The Islamic Veil

Maha Dabbous

The Review of Religions, October 1992

Islam has always suffered from many false charges against it due to the misunderstanding of its true teachings. One example of this is the wide spread false notion that Islam in general deprives women of their rights and forces them to go behind the veil.

The Islamic veil is condemned by non-Muslim and regarded as a sign of backwardness and a thing of the past which is no longer practical in the daily way of life today. They think that it is a burden and a restriction which has been imposed on Muslim women to deprive them on them of their freedom; they see it as if it was a chain with which the cruel Muslim man has tied his poor wife or daughter or sister of any other woman under his rule, because of his selfishness or jealousy.

But if one looks with a deeper glance on this subject, it will be found that the veiling of women is not something that Islam has invented. The previous revealed scriptures also contain some traces of similar teachings and Islam came only to complete and perfect them.

The revealed religions teach women to be modest in clothes and actions. If we study the Bible we will find that it teaches that modesty and reverence demanded the veiling of the face of the woman and that the veil was used by ladies of high rank.

In the Old Testament we read about what Rebekah did before Isaac in the following passage:

When Re-bek'ah raised her eyes, she caught sight of Isaac and she swung herself down from off the camel. Then she said to the servant 'who is that walking in the field to meet us?' and the servant said 'It is my master' And she proceeded to take a headcloth and to cover herself. (Genesis: 24: 64 and 65)

In the New Testament we also read:

But every woman that prays or prophesies with her head uncovered shames her head for it is one and the same as if she were a (woman) with a shaved head. For it a woman does not cover herself let her also be shorn; but if it is disgraceful for woman to be shorn or shaved, let her be covered. (1 Corinthians: 11: 5, 6)

From the above, it is obvious that the Bible regards the veiling of women as a pious act. But the present day commentators of the Bible, in their efforts to prove that its teachings do not in any way deprive women of their freedom, have denied this fact because they thought that it is a burden on women.

Similarly even some of the modern day Muslims have also followed the same course for the same reason, and they have tried to prove that even Islam does not put this restriction on Muslim women. But they were not successful because, unlike the Bible, the text of the Quran is preserved in its original form and hence it is impossible to get away by twisting the meanings of its verses. Yet this reveals that the lack of the proper knowledge of the wisdom behind the Islamic veil prevails even among the Muslims.

The majority of Muslim women misunderstood the teachings of their own religion and they do not recognise its implications nor its benefits. Admiring the modern societies, they have followed blindly the false notions regarding the liberation of women and they have adopted some wrong ideas and consequently many of them rebelled against the teachings of Islam relating to the observance of the veil, and they went on indulging in the way of life of the modern society with all its false glitter.

Some other Muslim women, as a reaction to the rebellion of their ignorant sisters, have adopted the opposite course and they observed these teachings of Islam in such a manner that they have put on themselves some burdens that Islam did not prescribe and by so doing, they became a cause for more rebellion against the Islamic veil and they pushed the non-Muslims farther away from seeing the beauties of Islam.

Today it is a well known fact that many non-Muslims who can see the truth of Islam, refuse to enter its fold because of this so-called restriction. They feel that they cannot give up their habits and modern way of living and sacrifice their freedom to mix with the other sex as they wish.

Islam, however, can neither be blamed for what non-Muslims think of it nor can it be accused on account of the notions and practices of its ignorant followers. The fact remains that Islam has given women rights which have no parallel in any other religion.

As for the Islam veil, far from being a burden on women, it is blessing for them.

The true concept of the Islamic veil can be understood and judged correctly by studying the source of all the Islamic teachings, The Holy Quran.

The Holy Quran has preserved the teachings of Islam in its original form and it does not only prescribe the correct commandments but it also explains the reasons and the wisdom behind them and it points out the benefits which can be gained by following them.

One of the verses of the Holy Quran which deals with the subject of the veil is found in Sura Al Noor where God, the All-Mighty says:

And say to the believing women that they restrain their looks and guard their private parts and that they display not their beauty or their embellishment except that which is apparent, thereof, and that they draw their head coverings over their bosoms, and that they display not their beauty or their embellishment save to their husbands, or to their fathers or the fathers of their husbands or their sons or the sons of their husbands or their brothers or the sons of their brothers or the sons of their sisters or women who are their companions or those that their right hand possess or such of male attendants as have not desire for women, or young children who have not yet attained knowledge of the hidden parts of women. And that they strike not their feet so that what hide of their ornaments may become known. And turn ye to Allah all together, O believers that you may prosper. (24:32)

This verse directs the believing women to restrain their eyes when they happen to face men and to guard their chastity and also not to display their beauty and embellishment, whether it is natural or artificial.

The believing men have already been given a similar commandment, from God in the verse that preceeded this verse where we read:

Say to the believing men that they restrain their looks and guard their private parts. That is purer for them. Surely, Allah is well-aware of what they do. (24:31)

So it is clear that both men and women share equally the responsibility of observing this injunction. They should both restrain their looks when facing each other or, in other words, they should observe the Veil of the eyes.

Now we need to understand the benefits which can be achieved by following these directions. God never gives orders to his servants without a reason. Behind every commandment of God there is great wisdom.

The words that is purer for them at the end of one verse and the words that you may prosper at the end of the other verse indicate that these directions are meant for the well being of the believers and to enable them to purify themselves and to safeguard themselves against moral stumbling.

The Promised Messiah has clarified this point in a comment on these verses:

We can confidently claim that this excellent teaching with all its devices that is set forth in the Holy Quran is peculiar to Islam. It should be kept in mind that as the natural condition of man, which is the source of his passions, is such that he cannot depart from it without a complete change in himself, his passions are bound to be roused, or in other words put in peril, when they are confronted with the occasion and opportunity for indulging in this vice. Therefore, God Almighty has not instructed us that we might freely gaze at women outside the prohibited degrees and might contemplate their beauty and observe all their movements in dancing etc. But that we should do so with pure looks. Nor have we been instructed to listen to the singing of these women and to lend ear to tales of their beauty, but that we should do so with a pure intent. We have been positively commanded not to look at their beauty, whether with pure intent or otherwise, nor to listen to their musical voices or to descriptions of their good looks, whether with pure intent or otherwise. We have been directed to eschew all this as we eschew carrion, so that we should not stumble. It is almost certain that our free glances would cause us to stumble sometime or the other. As God Almighty desires that our eyes and our hearts and all our limbs and organs should continue in a state of purity, He has furnished us with this excellent teaching. There can be no doubt that unrestrained looks become a source of danger. If we place soft bread before a hungry dog, it would be vain to hope that the dog should pay no attention to it. Thus God Almighty desired that human faculties should not be provided with any occasion for secret functioning and should not be confronted with anything that might incite dangerous tendencies.

This is the philosophy that underlies the Islamic regulations relating to the observance of the veil. The Book of God does not aim at keeping women in seclusion like prisoners. This is the concept of those who are not acquainted with the correct pattern of Islamic ways. The purpose of these regulations is to restrain men and women from letting their eyes to rove freely and from displaying their good looks and beauties, for therein lies the good both of men and of women. It should be remembered that to restrain one's looks and to direct them only towards observing that which is permissible is described in Arabic by the expression ghadde basar, which is the expression employed in the Holy Quran in this context. It does not behove a pious person who desires to keep his heart pure that he should lift his eyes freely in every direction like an animal. It is necessary that such a one should cultivate the habit of ghadde basar in his social life. This is a blessed habit through which his natural impulses would be converted into a high moral quality without interfering with his social needs. This is the quality which is called chastity in Islam. (The Philosophy of the Teachings of Islam, pp 23-25)

As the Quran is a book meant for the spiritual progress of the soul, the question arises: How can these teachings help the development of the spiritual state of the soul? The answer to this question is also found in the writings of the Promised Messiah:

As the natural urges of man become very dangerous when they are roused and often destroy the moral and spiritual qualities, they are described in God's Holy Book as the self that incites to evil. It may be asked what is the attitude of the Holy Quran towards the natural state of man, what guidance does it furnish concerning it and how does it seek to control it?

The answer is that according to the Holy Quran the natural state of man has a very strong relationship with his moral and spiritual states, so much so that even a person's manner of eating and drinking affects his moral and spiritual states. If the natural state of a person is subjected to the control of the directions of divine law it becomes his moral state and deeply affects his spirituality, as is said that whatever falls into a salt mine is converted into salt. That is why the Holy Quran has laid stress on physical cleanliness and postures, and their regulation in relation to all worship and inner purity and spiritual humility. Reflection confirms that physical conditions deeply affect the soul. For instance, when our eyes are filled with tears, even if the tears are artificially induced, the heart is immediately affected and becomes sorrowful. In the same way, when we begin to laugh, even if the laughter is artificially induced, the heart begins to feel cheerful. It has also been observed that physical prostration in prayer induces humility in the soul. As a contrast when we draw ourselves up physically and strut about with our neck raised and our breast pushed forward, this attitude induces a mood of arrogance and vain glory. These instances establish clearly that physical conditions certainly affect spiritual conditions. (The Philosophy of the Teachings of Islam, pp 3-4)

He also added:

As the soul is affected by physical conduct, in the same way sometimes the soul affects the body. For instance, when a person experiences sorrow his eyes become wet, and a person who feels happy, smiles. All our natural actions like eating, drinking, sleeping, waking, moving about, resting, bathing etc., affect our spiritual condition. Our physical structure is related intimately to our total humanity. If a certain part of the brain is injured memory is immediately lost. An injury to another part of the brain causes loss of consciousness. Poisonous air affects the body and through it the mind, and the whole inner system, to which the moral impulses are related, is impaired and the unfortunate victim passes out quickly like a madman.

Thus physical injuries disclose that there is a mysterious relationship between the soul and the body which is beyond the ken of man. Reflection shows that the body is the mother of the soul. (The Philosophy of the Teachings of Islam, p 4)

From the above we can see clearly that the body and soul are two interlinking things. Each one of them affects the other and the uplift of one will raise the other. We can understand the wisdom behind the teachings of Islam concerning the veil and the spiritual benefits which can be gained by both men and women if they follow them. It is also now very clear that observing the veil is not a duty for women alone but it is an injunction equally binding on men and women alike.

But God has prescribed these commandments to the believing men and the believing women separately and there must be great wisdom behind this. One of the obvious reasons behind this is to point out clearly that each of them is responsible for his or her own behaviour when carrying out and obeying these injunctions. So this proves that the Muslim man has nothing to do with forcing the woman to obey this order, out of any love for domination on his side.

Also comparing the two verses, emphasizes the fact that in this respect, due to the physical differences between men and women, the nature of the way it can be observed is different. The woman has an additional responsibility of hiding her beauty and embellishment.

Women are by nature the delicate sex, and they need special care and protection. Thus Islam treats women as a precious treasure that should be guarded and protected from being startled at or molested or inconvenienced by other people in any way. So, far from depriving women from their rights or freedom, these injunctions show the high status of the Muslim women. Islam is even protecting the inner feelings of women.

To understand the implication of this point fully we need to understand the true nature of the role of men and women in the society.

Man and woman differ physically in nature and capabilities. Man is physically stronger than woman and this is why his natural role in the family is to go out and provide the family with its means of sustenance. He is also the protector of the family from the outside dangers. But this does not in any way degrade the position of the woman because she has her own sphere of responsibilities as well. With her loving and caring nature she is more capable of looking after the members of the family. In this aspect she has more to offer than man. She acts as the protector of the family from the internal dangers and she is responsible for the education and training of the children. The combined efforts of both man and woman are needed to produce the perfect family. As the man needs the help of the woman to protect his house and look after it in his absence while he is away carrying out his duties, similarly the woman needs the protection of the man from the outside dangers to provide her with the peaceful atmosphere, that will enable her to perform her duties inside the house in the best possible way.

The Islamic society can be likened to one big family where women represent its spiritual body and the men represent its soul. As the Promised Messiah (may the peace and blessings of God be upon him) has explained, there is a deep relationship between the body and the soul and therefore, in a way similar to what was mentioned above, both the men and women depend on one another to produce a perfect society. The men are responsible for the outside affairs and the protection of the community from external dangers while the women are responsible for the internal welfare of the society and the education and training of the members of the community. The protection provided by men does not mean their superiority over women but on the other hand it emphasizes the importance of the role of women in the society. Women need to be fully protected from outside dangers so that they can give full attention to carrying out their sacred duties.

The Islamic veil symbolizes the spiritual protection of the Muslims. As the women represent the spiritual body of the Islamic society, this veil takes a palpable form in the case of women while it remains intangible in the case of men. Women need protection from external dangers and this is why their veil is manifest because it represents their external protection while for men the veil is concealed because it represents their internal protection. But it must always be remembered that observing the veil is an obligation for both men and women alike, even if it assumes different forms.

We notice that in the above quoted verses, after the mention of the commandments to men and women separately, the Quran ends this by saying:

And turn ye to Allah all together, O believers that you may prosper.

This emphasizes the fact that for the achievement of the sought results, both men and women need to carry out their share of responsibilities in connection with these injunctions. Or, in other words, like the soul and body, men and women complement one another and they will have to work together to act upon these commandments for the sake of the prosperity of their society as one unit. It is a sort of a blessing which can only be acquired by the joint efforts of men and women.

Yet comparing the two verses reveals another point of interest. The directions concerning the believing men ends with the words: that is purer for them. Surely, Allah is well-aware of what they do which means that if the believing men obey this command, they will be able to purify their souls. God knows well their intentions and the results of their actions, so they should do their best to observe this command and if they are sincere in their efforts, God will bless these efforts and will grant them success. But the order concerning the believing women does not end with a similar statement.

This is to hint to the believing women that there are still some more requirements that they will need to fulfil before they can achieve fruitful results. These requirements are mentioned separately in the verses that directly follow the above verses because they can only be complied with by the combined action of the men and women together. Those verses instruct the believers to arrange marriages for the women having no husbands. This emphasizes the fact that the real duty of the woman in the society can only be carried out fully after she becomes a housewife. This point will be further clarified when one understands the true role of the woman in society.

The directions in the previous verses were meant to be only the first steps for the believers in their journey towards God and the commandments in them were meant for the control of the natural human desires and passions which the Promised Messiah has called the self that incites to evil. This is the first stage of the human development that differentiates human beings from animals.

Thus the Quran has given the believers some additional guidelines in this respect. Concerning women, it does not only direct them to hide their outer beauty, but it also teaches them not display their hidden beauty as well, so much so that we find that in the above mentioned verses, women are reminded to watch even their manner of walking and moving about. They should be careful with every aspect of their behaviour and actions. This is further elaborated in another place of the Holy Quran where Allah says:

O wives of the prophet you are not like any other woman if you are righteous. So be not soft in speech lest he in whose heart is a disease should feel tempted; and speak decent words.

And stay in your houses with dignity and display not your beauty like the displaying of the former days of ignorance and observe prayer and pay the Zakat and obey Allah and His Messenger. Surely, Allah desires to remove from you all uncleanliness, O members of the household, and purify you completely. (33:33-34)

Here the Quran has ended the commandments with the words: Surely Allah desires to remove from you all uncleanliness, O members of the household and purify you completely. This indicates that these teachings are completing the previous ones for the purpose of purifying the believing women. These verses address the women who have already taken the first step of educating their natural faculties and are now in the process of educating their moral state.

The verses address the wives of the Holy Prophet. But as the Holy Prophet is an exemplar for all Muslims, it is the custom of the Quran that what he is ordered to do is meant to be followed by all the other Muslims. In the same way his wives are taken as exemplars for all the Muslim women. It is also interesting to notice here that the women are addressed in this verse as wives to draw their attention to the fact that, to reach this stage, they need to become housewives. The words members of the household added towards end of the verses indicate that these directions are meant for the believing women who want to be counted among the members of the spiritual household of the Holy Prophet or, in other words, to be regarded as the believing women of a high spiritual status.

In these verses it is required from women to behave with dignity and talk in a formal manner when addressing men. This is another veil that should be observed between men and women. Islam discourages too much familiarity between the two sexes. This is intended to purify their thoughts and to protect women from slanderous tongues. It is clear that these teachings are meant for the well being of women and to remove any cause of inconvenience for them from its very roots.

These verses also encourage women to give their full attention to the discharge of their serious and important duties in the management of the household affairs and to looking after the children and bringing them up. It adds that this can be successfully achieved by observing the teachings of Islam and obeying God and His Messenger.

The real purpose of a woman staying in the house is explained in the verse that follows the previous verses where we read:

And remember what is rehearsed in your houses of the Signs of Allah and wisdom. Verily Allah is Subtle, All-Aware. (33:35)

This shows that the purpose of women staying in their houses is to enable them to make use of the spiritual provisions presented to them and to use them the best possible way to produce the best spiritual food for others.

A woman has the capacity of being a mother which means that she has the capacity of providing spiritual and physical nourishment. So the real aim of her staying in the house is to nourish spiritually the members of the family and to train the younger generation. The women represent the body of the community and the body is the mother of the soul. Therefore, the main duty of the women is to prepare the spiritual food and present it to the community. This is a great and sacred responsibility, which has been entrusted to women. To teach them how to discharge this great task, God has mentioned the example of the bee in the Holy Quran where we read:

And thy Lord revealed to the bee: 'Make thou houses in the hills and in the trees and in the trellises which they build.

Then eat of all manner of fruits, and follow the ways taught thee by thy Lord and which have been made easy for thee.' There comes forth from their bellies a drink of varying hues. Therein is healing for mankind. Surely, in that is a Sign for a people who reflect. (16:69-70)

Allah praise belongs to Allah, the Gracious. He has created many things in the universe to teach human beings great points of wisdom. From the example of the bee, both men and women can learn many important lessons. In these verses God has given some directions to the bee, which in reality should be observed by human beings also, as hinted by the words:

Surely, in that is a Sign for a people who reflect.

God has directed the bee to find itself first a suitable house, then it should eat from the fruits or the nectar of the flowers and follow the paths that God has made easy for it, so that it can produce the drink or the honey which is described by the Holy Quran as: Therein is healing for mankind.

There is a strong similarity between the duties of a bee and the duties of a woman. In the life of bee, we can see the picture of the true role of woman in society. First a woman should protect herself by belonging to a house. The spiritual house is the divine religion because it provides the spiritual shelter to the person. So here the woman learns that she has to first search for the true divine religion and find it. Then she should eat from its fruits or, in other words, she should herself follow the teachings of this religion and reap the good results of doing this. When she will have successfully followed the straight path that leads to her Creator, she will have become a good example for others to follow and she will be able to give others the advice and guidance that can help them reach the same destination as herself and this is how she will be able to produce the drink that can cure others and guide them to this right path as well.

To enable women to discharge their great and sacred trust, God gave men the following orders:

O ye who believe! enter not the houses of the Prophet unless leave is granted to you for a meal, not waiting till it is cooked. But enter when you are invited, and when you have had your meal, disperse, without seeking to engage in talk. That causes inconvenience to the Prophet, and he feels shy of asking you to leave, but Allah is not shy of saying what is true. And when you ask them - the wives of the Prophet - for anything, ask them from behind a curtain. That is purer for your hearts and their hearts. And it behoves you not to cause inconvenience to the Messenger of Allah, nor that you should ever marry his wives after him. That indeed, is a monstrous thing in the sight of Allah. (33:54)

The apparent aim to this verse is to teach the Muslims some ethics and rules of conduct regarding their day to day life. But this verse also manifests the sanctity of the status of women in Islam. The wives of the Holy Prophet and his houses are mentioned in this verse as one and the same thing.

A house provides a person with shelter and lodging. It is also the dwelling where one finds peace, rest and food.

The houses which were mentioned in the previous verses were meant to provide shelter but the houses mentioned in this verse are the houses which provide a dwelling for the people, where they get their nourishment and restore their strength. In both cases the spiritual house meant is Islam, the religion and the teachings of Holy Prophet. His true followers can be described as his house because they have embodied in their own persons the teachings of his religion. The men among his true followers represent the house that provides shelter and the women represent the house that provides a dwelling. Again we can see that in this case also there is an undetachable relationship between men and women as they both together form the spiritual house of the Holy Prophet.

Forbiding the believers to marry the wives of the Holy Prophet after him, means, in addition to its literal meaning, that they should never mix the true teachings of his religion with any other new teachings of their own because his religion is the last and perfect religion. In this sense, the Holy Prophet (pbuh) is the last Prophet and his house is the last spiritual house to be constructed. In this sense also he is the seal of the Prophets because any prophet who might come to the world after him, must be from among the inhabitants of his spiritual house.

In this verse also we notice that in the commandments concerning the believing men, they are reminded of their responsibilities towards women. They must be attentive to women's progress because their own progress is linked to it.

So to some extent we can say that, in this respect, God has enjoined men to be in the service of women to protect them and help them attain a very high level of piety because on this depends their own advancement as well.

This is the true implication of the Quranic proclamation:

Men are guardians over women. (4:35)

The righteousness of the woman is a very important factor in the formation of an upright society. This is why Islam has secured her protection and made this manifest in her outer clothes.

The Holy Quran has summed up for us beautifully its teachings regarding the Islamic veil in the following verse:

O Prophet tell thy wives and thy daughters and the women of the believers, that they should pull down upon them their outer cloaks from their heads over their faces. That is more likely that they may thus be recognized and not molested. And Allah is Most Forgiving, Merciful. (33:60)

In this verse God has given His commandment to all the believing women to clarify the fact that these orders must be obeyed by all Muslim women and not only by those who reached a certain stage of their spiritual development. The women of all ranks must obey this order.

As the aim of this commandment is the spiritual perfection of the soul, the garment mentioned here should not be taken as just a physical one.

Elsewhere in the Holy Quran we read:

O children of Adam, we have indeed sent down to you raiment to cover your nakedness and to be a means of adornment, but the raiment of righteousness - that is the best. That is the commandment of Allah, that they may remember. (7:27)

This verse applies to both men and women and it explains beautifully the true essence of the Islamic veil. It enjoins men and women to cover themselves with the garment of righteousness, which is described as the best garment. This means that the covering of the body signifies figuratively the covering of the nakedness of the soul and its protection from evil by becoming righteous in actions.

The Islamic veil of a woman is a symbol of her protection from the external dangers that can affect her moral and spiritual advancement. The real Islamic veil is more than just covering the physical body. It implies also drawing a virtual curtain upon herself to protect her from all the evil surroundings.

If a woman is still taking the first steps towards purifying herself, her veil will act as a protector from any external dangers that can hinder her progress. And when a woman reaches a high moral state, it will be in her interest, and she will desire to cover herself completely lest she should be harmed or injured in her feelings in any way and so that she can develop spiritually and reach even higher stations. Hence, the outer garment of the Muslim woman is a symbol of the protection of her inner states as well. Her veil is a manifestation of the divine attribute (Ghafour) which was mentioned at the end of the verse which dealt with the subject of the veil in general. Though the word is translated as Most Forgiving, its full meaning is, One who forgives the previous sins and covers and protects a person from any weaknesses or shortcomings that might hinder his progress in the future. It is clear that this meaning matches what was mentioned earlier about the purpose behind the Islamic veil.

Yet in the same verse we find a mention of another divine attribute, Raheem which means Merciful.

God has created woman with the capacity of bearing her child in her womb to protect and nourish it until becomes able to survive outside her body independently. And even then she continues to look after it and nourish it till it becomes an independent mature person. She has the capacity to do the same for humanity at large. She has the capacity of caring for others and nourishing them by presenting to them the best spiritual food that she prepares using the divine spiritual provisions.

As she encompasses her child in her womb, God encompasses her with His Mercy. It is interesting here to notice that, in Arabic, the word womb is called rehm and the word merciful is raheem. They both originate from the same root rahama. This is a clear proof that the woman manifests in herself the divine attributes of mercy. As a reward for her great service to humanity, God Himself encompasses her and protects her with His mercy. Her outer garment is a symbol of this protection and mercy also.

Thus God has ordained these teachings for the Muslim woman to observe, to manifest His love and care for her and to declare His protection and support for her while she carries out this sacred task of looking after the spiritual house of His beloved Messenger, the Holy Prophet of Islam. This explains the purpose behind the words: that is more likely that they may thus be recognized and not molested which means that the outer garment of the Muslim woman acts as a proclamation to the world that she is under the protection of the Lord of the universe, so nobody should dare cause any inconvenience to her.

God has created women with great capacities and abilities and it is up to the women themselves to make use of these great blessings in the proper way to fulfill the purpose of their creation.

According to Islam, a woman can go out as long as there is a legitimate necessity for her to do so. But her primary and principal duties are confined to her home and family which are as important and serious, if not more, as the vocations of men are. Her principal sphere of responsibilities is her house. A woman can prove her superiority inside her house. If a woman takes to man's vocations, neglecting her domestic duties as the mistress of the house, she will be seeking to defy nature and nature does not allow its laws to be defied with impunity.

Now when we look at the present day modern societies we will see a picture of women totally opposite to the picture recommended by the Holy Quran.

The majority of women have neglected their duties as housewives and started competing with men in all fields of life. They are taking part in all sorts of professions, shoulder to shoulder with them, doing the jobs that only men used to do it in the past and taking responsibilities which nature did not prescribe for them. They wrongly believe that this is the way be which they can achieve their freedom and can then enjoy equity with men.

Women are mixing freely with men, vying with one another in attracting them. They find pleasure and pride in exposing their beauty. They are even competing with one another in displaying their beauty contests for women all around the world. They are treating their bodies as they are some kind of commodities available for display for anybody to look and gaze freely at.

They are not aware of the danger of their acts and the harm, injury and damage they are causing to themselves and to their society. They think that this is freedom but is it really so? What was thought to be the freedom of a woman turned out to be the very cause of her degradation and the destruction of her dignity and far from acquiring her freedom she was reduced to the degree of slavery. She became a slave to passions and carnal desires. With her own will, she made herself a slave for the pleasure of man.

If we look at those so called free societies today we will not find any trace of morality let alone spirituality. We will only see dissolution and depravity. A society will all the ills one can imagine. Broken marriages, illegitimate children, intentional abortions and unfaithfulness between married and even unmarried partners are only a few products of these societies. The easy availability of women for the pleasure of men has resulted in them being no longer desired by men and therefore we see more social evils like child abuse, homosexuality, drug addiction and crimes of rape and even murder for the sake of excitement.

It can be seen clearly that the first to suffer from these social ailments are the women themselves who bear the greatest responsibility for this to happen.

This is what the Holy Quran warned them fourteen centuries ago. This is why God has put on women more responsibility than men in this respect, as they were the ones who will suffer more by disregarding these teachings of Islam.

The Islamic veil is not a disgrace or a hindrance for a woman in any way. On the contrary, it honours her and frees her from the obstacles that prevent her moral and spiritual advancement and thus it is the means of her deliverance from the sufferings and ills that she faces in modern day societies. In reality it embodies the Mercy of God on women.

If women in the world today can understand the real implication of the true teachings of Islam regarding the veil and if they know the benefits they can gain and the high stations they can attain by following these teachings, they will soon be wanting their freedom from their ill societies and they will be fighting for their rights to adopt the Veil, where they secure their true freedom and where they can find real peace and tranquillity, and where their honour and dignity lies. Only then, will they enjoy the real bliss of being encompassed by Divine Protection and the Mercy of their Creator.

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The Role of Women in an Islamic Society

Maryam Chaudhry, USA

The Review of Religions, August 1995

Surely, men who submit themselves to God and women who submit themselves to Him, and believing men and believing women, and obedient men and obedient women, and truthful men and truthful women, and men steadfast in their faith and women steadfast, and men who are humble and women are humble, and men who give alms and women who give alms, and men who fast and women who fast, and men who guard their chastity and women who guard their chastity, men who remember Allah much and women who remember Him - Allah has prepared for all of them forgiveness and a great reward. (Ch. 33, v. 36)

The passage that has just been recited was from the Holy Qur'an, the book which Muslims believe to be the word of God in its entirety, revealed to the Holy Prophet (saw). In this verse, God Almighty tells us that by following a certain way of life, both men and women can attain to the same spiritual heights. There are no double standards in Islam, the requirements of piety are the same: submission to God, true belief in God, obedience to God, truthfulness, steadfastness in the faith, giving alms or charity, fasting, and remaining chaste. If these conditions are met in constant remembrance of God, then both men and women can achieve nearness to God and the same spiritual status. In the Holy Qur'an, God tells us:

Whoso does good whether male or female, and is a believer, shall enter Paradise and they shall not be wronged a whit. (Ch. 4,v. 125)

Before I continue, however, I want to give you a brief introduction to Islam. Being a convert who was born and raised a Christian, I realise that your understanding of Islam is either limited or contains a lot of totally erroneous information. Also, if I talk about the role of women in Islam it will make no sense without a basic understanding of the religion. I am going to ask you to put aside your paradigms for the next hour or so and to keep your mind open to new ideas. I will pose some questions and I will present to you different alternatives. We will play a game of what if? What if you are not here today by chance? What if what you hear today is the truth and could be the beginning of a whole new life for you? Bear with me patiently for a while. You have been given an outline of my speech with spaces in which to take notes or write questions. So please hold your questions until I have completed my lecture.

If you are a Christian, you believe in all the prophets mentioned in the Bible and Old Testament, don't you? Now, did it ever become a source of wonder for you that the prophets as far as you know were all Jewish? It would seem odd that God found pious people worthy of prophethood only in the Jewish nation, even though all races and people of the world are God's creation. Also, the message of Christianity was conveyed throughout the world only after Christ. Do you think it makes sense that God in His Infinite Wisdom would have let the people of Africa, of China, of Australia, of the Americas, and so forth fumble in ignorance without any guidance until the advent of Christ?

Another question which I like to pose to you is this. Why is it that people that belong to different religions throughout the world hold so dearly to their beliefs? After all, there are learned people in every community who have accepted the major religions of the world.

Now, try to visualise the world as a pie. Each segment of society or community is represented by a slice of the pie. Each group declares that their religion is true. The Christian community to which many of you belong claims that God only chose prophets from the Jewish community. I was in my early teens when I started to wonder about such questions.

As I look in front of me, you will notice that my field of vision is limited to a certain angle of this room. If I don't move my head, I can visually detect only a certain segment of the room. To me that is reality, is it not? Is it only reality? Of course, not. There are people and objects that are not within my field of vision. This is exactly the position in which followers of different religions are, including those of you who are Christians. In order to see all the reality available in this room, I would need to be standing from a different position, perhaps higher up, near the ceiling.

Islam provides the only logical and sensible answer to this problem of equity and justice. After all, we will all agree that God is Just, is He not? And to assume that God only sent guidance to one group of his creation so that during the 6000 years or so of the history of the Old Testament, only the Jews were correctly guided, does not seem to fit our concept of God's absolute justice. Now, again, I will ask you to lay aside your paradigms. Paradigms are ideas that you have always held to be absolutely true simply because you were taught those ideas from childhood. Paradigms affect our perception of reality. We filter and interpret information received through our senses and reject and do not notice information that does not confirm our paradigms. A simple illustration: If I believe that dogs are cute and friendly and a dog comes into this room and barks, I will interpret it as a message that he likes me and wants to play. If I believe that dogs are mean and vicious, I will interpret the bark as a sign that the dog wants to bite me. Same evidence, filtered through different paradigm. The world being flat was another paradigm. Another example was the advent of Jesus Christ. The Jews of the time, having interpreted the Bible literally, expected him to be a worldly king who would liberate them from Roman domination. It took twelve disciples and a handful of others who laid aside that old established paradigm and, as Jesus asked them to do, took another look at the prophecies in the Old Testament concerning the advent of the Messiah, and lo and behold, they were able to accept Prophet Jesus as the Messiah.

Asking you to lay your old paradigms aside for just one hour, I will give you the following information. When Jesus gave his message, he made two important points. The first one is that the people of his time were not ready to receive the message of God in its entirety: 'I have yet many things to say unto you and you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of Truth will come, he will guide you unto all truth; for He will not speak of His own authority, but whatever He shall hear, He will speak' (John 16: 12-13). Also, he told the Jews, 'The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits thereof' (Matthew 22: 42-43). The kingdom of God, or the gift of prophethood, was taken away from the Jews and given by God to the descendant of Prophet Abraham's first son, Ismael, that is the Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw) who came to bring to mankind a complete code of law, contained in the Holy Qur'an.

The Message of Islam provides the view from the ceiling I mentioned earlier because the Holy Qur'an claims to contain 'a message ... for all the worlds' (8:128) while all other previous religions specifically mentioned that their message was addressed to a specific group of people. For example, Jesus Christ declared: 'I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel' (Matthew 14:24).

God explains in the Holy Qur'an that all the people of the world received divine guidance in the form of prophethood.

And there is a Guide for every people... (Ch. 13, v. 8)

And for every people there is a Messenger... (10:48)

Verily, We have sent thee (the Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw)) with the Truth.

Duties to God, and duties toward fellowmen. Since we would expect Islam to provide a more refined spiritual guidance, we would expect the precepts of Islam to be also in keeping with what human beings have discovered through years of progress. To name a few, 1500 years ago, Islam declared that all men are created equal (an idea expounded by the French philosopher Rousseau around the year 1750). To quote the Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw),

... Even as the fingers of the two hands are equal, so are human beings equal to one another. No one has any rights, any superiority to claim over another. You are as brothers. O men, your God is One and your ancestor is one. An Arab holds no superiority over a non-Arab, nor a White over a Black person, nor vice-versa, but only to the extent to which he discharges his responsibility to God and man. Only the God-fearing people merit a preference with God.

The pursuit of knowledge (education) was stressed for both sexes:

The pursuit of knowledge is a duty to every Muslim, men and women. (Hadith)

The Holy Prophet of Islam (saw) told the world that God had especially entrusted to him the task of safeguarding the rights of women. Islam gave women rights that the non-Islamic world has given to women only within the past 200 years: the right to inherit property (from their husbands, their parents, their next of kin), the right to own, keep, and manage their own property, the right to ask and get a divorce in case of ill treatment or abandonment from the husband, the right to remarry, the right to obtain an education. The responsibility for the maintenance of the wife and children was placed on the husband (only recently have child support laws been made and enforced in this country). Remember that Islam was revealed to the Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw) by God 1500 years ago. In the United Kingdom, it was only in late 1882 that the first Married Women's Property Act was passed by Parliament, and before that, a woman could not hold property on her own, independently of her husband, and in Italy as late as 1919. Misconduct was accepted in English law as cause for divorce only in 1923. Abandonment was accepted as cause for divorce in New Zealand only in 1912. In Tasmania, 1919, in Victoria, 1923, in Cuba, 1918, in Mexico, 1917, in Portugal, 1915, in Norway, 1909, in Sweden, 1920, in Switzerland, 1912, divorced was allowed for various forms of mistreatment. But Islam had proclaimed and enforced the rights of women since approximately the year 600 only through revelation from God, not as a result of women having to fight for their rights. As American Justice Pierre Craibites had rightly observed:

Muhammad (saw), 1300 years ago assured to the mothers, wives, and daughters of Islam a rank and dignity not yet generally assured to women by the laws of the West.

A principle of change which has been discovered recently is that change in organisations takes place effectively only when the change is directed at the entire organisation rather than at individuals. Islam takes this very view. The dictates of Islam that have to do with men and women and children will change the entire society, not just the individual. You will agree that it is better to raise a good child in a good neighbourhood, isn't it? Would any of you want to spend a lot of time raising your child and then would you go and live in a gang-infested environment? Of course not!

Another paradigm which I ask you to lay aside at this time is that, as a society, you have all the answers. The society in which we live presently, with increasing number of broken homes, single parent homes, drugs, murder, illegitimate births, child abuse, general lack of morality, certainly lack of spirituality, should be a source of shock to all of us. Is this the ideal society? Is this the environment in which we want to leave our future generations? Are conditions improving or getting worse? If indeed we believe in God and an afterlife, is the society around us conducive to the achievement of this goal? If what you have is not so great, stop hanging on to the belief that you are the only one who can find solutions. Now, let's stop putting money into government funded programmes to prevent child abuse, use of drugs, unwanted pregnancies, murders. These programmes do not work. Listen to a different alternative, one that works.

Islam's approach is proactive (not waiting for problems to occur then trying to find solutions). Islam's approach is positive. There are more than 700 commandments of positive things to do in the Holy Qur'an and a few things not to do. Islam's approach is systematic. It addresses change in the entire society, not just in the individual. These three conditions make Islam educationally sound. Islam gives a system for producing maintaining a social climate in a society that is conducive to allowing human beings to achieve the real goal of their creation which is the worship of God (Allah is the same God that people of all faith understand to be the Creator and Supreme Being):

O ye men! worship your Lord Who created you and those who were before you, that you may guard against evil. (Ch. 2, v. 22)

The dictates of Islam create a good moral individual but in addition, Islam which is from God Who, of course, understands the nature of the humanity He has created, realises that this good individual must be placed in a very moral society so that his energies are not spent fighting off evil, but instead, are spent in progressing in nearness and communion to God in preparation of the life to come. If you believe in God and in an afterlife, then a great portion of your time should be spent in preparation for that next life. When you want to prepare for a race or a championship fight or for an exam or for getting a job, you spend years, hours in preparation, don't you? I asked someone at work what she did to prepare for the next life. She answered 'I go to church on Sunday.' Is it really enough?

For the individual, Islam prescribes a minimum of five daily prayers which progressively bring human beings closer and closer to God, and a recipe of spiritual foods contained in the Holy Qur'an. When you do weight lifting, don't you follow a strict programme of regular exercise coupled with a diet rich in nourishing foods? Islam then tells human beings how to regulate their relationships with one another within the content of the family, the society, and humanity.

The great and noble quest that, we as human beings undertake in this life in search of our Creator, must approach it as brothers.

Surely, all believers are brothers.

Human society must provide internal support for its individual members:

And help one another in righteousness and piety; but help not one another in sin and transgression... (Ch. 5, v. 6)

We are all in this together, all of humanity! God, in His Infinite Wisdom, has created humanity in a wonderfully, diverse and complementary manner. Men and women are diverse in their respective faculties and capacities.

Our Lord is He Who has endowed everything with its appropriate faculties and then guided it to their proper use. (Ch. 20, v. 51)

God has fashioned mankind according to the nature designed by Him, there is no altering the creation of Allah. (Ch. 30, v. 31)

Men and women are equal in the sight of God, but in view of the differences in their nature, they have been assigned different roles for the smooth functioning of the human society. Women have the unique ability to bear children and to nurture them. Men are physically stronger. Look at the cover of the latest Newsweek magazine. This article discusses brain wave research which shows how differently men and women think and feel and how different parts of the brain are affected differentially for the same mental function. Women are one segment of humanity. In an Islamic society, women can occupy three positions.

First as a daughter, her importance is such that the Holy Prophet of Islam (saw) tells us: 'He who brings up his daughters well, and makes no distinction between them and his sons, will be close to me in Paradise.'

Secondly, a woman can be a wife. The character of men in an Islamic society is established in relationship to their treatment of women. 'The best from among you is one who behaves best towards his wife.' (Hadith)

Thirdly, in her role as a mother, Islam has placed women at a higher status than men. 'Paradise is at the feet of the mother.' Islam recognizes the great role that women play in upbringing of the children and that the future of mankind and of societies depends on mothers. The paradise mentioned by the Holy Prophet (saw) refers to both the social paradise that can be achieved in Islam and the heavenly paradise. Therefore, mothers have been placed at a position of the highest respect. As a covert, I can testify to the profound respect (almost unimaginable if you are not a Muslim) which is accorded to mothers in Islamic homes.

People who sell or teach, people who aim to effect behaviour changes in others, need to fulfill three conditions in order to be effective. First they must sell themselves, that is gain trust and credibility; for example real estate sales people are told that it is not the house that they must sell to their customers, it is themselves. Secondly, they must constantly model the behaviour which they want others to adopt. As a teacher trainer, I constantly tell my staff that they must 'walk the talk'. The third and most vital condition is that the teacher must have high expectations of the learners. Therefore, in order for mothers to effectively mould humankind in the highest mould of excellence required by God, they must share the high expectations of that God has for his creation:

Verily, We have created man in the best make. (Ch. 95, v. 5)

And they must become those fortunate beings under who feet paradise can be earned.

If an organisation such as an university entrusts the training of students to teachers, would you not expect that organisation to also provide adequate training for the teachers, good schools or places for the training to take place, and also, good job opportunities after the training is complete?

You would expect nothing less from God, the Almighty Creator. The dictates of Islam that have to do with behaviour of women are the training of this crew of teachers of mankind. The family unit provides the setting for this teaching to take place, but the society which is the workforce of life where the teaching is practiced must also be regulated and maintained in the best of ways.

Teaching is not effective unless the teacher has credibility and respect. Both need to be earned. Can you respect someone who does not behave in a respectable fashion? Can a child behave well unless you accompany your teachings with good modelling? Of course not. Therefore, the high respect which God commands us to hold for women in Islam also dictates that women have to behave with utmost dignity and piety in order to become the most respected and honoured segment of our society. It is sort of the 'Noblesse Oblige' concept of the French. Those of higher nobility are under constant obligation to behave in the best of ways.

Ask yourselves this question. 'Why did nuns used to dress very modestly and cover their heads?' Because they were supposed to be very noble and very pure. In both the Old Testament and the Bible, a head covering is prescribed for chaste women (Genesis: 24:64, 65; 1 Corinthians 11:5, 6). A paradigm which comes from misinterpretation of the Bible is that Eve was responsible to make Adam sin, therefore there is an implication in Christianity that women are impure and that association with them diminishes a man. That is why priest and nuns were told not to marry if they wanted to be close to God. Islam denies the theory of the original sin, and rejects monasticism as a human invention. God tells us in the Holy Qur'an that all human beings are created pure and that both men and women are capable of achieving the highest degree of spirituality (high expectations).

Going back to the question of modest dressing, nuns dressed modestly because they did not intend to marry therefore did not want to attract the attention of members of the opposite sex. But Islam wants all women to be pure, and all men also, no double standards in Islam. What you wear affects both how you feel about yourself and how others view you. For example, at my school, which is not air conditioned, the principal always wears a suit, no matter how hot it is. Teachers and parents know that well dressed children feel good about themselves, and teachers subconsciously view them as well cared for and treat them better. Well dressed children do better in school. Many public schools are now adopting uniform policies for the students because wearing a uniform puts the student in a learning mood and makes the teachers view them as potential learners. This affects both the student and the teacher's behaviour so that the entire atmosphere becomes conducive to learning. Also, even in my childhood, women used to wear veils when they entered the church which points to the relationship between dress and attitude.

Islam prescribes modesty for both men and women in order to maintain a pure Islamic society. As a matter of fact, the responsibility to create and maintain this society starts with men:

Be chaste and your women will be chaste (Hadith).

It is a society in which the institution of marriage plays a vital part. The Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw) says, `Marriage is my way.' The Holy Qur'an describes the relationship between husband and wife in a beautiful manner:

They are a sort of garment for you and you are a sort of garment for them.

A garment embellishes, protects, safeguards, gives dignity and honour. It's a beautiful relationship based on love and respect and characterised by grace:

Consort with them graciously... (Ch. 4, v. 20)

In order to allow women the opportunity to fulfill the challenging obligation of producing these moral individuals who will become members of the Islamic society, the responsibility for providing for the family has been placed on men. They are appointed as protectors of the members of their household.

Men are appointed guardians over women... (Ch. 4, v. 35)

Wives have rights corresponding to those which husbands have, in equitable reciprocity, though, in certain situations, men would have the final word and thus enjoy a preference. Allah is Mighty, Wise. (Ch. 2, v. 229)

When you married, God appointed you trustees of those rights (of your wives). You brought your wives to your home under the law of God. You must not, therefore, abuse the trust which God has placed in your hands. (Hadith)

Just as in any system, different individuals are assigned different roles for the optimum functioning of the system, similarly, in the family unit, man is the head of the household. This does not imply superiority or inferiority in any way, just difference in roles because the functions men and women each play in the family unit are different. For example, in the school where I work we have the principal. The staff shares in decision making through committee work but the suggestions always receive the final approval or disapproval from the principal. No one would ever think of disobeying the principal because he has final accountability, therefore he must have the freedom to make the ultimate decisions. In the family unit, the men bears the ultimate responsibility for providing that pious and safe haven of love and comfort called the Islamic home within which paradise is formed under the feet of mothers during the course of the sacred task of the moral upbringing of the children. In return, men receive obedience and support from their spouse. God instructs parents to pray for the success of this sacred duty, because seeking God's help through prayer is a necessary precursor to every endeavour of a Muslim:

Lord, grant us of our spouses and our offspring the delight of our eyes and make us a model (family) for the righteous. (25:75)

Therefore, in order for a society to be a pure society, both men and women should think, dress, and behave in ways that allow pure thoughts and actions to dominate the way of life and create a social climate conducive to the achievement of the real goal of life, the achievement of communion with our God, our Creator. Physical attraction between men and women is good and pure only within the context of the sacred institution of marriage. In the Holy Qur'an, God tells us:

Of His Signs is that He has created for you of your own kind that you may find peace of mind through them, and He has put love and tenderness between you. In that surely are Signs for a people who reflect. (30:22)

To fulfill the natural need for love and comfort, God established the family unit as a safe and healthy place for the experience and manifestation of these normal needs. God also tells us how men and women should behave with people other than their immediate family:

Say to the believing men that they restrain their looks and guard their private parts. That is purer for them. Surely, Allah is Well-Aware of what you do. And say to the believing women that they restrain their looks and guard their private parts, and that they display not their beauty or their embellishment except that which is apparent thereof, and that they draw their head-coverings over their bosoms, and that they display not their beauty or their embellishment save to their husbands, or to their fathers, or their sons, or the son of their husbands, or their brothers, or the sons of their brothers, or the sons of their sisters, (all men that are not possible for a woman to marry) or women who are their companions (decent women), or those that their right hand possesses, or such of male attendants as have no desire of women, or young children who have not yet attained knowledge of the hidden parts of women. And that they strike not their feet so what they hide of their ornaments may become known. And turn ye to Allah all together, O believers, that you may prosper. (24: 31, 32)

God asks us to follow these injunctions for our own benefit. A pure society will result not only in salvation but in prosperity. What would you choose, a society where men and women respect one another and help one another achieve nearness to God, or would you prefer the present society? Let's face reality. Women have no respect in this society. Just turn on the radio, you will hear how men talk about going to the beach to look at women, free ladies' night at the clubs; we see surveys in major magazines where more than half of American men report being sexually aroused on the job daily by the way women dress themselves; teen pregnancies, rape, youth suicide, runaways, adultery, divorce on the rise, broken homes; another survey of Time Magazine reports that men between the ages of 25 to 40 have 6 to 9 sexual partners; picture the scenes on college campuses, especially where there are dorms, is this really the society in which you, your children, your future generations want to spend the short time we have on this earth to prepare for our eternal life?

As a woman, I pity women in this society. From early childhood, they are taught that their main asset is their physical attraction (think of teen beauty pageants; there are now cheer-pom squads for girls even in elementary schools). They are made to believe that they must parade their physical beauty, spend hours working out in the gyms to shape their figures only to display them at the beaches, all this demeaning compromise so that eventually they will catch a husband. Once they do, they continue to display their attractiveness outside the home, only to be complimented by men other than their husband, or sexually harassed on the job, generally starting the slide into the path of adultery, divorce, broken homes, etc... Enough is Enough.

In Islam, a women need not compromise her dignity, her integrity, her high self-esteem at any time. She thinks, behaves, and dresses modestly. She is respected by all members of the society, particularly men. She displays her beauty for her own husband, not providing a free show for all to enjoy:

..and display not your beauty like the displaying of the former days of ignorance ... (33:34)

Here is the key word `ignorance'. If you walked in an area where prostitutes were parading, would you not feel pity for them and understand that they chose this way of life out of ignorance, because of low self-esteem learned from bad childhood experiences? The Holy Prophet of Islam (saw) tells us:

When you are contemplating a certain course of action, reflect first upon its consequences; if they are good persist, if they are bad desist.

Modest behaviour, of which clothing is only one part, is worth the effort. Why would we, as women, who are entrusted the great responsibility of teaching all of mankind the ways of our Lord, why would we ever want to cause indecent thoughts in the mind of our fellow men who are our brothers in the sight of God. In an Islamic society, men and women help each other achieve goodness, they are not devilishly tempting one another.

The believers, men and women, are friends one of another. They enjoin good and forbid evil and observe Prayer and pay the Zakat (tax for the poor), and obey Allah and His Messenger. It is these whom Allah will have mercy. Surely, Allah is Mighty, Wise. Allah has promised the believers, men and women, Gardens beneath which rivers flow, wherein they will abide, and delightful dwelling places in Gardens of Eternity, and the pleasure of Allah, which is the greatest bounty of All. That is the supreme triumph. (9:71-72)

The symbolic description above refers to paradise which Islam tells us is a condition of nearness to God which can begin to be reached here on earth, the river flowing under the gardens of paradise refers to the never ending, continuously progressing nature of the quest for the pleasure of God, which is in fact, heaven.

Modest behaviour includes not only how we dress, but how we think, how we address others:

...So be no soft in speech, lest he, in whose heart is a disease, should feel tempted; and speak decent words. (33:33)

God understands that all men do not feel tempted every time they look at a woman, however indecently she may be dressed. But we have no way of knowing the inner state of morality of others.

Islam, as I mentioned earlier, takes a proactive and systematic approach to the establishment of morality in an upright society. Regulation of behaviour between men and women is only one of the preventive dictates of Islam. Others include no intoxicants at all so that human beings are always acting with a clear head and able to make responsible choices. Remember the goal is to produce individuals who eventually achieve communion with God. Of course, production of such individuals in large numbers, who would be the rule rather than the exception, can only be achieved in an upright society where spiritual thriving is the norm.

Earlier, I referred to the fact that principals in schools, bosses in organisations, always dress the part. This clothing does not make them the bosses. It is symbolic of their role in that organisation. In the Qur'an, God explains the essence of Islamic purdah or covering which embodies the attitude of both men and women and is reflected in dress, behaviour and is in turn positively affected by dress and behaviour. When, as a teacher, I see the sad consequences of immoral behaviour perpetuated by behaviours of parents learned by children, I realise that it is a vicious circle. I like to think of the Islamic system as the `pious circle'.

O children of Adam, we have indeed sent down to you raiment to cover your nakedness and to be a means of adornment, but the raiment of righteousness - that is the best. That is the commandment of Allah, that they may remember. (7:27)

The eventual goal is the righteousness of the hearts. Look around you and see morality declining and a system that is not working. Islam offers a system that works. Women play a vital part in this complex and refined system. You know that the more frequent the opportunities for social interchange between men and women, friendships, dating, parties, and so forth, the more likely chances are that the natural attraction which God has placed between them will result in relationships that are bound to endanger morality in a society. Islam restricts this free and unrestrained intermixing of the sexes. Believe me, it is a lot more of a restraint on men than it is on women. And women are protected from all kinds of molestation. Molested individuals lose their sense of self-esteem and unless they undergo lengthy therapy they are usually unable to form stable relationships.

In this society, I view women as suffering from Psychological Molestation Syndrome (PMS) because of the way they are treated as sex objects by the media, at school, on the job, and unfortunately, sometimes in their own homes. The resulting self-esteem of women is low as evidenced by the fact that they allow themselves to be continually exploited in this fashion. Therefore, unless we change the entire system and allow women to gain the self-esteem and respect God provided for them through Islam, stability of relationships between wives and husbands, between mothers and children will continue to be endangered.

When I taught High School students, I would become so saddened by the plight of those teenagers. They felt pressured by society to date. A few girls and a few boys in a class of twenty five would get all the requests. The rest would always feel unhappy, living in constant fear of not being asked out, and often I saw that girls who were finally asked would be ready to give up everything for fear of losing the opportunity. But when relationships of a more serious nature developed, most of the time, they would end up in tremendous heartbreaks, then a process of healing followed in which the teenager hardened and lost this wonderful softness which would have been so critical in forming an enduring relationship in a marriage. After a few of these relationships and ensuing heart breaks, there was nothing left of these poor souls. What would these broken hearted, mended, patched human beings have to contribute to the great task of motherhood. How would you expect individuals who had been exposed to so much to be contained in a relationship with a single partner?

Don't you see that it is the very system that you have created which contributes to the progressive degeneration of your social system? Don't you see that the divorce rate, unwanted pregnancies, lack of commitment to the institution of marriage, all these ills are increasing day by day. Women are so exposed and available that men are losing their attraction for them, and homosexuality, children molestation are becoming more and more common. Unlimited and unrestricted pleasures bring no happiness, indeed they result in unhappiness and instability throughout the entire society. It's like drug usage, the more you take, the more and stronger drug you need to get the temporary but potentially deadly thrill.

As I mentioned earlier, you cannot affect change by targeting individuals or different aspects of a system. You must create change by changing rules that govern the entire system. The rules must be proactive and preventive in nature. The dictates must be positive and include a large number of behaviours that progressively lead to the targeted change. The change proposed by God in the Holy Qur'an will produce a healthy society where goodness becomes a source of pleasure and happiness. Islam promotes strong emotional attachments in relationship between wife and husband, parents and children, siblings, extended families which provide comfort and support and result in happiness, peace of mind and heart, harmony, trust, and stability. In such a society, the natural human need to be loved and to love is fulfilled in so many chaste ways that the individual is satisfied.

A few years ago, I felt so lucky to be a woman in Islam that I became overwhelmed by my Beloved God's goodness toward me. I have, by the grace of God, pious and wonderful children, a wonderful husband, a wonderful son-in-law who is also a convert, and I can see Islam at work creating heaven daily in front of my own eyes. I cannot wait until the time that more and more Americans adopt Islam. Americans are so kindhearted, welcoming, sympathetic, generous human beings, they will, God willing, make the best of Muslims.

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WOMEN IN THE QURAN

By: Maha Dabbous

The Review of Religions

February 1992

Vol. LXXXVII No. 2

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Islam confers on women all the political and social rights, which man enjoys. She is entitled to all the privileges bestowed upon man. Beside worldly matters, women are also equal to men in the spiritual sense. Allah says in the Quran:

Surely, men who submit themselves to GOD and women who submit themselves to HIM, and believing men and believing women, and obedient men and obedient women, and truthful men and truthful women, and men steadfast in their faith and steadfast women, and men who are humble and women who are humble, and men who give alms and women who give alms, and men who fast and women who fast, and men who guard their chastity and women who guard their chastity and men who remember ALLAH much and women who remember HIM - ALLAH has prepared for all of them forgiveness and a great reward (33:36)

This verse makes it clear that Muslim women stand on the same level with Muslim men and that they can attain to all those spiritual heights to which men can attain. At several places in the Quran, believing men and believing women are addressed in the same language and are made equally subject to the same commandments and entitled to the same rights and privileges. Only their duties are different because their spheres of activity are different.

When the Quran speaks about the souls of human beings, it does not differentiate between man and woman.

O ye people ! fear your Lord who created you from a single soul and of its kind created its mate, and from them twain spread many men and women; and fear ALLAH, in Whose name you appeal to one another, and fear him particularly respecting ties of kinship. Verily ALLAH watches over you (4:2)

The words single soul in this verse signifie man and woman taken together. They are spoken of as one because they are two things jointly performing one function. This verse affirms that women and men belong to the same kind and species and that they have the same propensities.

The chains of the physical body are broken in the spiritual sphere and man and woman are regarded as one. The equality of the status of the souls of man and woman is further emphasized when Allah also hints at the fact that man and woman complement one another.

So their Lord answered their prayers saying, I will not allow the work of any worker from among you, whether male or female, to be lost. You are from one another. Those therefore, who have emigrated, and have been driven out from their homes, and have been persecuted in My cause, and have fought and been killed, I will surely remove from them their evils and will cause them to enter gardens through which streams flow - a reward from Allah, and with Allah is the best reward. (3:196)

The Quran does not stop at this level, it continues to explain these facts by different means and from different angles. The Quran mentions the vision Hazrat Moses (peace be upon him) and as an explanation of one of the incidents in his vision we read:

And as for the youth, his parents were believers, and we feared lest he should cause them trouble through rebellion and disbelief.

Here the expression his parents means the human body and soul because the parents or the source from which springs all moral qualities is the combination of the human body and soul which is the human being himself.

Allah has created man as a free agent. He bestowed upon him great natural powers to enable him to perform the highest deeds of virtue. The human being can fulfill the great object of his life by making use of these powers which spring from a combination of his body and soul. But if these powers are not kept under proper control, they lead him to disbelief and transgression. These powers have been brought under proper control and their undue vehemence curbed by the commandments and ordinances which Allah has revealed to the world in His religion. Every human being is free to chose whether or not to follow the guidance of Allah. His freedom is of two components. The freedom of thought controlled by the mind and the freedom of feeling controlled by the heart. The feeling of the heart is a consequence of the thought of the mind. The former is subordinate to the latter. This is why the two components of the inner self of the human being can be expressed figuratively by the words his parents where the mind is likened to the father who is the head of the family and the heart is likened to the mother who is its body.

As the peace and tranquility of the children in the family depends on the relation between the father and the mother and the combined efforts of both of them, also the peace and tranquility of a person depends on the harmony between his mind and heart as they form his spiritual parents.

The morals and behaviour of any person are a result of the combination of the actions of his mind and heart. If he does not profess the religion of Allah, then this combination is, in Divine estimation, a forbidden relation which produces illegitimate fruit. The person is cast away from Allah and he lives in a ruinous hell. But when he answers the call of Allah and embraces His religion and submits to Him, his mind and heart combine together to fulfill the purpose of his existence. Then this relation becomes legal and bears legitimate blessed fruit. The person is brought to a new spiritual life and attains to the peace and harmony of his inner self and he is rewarded by the love and nearness of Allah.

Allah has hinted to this similarity when referring to women:

They are a garment to you, and you are garment to them. (2:188)

To understand this fully we need to understand the meaning of the word garment which is mentioned here. The Quran itself explains the meaning of this word:

O children of Adam, we have indeed sent down to you raiment to cover your shame, and to be an elegant dress; but the raiment of righteousness - that is the best. That is one of the signs of Allah, that they may remember. (7:27)

Here the Arabic word which was translated as raiment is libaas. A raiment is used to cover our nakedness and also to to serve as a decoration and embellishment and make us look elegant. But this verse tells us more. It continues to tell us that the apparel of piety is in fact the really fine raiment for us. Ordinary dress covers our physical nakedness, while the apparel of piety covers our spiritual and moral nakedness. So the verse reminds us that when we consider it to be necessary to have good clothing to cover our physical nakedness and use elegant dress to to look graceful, we should all the more be anxious to cover our moral and spiritual nakedness. And the best raiment for us is the apparel of righteousness and piety.

The word raiment is further explained in another verse of the Quran:

And Allah has made for you, of that which He has created,things affording shade, and He has made for you in the mountains, places of shelter and He has made for you garments which protect you from heat and coats of mail which protect you in your wars. Thus does He complete His favours on you that you may submit to Him. (16:82)

The verse show that garments are used for protection form heat and also for protection in battles. But again the verse tells us more. The verse ends with the phraseThus does He complete His favours on you, that you may submit to Him. This draws our attention to the fact that the real purpose of this favour from Allah is to enable us to submit to Him. Hence we start to think about this verse in the spiritual sense. The heat from which our garments are protecting us can be understood as the ruinous hell within the inner self of a person who is disobedient to his Creator. He creates this hell himself out of his own choice and he has the ability to protect himself from it through following the guidance of Allah.

Also, the protection in wars can be taken as protection in spiritual battles. Islamic Jihad (striving for the cause of Allah) does not only involve killing and being killed but in striving hard to win the pleasure of Allah. This can best be done by serving the cause of truth with all one's might under the command and guidance of a Divinely appointed reformer. This is Jihad in the truest sense of the word. It can take the form of preaching and dissemination of the teachings of Islam by peaceful means or of defending it by the sword from being destroyed by its enemies. But the Great Jihad as termed by the Holy Prophet of Islam (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) is the Jihad against one's baser self. i.e., against one's evil desires and propensities or against Satan.

So when we protect ourselves against our enemies in this spiritual battle, we can attain to victory in the form of true submission to Allah.

If we now combine the meaning of this verse with the meaning in the previously mentioned verse, we understand that Allah has bestowed upon us the ability to be righteous and pious so that we can protect ourselves from all evil which prevents our souls from surrendering to Allah.

We can also see that the word garment is used to signify the raiment of piety which us the means of the protection of the soul against all evil and hence, it is the means of attaining to true submission to Allah.

With this understanding of the word garment, we can now return to the original quotation:

They are a garment for you, and you are a garment for them. (2:188)

In the light of the above, we can now see that this expression can be applied to the two components of the human inner self. Exactly as the husband and wife complement one another and protect one another against the enemies who threaten the peace of their family, the two components of the inner self of the human being complement one another and protect one another from all evil in their Great Jihad. Righteousness will prevent a person from thinking wickedly and hence it will protect from his heart from inclining towards evil and at the same time righteousness will prevent him from evil desires which can poison his mind with evil.

Thus, righteousness protects a person from the ruinous hell which can be created by him through his disobedience to his Creator.

The two components of his inner self protect each other and adorn one another with the raiment of piety and this will lead him to complete submission to Allah.

After attaining to true submission to Allah and after following His guidance, a person naturally awaits some results and gains. This is again similar to the case of a husband and wife who, after establishing their marriage, desire to have children. In this connection Allah says:

Your wives are a tilth for you, so approach your tilth when and how you like, and send ahead some good for yourselves and fear Allah and know that you shall meet Him, and bear good tidings to those who obey. (2:224)

The word tilth means a piece of land ploughed for sowing or actually sown with some crop or even under crop. It also means crop or produce of a land. It is also used to signify gain, acquisition or earning and also reward and recompense. The wife is likened to a tilth here because she is like a tilth in which the seed of progeny is sown to bear crop in the form of children.

A wise husbandman selects the best soil, prepares the best tilth, secures the best seed and chooses the best time and manner of sowing it. Similarly, a man should select a wife who is best suited as a tilth, i.e., pious and well qualified and of loving nature for the benefit of his children. He should love her and treat her well and look after her so that her life will be happy and contented and she may become best disposed to bring up the children well. Lastly, he should keep himself in a state of good physical and moral health so that his seed for his tilth may also be healthy in every respect. Then he will ensure that he will reap a good harvest in the form of pious and righteous children.

Considering this verse in the spiritual sense, we see that it is giving advice for attaining to true and complete submission to Allah. It tells a person to be careful about his ideas and opinions because whatever good or evil he conceals in his mind will serve like a seed for his inclinations and actions and it will bear good or evil fruit for himself. So the words send ahead some good for yourselves means plant a seed in your tilth for the good of your own selves. The means of sending this good is found in the words fear Allah which shows that if a person wants to reap a good harvest for his actions, he should prevent evil from its very roots through being righteous.

The phrase and know that you shall meet Him can be taken as a continuation for the words fear Allah which means that you should fear Allah because one day you shall meet Him, on the Day of Judgment.

The phrase can also be taken as glad tidings, for those who will be righteous will have the honour of meeting Allah in this life, which is the aim of every true and sincere servant of Allah. This is followed by the words and bear glad tidings to those who obey, which means that this glad tiding is for the true believers. So this means that those who believe sincerely and follow this injunction and become righteous will secure for themselves the best results and gains. They will reap good fruit and they will enjoy the love and nearness of Allah and the true relationship with Him. The will be brought to a new life like a newborn child and they will enjoy a life of peace and tranquility, and inner paradise.

When a person gains good fruit out of following the guidance of Allah, he becomes encouraged and he tries to strive more in this path so that he can achieve more results and increase the good he gained out of it. His inner self reaches the phase of parenthood. His will and behaviour combine together to look after his faith and protect it. Exactly like the parents who combine their efforts to look after their children and protect them. His will submits completely to his Creator and he becomes devoted to Allah's religion and protects and nourishes it like the mother who nourishes her young children with love and care.

The Quran has given us a practical example of this advanced stage of human spiritual ascent in the person of Mary, the mother of Jesus (peace be upon him):

And remember when the angels said: O Mary, Allah has chosen thee and purified thee and chosen thee above the women of all peoples.(3:43)

Mary is the example of a righteous believer and a sincere follower of the guidance of Allah. Again we read about Mary:

Then she brought him to her people, carrying him. They said 'O Mary thou hast done a strange thing.

O sister of Aaron, thy father was not a wicked man nor was thy mother an unchaste woman'.

Then she pointed to him. They said, 'How can we talk to one who is a child in the cradle?'

He said, 'I am a servant of Allah. He has given me the book and made me a Prophet;

And He has made me blessed wheresoever I may be and has enjoined upon me Prayer and almsgiving so long as I live.

And He has made me dutiful towards my mother and He has not made me haughty and unblessed. (19:28-33)

These verses tell us the story of Mary when she went to her people carrying Jesus (peace be upon him). The word for carrying him means that Mary believed in Jesus (peace be upon him) and helped him in his mission. When her people told her that she has done a strange thing, she silently pointed to Jesus (peace be upon him) who started introducing his religion to them.

In the spiritual sense, Mary signifies a true believer and a sincere follower of a prophet of Allah, who is acting upon the guidance furnished by this prophet and who is preaching his religion to others.

The words carrying him means that she has embraced his religion and reflected it in her person. When she declared this to her people and preached her religion to them, they rejected it because it was strange and unknown to them. So she silently started introducing her faith.

She pointed to the truth by her behaviour and conduct, by her complete submission to Allah and her true devotion to His service.

She became a manifestation of the Unity of Allah.

The disbelievers could see the spiritual station to which she had attained. The fruits she achieved and gained proved the truth of her beliefs and the prophet she followed. She taught the people to follow the guidance of Allah through her actions which were in full compliance with the commandments and ordinances of her religion.

The verses explain to us the perfect way of preaching a religion. Mary signifies every sincere and true follower of a prophet of Allah whether this follower is a man or a woman. A female example is used because she is representing a person who reached this spiritual level through sincerely following the example of a prophet of Allah and though being a reflection of the prophet. Mary is also introduced as a mother to indicate that she represents the true believer who who has already attained to true submission to Allah and who has already gained his fruit. He was granted a new spiritual life and has established a strong relationship with Allah. He has now reached the stage of looking after his faith and protecting it and nourishing it. So he has spiritually reached the stage of motherhood of his religion.

This fact has been explained in the Quran:

Allah sets forth for those who disbelieve the example of the wife of Noah and the wife of Lot. They were under two righteous servants of Ours, but they acted unfaithfully towards them. So they availed them naught against Allah, and it was said to them, `Enter the Fire, ye twain, along with those who enter.'

And Allah sets forth for those who believe the example of the wife of the wife of Pharaoh when she said, `My Lord! build for me a house with Thee in the Garden, and deliver me from Pharaoh and his work, and deliver me from the wrongdoing people; 

And the example of Mary, the daughter of Imran, who guarded her chastity - so We breathed there in of Our Spirit -and she fulfilled in her person the words of her Lord contained in His books and was one of the obedient. (66:11-13)

In these verse we can see three examples of three different states of the inner self of a human being. The wives of Noah (peace be upon him) and Lot (peace be upon him) represent the disbelievers who reject the truth and do not benefit from the companionship of a righteous man or a prophet of Allah. Their inner self is in a state which incites the soul to evil. The wife of Pharoah stands for those believers who, vthough passionately desiring and praying to get rid of sin, yet cannot fully dissociate themselves from evil influences, represented by Pharoah, and having arrived at the stage of the self-accusing soul, sometimes fail and falter. Mary represents those righteous servants of Allah, who have closed all avenues of sin and have made peace with Allah and as a result, they are blessed with Divine inspiration. They have reached the stage of the soul at rest.

Mary here represents those who attained to the true submission to Allah. Her example can be followed by both men and women. The human race was created for one purpose, the worship of Allah. Every person whether a man or a woman is responsible to fulfill the purpose of his existence. Starting with himself, he should combine the efforts of his inner self together to attain to true submission to Allah. When he reaches the state of peace and tranquility of his own self, he can bring this paradise to his own home and family. This can be achieved by the combined efforts of the members of the family, who should all, individually and together as one unit, submit truly to Allah. Once this is achieved, the sphere of their effort can be increased to include other members of the society who should in the same manner combine their efforts together to bring more people to the true submission to Allah. Hence, the whole world can be brought to true submission to Allah and peace and tranquility can spread in the earth thus bringing paradise to earth.

This is the essence of Khilafat which springs from the inner depths of the human self. Khilafat combines together the efforts of the true servants of Allah under one leadership to bring the whole world to the true submission of Allah.

We who live in this age are very fortunate. We have witnessed the rebirth of Islam, the true religion of Allah, which was brought to the world by the best Prophet of mankind (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). The Promised Messiah (peace be upon him) revived this religion by following in the steps of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and he planted the seed of Khilafat which is growing into a blessed tree by the efforts of his sincere followers under the leadership of his true successors. This tree needs the combined efforts of both men and women to keep it growing. May Allah enable us all to nourish this tree and to be of the fortunate ones who will bring the whole world to the true submission to Allah and spread His unity throughout the universe. Amen.

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