The Equality of Believing Women and Believing Men

The Equality of Believing Women and Believing Men

Assalamu alaykum

Today, I will discuss a powerful and empowering verse in the Qur’an that has played a critical role in my connection with Allah and my sense of self as a worthy believer. For far too long, us Muslim women have endured what I consider to be an insulting and demeaning set of interpretations about women. We have internalised these messages over centuries and many of us glorify the diminishing of our beings and our faith. Many of us willingly accept that Allah has created women as intellectually lacking, second-tier believers with poor capacity for leadership and spirituality. Many scholars give Islamic backing to what were the opinions and attitudes of the people of ignorance, the pre-Islamic jahiliyya. Unfortunately, there are some famous female scholars who act as mouthpieces of the patriarchs and give legitimacy to the diminishing of the female believer.

Against this systematic and systemic demeaning of Muslim women stands a verse in Surah Al-Ahzab. A bulwark against patriarchy. In a single sentence, Allah subhan wa ta‘aala pulls out the oxygen from ideas and ideologies developed by entitled men who talk about women as if they are passive objects. In my talk about women’s pain in the Qur’an, I noted how Allah tells believers to reverence the wombs that bore them. And yet, in the almost exclusively male communities of interpretation that we have seen historically, the womb is commodified rather than reverenced.

Let me read this verse to you. It’s verse 35 of Surah Al-Ahzab where Allah sets out the standard He will use to forgive and reward people. You can think of it as a marking scheme for a long exam.

For Muslim men and women,- for believing men and women, for devout men and women, for true men and women, for men and women who are patient and constant, for men and women who humble themselves, for men and women who give in Charity, for men and women who fast (and deny themselves), for men and women who guard their chastity, and for men and women who engage much in Allah’s praise,- for them has Allah prepared forgiveness and great reward.1

Let me point out some key features of this verse:

1. Allah takes special care to mention both women and men against every criterion He is going to assess us on. Thus, He tells us that men and women are accountable equally to Allah.

2. Allah establishes equality between men and women in terms of their capacity for faith, spirituality, devotion, charity, character and conduct.

3. All of the criteria are to do with spirituality and conduct yet our scholars waste time on policing our appearance, how we talk and if we wear nail polish. Here are the criteria listed in this verse: belief, devoutness to Allah, telling the truth, being patient and steadfast in the face of adversity and trial, being humble and not arrogant, being charitable, observing the fast and abstaining from immoralities, guarding the character by avoiding sexual indecencies, and engaging in the remembrance of Allah.

This verse is the most effective rebuttal to any so-called Islamic teachings peddled by the traditional, the orthodox, or the politicised versions of Islam.

I want you all to walk with me through this verse. Walk with me. Remind yourself that Allah has created you in the best of moulds (Surah Al-Tin).2 Remind yourself that you are a believer. Remind yourself that you stand in devotion to Allah within your ability and capacity.

Work towards always telling the truth. Develop patience as active practice. Apologise for your mistakes and be open to learning. If you can’t offer monetary charity, then speak a good word and give a warm hug to someone in tears. And finally, abstain from indecencies and extremes of behaviour and thought.

As you walk with me, you will realise that so many of us already do this. And although us Muslim women are judged and diminished for merely existing - and ridiculed and mocked for existing confidently and claiming our space - we know through this verse what Allah’s criteria of judgement are. With that scheme in front of us, we must develop the capacity for internal validation based on Allah’s criteria.

As a Muslim woman, whenever I find it difficult to breath in the face of the onslaught of insults and misogyny – from scholars taking aim at women’s intellect, to those who consider them nothing but genitalia (awrah), to those who frame marriage as a form of slavery and submission, to those who indulge in religious blackmail and force women to accept polygamy, to those who use Islam to justify the ugliness and criminality of child marriage – as a Muslim woman whenever I find it difficult to breath in the face of these onslaughts, I turn to this verse. I situate myself in it and breathe deeply. I feel a breeze lift my wings. I can take flight again, take to the blue sky. I can think big and think beyond.

The key reflection for today is this:

Be a top-tier believer.

Let this verse strengthen you. Let Allah’s words nurture your self-worth as a believer and guide you to excellence in conduct and virtue.