WOMEN�S RIGHTS

In return, a woman has her rights.  She is entitled to a lawful maintenance (nafaqah); if the husband fails to provide it, she can seek a divorce.  She is also entitled to a dowry (mahr), or what the QurAn in some verses (4:24, 33:50) calls her �hire� (ujUrat).  She can claim it when divorced.

She is also to be consulted in the choice of her partner.  �A woman who has been previously married (Sayyib) has more right to her person than her guardian.  And a virgin should also be consulted, and her silence implies her consent� (3307).  Theoretically, a Muslim woman is entitled to make the marriage contract herself, but in practice it is her nearest kinsman, the guardian (walI), who does it.  The father and the grandfather are even called �compelling walIs.� According to some schools, a minor girl given in marriage by a guardian other than her father or grandfather can seek dissolution of the marriage when she attains her majority.

author : ram swarup

THE HUSBAND�S RIGHTS

A husband has complete sexual rights over his wife.  �Your wives are your tilth; go then unto your tilth as you may desire� (3363).  The same idea is also found in the QurAn (2:223).  Another hadIs in the same group tells the husband that �if he likes he may have intercourse being on the back or in front of her, but it should be through one hole� (3365), which means vagina only, as the commentators tell us.

It is the duty of a wife to be responsive to all of her husband�s overtures.  �When a woman spends the night away from the bed of her husband, the angels curse her until morning� (3366).

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PROHIBITIONS

The law appears to be quite indulgent, but it is not entirely so.  There are many restrictions on grounds of number, consanguinity, affinity, religion, rank, etc.  For example, a man cannot marry more than four free women at a time (QurAn 4:3)-there is no restriction on the number of slave concubines.  Also, one cannot marry one�s wife�s father�s sister nor her mother�s sister (3268-3277).  It is also forbidden to marry the daughter of one�s foster brother, or even the sister of one�s wife if the wife is alive and not divorced (3412-3413).

It is also forbidden to marry an unbeliever (QurAn 2:220-221).  Later on, this restriction was relaxed, and a male Muslim could then marry a Jew or a Christian (QurAn 5:5).  Under no circumstances could a female Muslim marry a nonbeliever.

Marriage is also disallowed when the parties are not equal in rank or status (kafa�ah), though what is rank is differently understood by different people.  Generally speaking, an Arab is considered higher than a non-Arab, the Prophet�s relatives being the highest.  One who had committed a portion of the QurAn to memory was considered a qualified match by Muhammad himself.  A woman came to him and entrusted herself to him.  He �cast a glance at her from head to foot . . . but made no decision� about her.  Then a Companion who was there stood up and said: �Messenger of Allah, marry her to me if you have no need for her.� But the man possessed nothing, not even an iron ring for a dowry.  He was turning away in disappointment when Muhammad asked him if he knew any verses of the QurAn and could recite them.  The man said yes.  Then Muhammad decided and said: �Go, I have given her to you in marriage for the part of the QurAn which you know� (3316).

One should also not outbid one�s brother.  �A believer is the brother of a believer, so it is not lawful for a believer to outbid his brother, and he should not propose an agreement when his brother has thus proposed until he gives it up� (3294).

ShighAr marriage is also prohibited (3295-3301). This is the marriage which says: Marry me your daughter or sister, and in exchange I will give you in marriage my daughter or sister.

One should also not marry when one has put on the ritual garb of pilgrimage.  �A Muhrim should neither marry nor make the proposal of marriage,� reports UsmAn b. AffAn, quoting the Prophet (3281).  But this point is controversial, for Muhammad himself �married MaimUna while he was a Muhrim� (3284).

One cannot remarry one�s divorced wife unless she subsequently married someone else and the new husband had sexual intercourse with her and then divorced her (3354-3356).  A divorcee married but then decided to go back to her old husband.  Seeking the Prophet�s permission, she told Muhammad that all the new husband possessed was �like the fringe of a garment� (i.e., he was sexually weak).  The Prophet �laughed� but withheld the permission.  �You cannot do that until you have tasted his [the new husbands] sweetness and he has tasted your sweetness,� he told her (3354).

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TEMPORARY MARRIAGE (Mut�ah)

Muhammad allowed temporary marriages.  �Abdullah b. Mas�ud reports: �We were on an expedition with Allah�s Messenger and we had no women with us.  We said: Should we not have ourselves castrated?  The Holy Prophet forbade us to do so.  He then granted us permission that we should contract temporary marriage for a stipulated period giving her a garment [for a dowry].� At this �Abdullah felt happy and remembered the QurAnic verse: �The believers do not make unlawful the good things which Allah has made lawful for you, and do not transgress.  Allah does not like transgressors� (3243; QurAn 5:87).

JAbir reports: �We contracted temporary marriage giving a handful of dates and flour as a dower� (3249).  He told another group: �Yes, we had been benefiting ourselves by this temporary marriage during the lifetime of the Holy Prophet, and during the time of AbU Bakr and �Umar� (3248). IYas b. Salama reports, on the authority of his father, �that Allah�s Messenger gave sanction for contracting temporary marriage for three nights in the year of AutAs [after the Battle of Hunain, A.H. 8] and then forbade it� (3251).

Sunni theologians regard this form of marriage as no longer lawful, but the Shias differ and still practice it in Persia.  The Shia theologians support this with a QurAnic verse: �Forbidden to you also are married women, except those who are your hands as slaves. . . . And it is allowed you, besides this, to seek out wives by means of your wealth, with modest conduct, and without fornication.  And give those with whom you have cohabited their dowry.  This is the law.  But it shall be no crime in you to make agreements over and above the law.  Verily, God is knowing, Wise� (QurAn 4:24).

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The eighth book is entitled the �Book of Marriage�; one section of it also discusses divorce (al-talAq).

Muhammad forbids celibacy.  �Those among you who can support a wife should marry, for it restrains eyes from casting evil glances and preserves one from immorality� (3231).  One of his Companions wanted to live in celibacy, but Muhammad �forbade him to do so� (3239).

In fact, Muhammad discouraged self-denial in general.  One of his Companions said, �I will not marry women�; another said, �I will not eat meat�; and yet another said, �I will not lie down in bed.� Muhammad asked himself: �What has happened to these people that they say so and so, whereas I observe prayer and sleep too; I observe fast and suspend observing them; I marry women also?  And who turns away from my Sunnah, he has no relation with me� (3236).

A woman is a great safety valve, but if even that fails and a man is aroused by some other woman, he should come home and cohabit with his wife.  �Allah�s Messenger saw a woman and so he came to his wife, Zainab, as she was tanning a leather and had sexual intercourse with her.  He then went to his Companions and told them: The woman advances and returns in the shape of a devil, so when one of you see a woman, he should come to his wife, for that will repel what he feels in his heart� (3240).  We are all too ready to see the devil in others, but not in our own selves.

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KA�BA CLOSED TO NON-MUSLIMS

The Ka�ba, which had been open to all in pre-Islamic times, whether they were worshippers of Al-LAh or Al-LAt, was closed to all except Muslims after Muhammad conquered Mecca.  �After this year no polytheist may perform the Pilgrimage,� it was declared on his behalf (3125).  This was Allah�s own command.  The QurAn says: �O you who believe! those who ascribe partners to God are impure, and so they shall not approach the sacred House of worship from this year onward� (9:28).

Most religions build houses or temples for their gods out of their own labor, but Islam conquered one for its god, Allah, from others.  The difference is striking.  A worthy habitation for any worthwhile god is the one built by his devotees with the love of their hearts and the labor of their hands.  Any other house is a monument of imperialist greed and aggrandizement and is not acceptable to the gods of the purified spirit.

SHAVING: MUHAMMAD�S HAIR

After the sacrifice, the ceremony of pilgrimage concludes, and the hAjji has himself shaved and his nails pared and his pilgrim garment removed.  Shaving should begin from the right side.  Anas reports that Allah�s Messenger �went to Jamra and threw pebbles at it, after which he went to his lodging in Mind, and sacrificed the animal.  He then called for a barber and, turning his right side to him, let him shave him; after which he turned his left side.  He then gave these hairs to the people� (2991); the hairs became important Islamic relics.

Now the pilgrimage is over, but the pilgrim should spend another three days in Mecca to rest after the hectic four days of ceremony.  Before leaving Mecca, he should again go round the Ka�ba seven times and throw stones at the satanic pillars at MinA seven times.  Before returning home, he should go to Medina to pay his homage at the tomb of Muhammad.

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DRINK

Muhammad also drank water from the well of Zamzam as part of the ritual.  Coming to the tribe of �Abd al-Muttalib (also his own tribe), he said: �Draw water, O BanI  �Abd al-Muttalib; were it not that people would usurp this right of supplying water from you, I would have drawn it along with you.  So they handed him a basket and he drank from it� (2803).  KAtib al-WAqidI, the Prophet�s biographer, gives us one further detail which would be considered unhygienic by the impious.  Muhammad took part of the content, then rinsed his mouth in the pitcher and directed that the water remaining in it should be thrown back into the well.  That was his way of invoking a blessing on a well-by spitting into it.  Many such wells are mentioned in the traditions (TabaqAt, vol. II, pp. 241-244).

He also did not forgo his favorite beverage, nabIz, a soft drink.  Though the nabIz offered him had been fouled by many hands, he took it, declining the offer of a cleaner and purer one.  The orthodox pilgrims of every generation have continued the practice.

author : ram swarup