The Islamic View of Women—Ideals and Realities
This article is a revision of a public lecture
given by this institute on 4 December 2005.

Kazuko Shiojiri

1. The Ideals of the Qur’ān

T

HE Islamic world is said to be extremely difficult to understandfrom the outside. For the Japanese in particular, Islam is considered
to be a religion that is hard to grasp. Nevertheless, in the contemporary
information age, the number of believers is increasing day by day,despite the “Islam bashing” whereby it is condemned as an extremely
bad religion that embraces war and terrorism. Statistics vary regarding
the overall number of Muslims—one figure places it at 1.3 billion,
another at 1.6 billion. Within the next five to ten years, Islam can be
expected to become the largest religious force in the world, with its
believers surpassing the total number of Christians.
How should we deal with the fact that the number of Muslims isincreasing daily despite the harsh criticism toward Islam that comesfrom Western Christian society? This is a major theme that requires
urgent attention. The Asahi Shinbun’s evening edition of 3 December
2005 ran an op-ed piece titled “No progress in the understanding ofIslam amongst the Japanese.” Getting along with Muslims by looking at
issues that face us from a global perspective is a major prerequisite forworld peace. Nevertheless, even if we try to develop mutual understanding with the Islamic world, not being able to understand the essence ofIslam remains an irritating obstacle.
This article focuses on the Islamic view of women and considers how
Muslim women, who are usually perceived as wearing long dresses andveils while seemingly being confined in their homes, actually live insociety.
While it is generally understood that Islam advocates male domination over women, the Qur’ån, which is the fundamental sacred text ofIslam, teaches that both men and women are free and equal partners
who fight for justice together. Islam is a religion that came from the traditions of Judaism and Christianity, and the Qur’ån contains many
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accounts from the Old Testament. For instance, the description of how
Adam, the original human, was born and then a woman, Eve, was created as his partner was incorporated into the Qur’ån without great change
from the Old Testament. The only big difference is in the description of
Eve: that is, unlike the Old Testament version, the Qur’ån contains no
criticism of Eve.
According to the Old Testament story, original sin was a consequenceof Eve’s actions. Being defeated by the devil’s whisper, she took fruitfrom the tree of wisdom and then enticed her husband to eat it. This is
the reason why women must bear the suffering of giving birth. The Old
Testament also states that Eve was made out of a part of Adam’s rib andthat women are fundamentally subordinate to men, but there is no suchaccount in the Qur’ån. Although humans are described as committing a
sin ultimately in the Qur’ån, just like the two in the Old Testament, thisis not because the woman enticed the man but because they both committed a sin by succumbing to the devil’s temptation: in the end, they are
expelled from heaven and sent to Earth. At the time, however, God forgives them and they are given the important role as God’s vicegerents on
Earth, and are taught to prosper by leaving offspring for the next generations.
The reason why women are discriminated against in society, eventhough the Qur’ån depicts an equal and idealistic view of men andwomen, is considered to be because the Had¥th, which was compiled
some two hundred to two hundred and fifty years after the death of theProphet Muhammad, absorbed the discriminative thoughts and policies
against women that were part of traditional convention in the Middle
Eastern or Mediterranean worlds.
Details of the Had¥th will be described later but briefly it is a recordof deeds and actions of the Prophet Muhammad as well as those of his
first generation of followers. It is a collection of oral traditions compiled
between two hundred to two hundred and fifty years after the Prophet’s
death that concern how and under what circumstances he guided thepeople.
Fundamentally, the Qur’ån only narrates basic principles and rules but
does not set down detailed instructions. This means that there was noone who could instruct people with authority after the Prophet had
passed away. At the same time, as the Islamic world rapidly expanded,
people started to encounter unexpected situations they had never eventhought of. Under such circumstances, people would read the Had¥thand judge matters based on how the Prophet acted in similar situations.
This is the reason why the Had¥th is considered to be the “second sacred

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text” and is used as a guideline for the daily practice of Islamic faith.
As it was possible for distortions and falsities to be absorbed into oral
tradition in the two hundred years after the Prophet’s death, six of theHad¥th that were compiled by six editors are accepted as the true collection of the Had¥th. Of these, two have been translated into Japanese: onewas edited by al-Bukhår¥ and the other by Muslim. Japan is the only
country in the world where the two collections of the Had¥th have beentranslated almost in their entirety. This indicates that the research standard of Islamic study in Japan is very high.
The Qur’ån does not clearly state from what women were created. It
only states that they were created as partners of men to give them peaceof mind. On the other hand, the Had¥th states that woman was createdfrom the dirtiest and the most twisted part of Adam’s rib; thus, no matter
how well-educated, women are completely useless. The description of
women in the Had¥th becomes more abusive. For instance, whenattempts are made to correct women they break down: the result is that
their marriages end in divorce.
Eventually, the Had¥th began including accounts that blamed womenfor all sins committed in the human world: they were described as being
stupid, ignorant, and lacking in reason and ethical responsibility. However, it is clear that the Prophet Muhammad did not discriminate against
women. An examination of the facts surrounding the early stages ofIslam reveals that the Prophet Muhammad trusted the women around
him as human beings and listened to their opinions with respect.
For instance, the Prophet’s first wife Khad¥ja was a little older thanhim. (She is often said to be fifteen years older than him, but I think she
was only two or three years older). She was the president of a tradecompany: even if we consider this from today’s perspective, she wasvery active in society. Although he was an employee of her company,
Khad¥ja is said to have proposed marriage to Muhammad because he
was very talented and honest.
It is also said that when the Prophet received God’s words through arevelation for the first time at the age of forty years old, the experience
scared him very much and he went home to his wife Khad¥ja shaking
and crying. She encouraged her husband saying, “pull yourself together,
this is a revelation from the one God. You are chosen”—she became thefirst believer of Islam.
Furthermore, the Prophet’s last beloved wife, Ó‘isha, was only about
ten years old when she married him, and was eighteen when he passed
away. Despite her youth, she was a great help to the Prophet, and statedher opinions in strategic meetings concerning his religious activities orTHE ISLAMIC VIEW OF WOMEN

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in the military meetings conducted during the numerous religious wars
that occurred during Muhammad’s campaigns. She also achieved a great
deal in the battlefield where she accompanied him, and left many traditions in the Had¥th.
It is said that when a male believer asked the Prophet “whom do you
most trust?” the Prophet replied without any hesitation, “Ó‘isha.” Then
this believer hurriedly changed his question saying, “No, no, which man
do you trust most?” As this anecdote shows, the Prophet trusted thewomen around him and thus developed his religious activities and missionary work.
Nevertheless, the Qur’ån contains many accounts of male domination
over women. It is said that the Prophet complained about how God’s
words were different from his personal will, which was to treat men andwomen equally with respect. However, considering the facts related tothe early stages of Islamic culture, women played a great role in religious activities.
Under Islamic Law, however, which was established in the ninth century, unmarried women fall under the protection of either their fathers or
male relatives. After marriage they can only live as dependants by surrendering their bodies to their husbands and becoming obedient to them.
Frankly speaking, under Islamic Law, the purpose of marriage is for awoman to bear her husband’s legitimate child in order to maintain
Islamic society. While the details of this will be explained later, forexample, a modern DNA examination can determine the parent-childrelationship with about ninety-eight percent accuracy. In Islamic society,however, it is considered that a man’s legitimate child can only be bornto a woman who legally married him when she was still a virgin.
According to Islamic Law, even if a child’s father has been identified
biologically, if the child is not the product of a lawful marriage the parent-child relationship is denied.

2. Islamic Law
Islamic Law is called Shar¥‘ah in Arabic. The term “Shar¥‘ah” has begun
to appear in weekly magazines or newspapers nowadays, even in Japan,
and is thus becoming recognized by the general public. Islamic Law is
so-called “sacred law,” in other words, one that prescribes religious precepts or commandments. This law encompasses God’s guidelines andcommandments for all kinds of human behavior-its sources are theQur’ån, Sunnah, Ijmå, and Qiyås.
The Qur’ån is the sacred text of Islam, but it is different from the

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sacred texts of other religions in the sense that Muslims believe it to be
entirely God’s words. In the case of Buddhist sutras, for instance, thefirst sutras are collections of Shakyamuni’s words, but after that,
depending on the age, texts written by high ranking priests or scholars
who were spiritually awakened were adopted as sutras.
Furthermore, in Christianity, both the Old and New Testaments are
considered to be official sacred texts, but in both cases most of the chapters were recorded by particular writers. Even though they wrote thetexts following God’s inspiration through their faith, the fact is that they
were produced by human hands. In Islam, however, the Qur’ån’s words
are considered to be God’s words that were transmitted to people
through the Prophet Muhammad without question.
It is natural for non-believers of Islam to think that this is ridiculous
and impossible, and that Muhammad probably thought up the words
himself even though he was guided by divine inspiration. However, thebiographical writings of Muhammad as the Prophet show how hebecame totally confused because the revelations of God’s words weresometimes quite different from his personal intentions. It also seems tobe necessary to consider the fact that as the Qur’ån was compiled only
twenty years after the Prophet’s death, there was no room for othersources and counterfeit texts to be incorporated. Even though one may
not be a believer, if Muslims believe that the Qur’ån is God’s words, it isimportant to understand their position as believers and not to say theirbeliefs are stupid or based on lies.
It becomes extremely difficult to understand other religions or cultures when one denies their sacred texts or doctrines as prevarications.
For instance, if one were to say, “Shakyamuni was such a refined prince,
it is impossible that he purposely chose a path of suffering, that’s justfiction,” then Buddhism could not even be established. In the case of
Christianity, if one declared, “Jesus revived three days after he died on
the cross—that is impossible, ridiculous,” then the entire faith would
collapse from its foundation.
When considering religious ideas that have captured people’s hearts
and brought them spiritual salvation throughout history, it is important
to distance ourselves from outright denial and try to understand theirbeliefs and convictions. Therefore, I would like to deal objectively with
the Qur’ån and separate myself from questions of belief about whether
the Qur’ån truly contains the eternal words of God or not.
It is from this perspective that I state, “the Qur’ån contains the eternalwords of God and is a collection of his words and nothing else”—this is
not because I believe it myself.

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The second source of Islamic Law, the Sunnah, is knowledge thatcomes from the Had¥th. The Had¥th records the actions of the Prophet
Muhammad and the first generation of his followers. For instance, Muslims use water to purify themselves before daily prayers, but whatshould they do at prayer time in a place that has no water? If one consults the Had¥th at such a time, one can find an episode of how theProphet used sand to purify his hands while traveling in the desert.
Therefore, believers can follow this precedent. Such knowledge is called
the Sunnah, while the meaning of sunnah in Arabic is “custom.”Perhaps some of you are familiar with the term Sunnah because theconflicts between the Sunnis and the Sh¥‘ites are intensifying and areseen as significant problems in Iraq. In the Islamic world, ninety percent
of Muslims are Sunni, and they regard the Prophet’s Sunnah as important. The Sh¥‘ites follow ‘Al¥, Muhammad’s cousin, who married the
youngest daughter of the Prophet Muhammad. They formed a different
denomination since they considered ‘Al¥ to be the first Imåm, the Savior,
and worship his descendants as infallible saviors. In the Islamic world,
only eight percent of the believers are Sh¥‘ites. The remaining two percent of Muslims belong to small sects connected to the Shi‘ites.
Although the Shi‘ites are small minority, Shi‘a is the national religion in
the Islamic Republic of Iran and Shi‘ites have a strong impact on international relationships. Therefore their activities are at the center ofworld attention.
As the Shi‘ite movement is an important key toward the resolution of
the current problems in Iraq, it is now the focus of global attention.
While these two denominations have various differences in their doctrines, both the Sunnis and the Shi‘ites can attend religious services atthe same mosque, and can make the pilgrimage to Makkah (Mecca).
Belonging to different denominations does not affect the place of worship. I would like you to remember that such tolerant and liberal aspects
do exist in Islam.
The third and the fourth sources of Islamic Law are interesting: theIjmå means “unanimity” among Muslims. Originally in Islam there wasno main temple or ecclesiastical system. Therefore, each believer has
the power and authority to make decisions as a rule, so nothing can bedecided without the complete agreement of all believers.
This was not so difficult when the Prophet Muhammad only had a
few believers, but when the numbers reach up to 1.6 billion as they do
nowadays, it is impossible to achieve unanimity, no matter how welltelephone systems or the Internet have developed. In such cases, when

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legal scholars from various areas reach agreement, these are considered
to be universal decisions. In other words, the agreement of all believers
actually means the agreement of scholars of Islamic Law.
However, while an agreement may be reached among scholars, if thegeneral believers do not adopt their decisions, they cannot be disseminated throughout the Islamic world. Thus, although the Islamic world issometimes criticized for its slow decision-making process, when consensus is reached it becomes deeply rooted in society very quickly. In
other words, the Islamic world is not inconsistent all the time, nor doesit constantly split into groups without any semblance of order. Nevertheless it may be unavoidable that the Islamic world seems somewhat
chaotic when viewed from the outside.
While consensus amongst the scholars of Islamic Law is adopted
through the Ijmå, the fourth source of Islamic Law, the Qiyås, is also
about scholastic analogy or judgment in specialized areas according todifferent times, countries, places, and circumstances. Without theseanalogies and judgments, Muslims would be forced to live under thesame conditions as in the Arabian Peninsula of the seventh century. In
fact, modern Muslims lead almost the same lives as the Japanese—they
travel on airplanes, drive cars, and use the Internet. Without scholastic
judgments that are in accord with the time and circumstances, contemporary Muslims would have to lead lifestyles from centuries ago, justlike the Amish people in the U.S.A.
Islamic Law certainly has strict moral standards that derive these four
sources, the most important one being the Qur’ån. It is “unwritten law”
that allows for analogies and judgments in keeping with the times, countries, places, and circumstances.
Shar¥‘ah, Islamic Law, was decided by God, so it is impossible tochange its principles and fundamental rules. Yet it is not codified in theform of a statute but is unwritten law. Within the limits of its principles
freedom of analogy is allowed to a certain degree. In Japan, for example, laws are perhaps easier to follow since they are codified in the formof statutes, and revision of the Japanese constitution is currently underdiscussion. In most cases the law is written in textual form, but unwritten law is clearly different from the understanding of the law in Japan.
The questions, then, are by what standards do modern Muslim basetheir lives, and on what basis do scholars of Islamic Law make theirstandards of judgment? Legal scholars make judgments not only by thefour sources, but by examining the enormous amount of legal researchand collections of judicial precedents while taking into account theneeds of the contemporary age.

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Let us consider the example of brain death, which is currently a major
issue in the Islamic world. Saudi Arabia, for instance, allows organtransplants from brain death patients. The fact that an extremely conservative nation like Saudi Arabia, which adopts Islamic Law as its national law, accepts the idea of brain death is very interesting. Legal scholars
in Saudi Arabia have judged that brain death could be accepted according to the Islamic Law.
Consensus regarding this decision, however, has not yet been reachedthroughout the Islamic world. Egypt, for example, has adopted organtransplants in cases of heart death, but it still strongly resists accepting
brain death; legal scholars have not made an official statement concerning this problem.
Therefore, various judgments and decisions under Islamic Law can bemade depending on the area or the circumstances. As the law is not codified but unwritten, there is room for new analogies and judgments. To
reiterate my point, Shar¥‘ah is not written law but unwritten law thatallows the legal scholars to pass the judgment on cases based on its principles.
The fundamental ideal of Shar¥‘ah is founded on the view of “what isa human being?” I would like to discuss the Islamic perspective ofhumans in another forum, but basically it is a biological or natural view.
Islam holds that the noblest way of life for a person is not for them torenounce the world and enter monasteries to become a priest, nor to staysingle throughout their life. It is for them to lead a normal life, find acompanion, have children and raise them, and end their life in old age
after sending the next generation out into the world. In other words, thisway of life is considered to please God the most, and is normal and natural both biologically and socially. The idea of renouncing the worldand becoming a cleric is not found in Islam: therefore it is a religion forlay people.
Many Japanese are interested in Islamic mysticism, Sufism, and you
may wonder about its practitioners. Sufis are advised to stay in mosquesor at home, or commute to the training hall to practice at the same time
as maintaining marriages and raising families. One does not please God
if one’s family is deprived of their livelihood because one leads asecluded life.
The same is applied to Islamic legal scholars. Currently, universities
in various places have established courses in Islamic Law so one canobtain qualifications after graduation. Before this, however, up until thirty or forty years ago, an ordinary learned man who could answer any
questions took on the role of legal scholar. In most cases in the Islamic

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world, scholars, theologians, or mystics were not considered to be professionals.
Only a small number of scholars worked as national judges, or serveda dynasty or a king, and they were professional scholars. Generally
speaking, however, people who were well-informed and had strong faith
could advise people on their problems on Fridays at mosques. In otherwords, these people earned their living through different professions at
the same time as being Islamic legal scholars. A scholar of the Had¥th,
al-Bukhår¥, who was mentioned above, earned his living as a peddler
selling fancy goods while guiding his disciples on Fridays at themosques.
The fact that Islamic Law is based on the view of “what is a humanbeing” can also be seen in its guidelines regarding human behavior.
Human behavior can be divided into the categories of obligation, recommendation, permission, hatred, and prohibition. Permission is mostcommon category of behavior, and it deals with actions that are neutral
and cannot be judged for their value, either good or bad. In general, thelaw only applies to “obligation” and “prohibition.” If an “obligation” is
not met, one is charged with a fine, or is sometimes arrested. The same
applies if one commits an act that falls under the category of “prohibition.”
Behavior that falls under “recommendation” or “hatred” is not subject
to ordinary, secular laws. On the other hand, Islamic Law is a religious
law under God’s commandments, and judgments based on this law areapplied to all kinds of human behavior. It teaches that actions which fallunder these categories, while not being subject to criminal or positive
law, contain rewards or punishments in the afterlife. This is the difference between ordinary, secular law and “God’s law.”
Regarding the enforcement of these laws, there are four jurisprudence
schools which were established by the mid ninth century. The theoriesof Shar¥‘ah were fixed by four schools, the Hanaf¥, the Målik¥, theShåfi‘¥, and the Hanbal¥, which are still in force today. Therefore it issometimes said that this system blocks free judgment within Islamic
Law. It is also taught that the gate that allowed for free legal judgment
was closed around the tenth century. Consequently Islam is sometimes
considered to be extremely backward and non-progressive.
Yet, if the gate of legal judgment was completely closed, Muslims
could not fly an airplane or drive a car. In reality, however, Shar¥‘ah Law
is applied in a flexible manner in accord with the times or changes incircumstance: for example, a prince from Saudi Arabia rode on a space
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requirements of the time, area, and people.
While this may sound contradictory, Islamic legal judgments are very
loyal to the tradition on the one hand, but are flexible in accordance withthe requirements of the times on the other. As these two principles or
aspects have existed without contradiction, Islam was able to develop
over the course of one thousand four hundred years.
Shar¥‘ah Law are commandments that are deeply related to all kindsof human activity, not just to religious ceremonies and liturgies but also
to daily life, social life, and economic activities, which includes politics
and international relationships, issues concerning international law, andeven the rules of war. Therefore a society that upholds the unity of religion and politics is considered to be ideal. As I mentioned before, religiously conservative countries such as Saudi Arabia or Sudan continue
to use Islamic Law. Almost all other Islamic nations are based on legal
standards, such as constitutions, or family, civil, or criminal law, justlike in Japan. Islamic Law still has significant power over people’s daily
lives in various societies. Almost all Muslims live following the rules ofShar¥‘ah Law, especially concerning marriage, divorce, raising children,and inheritance.
Considering the fact that the union of religion and politics is viewed
as ideal in Islam, one might think that Islamic society is backward.
However, the history of the modern civil society of Europe shows thatthe separation of religion and politics meant the separation of churchand state in Christian world. It never meant the separation of religious
and political ideals but, rather, the separation of political power fromecclesiastical authority. Until Europe’s medieval period, the power of
the Pope was extremely strong, a position called the Holy Roman
Emperor existed, and the church held great power in politics, to theextent of that it had the right to remove kings or emperors.
The separation of religion and politics today means separating ecclesiastical and political power. Even European countries, as well as theUnited States, which inherited this modern separation of religion andpolitics, do not separate religious and political ideals. In the UnitedStates, the president places his hand on the Bible when taking the oath.
This can be also seen from the perspective of President Bush’s political
position. Some religious scholars regard it as indicating that “the UnitedStates is the largest religious nation in the contemporary world.” It could
be said that there is no society on Earth, Japanese society included,
which is totally unconnected to traditional cultures, religious ideals, or
religious concepts. Considering this, the Islamic perspective, which sees
the unity of religion and politics as natural, is honest thinking in a way,

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and seems to view society directly. It seems that Islamic society expresses the attitude that religious ideals are important, whether they be
regressive or progressive.

3. Islamic Law and Women
Even in today’s Islamic world, Shar¥‘ah Law exerts a significant powerover Muslims, especially concerning rules relating to family matters.
Recently, the number of Japanese people converting to Islam is noticeable. Yet even if one person were to become the only Muslim in a familyor the only Muslim at their workplace, they need to follow everything—marriage, divorce, raising children, and inheritance—in accordance with
Islamic Law. No matter where converts to Islam may live, even if it is in
an area where there are no other Muslims, the Shar¥‘ah is an important
standard for them and is a commandment that comes from God.
In areas such as marriage, divorce, raising children, and inheritance,families have to follow precepts that affect women much more thanmen. These precepts have various aspects in times of marriage, divorce,and raising children, and there are strict rules especially for women.
In this sense, Islamic Law is deeply related to the life of women. In
general, the Islamic world’s sexual morals for women are strict to theextent of appearing abnormal. Veils and long-sleeved ankle-length
dresses are said to be the major symbols of Islamic women. As religious
revival movements are on the rise globally these days, almost all Muslim women wear scarves and stop using makeup as soon as they convert
to Islam.
In fact, however, there are many Muslim women in the Middle East
who use makeup and dress with elaborately colored and designed clothing. New converts to the religion who live in relatively remote places,such as Japan, seem to become especially dogmatic, some even fanatical, about wearing traditional Islamic clothing in an attempt to protect
the Islamic way of life. As a result, whether women wear veils or not
has currently become a major factor in determining if they are Muslim
or not.
Looking at this phenomenon, you might think that strict rules, such as
forcing women to wear veils, must appear in the Qur’ån repeatedly. It is
generally believed that God ordered women to wear veils or long dresses in order for them to be discreet and to protect their chastity, yet only
one account relating to veils appears in the Qur’ån.
“And say to the believing women that they should lower their gazeand guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty andTHE ISLAMIC VIEW OF WOMEN

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ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that theyshould draw their veils over their bosoms”1 (The Qur’ån: Chapter 24,
section 31). In other words, this rule teaches that women’s beauty orbodily decoration should not be emphasized, excepting those areas thatappear naturally. Concerning the section, “they should draw their veils
over their bosoms,” the Qur’ån does not provide detailed instruction on
how to wear a veil.
Such expressions appear in many other religions too, but I imagine
that not many people carry out religious rules to the letter. Perhaps suchaccounts should rather be seen as spiritual guides. In other words, theveil expresses a woman’s determination to protect her heart and chastity.
When the idea that a woman who does not wear a veil is not true
Muslim becomes a social trend of the times, this places a stronger
requirement on women to wear veils or traditional Islamic clothing.
Throughout the history of Islam, the contemporary age is probably thetime when believers must adhere to such rules to the strictest extent.
In fact, the reason why women hide their bodies by wearing a veil or
black mantle is not to protect their own chastity but for men to avoid
being tempted by women: in other words, it was actually adopted as atactic to protect men. These rules have been connected to the traditions
and conventions of each society throughout history and they developedin a context which was originally unrelated to Islam; their repetition
made them even stricter, thus causing women to suffer.
For instance, as in the case of “honor killings,” the rules of Islamic
Law and the customs and conventions of various areas are linked. There
are several cases where something that did not result from an original
teaching of the Qur’ån was appropriated as God’s order, and it thenbecame a primary factor in the oppression of women.
“Honor killing” is linked to the strict sexual morals of the Islamic
world. Although the Qur’ån teaches that faithfulness and chastity mustbe followed equally by both men and women, it is applied to women
more strictly than to men. In particular, the chastity of young single
women is closely scrutinized by those around them.
Let us take the case of a daughter of a family engaged to a man. If she
had to talk to other men for work-related purposes in the course of conducting some business, or was said to have cast a flirtatious look at
another man, someone could report this to her parents saying, “yourdaughter was dating other man even though she is engaged to someone
else.” In this case her father or other male relatives might kill her to protect their family’s honor before the facts are investigated. These cases
occur often even today.

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It is said that more than three hundred women per year become victims of “honor killings” in Pakistan. About twenty to thirty years ago,
there was a case where a princess related to a Saudi Arabian royal family had an illicit affair with a young man. Consequently the two werearrested and executed in public. This story became a movie titled The
Death of a Princess. Someone happened to be at the execution scene
and took photos with a small camera. Then a BBC journalist obtained
the film and wrote an article. I heard that a movie was made based onthat article. The story starts when a young princess, who was less thantwenty years old at the time, becomes the second wife of an old manfrom a royal family who is her father’s age. She feels unhappy in her
marriage and falls in love with a young man who was working at theircountry villa. This is an illicit love affair and they committed adultery.
The punishment for adultery is almost as strict as the death penalty, andso the princess disguised as a male tries to escape but she is caught andarrested at the airport. The two are taken to a public execution place andshe is shot to death, and the man is beheaded.
Also, in the case of Afghanistan, which was under Taliban rule until a
few years ago, I once saw a TV news report of a woman who had beenarrested for working as a prostitute and was then taken to a public execution site. The official punishment for adultery is to cast eighty to one
hundred stones at the accused, or whip the accused with eighty to one
hundred lashes. This is an extremely strict punishment, and is almost thesame as the death penalty. If a woman is pregnant and is subjected tothis punishment, both she and the baby would die.
In the Qur’ån this punishment applies to both men and women, andthe judgment of adultery is strictly formulated according to Shar¥‘ah
Law to avoid using this penalty. But this extremely harsh punishment is
actually applied relatively easily to women thus oppressing them. Therefore, even nowadays, tragedies concerning young women in connection
to marital issues are not over.
Nevertheless, as I mentioned before, Shar¥‘ah Law introduces various
ways and conditions to protect women’s lives. There is an interestingcase concerning the length of pregnancy. Normally, the period of pregnancy is about forty weeks. In legal terms, however, this period isdefined from six months up to as long as seven years. This rule wasenforced around the ninth century, so you could imagine that such a rulemight not be applicable these days. However, when I stayed in the United Arab Emirates about two years ago, one day I read an article in a personal advice column of a newspaper.
A wife who had not been touched by her husband for four years dis-THE ISLAMIC VIEW OF WOMEN

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covered that she was pregnant. The article concerned the question ofwhom she should consider to be the father of the child. One might suppose that she would be whipped one hundred times. However, theanswer from an Islamic legal scholar stated that since the period of pregnancy is defined from between six months to five years under Islamic
Law, and as it had only been four years from when her husband touched
her last, he was the father of the child. The fact that her husband had nottouched her for as long as four years was considered to be an abuse on
his part. The scholar’s recommendation was that she should apply for
divorce. In reality, however, it is extremely difficult for women to apply
for divorce, and wives need to pay an enormous amount of compensation to their husbands. Nevertheless, the scholar recommended divorcein that case. This shows that the idea of the pregnancy period for women
is still in effect.
The reason for this is that if a young wife gave birth to a child six orseven months after marriage, the relatives would be angry, thinking
either that she and her husband had premarital sex or that perhaps she
had committed adultery before marriage. However, since God’s Law
states that six months is long enough for the period of pregnancy, solong as the couple are happy with the situation the child is recognized as
legitimate.
This idea could also save the lives of both mother and child in cases
where a husband is away from his family on business for a long time
and the wife becomes pregnant after two years of marriage. Thus, Islamic Law, which is often described as severe and inhumane, does have various ways of protecting women. At the same time, when a husband sues
his wife for adultery, Islamic Law requires four adult men to be witnesses. Since adultery or illicit love affairs occur in private, it is almost
impossible to obtain witnesses. Furthermore, if the testimony of a witness were to be a lie, they could then be accused of committing perjury
and the case for adultery could not be established. Therefore Islamic
Law does have various ways to protect women accused of adultery.
Also, I would like to note that there are different avenues and interpretations regarding the protection of mothers and children after birth.
In reality, however, despite the flexible response of Islamic Law insuch cases, conventions such as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM),
whereby female genitalia is removed and the parts sewn together immediately after birth, are still being conducted in some areas of the Islamic
world. This is performed in order to protect their virginity completely
until they are married. In this cruel custom, the sewn parts are cut anduntied just before marriage. Some women die because of infection or

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poor sanitary conditions at the time of the FGM operation, while others
experience major problems in childbirth. Such terrifying practices did
not exist in the original rules of Islam but became adopted as God’s Law
and are being conducted under the name of Islamic Law.
Therefore, in the Islamic world aspects that had no relation to Islam
have been incorporated under the name of Islamic Law, thus oppressing
and torturing women even more. However, it is also true that the role ofmen and women were fixed in the teaching of the Qur’ån: the role of awoman is firstly defined from a biological perspective, and then fromthe perspective of wife and mother.
Generally speaking, Islamic society is still very patriarchal on the surface, but the bond between mother and child is considered to be verystrong. It is true that there are many rules for unmarried women, andmany women spend their lives obeying their fathers, living with the fearof being killed if someone suspects them of conducting an illicit loveaffair. However, once such helpless women get married and bear a son,their influence starts to increase exponentially. Fundamentally, in Islamic societies women are considered to have grown up after giving birth,and the idea that mother and child have a special bond through themother’s womb is a deeply rooted notion. Even today, the idea of young
people respecting their elders is well established. For instance, even a
spoiled son will stand up and give up his seat if his father enters a room.
He would never smoke in front of his father.
For example, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has a different motherto his seven brothers including three former kings, who are called “theSeven Sudeir¥.” The mother of the seven brothers was from the Sudeir¥tribe of Saudi Arabia, and the brothers formed the strong wing of theroyal family and exercised great power. Although Islamic society is seen
as conservative and patriarchal from the outside, it actually centers on
the mother’s will inside the home. For instance, even a middle aged man
with a dignified beard who may be an important person in the government will nestle up and say “Mama” and kiss their mother on the cheek.
These men listen to their mothers obediently.

4. The Role of Women
Even in conservative Islamic societies, extremely conventional forms ofabusing women, such as honor killings or FGM, are being quickly
resolved. Nowadays such cases rarely occur, especially among citydwellers. Furthermore, in fact, there are many more women who are
working out in society than we might think.

THE ISLAMIC VIEW OF WOMEN73

One reason for this phenomenon is that the roles of men and womenare clearly distinguished. For example, in Saudi Arabia, men andwomen are completely segregated in society. For men, the Middle Eastern world seem to be consist of “societies without female faces, places
where no one knows if women exist or not.”In this sense, however, it could be said that women have even morechances. Foreign women who are not Muslims share tea with Muslim
men without any problems. We can also go into a woman’s room andchat with them freely. In other words, non-Muslim women have thechance to see the wider world in Middle Eastern society. Even now the
majority of people who study Middle Eastern affairs are men, but I
always think that with regard to the Middle Eastern/Islamic world,
women should be scholars and should be sent as delegates of trading
companies.
In Saudi Arabia, the worlds of men and women are completely separated. This means they need people who work within the world of
women. It is there we can see women working in various professions—
there are doctors, school teachers, bankers, stock analysts, clerks, hairdressers, and nurses. If is often said that women do not work in Saudi
Arabia, yet half of its population are women and they work in the midstof society. In particular, those who are highly educated have importantjobs. Many of them studied abroad and returned, and these highly educated women do not stop working even after marriage.
The case of Japanese women is the opposite: even if they complete auniversity course at graduate-school level, many stay at home against
their will if they do not have anyone to look after their children. In mycase, I stayed home and worked as a housewife for about sixteen or seventeen years: I was thirty-eight years old when I re-entered graduate
school. The structure of current Japanese society confines highly educated women to the home, no matter how much they want to study or beout in the workforce. Although the Equal Employment Opportunity Law
has been enforced and Gender Equality policy is discussed, they are, in
effect, mere slogans with little substance and not many women canreceive the benefits that they supposedly offer.
On the other hand, in almost all cases highly educated women in theIslamic world continue to work. One reason for this comes from thegreat disparity between the rich and the poor—just like in the time of“Oshin” in Japan, some women from poor backgrounds work as babysitters for wealthy families. (“Oshin” was a fictional TV drama that
depicted the life of its eponymous heroine, a poor woman who lived in
the pre-war and past-war periods.) In other words, there are women

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from lower income classes who help with housework and look after thechildren of highly educated upper class women. Since this twofold
structure exists in society, the numbers of working women, either rich orpoor, may be twice or three times more than formal statistics indicate.
This twofold structure due to the gap between the rich and the poor must
be resolved quickly, but I would like to focus on the fact that women in
Islamic society are more socially active than we imagine.
Despite being oppressed under the strict rules of Shar¥‘a Law, traditions, conventions of their local communities, and different thinking
within each family, the fact that Muslim women are performing a greatrole in the society cheerfully and actively cannot be overlooked.
It is not an overstatement to say that traditions and religious standards
are protected by women in the Islamic world, just like here in Japan
where almost all traditional events, including those related to food, ritesof passage, seasonal ceremonies like the Boy’s Festival or Girl’s Festival, and memorial services for ancestors, are carried out by housewives.
As evidenced in the changes in the Islamic style of clothing, the role ofwomen in the Islamic world could be considered to be increasing inimportance in the midst of the universal movement of a religious revivalof Islam.
If we take the biological and natural human existence as given, thenthe Islamic idea of women as birth givers may be a more natural way of
thinking. My feminist friends scold me when I say something like this,but in as much as women are the ones who give birth to children, thisthinking should be natural.
I intend to keep studying how the role of women in the Islamic world
will change along with worldwide transitions and together with the rolesof Japanese women.
Note
1
The Qur’an Chapter 24, Section 31. http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/024.qmt.
html Translated by Yusfali. Copyright: THE ISLAMIC COMPUTING CENTRE, 73 St.
Thomas’s Road, London N4 2QJ U.K. (accessed 25 June 2006).