Sexual Ethics in Islam (34 page)
Read Sexual Ethics in Islam Online
Authors: Kecia Ali
Tags: #Religion & Spirituality, #Islam, #Religious Studies, #Gender & Sexuality, #Women in Islam, #Other Religions; Practices & Sacred Texts
17. Q. 49:13.
E.g., Q. 16:71, 75. See Barlas,
“Believing Women” in Islam
, p. 5.Stowasser, “Women and Citizenship in the Qur’an,” p. 33.
Stowasser, “Women’s Issues in Modern Islamic Thought,” pp. 15–16, discusses this shift, which she sets in the middle of the twentieth century. Abugideiri, “On Gender and the Family,” p. 242 demonstrates that “the notion of marital complementarity, as conceptualized by twentieth- century Muslim thinkers has, ironically, reified the notion of hierarchi- cal gender difference, and thus gender inequity. Complementarity, as interpreted by this discourse, provides the Islamic pretext to duly restrict female legal rights within the family and expect the wife-mother to sacrifice those rights in the name of family cohesion.”
Barlas,
“Believing Women” in Islam
, p. 199.For an entirely different approach, focused on
taqwa
, autonomy, and pedagogy, see Barazangi,
Women’s Identity and the Qur’an
.
23. E.g., Q. 33:73.
These are the translations of, respectively, Ahmed Ali, Shakir, ‘Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Arberry, Pickthall, Dawud, and Asad.
Men’s duties were also emphasized by jurists, who focused on the prag- matic, enforceable components of interpersonal relationships.
Q. 4:34,
Al-rijal qawwamun ‘ala al-nisa’ bi ma faddala Allahu ba‘duhum ‘ala ba‘din wa bi ma anfaqu min amwalihim. Fa’l-salihat qanitat, hafizat li’l-ghayb bi ma hafiza Allaha. Wa allati tukhafuna nushuzahunna, fa ‘izuhunna wa’hjuruhunna fi’l-madaji‘ wa’dribuhunna, fa in ata‘nakum, fa la tabghu ‘alayhinna sabilan. Inna Allah kana ‘Aliyyan, Kabir
.Barlas,
“Believing Women” in Islam
, pp. 185–6.For discussion of the range of meanings of “bi ma,” see al-Faruqi, “Women’s Self-Identity in the Qur’an and Islamic Law,” pp. 82–7; al-Hibri, “Islam, Law and Custom,” pp. 28–33; and Wadud,
Qur’an and Woman
, p. 70.notes 185
For the reference to Mary, see Q. 66:12; for Abraham, see Q. 16:120. For further uses of these terms, see Q. 2:116, 238; 3:17, 43; 30:26; 33:31; 39:9; and 66:5.
Ali, “Women, Gender,
Ta‘a
(Obedience) and
Nushuz
(Disobedience).”The identification of “clear lewdness” with
nushuz
is supported by some versions of the Prophet’s “Farewell Sermon” in which he outlined the measures mentioned in 4:34 as consequences for “clear lewdness” by women. His words on that occasion are also the source for the specifica- tion that any striking must be “
ghair mubarrih
,” or “non-violent.”Abugideiri, “On Gender and the Family,” p. 293 refers to Q. 4:34 as “the Qur’anic verse treating spousal lewdness,” implicitly insisting on a par- ticular definition of women’s
nushuz
.Mernissi, “Femininity as Subversion,” p. 109.
Mernissi, “Morocco: The Merchant’s Daughter,” in
Women’s Rebellion
, p. 13.See Rispler-Chaim, “
Nuˇsuz
Between Medieval and Contemporary Islamic Law;” Shaikh, “Exegetical Violence:
Nushuz
in Qur’anic Gender Ideology;” and Ali, “Women, Gender,
Ta‘a
(Obedience), and
Nushuz
(Disobedience).”Thomas Cleary’s translation and a recent Saudi-financed version based on the translation by ‘Abdullah Yusuf Ali.
Ahmed Ali,
Al-Qur’an: A Contemporary Translation
.On Qutb’s approach to
nushuz
, see Wadud,
Qur’an and Woman
, pp. 74–5.Raines and Maguire, eds., Esack, “Islam and Gender Justice: Beyond Sim- plistic Apologia” and Engineer, “Islam, Women, and Gender Justice.”
Engineer, “Islam, Women, and Gender Justice,” p. 111. Ellipsis in ori- ginal. Syed,
The Position of Women in Islam
, p. 56, calls this “complete equality” but clearly states that the “degree” portion of the verse relating to divorce is exempt from this characterization.Lahunna mithl alladhi ‘alayhinna
.Wa li’l-rijal ‘alayhinna daraja
.Engineer, “Islam, Women, and Gender Justice,” p. 111.
Esposito with DeLong-Bas,
Women in Muslim Family Law
, p. 134; see also Niazi,
Modern Challenges
, p. 11.Nasr, “Manhood in the Qur’an and Sunnah.”
Wadud makes this point (
Qur’an and Woman
, p. 68), while situating her discussion of Q. 2:228 within a larger discussion of “degrees” else- where in the Qur’an (ibid., pp. 66–9). See also Barlas,
“Believing Women” in Islam
, pp. 192–7; Syed,
The Position of Women in Islam
,p. 56. Syed does stress “equality” however, which he views as being reinforced by 2:187, the garment verse.
Barlas,
“Believing Women” in Islam
, p. 6.My modification of ‘Abdullah Yusuf Ali’s translation.
My modification of ‘Abdullah Yusuf Ali translation. Note that the “they” is in the masculine/inclusive plural, so it could mean if the husbands want to reconcile, or if
both
the husbands and wives want to reconcile. However, the former interpretation is more likely since the husbands are the ones said to have “more right.”Engineer, “Islam, Women, and Gender Justice,” p. 112.
Engineer, “Islam, Women, and Gender Justice,” p. 112.
186 sexual ethics and islam
Engineer, “Islam, Women, and Gender Justice,” p. 118. He elaborates: “The normative pronouncements of the Qur’an are eternal and while rethinking issues in Islamic Shari’ah, particularly pertaining to women’s rights, the normative pronouncements will have precedence over the contextual. But during the early centuries contextual often had precedence over normative and it was quite ‘normal’ then. And hence these formulations became widely acceptable in that society. These laws were thought to be normative then and hence struck deep roots in soci- ety as well as in the hearts and minds of the people. They came to acquire the status of immutability with the passage of time.”
Engineer, “Islam, Women, and Gender Justice,” p. 121.
Esack “Islam and Gender Justice,” p. 190, quoting Q. 2:228 (mistakenly cited as 2:118): “And women shall have rights similar to the rights against them, according to what is equitable.” He also quotes Q. 9:71: “Believers, men and women, are protectors, one of another: they enjoin what is just and forbid what is evil.”
Esack, “Islam and Gender Justice,” p. 188.
Esack, “Islam and Gender Justice,” p. 195.
Q. 4:34 begins with references to both men and women in the third person (“Men are
qawwamuna ‘ala
women”), but switches to second- person address to men when discussing female
nushuz
.For example, if “they both fear that they will not observe God’s limits.” Q. 2:229
Barlas,
Believing Women in Islam
, p. 198, specifically with regard toQ. 4:34; Wadud,
Qur’an and Woman
, pp. 80–82.My translation, drawing on Cleary.
Aisha Geissinger addresses the issue of how the Qur’an treats gender in this verse and others that discuss fasting in an as-yet unpublished paper, “Gendering the Communal Body: Fasting in the Qur’an and the Hadith.”
One can thus understand Qur’anic injunction to perform ablution “if you have touched women;” see this chapter’s epigraph as well as Q. 5:6. The addressees (“you”) are in the masculine/inclusive plural, but con- sensus holds that ablution is not merited by women touching women, as it would be if the command applied to both men and women. Rather, it is men touching women that generates the obligation of ablution, making men the addressees. There is disagreement as to what type of touching generates the requirement of ablution (whether mere skin contact is meant or specifically sexual touching) as well as whether the same requirements apply to women who touch men. See discussion in Maghen,
Virtues of the Flesh
, pp. 247–50. Maghen (p. 250) quotes Ibn Hazm’s statement in the
Muhalla
that the Qur’anic provision “is bind- ing for men if they touch women and for women if they touch men.” (My translation, from the Arabic text presented by Maghen.)My translation, drawing on Cleary and ‘Abdullah Yusuf Ali.
The importance of this metaphor appears in a hadith where, with regard to the permissibility of performing coitus interruptus, someone says: “She is your field, if you wish, water it; if you wish, leave it thirsty.”
Barlas,
“Believing Women” in Islam
, pp. 160–64. The summary by Kassis,
A Concordance of the Qur’an
, p. 548, shows a number of instances in which
harth
refers specifically to agricultural use (in addition to thenotes 187
verbal form in Q. 56:63, see 2:71, 205; 3:14; 3:117; 6:136, 138; 21:78;
68:22) and one verse, 42:20, where the term appears three times refer- ring to the
harth
of this world or that of the hereafter.The connotations of fertility also implicit in this reference to a woman as a tilth have also been used to argue that
harth
implies productivity, and so it is vaginal intercourse that is meant, not anal intercourse. See, e.g., Ibn Taymiyya,
Al-Fatawa al-Kubra
, K. al-Nikah, “Fi rajul yankihu zawjatahu fi dubriha,” vol. 2, pp. 74–5.Sachedina, “Islam, Procreation and the Law,” p. 109.
In
Sahih Muslim
, the source of the conflict is reported as a Jewish objec- tion to intercourse from behind. K. al-Nikah, “Permissibility of having sexual intercourse with one’s wife from the front or from behind avoid- ing the anus,” trans. Siddiqi, vol. 1–2, pp. 731–2.For an interesting parallel discussion of sexual positions in rabbinic law, see Boyarin,
Carnal Israel
, pp. 110–11, 116–20.The one relevant verse possibly suggesting that a woman could reject male sexual control is in the command not to force female slaves into prostitution against their wills; see chapter 3.
Barlas,
“Believing Women” in Islam
, p. 5.Barlas,
“Believing Women” in Islam
, p. 205.Halperin,
How To Do the History of Homosexuality
, p. 153.For a useful reflection on related questions, see Plaskow, “The Right Question is Theological.”
Notes to Chapter 8
Sahih Bukhari
, Book of Marriage, “A man marrying off his minor chil- dren,” no. 64 and nearly identical content with a different chain of transmitters under the next item, “The marrying of a daughter by her father to the ruler,” no. 65 (trans. Khan, vol. 7, p. 50). See also “Who consummated a marriage with his wife when she was a girl of nine years,” no. 88 reported on the authority of ‘Urwa by his son Hisham. All three versions mention that “she remained with him for nine years” – that is, until his death.See, for example, Sachs, “Baptist Pastor Attacks Islam;” Cooperman, “Anti-Muslim Remarks Stir Tempest;” and Jones, “Baptist pastor’s words shock Muslim leaders.”
This point is made by Rev. Jerry Falwell in his comment on the matter, “Muhammad, a ‘demon-possessed pedophile’?” The sources cited by Vines can be found in Caner and Caner,
Unveiling Islam
, pp. 41, 56, 59–60, 135, 141, n. 4. The statement provoked additional comment in the Baptist press. Sources are more fully explored in Starnes, “Southern Baptist leaders affirm Vines in the wake of national attacks,” and Wing- field, “What are the facts behind Vines’ words?”Sahih Muslim
, K. al-Nikah, “It is permissible for the father to give the hand of his daughter in marriage even when she is not fully grown up” (trans. Siddiqi, vol. 1–2, pp. 715–16; the translator’s extended apolo- getic in the notes to these hadith is noteworthy on its own). Al-Nasa’i’s
Sunan
includes one cluster of reports positing ages at marriage of six,188 sexual ethics and islam
seven, and nine; each of the three specifies that consummation occurred at age nine. Another adjacent report puts marriage at nine, but does not mention consummation. (K. al-Nikah, “Inkah al-rajul ibnatahu al-saghira,” vol. 6, pp. 82–3.) Two other reports in al-Nasa’i, found in a section entitled “Consummation with a girl of nine,” both provide an age of six at marriage and nine at consummation. (K. al-Nikah, “Al-bina’a bi ibnat tis‘a,” vol. 6, p. 131.) Ibn Hanbal provides a report in which Aishah was six or seven at marriage, nine at consummation, and eighteen at Muhammad’s death. (
Chapters on Marriage and Divorce
,p. 97.) On al-Shafi‘i’s and Ibn Hanbal’s treatment of this marriage, see Ali, “A Beautiful Example,” pp. 280–82. Her age was not the only note- worthy information about Aishah’s marriage; other reports in various hadith texts point out that her marriage and consummation took place during the month of Shawwal, previously considered inauspicious for such events.
First Coast News
, June 13, 2002,
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/ 2002-06-13/islam_vines.asp, last accessed 11/26/04.Cooperman, “Anti-Muslim Remarks Stir Tempest.” This is apparently a possible feature of Arabic. However, it has not been a common interpretation. Furthermore, while the reports in Bukhari’s Book of Marriage include only the additional information that she was with him for nine years (until his death, as all accounts are clear that she was his wife until that time); other accounts, including one in
Sahih Muslim
and one in Al-Nasa’i’s
Sunan
state specifically that she was eighteen when Muhammad died; it is not possible to suggest that this meant twenty- eight. (This point was made eloquently by Christopher Melchert in an email to the Islam section of the American Academy of Religion after this was first drafted.) Notably, a press release from CAIR does not include any specific information about Aishah’s age. See Islam-Infonet, “Baptists Call Prophet Muhammad Demon-Possessed Pedophile.” Other less direct attempts to rebut the claim are quoted by Jones: “Syad Ahsani of Arlington, Southwest regional chairman of the American Muslim Alliance, said Muhammad was betrothed to the child, which was a common practice; however, such marriages weren’t consum- mated until children reached adolescence. [Hodan] Hassan [a spokes- woman for the Washington-based Council for American-Islamic Relations,] said it is not known when Muhammad’s marriage was con- summated.” Jones, “Baptist pastor’s words shock Muslim leaders.” For the Council on American-Islamic Relations, see CAIR, “President Bush asked to repudiate anti-Muslim remarks.”On these accusations, see Reeves,
Muhammad in Europe
, pp. 215–16, 236–40.Malik,
Islam and Modernity
, p. 69.For one example of an anti-Islam site making claims about Aishah’s age at marriage, see Ex-Muslim.com, “Evidence that Aisha was 9 when her marriage to Muhammad was consummated.”
On age of sexual consent, see Archard,
Sexual Consent
, pp. 116–29. Archard’s discussion is helpful in what it says, and illuminating in what it does not. As is to be expected from a work concerned with sexual con- sent in the modern Western world, he does not discuss children and sex in the context of marriage, except to note (p. 117) that in contemporarynotes 189
Europe “all jurisdictions set the age at which persons can marry some years higher” than the age of sexual “majority” – i.e., permissible sexual activity. See pp. 126–8 for a brief discussion of intergenerational sexual activity.
See Stowasser,
Women in the Qur’an, Tradition, and Interpretations
.Aziz, “Age of Aisha (
ra
) at time of marriage,” from the website of Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at Islam Lahore Inc. U.S.A.Submission.org, “Prophet Muhammed’s Marriage to Aisha.” Note that there is no explicit mention of Muhammad’s marriage to Aishah in the Qur’an.
He is identified as its vice-president in various online materials, but its website
(http://www.irfiweb.org/) is not available as of 11.25.05.Shanavas, “Ayesha’s Age: The Myth of a Proverbial Wedding Exposed.” Shanavas frames his comments as an “answer to [his] Christian friend.” He argues that “Based on the evidences presented above, the marriage of fifty-two-year-old Prophet (pbuh) with Ayesha (ra) at nine year of age is only a proverbial myth. On the contrary, Ayesha (ra) was an intellectu- ally and physically mature Bikr (virgin = adult unmarried woman with no sexual experience) when she married Prophet (pbuh).”
On one scholarly attempt to assess this corpus of material, see Schoeler, “Foundations for a New Biography of Muhammad.”
Nadvi,
Women Companions of the Holy Prophet and Their Sacred Lives
, p. 34.Nadvi,
Women Companions of the Holy Prophet and Their Sacred Lives
, p. 35.Spellberg,
Politics, Gender, and the Islamic Past
, p. 31.Thompson,
The Wives of the Prophet Muhammad
, p. 15. Thompson includes parenthetical Arabic honorifics after the mentions of the Prophet and Aishah which are not reproduced here.Syed explicitly declares, without citing any sources, what Thompson only implies: “The Prophet’s (pbuh) own marriage to Ayesha when she was nine years old was performed in Mecca long before the Islamic laws of marriage were revealed at Medina by the Qur’anic verses. However as the consummation of the said marriage of Ayesha and the Prophet (pbuh) was postponed for five years (some say seven years) to allow Ayesha to attain majority, in reality the marriage of Ayesha took place when she was either 14 or 16 years old.”
The Position of Women in Islam
, p. 40.Moin,
Umm al-Mu’minin ‘A’ishah Siddiqah
, pp. 4–5.Moin,
Umm al-Mu’minin ‘A’ishah Siddiqah
, p. 8.Identified in the article as “Dr. Muzammil H. Siddiqi, former President of the Islamic Society of North America and Director of the Islamic Society of Orange County, Garden Grove, California.” He continues: “Her maturity, knowledge, intelligence, and contributions during the life of the Prophet and afterwards all indicate that she was either an exceptional nine-year-old or must have been older than that. Whatever the case may be about her age, one thing is certain: she was a most com- patible spouse of Prophet Muhammad. None of the contemporaries of the Prophet, his friends or foes, are reported to be surprised by this mar- riage or made objections to it.” Siddiqi, “Would a 50-year-old ‘Prophet of God’ Have Sex with a 9-year-old Girl?”
190 sexual ethics and islam
Likewise, in one of three question-and-answer exchanges about Aishah’s age posted at the Jamaat-e-Islami site, the respondent gives, without any textual citation, his own personal opinion that “consum- mation [occurred] at the age of 9 to 11.”
Even a Jamaat-e-Islami response to a question as to whether Aishah was seven at her marriage is answered in the following way: “There are dif- ferent reports and traditions regarding Umm-ul-Mo’mineen Aisha’s age when she was betrothed. What every one agrees to is that while the promise/
nikah
happened in Makkah, she was delivered to the house of the Prophet (s.a.w.) (meaning her ‘
Rukhsati
’) about
four
years later in Medina. Thus even according to the age you have quoted, she was about 11 years old when she entered the Prophet’s
haram
in Madina. Some believe that she was above 13; some others reports say much older (17, 19). The generally quoted age is 9 years.” Haq, “Marriage of Ayesha (RA) with Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.)” In reponse to an earlier query, the same author makes clear that while “Some scholars do insist that she was older ... most agree she was either 6 or 7 when betrothed.” He gives his “personal opinion” that “consummation [took place] at the age of 9 to 11.”Muhaddith.org, “Answers to Attacks Against Islam: Morality of marry- ing Aishah at an early age,” emphasis in original.
See, for example, Osama Abdullah’s “My response to the ‘Child Moles- ter’ lie against our beloved Prophet, Muhammad peace be upon him,” from answering-christianity.com, which contains sections from Talmud and references to biblical prophets. Similar materials are included under the heading “The Bible on marriage of young girls with much older men,” in the Aziz, “Age of Aisha (
ra
) at time of marriage.”For a thorough discussion of the rabbinic issue at stake, see Meacham, “Marriage of Minor Girls in Jewish Law.”
There are references to nine as the age of presumptive majority in some texts such as Ibn Hanbal’s, but I have not come across any explicit refer- ence to Aishah’s menarche as trigger for consummation. Bukhari’s chapter heading prefacing one of his reports on Aishah’s marriage includes a discussion of the
‘idda
(post-marital waiting period) for pre- pubescent girls, which presumes consummation of a marriage before menarche. K. al-Nikah, “A man marrying off his minor children,” trans. Khan, vol. 7, p. 49; possibly also “A woman looking at Ethopians and the like if it does not lead to bad consequences,” trans. Khan, vol. 7, p. 119. In one fifteenth-century Cairo court case, the Prophet’s marriage to Aishah was used as evidence for the permissibility of marrying off minor girls. Petry, “Conjugal Rights versus Class Prerogatives,” p. 233.See, e.g., Tucker,
In the House of the Law
, pp. 155–6; and Motzki, “Child Marriage in Seventeenth-Century Palestine.”See the entry on “Ayesha” in
The American Muslim
, “Answers to Ques- tions Non Muslims Ask,” an alphabetical list from “Abrahamic Faiths” to “Women’s Issues.” Interestingly, the compilers of this list make much the same distinction between articles aimed at dialogue and those aimed at polemic.Islam Online.net, “Addressing Misconceptions about Prophet’s Marriage to ‘Aisha.”
Haq, “Marriage of Ayesha (RA) with Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.).”
notes 191
Shanavas, “Ayesha’s Age: The Myth of a Proverbial Wedding Exposed.”
Haq writes, “So in this marriage with A’isha there was a desire to cement the bonds of friendship with Abu Bakr as well as the desire for propagat- ing the teachings of Islam, particularly delicate matters relating to women folk.” “Marriage of Ayesha (RA) with Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h).” See also Sabeel Ahmed, “Why Did Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) Married [sic] Young Aisha Siddiqa (r.a.)?,” the first of which is “To reinforce the friendly relations already existing with Abu Bakr (his closest companion).” Interestingly, the notion that the marriage was a calculated strategic move is one point raised by polemicists as well; here, though, it has been given a different valuation and serves to deflect accu- sations of lechery.
Ahmed, “Why Did Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) Married [sic] Young Aisha Siddiqa (r.a.)?” The article identifies Ahmed as a student of famous polemicist Ahmed Deedat, and notes – without any apparent sense of irony – that “His main interest is in comparative religion.”
Haq, “Marriage of Ayesha (RA) with Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.).” The passage deserves to be quoted at length: “The issue of child marriage has come via West and is part of a whole ‘package’ that intends to dis- mantle Islam as a social code and state philosophy. Try to look at the components in that whole context. Let me give you a few tips: ‘child marriage’, ‘gender equality’, ‘women empowerment’, ‘sex education’, ‘reproductive control’, ‘contraception’, ‘sustainable growth’, — are among the few terms used in the gender context. Can you please tell me that you know enough about this ‘UN sposored shari’ah’, that is being thrust as alternative to the Shari’ah of Islam? If you are not well aware, then kindly be careful about pushing too hard even some seemingly ‘reasonable’ issues like child marriage. The real intention (seems) not to stop this practice today (which is more a Hindu issue) but lead to the erroneous conclusion that Islam permitted a ‘wrong’ thing.”
Squires, “The Young Marriage of ‘Aishah.”
http://www.shiachat.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=42999&pid= 538017&st=0&#entry538017, last accessed 11/04/04. For an extended discussion with a number of Sunni perspectives, see also
http://www.ummah.org.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=7838, last accessed 11/04/04, which takes off from Understanding-Islam.com’s article “What was Ayesha’s (ra) Age at the Time of Her Marriage to the Prophet (pbuh)?”