The rights of Muslim Women

UNDER the title of 'A Declaration of the Rights of Women in Islamic Societies' a group of born Muslims, primarily from Iran and South Asia, have put their very modern views on the record. The statement originally appeared in Free Inquiry, Fall, 1997, pp. 28-29. Free Inquiry calls itself 'the international secular humanist magazine.' (the idea for the declaration emerged subsequent to extensive discussions on the necessity of publicly submitting an alternative to the mind-numbing religious certainties of Islamic fundamentalism, and the ineffectual vacillation and tinkering of Reformist Islam. The alternative is secularism: the secular voice is seldom, if ever, heard in debates on reforming Islamic society. Since the failure of political Islam in Iran, the Sudan, and Pakistan is the failure of Islam itself, we now need to move Islamic society and culture a little closer to the ideals of secularism, rationalism, democracy and human rights. An institute, tentatively titled the Ar Razi Circle, that would promote secularism in the Islamic world is proposed:-

We, the undersigned, believe that the oppression of women is a grave offence against all of humanity and that such an offence is an impediment to social and moral progress throughout the world.

We therefore cannot ignore the oppression of women by orthodox and fundamentalist religions. We cannot deny history, which shows that these religions were devised and enforced by men who claimed divine justification for the subordination of women to men. We cannot forget that the three Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, with the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Koran as their respective holy texts, consider women inferior to men: physically, morally, and intellectually.

We note also that whereas women in the Christian West and Israel have ameliorated their lot considerably through their own heroic efforts, their sisters in the Islamic world, and even within Islamic communities in the West, have been thwarted in their valiant attempts to rise above the inferior position imposed upon them by centuries of Islamic custom and law.

We have watched as official Islamisation programmes in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran, the Sudan, and Afghanistan, among others, have led to serious violations of the human rights of women. Muslim conservatives in all Muslim countries, and even in nominally secular India, have refused to recognize women as full, equal human beings who deserve the same rights and freedoms as men.

Women in many Islamic societies are expected to marry, obey their husbands, bring up children, stay at home, and avoid participation in public life. At every stage of their lives they are denied free choice and the fundamental right of autonomy. They are forbidden to acquire an education, prevented from getting a job, and thwarted from exploring their full potential as members of the human community. We therefore declare that:-

• The subordinate place of women in Islamic societies should give way to equality. A woman should have freedom of action, should be able to travel alone, should be permitted to uncover her face, and should be allowed the same inheritance rights as a man.

• She should not be subject to gruesome ritual mutilations of her person.

• On reaching the legal age, she should be free to marry a choice without permission from a relative guardian or parent. She should be free to marry a non-Muslim. She should be free to divorce be entitled to maintenance in the case of divorce.

• She should have equal access to education, equal opportunities higher education, and be free to choose her subject of study. She should be free to choose her own job and be allowed to fully participate in public life -- from politics and sports to the arts and sciences.

• In Islamic societies, she should enjoy the same human rights as guaranteed under International Human Rights legislation.

Islam may not be the sole factor in the repression of women. social, economic, political, and educational forces as well as the of pre-Islamic customs must also be taken into consideration. But Islam the application of the sharia, Islamic law, remain a major obstacle to evolution of the position of women.

To achieve these basic human rights for women, we advocate that question of women's status be removed from the religious altogether, that governments institute a separation of religion and state that authorities enact a uniform civil code under which all are equal.

In the name of justice, for the sake of human progress, and for benefit of all the wives, daughters, sisters, and mothers of the world for all societies to respect the human rights of women.

Reza Afshari, Iran, Political Scientist

Sadik al Azm, Syria, Philosopher

Mahshid Amir-Shahy, Iran, Author, Social Critic, and Founder of the Defense League for Rushdie, France

Masud Ansari, Iran, Physician, Author, United States

Bahram Azad, Iran, Scholar, Physician, United States

Parvin Darabi, Scholar, Homa Darabi Foundation, United States

Khalid Duran, Professor of Political Science, Editor and Founder of TransState Islam, Founder of the Ibn Khaldun Society, United States

Ranjana Hossain, Executive Director of the Assembly of Free Thinkers, Bangladesh

Mustafa Hussain, Sudan, Advisory Board, lbn Khaldun Society, United States

Ramine Kamrane, Iran, Political Scientist, France

Ioanna Kucuradi, Philosopher, Turkish Human Rights Commission and General, International Federation of Philosophical Societies, Turkey

Luma Musa, Palestine, Communications Researcher, United Kingdom

Taslima Nasrin, Bangladesh, Author, Physician, Social Critic

Hossainur Rahman, India, Social Historian, Columnist, Asiatic Society of Calcutta

Siddigur Rahman, Bangladesh, Former Research Fellow, Islamic Research Institute

Armen Saginian, Iran, Editor, Publisher, United States.

Anwar Shaikh, Pakistan, Author, Social Critic, United Kingdom

Ibn Warraq, India, Author, Why I am Not a Muslim, United States

Identifications include countries of origin and current residence. Affiliations listed for identification only.

Mustafa Hussain, Suda Bangladesh