When Mavis Leno told her Dallas audience that the Quran was more liberal with women than the Bible, many probably could not make the association. For who knows that the Quran for example includes a chapter called “women” but not another one dedicated to men? Or that another chapter is titled “Mary” where the Mother of Jesus is described as the most chaste of women? As a matter of fact, who would think of Islam as liberating women?
On Sunday November the 6th, Muslims all over the world will celebrate the Feast of Sacrifice, Eid al-Adha. The celebration commemorates the sacrifices of Prophet Abraham and his family with a pilgrimage (Hajj) in the city of Mecca that three to five million Muslims get to perform each year. While the pilgrimage rituals commemorate both Abraham and his son Ishmael, a significant part commemorates Abraham’s wife Hagar. This is where the legacy of a woman becomes a centerpiece for a sacred invitation for pilgrims to visit the House of God.
Just as God ordered Abraham to sacrifice his son Ishmael and later redeemed the sacrifice with a sheep, God ordered his prophet to take his wife and son out in the wilderness and leave them by an arid valley. Hagar called onto Abraham: “Where are you going? Leaving us in this valley where there is neither any person nor anything else to survive?” Abraham did not reply and Hagar repeated her question several times until she asked him: “Has God instructed you to do so?” He replied: “Yes.” She then said: “Then God will not neglect us.”
Such was the courage and submission of a woman that the divine commemorated her with one of Islam’s five pillars, the pilgrimage. Pilgrims have to walk between two points, al-Safa and al-Marwa, two hills that Hagar kept walking up and down looking for help until the Archangel Gabriel came and caused a stream of water, Zamzam, to burst. Such was the woman in an exemplary family that is taken as a model for the Muslim community as a whole. The nucleus of that family and that community is a woman.
This is the story of Islam and women. However, today’s reality of oppressing women or restricting their freedom in some societies is a cultural interpretation that has gone astray from the essence of Islamic teachings. To turn a cultural interpretation into a whole generalization endangers the efforts of global bridging and understanding. In fact, examples of the role of women and their status in Islam throughout history and in the contemporary world speak louder.
Comments