The veil and the male elite: a feminist interpretation of women's rights in Islam 9780201632217, 9780201523218

Table of contents :
Frontmatter
Preface to the English Edition (page vi)
Acknowledgments (page x)
Map of Arabia at the Time of the Hejira (page xii)
Introduction (page I)
PART 1 Sacred Text as Political Weapon
1 The Muslim and Time (page 15)
2 The Prophet and Hadith (page 25)
3 A Tradition of Misogyny (1) (page 49)
4 A Tradition of Misogyny (2) (page 62)
PART II Medina in Revolution: The Three Fateful Years
5 THe Hijab, the Veil (page 85)
6 The Prophet and Space (page 102)
7 The Prophet and Women (page 115)
8 'Umar and the Men of Medina (page 141)
9 The Prophet as Military Leader (page 161)
10 The Hijab Descends on Medina (page 180)
Conclusion (page 189)
Notes (page 196)
APPENDICES
Appendix 1 Sources (page 217)
Appendix 2 Chronology (page 223)
Index (page 227)

Citation preview

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| The Veil and the Male Elite So

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_ The Veil and

the Male Elite _ A Feminist Interpretation of Women’s Rights in Islam

2] FATIMA MERNISSITRANSLATED BY

MARY JO LAKELAND

PERSEUS BOOKS

Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book and Perseus Books was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been

printed in initial capital letters. : Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mernissi, Fatima. {Harem politique. English] The veil and the male elite : a feminist interpretation of women’s rights in Islam / Fatima Mernissi ; translated by Mary Jo Lakeland.

p. cm. ,

Translation of : Le harem politique. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-201-52321-3 ISBN 0-201-63221-7 (pbk.)

1.Women in the Hadith. 2.Women in Islam. 3. Muhammad, Prophet. d. 632—Views on women.

BP135.8.W67M4713 1991 , 297'.12408—dc20 90-47404

, CIP

Copyright © Editions Albin Michel S.A. 1987

English translation © Perseus Books Publishing, L.L.C. 1991 , All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America. Published simultaneously in Canada.

Perseus Books is a member of the Perseus Books Group , Cover design by Marge Anderson Set in 11/13-point Bembo by Hope Services (Abingdon) Ltd, Great Britain

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Contents

Preface to the English Edition v1

Acknowledgments X Map of Arabia at the Time of the Hejira Xl

Introduction I PART I Sacred Text as Political Weapon

1 The Muslim and Time 15 23 A The Prophet and Hadith 25 Tradition of Misogyny (1) 49

4 A Tradition of Misogyny (2) 62 PART 11 Medina in Revolution: The Three Fateful Years —

5 The Hijab, the Veil 85

67 The The Prophet Prophetand andWomen Space 102 «1s

8 ‘Umar and the Men of Medina I4I g The Prophet as Military Leader 161

10 The Hijab Descends on Medina 180

Conclusion 189 Notes 196 APPENDICES

Appendix 1 Sources 217 Appendix 2 Chronology 223

Index 227

SED wl

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 women.

Is it not odd that in 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 from Beiying to the Americas, one finds only | one religion identified as a stumbling block on the road to true democracy? Islam alone is condemned by many Westerners as blocking the way to women’s rights. And yet, though neither Christianity nor Judaism played an important role in promoting equality of the sexes, millions of Jewish and Chistian women today enjoy a dual privilege — full human 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 constantly surprised when visiting Europe and the USA, who “sell” themselves 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 English Edition their daily activities, their creative thinking, and their approach to

the world around them. When Neil Armstrong and his fellow astronauts walked on the moon on July 20, 1969, 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 not sound so very modern. They : sounded to us very religious indeed, in spite of their spacesuits. When I went to the USA in 1986 I was surprised to see preachers —

Christian-style mullahs — reciting day-long sermons on satellite television! Some banks and businesses evidently found it worth

their while to finance whole days of religious transmissions, poured free of charge into American homes. Here is a clear message for those who doubt Islam’s capacity to survive modernity, calling

it unfit to accompany the age of higher technology: why should Islam fail where Judaism and Christianity so clearly succeed?

What can we women conclude from the Euro-American situation? First, we see religion can be used by all kinds of

organizations in the modern world to promote money-making projects; and second, since Islam is no more repressive than Judaism or Christianity, there must be those who have a vested _ interest in blocking 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 into 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 democracy, 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 an elementary understanding of Islam’s history. Any man who believes that a Muslim Vil

Preface to the English Edition

woman who fights for her dignity and right to citizenship 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 imported 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

citizenship. | 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 participants, in the making of their Arab history. Women fled aristocratic tribal Mecca by the thousands to enter Medina, the Prophet’s city in the seventh 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 management of military 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 622 (the first year of the Muslim calendar), when aristocratic young women and slaves alike were drawn to a new,

| mysterious religion, feared by the masters of Mecca because its Vill

Preface to the English Edition

prophet spoke of matters dangerous to the establishment, of human dignity and equal rights. The religion was Islam and the Prophet was Muhammad. And that his egalitarian message today - sounds so foreign to many in 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‘at al-dhikra (of use is the reminder) says the Koran. When I finished writing this book I had come 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, and mediocre view of culture and society has a sacred basis. But if there is one thing 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 and the daily conflict between 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.

| 1X

[aos Acknowledgments

For sound advice regarding my research for this book I am indebted to two of my colleagues at the Université Mohammed V:

Alem Moulay Ahmed al-Khamlichi, and the philosopher ‘Ali 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 patient assistance,

rare among 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 Faculté de Droit of the Université Mohammed V. In his

capacity as ‘alim (religious scholar), he is also a member of the council of ‘ulama 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.

Bou‘nani, director of the Institut Ibn-Ruchd of the Faculté de x

Acknowledgments

Lettres of Rabat, who saved me much time with regard to finding

and consulting the available documents in the library of the Faculté de Lettres; to the Bibliothéque Générale 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 long 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. |

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