The Western concept of equality has developed over time as a reaction to the Christian concept of the woman. In Christianity, women as human beings, irrespective of rights and responsibilities, have been considered inferior, the one who committed the first sin and hence was condemned forever. When the west broke itself away from religion, at the start of the Renaissance, there was nothing that could provide the basis for the concept of equality between men and women as human beings. The west then constructed a concept, which was based on having equal rights and responsibilities in different spheres of life. This has been the core struggle and basis of the feminist movement. This meant that in order for a woman to be equal to a man, as a human being, she must have equal political, social and economic rights. This was done because the actual concept of equality, that is whether God who has created all, considered men and women equal as human beings – irrespective of political, social and economic rights and responsibilities – could not be proved until and unless God Himself had said so. This the West could not do because it had broken away from religion, a religion that already had a distorted concept of woman, so it was impossible for them to have the judgment of God in this regard.

“Are men and women equal?” is a badly-formed, unanswerable question. The problem which many people conveniently ignore is that “equal” is not defined. This is a very critical point: that equality must be specified with respect to some measurable property. For example, men on average are superior to women if we ask who is taller in height than the other. Women are superior on average if we ask who children bond to deeper, mothers or fathers. Women are also superior on average if we ask who mature quicker at a younger age. And so on: every question can be turned around, and more importantly these are properties, which are irrelevant.

For over 1200 years, the west had no case against Islam in the treatment of women – since from its very beginning Islam secured rights that the woman in the west only now experiences or still struggles to achieve. However within the past 60 years, under the banner of ‘equality’ and supposed ‘liberation of women’, the west launched a bitter campaign to discredit Islam – with the prime aim of luring Muslim women away from Islam and corrupting the stable social life of Muslims, which is a bedrock of any society. This campaign has its roots in two key developments:

1. Firstly, through colonization. the west was successful in removing Islam as the sole reference to solve problems, particularly in the political and socio-economic arena in the Muslim world. Having been raped of Islam, the Muslim world was left to organise its relationships under the increasing prevalence of backward traditions and customs (which Islam had removed) and mixing this with the aspiration to imitate the colonial western lifestyle.
2. The advent of the concept of ‘equality’ where western women were presented as liberated, equal and progressed – as compared to Muslim women counterparts in the Muslim world.

 

Regarding point 1 – The cause and blame behind the current state of women in the Muslim world with prevalent practices such as ‘honour killings’ and ‘forced marriages’ etc… has been the colonial legacy and the removal of Islam from the life of society; replaced by backward traditions and oppressive regimes that Islam had removed. In this context it is the west that should stand in the dock for the mistreatment that Muslim women and the wider society suffer in the Muslim world.

Regarding point 2 – The fundamental flaw in the western conception of equality is not simply that it does not exist in reality, but that the actual benchmark is the woman’s attempt to become like the man – therefore in origin man is placed as superior, since he is the measurement.

• Islam by contrast does not make man the benchmark, neither the woman. Rather Islam does not give any weight to this erroneous notion of ‘equality’. Instead, Islam considers man and woman same in their humanity (intellect and needs) without any distinction, but that Islam has assigned rights and responsibilities to man and to the woman, which are not based on superiority/inferiority or inequality. Therefore, where Islam apportions the rights in equal measure, or where it gives man the upperhand, or where it gives the woman the upperhand – equality or superiority/inferiority is not considered. So the woman does not need to measure herself against the man.
• Islamic rules came to settle problems; therefore it looks at the relationships and interaction between men and women as problems that required treatment. Therefore the subject of equality/or lack of equality never been a subject of discussion and would never form a problem in the Islamic society.
• Allah (swt) does not favor one gender over the other but assigns them rights and responsibilities that bring a framework, limits and stability in society. This removes the anxieties and social problems that are widespread in western societies.

Far from liberating women, the west has created a climate of further anxiety for the woman, where she is pressured to become like a man whilst also aiming to retain her femininity. Confusion in roles, priorities and aspirations arise – which has significant negative pressures on women’s mental and emotional well-being.

Far from solving the problem, the inability to be ‘equal’ has created a parallel trend and movement where men now feel they are being discriminated against in favour of women. Men have set up pressure groups to lobby for men’s rights e.g. ‘Fathers for Justice’.

Far from liberating and protecting the woman, the west maintains the status of the woman as a sexual object and statistics confirm that women are suffering from values that essentially exploit her. Rape, sexual harassment, domestic violence, depression, teenage pregnancies are all evidence to this.

Far from contributing to the stability of family and social life – the concept of ‘equality’ has led to far reaching consequences to family breakdowns, social problems, disaffected youths, growing depression and pressure upon women to conform and compete, stress fractures in relationships and marriages – all of which becomes an economic burden upon the state.

‘Gender Equality’ has brought its own set of contradictions and dilemmas. How can a woman call for equality on the one hand, which negates the relevance of gender in public life but at the same time call for maternity rights or flexible working hours based on sex difference? It has been detrimental to the lives of many women. A concept that in theory was to produce the ‘have it all woman’ in reality has produced the ‘do it all’ woman. A woman who continues to burden household responsibilities but now also has to burden the financial maintenance of the family.”

Written by Br. Burhan