“What happens if a woman goes to court here?” asked my father.“What do you mean?” I counterquestioned.“What I mean is that
if a
woman goes to court is she treated as an individual or are her rights based on her gender?”“Depends on the case, I guess,” I said.“Comeon,” he interjected sarcastically. “Don’t start telling me that womenare treated in the manner that has been commanded by God. According toHis Law they should be treated as equals. You know that that’s not thecase here.”“You just have to look around at the horrificmiscarriages of justice to know that that’s definitely not the case,”he emphasized. “My point is that as much as we try to find fault withthe West, one thing is for sure: I would feel far more secure withtheir system of justice if I were a woman than I would with the one wehave here.”“Yes, in a way you’re right,” I began, “but Islam didgive women rights over 1,400 years ago that the so-called civilizedworld has only started to recognize recently.”“You’reintelligent enough to know that having rights and not being entitled tothem is just as good as not having them at all. In the Qur’an, when aman decides to divorce his wife, God Orders him to leave his wife on anequitable basis and is required to support her. Am I right?” he asked,quoting the verse and chapter.“Of course,” I agreed.“So if we are really honest with ourselves, does the law here enforce that or even recognize it in part?”“Not that I know of,” I admitted.“Alright.This means that a woman can quite literally be booted out of her houseon to the street with nowhere to go; and if she tries to extract anyright or entitlement from her husband, will the court support her inthis? Have you ever heard of a Saudi man who is scared of theconsequences of not paying his wife alimony or stealing her dowrybecause he might be taken to court?”“No,” I conceded thinking of all the women I knew who had had this scenario forced upon them without any hope of recourse.“Exactly,”he said, having won the argument. “It’s disgusting to think that thecourts can overlook the word of God when it comes to preserving andupholding the whole concept of male domination. Judges relish sentencesthat chastise women for petty matters. You see the way the outwardlypious love to stop women in the street to point out strands of hairthat may have escaped their veils or question the identity of the menaround them; but when it comes to guaranteeing them their God-givenrights they miraculously disappear!”“Yes,” I said, reflecting upon what he said. “You’re right.”“Awoman cannot even gain custody of her children in a court of law. Whatsort of a mandate gives the automatic guardianship of little girls overto the hands of a father and stepmother even when a
mother is perfectlycapable of looking after them? You of all people should know what thatfeels like. What’s more, the status and importance of a mother in Islamis such that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) himself said thatparadise lies beneath the feet of one’s mother and that a mother’svalue is three times greater than that of any other individual.”“Yes,” I agreed.Itwas this very conversation that played in my head when I read twoarticles printed side by side in the paper this week. One of themhighlighted the fact that there are many single mothers and divorceesin society who are denied welfare due to trivial bureaucratic mattersand thus forced to live below the poverty line. Imagine that. In SaudiArabia, one of the wealthiest countries in the world, women are reducedto begging on the streets because the law does not recognize theirneeds. What kind of an interpretation of Islam is that when our faithis based on a spirit of egalitarianism? When verses upon verses of theQur’an command us to look after the wretched of our society?Asif that was not bad enough, the adjacent piece highlighted theobstacles that Saudi women married to foreigners have to endure.Whereas a Saudi man may obtain citizenship for his wife and hischildren, a Saudi woman isnot entitled to the same privilege if shemarries a non-Saudi. Upon what spurious logic this decision is basedupon I do not profess to know, but what I do know for sure is that ithas nothing to do with religion.The great Islamic scholar of the19th century, Muhammad Abdo wrote that when he visited the West hefound Islam but no Muslims and upon his return to the Arab world hecountenanced many Muslims but no Islam. I am beginning to see his point.