Muslim Feminists

http://www.memri.org/clip_transcript/en/440.htm 
Dec 18, 2004: 

The following are excerpts from a discussion on wife beating on the private Egyptian channel Dream TV. Particiapting in the discussion are Dr. Mabruk 'Atiya, professor of Islamic studies at Al-Azhar University, who hosts a religious show on Dream TV, Dr. Malka Zarrar, an Islamic law lecturer, and Iqbal Baraka, editor of Hawa women magazine: Host: Dr. Mabruk, why did you laugh? Dr. 'Atiya: I laughed at the claim that an honorable man doesn't beat [his wife], because only an honorable man would beat her. A man with no honor would beat his wife in a way I'd call "barbaric." There are disciplinary beatings that are permitted by Islam, which are practiced by honorable men. Host: Just a minute, an honorable man would beat his wife? Dr. 'Atiya: Of course, an honorable man beats [his wife] in the manner decreed by Allah. Dr. 'Atiya: Of course, of course. Dr. 'Atiya: A man who comes to admonish his wife shouldn't behave like a Friday preacher, but he should say: "Be God fearing, you have a duty towards me." The admonishing is over! He shouldn't go: "God says…," "the Prophet says…," "as the poet says," "So-and-so says…," "you're not observing your religion…," "you're an infidel..." This is not admonishing. He should say: "Be God fearing, you have a duty towards me." Dr. 'Atiya: The Koranic verse "and beat them" means he should lift a toothpick to her. It is enough to lift a toothpick or the like in order to humiliate her. The Koran doesn't say he should beat her with his fists. Such a man should be taken to the police. He shouldn't have been allowed to marry her in the first place. We must understand the words of our Lord: "…and beat them" means that he says to his wife: "what you did was wrong." These are the beatings. The beatings are over. Dr. Zarrar: What is happening in the Arab and Islamic societies has nothing to do with Islam, because this law, decreed by Allah was not intended for discipline, but to straighten out the wife's deviance. There is a big difference between straightening out and disciplining. Allah made laws for human beings, who have inclinations and urges, strengths and weaknesses. Not all women are alike. There are good women for whom a glare is enough. It is enough for her husband to glare at her, and she feels the whole world is angry with her. But there are women who are not deterred by anything - not by words, not by admonishing… Dr. 'Atiya: And not by beatings... Dr. Zarrar: And not by beatings. Dr. Zarrar: Allah knows his creations best, explains and makes it clear that according to the rules of straightening out [the wife], the moment a man feels… The moment he senses any kind of deviance in his wife – and the early signs of deviance are clearly evident in a wife – he shouldn't wait until she is entirely deviant, and only then come and say to her: "You did this and that." No way. Dr. 'Atiya: If she says "no" when he calls her to bed, this will lead to… What Mrs. Iqbal is saying - and it's a shame you don't give a chance to finish a sentence… This "no" is the beginning of a snowball effect. She starts by saying "no" when he calls her to bed. This will lead to condescension, and then to her corruption. Iqbal Baraka: This interpretation is your own. The story that he tells her to come and she says "no" cannot be found in the Koran. I have encountered this interpretation many times. We must understand the reasons for the wife's behavior. The wife is exhausted, falling off her feet, and the master comes in from the coffee shop and wants to "exercise" his marital rights. If she says "no" and he forces her to do it, it is more of a rape than exercising rights, because she needs to comply. Dr. 'Atiya: Throughout Islamic history there has never been a case like the things that are happening today and were mentioned by Dr. Malka. Not a line has been written about this, not even in the most exceptional stories. By Allah, never in Islamic history has a man grabbed a woman and beaten her black and blue, because he asked her to bring him water. Iqbal Baraka: In Ibn Kathir's commentary on this verse, there is a Hadith, attributed to the prophet Muhammad, according to which a women was beaten by her husband. She went to the Prophet and said: "My husband beats me," and the Prophet said, "He must be punished." Then the verse came down without the word "punishment", and this story is repeated six times. In the commentary of Ibn Hadith, which I'm presenting to everyone… Iqbal Baraka: Can anyone say I'm lying?! Dr. 'Atiya: I can give you the man's name. You don't even know the man's name. The name of Muhammad's friend who beat his wife is Sa'ad bin Al-Rabi', who was one of the martyrs of the battle of Uhud, and he slapped her, and didn't beat her harshly. She went to her father, and her father brought her before the Prophet and said to him: "Oh messenger of Allah, Sa'ad bin Al-Rabi'a slapped me." Slapped her, like this… And then the Prophet decreed that he must be punished. Iqbal Baraka: How do we know if he slapped her this way or that way? Dr. 'Atiya: I'll tell you how we know that he slapped her… Iqbal Baraka:Were you there? Iqbal Baraka: The problem is not Sa'ad bin Abi Rabi'a or his likes. Dr. 'Atiya: Not Rabi'a, it's bin Al-Rabi'. Iqbal Baraka: The problem is that the commentators encourage wife beating. The problem is that the early commentators believed that beating is one of the husband's rights, and this opinion is now spreading in the Mosques.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Burning-burqas-and-bras-Nah-Enter-the-Islamic-feminist/articleshow/6150663.cms
July 10, 2010: "Last week, Lucknow-based feminist Shaista Ambar was on television again. This time she was siding with the three daughters-in-law - Nishat, Hina and Arshi - who had beaten up some maulvis at Sultanul Madaris, the city's famous Shia madrassa which also houses a Sharia court. The maulvis had given talaqnamas (divorce documents) to the women's husbands without consulting them when they tried to get justice against the advances of their father-in-law.

Incensed, Ambar batted for the brave women whom the clergy predictably attacked for taking the law into their hands. "The maulvis should have spoken to the women before they wrote the talaqnama. The patriarchal, misogynist clergy will have to mend its ways or women know how to avenge injustice," Ambar told TOI-Crest in between giving interviews to news channels.

..... Ambar, who founded the Muslim Women's Personal Law Board in 2005, saved the marriages of hundreds of Muslim couples in Muradabad (UP) village a couple of years ago.

A maulvi belonging to the Deobandi sect had led the namaz-e-janaza (funeral prayer) of a man from the Barelvi sect. Calling it a sin, another maulvi of the sect issued a fatwa that all those who had attended the funeral prayer under the imamat (leadership) of the Deobandi imam needed to remarry, as their wives had become haram (illegal) for them. "This diktat threatened not just to throw the marital lives of several dozen Muslims into disarray, but also inflame a sectarian strife in western UP," says Ambar, who quelled the crisis by opposing the fatwa. She cited the example of holy mosques in Mecca and Medina where lakhs worship behind Deobandi imams. Ambar was also among those who opposed the recent Darul Uloom fatwa that called women's earnings illegal. ....

In August 2008, Planning Commission member Sayeda Hameed created history by becoming the first woman qazi when she solemnised a nikah ceremony in Lucknow - that of activist Naesh Hasan and PhD scholar Imran Naeem. "Naesh told me that she would remain unmarried if I didn't act as the qazi. I had to give in to her demands," recalls Hameed, who drew flak from a section of clerics who said there was no precedent of a woman acting as a qazi. "I asked them to show me a verse in the Quran or a Hadith which prevented a woman from becoming a qazi. If it was not forbidden by Allah and His Prophet, who were the maulvis to oppose it?" she asks. After they couldn't come out with a convincing reason, some maulvis spread the lie that Hameed had not covered her head while she chanted Quranic verses during the nikah. This was a lie, claims Hameed, fabricated to malign her.

The Islamic feminist movement is not confined to occasional acts of rebellion by contrarian "progressives" . There are some feminists who are respected by even senior clerics and regularly invited to their meetings. Mumbaibased Uzma Naheed is one such. Coming from the family of the clerics that founded the famous Darul Uloom Deoband (UP) in the mid-18th century, Naheed is a member of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIIMPLB) and heads Iqra International Women Alliance (IIWA), an NGO committed to empowering Muslim women. A few yeas ago, she drafted a model nikahnama which had, among other provisions, a right to talaq-e-tafweez (delegated talaq) which allowed women a right to put certain conditions in the nikahnma. If the husband failed to meet those conditions - like not taking another wife till the first wife was alive - the woman could divorce him. Many members privately appreciated Naheed's revolutionary nikahnama, but are yet to implement it.

Unlike most Muslim women who are expected to remain veiled when they meet strangers, Naheed doesn't use a face veil, though she covers her head with a scarf.

"Initially, some ulema were uncomfortable with my being unveiled. Now they have accepted me," she says.

Another feminist is Zeenat Shaukat Ali, who teaches Islamic Studies at Mumbai's St Xavier's College and has made "freeing Muslim women from the clutches of the clergy" her life's mission. Thirteen years ago, Ali created a stir among educated Muslims with her critically acclaimed book Marriage and Divorce in Islam (1997). "The book's main argument is that since Allah made male and female as complementary to each other, there is no reason to treat women as inferior to men," says Ali, who adds that her feminism is not about male-bashing , but about sharing space with them.


http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/shia-board-to-ostracise-those-who-beat-or-desert-their-wives/1/132344.html 
March 14, 2011:
Among the many ills plaguing our society, domestic violence would definitely rank high in the list. Irrespective of caste, creed or religion, women at home tend to be at the receiving end in a society where male chauvinism still holds fort. In an effort to tackle this problem the All India Shia Personal Law Board (AISPLB), in a historic meeting, decided to ostracise those who beat or desert their wives.
The board has also decided to launch a toll-free helpline soon to help victims of domestic violence. "We are also going to constitute a committee of ulemas and lawyers to provide all kinds of legal and social support to those women who are victims of domestic violence and gender bias," AISPLB president Maulana Mirza Mohammad Athar said on Sunday following a meeting of the board.
.....

The AISPLB, which was founded in 1972, also expressed its displeasure against polygamy. "The Shia body has reached the conclusion that dowry is the reason behind increasing instances of polygamy. We are also committed to prevent dowry system in the community.
The general practice is that on the day of the marriage, both families decide on the amount of mehar (nuptial gift) which is given by the groom's family to the bride.
But now the board has decided that the mehar would be in the form of cash and must be decided well in advance before the wedding.



 
http://ur.rasanews.ir/detail/News/7545/2 
Dec 2, 2014:

سعودی عرب میں امر بالمعروف و نہی عن المنکر کے مرکزی سینٹر کے سابق سربراہ "احمد الغامدی" نے مکہ مکرمہ میں دعوا کیا ہے کہ حجاب تمام خواتین کے لئے واجب نہیں ہے اور پیغمبر (ص) کے زمانہ میں صرف ان کی بیویوں سے یہ مخصوص تھا ۔

"احمد الغامدی" نے دعوا کیا ہے : اسلام کے علماء تمام خواتین کے لئے حجاب کے واجب نہ ہونے پر متفق ہیں اور پیامبر اسلام (ص) کے صحابی نے بھی تمام خواتین کے لئے حجاب کو واجب نہیں جانا ہے ۔

الانباء نیوز پیپر نے الغامدی سے نقل کرتے ہوئے لکھتا ہے : خواتین اگر میک آپ بھی کرتی ہیں تو وہ اپنا چہرہ لوگوں کو دیکھا سکتی ہیں ۔

الغامدی نے بیان کیا : اسی طرح خواتین بھی اپنی تصویر اپنے شوشل نیٹ ورک کے پروفائیل میں لگا سکتی ہیں ۔

سعودی عرب میں امر بالمعروف و نہی عن المنکر کے مرکزی سینٹر کے سابق سربراہ نے مکہ مکرمہ میں اعلان کیا ہے : مرد خواتین کے میک آپ کئے خوبصورت چہرہ کو دیکھ سکتا ہے اور خواتین اور مرد دونوں ایک ساتھ جشن و آفس اور یونیورسیٹی میں مشغول رہ سکتے ہیں اور خواتین و مرد کا اختلال ایسے موقع پر جائز ہے ۔

الغامدی نے بیان کیا : خواتین مردوں کے گناہ کے ذمہ دار نہیں ہیں اور صرف مردوں کو چاہیئے کہ اپنے گناہ کے وزن کو حمل کرے اور اگر مرد جانتا ہو کہ وہ گناہ نہیں کرے گا تو خواتین کے چہرہ پر نگاہ کر سکتا ہے ۔