About Ethical Egalitarianism

The Concept of Equality in Islam

The writings of the Hadith sections and the Quran, in Ahmed’s opinion, imply that there is an egalitarian notion in the biological structure of the human body in relation to the conception of both males and females. He also suggests that reading the Hadith verses demonstrates that women possess semen or sexual fluid akin to that of women in addition to men (Jamal et al., 2005). Ahmed infers the ethical concept of equality by persuading the readers that it’s not only men who should be given the authority to hand over divorce to their wives just as it was the case among the Islam community in Egypt and the Middle East. She reckons that giving men the license to divorce their women amounted to endorsing and religiously sanctioning a profoundly negative, unacceptable and debased perception about women. Ahmed further argues that providing men exclusive permission to divorce their wives is a misogynist attitude. The custom was not Muslim in origin and character, but it was instead a concept that resulted from the interaction of Islam and the urban-secular people who lived in the Middle-East and had a prejudice towards women. According to the through Islam faith, Ahmed suggests that it never intended that men should have express authority to divorce women (Jamal et al., 2005).

Remarriage

Ahmed challenged the inequality that was endorsed by Mohamed ad the patriarchal interpretation of the Quran that a man is allowed to have more than one wife. The proponents of male dominance over women allowed men to remarry under the guise of discerning women who are good to a man. Ahmed sought to bring equality in the manner they interpret and impose religious texts on women because it appears to convey misogynistic connotations by undermining women while at the same time elevating the position of a man (Ahmed, 2011). Other than challenging the doctrine that allows men to marry again, Ahmed voices concern of marrying off young girls of the age of nine and ten to older men in the society. Such practices are retrogressive because they deny the girls the opportunity to develop themselves by acquiring basic education and pursuing careers of their choice. Therefore, by appealing to the Islamic society to abandon polygamy and exploitation of underage girls while at the same time preserving the Islamic religion, the community achieves gender equality within the religion of Islam (Ahmed, 2011).

Virginity

The women in the Islamic religion are required to wear a veil to guard and hide their unseen parts because it was the intention of Allah to keep them in a guarded place. However, Ahmed differs with this long-term religious tradition because it only places strict requirements of maintaining virginity on women and not men (Ahmed, 2011). The practice seems to be skewed towards women by requiring them to keep higher moral standards while men are not subjected to the same requirements of abstaining from sex. Although she disagrees with the colonialist’s attitude that Muslim women are backward and uncivilized because of wearing veils, she still urges the Islamic society to observe gender equality in demanding for sexual purity before marriage from both genders.

References

Ahmed, L. (2011). Women and gender in Islam: Historical roots of a modern debate. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Pr.

Jamal, M., Epicflow (Firm), Channel Four (Great Britain)., Films for the Humanities & Sciences (Firm), & Films Media Group, (2005). Women and Islam. New York, N.Y: Films Media Group.