THE ROLE OF WOMEN - THE ISLAMIC VIEW
Seyyed Hosein Nasr
In his book, Islamic Life and Thought.
One of the greatest errors of the modem world is the attempt made everywhere to destroy all qualitative differences and to reduce all things to a least common denominator in the name of equality and democracy. It is one of the most conspicuous features of the tendency towards the total reign of quantity from which the modem world suffers. This error is to be seen especially in the question of the relation between the two sexes and the role of women in society. It is said that women should become equal to men. Such a statement could only be made by a woman who is no longer proud of being a woman and does not fully comprehend all the possibilities inherent in the female state. Feeling a sense of inferiority in what she is, she seeks to become another male, to become something which in fact she can never really become. For a woman to seek to emulate the male condition is for her to become at best a second-rate male, in the same way as if a man were to seek to emulate the female state.
In Islam the role of men and women is seen as complementary rather than competitive. Before God, man and woman stand as equals. They have to perform the same Islamic rites and, before Him, they must bear the same responsibility for their actions. Hence it may be said that in their relation with the metacosmic Reality they are equal. But on the cosmic level, which means the psychological, biological and social levels, their roles are complementary. In the same way that procreation implies a biological union of the two sexes, a union that embraces both of them and in which they participate in a harmonious rather than contending manner, a meaningful social structure must also be based on the harmonious co-operation of the two sexes. Islam believes that in the social order duties must be divided in such a way that men are able to perform what enables them to realise their potentialities as men, and likewise women must have a role in conformity with the genius and nature of their sex. A society in which the machine crushes the very possibility of the full growth of human nature, whether it be the male or the female, or one in which existing pressures are such that men become ever less masculine and virile and women ever less feminine and receptive, stands at the very antipodes of the Islamic social ideal. When the male and female types are blurred by the very chaos of a social order in which it remains well nigh impossible for men to remain men and women women, the possibilities of spiritual development become very dim, for men and women can approach the Divine only by remaining faithful to the form in which the Creator has made them and according to their destiny. Now it must be remembered that men and women do not determine their own sex. Their sex, like their race and colour or place and date of birth, is determined by God and cannot be rebelled against if men or women want to realise the full possibilities of their own nature. A normal and healthy society, of which the traditional Islamic society is an excellent example, is one in which both men and women are given the possibilities to develop fully their natures and to contribute to that richness and diversity which characterise creation and reflect the Unity of the Divine Principle. Now more than ever, it is the duty of all who are concerned with 'man' in a serious way, 'man' in both the male and female forms, to rise to defend consciously the values of traditional societies, which are challenged from so many directions by the fallacies which parade in the modern world in the form of 'current ideas' and the 'spirit of the times' and which claim to speak for the well-being of mankind whereas in reality they are nothing but a poison which kills the spirit of both men and women and drags them to the infra-human level.
In his book, Islamic Life and Thought.
One of the greatest errors of the modem world is the attempt made everywhere to destroy all qualitative differences and to reduce all things to a least common denominator in the name of equality and democracy. It is one of the most conspicuous features of the tendency towards the total reign of quantity from which the modem world suffers. This error is to be seen especially in the question of the relation between the two sexes and the role of women in society. It is said that women should become equal to men. Such a statement could only be made by a woman who is no longer proud of being a woman and does not fully comprehend all the possibilities inherent in the female state. Feeling a sense of inferiority in what she is, she seeks to become another male, to become something which in fact she can never really become. For a woman to seek to emulate the male condition is for her to become at best a second-rate male, in the same way as if a man were to seek to emulate the female state.
In Islam the role of men and women is seen as complementary rather than competitive. Before God, man and woman stand as equals. They have to perform the same Islamic rites and, before Him, they must bear the same responsibility for their actions. Hence it may be said that in their relation with the metacosmic Reality they are equal. But on the cosmic level, which means the psychological, biological and social levels, their roles are complementary. In the same way that procreation implies a biological union of the two sexes, a union that embraces both of them and in which they participate in a harmonious rather than contending manner, a meaningful social structure must also be based on the harmonious co-operation of the two sexes. Islam believes that in the social order duties must be divided in such a way that men are able to perform what enables them to realise their potentialities as men, and likewise women must have a role in conformity with the genius and nature of their sex. A society in which the machine crushes the very possibility of the full growth of human nature, whether it be the male or the female, or one in which existing pressures are such that men become ever less masculine and virile and women ever less feminine and receptive, stands at the very antipodes of the Islamic social ideal. When the male and female types are blurred by the very chaos of a social order in which it remains well nigh impossible for men to remain men and women women, the possibilities of spiritual development become very dim, for men and women can approach the Divine only by remaining faithful to the form in which the Creator has made them and according to their destiny. Now it must be remembered that men and women do not determine their own sex. Their sex, like their race and colour or place and date of birth, is determined by God and cannot be rebelled against if men or women want to realise the full possibilities of their own nature. A normal and healthy society, of which the traditional Islamic society is an excellent example, is one in which both men and women are given the possibilities to develop fully their natures and to contribute to that richness and diversity which characterise creation and reflect the Unity of the Divine Principle. Now more than ever, it is the duty of all who are concerned with 'man' in a serious way, 'man' in both the male and female forms, to rise to defend consciously the values of traditional societies, which are challenged from so many directions by the fallacies which parade in the modern world in the form of 'current ideas' and the 'spirit of the times' and which claim to speak for the well-being of mankind whereas in reality they are nothing but a poison which kills the spirit of both men and women and drags them to the infra-human level.
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