Muslim Brotherhood & Misogyny “Question about the rule of Islam on women not to go out of her house”

Cairo – Questions related to women’s issues are an important and significant theme in the Fatwa Section of Al-Dawah (The Call) Magazine, as they exceed in number all other Fatwas related to Copts, politics and art.

In Issue No. 59 of Al-Dawah Magazine, released in March 1981, an anonymous reader from Sudan inquisitively asks: “Some youth understand that the rule of Islam on women is not to go out of her house, to see anyone and not to be seen by anyone, is this right?”   

The answer came as follows:

“In this religion, any person with little experience or knowledge of the narrations [of Hadith] is not qualified to pass any fatwas (religious verdicts).  Muslim Jurists have set specifications for those who are authorized to issue fatwas, some of which are:  1) Knowledge of the reasons and circumstances of revelation (Asbāb al-nuzūl), 2) Knowledge of the early and the belated thereof is a bonus; 3) Knowledge of the abrogating and the abrogated [verses of the Qur’an], the occasion in which the prophetic tradition “Hadith” was uttered, done or tacitly approved, 4) Sound knowledge of Arabic language, and last but not least 5) Impartiality and sincerity.  

The consensus of jurists and the entire Islamic Ummah [community] states that the house is the natural abode for the woman. God–Almighty- says in the Qur’an: “And stay in your houses;” thus, the house is her abode and permanent residence. However, this does not mean that they stay in their houses, and never to leave them at all. In actuality, there are emergency exceptions, limited by need and necessity; and necessity must only be answered proportionally. Women going out of their houses, in situations other than this necessity, are a curse that destroys everything. Women at the time of the Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him), went out for prayer and they were not prohibited from that in Islam. Women went out to pray wearing a veil, that no one knows her.   However, after the demise of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), Lady Aisha discouraged them from going out.  In the two Sahihs[1], Al-Bukhari and Muslim, Lady Aisha narrates, “The women of the believers used to attend the Fajr prayer with Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) and return back with their veiling sheets to their homes unrecognized.”  In the two Sahihs, she also said; “If the Messenger of Allah, May Allah bless him and grant him peace, had seen what women do now, he would have forbidden them to go into the mosques, just as the women of the Bani Israel were forbidden.“

When we decide the rule of Islam on the status of women, we should not be affected by the conditions of existing societies, and the prevailing chaos, imitation, distortion and deviation; as doing so makes the person narrow-minded, or strict in issuing a fatwa on such issues.   Islam controls the persona of Muslim woman in the Islamic society; they do not go out except for necessity, and do not behave except for the sake of the pleasure of God.  

It is recorded in Sahih Al-Bukhari under the title: “Chapter: Women Joining Men in Battles,” Anas Ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: “On the day (of the battle) of Uhad when (some) people retreated and left the Prophet, I saw `Aisha bint Abu Bakr and Um Sulaim, with their robes tucked up so that the bangles around their ankles were visible hurrying with their water skins ,carrying the water skins on their backs, then they would pour the water in the mouths of the people, and return to fill the water skins again and come back again to pour water in the mouths of the people.”

Similarly, the following Hadith narration is recorded in Sahih Al-Bukhari under the title, “Chapter on Women Treating the Wounded of War“.

Narrated Ar-Rubayyi ‘bint Mu’auwidh:

“We were in the company of the Prophet (peace be upon him) providing the wounded with water and treating them and bringing the killed to Medina (from the battlefield)”.

This is an important part of women’s duty in Islam; they go out of the house striving for God’s cause, supporting the believers, treating the wounded, and water the Mujahedeen (fighters).  The hadith of the daughter of Milhan is supports this view, too. It is also recorded in Sahih Al-Bukhari that Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated: “The prophet went to the daughter of Milhan and reclined there and slept, and then woke up smiling. She asked, “O Allah’s Messenger! What makes you smile?” He replied, I dreamt that some people amongst my followers were sailing on the sea in Allah’s Cause, resembling kings on thrones.” She said, “O Allah’s Messenger, Invoke Allah to make me one of them.” He said, “O Allah! Let her be one of them.” Then he slept again, woke up, and smiled. She asked him the same question and he gave the same reply. She said, “Invoke Allah to make me one of them.” He replied, ”You will be amongst the first group of them; you will not be amongst the last.” Later on, she married ‘Ubada bin As-Samit and then she sailed on the sea with bint Qaraza, Mu’awiya’s wife (for Jihad). On her return, she mounted her riding animal, which threw her down breaking her neck, and she died on falling down.”  

This is part of the role of women in Islam, and the purpose of their going out of the house; whereas going out for distraction, vulgarity and chaos, is not our way for Islam addresses women who are true believers and committed to Islam, none else.[2]

Critique:

What ignorant, harebrained and extravagant person who issues such Fatwa without an iota of knowledge! While wisdom, sobriety, knowledge and the humility, are enjoyed by the Muslim Brotherhood alone. The person issuing fatwa begins with a lesson on the conditions of the fatwa, followed by strange ideas that confirm that the Muslim Brotherhood lives outside the modern age; they consider women inferior and worthless creatures.

What does the Muslim Brotherhood has to offer in order to correct the misconceptions among young people?

• As for the statements: “The Jurists of the Islamic community (Ummah[3]) have unanimously agreed that the house is the “natural” and “normal” abode for women. She may not leave it because it is her permanent place.” These are the limits of their understanding of the Qur’anic verse that was revealed and specifically addressing the wives of the Prophet. The Verse was not a legislation or ruling per se for all women according to the Quran text itself, “O wives of the Prophet! You are not like any other women.”
• An “emergency exception” may or may not allow her to go out, in tandem. Women work long hours when the exigencies of the family economy demand it. Such exigencies depend on the seriousness of the non-specific necessity and its focus. Except for that, going out of the house for women, without considering her intention of going out and her behavior outside, constitutes “a curse that raze everything to the ground”!
• A woman going out to pray seems to be detested and not appreciated in the lifetime of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and in the early days of Islam. How then would the matter be in contemporary life where corruption is very rampant?!

The authentic prophetic Hadith is explicit in this regard; that women should not be prevented from praying out. “Do not forbid the female servants of Allah from (going into) the mosques of Allah.”

However, Muslim Brotherhood does not seem to concur with that at all. Let us see what the Brotherhood tend to blame some youth for? Do not they forbid women to leave their houses, and stress that the house is her ‘permanent sanctuary’, and that even prayer cannot be excluded from this rule! In an attempt to stifle vocal voices that talk about the age and the changes that have been around, the so-called ‘moderate, enlightened Brotherhood members’ are trying to confiscate the principle of comparison and contrasting, stressing that modern societies are not a model to be adopted and followed. These societies are full of chaos, imitation, decadence and deviation!

Surprisingly, the Brotherhood Mufti quotes Al-Bukhar’s Hadith narration, in the aforementioned chapter (op. cit., Women Joining Men in Battles). However,  at the same time, he fails to devise the positive and fair meaning of women in what he conveys. In fact, what he understands and emphasizes is that “jihad” in its military form is the ‘emergency exception’ that allows women to go out of the house, as if education, work, increasing production and participation in decision-making are not considered a necessary modern form of jihad. For those who want to lead a prosperous life, which does not welcome the lazy and does not accommodate the helpless, have to develop better understanding of the true meaning and sense of the concept of ‘Jihad’. The fatwa ends with an emphasis on the prohibition of  women going out of the house to the society  where there is corruption, decadence, vulgarity and chaos, as if going out  is only for such negative practices, as if millions of working Muslim women have no goal but corrupting and doing mischief in the land. The only remedy, of course, is the rule that women should not leave the house so that the moral conditions of the Muslim society may be established!

Dr. Abdel Rehim Ali, an Egyptian Journalist and Member of Parliament, is an expert on Islamist Movements and political Islam. Ali is a member of Egypt’s Press Syndicate, head of the Arab Center for Journalism in Egypt and chairperson & Editor-in-Chief of Al-Bawaba Newspaper and Portal. He is also an Egyptian MP and head of the Arab Center for Research and Studies (ACRS) in Cairo and Paris.

[1]. The Two Sahihs are the most trusted books in Sunni Islam after the holy Quran. (Translator)

[2] Issue No. 59 of Al-Dawah Magazine, released in March 1981

[3] . Ummah (Muslim community) is Pan-Islamic sentiment that drew on very old conceptions of community as the ultimate solidarity group for Muslims. (Translator)