Islam as a religion preaches justice and equality are essential principles deeply rooted within the religion and the Shariah or “Islamic Law”. Islam appeared in the 7th century and came upon an Arabian tribal system grounded in patriarchy. The prophet Muhammad sought to change the established order and make an egalitarian society. The conversion to Islam brought improvements for women where the prophet “strove successfully for the improvement of the economic and legal status of all Moslem women” which eventually led to the selections of women as community leaders (Spellberg 46). However, following the death of the prophet Muhammad, patriarchal interests within Arabia reaffirmed themselves, threatening the rights Islam granted women. In
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The male legists used their own misogynistic views to interpret the scriptural text. The above Qur’anic verse was interpreted by Muslim jurist by saying a woman is half as credible as a man is, and thus should have nothing to do with anything outside of the home. In ninth century hadith, women were seen as deficient and dangerous to the community and political order. These hadiths were taken out of context in regard to Aisha’s involvement in the first fitna of Islam. The term fitna became redefined to symbolize women as the reason for civil strife and dissuaded women from taking part in political affairs (Spellberg 55). Ahmed claims the unhealthy merger between Islamic law and scriptural interpretation was unpropitious for women (70). This merger would soon lead to a consensus between Muslim jurists, called “ijma” in Arabic. Ijma was especially detrimental to women’s justice and equality because it had binding and absolute authority over Islamic law (Ahmed 60). Even if interpretations of Qur’anic and hadith literature were wrong, in the early tenth century Muslim jurist by ijma formally recognized past interpretations. Ahmed later goes on to say the chauvinistic society of classical Islam would establish the binding and the infallible model of Islamic law (61). Yet, even within the patriarchal society of pre-modern Islam, women through positive law and Islamic mysticism were able to undermine the extreme
The male legists used their own misogynistic views to interpret the scriptural text. The above Qur’anic verse was interpreted by Muslim jurist by saying a woman is half as credible as a man is, and thus should have nothing to do with anything outside of the home. In ninth century hadith, women were seen as deficient and dangerous to the community and political order. These hadiths were taken out of context in regard to Aisha’s involvement in the first fitna of Islam. The term fitna became redefined to symbolize women as the reason for civil strife and dissuaded women from taking part in political affairs (Spellberg 55). Ahmed claims the unhealthy merger between Islamic law and scriptural interpretation was unpropitious for women (70). This merger would soon lead to a consensus between Muslim jurists, called “ijma” in Arabic. Ijma was especially detrimental to women’s justice and equality because it had binding and absolute authority over Islamic law (Ahmed 60). Even if interpretations of Qur’anic and hadith literature were wrong, in the early tenth century Muslim jurist by ijma formally recognized past interpretations. Ahmed later goes on to say the chauvinistic society of classical Islam would establish the binding and the infallible model of Islamic law (61). Yet, even within the patriarchal society of pre-modern Islam, women through positive law and Islamic mysticism were able to undermine the extreme