Victims of Misuse
\r\nIt is surprising (but not so much really) to find fuqaha and thinkers who are so ready to promote ijtihad and social and political reform literally come to a deadlock when the issue of women in Muslim-majority countries and in other Muslim communities is brought up. This seems to be forbidden territory, where not only are the texts sacred, but also are the cultural traditions and habits, which cannot be questioned. Yet the problems are deep, complex, and reveal many failings both within families and in the way fiqh is thought and transmitted in our time. Beyond those clear stands that must be taken - and are slowly beginning to be discussed - about the prohibition of forced marriages, domestic violence, or genital mutilation, for instance, it is important to look into daily realities and decree the law coherently in the light of the message's higher objectives. Making marriage, divorce, and polygamy so easy for men (unlike women) and moreover repeating bluntly that inheritance rules are based on final, incontrovertible (qatiyyah) verses maintains a state of blindness that makes it impossible to solve problems.
\r\nMen increasingly take advantage of religion to justify their shortcomings and supposed privileges, while women are victims of the misuse of a religion whose essence was to liberate them. Choosing a husband, seeking divorce, refusing polygamy, studying, or working are rights granted to women in the texts themselves. It may be necessary, in different social contexts, to insist on those rights, because abuse and hypocrisy are becoming so frequent and unacceptable, consenting silence. Goals and rules must then be repeated, and in the name of the former, one should dare suggest new solutions to the latter's implementation.
\r\nCompiled From:
\r\n \"Radical Reform: Islamic Ethics and Liberation\" - Tariq Ramadan, pp. 227, 228