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Women in Islamic Law: Difference between revisions
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==Genital mutilation== | ==Genital mutilation== | ||
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is obligatory in the Shafi'i madhab<ref>[https://www.answering-islam.org/Sharia/fem_circumcision.html Section on FGM in the standard manual of Shafi'i law]</ref> and encouraged by the remaining three madhabs, namely the Hanafi, Hanbali, and Maliki. Salafi scholars also encourage the practice. In universally conceiving of FGM as being either an obligatory or favorable practice, the schools of Islamic law agree that ''prohibiting'' FGM altogether would not be acceptable, as this would be tantamount to contravening God's laws and preferences. Views on the specific type of FGM required or permitted vary within and between the madhhabs. Some prominent modern Islamic scholars have dissented from the favorable consensus of the Islamic tradition and ruled it to be unlawful. | Female genital mutilation (FGM), while not mentioned in the Quran, is obligatory in the Shafi'i madhab<ref>[https://www.answering-islam.org/Sharia/fem_circumcision.html Section on FGM in the standard manual of Shafi'i law]</ref> and encouraged by the remaining three madhabs, namely the Hanafi, Hanbali, and Maliki. Salafi scholars also encourage the practice. In universally conceiving of FGM as being either an obligatory or favorable practice, the schools of Islamic law agree that ''prohibiting'' FGM altogether would not be acceptable, as this would be tantamount to contravening God's laws and preferences. Views on the specific type of FGM required or permitted vary within and between the madhhabs. Some prominent modern Islamic scholars have dissented from the favorable consensus of the Islamic tradition and ruled it to be unlawful. | ||
{{Quote|''Reliance of the Traveler'' [''Umdat al-Salik''], Section e4.3 on Circumcision|'''Obligatory (on every male and female) is circumcision.''' (And it is the cutting-off of the skin [''qat' al-jaldah''] on the glans of the male member and, '''as for the circumcision of the female, that is the cutting-off of the ''badhar'' [''qat' al-badhar'', ''badhar'' or بَظْرٌ either means the clitoris or the prepuce of the clitoris; Lane says that the precise usage was confused at some point in history<ref>[http://lexicon.quranic-research.net/data/02_b/137_bZr.html Lane's Lexicon بَظْرٌ]</ref>]''' (and this is called ''khufad''))}}The Islamic legal tradition, while differing on its implementation, embraced FGM wholeheartedly, and, in the hadith literature, Muhammad is recorded as tacitly approving of the practice ({{Muslim|3|684|}}), prescribing circumcision in general without specifying the requirements thereof per gender ({{Bukhari|7|72|777|}}), and commenting generically on its implementation ({{Abu Dawud|41|5251|}}). Nowhere is Muhammad recorded prohibiting the practice. | {{Quote|''Reliance of the Traveler'' [''Umdat al-Salik''], Section e4.3 on Circumcision|'''Obligatory (on every male and female) is circumcision.''' (And it is the cutting-off of the skin [''qat' al-jaldah''] on the glans of the male member and, '''as for the circumcision of the female, that is the cutting-off of the ''badhar'' [''qat' al-badhar'', ''badhar'' or بَظْرٌ either means the clitoris or the prepuce of the clitoris; Lane says that the precise usage was confused at some point in history<ref>[http://lexicon.quranic-research.net/data/02_b/137_bZr.html Lane's Lexicon بَظْرٌ]</ref>]''' (and this is called ''khufad''))}}The Islamic legal tradition, while differing on its implementation, embraced FGM wholeheartedly, and, in the hadith literature, Muhammad is recorded as tacitly approving of the practice ({{Muslim|3|684|}}), prescribing circumcision in general without specifying the requirements thereof per gender ({{Bukhari|7|72|777|}}), and commenting generically on its implementation ({{Abu Dawud|41|5251|}}). Nowhere is Muhammad recorded prohibiting the practice. | ||
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====Child marriage==== | ====Child marriage==== | ||
{{Main|Child Marriage in Islamic Law}} | {{Main|Child Marriage in Islamic Law}} | ||
A father or guardian must ask the consent of his virgin daughter before offering her in marriage, based on a well known sahih hadith. However, according to the same hadith, if she remains silent when asked, offering no explicit acceptance, this counts as consent ({{Muslim|8|3303}}, {{Muslim|8|3305}}). As a result, while women have the decision as adults to decide whom they marry, young girls may be married off before they are physically (or, much less, mentally) capable of providing anything in the way of consent. The Quran, in providing guidelines on the procedure for divorce, states what must be done in the case of wife who has not yet reached puberty. Child marriage was practiced by Muhammad himself, who married Aisha at the age of six and copulated with her at the age of nine, while he was in his fifties.{{Quote|{{Quran|65|4}}| [speaking of the prescribed waiting period for a divorce] And those of your women as have passed the age of monthly courses, for them the 'Iddah (prescribed period), if you have doubts (about their periods), is three months, and '''for those who have no courses''' their 'Iddah (prescribed period) is three months likewise.}}{{Quote|{{Bukhari|5|58|236}}; see also: {{Bukhari|7|62|64}}| Narrated Hisham's father: Khadija died three years before the Prophet departed to Medina. He stayed there for two years or so and then he married 'Aisha when she was a girl of six years of age, and he consumated that marriage when she was nine years old.}} | A father or guardian must ask the consent of his virgin daughter before offering her in marriage, based on a well known sahih hadith. However, according to the same hadith, if she remains silent when asked, offering no explicit acceptance, this counts as consent ({{Muslim|8|3303}}, {{Muslim|8|3305}}). As a result, while women have the decision as adults to decide whom they marry, young girls may be married off before they are physically (or, much less, mentally) capable of providing anything in the way of consent. All schools of Islamic law agreed that a virgin girl could be contracted in marriage before puberty and without consent, with consummation of the marriage permitted once she was old enough to avoid physical harm, not necessarily having reached puberty. The Quran, in providing guidelines on the procedure for divorce, states what must be done in the case of wife who has not yet reached puberty. Child marriage was practiced by Muhammad himself, who married Aisha at the age of six and copulated with her at the age of nine, while he was in his fifties.{{Quote|{{Quran|65|4}}| [speaking of the prescribed waiting period for a divorce] And those of your women as have passed the age of monthly courses, for them the 'Iddah (prescribed period), if you have doubts (about their periods), is three months, and '''for those who have no courses''' their 'Iddah (prescribed period) is three months likewise.}}{{Quote|{{Bukhari|5|58|236}}; see also: {{Bukhari|7|62|64}}| Narrated Hisham's father: Khadija died three years before the Prophet departed to Medina. He stayed there for two years or so and then he married 'Aisha when she was a girl of six years of age, and he consumated that marriage when she was nine years old.}} | ||
{{Quote|{{Muslim|8|3311}}| 'A'isha (Allah be pleased with her) reported that Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) married her when she was seven years old, and he was taken to his house as a bride when she was nine, and her dolls were with her; and when he (the Holy Prophet) died she was eighteen years old.}} | {{Quote|{{Muslim|8|3311}}| 'A'isha (Allah be pleased with her) reported that Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) married her when she was seven years old, and he was taken to his house as a bride when she was nine, and her dolls were with her; and when he (the Holy Prophet) died she was eighteen years old.}} | ||
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Ayatollah Khomeini, the Iranian Shi'ite religious leader, married a ten-year-old girl when he was twenty-eight. Khomeini called marriage to a prepubescent girl "a divine blessing," and advised the faithful: "Do your best to ensure that your daughters do not see their first blood in your house." | Ayatollah Khomeini, the Iranian Shi'ite religious leader, married a ten-year-old girl when he was twenty-eight. Khomeini called marriage to a prepubescent girl "a divine blessing," and advised the faithful: "Do your best to ensure that your daughters do not see their first blood in your house." | ||
Today, child marriages occur [[Child Marriage in the Muslim World|all over the world]], but the practice is especially common in Muslim-majority countries, particularly in those that practice Shari'a. [http://www.un.org/youthenvoy/2016/03/new-un-initiative-aims-to-protect-millions-of-girls-from-child-marriage The UN] regards child marriage as a human rights violation and aims to eradicate it by 2030. The girl is vulnerable to spousal abuse and childhood pregnancy which greatly jeopardizes her health and future. | Today, child marriages occur [[Child Marriage in the Muslim World|all over the world]], but the practice is especially common in Muslim-majority countries, particularly in those that practice Shari'a. Most Muslim-majority countries have now raised the female age of marriage to 16 or 18, often in the face of opposition (though sometimes support) from Islamic scholars. [http://www.un.org/youthenvoy/2016/03/new-un-initiative-aims-to-protect-millions-of-girls-from-child-marriage The UN] regards child marriage as a human rights violation and aims to eradicate it by 2030. The girl is vulnerable to spousal abuse and childhood pregnancy which greatly jeopardizes her health and future. | ||
====Polygamy (four wives per husband)==== | ====Polygamy (four wives per husband)==== | ||