Akhila Kolisetty

Akhila Kolisetty

“Is  Hirsi Ali’s Islam the same as Islam everywhere? I think not. There are different interpretations. I think there must be room for feminism, even in Islam.”

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I have almost finished reading Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Her provocative book describes her heartrending journey from childhood to adulthood. As a child, she lived in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Kenya, and Ethiopia. She grew up Muslim, endured brutal beatings from her mother, did all the housework, and slowly pursued her education. As a child, she was forced to undergo female genital cutting, and she describes this episode in painful, shocking detail. She eventually escaped an arranged marriage to a man in Canada by applying for refugee status in Holland, which she received, although she lied about her circumstances by stating she was fleeing from the civil war in Somalia.

The first half of the book, where she speaks about her childhood, appealed to me. She discusses her thoughts about Islam growing up. She grappled with her faith as she came of age, and discussed religion in Quran school, with friends, and with relatives. She went through phases where she became overly religious, feeling as if she should cover up fully in order to submit to Allah and be a good Muslim. She started wearing a long cloak over her body, prayed more often, and even tried to convert her classmates to Islam. But over time, as she grew older, she began questioning her faith. She could never rid herself of the contradictions: Allah said men are equal to women in the Quran, but in reality, she felt, there was no equality. She saw this contradiction in everything, from the acceptance of domestic and sexual violence in marriage, to female genital cutting, to women having to cover up fully to avoid arousing men.

She wondered: Why does the Quran actively allow men to beat women if they do not obey? Why does the Quran ask that women be available for sex with their husbands at all times? And when she got to Holland, she saw that society goes on normally – and functions even better than Somalia, a Muslim country – even when women do not cover from head to toe. So why does Islam essentially state that if women are uncovered, society will become unstable and chaotic as men become unable to control their desires? She asks these, and many, many more questions. She takes issue with the fundamental tenet of Islam, which is to submit. Submit to Allah.  Hirsi Ali believes that such submission has caused women (and men) to live their lives passively, justifying their lack of action – even in dire life and death situations – by stating ‘It is the will of Allah.‘

But ultimately, she argues that Islam is a religion of violence and misogyny. She states that the Quran clearly sanctions violence against women in the name of religion. She states that the prophet actually allowed child marriage. She states that fundamentally, there is no equality between men and women in Islam. She discusses problems with Sharia law, and the injustices women accused of adultery must suffer.

I have a hard time believing this. I have not read the Quran, but after reading blogs online written by Muslim feminists, I have difficulty accepting that a religion can be inherently violent and unjust. It sounds like a blanket statement. While the Islam she grew up with might be violent and misogynistic, can we really say that about Islam everywhere? In the book she describes meeting many Bosnian Muslims living in the refugee center in Holland. She was shocked they called themselves Muslim, because they did not wear a hijab and often wore shorts and tight shirts. Is Hirsi Ali’s Islam the same as Islam everywhere? I think not. There are different interpretations. I think there must be room for feminism, even in Islam.

The cover of Infidel

Here’s a great example. In an excellent article about Saudi Arabian women daring to rise up against the driving ban, I found some thoughts on Islamic feminism:

“This desire to deny women entrance into the public arena is inaccurately presented as a religious mandate. Yet there is no basis for such exclusion in the Koran. On the contrary, in the early years of Islam, women were a vital presence in Muslim communities. They attended mosques, engaged in public debates and got involved in decision-making processes. Aisha, one of the wives of the Prophet Muhammad, commanded an army of men while riding on a camel. If Muslim women could ride camels 14 centuries ago, why shouldn’t they drive cars today? Which Koranic injunction prohibits them from driving?”

And it seems that through Islam, women do have rights. For instance, JFAO, the organization I volunteer with in Afghanistan, helps women obtain divorces – and this is completely legal under the law, in cases such as domestic violence or lack of care for the family by the husband. Additionally, Metis’ blog on Muslim feminists has an excellent overview of some of the rights granted to women.

Some rights women are promised in Islam are incomparable. For instance (without going into details and references), in Islam it is the husband’s duty to foot the wedding bill. It is his duty to look after all the financial needs of the wife. She doesn’t have to work if she doesn’t want to; and in sharia she doesn’t have to cook if she doesn’t like it. Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) allows women the right to demand domestic help. In early Islam many households had slaves and women of a household only worked out of “kindness.” There are many references to the Prophet cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, sewing, and even mending his shoes despite having at least nine wives at a time and several slaves. In Islam if a woman works she has the right not to spend any of it on her family. This is the consensus of scholars although early Muslim women like Khadeejah spent their money on their families. Men are also entirely responsible for their children’s financial needs. A woman is not obliged to work to support the children although one can argue that it was easier in early societies when life was simple. In Islam a child must be breast-fed but a mother is not forced to breast-feed her child and she can demand the services of a wet-nurse for her child.

In Islamic fiqh a woman doesn’t have to live with her in-laws if she doesn’t want to; she doesn’t have to look after them either. If she lives with them or cares for them, it is again out of kindness. This is an interesting ‘right’ because Muslim societies are essentially collectivistic but it is also not from Sunnah (the way of life modeled by the Prophet) since none of the Prophet’s wives had any in-laws to worry about. Islam gives women the right to stipulate in their marriage contract that they have the right to initiate divorce; demand custody of the children in case of divorce; and demand divorce in case of husband’s polygamy. The marriage contract is a ‘take it or leave it’ document. If a man is not comfortable with the stipulations a woman puts in her marriage contract he can back out very early on and save everyone the headache of a male-dominated marriage.

It seems to me that Hirsi Ali takes a very exaggerated view of Islam and “Muslim culture” by only choosing to highlight the aspects she sees as violent, and failing to recognize the aspects of Islam that do give women rights. Her book is not an even handed view of Islam but rather a tirade against the religion that stems in part from her own pent-up anger and emotions about her violent childhood.

The one point I do agree with: Muslims should be free to think critically about their religious texts, and think about their meaning beyond the literal meaning of the Quran. Hirsi Ali claims this is needed for a more healthy relationship with God, and not simply submission. For any religion, we must be able to interpret religious texts so that they are applicable to the world we live in. Just as the Bible cannot be taken literally, neither should the Quran.

One excellent interpretation of the Qur’anic verse (4:34) that demands obedience from women toward their husbands and allows husbands to beat their wives for disobedience is here. This illustrates, to me, how wildly interpretation of the Quran can vary; if this is the case, can Hirsi Ali really claim Islam is a religion of violence and subjugation of women? Perhaps this is the way Islam was taught to her, but again: it is not necessarily the way everyone practices Islam.

Overall, her message, to me, is dangerous because it feeds right-wing sentiments and Islamophobia, while failing to account for the very real diversity inherent in the way Islam is practiced and interpreted worldwide.

This post originally appeared on Akhila Kolisetty’s blog, Justice for All.

The views and opinions expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Peace X Peace.

Related articles

• Rethinking Tolerance: Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali (imperfecthappiness.wordpress.com)
• Another Saudi Cleric issues fatwa saying girls can be married “even if they are in the cradle” (barenakedislam.wordpress.com)