It is not a nice way to begin a book review by saying that the book contains mistakes — more mistakes than I have ever seen in a single book in more than two decades of writing book reviews.
That, in a way, also points to the many mistaken views people, from Australia to America, have about the topic of the rights of women in Islam.
Chaturvedi, who holds a Ph.D. from Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, has done extensive research on human rights, international affairs, and political and historical themes. Her erudition shows the in-depth with which she has tried tackling the subject.
Though the mistakes within the book will not corrupt the language used, it must be said that to the credit of Chaturvedi, the book will make readers sit up and think, and clear up many cobwebs, for which, more than others, Muslims themselves are responsible for gathering because of their inaction, indifference and negligence of the issue.
Pakistani poet Kishwar Naheed said it well, “I have a crown on my head but my feet are chained.” In that the Creator has put a crown on women’s heads, but men have placed their female counterparts in chains.
As Chaturvedi says: “The law of creation created man and woman in need of each other with a view to fitting man and woman more firmly together, and making the home, which is the basis of the real happiness of man, stronger and more secure. If, in monetary matters, it has made man the source of dependence of woman, in spiritual tranquillity, it has made woman the source of dependence for man. These two different requirements make them, more close and united to each other.”
She poses a very pertinent question that many Muslims ask if they could forego observing the fasts during Ramadan because of their health, but no one has ever asked if they could not marry another wife because they are afraid they might not be able to do justice to all the wives.
So the fault, as Shakespeare would say, “Dear Muslims lies with us.”
“Islam treats women with respect and honor. Unfortunately, in actual practice, the tendency seems to be to overlook or misinterpret the principle and orders of the Qur’an and consequently to accord to her an inferior status,” writes Chaturvedi.
She goes on to elaborate that women in pre-Islamic society were given an inferior position and treated as mere property. Islam improved the status of women by restricting polygamy to four wives, with certain conditions that make it clear that a Muslim is not obligated to marry more than one wife; prohibiting female infanticide; assigning a share of inheritance to women; declaring mehr (dower) as a gift to the bride, which should not be an ostentatious show of wealth; reorienting the law of marriage and divorce in favor of women; giving her freedom to remarry after divorce or death of husband; and encouraging her to study and acquire knowledge.
Chaturvedi writes that half a century ago, the Western woman was “the most unfortunate woman in the world”. Even in the matter of her own property, she required the guardianship of her husband.
Gustav Le Bon wrote: “In the days of the Islamic civilization, women were given exactly the same position and status, which European women held a long time after.”
The Qur’an gave financial independence to women centuries before European women achieved it. Notes Chaturvedi: “… the motive of Islam in giving financial independence to women was nothing but Islam’s humanitarian aspect and its sense of divine and communal justice … there were no such initiatives as the avarice of the factory-owners of England, who, in a desire to get more and more profits, got this law passed, and trumpeted throughout the world that they had given official recognition to female rights and had acknowledged the equality of the rights of men and women.”
As Will Durant observed, Islam gave financial independence to women, but did not destroy family ties, and did not ruin the basis of the family.
According to Durant, all that the Western world did was that it relieved woman of the drudgery of her housework and imprisoned her in stores and factories for hard work and toil. In other words, Europe took one set of collars and chains off the body of women, and stuck on another set, no less heavy than the former ones.
All this is not to say that Muslim women from Algeria to Zambia do not face problems. These are of the Muslim men’s making. As Bernard Shaw said: “In my opinion, Islam is the only religion, which has the stability to harmonize and exert its control over differing circumstances and changing ways of life, and to confront the diversities of the centuries.”
The disabilities of Muslim women have been created by societies. It is for the Muslims to overcome regression and continue progress that they have missed.
For those interested, the book is available at the Indian Consulate General library, which of late has acquired numerous latest and wide-ranging titles.