The environment children are raised in plays an essential role even in cultivating a perception of the reality. Our surroundings – social, political and even topographical – have an impact on our human character. Society moulds much of our outlook and the way in which we perceive and view things; no matter how hard one may exert in trying to be indifferent he/she will be influenced by these elements, and will also determine how they interact, behave and communicate with each other.*

This may be true of those [Muslims] who harbour some abhorrence to the teachings of Islam, hence slowly and inevitably leave Islam completely – Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s case is emblematic, in my opinion, of this crisis. Several factors contributed to this situation – one significant cause is that they were not educated on the true and authentic Islam which is based on justice and equality, but rather much of the wrongdoings that were committed against them were justified as being Islamic by their perpetrators.

Although issues such as forced marriages, female genital mutilation, so called honour killings have been played out and distorted by the media to a large extent, some Muslims (regrettably) have been carrying out these hideous crimes in the name of Islam. As a consequence, this gave the victims the impression that Islam is the cause of their suffering and pain.

Some people - mostly men – often exploit Qur’anic verses and the traditions (hadith) of the Prophet pertaining to women and their rights and responsibilities, to undermine and suppress women due to their own cultural bias or prejudices. The hadith referring to women’s intelligence being deficient is a prime example in illustrating this point. Many so-called Muslim feminists are clearly mistaken in declaring this [and similar] hadith to be weak or fabricated – mainly due to their ignorance or personal dislike of the implications. However, some of the psychological agents which may have contributed in forming this evaluation about Islam, from their perspective,  cannot be dismissed.

When these hadith are inappropriately used in such a way to give the impression that women are not intelligent or simple-minded (thus lacking objective thought and genuine will), it will undoubtedly lead a person to believe that Islam is unjust and outmoded. This of course contradicts the fundamental principles of justice, equality and equity the Qur’an and the Prophet preached. Furthermore it also conflicts with the established authentic, comprehensive and contextual interpretation of such hadith.

Recently I tuned into a Muslim channel which hosts ‘scholars’ to answer people’s questions on life and Islam, and an answer was requested form the ‘Mufti’ regarding the veil (face-covering or Niqab). The Shaykh’s answer was not only factually wrong (he stated that the majority of scholars view Niqab to be an obligation or fard) but also lacked the spirit (maqasid) of fatwa, as practised by our great predecessors in jurisprudence such as Imam al-Shatibi.

I was quite disappointed that a person in such a position could just make a simplistic statement: ‘if the woman is pretty she needs to cover the face’, or something to that effect. Doesn’t that imply that women who are not pretty (in his eyes) are not required to cover the face? And how does one measure beauty, isn’t beauty is in the eye of the beholder?

To give the Shaykh the benefit of the doubt, some classical scholars have argued for the obligation of Niqab in situations where temptation is feared. However, this is very different from this Mufti’s statement, especially in the manner in which it was conveyed. Even if we stumble upon statements in the books of jurisprudence (fiqh) which are similar to the one above, we should not just take them literally, but also understand them in their proper context.

If Muslim women are being bombarded with these kinds of misrepresentations of the authentic traditions of Islam, it is no wonder some women are frustrated and turning to the other extreme and of preaching a ‘feminist reading of Islam’. It is not enough to say that they have to put up with these hadith and just accept them without explaining their authenticity, content, meanings and context.

I am not defending those people who wish to change the teachings of Islam by completely altering the meanings of such verses and traditions without correct recourse to the texts and usul (principles). However as Imam al-Shatibi and others have explained, a Mufti must take into consideration his environment, context and even the psychological state of the mustafsi (the one seeking fatwa) when issuing legal verdicts. Unfortunately, this is not happening when some issue fatwas on television and other similar platforms.

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* In the area of clinical psychology we are informed that one of the major factors which contribute to an individual’s psychological and emotional breakdown is the lack of empathy people receive in the early years of development.

Researchers inform us that when parents and prime carers of children are unavailable physically and/or emotionally, when they are overindulgent, when they are exposed to violent or malicious behaviour by parents/carers, and when children are exposed to violent media images – they are in danger of becoming self-centred, prone to aggressive and cruel behaviour, and unable to feel or express remorse, a quasi sociopathic interpersonal style.

The WAVE Trust, an international charity dedicated to raising public awareness of the root causes of violence in society and the ways to reduce it, commissioned research that found: “Empathy is the single greatest inhibitor of the development of propensity to violence. Empathy fails to develop when parents or prime carers fail to attune with their infants” (Hosking & Walsh, 2005, p.20). To attune to a child means “attempting to respond to his or her needs, particularly emotionally, resulting in the child’s sense of being understood, cared for, and valued”. (Ibid p. 20).