Jihad (Struggle, effort, endeavour) - Part 8

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('Jihad' - Struggle, effort, endeavour. [Muhammad Prophet For Our Time Glossary

pg. 217].)

 

 

Jihad - Part 8

 

(p.145) Each of the Muslim dead had left wives and daughters without protectors.

After the defeat, a revelation came to Muhammad giving Muslims permission to

take four wives. Muslims must remember that God had created men and women from a

single living entity, so that both sexes were equally precious in his sight.

 

Hence render unto the orphans their possessions and do not substitute bad things

[of your own] for the good things [that belong to them] and do not consume their

possessions together with your own; this, verily, is a great crime.

 

And if you have reason to fear that you might not act equitably towards orphans,

then marry from among [other] women such as are lawful to you--[even] two or

three or four: but if you have reason to fear that you might not be able to

treat them with equal fairness, then [only] one--or from among those whom you

rightfully possess. This will make it more likely that you will not deviate from

the right course. [31]

 

The institution of polygamy has been much criticized as the source of

considerable suffering for Muslim women, but at the time of this revelation it

constituted a social advance. [32] In the pre-Islamic period, both men and women

were allowed several spouses. After marriage, a woman remained at the home of

her family, and was visited by all her " husbands. " (p.146) It was, in effect, a

form of licensed prostitution. Paternity was, therefore, uncertain, so children

were usually identified as the descendants of their mothers. Men did not need to

provide for their wives and took no responsibility for their offspring. But

Arabia was in transition. The new spirit of individualism in the peninsula meant

that men were becoming more interested in their own children, were more

assertive about personal property, and wanted their sons to inherit their

wealth. The Qur'an encouraged this trend toward a more patriarchal society.

Muhammad endorsed it by taking his wives into his own household and providing

for them, and the verses instituting polygamy take it for granted that Muslim

men will do the same. But the Qur'an was also aware of a social problem that

this new revelation sought to redress.

 

In the pre-Islamic period, a woman could not own property. Any wealth that came

her way belonged to her family and was administered by her male relatives. But

in Mecca, where individualism was more pronounced than elsewhere in Arabia, some

of the more aristocratic women had been able to inherit and administer their own

fortunes. Khadijah was a case in point, but this was still rare in Mecca and

almost unheard of in Medina. Most men found the idea that women could inherit

and manage their property quite ludicrous. Women had no individual rights. How

could they? Apart from a few notable exceptions, they did nothing to contribute

to the economy; and because they took no part in the ghazu [acquisition raid],

they brought no wealth to the community. Traditionally women were considered

part of a man's estate. (p.147) After his death, his wives and daughters passed

to his male heirs, who often kept them unmarried and impoverished in order to

control their inheritance.

 

The Qur'anic institution of polygamy was a piece of social legislation. It was

designed not to gratify the male sexual appetite, but to correct the injustices

done to widows, orphans, and other female dependants, who were especially

vulnerable. All too often, unscrupulous people seized everything and left the

weaker members of the family with nothing. [33] They were often sexually abused

by their male guardians or converted into a financial asset by being sold into

slavery. Ibn Ubayy, for example, forced his women slaves into prostitution and

pocketed the proceeds. The Qur'an bluntly refutes this behavior and takes it for

granted that a woman has an inalienable right to her inheritance. Polygamy was

designed to ensure that unprotected women would be decently married, and to

abolish the old loose, irresponsible liaisons; men could have 'only' four wives

and must treat them equitably; it was an unjustifiably wicked act to devour

their property.

 

The Qur'an was attempting to give women a legal status that most Western women

would not enjoy until the nineteenth century. The emancipation of women was a

project dear to the Prophet's heart, but it was resolutely opposed by many men

in the ummah [community], including some of his closest companions. In a society

of scarcity, it took courage and compassion to take financial responsibility for

four women and their children. (p.148) Muslims must have confidence that God

would provide:

 

Marry the spouseless among you, and your

slaves and handmaidens that are righteous;

if they are poor, God will enrich them

of his bounty, God is all-embracing

All knowing. [34]

 

Muhammad led the way. After Uhud, he took another wife, providing a home for

Zaynab bint Khuzaymah, a widow whose husband had died at Badr. She was also the

daughter of the Bedouin chief of 'Amir, and so the match forged a new political

alliance. An apartment was built for her beside the mosque and she joined her

" sisters " --Sawdah, 'A'isha and Hafsah--there.

 

The Prophet did not regard his women as chattel. They were his

" companions " --just like the men. He usually took one of his wives along on a

military expedition and disappointed his commanders by spending the whole of

every evening in their tent, instead of bonding with his men. In the camp, the

women did not remain meekly secluded, but walked around freely, taking an

interest in everything that was going on. This type of freedom had been common

for elite women in pre-Islamic Arabia, but it infuriated 'Umar. " Your boldness

borders on insolence! " he yelled when he came one day upon 'A'isha strolling

along the front lines. " What if disaster overtakes us? What if there is a defeat

and people are taken captive? " [35] Muhammad's domestic arrangements gave his

wives a new access to politics, and they seemed quite at home in this sphere. It

would not be long before other women began to feel similarly empowered, and his

enemies would use this women's movement to discredit the Prophet.

 

Muhammad (Prophet For Our Time)

Chapter 4, 'Jihad', p. 145-149

Karen Armstrong

Harper Perennial - London, New York, Toronto and Sydney

ISBN-13 978-0-00-723248-2

ISBN-10 0-00-723248-9

 

Notes:

 

[31] Qur'an 4:3-3[?], Asad translation.

 

[32] Watt, 'Muhammad at Medina', 272-83, 289-93; cf. Ahmed, 'Women and Gender in

Islam', 43-44, 52.

 

[33] Mernissi, 'Women and Islam', 123, 182.

 

[34] Qur'an 24:33, in Arthur J. Arberry, 'The Koran Interpreted' (Oxford, 1964).

 

[35] Mernissi, 'Women and Islam', 162-3; Ahmed, 'Women and Gender in Islam', 53.