Let me start this brief talk by explaining the choice of the words Challenged  and Challenging. The first word has a connotation of being disadvantaged. Surely this needs no further elaboration as far as Muslim women are concerned. The second connotes a more proactive condition, even at some point aggressiveness in dealing with the status-quo. The question mark is there to allow women to decide where they are now, or where they want to go.  

I want to put this title in context by relating a recent event that took place in New York. A group calling itself the Union of Progressive Muslims created quite a stir by having a Friday Jammah of mixed crowd led by a woman imam, who also gave the khutbah. A woman also called the Azan. News reports noted that a similar event also took place in Toronto. 

Why did these two events grab the attention? This is because men have always performed the functions of calling the Azan, giving the khutba and leading the Jamaah.  Now,  women have challenged all three traditions.  The reactions from the Muslims were varied but most were angry and accused the women of trying to make an issue where none exists; worst, of turning the concern of the ummah away from more pressing and critical affairs that the community faced.  In other words, this is not the time to engage the Muslims in controversies that will sap its strength and take it away from where it is needed most. The common view is that women must act in accord with the roles prescribed for them, rather than waste their energies on side issues such as the desire to compete with men in their functions.

While the concern here is not to make judgment on this event, or argue its pros and cons, it is related here for the purpose of drawing attention to the way some Muslim women in the US and Canada are trying to carve direction for themselves by challenging the traditional roles of women in a Muslim community or society. The question is being raised whether this type of challenge is in fact a positive input to the social development of Muslims in general and of Muslim women in particular. And whether this is a direction that Muslim women in the Philippines should take?

I believe that except for the biological imperatives and the social relationships arising from this imperative (women being mothers, wives, daughters, sisters) the role that Muslim women can or would like to play in society is wide ranging and not without an element of choice. This choice is prescribed both by a critical understanding of the goal of an Islamic society and the correct interpretation of Islamic injunctions.

The main goal of an Islamic society is the promotion of good and forbidding of evil towards the development of a society enjoying a “good life” (or Hayatan tayyibah). The “good life” is one where justice prevails and just treatment of all members of society is of primary importance in the formation and implementation of laws.  To do this, a societal framework has been set within the principles of solidarity, justice and equity. It is good to remember that women are not excluded from this framework but share with men the tasks and responsibilities of bringing this framework to success. The Qur’anic injunctions exhorting both believing men and women in various capacities to uphold the values, principles and norms of Islam are sufficient evidence that the Qur’anic vision of the Muslim ummah is one where the cooperative endeavors of all constitutes the basis of its social relationships and functions. The Qur’an emphasized solidarity, justice and equity as working principles in ummah formation and has pointed out that the only difference between mankind in general, and men and women in particular, is their piety rather than status or gender.             

The role of Muslim women therefore must be conceptualized within this framework not divorced from it. Instead of looking at women’s roles in the usual boxes of dos and don’ts, it is best to think of their roles as unfolding within a framework that appreciates the status of man and woman as being “created from a single soul”, and equal before Allah, the Creator.

In this framework, we understand that the role of women is complementary (rather than competitive and hierarchical) to that of men, working in concert or partnership with them in addressing or promoting the welfare of the ummah. The Prophet (may peace and blessings be upon him)  said , “an –nisa shaqaiq al-rijal (women and men are twinmates). The Qur’an states “ al-mu’minat ba’dahum awliya’a ba’d” (Believers men and women are friends and supporters of one another),

It is in trying to operationalize these complementations that distortions or disjunctions have occurred owing to historical and societal developments too long to recount here. But the result was that women gradually lost their central position and began to play subordinate rather than complementary roles. If the chief characteristic of the Islamic social system was one of balance and moderation, the disjunctions or distortions have unbalanced the system and turned it upside down dividing the single ummah into two distinct spheres of the public and private domains. One half of the ummah was consigned to the private sphere where they were rendered almost invisible and voiceless. The other half ruled the world. 

Today, some things have changed. Muslim women are present in various spheres of life. This situation should be seen as efforts towards restoring the social balance, bridging the gender divide and reclaiming the holistic social system that should have produced what the Qur’an described as “the best community” or khaira ummatin), the single community, (ummatan wahidatan) the moderate/balanced community (ummatan wasatan).  

Coming now to the Muslim women in the Philippines, one can recognize the extent to which some of the distortions have taken place within the socio-cultural, political, economic and religious environments in which they live. These distortions are familiar so, rather than focus on them, it is more productive to talk about Muslim women engaging society. More so since right now Muslims in this country are faced with varied problems that have necessitated the active participation of women.          

There are areas where Muslim women have begun to play important roles. The first area is on the lips of everyone familiar with the status of development in this country:  poverty and its alleviation. It is already known that the poverty incidence in ARMM is very high. Therefore, the strategy for development has emphasized skill learning, upgrading literacy, and so on. Muslim women organizations have been busy along these lines. Their roles obviously have been to help spur economic activities by providing skills training, and other necessary requirements to make this happen.  Obviously, wealth creation and building self- reliance are on the agenda both for men and women. However, in the drive to induce more economic sustainability, there is a tendency to equate personal income to self worth. It is as if having less means a person is also valued less; that one’s purpose and worth in life can only be appreciated if attached to the $ sign. It is not surprising that everyone wants to become rich so they will be more esteemed in society and live a life of ease and pleasure. The pursuit of wealth for its own sake has been the bane of societies and Muslims have been warned by the Prophet (pubh)that this will be a primary cause for the division and deterioration of the ummah. 

 Muslim women NGOs working in this area must not lose sight of the fact that the pursuit of economic reliance does not supercede reliance on the Creator; that wealth should be redistributed in terms of zakat to the needy in the community. More important, the type of economic activities and practices that are pleasing to Allah are known and should be encouraged. Their role therefore is to integrate Islamic values into their activities so Muslim clients will not only grow in wealth but also in faith. By doing so, they are contributing to the building of a strong society that is both materially and spiritually enhanced.   

The same goes for Muslim women working in other fields of endeavor. Lets take a look at politics and Muslim women, who have been (or will be) appointed or elected to this position. What role have they played given their position as political leaders? Have they been sterling examples of Muslim leadership qualities exemplified by the Prophet Mohammad  (pubh): just, consultative, compassionate, committed to the welfare of the ummah?  This is a leadership that goes beyond the self, the family, the clan, the ethnic group and embraces and promotes the good of all; and forbids evil starting from the self and fanning outward to the rest of society. There is too much talk of jihad, yet too little actually takes place in the greatest jihad of all, that is the struggle against the selfish interest and the ego of individuals, especially those who would aspire to be leaders, or are already leaders. 

 Now the role that Muslim women can play in this arena is to undertake transformational leadership so they can move the Muslim community towards their destiny of being the best community. But, this calls first for a personal transformation   into individuals with strong commitments towards the public good, and a consciousness that all acts will be accounted for both here and the hereafter. This is the essence of the injunction that “we cannot change the situation unless we first change ourselves”. Many Muslims have forgotten how temporary are the glitters of this world and have become too attached to its pleasures conveniently forgetting what will come next. More important, they have forgotten the simple lifestyle of the Prophet, who mended his own clothes, and repaired his own shoes and who stayed grounded on the basic purpose of life:  service to Allah.

Muslim women leaders, living this same example, can challenge the prevailing mode of leadership and issue a not so gentle reminder that while doing good can be a lifetime purpose, leaders are in office for only a short space of time.  They should put this time to good use by fulfilling their mandate of office to the best of their abilities, and not get side-tracked by its trappings.    

Another significant area where Muslim women have been involved is education. We cannot underestimate the power that good and quality education confers on a person or a community. It is for this reason that the Prophet (pubh) exhorted the Muslims (men and women) to go as far as China to seek knowledge. Since China was not a Muslim country, obviously the kind of knowledge to be found here did not refer to religious knowledge but to other civilizational knowledge. History shows how the Muslims put this injunction to heart and expanded the frontiers of many sciences. 

Today, it is different.  Muslims in ARMM have the lowest literacy rates. But the educational struggles should not be confined to just building skills in order to find a job.  Muslim women organizations providing educational services, whether formal or informal are in a good position to include a program of correct and scientific Islamic base knowledge whether they are teaching about health, nutrition, motherhood, parenthood, or the environment. This is important because Muslims are constantly bombarded with ideas that tend to question the relevance of faith as an organizing principle in regulating the life of mankind. Muslims claim that Islam is a way of life so they should be able to understand, interpret and apply their faith in ways that promote good and forbid evil, then when they pray the Fatiha asking God to “ show them the straight way” that they may “ not go astray”, their daily prayers will not be in vain.    

Since social development must inevitably come to the crucial point of delineating what is Islamic or un-Islamic, it becomes imperative that Muslim women are also knowledgeable in this area.  If they have little information about their own society, they have an obligation to know and learn. For Muslim women to play an active and complementary role, they must be able to make informed and enlightened decisions and do not simply defer to the decisions of their male or other partners.  

 In terms of trying to work out solutions to problems facing the Muslims, particularly here in the Philippines, there must be a real and common understanding of the problems and what can be done to solve them without compromising Islamic principles in the wrong notions that these principles are already outmoded and no longer workable in the 21^st  century.  There is a need for discussion and critical deconstruction of some of the cultural practices and other factors that have kept Muslims in the Philippines unable to fulfill their destiny. This is the work for Muslims, men and women, no one can do it for them. 

Of course, all this will not be easy. Nor will it happen overnight. Yet, if all Muslim women NGO leaders are able to transform their own organizations beyond the two or three years fund-driven project objectives into dynamic vehicles for the Islamic social agenda, we are looking at several small but ever-widening circles “of a brave new world”. This is what happened in Medina when the first Islamic community was established way back in the 7^th century.  It has been done; so it can be done again.    

 Is this too much of a challenge? Are Muslim women ready to take the challenge?

Let me end this remarks by sharing this analogy as a final reminder of the partnership and complementarity of men and women:

  “A bird can only fly if it flaps both wings.” *

  - oOo –

*Cited from Jeewan Chanicka, Where are the Women, Islmonline.net, 11/10/2004.

The paper was presented at the National Conference on Terrorism, Peace, and Democracy; Thoughts from Muslim Mindanao, held at the Mandarin Hotel, May 11, 2005.

- Dr. Carmen A. Abubakar
is the current dean of the Institute of
Islamic Studies, U.P. Diliman

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