Qiwaamah - from two different perspectives

09/04/2015| IslamWeb

The advocates of women rights who fiercely defend the right of women to work, do not rely on a sound humanitarian philosophy that regards this right to be a means of integrating the two halves of society, namely, men and women, nor is it an expression of their belief that Islam honors woman and regards her as a human being with full competency. Hence, she should participate in the development of life on earth and fulfilling human’s roles as successors on earth. They consider the right to work to be a means for women to fulfill their identity as women - the economic identity that is synonymous to financial independency from man’s authority and being free from patriarchal dominance and the male society, as they put it!

 

Preliminary for physical independence

 

Extreme feminists consider this independence to be a preliminary for the physical independence of women on the pretext that men own the bodies of their wives because they are economically dependent on them. Amidst their sick enthusiasm for propagating this concept, they forget that a father is responsible for supporting his daughter, a brother is responsible for supporting his sister and a son is responsible for supporting his mother. Thus, economic subordination, as they call it, does not only exist within the framework of marriage but also within the general framework of the family, for which Islam presents an integrated and distinctive perspective. This perspective harmonizes the Muslim woman’s independent financial entity with her right to be supported by her father, brother, husband, son, or the Muslim society - that is supposed to support women who have no supporter.

 

Misconceptions

 

We cannot deny that in our society there are men who torture their wives and humiliate them simply because they provide for their financial maintenance. However, this should not be grounds for the claims that are propagated by the advocates of women’s liberalization and women’s economic independence. How can social rules be based on perverted concepts and behavior? Feminists claim that men exploit their financial support of women in order to subdue them, while the Quran clearly depicts how any normal man should deal with a defiant wife. Allah the Exalted Says (what means):{But those [wives] from whom you fear arrogance - [first] advise them; [then if they persist], forsake them in bed; and [finally], strike them. But if they obey you [once more], seek no means against them. Indeed, Allah is ever Exalted and Grand.}[Quran 4:34] Clearly, these permissible corrective measures do not include financial deprivation or humiliation by starvation!

 

Qiwaamah is a miracle

 

The Qiwaamah, or dominance of man is one of the miracles of the Holy Quran. If it were understood and practiced according to its aims and purposes, it would have achieved, for men and women, balance, peace and justice. A man having a sound character feels happy to be in charge of the financial maintenance of women and does not regard it as a burden or an unwanted responsibility. A woman having a sound character is proud to be under the protection of her husband and under his moral and financial care. A woman having a sound character believes that the man and wife form the real value of the family.

 

Women should understand that the feminist movement aims at abolishing the family and shaking its structure. They also aim at changing the tendencies of both men and women as per the concept of the family so that they would see it as a restriction; a typical form of formulating the relationship between a woman and man; and an obstacle in the way of men’s freedom and women’s ambitions.

 

In fact, the women who cry for women’s economic independence have never tried the pleasure of being financially supported by husbands who honor them and make them feel that they are humans. They have never experienced the feeling of distinctiveness while enjoying the right of financial maintenance and the right of financial entity. If only they could feel and try this! I wish our daughters and women would get rid of the illusion that they are being humiliated because they are being supported by men. Every wife who is economically "dependent" on her husband should be proud. He gains the honor of being in charge, and she gains the pride of being the reason behind that honor.