IDEA 47
The Protected Heart of Jihad
O mankind! be careful of your Lord Who made you from a single soul, and made from it its mate, and spread abroad from both of those so many men and women. And beware of GOD, by Whom you make demands of one another, and [be careful of] the wombs. Indeed AL-LAH has ever been a Watcher over you. [Q4:1]
The passage above is the first verse in Suratin-Nisa, which in English might be translated as the Chapter of Women. There is no corresponding chapter for Men. Feminists might claim that this is yet another example of how men are regarded as ‘default’ or ‘normal’ humans, while the female sex is mentioned as the exception that diverges from or breaks the rule (of men).
There are good grounds for such criticism in the Qur’an. Unspecified groups of people are automatically gendered grammatically as masculine (such as you in the quotation above), with a few rare exceptions. The prophets and messengers are all male, and AL-LAH, Who has no gender, is nonetheless invariably treated as a masculine noun in sentences.
I suggest, however, that femininity is Islam’s best-kept secret. The wombs are not just the special property of women, but constitute the treasure of humanity, a treasure that men have been assigned by GOD to protect. Which is more valuable — the protector or the protected? We are told to be careful of GOD, Who is our Protector and Whom we worship on account of His Greater Value. This command is repeated, for we are also protectors of GOD’s reputation by the way we speak of Him with one another. The single self from which we were created is, in Arabic, feminine, and its mate could literally be translated as her mate. The wombs are the vehicles and means by which this original pair came to be spread abroad; defending them is, in effect, protecting ourselves. We have to be careful of them in two ways, one defensive and one cautionary. They are valuable, to be kept well and in good condition, but they are also alluring, seductive, and mysterious due to their hidden nature, and thus not to be followed or obeyed.
Our duty to protect the wombs is one laid upon both men and women. It means many things simultaneously:
- chastity, virginity, and sancity of marriage vows
- integrity of the family — father, mother, and children
- purity and respectability of the blood line
- good relations among kinfolk, and taking care of them before strangers when prioritizing resources
- ensuring the welfare of mothers and women in general over men, who are better able to fend for themselves
- defending the vulnerable and weak, especially women and children
- establishment of justice as the best way of ensuring women’s rights
- providing for women’s maintenance out of men’s wealth so that women can maintain their own duty to protect the wombs
- honouring the gentler, more refined aspects of society whereby feminine virtues and capabilities are affirmed and enhanced
- revering the ‘feminine’ qualities of AL-LAH in our lives, Whose first names after “AL-LAH” are Ar-Rahman (The Gracious) and Ar-Rahim (The Compassionate) — both of which are based on the same triadic root as the wombs
Grace and Compassion are not only the primary attributes of AL-LAH; they are the core characteristics of the cosmos and the underlying rationale for all creation. As the pre-eminent bearers of these qualities, women are less dispensable and more worthy of protection than men are. It is on these grounds that the controversial passages of Q4:34 should be understood. Men are the guardians maintaining women — and have been favoured by AL-LAH mainly for that purpose — not because of any intrinsic superiority, but because the exterior world is only valuable insofar as it protects the interior world where GOD’s Grace and Compassion can flourish. Men work, fight, and die to maintain that heart, just as each dividual must eat, sleep, and exercise so that he or she can perform effectively the essential heart of service, namely ritual worship and remembrance of AL-LAH. Women are keepers of the secret by virtue of what GOD has kept. (Q4:34) That is their primary function, and extends well past matters of chastity and seclusion. Believing in the secret (Q2:3) — the realm of the unseen where women are assigned as guardians –constitutes the first mention of faith in the Qur’an. If women do not dedicate themselves to this treasure that has been entrusted to them, they wander out, abandoned and misdirected, into a world where nothing of any worth is protected. In doing so, they forsake their identity, their religion, and their Lord.
To be a woman is an honour and a trust that far too few women today experience. The secular, material world sees no value in the secret life that GOD intended women to nurture, cherish, and share with their offspring and menfolk. The Islamic world once knew that life to be the reason for their fighting and dying in jihad. Lacking that awareness, they have lost the spirit of jihad and replaced it with the worthless male-centric values of lust for war, wealth, and women as conquests. Women are now being enticed to enter and compete for credits in this race to the bottom. Of all possible positions for women, competing with men (and for men) by means of superficial masculine values and external display is among the worst, and definitely cursed.
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