wijdan ali - cliches of muslim women in the west and their own world cd2 id1135743698 size113

7/25/2019 Wijdan Ali - Cliches of Muslim Women in the West and Their Own World Cd2 Id1135743698 Size113

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Clichs about the Orient and its women haveimposed themselves with considerable force onthe popular imagination of the West and havebeen perpetuated in Europe since the MiddleAges. The projection of evil onto marginal orineffectual groups within a society has alwaysbeen an easy and useful method to find scape-goats. Jews in Medieval Europe were stere-otyped and tried for a number of fictitiouscrimes such as poisoning wells, killing chil-dren for their blood, and crucifying and can-nibalizing their victims. Along the same lines,women were associated with the devil and re-garded as enemies of the Church. Hence thewitch-hunts that tried women for sexual vora-ciousness, cannibalism and consorting with evilspirits. The projection of evil onto an alienculture was also a distinctive aspect of medi-eval Europes intolerance,1due to its ignoranceof such cultures.

At the time, the Islamic state was the ogrethat threatened not only Europe but Christi-anity as a religion and a civilization. It wasconsidered as anti-Europe, posing a cultural,religious, political and military confrontationwith the West. The Prophet Muhammad wasridiculed in the most noxious manner. He was

Clichs ofMuslim Women in

the West and Their Own WorldWijdan Ali. President of the Royal Society of Fine Arts, Jordan

described as a lecherous arch-seducer who uti-lized God to justify his own sexual indulgences.Such concepts, whose popularity was transmit-ted from one generation to the other, were si-multaneously coupled by the misogyny inher-ent in the European psyche. Consequently,Muslim women were doubly demeaned (asEasterners and as women).2

Sir Richard Burtons licentious translationof the Arabian Nights, which gained greatpopularity in 19th century Victorian Englandwas regarded as a highly literary work. In ithe portrays the cunning Scheherazade, whoseknowledge and education only serve to keepher alive for a thousand and one nights by re-counting erotic tales to her king. Here it shouldbe mentioned that the original is nothing butoral folklore traditions from India, Persia, Iraq,Syria and Egypt recorded in a vulgar vernacu-lar to appeal to the popular prejudices amongthe illiterate masses to whom they were re-counted. Other Eastern women who gainediconic value in Renaissance and late 19th cen-tury painting, literature and music were theexotic Cleopatra who seduced Mark Anthonyand the wicked Salom rewarded with thehead of John the Baptist. Orientalist paintings

1. Rana Kabbani (1986), p. 5.2. Ibid., p. 7.


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30 Clichs of Muslim Women in the West and Their Own World

by Jean-Lon Germe, John Fredrick Lewis,Jean Lecompte du Nou, Luis Riccardo Falero,and Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, amongscores of others, featured countless scenes ofnaked Muslim women. Unlike her Europeanpeer, the nude Muslim woman emerged inOrientalist paintings outside mythology andwas placed within a definitemilieuwhich inthe mind of the artists gave her a realistic char-acter that appealed to the Western bourgeoispublic. Hence the most widespread clichsportrayed Oriental women, through literatureand art, as the evil, uninhibited and profligatesex object whose sole aim in life was to seduceand satisfy the illicit desires of the Orientalmale (and later European male travellers).

The Islamic world was regarded as anenemy (or the enemy) since the Crusades,colonialism had a rich vein of bigotry andmisinformation to draw on

Eventually, a second image of Muslimwomen emerged in the West. This image wasof an ignorant and repressed woman whoseculture, based on religion, forced her into ser-vitude behind the veil. Her father, husband orbrother was responsible for her and had thepower to physically mutilate her, and preventher from leaving her home to be educated, earna living or choose her partner in marriage. She

could not assume public office, pursue a pro-fession or have a say in any matter related toher destiny, and her role was confined to rais-ing a family behind closed doors. Once moreIslam itself was being attacked as a backward,repressive and cruel religion which subjugatedhalf of its followers by keeping them in seclu-sion. This gave civilized Europe an added le-gitimate reason to colonize the Islamic Orient

and introduce civilization to its natives

through deculturizing them and forcing themto adopt Western culture.

The issue of women only emerged as thecentrepiece of the Western account of Islamin the late 19th century, when Europeans in-stalled themselves as colonial powers in Islamiccountries.This new centrality that the issueof Muslim women came to occupy in the West-ern and colonial narrative of Islam seems tobe the result of the fusion of the old narrativeof Islam as the enemy of Christianity, and thebroad, all-purpose narrative of colonial domi-nation regarding the inferiority, in relation toEuropean culture, of all other cultures andsocieties, and finally and somewhat ironically,came the language of feminism which wasevolving with particular vigour during thistime in the West.3Victorian womanhood andmores pertaining to women, along with otheraspects of society at the colonial centre, wereregarded as the ideal and a measure of civili-zation. Such concepts were politically useful

to the Victorian institution as it faced mount-ing vocal feminism. Ironically, at the timewhen the Victorian male establishment wasdeveloping theories to challenge the claims offeminism, ridiculing and rejecting its ideas, itadopted the language of feminism and redi-rected it in the service of colonialism towardother men and their cultures. The idea thatmen in societies beyond the borders of the civi-

lized West aggrieved and mistreated womenwas to be used, in the rhetoric of colonialism,to render morally justifiable its project of un-doing or eradicating the cultures of colonizedpeoples. Because the Islamic world was re-garded as an enemy (or the enemy) since theCrusades, colonialism had a rich vein of big-otry and misinformation to draw on.4

At this point one should look at the facts that

identify a Muslim woman and what rights and

3. Ibid.,p. 150.4. Ibid., pp. 150-151.


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Quaderns de la Medi terrnia 31

duties her religion accords her. Until Islam camein the seventh century AD the status of womenin the pastoral tribal society of the Arabian Pe-ninsula was that of an object or a beast of bur-den (there were certain rare incidents duringthe first Jahiliyya period when the tribe wasattributed to the mother). She was exploited forsexual pleasure, childbearing and the executionof menial jobs that men refrained from per-forming. She was part and parcel of the manspossessions to the extent that after his death shewas part of the inheritance and belonged to hisinheritors along with his possessions. Mean-while, the attitude of women towards their ser-vitude was of total submission. The status ofwomen in the whole Middle East was not anybetter than that of Arab women.

After the coming of Islam, for the first timewomen were given equal rights as men. In thefamily a woman was not only given the rightof consent to marriage but her consent becamea condition for the validity of the marriage

contract. Her marital rights and duties weredefined. As a wife, her respect was obligatoryon the husband who was obliged to provideher with the three basic needs: food, clothingand shelter according to her social status. I fhe failed to provide her with one she had theright to divorce him. As a mother her childrenwere obliged to obey and respect her. As adaughter she was saved from infanticide as was

the custom among pre-Islamic society. She wasgiven the right to inherit and to appropriateand was the only custodian of her propertywith no interference from her family includ-ing her husband. Her civil and religious rightsand duties were equal to men.5The Quran andthe traditions of the Prophet urged both menand women to seek education on equal terms.The Prophets wives and daughters were not

only knowledgeable in matters of their reli-gion but were also referred to as authorities tointerpret religious traditions and instruct Mus-lims in matters of their faith.6Islam gavewomen the right to political participation,holding public office and lawful debate, frat-ernizing and practising all the professions thatwere available to men. Since the early days ofIslam women took part in war and commerce(Khadija, the Prophets first wife, was a mer-chant in whose employment was the Prophethimself before the revelation came to him),practised nursing and medicine, and instructedthe people privately and in mosques.7

After the coming of Islam, for the firsttime women were given equal rights asmen

There are two subjects in Islam that seemto be of particular interest to the West. Thefirst is polygamy and the second is the veil. Is-

lam did not invent polygamy. Judaism allowedmen to have an unlimited number of wivesaccording to their income. Both David and Solo-mon had hundreds of wives and concubinesdespite the fact that they were both prophets.The Old and New Testaments did not forbidpolygamy, which was in practice until the 16thcentury. In 1650 the Frankish Council in Nu-remberg allowed men to have two wives. The

Mormon practised polygamy until the 1970swhen they were forbidden to do so by civil law.When Islam came it regulated polygamy byrestricting it to four wives, each having equalfamily and inheritance rights. However, po-lygamy in Islam can only be practised undercertain circumstances such as illness or infer-tility of the first wife or the decrease of themale population due to war. Certain conditions

5. Wijdan Ali (1983), pp. 90-95.6.Ibid., pp. 3-5.7.Ibid., pp. 24-28.


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were imposed on men, among them total equal-ity in the treatment of their wives, although ifhe could not abide by this stipulation then hewas allowed only one spouse.8

Despite the various interpretations regard-ing the veil and seclusion of Muslim women,there is no clear text in the Quran that im-poses either on women. The Quran itself doesnot mandate that women should be completelyveiled or separated from men, but tells of theirparticipation in the life of the community andcommon religious responsibility with men toworship God, live virtuous lives, and to coverthemselves or dress modestly.9During pil-grimage to Mecca, both men and women per-form their ritual without being segregated anda womans hands and face must be uncoveredboth at pilgrimage and while performing thefive daily prayers; both rites are among the fivepillars of Islam.

We finally come to the applications of re-ligious and social rules to Muslim women

which call for a retreat in history. The subor-dination of women and the discriminationpractised against them is the outcome of thegradual evolution of social and economic con-ditions that had been in existence in the Mid-dle East since Neolithic times. The rise of ur-ban life which first appeared in Mesopotamia(present-day Iraq) accelerated the existing di-vision of labour between women and men,

which had previously allowed men an increas-ingly large role in their agricultural societiesas bread winners and a source of revenue thusallocating women to dedicating more time tochildbearing and domestic activities. Urbanlife further reduced womens social and eco-nomic power, fostering a development of atti-

tude that held them to an inferior position.10

During the life of the Prophet in Mecca andMadina, women contributed to the social andeconomic life of their society, enjoying socialpower, visibility and freedom.

The Arabs who emerged out of the ArabianPeninsula a few decades after the death of theProphet in 632 AD, to conquer new lands in-cluding most of Byzantium and all of the Per-sian Sasanian Empire, soon became a minorityin the conquered lands and were influenced bythe practices of their peoples. Those practicesincluded a form of government that theAbbasids adopted from the Persians and socialpractices previously common in Syrian and Per-sian society, such as the seclusion of women,which were applied to the upper-class urbanMuslim women during the early centuries ofIslam.11Thus, generally speaking, the statuswomen enjoyed at the beginning of Islam be-gan to be undermined and they were restrictedto household activities and childrearing.

During the life of the Prophet in Meccaand Madina, women contributed to thesocial and economic life of their society,enjoying social power, visibility andfreedom

Islamic law is derived from the Quran,which Muslims regard as direct Divine Revela-

tion, the Hadith, which is the sayings of theProphet and theSunna, which is the traditionsof the Prophet. Being sacred, the Quran left noroom for change or human tampering. How-ever, the authenticity of the recorded sayingsand traditions of the Prophet that were writtendown at least a century after his death were both

8. Ibid., pp. 64-66.9. John L. Esposito (1994), p. 204.10. Guitty Nashat (1993), p. 5.11. John L. Esposito (1994), p. 204.


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challenged from the beginning. Islamic juristsdeveloped arguments that justified the morerestrictive provisions by arguing that eventhough the Quran did not require them, theProphets enactment of them should give themthe force of law. Consequently, thesharia, thereligious law that derived from these sources,was also treated as infallible. The gradual re-strictions placed on womens public role andtheir exclusion from the major domains of ac-tivity in their societies and the control imposedon them were the combined outcome of theworst features of Mediterranean and Middle-Eastern misogyny with an Islam interpreted inthe most negative way possible for women.12Oneshould keep in mind that all the jurists weremen as well as the rulers who continuouslysought control over their populations. With halfof them being women it was easier to restrainthem than to restrict men.

Women prime ministers assumed power

in the Islamic world before they did inthe West

However, the picture is not that dark. Dur-ing the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties and inIslamic Spain women attained a high level ofeducation and were well versed in jurispru-dence, history, philosophy, astrology, literature,and music among other arts and sciences. A con-

siderable number of Muslim women through-out history played important roles in public lifeand were rulers in whose name coins werestruck (among such examples are two queens:Asma and her daughter-in-law Arwa, ruled inYemen (11th century), the Fatimid Sit al-Mulkin Egypt (11th century), Shajarat al-Durr alsoin Egypt (13th century), Sultana Radiyya in

Delhi (13th century), five Mongol Khatuns wereheads of dynasties (13th and 14th centuries),and in South-East Asia seven sultanas ruled inthe Indies, three in the Maldives and four inIndonesia (14th century).13

The status of Muslim women began to de-teriorate only after the political and economicclimates in their own countries took a turn forthe worse, in the 17th, 18th and 19th centu-ries, causing social degeneration and intellec-tual stagnation which laid the ground for mis-interpreting religion, manipulating andcontrolling women to alienate them from so-ciety. In spite of all this, a medical school totrain women doctors was established in Cairoin 1832,14when the first public high school forwomen was only established in the UnitedStates in 182415and whereas women primeministers assumed power in the Islamic worldbefore they did in the West.

The encroachment of Western economicswhich brought social changes to the Islamic

world, the adoption of the concepts of libertyand equality from the French Revolution byMuslim intellectuals and the birth of modernnationalism among Muslim peoples affectedmen and women on a complex multi-level.Male intellectuals began calling for the eman-cipation of women from their social restric-tions. For the first time in history women foundtheir cause at the centre of national demands

and began to play a positive role to attain them.Social and political reformers in Egypt andTurkey insisted that the veil be removed andmore freedom be granted to their female part-ners.

Since the 1960s a new political, religious andsocial movement has been spreading like a bushfire throughout the Islamic world. It became

12. Leila Ahmed (1993), p. 128.13. Fatima Mernissi (1994).14. Leila Ahmed (1993), p. 134.15. Letha Scanzoni and John Scanzoni (1976), p. 22.


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known as fundamentalist Islam, a term whichwas coined by the Western media and trans-lated and picked up by the press in the Islamicworld. Although political Islam began in Egypt,in 1928, by Hassan al-Banna, the founder ofthe Muslim Brotherhood, the so-called funda-mentalist Islam only gained momentum afterthe preposterous defeat that the Arabs experi-enced in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

The general atmosphere among themasses, particularly in the Arab world, wasone of deep disappointment with their lead-erships and world powers who dealt, and con-tinues to deal, with political problems in theIslamic world by practising double standardsand applying principles of human rights se-lectively. As the only power they could trustwas God, people turned to religion as a ref-uge from their depressing and frustratingpolitical and physical reality. The success ofthe Khomeini revolution in Iran in 1979 wasinstrumental in strengthening and spreading

Islamic fundamentalism throughout the re-gion.

Like Jewish and Christian fundamentalistmovements, Islamic fundamentalism has manysects and divisions within, according to eachfactions interpretation of the religion. The out-ward principles of such movements are obvi-ous: mainly to attain justice by implementingreligious precepts in daily life, while the ulte-

rior motive in general is to use religion in orderto gain political and economic power. Thus Is-lamic fundamentalism served many includingthe West. The traditional enmity to Islam wasrevived, especially after the demise of Commu-nism; hence the portrayal of Muslims as oil sup-pliers, terrorists and blood thirsty mobs. Conse-quently, the issue of Muslim women was onceagain brought up in the Western media. New

clichs were circulated based on books and filmssuch asDeath of a Princessamong others. Theveiling of women occupied central stage. Yetthe veil that was either forced on or wilfully

adopted by women is quite different from theveil in the early decades of the 20th century. Atpresent the veil serves several purposes amongwhich are: protection against sexual harassmentat work, economic benefits among low incomegroups, and a means of gaining social accept-ance, but most important it is a form of assert-ing a Muslim womans identity and a symbolof resistance to foreign culture and the West,which has been assailing and degrading her owncivilization, religion and sexuality as long as shecan remember.

Islamic fundamentalism served manyincluding the West. The traditionalenmity to Islam was revived, especiallyafter the demise of Communism

The end of the 20th century finds Mus-lim women in high and low positions fromprime ministers to street sweepers whileequal pay has hardly been an issue in Islamic

countries. However, there are two points withwhich I would like to conclude this paper. Thefirst is the vastness of the Islamic world. Itcovers a geographic land mass that extendsfrom the Atlantic Ocean to Sub-Sahara Af-rica to the Middle East and the Arabian Pe-ninsula to Central and South-East Asia. Thisalone makes it impossible to generalize andsay all Muslim women are or are not eman-

cipated. Despite all the achievements ofMuslim women in Islamic countries, such asTurkey, Tunisia and Morocco, there are stillstates where women are considered as second-class citizens, although their situation ischanging albeit at a snails pace. The secondpoint is that we live in a male dominatedworld. Men are the ones who set and breakthe rules. The fact that any achievement for

women throughout the world has got to beeither granted by or forcibly taken from menis enough proof of their dominance. Every-day for centuries Jewish men repeat this


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16. Monica Vincent (1982), p. 9.

prayer Blessed art thou O Lord our God Kingof the Universe, who hast not made me a wo-man.16From the Book of Genesis I quote:In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children;and thy desire shall be to thy husband, andhe shall rule over thee. (Genesis 3, 16). How-ever, nothing should discourage women fromfighting for their right. If today the future istheirs, one day the present will be theirs.

References

AHMED, L., Women and Gender in Islam, NewHaven, CT, Yale University Press, 1992.

ALI, W., Muslim Women in Modern Society,1983(unpublished paper).

ESPOSITO, J.L., Islam. The Straight Path,Oxford,Oxford University Press, 1994.

KABBANI, R., Europes Myths of Orient,London,Pandora Press, 1986.

MERNI SSI, F., The Forgotten Queens of Islam,Cambridge, Polity Press, 1994.

NASHAT, G., Introduction, in W. Walther,Womenin Islam,Princeton, NJ, Princeton UniversityPress, 1993.

SCANZONI, L. and J. SCANZONI, Men, Women andChange, Bloomington, IN, Indiana University,1976.

VINCENT, M., A Womans Place,Harlow, Longman,1982.


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