Question
Is it true that equal rights before the law do not exist under Islamic law. One citizen, one vote does not exist under Islamic law? What about women’s rights, why is there a discrimination between women’s rights and men’s rights?
Also, what about minorities? I heard that minorities - that is, non-Muslims - enjoy rights and protections at the pleasure of the Muslim community that are ever-subject to the capriciousness of a rights-canceling fatwa.
Answer
This answer was kindly provided by Firas Al-Atraqchi, a Canadian freelance journalist of Iraqi heritage.
Salam, Michael.
Thank you for your question.
To understand Shari`ah Law, one must understand first and foremost that it is not the law of man, but, according to Muslims, the Law of the Divine - God - as enshrined in the Qur’an. It can therefore not be manipulated, added upon, or removed. Any attempts to do so render the law unIslamic.
Shari`ah Law consists of rules and guidelines that are bequeathed to humanity from the Creator and form the governance of humanity at large, between Muslims and other Muslims, Muslims and non-Muslims, homo sapiens and the Divine, the environment, and the world of animals. Shari`ah Law is not meant to be used as a way of control but rather as a progressive and humanitarian force for stability, reform and justice.
“Equal rights before the law do not exist under Islamic law. One citizen, one vote does not exist under Islamic law.” These are misrepresentations of the Qur’an, but it is understandable why the West would perceive Islam as being unjust to women; too often cultural practices that exist in Arab and Muslim societies may not necessarily reflect the teachings of the Qur’an and often are in stark contradiction to Shari`ah Law. The Qur’an states first and foremost what means:
*{The submitting men, the submitting women, the believing men, the believing women, the obedient men, the obedient women, the truthful men, the truthful women, the steadfast men, the steadfast women, the reverent men, the reverent women, the charitable men, the charitable women, the fasting men, the fasting women, the chaste men, the chaste women, and the men who commemorate God frequently, and the commemorating women; God has prepared for them forgiveness and a great recompense.}* (Al-Ahzab 33:35)
The Qur’an also says what means:
*{Never will I suffer to be lost the work of any of you, be he male or female: Ye are members, one of another: Those who have left their homes, or been driven out therefrom, or suffered harm in My cause, or fought or been slain,- verily, I will blot out from them their iniquities, and admit them into Gardens with rivers flowing beneath; - A reward from the presence of God, and from His presence is the best of rewards.}* (Aal-`Imran 3:195)
While the Qur’an is replete with God’s commandments that man and woman are equal in His eyes, it is prudent to reflect on the following verse, which says what means:
*{O people, We created you from the same male and female, and rendered you distinct peoples and tribes, that you may recognize one another. The best among you in the sight of God is the most righteous. God is Omniscient, Cognizant.}* (Al-Hujurat 49:13)
Perhaps the most telling sign of Islamic equitability in the eyes of God is the Islamic version of Genesis in Surat Al-A`raf, when it says what means:
*{The devil whispered to them, in order to reveal their bodies, which were invisible to them. He said, “Your Lord did not forbid you from this tree, except to prevent you from becoming angels, and from attaining eternal existence.” He swore to them, “I am giving you good advice.” He thus duped them with lies. As soon as they tasted the tree, their bodies became visible to them, and they tried to cover themselves with the leaves of Paradise. Their Lord called upon them: “Did I not enjoin you from that tree, and warn you that the devil is your most ardent enemy?”}* (Al-A`raf 7:20-22)
Then the Surah goes on saying what means:
*{Get ye down. With enmity between yourselves. On earth will be your dwelling-place and your means of livelihood - for a time.” He said: “Therein shall ye live, and therein shall ye die; but from it shall ye be taken out [at last].}* (Al-A`raf 24-25)
In the above verses there is consistent reference to “them” - indicating a pairing, not a division. Nowhere does God in the Qur’an pinpoint blame on either Eve or Adam, but on them together. They sinned together. They were punished together. This indicates a Divine understanding of equality. Islam does not acknowledge the false idea of Eve’s sin, as if she has sinned alone.
Compare this with the Biblical Genesis:
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die’.” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate.”
“To the woman He [God] said, “I will greatly increase your pangs in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”
As any student of medieval history knows, Biblical references to the status of woman were an oft used excuse for the witch hunts of Europe and indeed an inspiration for the anti-feminist ranting found in Malleus Maleficarum - a guidebook on the culpability of women in witchcraft written by two monks in 1486.
Many critics of Shari`ah Law point to the discrepancy in inheritance - sons receive twice as much as the daughters. However, there are social reasons for this. The son is expected to take care of the fatherless family, appropriating funds to care for his sibling(s). This financial, social, and moral duty becomes incumbent upon the son. It is common for a son who has just buried the father to hear: “You are the man of the house now, you are responsible now.”
The financial responsibilities of the father fall on the son. Furthermore, a son is expected to start a family and spend on his dependents. The husband becomes financially responsible for his wife, although she maintains financial independence; she, moreover, retains her inheritance as her own, and she is not obliged to share it with her husband. She does not carry the financial burdens appointed to her brother.
Shari`ah Law does forbid a husband from claiming control of his wife’s earnings, capital, and holdings. She keeps it all. Compare that with the fact that in most Western nations, women could not own property at all until the late 19th/early 20th centuries.
According to Shari`ah Law, the wife is given a pre-determined financial sum at the time of the marriage (mahr), which is written down as a term of the “nikah” or marriage contract. The mahr is to ensure that the wife has enough finances in case of widowhood or sudden divorce.
Furthermore, Shari`ah Law unambiguously forbids the forcing or coercing of women into a marriage they do not want. Too often in the Arab world, girls are forced to marry whom their parents —usually the father— deem appropriate. This is contrary to Shari`ah Law, when Islam swept through the Arabian Peninsula, it liberated women by declaring that a woman’s consent has to be obtained for marriage, something unprecedented in the world of the 6th and 7th centuries.
Let’s move on.
“Minorities - that is, non-Muslims - enjoy rights and protections at the pleasure of the Muslim community that are ever-subject to the capriciousness of a rights-canceling fatwa.”
That is a gross factual error. Rights accorded to non-Muslims are not devised by a clerical council, or an imam. They are deeply-enshrined in the Qur’an. Since the Qur’an is the principle source of Shari`ah Law, no human mandate can alter, manipulate, or reinterpret what it states. No fatwa can cancel any God-given rights.
As for non-Muslims, the Qur’an clearly states what means:
*{Those who believe [in the Qur’an], and those who follow the Jewish [scriptures], and the Christians and the Sabians,- any who believe in God and the Last Day, and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.}* (Al-Baqarah 2: 62)
Also we need to notice that Prophet Moses is mentioned more than any other prophet in the Qur’an, even more so than Prophet Muhammad. The Qur’an also says what means:
*{And there are, certainly, among the People of the Book [Jews and Christians], those who believe in God, and that which has been revealed to you and in that which has been revealed to them, humbling themselves before God: They will not sell the Revelations of God for a miserable gain! For them is a reward with their Lord, and God is swift in account.}* (Aal-`Imran 3:`199)
Non-Muslims are called dhimmis and were required to pay a levy or jizya. The jizya was not paid as a bribe for practicing their faith, but rather as compensation for not serving in the army, protection for Crusading armies and tribal warfare. While most so-called journalists scream that the jizya is a tool of inequality, they fail to see that there is a tax levied on Muslims as well, the zakat, which non-Muslims are not required to pay.
Critics of Shari`ah Law and basing codes of law on Islamic principles need look no further than Egypt for the perfect example of how some aspects of Shari`ah Law are applied in modern times. In Egypt, matters of women’s rights, inheritance, marriage and divorce are all relegated through the thousand-year-old Al-Azhar University. A few years ago, Egypt passed the Personal Status Law, which gave women the right to divorce men - under certain conditions - and fell well within the jurisdiction of Shari`ah Law.
Thank you again for your question and please keep in touch.
Salam.
Useful Links:
The Importance of Shari`ah
Wisdom of Shari`ah
Salam alaikum.