“We all want progress, but if
you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back
to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most
progressive.” C. S. Lewis
The Muslim Woman today needs to
ask herself what does progress mean to her and how will she define it.
Will she accept the contemporary definition of
progress offered to her or will it be a more natural consequence of her own
journey?
The contemporary standards
against which female progress is gauged like ‘gender parity’ and ‘gender
equality’ are far from becoming a reality any time soon. Given the condition of
women all around the world, it would be foolish to claim that getting more
jobs, earning more money, getting a degree, climbing mountains or even
travelling into space is the sort of human progress we should be pressing for
when ‘female objectification’ throughout international media is constantly perpetuating
“violence against women’ and is shaping male and female psyche for decades to
come.
Statistics are used to compare and measure the
consequent unequal distribution of resources for a given indicator like “Education’,
‘Pay Scales’, ‘Job Opportunities’ by prevalent power structures. The catch is
though that the criterion (gender parity) used to measure these inequalities is
in itself, limiting and exclusive. Regardless of claims to respecting and accounting
for individual differences, It fails to address and resolve the gaping
differences underlying the ever evolving social and psychological dynamics of a
given culture and society. By marrying progress for women quite incompetently
with “gender equality’, all claim to progress by women is inevitably bound and in
constant competition with men!
The fact of the matter is that violence
against women all around the world has increased and not lessened even after
international watchdogs like the UN and CEDAW are constantly introducing and
mainstreaming campaigns to curb violence and to provide women with more
opportunities every day.
Such statistical measures are
often blatant and oversimplified without an immutable essence to them. We need
to ask ourselves that why does progress for women need to be looked at through
the lens of ‘gender parity’ and ‘gender equality’?
Dr Jamal A Badawi uses the term
‘equity’ rather than ‘equality’ in his research titled ‘Gender Equity in
Islam’ for the very same reasons. According to him:
“Equity is used here to mean
justice and overall equality of the totality of rights and responsibilities of
both genders. It does allow for the possibility of variations in specific items
within the overall balance and equality. It is analogous to two persons
possessing diverse currencies amounting, for each person, to the equivalence of
US$1000. While each of the two persons may possess more of one currency than
the other, the total value still comes to US$1000 in each case. It should be
added that from an Islamic perspective, the roles of men and women are
complementary and cooperative rather than competitive.”
To draw calculations and conclude
methodology on the basis of comparisons is but an inevitable necessity. Thus,
it should be based in something real, something permanent and holistic.
Universal laws point towards the law of equity (not equality) and justice in
the universe. A comparison cognizant of the natural and the universal would
automatically yield more enduring and attainable goals.
The modern world is now returning
to more holistic and unifying criteria which promote complementarity amongst
human beings rather than comparisons. The distances between spheres of knowledge
and understanding have to be bridged as fast as globalization has bridged material
distances.
This is where Islam offers us a
most natural and unifying assembly of diversity into one for one. It presents to
us the most fundamental unit of all human basis and progress. ‘The family’!
The atrocities, the greed for
assumed progress have rendered on this basic unit of human existence are enormous.
Today the most basic unit of strength and progress for the Muslim ummah ’the
family’ not only stands adrift but also fragmented. Progress for a woman is
accounted for only by measuring her individual development while Islam presents
to us men and women as teams working together as each other’s helpers under the
natural hierarchy of ‘the family’ for the common development and progress of
all.
In Quran Allah (subhana wa tallah)
calls both men and women to this equitable complementarity by reminding them of
their duty towards their lord! He says:
“Indeed, the Muslim men and
Muslim women, the believing men and believing women, the obedient men and
obedient women, the truthful men and truthful women, the patient men and
patient women, the humble men and humble women, the charitable men and charitable
women, the fasting men and fasting women, the men who guard their private parts
and the women who do so, and the men who remember Allah often and the women who
do so – for them Allah has prepared forgiveness and a great reward.”(33:35)
‘The family’ provides the most
reliable basis for all human progress. Women becoming the binding force which
binds and strengthens the exquisite fabric of human relationships. The Muslim Family
and the Muslim woman together become the founding pillars of human civilization.
Some of the most pressing needs
of the Muslim Ummah today are:
·
To revisit and reassemble “the Family” from a
holistic and universal Islamic perspective.
·
To understand the justice and order in the
natural hierarchy of ‘the Islamic family’ in the light of the Quran.
·
To build and strengthen this Nucleus of the
Muslim civilization.
·
To make ‘the family’ an empowering foundation for
the Muslim woman.
These goals might possibly be achieved
by exploring and planning through:
·
Retracing our steps and identifying our
mistakes.
·
Renewal of thought with a strong foundation in Tawheed
and Akhirah.
· Revisiting the family life of our beloved
Prophet (SAW) in the modern context of the Muslim Family.
·
Research and development in Family education and
tarbiyah.
Let us unite to rebuild our families, women,
nations and consequently the Muslim Ummah.
Comments