Path of Light / Voie de la Lumiere
By
Cyril Anderson
There
is a common claim made that women are not permitted to be maraja’
(i.e. highest ranking mujtahid scholars to be followed by others
for jurisprudential guidance) There
is more acceptance of the idea that a woman can be a mujtahid, but
of those who believe a woman can be a mujtahid, most believe that
such a woman can only guide herself, and not be emulated by others in her
fiqh. There have been female mujtahids.
It is also usually argued that women cannot be judges or leaders of
nations. Amongst the current
leading maraja,’ the only exceptions to this opinion are Sayyid
Muhammad Hussain Fadlallah of Lebanon, Ayatullah Saanei of Iran, and
Ayatullah Jannaati, also of Iran.
To
clarify for those who are not so familiar, in system of taqleed,
one is a mujtahid or a muqallid.
That is, one is able either to guide oneself, or one needs to refer
to or consult with a reputable scholar who is a mujtahid.
A mujtahid is one who, thanks to his/her knowledge of the
Qu’ran, oral tradition, Islamic sciences, and of contemporary knowledge,
is able to apply ijtihad, or independent judgment to derive legal
statutes of Islamic Law. Most
mujtahids only guide themselves, or use their legal judgment to
affirm, or defer to the existing judgments of another, more prominent
scholar. Certain scholars are
referred to as maraja’ at-taqleed are held to be high enough in
knowledge to be referred to in general by other people.
There
is a fair amount of agreement that women can become mujtahids,
since the criteria for ijtihad is simply the attainment of the
required level of knowledge, and women and men are both able to attain
high levels of knowledge. The
divergence of opinion is over what other roles women can take.
Some say a female mujtahid can only guide herself.
Some say that female mujtahids can guide as marja’s,
but only for other women. Whereas a tiny minority say that there is no problem with
women taking the office of marja.’
As
for major scholars who oppose the idea of women being maraja,’ it
is generally understood that that their ruling that a marja’ must
be a man are based on a spirit of precaution.
That is, because maraja’ have always been men, since the
earliest days, and the scholars are cautious about making judgments that
fundamentally challenge this long-standing realities.
Some
laypeople, usually, predictably enough, laymen, bring forward
arguments to try to portray this status quo as some sort of necessary,
timeless reality, based on supposed “biological truths.”
For
one, it is commonly argued that women are more emotional or somehow less
rational. Some say that
because of their menstrual cycle, woman are more given to swings of
emotionality, and that because they do not do ritual prayers during that
time, they have less ability to develop themselves spiritually.
Some
use the arguments from the Qu’ran (4:34 “ar-rijal qawamoona a’lan
nisaa…” – “men are given a responsibility towards women...”)
to argue that a woman should not be a public figure or take a position of
leadership over men. Some use
the argument that a marja’s duties include not just giving
religious verdicts, but also political leadership, potential judgeship,
and military leadership, all of which it is claimed women are not eligible
to undertake.
However
there are serious problems with these reasonings.
As
for biological or physiological arguments, the position of marja,’
as traditionally understood for much of the history of the
institute of marjaiyyat, is an intellectual and spiritual calling
only, with an administrative aspect only to the level of overseeing
charitable trusts and the affairs of orphans and the mentally ill.
The requirements of a marja’ are high intellect, intense
study to a high level, strong morals, and high spiritual development.
Women, though different physically, are considered Islamically to
be equal to men in their intellectual, moral, and spiritual potential.
That is, from the standpoints of the basic requirements of the
position of marja’ and the duties thereof, there is no a priori
reason from the nature of women why a woman could not potentially become a
marja.’
As
for women being emotional, or seen as being, on average, inferior to men
in some respects, it can be countered that women are similarly stronger
than men in certain respects. Men
and women have complementary strengths and weaknesses.
Women tend, on average to have strengths in compassion,
empathy, and conflict resolution, while men, on average, tend to
have strengths in other areas. These typically “feminine” strengths
are the sort of essential skills that women use every day as mothers.
Rather, however, than being hindrances to a woman’s ability to
succeed as a marja’, these trademark feminine strengths of are
important and useful skills for a jurisprudent.
A marja’ needs to be a well-rounded individual to properly
serve the full community, to understand its concerns.
A woman would arguably be able to understand women’s issues
better than a male marja.’ What
is more, the highest figures of Islam as well tend to show a well-balanced
mix of the best of the typical strengths of both sexes.
Figures like Muhammad, Ali, and Hussayn showed great compassion and
nurturing instinct as parents and even as administrators.
At the same time, great Muslim women like Fatimah, and Zainab
showed great bravery and self-composure in standing up for their rights
against those who violated them, even when that person was the political
leader of the Muslim lands. Arguably,
given that men and women have complementary strengths, it would actually
be beneficial for there to be women marja’s so that the different
perspectives of the male and female marja’s would complement each
other, overall strengthening the community of scholars comprising the
greater institution of marjaiyyat.
As
for the objection that the duties of a marja’ also include
political leadership, military leadership, and acting as a judge, there
are two problems with this line of argument.
First of all, it is only according to the most liberal
interpretation of the concept of Wilayat al-Faqih that a scholar
must take on all these roles. Under
the more limited theories of Wilayat al-Faqih held by most
scholars, a marja’ is responsible only for teaching, providing
religious guidance, resolving legal conflicts, and administration of
charitable trusts and the affairs of certain legally helpless individuals.
Second, this argument against female maraja’ is assuming
that a woman cannot be a leader of a nation, judge, or military leader.
This is something that needs to be independently examined. Another argument raised in relation to this is that a woman marja’
would not be able to lead a mixed congregational prayer.
(Most scholars, as a matter of precaution, say that a woman can
only lead a congregation of women in prayer)
However, this is not really a strong argument either.
For one, leading a congregational prayer is not strictly speaking,
a required duty of a marja,’ and secondly, while I am unaware of
any fatwa from Shia’ maraja’ approving of women leading mixed
prayers, it is at the least debatable as to whether there are any
fundamental reasons why a woman could not lead a mixed congregation, or
whether, here too, it is simply a matter of historical convention.
It should be noted, incidentally, that the same three maraja’ who
approve of women as maraja’ (Fadlallah, Saanei, Jannaati) also say that
there is no problem with a woman becoming a judge or political leader.
As
for the menstrual vacation from ritual salat, first of all this
must be properly understood. First
of all it should be understood as a gift to the woman, a mandatory
vacation from the bending and stooping involved with ritual salat
in light of the discomforts of menstruation.
It is a kindness rather than a statement that women are somehow
distanced from God during that time.
Women can still make dua’a (informal personal prayers) and
can read and study and discuss Qu’ran and traditions and other religious
texts. The verse that says no
one can touch the Qu’ran except the purified is first and foremost a
figurative verse anyway, referring to the idea that only the pure of heart
and mind can touch the deepest meanings.
As for more literal legal understandings of the verse saying that
one must be in wudhu to physically touch a physical Qu’ran
manuscript, this is more of a recommendation, and in any case, women who
take this point seriously commonly get around this by wearing gloves while
handling the Qu’ran.
There
are a number of socio-historic reasons why women in the past would not
have become major scholars and why not so many women are able to do so
today at the highest levels. Traditionally,
despite the revolutionary teachings of Islam and the shining example of
strong Muslim women like Khadija, Fatimah bint Muhammad, and Zainab bint
Ali, the reality in Muslim societies has often not quite lived up to the
ideals in terms of granting freedoms to women.
As well, economically, it has traditionally been the reality,
globally up to the early 20th century, and in the Islamic
world, until midway through the last century, that women, due to domestic
obligations and caring for children, did not have the leisure to pursue
advanced Islamic studies. Since
the qualification to do ijtihad is the fruit of the highest level
of study, this lack of women pursuing high level Islamic study has served
to prevent women from becoming maraja.’
It is only relatively recently that women have begun pursuing advanced studies at the major centers of study in Iran. Things have advanced rapidly in Iran, however, and there are actually seminaries entirely for women there in the major centers of scholarship. Chances are, however, that into the foreseeable future, the majority of scholars at high levels will continue to be men. There is first of all the long time commitment involved in achieving the position of mujtahid (usually fifteen years or more of full time study) and the relatively austere lifestyle required during this study, making it difficult for the majority of women who are interested in having a family. Second, there is the matter of disincentives toward women becoming high-level scholars in that there would be a difficulty of a female scholar getting a paid position afterwards as a leader of a center or mosque. Nevertheless, it is hoped that as times change, more and more women will have the willingness and opportunity to take up the challenge to become mujtahids.
References