Inside the Gender Jihad: Women's Reform in Islam (43 page)

practices, along with the misguided political forms, were all reprimanded. It cannot be accidental that more Qur’anic passages about social justice are directly related to the treatment of females in that society. It was obviously one of the areas most in need of reform from corruption and abuse.

214 inside the gender jihad

I am reminded of the extensive attention given to women’s social, moral, spiritual, economic, political, and intellectual potential, while the social context of seventh-century Arabia was still prone to certain practices of gross gender inequity. Despite the tedious amount of attention given to gender and to the reform of social praxis, the most prevalent ideas of that time form only the starting place from which to begin the movement toward fulfilling the eternal nature of guidance which the Qur’an points humanity toward. I consider it integral to Qur’anic intent to continue to reform. Not only does the Qur’an squarely address patriarchal privileges, it repeatedly implies, suggests, and commands change.

The Qur’an constantly made special address to those in whose hands rested the power and privilege to establish social justice, albeit with varying degrees of success and failure, even during the process of revelation all the way up to the Prophet’s death. They are the ones held accountable and the ones with the greatest responsibility to change. There is less utility in addressing the weak and oppressed elements of the community about their autonomy and dignity except as part of the whole of community. This aspect of the Qur’an forms the core of its ethical framework. If justice is the dispensation of the strong granted toward the weak, then the Qur’anic address is a proper assessment of the foremost means for where change needs to take place. While it was just as easy to address the oppressed, rendering them principal actors in their own liberation, it was certainly the more privileged and powerful who held the greatest responsibility. Such focus on the oppressed as the central actors in a movement to end oppression has

only been

well articulated and advocated

in the

last

few

centuries,

helping to reveal the wisdom behind liberation theologies and recent grass- roots movements against oppression. However, in both the direct Qur’anic address to the privileged and the more subtle and yet pervasive address to all humankind, oppressed and oppressors, I see divine wisdom. The less disruptive option for social reform calls those with the most extensive access to rights and privileges to grant greater rights to the less privileged, to establish full human equality, and then to articulate this within the fundamental attributes of faith or belief. As with the previously cited
hadith
of the Prophet, “One of you does not believe until/unless he or she loves the other what is loved for self.”

So the Qur’an addresses the men more than the women and deliberately reprimands the men more than the women, and expects obedience from men and women with regard to its commands. Instead of affording them- selves the opportunity to become true servants and agents of Allah’s will,

Qur’an, Gender, and Interpretive Possibilities
215

Muslim men throughout history have lavished more attention on the language directed toward them than upon attaining the goals of justice directly commanded of them. It was not until women, in the modern era, began the task of publicly indicating the Qur’anic pointers that men were so careless or flippant about – rather than agents toward – that this tendency, which had prevailed for over a millennium, was blatantly exposed. Since the significance of gender as a philosophical and epistemological category of thought has only become pronounced in modernity, it is really no surprise that gender implications of all fields of Islamic intellectual thinking has overlooked this. To persist along the lines of its continual negation by insisting that women continue to surrender the reformation and re-examin- ation of Islam’s paradigmatic foundations through its primary sources to male elites is to demonstrate willful denial of the eternal divine potential in justice.

216
inside the gender jihad

7
Stories from the Trenches

In the battle for gender parity, those who stand guard at the gateposts of Muslim status quo have sometimes reacted vehemently against claims for justice. The trenches are deep and the fighting often unfair, but the motivation for my entry into the struggle is nonnegotiable. One of the special merits of Islam as
din
, or, way of life, is that establishing and re-establishing orthodoxy set an agenda for Islamic praxis. One cannot stand on the sidelines in the face of injustice and still be recognized as fully Muslim, fully
khalifah
. I have accepted the responsibility and continue in the struggle.

– Amina Wadud
1

INTRODUCTION

Most of the ideas presented in this book have been in development over the more than three decades of my life as a Muslim who, in early life, grew up in the shade of a role model
–
my father, a man, and a believer in God. He exemplified the integrity of being unconstrained by limitations of poverty and race in a world full of unbridled greed and sanctioned arrogance. After two decades, since my research began for the book
Qur’an and Woman
, I have continued researching while interacting with both the academic and activist communities of Muslims and non-Muslims through conferences, workshops, and other collaborative forums, locally, nationally, and inter- nationally. I continue to engage in consideration of the major issues for each of the chapters that stand independently. Yet several other issues of popular or strategic interest have not been covered in detail in this book. There are

Stories from the Trenches
217

other topics as well, which were sometimes of lesser concern in my research goals yet were ignited with intense significance in public debate.

I consider these stories from the deep trenches of the gender
jihad
, which I will address here, in order to voice my own opinions vis-à-vis these issues. I will not attempt to acknowledge the vast number of generous responses and long-term effects or significance of these stories while they are still part of the ongoing debates and activities. Nor will I react to the many unwarranted accusations that have been launched at me by strangers from all over the globe in these debates. These events are open game for those who wish to begin name-calling, to cry heresy for perspectives different from their own, with little direct concern for the issue. However, when the issues addressed also reflect a long-standing interest, invested research, or experiences that I have either dealt with in detail in this book or am investigating further through my research, it is at least worth outlining my major standpoints by refer- encing the details as included or giving a brief overview. Just because an event has brought about considerable public response has not meant that those responses reflect the scope of my work, my views on multiple issues related to the event, or even a minimal knowledge of who I am vis-à-vis the controversy. Indeed, I am still in transition and not even I can say how much my perspectives will change, resume at an earlier place with a whole new set of rationales, or just repeat themselves. I mention select events here, with as much detail as seems appropriate at this time. In even briefly responding with some details to the events that precipitated a public outcry, I mostly hope to provide notes to point at their relationships to other themes and topics addressed elsewhere in this book. In one case a contro- versy was raised regarding an important issue, which will be addressed in a separate volume. The issue of ethnic relationships and the persistent tendency for transnational Muslims in North America to condescend to transitioning Muslims of African-American background is worthy of a lengthy critical analysis. Although I have more than a little experience of this problem, I have not done sufficient academic research on its multiple reflections from the scholars who have presented detailed analysis on the history, development, and present manifestations of these forms of preju- dice. So I am not sufficiently equipped to do more than raise a few points to clarify the controversial context of my experience in addressing this issue in a public forum. Much more work is needed to extend the state of my own scholarship in this area and I will not jump to hasty conclusions here, only to regret the exposure of my limitations.

The formulas for addressing both these controversial events and the

218 inside the gender jihad

other topics in this chapter might seem to be mere structural consequences, but in planning to include this chapter I had in mind an opportunity to include some vignettes from the “trenches” of struggling for gender justice. These struggles are not isolated from other experiences in my life as a Muslim, but some of the issues are difficult to locate and integrate with the topics I have addressed elsewhere in this book after lengthy research. It matters very little how or why certain issues ended up here rather than elsewhere. It does matter that the issues are discussed at least in the light of fulfilling one of my objectives in writing this book – to make available to a larger audience some pro-faith, pro-feminist ideas from an inside experience of the gender
jihad
.

HIJAB

“If you think that the difference between heaven and hell is 45 inches of material, boy will you be surprised.” This is my
hijab
mantra. I have repeated it so often over the years, I am no longer certain of the time of its origin. Often, when I say it now, I also remove my own
hijab
from my head and drape it over my shoulders. Over the past several decades, the
hijab
has been given disproportionate symbolic significance both within and without Muslim communities. Like a
sixth pillar
,
2
we cannot discuss Islam and gender without discussing the
hijab
. While overloaded with multiple mean- ings, it is often the single marker used to determine community approval or disapproval. Although sometimes random and coincidental, it is also burdened with different levels of volition by Muslim women.

I have recognized and lived the idea that
hijab
is a public declaration of identity with Islamic ideology. I do not consider it a religious obligation, nor do I ascribe to it any religious significance or moral value per se. It is certainly not the penultimate denotation of modesty, as mandated by the Qur’an, “the best dress is the dress of
taqwa
” (7:26). While the
hijab
can give some semblance of a woman’s affiliation with “Islam,” it offers no guarantee of respect or protection. Those who reduce women to their sexuality will continue to do so, whether or not admitting that this eases their conscience. Reducing women to their sexuality, rather than affirming that sexuality is part of the whole of women’s human make-up, is not going to be transformed without raising that consciousness.
3
In reality, the
hijab
of coercion and the
hijab
of choice
look the same
. The
hijab
of oppression and the
hijab
of liberation look the same. The
hijab
of deception and the
hijab
of integrity look the same. You can no more tell the extent of a

Stories from the Trenches
219

Muslim woman’s sense of personal bodily integrity or piety from 45 inches of cloth than you can spot a fly on the wall at two thousand feet.

Paradoxically, I consistently wore
hijab
for my first thirty years as a Muslim woman, including covering my face for four years when I lived in the

U.S.A. and in Libya. While I do not consider it obligatory, my own devotion to wearing it appeared to conform to neo-traditionalist or conservative Muslims’ perspective. This made me
look
safe to some and dangerous or unworthy to others. It is a double-edged aspect of my public role and represen- tation that figures strategically in debates over Islam and gender. No matter how stringent or coincidental my own intentions throughout those three decades, or today, I cannot escape, determine, or envisage what it means to others.

My dress choice and preference for
hijab
has radical, self-inscribed meaning – not apparent to an outside observer. I am certain my combina- tion of conservative dress and radical thinking was part of the incentive for the invitation I received in South Africa in 1994 to deliver a sermon at the

Friday congregational prayer.
4
While it appears to confirm the fixed and

uniform position of the “good” Muslim woman’s persona, it can also defy that position. Reinvesting new meaning into old symbols is a necessary part of
being a woman
in the context of Islamic progression in the global community. The articulation of the distinction between these two meanings of fixed uniformity and radical personal reinscription cannot be obvious by form alone. It can
only
be heard in the voice of the woman who wears it.

Before Islam embraced me, I was already wearing long dresses and covering my hair. Long clothing fascinates me – the flowing shape of fabrics that move together when I walk are like gentle leaves on a tree-branch bending to yield unto a blowing breeze. In fact, I am part of a still ongoing trend in the African-American community, where women carry their bodies with dignity and express their sexual integrity through more modest dress fashions than the ones in popular white American culture. I adopted clothing that would cover my legs at all times in public and began various styles of head wrap before I entered Islam.

Before that time, I had already been duped into the pull of the porno- graphic tendencies of Western culture regarding female fashions. They continue to run amok in exploiting the minute details of the female body. Even female toddlers are dressed in these popular exposing styles – shirts with one arm bare, the other covered by a single strap, shirt buttons open from the waist to the ribs, shorter and shorter skirts and pants, some cut so low that they expose those bottomless panties called thongs. I remember once, while a teenager, I wore a dress so short it didn’t have enough material