Muslim Women and the Traditional Baggage

The divine approach towards human life carries certain restrictions. These restrictions are meant to generate a positive character, and safeguard from eveil effects.. Neither men, nor women are exempted from such restrictions. However, some people approach these restrictions with some pre-conceived notions. To make things worse, the customs and traditions of a given region are mixed into the religious injunctions. This majorly is witnessed in the Eastern part where different facets of tradition are fused with religious doctrines.

We may claim that Islam guarantees women with all the necessary rights, but the social realities undermine this claim. It is hard to witness any active role of women in our societies, instead they have been reduced to a vestigial organ. While as, during the Prophet’s time, Muslim women were a strong stakeholder in every sphere of the society. Be that inspiring the second Caliph Umar to embrace the beauty of Islam or advising the Prophet (PBUH) on a critical juncture of Hudaibiya, attending the injured during the battles, or running big business enterprises successfully; the presence of women as an active participant was felt everywhere. Not to forget, it was Khadija only who, at the time of first revelation, consoled Prophet (PBUH) with these encouraging words: “God will never let you down. You are empathetic to people, always stand by the just, take care of the destitute, remain faithful to what is given in your care, love to host the guests and in matters of righteousness, you always lend your support” (narrated in both Bukhari and Muslim).

At the moment, womenfolk are sandwiched in the two extremes. On the one hand, she is exploited by reducing her to a commodity, and on the other, the traditional baggage has trampled her under its weight which she can’t bear anymore. She feels suffocated as everything she does is assigned a normative value in order to define her virtue and sanctity. Who could imagine a scenario like this wherein a woman walks in and makes a proposal of marriage herself to Prophet (PBUH)? Anything of this sort will make heads turn in our society and put a big question mark on the character of such a woman.

In case it may seem to anyone that I am blowing things out of proportion, he or she can gauge the public reaction towards any girl using a social media account under her real name. Her character is put to scrutiny, instantly. The same approach is witnessed towards the veil. Islam had clearly stated that a woman can uncover her face and hands but under the influence of unfounded and outlandish traditions, some scholars went on to claim that, apart from one of the two eyes, a woman needs to cover everything. The most natural result of it would be that there may be a few women, who would follow such a strict dress code, but at large Muslim women would find it regressive.

One very unfortunate precedence which has been set in our societies is to hold women back from mosques, that too at the pretext that it can lead to mischief. However, this was not the case during the Prophet’s time where women had easy and regular access to mosques. There are people who still are under the delusion that the earnings of women are not legitimate, though it is pretty much known to them that Prophet (PBUH) himself relied upon Khadija (ra) for financial support, as he was engrossed in the Prophetic mission. Even for that matter, Abudllah Bin Masood who also was not financially well off, and had to be supported by her wife who was quite good in handicrafts. What can be a more beautiful picture than the example of Prophet Shoib (PBUH) whose daughters would take care of the cattle as he was too old to do so himself. Therefore, it is hard to find any precedence from the Prophet’s epoch where the Muslim women would have been reprimanded from doing any task.

One of the common and potent reasons for the exploitation of women has been the joint family system. This puts a daughter-in-law under compulsion to serve not only her husband, but her in-laws as well. To make things worse, if in any case, the husband tries to help his wife in daily chore, he is trolled for being too submissive and
feminine. Though this is a prophetic trait, to help your spouse in taking care of your household.

The need of the hour is that we unleash the true spirit of Islam. Only then will the womenfolk be able to play their constructive role in the society. We ought to remember that Islam is here to put an end to all man-made and regressive customs. Once it is done, the womenfolk will have no reservations in embracing the ever-liberating religion of Islam.