Perspective on Women's Plight in Afghanistan
By Hassan Hathout, M.D., Ph.D.

American Muslims were saddened and shocked by the news. This is one time we hoped it was just another example of the fabricated lies against Islam and Muslims. Reports sprinted through the airwaves that upon the triumphant conquest of the capital of Afghanistan, Kabul, the Afghan Taliban ordered women out of school, out of their jobs and mandated on men to grow a beard. More distressing was the news that this was announced as a fulfillment of the teaching of Islam.

Perhaps if the pretext was their own vision or the special brand of their culture, the concern would have fallen under the general umbrella of human rights, as indeed is the case. But when Islam is dragged into it, Muslims in particular should be specially involved.

We feel it is our duty to defend the religion and defend its reputation, often tarnished by the Western media, or in this case, regrettably, by ill-advised Muslims. We go to great lengths to educate people about what Islam really is; but in this case we have to educate all Muslims. And it is not, as you might think, that because we are American Muslims, our Islam must have been diluted and corrupted by the vagaries of Western life. Not at all. We are indeed Islam abiding people, fairly conservative, and are blessed with Islamic scholarship that matches elsewhere. And we enjoy a measure of freedom in living and expressing our religion that is not available in many, so-called Muslim countries, even though we have our grievances and complaints.

The Taliban must know, as we do, that the Prophet said, "The pursuit of knowledge is obligatory over every Muslim, male or female." Muslim women attained such scholarship that they became teachers to prominent men. Islam gave women the right to manage their wealth, generate income, and issued them the right of individual, independent ownership. The whole medical corps of the Prophet's army was an all women corps, and in some battles women took the sword and shield and joined active combat. Women participated in public affairs, and it was the wisdom of Um-Salamah, the wife of the Prophet, that diffused the crisis amongst the Muslims at the Hudaybiah treaty. Caliph Omar, the second successor to the Prophet as head of state, appointed a woman judge, Al-Shaffa, over commercial affairs. When Omar gave directives regarding the marriage dowry, it was a woman in the mosque that stood up to correct him by quoting the Koran, only for him to say, "The woman is right and I am wrong."

To sweep away the pre-Islamic culture of ignorance that degraded the status of women, Islam declared gender equality through the Prophet's words; "Women are the siblings of men." And when we come to the ultimate universal mission of the Muslim Umma (communities), ie. Enjoining good and forbidding evil, we find the Qur'an assigning it equally saying, "The believing men and women are confidants to one another; they enjoin good and forbid evil."

It is a competitive world and fates of nations are being decided on their acumen of knowledge and information. We cannot continue to be parasites upon other nations, whether for the tank we drive or the loaf of bread we eat every day. In this respect we cannot inactivate one half of our human resources. In some places in the Muslim world, women (and indeed men) are suppressed and denied their basic Islamic rights, but nothing to match the Taliban's recent decrees at the doorstep of the 21st century.

Obviously, the Taliban's military prowess far exceeds their knowledge of Islam. When the Mujahadeen fought the Russians, they captured our hearts and we invested much hope in them. Our dreams were shattered as they emerged from their victory, killing one another. Now the Taliban emerge victorious, but Islam certainly does not. Islam requires them to heal their enmities, rebuild their country and clean it from hatred and prejudice, for this is the razor that, in the words of the Prophet, does not shave hair, but shaves off religion.

©Dr. Hassan Hathout 1999.

Dr. Hassan Hathout is the Director of Outreach at the Islamic Center of Southern California. He has written several books and his latest book is entitled "Reading the Muslim Mind". This article was first published in the Islamic Intellectual Forum.

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