturing the heady
quality of a great epoch.
IX
Acknowledgments
For sound advice regarding my research for this book I am
indebted to two of my colleagues at the Universite Mohammed V:
Alem Moulay Ahmed al-Khamlichi, and the philosopher fAli
Oumlil. The latter suggested to me the inclusion of the material
concerning the ordering of the suras in the Koran and the dating of
them; he also recommended to me some references concerning the
traditional methodology as regards the sacred texts. Alem Moulay
Ahmed al-Khamlichi gave me much advice and patiellt assistance,
rare amol1g colleagues, especially with chapters 2, 3, and 4,
concerning Hadith. His generosity even extended to putting his
own books at my disposal and marking the pages for me. I confess
that I would have hesitated to be so generous myself, because the
number of loaned books that you never see again has increased
sharply since the war in Lebanon, which has sent the price of
Arabic books soaring. Professor Khamlichi teaches Muslim law at
the Faculte de Droit of the Universite Mohammed V. In his
capacity as ~alim (religious scholar), he is also a member of the
council of fulama of the city of Rabat and a specialist in problems
dealing with women in Islam. It was he who gave me the idea for
this book. It was while listening to him at a televised conference at
the Rabat mosque, expounding his views on the initiative of the
believer with regard to religious texts, that I felt the necessity for a
new interpretation of those texts.
I am also grateful for the patience and unflagging aid of M.
Boufnani, director of the Institut Ibn-Ruchd of the Faculte de
x
A(knowle~,?tnetlts
Lettres of Rabat, who saved me much tin1e with regard to finding
and consulting the available documents in the library of the
Faculte de Lettres; to the Bibliotheque Gcncrale of Rabat; to
Mustapha Naji, bookseller, who turned the bookseller/client
relationship into an intellectual exchange and a debate on the
future of the Muslim heritage that was sometimes a little too
impassioned for my taste, but certainly fruitful; and to Madame
Dalili, who took care of all the concerns of daily life during the
I011g months of research and writing of this book.
Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to Claire
Delannoy, the first non-Muslim reader of this book, thanks to
whom the often problematic relationship between writer and
publisher became a veritable dialogue between cultures.
Xl
Adrianopl•e ~----BLACKSEA----~
Constantinople --------->.....
Siffin
.
MEDITERRANEAN EMPIRE
Damascus
~~-------------------------.-,---r"- ~~ . Busra OF
PERSIA
Jerusale ~
• "P
Gaza trl
Hira.
• Dumat aI-Jandal
Gulf of Aqaba
• Khaybar
• Medina
·Uhud
• Badr
• Hudaybiyya
YAMAMAT
•
Ta'if
ETHIOPIA
MAP OF ARABIA AT THE TIME OF THE HEJlRA