Ingrid Mattson – Interview Women in Islam
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In a series on the story of the Bible, the host discusses the cultural and political changes in Islamic Arabia, including the shift in the definition of human value and the importance of women in the church's values. The host also discusses the history of the church's treatment of women and the importance of understanding the value of women in relation to their own spiritual relationships with God.
AI: Summary ©
Hi. Welcome to Perspectives on Faith. I'm your
host, Matt Ntteka.
This week, we're coming from Hartford Seminary
in Connecticut.
We have with us today doctor Ingrid Madsen.
She's a professor
of Islamic Studies
at Hartford University,
and she's also the president of the Islamic
Society of North America. Doctor Madsen, thank you
for coming on our show.
You're welcome. Would you describe the gender certification
of the society in which prophet Mohammed grew
up in?
What you have to understand about pre Islamic
Arabian society, first of all, is that
it was a society
in which there was no rule of law.
There was no political structure that was governing
the Arabian Peninsula.
The,
only
ruling powers
were tribes
that were in mutual,
rivalry.
These tribes became
or operated in in a way similar to
a gang structure.
What that means is that the only way
to have
power, the only way to promote your interest
is by using brute force.
The tribes are are highly territorial
and are in constant conflict with each other.
A society like this
values
strength,
force,
and is highly militarized.
What that means is that,
for women,
their position,
is
is secondary
to that of men,
who who, through their strength
and through their,
violence,
exercise their will.
So the basic structure of this society is
one in which women,
as
mostly noncombatants,
are in a secondary position to men.
So why would women respond positively
to the message of Muhammad?
The prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him,
both through his attitude and as the messenger
of God
with the Quran that that he received from
from God,
brought a message that women,
are equal to men,
in their value.
And not only that, that that in fact,
how you value a human being
is not through
their
brute strength,
not through their
ability to
dominate,
but in fact, their ability
to submit themselves to God. So there's a
whole different
paradigm shift,
of what makes a human being valuable.
In pre Islamic Arabia, what made a human
being valuable
was to be
a,
a dominant
warrior, someone who,
who by whatever means necessary,
subjected other people to his will.
What the Quran says is that the person
who is valuable
in is
the one who is most noble in the
eyes of God
is the one who has most awareness of
God.
That awareness is something that can be gained
by either a man or a woman.
That, that your gender has nothing to do
with whether you have the ability,
to submit yourself to god. So there's a
completely different,
assessment
of the value of a human being,
according to the Quran,
the Quranic paradigm.
Could you provide examples
of these women's
responses
initial responses to Muhammad's message?
Well, as is well known, the first person
who responded
to
the prophet Muhammad's message was his wife Khadija.
Khadija who was really in all ways a
full partner to the prophet Muhammad, peace be
upon him. She was,
a mature woman
who was,
financially independent,
who was per who had her professional career.
And she and and her husband
really weren't always
full partners, raising their family, having their business.
She knew him, as a woman knows her
husband, better than anyone. And when he received
the call
by by God,
to come and bring this message, she was
the first to respond to him and supported
him and believed in him.
But,
you know, it didn't stop there. In fact,
women
were among the early supporters of the prophet
Mohammed.
You had not only women like Khadija, who
was a free woman of high status,
but a woman like Sumayya,
who was a slave woman, who was in
a highly degraded position, and for whom this
message of Islam
was one of her dignity.
Even in a if it appeared by
by all objective
measures that she was the most degraded
person in Meccan society.
How were these women participating in the public
realm
of Mecca?
Muslim women in Mecca,
experienced
hardship to the same degree that men did.
We find that, for example,
the first martyr in Islam was Sumayyah,
who was murdered
in a brutal fashion
by her
by Abu Jahal
for being a Muslim.
Because there was no
recognition in Mecca, in the political order of
Mecca of individual human rights, it was possible
for someone,
a so called free man, to kill a
slave with impunity.
Among the other women were Khadija
and the other women of,
the
Banu Hashim, the clan of the prophet Mohammed,
peace be upon him,
who,
were boycotted by the rest of Quraysh for
3 years,
who had to live on the outskirts of
Mecca and were deprived of
meaningful sustenance. In fact, we know that Khadija,
died because she was weakened by the boycott.
She and other women suffered along with
the male, believers,
in that situation.
Women also,
were among the delegation
that left Mecca
at the command of the prophet Muhammad to
seek refuge with the,
the ruler of Abyssinia.
A good Christian king
who gave refuge and comfort
to the Muslims who were persecuted in Mecca.
Women were there with the men. So Muslim
women were beside,
the men at in at all stages,
in the Meccan period.
Was there anything in the initial revelations of
God that improved
the status
or role of the woman in Arabia?
What we have to understand is that the
first thing that,
improved the status of women was simply
a redefinition
of the value of human beings. I mean,
women as human beings
were reassessed
according to their value. Now their value was
not primarily
as, as chattel or as property of men,
but as
individual human beings who who had who had
their
own spiritual relationship with God. That's vitally important.
It means that if a woman
is married or if she's not married, whether
she's a mother or she cannot have
children,
whether she lives a life that is,
in
in the public eye and is famous or
is is someone who is,
who gets,
great acclaim because of
her, career or her accomplishments.
That all of these things in the end
are irrelevant because her primary
value in relationship is the dignity that she
can attain through a relationship with god. It's
very important to understand that.
Of course, there were specific
rulings about females in that society
that did help their situation
within the limits of what was possible within
7th century Arabia.
One of the first things that was done,
of course, in the early revelations was to
link the mistreatment of women
with,
morality.
So that the burial of of,
of female children, female infanticide,
that was practiced among the pre Islamic Arabs
was condemned. And not only was it condemned,
as something that was,
that was wrong, but it was linked to
a
ultimate
value,
which was that
God
would judge this action.