1. In Italy and in general in Europe, the “issue of women in Islam” is often under debate. Muslim women’s status is always discussed in heated tones, frequently with commiseration. In doing so, most people refer to the Qur’an, a Book oft-mentioned although little-known, and don’t distinguish between the Qur’anic commandments and the customs or social convictions adopted by some Islamic countries. Moreover, the commandments found in the Qur’an are normally not compared, as it would be advisable, to similar commandments in other sacred scriptures, but to the regulations currently in place in Western societies.
When referring to the veil – the bulwark of “female subordination in Islam” – not many people recall, for example, the words of the Apostle Paul to the community of Corinth: “If a woman does not cover her head, she might as well have her hair cut off; but if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, then she should cover her head. A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man […] (11 Cor 6-7).
Not everyone knows that the Qur’an purposely ignores the story of the rib, which plastically and violently teaches the subordination of a woman to a man. And declares instead that both man and woman were created together from a “unique soul” (nafs wâhida, feminine in the original Arabic), to which followed the creation of “its companion” (zawj, masculine in the original). (To be continued).
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2. The Qur’an, unlike the Bible, does not speak of Eve as the instigator of Adam’s sin and does not insist on the negative image of women as temptresses. Quite the contrary, this Book represents the original couple as two complementary beings matching each other and identical in the words they pronounce and the actions they perform. The tempter for both of them is Satan, and together, the man and the woman, are the victims of his whispering. Together they approach the forbidden tree, they realize their sin and ask for God’s forgiveness. Meaningfully, the entire story in the Arabic version employs verbs in the dual form: “Allah said […]: – Do not approach this tree, or else you will be wrongdoers. – Then Satan tempted them in order to expose what was hidden of their nakedness […]. And when they tasted of the tree, their nakedness was exposed to them, prompting them to cover themselves with leaves from Paradise. Then their Lord called out to them, – Did I not forbid you from that tree and did I not tell you that Satan is your sworn enemy? – They replied, – Our Lord! We have wronged ourselves. If You do not forgive us and have mercy on us, we will certainly be losers.” (Qur’an 7:19-25).
More on the dignity of the woman in the Qur’an: it is perhaps the only sacred scripture that directly calls also women and not only men to the observance of the same religious precepts, treating all as subjects of equal responsibility and therefore equally deserving of Paradise. For example, in the sura – or chapter – Al Ahzâb we read: “Surely for Muslim men and women, believing men and women, devout men and women, truthful men and women, patient men and women, humble men and women, charitable men and women, fasting men and women, men and women who guard their chastity, and men and women who remember Allah often—for all of them Allah has prepared forgiveness and a great reward” (Qur’an 33:35).
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3. In the sura called “Al-Nisâ’” we read that “Men are the caretakers of women” (Qur’an 4,32). This is a very well known and continuously quoted affirmation, often without considering the context in which it appears: in fact this male priority is not generalized, but is part of a strictly juridical discourse, concerning in particular the inheritance quotas: the male son is entitled to a double quota with respect to the daughter, because he has the obligation to decorously maintain his wife whatever the financial condition of the woman may be.
Another similar affirmation appears in the “Al-Baqara”: “Women have rights similar to those of men equitably, although men have a degree above them, and God is mighty and wise” (Qur’an 2,228). These words express first reciprocity and then female subordination, and in this they could recall St. Paul exhorting the Church of Ephesus: “Submit yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church […]” (Eph. 5:21-23). In the Qur’an it is not a generic statement, but again a juridical one: the discourse concerns repudiation, unilateral divorce (???â?), an institute of Islamic law that is favorable to the man because it allows him to remarry in a shorter time than that required to the divorced woman to remarry in turn; she will have to wait three months more, to make sure she does not have a pregnancy in progress and thus avoid confusio sanguinis.
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4. It is stated again in the sura “Al-Nisâ’” that “good women are devout to God and guard what is hidden, that which God guards (Qur’an, 4,34).” This passage, just quoted in a literal translation, is a very interesting one. First, because women definitely appear as subjects and not as objects of guardianship; second, because what women guard is the “hidden”, or “the unseen” or “that which is absent”, in Arabic ghayb. Ghayb is a crucial word in the Qur’an: this Book normally applies it to the Mystery, the Arcane which escapes the knowledge of human creatures, that which God alone knows. In the Sura Al-An‘âm we can read for example: “With Him are the keys of the unseen no one knows them except Him. And He knows what is in the land and sea”. And “all authority is His on the Day the Trumpet will be blown. He is the Knower of all, seen or unseen. And He is the All-Wise, All-Aware.” (Qur’an 6,73). Or, in the sura Yûnus, “the knowledge of the unseen is with God alone” (Qur’an 10,20). Therefore, whoever reads this passage in the original Arabic paying attention to the words used will notice that the woman is attributed a very high rank, because God has entrusted her with a task – that of guarding the ghayb– so important as to be similar to His own.
The Qur’an, like every sacred scripture, has been variously interpreted in different times and places, and every passage, especially if enigmatic as this one, has received multiple explanations, sometimes even contradictory. In this case, the explanation that has been most frequently agreed upon is the following: the good woman is the one who guards her husband’s house, money and honor when he is absent, and above all guards herself from adultery, without doing anything that would displease her husband if he were present and saw her.
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5. As we have seen, the Qur’an speaks of women and – unlike other holy Books – directly addresses women as an integral and full part of the believers community. In spite of that, however, only one woman, namely Mary – Maryam, is mentioned. Actually, she is mentioned in this Book more than 30 times (mostly as “Maryam mother of Jesus”). Also, the title of the 19th chapter is “surat Maryam”. The Qur’an recalls her service of God in the Temple, during which she received miraculous provisions of food; and then the annunciation, the conception, the slanders against her, her subsequent retreat “to a place in the east”, the pains of childbirth, and the prodigious appearance of a spring and a palm tree suddenly laden with dates to ease her thirst and hunger.
Mary is always described as the perfect believer: her main features – patient submission, humility, peaceful and quiet acceptance of the divine decree – are precisely those that any good Muslim should have.
Among the most interesting Mariological passages, we find the words pronounced by the angels during the Annunciation (cf. Luke 1,26–38): «And when the angels said, “O Mary! God has chosen you and purified you. He has chosen you from all the women of the worlds» (Qur’an 3,42). Maryam’s outstanding on all women has always aroused the Qur’anic commentators’ attention: does it mean that Mary is considered superior to every single woman, from creation to the end of the world? Would she therefore also be superior to the women who experienced the Islamic revelation brought by the Prophet Muhammad in the 7th century? From here, many commentators have recognized Mary as a muslima ante litteram. Be that as it may, the idea that runs through this holy Book is that Islam is the original religion, both Adam’s and Abraham’s, and that the pious of all times should be considered Muslims as well.
(The end)