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Islamic Philosophers

On Women

AmirAli Maleki considers how Islamic thought changed.

The place of women in Islam has always been controversial, especially as Islamic thinkers were always trying to describe the role of women using religious teachings.

Al-Farabi (c.870-951 CE) emphasized the equal status of men and women in an ideal world, but he also considered differences between the two sexes. For example, a man has superiority in the feeling of ‘anger’, whereas woman score more highly in ‘affection’. However, the essence of man and woman is the same, and both of them are equal in the basic attributes of ‘sense and imagination’ and ‘wisdom’. This latter idea is rooted in the Quran. In verse 189 of the chapter Al-A’raf, it is stated that God “is the One who created you from a single breath.” Al-Farabi argues that each and every section of the community from the smallest parts, which are families, to the largest, has a key role to play in the perfection of the community as a whole. If each part does its duty correctly the whole of society will move towards prosperity. Therefore he assigns a crucial social role to both men and women.

Avicenna (c.980-1037 CE) follows his teacher to some extent. In his book Politics (Al-Siasate), he considers marriage as one of the principles for the formation of a utopia. According to Avicenna just like al-Farabi, the family is an important pillar of society, whose health creates peace and tranquility in all dimensions. In his book On Healing, he encourages people to have children, because is the first step to having a good society is its ongoing survival. To Avicenna, the family has three main functions: economic, security, and educational-social. In this regard, a woman, as one of the leaders of the family, and the guardian of these three principles, should expect a respect and love from her husband, because that raising children, managing the house, and supporting the man to achieve good morality, is not possible for her.

Al-Ghazali (1058-1111 CE) focused on the position of women more than many others. From his point of view, women have an important role in a spiritual sense, especially as a mother. In The Revival of the Religious Sciences, he says that the character of the mother creates the character of the child. If a mother is honorable, her child will also have honor; or if the mother has bad qualities, her child will too. He thought that a mother’s mood is transmitted to her child through her milk – so for Al-Ghazali a mother’s healthy body and mind is very important in raising her children. Moreover, in his book The Alchemy of Happiness, respecting the mother is one of the most obligatory duties of a child, equal to the greatest acts of worship. This is also emphasized in the Quran. In verse 23 of Al-Isra’, it is stated that: “Respect for parents is obligatory on the child, and it is God’s will that the child do good to his parents.” Also, the Prophet of Islam believes, “Goodness to the mother should be twice as good as the father.” Exactly for this reason, for Al-Ghazali a mother is a valuable crown on the heads of her children.

Ibn Arabi (1165-1240 CE) paid more attention to the position of women beyond their role in the home and family. From the point of view of this sage, women and men are equal in terms of humanity, and can grow to a state equal to each other in terms of spirituality: in his book Al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya (The Meccan Revelations), he says women have the ability to reach the highest levels of religion. For this reason, loving women is a way of worshipping God – because their souls are of a very high rank. More, from his point of view, the soul of a woman is in the closest state to God’s soul, and in women the sign of God’s majesty can be seen correctly. He explains that at the beginning of his conversion to mysticism he avoided women; but later, as years passed, he realized that God commanded the Prophet of Islam to value women, and so he paid more attention to the position of women and respected their rights.

Contemporary Islamic thinkers discuss the more complex role of women in society these days. In his book The Heart of Islam (2004), Seyyed Hossein Nasr discusses one of the most controversial modern issues in Islamic jurisprudence and philosophy, the hijab. Nasr states that according to the teachings of Islam, Muslim women, and no-one else, should define the concept of hijab – which may not necessarily mean wearing a scarf and veil. This shows that in contemporary Islamic philosophy, women’s social and political power are being taken into consideration.

In the same direction, Ruhollah Khomeini, better known as Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of the Islamic Revolution of Iran, said in his work Sahifah that the role of women in the 1979 revolution was more than that of men, because in his view the sign of a successful society is the presence of knowledgeable women. His reason is clear: most of the women who accompanied him in the revolution had achieved the high literacy that resulted from the industrialization of Iranian society.

In my opinion, by implementing his intellectual-political system, Khomeini played a prominent role in secularizing Iranian society and making women aware – by the power of irony, as it were. In the end, as Forough Farrokhzad, a prominent Iranian poet, says, “I don’t regret being a woman.” So in this new era, Muslim women fight for more rights day by day.

It is absolutely true that the above views were each a product of the thought of their time; but they can still be a good guide for us today. As the philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer writes, language and thinking are never complete, but constantly strive to be perfected, and this search for ‘getting better’ depends on reading the past, learning from it, and using it appropriately.

AmirAli Maleki is a philosophy researcher and the Editor of PraxisPublication.com. He works in the fields of political philosophy, Islamic philosophy, and hermeneutics.