{People, We created you all from a single man and a single
woman, and made you into races and tribes so that you should
recognise one another. In God’s eyes, the most honoured of you are the ones most mindful of Him: God is all knowing, all aware} [49:13]
The last few posts have focused on gender issues. Whilst the primary aim of this blog is to look at these from a legal perspective, it does of course throw up bigger questions such as what is gender? What is woman? What is man's relationship with God? What is man's relationship with the universe? etc. Whilst an incredibly complex and potentially endless topic, I thought a few words may be of some help, God Willing.
No God, but God
Islam begins with the assertion 'there is no god, but God.' It is made of two elements the negation; 'no god,' and the affirmation; 'but God.' It denies other than God and affirms only Him; such as it denies the power of anything but God's, or denies the love of anything but God's, or denies even reality except for God. Elaborating on this last point, He only truly exists and nothing else, for He is the Real (Al Haqq). Muslims do not say as some Eastern faiths that the universe is merely illusionary however, but rather that everything in the universe exists only through Him. So God is self subsisting and can carry on with or without the universe, the universe on the other hand exists only by God giving it existence and so cannot exist without Him. The universe is not God (negation), but it does have a certain connection with God - since He makes it exist at each moment - and so therefore is somewhat like Him (affirmation).
The Purpose of Creation
The Universe is of God's Acts; He brought it into being and sustains it at every moment. God is One and there is no difference or change to how God is in of Himself, what is known as His Essence (Dhat). However in His Act of creating the Universe, his many Attributes are made manifest for which there is a perceived difference between. As with a painting saying something of the painter, so too does the universe say something about God. God said in the Divinely revealed hadith (hadith qudsi):
"I was a Hidden Treasure, so I wanted to be known. Therefore I created the world that I might be known."
Although in the science of hadith the authenticity of this narration is considered dubious, it is considered correct in meaning, since it is corroborated by many verses, such as: {I created the Jinn and Mankind to worship [recognise/know] Me} [51:56]. So the purpose of creating is to make God's Attributes manifest.
Divine Attributes
The Attributes (Sifat) are identical to His Essence in that they refer to Him, but through a particular relational connection with His Act of creation. In the same way a man may be known as a father, son or brother based on a particular relationship; the name refers to the same man but is in reference to a different relationship. God has many Attributes such as Al Rahman (The Merciful), Al Wadud (The Loving) and Al Khaliq (The Creator). So from unity there is multiplicity. From God's perspective there is just Him and absolute unity, but from our perspective we see a multiplicity as we interact with His Action of the universe. Perhaps an imperfect analogy might be to think of the light from the Sun; the rays emanate from the Sun, as white light the rays are one colour, but as they interact with the earth we see an infinite variety of colours.
The Opposites of the Attirbutes
The attributes can be divided into two categories, known as the Attributes of the Essence and the Attributes of the Acts. The Attributes of the Essence refer to God in of Himself and of which the opposite does not apply, such as The Living (Al Hayy), The Knowing (Al A'lim), and The Seeing (Al Basir) etc. The Attributes of the Acts are Names whose opposites also apply, such as The Exalter (Al Rafi') and The Abaser (Al Khafid) etc. It is in these Attributes of the Acts that God becomes manifest, it is understood that things are made clear through their opposites such as white is made clear by black
{We created pairs of all things so that you [people] might take note} [51:49]
Rumi (d 1273 CE) has some wonderful poetry to describe exactly this:
"God created suffering and heartache so that joyful-heartedness might appear through its opposite. Hence hidden things become manifest through opposites. But since God has no opposite, He remains hidden."
The Beautiful and Majestic
The Attributes of the Acts can be sub-divided into a further two categories: The Majestic (Jalal) and Beautific (Jamal). The Majestic Attributes are like that of The Just (Al 'Adl), The Holy (Al Quddus) and The Magnificent (Al 'Azim) etc. These Attributes are of God's incomparability and invoke in humans a sense of awe and fear. The Beautific Attributes are like that of The Mercful (Al Rahman), The Forgiving (Al Ghaffar) and The Loving (Al Wadud) etc. These names are of God's similarity and invoke in humans a sense of intimacy and hope. It is these two opposite categories that are the archetypal conceptions of masculinity (majestic) and femininity (beautific) rather like the Toaist ying-yang dichotomy. I do not mean here that God is in any way male or female, but rather these groups of Attributes are the metaphysical qualities of each gender.
Mankind
God created mankind as His representative or successor (khalifa) on Earth:
{[Prophet], when your Lord told the angels, ‘I am putting a successor on earth,’ they said, ‘How can You put someone there who will cause damage and bloodshed, when we celebrate Your praise and proclaim Your holiness?’ but He said, ‘I know things you do not.} [2:30]
As God's representatives, humans should act as God wishes them to, establishing harmony between God and creation. Humans are able to fulfil this role as having both a Divine and created Earthly origin.
{We create man in the finest state then reduce him to the lowest of
the low} [95:4-5]
It is between these two opposites that humans operate; close or distant to God. They have the free will to manifest God's qualities through the delicate balance of majesty and beauty, or squandering their lofty potential. Although the human is not two; the body and soul are inseparabley one. The spirit and body manifest all the Attributes together. This original nature (fitra) of the human is the reflected image of the Divine Reality, as the universe manifests God's Attributes:
{We shall show them Our signs in every region of the earth and in themselves} [41:52]
Human perfection is then to realise and actualise this original nature.
No Love without Justice
Man's greatest obstacle to achieving perfection and nearness to God is his own self. God desires man to know Him and be intimate. But intimacy is characterised by bold expressiveness, the feeling we can say and do anything we wish. Reliance on God's Mercy alone, such as the verse: {do not despair of God’s mercy. God forgives all sins} [39:53] would lead to chaos as people disregarded any responsibility. God is One and not multiple; order unites and draws near to God, disorder separates and distances from God. Therefore the first stage to draw nearer to God is to submit to His order and observe the law and then He will reveal Himself intimately. If you like, as an analogy, the good servant of the King is bestowed with robes of honour.
In terms of the categories of God's Attributes, if the Beautific face is unveiled in plain sight it would overthrow the Majestic and thus become hidden once more. But if the Beautific is hidden in the plain sight of the Majestic then it can be found; the Majestic shows the door to the Beautific. This idea of the Majestic guarding the door to the Beautific is a common theme in Islamic thought. Majesty is the archetypal masculine and Beauty is the archetypal feminine. Socially speaking, Islam in its organisation is outwardly masculine and inwardly feminine. Law representing the masculine for which God's servants must submit (Islam) and Mysticism (Tasawwuf) representing the feminine for which The Loving (Al Wadud) is an intimate beloved.
Male and Female
A Human Being's perfection is to realise and actualise all the Divine Attributes within themselves. However the human being is sub-divided into two groups: male and female; for which the outward form has inward meaning. The male is masculine and the female is feminine. This is not to say that both genders do not each posses all the Divine Attributes for human perfection to be realised, but rather that there is a predominance of the Majestic in the male and the Beautific in the female. Therefore there is a natural inclination to these attributes that cannot be ignored in order to reach perfection. Islam encourages both men to be masculine and women to be feminine, for it is of their innate nature. Socially this has implications too; the outward visible society is masculine and guards the hidden internal feminine. This is not to say that a particular gender is prohibited from either spheres in society - for example there have been many female rulers, judges, juristic experts, entrepreneurs etc throughout Islamic history - but rather the natural trend.
Equity over Equality
Islam is sometimes criticised for a perceived injustice in the treatment of women. This understanding comes - if not form ignorance - from putting Western modern values onto Islam. Whilst both world views may claim justice between the genders, they have different views on how that is achieved and so it is unfair to measure one system based on the assumptions of the other.
{the male is not like the female} [3:36]
Aristotle is famous for saying: "The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal." To treat people who are fundamentally not the same in the same is unjust. It is not justice to give a History professor and a mathematics professor the same calculus question and expect the same result because they are not of the same category. But it does not mean that one is better than the other, merely that they are different. Therefore the call for equality feminism by some is not going to bring justice for women because men and women are not of the same category. Equality feminism is based on the assumption that men and women are 'the same with different fittings,' but this is not so; and not just in Islamic metaphysics, but also genetics. Man is not better than woman, just as the Majestic Attributes are not better than the Beautific; they are both God. Rather the solution is equity, that of mutual respect and equal opportunity, which interestingly is what the feminist intellectual Germaine Greer - who initiated equality feminism in the sixties - is now calling for.
Final Thought
In recent history the Muslims have perhaps become more masculine orientated. Yet Islam has a natural inclination toward the feminine. God said in another Divinely revealed hadith (hadith qudsi):
"When Allah decreed the Creation He pledged Himself by writing in His book which is laid down with Him: ‘My mercy prevails over my wrath.’" [Muslim, Bukhari]
Which means God's Beautific Attributes are more apparent than His Majestic. So there is something fundamentally more feminine about the Divine Being. The Prophet (peace be upon him) further explains that the most striking image of God is the woman:
“Two things of your world were made lovely to me, perfume and women; and the coolness of my eyes is in prayer.” [Ahmad, An Nasa'i]
Islamic mysticism naturally has a very positive view of women and femininity, in these times it may be best for us to remember:
“Woman is the light of God.” [Rumi]
And God knows best
Further Reading
The Toa of Islam by Sachiko Murata ISBN: 978-0791409145
Boys will be Boys by T J Winter here
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