Women and Islam

I. Introduction
The ‘biological differences’ created by God for men and women should not be interpreted necessarily superiority and inferiority. Physical inconveniences through which women go through such as menstruation, pregnancy and childbirth, may not be considered always as crippling obstacles for their positive role in the society.
Among 114 chapters (surah) of the Qur’an, there is one chapter dedicated specially for women in which the rights of women and related to their issues are presented, i.e their roles in marriage, family and in other aspects of life. This chapter named al-Nisa.’ Whereas no single surah directed to men in particular.
Furthermore, Islam has some revolutionaries in terms of women issues that eliminate the discrimination against women performed by pre Islamic tradition for example the rights of inheritance, equal status of men and women, the forbidding marriage without law guarantee for women, and regulation for women that elevate the degree of women by that time and a humanity divorce (perceraian yang manusiawi).
Therefore, the era of repressive in the pre Islamic tradition has passed by the arrival of the religion presented by the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) that restored women as full human beings after having neither rights nor credible, nor value in the time of ignorance (jahiliyyah). Islam respects the existence of women and this is shown in the family life of Muhammad: his attitude towards his wives, his daughters, and other women in his society. The dynamic situation during Islamic discourse by him including the involvement of both sexes in one meeting. Women may seek knowledge, criticize, and say their opinions openly.
In fact in certain cases they requested to have their own meetings in order to have more dialogues and discussed problems with him. The activities of female colleagues of the prophet are ranging from business, politics, education, social and religious, as well as their involvement in the battle fields.
The history during his lifetime indicated that among his wives, for example Khadijah for example appeared to be a successful business woman. Aisyah had involved in the narration of prophetic traditions, and Ummu Salamah had shown her criticism in the discussions on women related issues.
However, the situation then changed when people not to follow him anymore. A positive change based on the changing need of society is normal, but many times it does not help to understand women isuues accurately. A fine distinction is thus drawn between the Qur’an and the concepts of Sunnah and Shari’a which is considered by Muslims to be divinely inspired and suitable for all times, cultures and contexts, and the human fallible interpretation of these sources which can be revisited and revised as society needs. In the words of one writer, the morality of the Qur’an always supercedes the morality of its interpreters.
This paper tries to observe some of women issues in Islamic discourse and how Muslim community understand them and will also to find alternate solution to have a better understanding on women issues related to worldwide community in general, and to Indonesian community in particular.

II. Discussion
To assess more objectively the teachings of Islam and the real situation of Muslim women, may be we should consider the importance of cross-cultural studies on women. It is necessary to compare historical facts cross-culturally, during the 6th and 7th centuries, during pre-modern era, or even before the Middle age to find out which cultural areas respected women more. Through this study we may find out whether Islam, compared to other cultural areas at a given time, was more appreciative to women issues. However, in this modern era there seems to have been a big leap so that Islam, in certain cases, has been left behind by the western. It is not only the interpretation of Islamic teachings so patriarchal, but teachings of other religious too, and even the political world is also patriarchal, but now it has melted gradually just recently, as an expression of modernity.
The issue of polygamy for example, it may be should be seen from its progress. In the pre-Islamic period, chief of the tribes had unlimited number of wives. There was even no guarantee that the women would legally be married. Meanwhile, Islam limits only to four, and it is also with a requirement that the man be just. And when the attitude of justice is threatened, then monogamy should be the alternate. So Islam is relatively progressive on this. Justice is a concept which cannot be interpreted one-sidedly, because it is always relational and has to be in the context of an interaction. Therefore, justice cannot be viewed from the husband’s perspective only. Justice in the family should be viewed from both husband and wife. If this requirement is carefully observed, there might be no man who can have polygamy, because justice in the context of family harmony should consider the wife’s opinion.
The issue of husband’s permission should firstly be perceived as a socio-cultural need only. This does not reduce the meaning of women’s independence. It is very natural if people in a family know where each of the members is going. Before leaving the house the house it is normal that the husband let the wife and even the children know where he is going. If the husband’s permission is viewed as a legal and formal provision, then it is at the technical and operational level.
Education as a basis for human resources development to create people who are aware of social problems, women should have the opportunity. Although men and women have the same rights for education, their development after marriage tends to be different. It seems that domestic responsibilities are still fully born by women, this is the stereotype which prevails so far, which is not her task according to Fiqh.
The husband position as head of the family is actually for the sake of administrative formality only, because the foundation of family relation is love. This dimension of love colors the family greatly. Not to be trapped in a theoretical, rational and formal thinking in perceiving a family, it is not like an office; the husband being the director and the wife being the secretary.
Al-Qur’an offers woman to get her rights half of inheritance received by her brother. In today’s perspective people tend to say, it is not rational, but in the perspective of that time, it was very rational, because in the pre-Islamic period women were only part of the inheritance. Islam uplifted women as a subject, although not yet in the full capacity. In fact this is actually the first step, if possible in certain cases women can get the same.
Another theological concept causing a negative image on women is that Eve (Hawwa) was assumed to be the direct cause of Adam’s expulsion from Heaven. Because of her seduction, Adam became negligent and ate the forbidden fruit, which made him thrown to the earth. The ‘innate sin’ was blamed on Eve. This perception has been deep-rooted in women’s sub consciousness, making them willing to always be under men’s authority and domination. In Islam, Adam’s case is not blamed entirely on Eve, they both are responsible. This can be inferred from Qur’an which always uses pronoun huma (both) in describing Adam’s case. (al-Baqarah (2: 36), al-A’raf (7: 20, 24). They repented to God together and God forgave both of them (Ali ‘Imran (3: 195).
All verses regarding laws were revealed in Madinah, they are related to practical, operational, and technical things; the verses were revealed in the context of the Prophet Muhammad’s needs in forming the communities surrounded by the local condition at that time. Whereas the universal verses of the Qur’an were revealed in Mecca. In the Qur’an we neither find the term qath’i (fixed, standard) nor dzanni (relative) but we find the term muhkamat (clear) and mutasyabihat (resemble). Muhkamat verses are qath’i and basic, fundamental principles of religious teachings i.e. basic principles on egalitarian, justice and equality, it is unnegotiable, and the ijtihad is not necessary for muhkamat. Meanwhile, mutasyabihat verses are technical, operational and instrumental, therefore they are dzanni although in terms of their nash, they are explicit. Therefore, the condition of being qath’i or dzanni is not measurable from the formal linguistic, but from the contents of strata of the meaning.
The distressing picture of men-women relations in contemporary Muslim societies, which contradicts the teachings of Islam, is a concrete fact that cannot be denied. However, another positive fact that exists side by side, is that an awareness of the essential and constructive role of women in the society to fulfill their Islamic responsibilities, is increasingly appreciated among Muslims men and women.
Day after day, Muslims are becoming more and more aware of the due distinction between the permanent teachings of the divine sources of Islam and the accumulated human ideas and practices that were influenced by the cultural and social circumstances in the Muslim societies, in the past and the present. Conceptual and behavioral progress is apparent now in Muslim societies, which seems more keen to observe the divine teachings and abandon the human deviated customs in man-woman relations in the family and society.
Women’s education and work in different fields have developed their personality, self-confidence and initiatives. An awareness of their Islamic rights and responsibilities has inspired many of them to be committed to the Islamic message of justice, peace, and prosperity. These concrete developments have provided a support for the Muslim woman, stronger than any philosophical or legal argument. Muslim cannot reactivate their societies, secure a positive role in the contemporary world and get their message heard by all peoples, while a half of their population is suppressed or neglected. How can Muslims call universally for a divine justice, while they are missing or ignoring it among themselves, their homes, and their communities. The situation then changed in the treatment of the women from time to time in the Muslim communities.
Meanwhile, the basic principle determines equally between men and women in the sight of God and in social life. Similarly, in a discussion on human rights, all countries can ratify the basic rights, but when it comes to the application, each country demands that it interprets it according to its maturity level, the political, social, economic conditions etc. one accuses that the other is inhuman and does not respect human rights, in fact the area of conflict is not about the basic values, but rather about the instrumental, applied and contextual values, therefore in terms of women religious rights, we need more women interpreters to avoid male bias interpretation.
Qur’an and the prophetic tradition praise men and women who show good achievements in knowledge. It has been mentioned earlier that a group of women came to the Prophet and asked him to set some of his time to teach them. In classical history of Islam, several women were known to be the masters of important knowledge Among them were ‘Aisyah (the Prophet’s wife), Sayyidah Sakinah (Husein ibn Abi Thalib’s daughter), al-Shaykhah Shuhrah who was called ‘Fakhr al-Nisa’ (women’s pride), one of Imam Syafi’i’s teachers, Mu’nisat al-Ayyubi (Salahuddin al-Ayyubi’s sister), Shamiyat al-Taymiyyah, Zainab, the daughter of the historian al-Baghdady, Rabi’ah al-Adawiyah etc.
Women’s social roles in the perspective of Islamic history had regressed after the second century of Hijrah, especially after the compilation of hadith and fiqh into books. Whether or not there was a relation between the compilation, the standardization of fiqh books and women’s regressive role needs further studies.
In Indonesian case, even in a very traditional society like Pesantren in West Java for example, women received appreciation for their achievements. In East Java also some of kiyais have established pesantren putri, to give them more opportunities to pursue Islamic studies.
Muslim women in various national settings contribute to familiarize women related issues to their societies such as the intellectual and spiritual leadership of women, polygamy, abortion, divorce, domestic violence, family planning, and sexual rights.
Muslim activists realize that various laws, including family law, religious practices including intellectual and political leadership of women are decided based on patriarchal assumption. Even this system alienates women in their own houses, it makes them very much independent psychologically and economically. In many cases they permit women to be active in public sphere while saying “but do not forget your domestic role to take good care of the family.” In addition to the double burden of women, the actual problems are there too i.e. violence against women, sexual harassment, wage discrimination, and their reproductive health. This is already making women subordinated in their domestic world. In this context the discourse of Islamic feminism has a very significant point. Even according to Budhy Munawar Rachman, feminism could be a study agenda on a form of a new equality that represents the discourse on justice and egalitarianism. The study of feminism could construct an alternative paradigm in the middle of the strong wave of conservatism which is willing to bring women to domestic field using pragmatic legitimacy, religiosity, knowledge and ideology.”
Pusat Studi Wanita of UIN Jakarta has realized that the dissemination of gender awareness / perspective is needed to all students. In addition to run gender mainstreaming in campus, not only the lecturers have to be trained but also the students. Then the steps were planned to prepare an alteration approach by using feminist approach to the study of Islam (an academic perspective). Certainly this alternative made available to Muslim women scholars at UIN Jakarta within the limits of their respective national and institutional frameworks. The case study describes very short here just to show how female scholars struggle to integrate gender perspective in the curriculum of Islamic Studies for first semester students of various departments.
In addition, the Faculty of Theology and Philosophy of UIN Jakarta has set up a curricula for the department of comparative study of religion, entitled Relasi Gender dalam Agama-Agama, in which the eighth semester students of this department should take the course as a credit.
In the Post Graduate Studies, in addition to various methodologies in the study of Islam introduced there, feminist approach is one of them that becomes more familiar to graduate students.

III. Concluding remarks
To discuss women and Islam we cannot avoid explaining the latter’s communities and their understandings whether it is gender biased or not. Some of the issues concerning women belong to universal ideas and explained in muhkamat verses therefore, one should takes it for granted, Whereas some other issues which are dzanni, the ijtihad should be performed by scholars who study them comprehensively to avoid male biased interests and to take into account sociologically, politically and surrounding environments of the cases.
It is also possible to use feminist approach in the study of Islam, for this can play an important role in promoting gender awareness to Muslim society in general and academic community in particular, however we should not give up in theoretical framework and the existence of awareness only without the proof implemented by those who are presently in the key position of University or other institutions to perform such perspective into practice, i.e giving more opportunities to women in decision making process position in order to have a healthy competitive environment in the work place, in particular and in society in general.

*Paper presented at International Seminar on “Challenging Stereotypes in Europe and the Islamic Worlds: Working Together for Constructive Policies and Partnership.” Organized by International Center for Islam and Pluralism in Cooperation with the Finnish Embassy, Jakarta, November 22, 2006.