A genuine secular democracy would not be so insecure

For example, the Holy Koran has an entire chapter dedicated to moral lessons from the life of Mary, the mother of Christ. God, through the Koran, vouches for Mary’s chastity and perfection. God even mentions the invocation of her mother during pregnancy and then outlines how Zacharia adopted her into the temple and some of the miracles that God gave her and the way she miraculously conceived and details right through to when she gave birth.

While she is the only women mentioned by name in the Holy Koran, the book also has a chapter entitled “Women” but does not have a chapter entitled “Men”. The Holy Koran goes on to cite great women including the wife of Pahroah, the wife of the chief minister of Egypt during the time of Joseph the son of Jacob; the Queen of Sheba; and also mentions the wives of Lot and Noah.

In addition to these significant women, the Koran also makes reference to the wives of the prophet Mohammed and to a woman after whom another chapter is named (Almujadila, or “the woman who argued”): this is the woman who stopped the prophet Mohammed one day and started arguing with him about her personal situation. This particular incident set the standard that a woman (any woman) can argue with the head of the faith, the messenger of God, and that he has a duty to listen to her and hear her petition. This standard was followed by all genuine Muslim leaders and exemplified by Omar, the second Caliph when during a sermon, a woman stood up in the mosque and said to him: “You are wrong Omar, how can you stipulate a standard for a dowry when God said in His book that it can be a great quantity (Qintar) ...” Omar reflected at this, then put his head down and said, the woman is right and Omar is wrong.

If we go a step further back, prior to the 23-year revelation of the Koran, we find literature about the biography of the prophet telling us about his relationship with his first wife whom he married when he was 25 years of age and she was 40. He spoke of how she, as an exceptional woman by all standards, played a significant role in his life, and he continued to praise her even after her death and he continued to honour her friends out of respect for her memory.

If we wish to look at women in Islamic literature, we would find that Aicha, the third wife of the prophet, continued to teach after his death for more than 40 years teaching as many as 2,200 Hadith. The prophet himself (whose mission was only 23 years) told us to learn half of Islam from her. That is, he taught us half of our religious teachings and she taught us the other half. For all those who say that Islam was taught only by men, reflect on this statement of the prophet. Also reflect on the fact that the first custodian of the collated verses of the Koran was another of his wives, Hafsa the daughter of Omar. Hafsa was also a renowned calligrapher.

It was also Aicha who explained to us the verses in the Koran dealing with the scarf and modesty, she explained how the “Jilbab” verse (singular of the “Jalabeeb” in the verse) was understood by the women in her time and how they all used scarves on their heads. Her teachings, and those of her sister Asma, are heavily relied on by scholars in interpreting teachings on the scarf or head covering. Those who claim that these are men’s teachings are wrong and they are denying the femininity of these great women.

Even one of the great ideologues of what some describe as the conservative interpretation of Islam is popularised through the name of his grandmother. Many people refer to him as “Ibn Taymiyya”, Taymiyya being his grandmother, most Muslims would not even know his proper name, they only know him as “Ibn Taymiyya” or son, in this case grandson, of Taymiyya.

Here is just a short list of other significant women from Islamic history and literature and some of their contributions, I have not included contemporaries in this list for obvious reasons:

• Umm Aldarda` was described by Imam Nawawy as a woman famous for her intelligence, jurisprudence and understanding;
• Karima Alharuria and another named Attanukhia taught Imam Bukhary who learnt many Ahadith from them;
• Aisha Bint Ahmad, a prominent linguist and poet;
• Ulayya Bint Almahdy, a prominent poet, author and teacher of jurisprudence and language;
• Wallada Alruwa`iya, a poet, contemporary of Ibn Zaydoun;
• Zaynab Ummul Mu`ayyed, a teacher of history and Hadith;
• Nafisa Bint Abi Mohammed, taught in Egypt, one of her students was Imam Shafi;
• Mu`nisa Al Ayyubia, taught language and Koran interpretation, Ibn Hayyan was one of her students;
• Shahda Bint Alabry, author and Hadith scholar, Ibn Dawood learnt Sahih Bukhary from her;
• Ibn Asaker, the renowned scholar had over 80 female teachers who taught him Hadith; and
• Zaynab, doctor of Bani Awad, eye surgeon.

This list is taken from a paper on the topic of Women in Islam that I translated for Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohammad.

Let’s not forget Rabi’a Al Adawiyya, perhaps the Matriarch of the Sufi or mystic strand of Islam, whose words have become a standard of expression for a human’s love for God.

I admit that the petition prepared by or on behalf of the Imam’s Council in relation to the erotic literature The perfumed garden does not explain these facts, however, the missive that treats complaints by Muslims as raising “broader concerns about religious questioning of secular public space and academic freedom” is unfair. Why cannot Muslims criticise and question incorrect material about our faith? I assure you that our study of this faith is based on the most impeccable male and female sources and does not merely stay within the realm of erotica.