Reading between the lines: Scholar discusses gender roles in Islam

Interpreting the Quran is not a right restricted to some maulvis: Husain.

KARACHI:

Islamic scholar Abbas Husain, director of the Teachers Development Centre, fended off a volley of questions on women’s status in Islam on Monday, International Women’s Day.

Invited as a guest speaker by the Working Women Group of the Aga Khan University Hospital, Husain spoke on reading the Quran to interpret its hidden meanings. The seminar was held at the Aga Khan University Hospital and the auditorium was packed with teachers and students.

Reading can be taken in four senses. “We may read the text, read between the lines, read the writing on the wall or make out the character (of a person, book, and work of art) by interpreting the signs,” he said. “Then there is something called mis-reading the facts, which affect women’s rights. Can a patriarchal interpretation of the Quran be considered the will of God? I think it needs a lot of debate and more importantly, such a text needs to be read before it can be understood.”

Husain said at present, the right to interpret the Quran was restricted to just maulvis and the rest of the public gets their information through them, a fact he called “blatantly unjust”.

A woman from the audience wanted to know that if God is so kind to women, which Allah is indeed, then why did God not choose a female prophet? Prophets had to suffer severe opposition and resistance and God did not want women to go through that. Women were given, on the other hand, the miraculous ability to give birth — which makes them stronger than anyone else, he added.

Seeing that his reply did not go down well with all the females in the crowd, he gave an example. He narrated when a saint, Rabia Al Basri was asked the same question. “The women were really angry that no female prophet has ever been selected. Rabia al Basri replied that it is because there has not been a female Firaun or Namrood either.”

A student from the audience asked the scholar why he (the student) was allowed to study  abroad but his family insisted his sister needed a mehram (male guardian) to go with her.  “Is this really necessary?” he asked.

Although he was not terribly articulate in his answer, Husain did say that the school of thought that believes women need mehram everywhere they go is “ignorant about the role of women in Islam”.

Elaborating further, he said that those who think that women should not drive or paint or express themselves in any way because these activities are ‘bidah’ (innovations) are simply misreading facts. “Islam is a religion of Fitrat and it allows self-expression. How can it not allow people to express themselves?”

Another woman wanted to know how it was possible to ‘read between the lines’ the fact that a testimony given by two women equals to that given by one man. “Isn’t it clear we are considered dumb?”

Giving an example from Surah-e-Baqra, verse 282, he explained that the concept of two women is simple and was not to demean women’s judgement in particular. “If two women are witness to a crime, the second woman is just a companion or an assistant, so that if one of them errs the other is there to remind or correct her.”

Concluding the question-and-answer session, Husain said that he sees no reason why Pakistan cannot change.

With the current mode of communication, for instance Facebook and Twitter, already bringing in revolutions around the world, he added that Pakistan is not and can not be far behind. “We are ready to bring in a wave of change and the first and foremost war should be against demented beliefs and customs.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 9^th, 2011.