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[quote][b] AZ [/b] 
Dear Sir,
 Thank you for your response. You say that regarding the use of the pronoun "he" or "she" (I quote you below) [b] I am afraid there is not much to do in this regard. [/b]

I dont think this is an adequate explanation. There is much to do in this regard and I believe since you are taking such an important responsibility, you must be aware of what you say and imply. Each of us is responsible for what we say or do. You seem to be saying that nothing can be done. Why not? My objection is that you are a source which we -- myself particularly -- have been relying on as a source of balanced guidance on Islam. You have a responsibility to use the correct term or word. Your email messages go far and wide. Let me give you an exampleto explain why the term we use is important: I am 55 years old, I remember when in the early 1980s, the forces that were fighting against Russian occupation of Afghanistan were referred to as 'terrorists'. Then, in the mid 1980s there was a move, led by Pakistan's government, to start referring to them as "mujahideen". I was a journalist then and remember clearly the day our editor told us to start using this term as it was more appropriate. We made the change and slowly, others followed and today, no one recalls that awful term "terrorist" was once used for the freedom fighters in Afghanistan. Even the American media, when they refer to that time, they still use the term "mujahideen". A similar case applies to the freedom fighters in Palestine, they too were called "terrorists".

Today, when the western media are labelling all Muslims as terrorists, dont you feel the word is used misguidedly, prejudicially, dangerously? If you agree, you must also appreciate that the use of a single word can mean a great deal. I could go on and on, but I am confident you will have understood my point.

I give you this example to explain why it is important to 'name the word correctly". You have further stated that:

[b] We need to communicate our message to the people who already use the word individual for a human being irrespective of their gender. [/b]

I wish to explain: in many parts of the world, what people do is the following, they write: he/she or they write he or she. They use both words as both words are necessary!

I also refer you to Surah Al Ahzab ayah 35. I am sure you know this ayah, I dont need to tell you. I am fully aware that the Quran is the only known revealed scripture to directly address women as well as men. No other revealed religion addresses women directly. This ayah in which Allah subhanat'ala addresses man and woman is very important.

According to my humble knowledge, Umm Salamah asked the Prophet may peace be on him why women were not mentioned in the Quran and the revelation that came in the surah mentioned above answered both her question and the questions that other believing women might have had. If Allah in the Quran has made it clear that we must say women and men, not just men and think by this word we are also addressing women, WHY DO YOU THINK people dont follow this guidance? Why do you think, as you say in your response:

[b] Therefore one who goes for using â€˜sheâ€™ instead of â€˜an individualâ€™ will not be able to communicate with the rest of the world for the whole world has the same usage. I donâ€™t understand that roots of this style of expression lie in intentional gender discrimination. [/b]

I suggest and argue that it is culture and tradition as developed by male thinkers and scholars that has become accepted as authentic . The word for this kind of thinking is "patriarchy", it is something so deep and entrenched that most people are not even aware it is there. If you allow yourself to be guided by patriarchal values instead of Islam, you will say that it is okay to keep on using the term "man" when actually we mean woman and man, or women and men.

I am sad to read what you have to say after this:

[b] Therefore, you have to wait for the time when this usage and implication is replaced with the one you desire. Man has been always using the male gender in their communication in the oldest known literature and historical and religious records. [/b]

Yes, "man has been using the male gender"? What have women been using? Why did Umm Salamah ask the Propher (pbuh) about women not being mentioned in the Quran? When you state that Man has been always using the male gender in their communication in the oldest known literature and historical and religious records, I beg you to reconsider your statement. Man has not been living alone in this world and hence he is not the only gender to be considered. Yes, women are not visible in the same way as men, in public life, in "official" history and so the impression is that what man says, women agree totally with him. The "oldest' record, the Quran, addressed women directly, to make it clear that women are distinct from men and must be seen to be individuals.

Please read Amina Wadud's work on the Quran. She is a scholar of Arabic and she has done some excellent seminal work on the words used in the Quran, especially the inferences of masculine and feminine. Also, Fatima Mernissi has written at lenght on "The Forgotten Queens of Islam'. I suggest you read that book as well. She is also an Arabic scholar, known best for her work, "The discourse of the veil".

I appreciate what you have said about the Quran and I do not have time to discuss these in detail with you. I do suggest you read some more and widen the scope of your basis for what you regard as history. Historical evidence as recorded by men is not necessarily the 'truth". And what has been transmitted from generation to generation is not known to you or me either. What we know is what we hear today: we cannot swear that it was the same in the days of of our ancestors. As a scholar of history, believe me when I tell you this is reality. We have been influenced by colonisation and what we believe to be the truth is often what others want us to believe.

Yes, Muslims have always been clear that they are made responsible to provide for the family. But Each person has to answer to Allah. Will a husband take responsibility for his wife's sins? If she does not pray or fast, will the husband be asked by Allah or will the woman be asked? If she is responsible for her actions to Allah, how can anyone be her authority in this world? Yes, we have to live in mutual understanding, there must be give and take and a man must be able to trust and rely on his wife, so should his wife trust and rely on her husband. The Quranic verses you cite, are to my mind, responses to a social environment in Arabic in the 8th century. They are not immutable laws, they were not meant to be.

You write:

[b] The fact that some women are reported to have entered into business does not mean that the women were considered the head of the families. [/b]

Firstly, it is not "some women". Booty was shared equally between men and women in Arabia during the time of the Prophet (pbuh) -- this is a historical fact, which many male written history books have conveniently left out -- and also, women worked for a living, owned property, took part in matters to do with the community, even lead prayers when they were the head of their households. You may not have read the history books, but I have. I am too tired now to give you a full list, but inshallah, I will do so soon.

Meanwhile, please read Surah Al Imran, ayah 195:

And their Lord hath accepted Of them and answered them: "Never will I suffer to be lost the work of any of you, be he male or female, You are members, one of another..

The labour of men is the same as that of women. Yes, it is sad that women get paid nothing in this world, but the Quran is clear on the autonomy of women.

You write:

[b] I would request you kindly to give your explanation of the Qurâ€™anic exhortations in this regard. I would love to know your interpretation of the following verses of the Holy Qurâ€™an.

1. Men are the guardians of women because Allah has given one superiority over
the other and because they [--- men ---] support them from their means.
(4:34) [/b]

Please refer to Mohammad Asad's translation of this ayah:

Men shall take full care of women with the bounties which Allah has bestowed more abundantly on the former than on the latter.

Asad explains: The grammatical form qawwam is more comprehensive than qa'im and combines the concepts of physical maintenance and protection as well as moral responsibility: and it is because of this that I have rendered this phrase as "men shall take full care of women"

This is an injunction to men to undertake responsibility. To misuse it as a means of controlling women is quite wrong.

[b] 2. As for those from whom you fear rebellion, admonish them [first] and [next] refuse to share their beds and [last] beat them. Then if they obey you, take no further action against them. (4:34) [/b]

Regarding this ayah, please read ayah 128 in the same surah. Here the reference is to possible bad behavior on the husband's side. Regarding beating, please read Asad's notes on this, pages 109 and 110. I cannot go into it in detail, but I would say that the guidance was to chastise a wife symbolically, not to actually beat her. (there are many sources to support his view and also to show us that the Prophet himself abhorred the idea of beating a wife).

The point also is, there are many details in the Quran that are not taken literally by us. For instance, we do not actually see the sun set before we pray at maghrib. We follow our watches and nowadays, what the computer tells us! But in the Quran, there is no mention of this, nor of a time, such as 6.15 p.m. Does that mean that we are breaking a Quranic law? Of course not!

My point is, that Allah left many matters to our individual conscience. Fasting, for instance, is something we do: there is not way of testing or policing our fast. Furthermore, the Quran is in Arabic and the language has many inflections and inferences. Every language has different cultural and time-bound characteristics. The word "programme" did not exist in urdu until it was borrowed from English. The word "ghareeb" in Arabic means stranger; in urdu it means poor. And so on.

[b] How would you explain the family structure that has existed ever since the conception of human civilization on earth? [/b]

Which family structure are you talking about? There are hundreds of ways in which people have arranged their lives, socially, politically, economically and have lived as couples, as single people, as large groups, with women as leaders. Matriarchal socieities existed in the past and still do today. "Family" could mean a single woman, a widow, with many children. That, too, is a "family". The assumption that "family" means a man taking care of his wife and children is correct but it is not the only arrangement known to humankind.

[b] If we suppose for the sake of argument that Qurâ€™an does not consider the element of physical and psychological set up of members of different genders then how can we explain that women are excused from attending the congregational prayer and are not obliged to offer obligatory prayer and observe fasts during menstrual periods etc. [/b]

The Quran, to my knowledge, does not excuse women from fasting. Women have to fast later. Please correct me if I am wrong. This is not an excuse, it is a postponement.

Why did Allah make it compulsory on women to say their prayers five times a day? If He had thought of women as less than men, he could have said that women should pray half the times that men pray? That is a preposterous suggestion. Right? Women are excused from congregational prayer and ritual prayer during menstrual periods because of social and hygenic reasons. I am ashamed that you bring this point up in a discussionon whether women are under the authority of their husbands, or whether they can be beaten! Surely, biology is not the only way in which we should approach an understanding of women. Whether a woman has her menstrual periods or not, she can pray to Allah ALL THE TIME. SHE CAN RECITE ANY SURAH SHE WANTS. There is not a single sentence in the Quran that says that a woman cannot recite verses from the Quran, or pray to her Lord, Allah, just because she has her menstrual periods!!! Yes, she cannot stand and pray in ritual prayer. But this is purely for social and hygenic reasons that are obvious.

When you bring up biology, it saddens me. You look only at the biological differences, not at the similarities between men and women. Men have two eyes, women have two eyes. Men have two hands, a nose, two legs. Do women have a different number of bodily parts? Man has one heart. Do women have two hearts? Men have a soul. Woman have a soul. Men are born. Women are born. Men will die. Women will die. We will all have to face our Creator.

I pray to the Almighty that He guides us on the right path and bestows us with the courage to remain steadfast in the truth.
[b] AZ [b]

Edited by - tariq hashmi on March 05 2004  13:12:24[/quote]

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