Interfaith Marriage: The Dilemma of Inequality In Religion Facing Muslim Female In Modern World
By Rashid Samnakay,
New Age Islam
5 December
2020
The
imbalance in the Religious Argument that a Muslim male married to a non-Muslim
female spouse living under the one roof and its environment can have a happy
marriage but a Muslim female married to a non-Muslim male spouse cannot do so
because she will endure an unhappy marriage. This defies rational thinking.
In this day
and age, the argument by Muslim religionists that the wife is, as a natural
necessity dependent on her husband for her 'existence', cannot be universally
acceptable. Admittedly it is not yet the universal phenomenon that all females
in the world are fully independent economically and in many other respects. As
such there is a “long way to go” before gender equality is achieved.
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Not only
many a scholars and analysts confirm this but it is an obvious fact for all to
see and no doubt it has prompted humanity at large to address this inequality:
The Article
16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 10 December 1948 (General
Assembly resolution 217 A) states:
Men and
women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion,
have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights
as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
Marriage
shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending
spouses.
The family
is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to
protection by society and the State.
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The
religious establishments have accepted reluctantly perhaps, contrary to their
traditions that now the female is free to earn her own wages, although
sometimes for economic necessity, and for that can work outside the confines of
Home in which she was obliged always to remain.
The
changing cultural and societal norms have a momentum of their own and no amount
of intervention has been able to stop that process. This freedom has inevitably
a flow-on effect on other issues such as gender equality and interfaith
marriage.
In the
former interfaith marriage case given above, the female non-Muslim spouse is (
unintentionally!) given the credit that she has the maturity to mould herself
to the religious norms of the Muslim husband and his family and can therefore
cope with religious conflicts that may arise.
The corollary
being that the Muslim male spouse lacks this ability so the female spouse makes
up for the weakness. She may also opt to convert to husband's faith inorder to
achieve the goal.
On the
contrary in the later case, it seems that the Muslim wife cannot adapt to the
religious differences of her non-Muslim spouse and therefore she must be
protected within the ambit of commandments of Quran, the Book of her Faith, and
so should not ever be married to a non-Muslim husband.
Thus
implying that Quran somewhat preempts that a female Believer of Quran is
immature and by nature intolerant because of her Faith, not be able to adapt
herself in this situation! The wider inference is obvious that the followers of
Quran are intolerant of others except on their own terms of Faith. This
impediment in personal choice is addressed in UDHR Article:
Article 30:
Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group
or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at
the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.
It is
interesting to note that among the eight countries that abstained from the
UDHR, included the “Khadim ul Haramain”,
the custodian of Islam, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; citing that the
declaration goes against the Islamic Sharia. Implying that it goes against the
Quran!
So, when a
lay person has a cursory look at what Quran says on the issue, one is astounded
at the differing meanings in translations and views expressed by eminent
scholars. One has therefore to make one's own way as best as one can through
the maze of male supremacy, keeping in mind the changing societal environment
and human values over the past fifteen centuries of Human Rights in Quran. It
is important to be aware of the 'equity' and 'equality' of masculine and
feminine biological aspects in it.
Some verses
are referred to below.
The verse
33-35 for example mentions men and women expressly in equal terms:
33-35, “Surely the men
who submit and women who submit and the believing men and the believing women
and...obeying ...truthful...patient...humble... charitable...
restraining...chaste...men and women who remember God; God has prepared for
them forgiveness and goodly reward.”
3-194 equality of men
and women for God's reward.
24-2 & 3 the
Adulterer men and adulterer women to be punished equally.
5-38 The thieving men
and women.
9-67 The hypocrites
men and women.
There are
numerous other verses where men and women equality is addressed.
The
definition of marriage in Quran:
4-21 Marriage is
described as Firm Covenant... In other places this is elaborated as
understanding, promise, commitment and therefore in its totality a contract.
It
therefore stands to reason that a contract can only be entered into by parties
which are fully mature, physically and intellectually, to share the burdens and
responsibilities of an agreed commitment of the union of male and female. Verse
4-6, 6-153 and 17-34 refer. And as for any other worldly contracts, witnesses
are required here too.
The chapter
number 4 named Nisa (women) lays the foundation of marriage and needs to be
looked at with open mind. Independence of the parties too is established
therein. Although it becomes obvious that the language in Quran, as in
translations, is heavily inclined towards addressing the male. This must be
taken in the context of the times and environment that existed all those
centuries ago. Even today for example it is common to refer to humanity as a
whole by the term 'mankind', very much to the chagrin of the enlightened women;
hence the modification now of addressing the 'chair person' and not as the
chair man or woman etc!
From the
above it becomes obvious that men and women of “mature age” only, can undertake
the responsibilities of marriage, independently and conscientiously. There is
generally an underlying caveat that the male gender on the whole is
'in-charge'(4-34) of the matters relating to Females , as she is somewhat
immature at any age.
Interfaith
marriage is therefore also addressed with that religious mindset. However verse
5-5 refers to this type of marriage among “people of the Book” and it seems
that it is applicable in both male and female cases of marriage. If the
definition of the people of the Book is accepted as pertaining to revealed
Books then that covers all religions previous to Messenger Muhammad proclaiming
Islam, with the Book Quran; and not just the Abrahamic ones.
Verse 2-221
which refers to “idol worshippers” as specific people, that is, having no
concept of one God is prohibited to marry. But this must be taken in the
context of war that they waged against the Muslim community during the
Messenger's time. It could be argued that in this case – of existing enmity
between the two parties, a Muslim woman marrying an enemy idol worshipper could
land her and even her community at large, in difficult situation. A practical
deduction and not an apologia.
The
question therefore must be asked : Are these conditions existing in every
conflict involving Muslims? Obviously not. And where there is a conflict
between Muslims and 'Others', is it really that of Islam and idol worshipper,
however much their commanders may portray it as one to enhance their cause?
To
therefore infer that a Muslim female, particularly those few enlightened,
educated and responsible persons should be prohibited from marrying a
non-Muslim of equal standard to theirs is gross misrepresentation of Quran's
commands of equality and equity. Muslim world must come out of its ancient time
capsule and join the human race for its progress and enlightenment. To this
end, please refer to:
URL: https://newageislam.com/interfaith-dialogue/interfaith-marriage-dilemma-inequality-religion/d/123672
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