1-41 THE CHANGING POSITION OF WOMENIN ARABIA UNDER ISLAM DURING THE EARLY SEVENTH CENTURY. BY FARYAL ABBAS ABDULLAH SULAIMANI A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF SALFORD INTERNATIONAL STUDIES UNIT 1986 CONTENTS ABSTRACT P. 1 INTRODUCTION P. 2 CHAPTER I: THE STATUS OF WOMENIN ARABIA BEFORE ISLA14 P. 5 CHAPTER II -THE STATUS OF WOMENUNDER ISLAM P. 64 CHAPTER III-: ILLUSTRIOUS AND INFLUENTIAL WOMENIN THE FIRST SEMINAL PERIOD OF ISLAM p. 131 A) KHADFJA BINT KHUWYYLID P. 132 C-P B) AISHA BINT, ABU BAKR p. 136 C) FATIMAH AL-ZAH! P. 148 D) OTHERS P. 157 CONCLUSION P. 170 BIBLIOGRAPHY P. 172 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor. Dr. M. A. S. Abdel Haleemfor his guidance, help and encouragement throughout all stages of this work. Xy sincere thanks to Xr, X. C. Gordon for his encouragement. I would like to thank my husband for his patience. care and co-operation without which this work would not be finished. 1 ABSTRACT THE CHANGING POSITION OF WOMENIN ARABIA UNDER ISLAM DURING THE EARLY SEVENTH CENTURY This study of the position of women in Islamic society during the period of the Prophet in the early seventh centuryA. D., i - . compares their status with the status of women in pre-Islamic Arabia, and investigates the changes. if any, which the new faith brought to the women believers. The thesis is composed of three chapters. The purpose of the first chapter Is to outline the nature of the socilo-economic and legal status of women in Arabia before Islam; it surveys the concept of Jahiliyyah, the tribal society as a whole, the practice of burying daughters alive. marriage. polygamy and divorce. The second chapter contains an over view of the new moral and legal status granted to women under Islamic law. according to the specific rules governing the rights and duties of the people as laid down by the Prophet himself. This can therefore be taken as the ideal example, in all aspects. of the true Islamic community. The third I chapter contains cases of illustrious and influ ential women in the first seminal period of Islam: Khadija. the first believer and c -V first wife of the Prophet. Aisha, the young wife and important transmitter of tradition and FAimah. the Prophet's daughter. and 0 other various examples of women in different aspects. 2 INTRODUCTION The Islamic and Arabic world today has been influenced in many areas by the western world, through various channels including colonisation, -the media, translations. ýliteraturej, or through the presence, Muslim-students in One , of western countries. of the principal. to have been! is , areas affected, the, status of women. - ýý Muslim have women been, -and still are, often portrayed as submissive and subordinate to their male counterparts. While there are many parts of the world-in which women in practice seldom enjoy real equality with, men., Muslim, and Arab women are repeatedly singled illustrative out as. of-suppression, and degradation brought about - it is held - by the teaching of., their faith. - Since the last century, different schools of, opinions in the, Muslim countries have hold - contrasting views, as to -the status of Muslim women.,! At, one'end'of the liberation spectrum, -unconditioned of the Muslim and Arabian women, and equality with men was advocated. ý, The beginning, of this C6- appeared in the writings of Rifa, aý,Rafiýal-Taht; wiAn Egypt. -He 0 IN for-co-educational called schools, -as an, end-to, segregation ofýthe-, sexes from an early age. and, for., the removal of -the-, -veilý' Qisimýý - Amin in Egypt contributed two books to this field; - the first called (Taýir. al-Marlah) "Liberation of Woman" in 1898. His-second, book (al-Marlah al-JaZdah) I'The, New Woman",, established his reputation amongst some readers as an extremist due to the uncompromising 2 arguments and. proposals it contained. There was also Huda ShFarawl' in Egypt. who is considered to be the founder'of the Egyptian womenlsý l... For more detail, see MuDammad. Atmads al-Marlah al-Mauriyyah Bayn-al- Magi Wa al-Ua4ir, (The Egyptian Woman between the past and the present). P. 46. 2, Ibid, P* 47 3 movement and "she was recognised throughout the Arab, world as an early leader in the field of the woman's rights ..... she came to the public attention during the public nationalist demonstrations in Egypt against 1 the British. These took place at the end of world war 1.11 At the other end. of the spectrum, extremists tried to prevent women-from making any. contribution to their society., The most rigid advocates of this view deprived them of fundamental rights, such as equality with men in education. in the mistaken belief that this is in accordance with Islamic laws. Between these two extremes, a third approach has emerged trying to create a middle zone, where women can contribute to their society and at the same time observe the Islamic laws and traditions; as for example, MuhammadcAbdu in Egypt. who concentrated on improving the status of women in the villages of Egypt. He draw upon the aspects of Islamic law which enjoin liberal treatment of women to. argue for 2 the end of humiliation and oppression. The first question to consider here is whether Islam does or does not guarantee its female adherents the rights and the status which enable them to function in and contribute to their society and, secondly, if it does, how this can be achieved in today's fast moving. complicated and demanding societies. A study of the early sources, and of the practice of the first Islamic community in Mecca and al-Madinah during the time of the Prophet and the first four caliphs and comparison of this community with the pre-Islamic Arabia may help to formulate an opinion on the subject. 1. See Fernea, Elizabeth and Bezirgan. Basimas Middle Eastern Muslim Women Speak, P. 194. 2. See Muhammad. Aýmad, op. cit., Pe 52 4 The status of women in Islamic and Arab societies has been discussed and investigated in different areas through literature. the media and various channels; the particular contribution of the present thesis is the comparison between the status of women in a specific place and time, that is in Mecca and Madinah. before the dawn of Islam and during the Prophet's times from an academic approach. 5 CHAPTER ONE Our knowledge about the period before Islam derives from various sources such-as The Qurlan, The Hadith, Literature and various biographies. That erajs usually called Jahiliyyah (ignorance), a term which is found in the Qurlan- "While another band was stirred to anxiety by their own interes%, moved by wrong suspicions (Jahiliyyah). of God - suspicions due to ignorance In addition, the Prophet Muhammad is reported to have told Abu Dharr, when the latter upbraided a man's mother : 2 "You are a man within whom there is Jahiliyyah-11 A clear delineation of Jahiliyyah was given by Jalafar ibn AbC jWlib as he stood before the Negus of Abyssinia seeking asylum for himself and the group of early Muslims who had fled the persecution of Pagan Mecca to the safety and liberality of the Christian Kingdom across the Red Sea. 110 King. " he said. "we were a people of Jahiliyyah worshipping idols. eating the raw flesh of dead animals. committing abominations. neglecting our relative$, doing evil to our neighbours 3 and the strong among. us would oppress the weak. " For Jalafar then., Jahiliyyah was associated with ignorance of and deviation from the true religion. a deviation which had also moral, social and political implications. It implied a general way of life. a pervasive code of behaviourg which was to be supplanted by the new faith. The Qurlan describes the transformation as a movement 4 from the depth of darkne sa to the light. The term of Jahiliyyah is a purely Islamic coinage, a term implying 'Ignorance' - either of the true faith or of the way of 11 Q. 3.151to 2. See Ali. Jawlaýd. Tgr*fkh al-! Areb Qab - al- IslZ& (The Arab History before Islam), Po 40. 3. Zakaria Bashier, The Meccan Crucible. P. 18 4. Q. 57 , 9. 6 civilization or of both combined. Society in pre-Islamic Arabia was not an organized one in many ways. For example, the major cities like Mecca, Tait and Yathrib were moving fast towards social conflict. Idolatry prevailed in the PeninsuLa. 'The Sixth Century A. D., found them plunged into depravity, perversion and dark idolatry and indulging in all the other characteristics of primitive life. " Initially, people started worshipping idols on the pretext that these were symbols that might get them nearer to God. As the Qurlan states: "We only serve them in order that they may bring us nearer to God. " 2 11- "I I- And over the ages,, they started to worship idols -instead of God. And from there, they departed from the true worship and diverged from the right way. There kinds, for were many of-idols, example.,. -, angels, but the three stars.... principal objects of pagan Arab idolatry , 'ýUzzi were the goddesses 17&t, and Mazqh, as the Qurlan says: "Have ye seen Lat and Uzza and another. the third goddess MarMh. 11 3 And the Qurlan says: "These are nothing but names which you have devised -you and your fathers, for which God has sent down no authority (whatever) they follow nothing but conjecture and what their own souls'desire. 11-- 4- On the other hand,, there was, a small-number of people called Hanifs whoý believed in God, who were, the descendants of the Prophet f- Isma i.