Women and Islam

I am currently reading ‘The Character of the Muslim Woman’ authored by Abd al-Halim Abu Shuqqah.

Having read the introductory chapters which delves into the objectives of the book, I began to get excited by the idea of learning a lot about…well…the character of the Muslim woman. All my life, how a woman should conduct herself Islamically has been taught to me mainly through word of mouth. It wasn’t until I was of the age of self-inquisition that I began to question my role and become more curious as to what the authentic books say — namely, the Holy Quran and the captured Sunnah of the Prophet (saw).

My research mainly included the ruling on modesty, free-mixing i.e. the interaction with the opposite gender, and the ruling on women traveling. However, while I am not entirely oblivious to what is expected of me (rather I do feel more aware now of my role as a Muslimah) I do feel there are many gaps to be filled and a lot of conclusions to be drawn. I say this because a few of my perceptions on the duties of muslim women have been tainted by cultural and societal conventions. I sometimes notice myself drawing a blank when asked or when I ask myself why women aren’t allowed to do certain things. While I’d love to go into more depths detailing examples, I fear I might fall into making ignorant comments. So, I’ll leave my commentary for once I complete the book.

Understanding the role and the character of a muslim woman is a large part of Islam that everyone — women and men — should be educated on. Particularly since it’s an area, while important, is commonly overlooked. Time and time again, the author of the book reiterates how the very emancipation of woman brought about by Islam is being soiled by the re-emergence of restrictive cultural ideals. We have prominent male scholars, he says, who have made claims and harsh statements prescribed for women which clearly deviate significantly from what our Prophet (saw) has legislated and contradicts the very freedom the Quran details for women.

The aims and objective of the author is to return to the Quran and the sunnah of our beloved prophet in the hopes to enlighten the Ummah in the truth of how Muslim women should conduct themselves and should be treated as an equal party in society.

I hope to gain an immeasurable amount from this book ان شاءالله

• z 2 7