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■Why is it that Islam
does not task woman with the same duties of man as it is in the West?
●When a woman take on the same responsibility
of a man; she will definitely be obliged to drift away from their
motherhood because she would, then, be expected to work extremely hard
in order to allow this responsibility to flourish, to be worthwhile
and to give it the chance for expansion. All of that hard work would
be simultaneously accompanied by the heavy burdens of motherhood; and
that will have a great effect on her role as a mother, on the family
and on the society as well. Since the fatherhood of the male does not
lie in his physical structure as a man unlike the woman whose
motherhood is based on her body as a female; this simple fact makes it
a lot easier for a man to be a father than a woman to be a mother. And
it is natural that motherhood, although it does not cancel all the
abilities of a woman, burdens the mother heavily both physically and
emotionally even in the early stages of pregnancy; and it is also
natural that it will exhaust her at least in ways that won’t ever
exist outside the framework of motherhood.
Accordingly, when there is a newborn and the mother
does not want to fulfill the requirements of the household, she must
then rely on the aid of a babysitter or a maid who is hired to perform
the job instead of her. However, this would be an unjustified twisting
and distortion of woman’s role as a mother, not to mention that it
will harm the woman when it deprives her of the maternity
characteristics that represent a significant part of her personality,
as it will equally damage the child by depriving him of the
affectionate fostering that he needs.
As a matter
of fact, when the woman assumes the responsibilities of man; she would
then be considered as behaving mannishly something that takes her
femininity away. And once she does so, she doesn’t become a man nor
does she return to her status as a woman. The opposite too is exactly
the same, when the man behaves femininely, he will never return to be
a man nor will he become a woman. Life works on preserving things in
their intrinsic natural qualities and manners, so that they would be a
fruitful yield to life in thoughts, efforts, projects, humans, or
whatever.
When we examine women’s
actual state of being in the western society that oriental
people aspire to, we find that the psychological crisis, the marriage
problems, and the complicated emotional situations had succeeded in
wasting a considerable part of woman’s humanity in exchange for the
financial or social gains she had acquired which, in fact, will never
be able to compensate her for what she had missed.
We don’t actually want to divest woman of work, and
of social and cultural activities; however, we want to say that we
should strike a balance between these sought gains and preserving the
personality of the woman as a female, as a wife and as a mother. What
is more, when we talk about the man and his function in life; well,
that is not to cancel his responsibility as a father, as a husband and
all what accompanies these commitments.
Women
and the right to education
■some people believe that
the important role of a woman as a mother calls for a main
concentration on imparting to her the education that serves
exclusively this role; so, does Islam have the same standpoint
regarding this issue?
●Islam
regards knowledge as a general human value and a scale of preference
between people. This is how the Qur’an as well presents knowledge in
its saying: {Are those who know and those who
do not know equal?}(The
Troops, Throngs; 39:9). {It is
those who are endued with understanding that receive admonition}(The
Thunder 13:19).
Knowledge is a merit for man and woman
equally, and the importance of acquiring it is identical to both of
them. Imam Ali (a.s) says: “The value of a person lies in what he
masters” and that indicates the knowledge and experience he
possesses. Therefore, when God (s.w.t) motivates man to seek out more
knowledge :{
but say, "O my Lord! Advance me in
knowledge."}(Ta-ha;
20:114) and to contemplate: {and
contemplate the (wonders of) creation in the heavens and the earth.}(The
Family of 'Imran: 191),
He is not actually addressing men only
even though the Qur’anic words are in the masculine gender. More
correctly, He means both men and women because, first of all, Islam
considers that each human being, man or woman, is responsible of
reaching his own belief in God and the last day independently from
others, given that belief is beyond the question of traditions. And
since acquiring belief requires thinking and seeking knowledge in
order to expand the horizons of reason and awareness, a woman has the
same needs as a man to develop her mental abilities through education.
Secondly, because Islam considers that the man and the woman have the
same human role in life - as we have mentioned earlier - and that they
are equally responsible in life and of life; there is no justification
then to give priority to one over the other in the level of education
they can reach or even in the nature of knowledge they are receiving.
In
fact, the saying that a woman is as responsible as a man before God,
the most exalted, constitutes an actual admission of her independence
as a person; of her freedom of thought as well as her freedom of will.
Moreover, it is an admission that she needs to develop the power
points of her personality, to vanquish her weaknesses, to protect
herself against deviation and against the threats of the outside
world. And knowledge can play a great part helping the human being,
man or woman, to accomplish these aims.
The
emphasis on the role of a woman as a mother does not mean to tie down
her life and her education to this role and to deprive her of learning
anything that goes beyond its limits as some people may say. As a
matter of fact, the woman, as a human being, needs all the offerings
of knowledge and not only some selected things of it. Hence, the claim
that the physical and the mental abilities of a woman are limited is
an unfair and an inhuman statement.
God, The most exalted, created the man and the woman to
complete one another in life with the distinguishing characteristics
each one possesses. But at the same time, He made them both
responsible before Him independently from each other. And this
responsibility necessitates that both of them would make sure to have
the possession of the strength and the freedom of will, thought, and
comportment as we have pointed out previously. And if the motherhood
of a woman requires maturing some of her personal capabilities in this
respect, the fatherhood of the man needs developing some of his own
too. However, those two particularities do not preclude from making
the two of them ready for sharing their roles mutually in the future
on this level. Consequently, there is no justification for any
discrimination between men and women regarding education, neither in
the material of knowledge they are receiving nor in the level they are
allowed to reach.
■Outside
the framework of the Islamic viewpoint towards women’s education,
there are, actually, some objective hindering blocks that stand
in women’s way of moving further in their education. These obstacles
lie in the unacceptable fact that they would be mixing with men for
one thing, and the unacceptable fact that they may travel abroad alone
for another; and sometimes, proceeding in education may depend upon
such matters. So, what is the standpoint of Islam towards this issue?
●On the whole, socializing with men is not forbidden
unless it leads to deviation. Accordingly, it does not make a
hindrance that obstructs women’s educational progress. Nonetheless,
there must be some regulations that will act as a protector for both
men and women in case such a thing happened.
As for traveling abroad
heading for studying and specializing,
there is nothing that can legally forbid it, exactly like nothing
prevents man from traveling abroad pursuing education. Furthermore,
the woman and the man are allowed to travel under one and the same
ground rule which is that each one of them would achieve in his
educational, political or social expatriation the capacity of
preserving his/her religious and ethical commitment so that he/she
would assure himself/herself the protection against any religious and
ethical deviation… Subsequently, nothing can practically hinder the
woman from seeking to advance her education if she wanted to….
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