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July 19, 2006
A Feminist Islamic Reform in Turkey
[Originally published in The Washington Post]
"Women are imperfect in intellect and religion."
"The best of women are those who are like sheep."
"If a woman doesn't satisfy her husband's desires, she should choose herself a place in hell."
"If a husband's body is covered with pus and his wife licks it clean, she still wouldn't have paid her dues."
"Your prayer will be invalid if a donkey, black dog or a woman passes in front of you."
In a bold but little-noticed step toward reforming Islamic tradition, Turkey's religious authorities recently declared that they will remove these statements, and more like them, from the hadiths — the non-Koranic commentary on the words and deeds of the prophet Muhammad.
Hadiths are serious stuff. More than 90 percent of the sharia (Islamic law) is based on them rather than the Koran, and the most infamous measures of the sharia — the killing of apostates, the seclusion of women, the ban on fine arts, the stoning of adulterers and many other violent punishments for sinful behavior — come from the hadiths and the commentaries built upon them. Eliminating these misogynistic statements from the hadiths is a direct challenge to some of the most controversial aspects of Islamic tradition.
Modern Muslim intellectuals have long argued that the hadiths should be revised, but this is the first time in recent history that a central Islamic authority has taken the dramatic step of deciding to edit them. The media and intellectuals of Ankara and Istanbul largely welcomed last month's decision, which the Turkish government supported. And although there were rumblings of discontent from ultraconservative commentators, they didn't amount to a protest. Yet, despite the rhetoric about the need to make alliances with progressive Islam in the midst of the fight against terrorism, Turkey's move toward reform has been widely overlooked in the West, and there has been little acknowledgment of it in other Muslim countries.
The proposed revision came from the Diyanet, Turkey's highest Islamic authority, which controls more than 76,000 mosques in Turkey and other parts of Europe. Its president, Ali Bardakoglu, a liberal theologian appointed three years ago by the ruling conservative Justice and Development Party (known as AKP), declared that a new collection of hadiths, free of such misogyny, would be prepared by 2008. He also announced that enlightened imams would be sent to the rural, conservative regions of southeastern Turkey to preach against practices such as honor killings.
Many Muslims view hadiths as sacrosanct, although their accuracy has been a major point of contention among scholars. The hadiths were compiled two centuries after the Koran, which was transcribed during the prophet's lifetime and canonized right after his death in Medina in the 7th century. By the 9th century, people were constructing such strange stories from the prophet that scholars such as Muhammad al-Bukhari and Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj decided to evaluate and catalogue them. Focusing on the reliability of the chain of transmitters, these scholars created collections of sahih , or trustworthy, hadiths.
But some modern Islamic scholars have felt increasingly uneasy about the inconsistencies and narrow-minded assertions in these collections. There are other hadiths that explain Muhammad's great respect for his wives, for example, and insist on the rights of women. The contradiction implies a need for revision. "I can't imagine a prophet who bullies women," said Hidayet Tuksal, a feminist theologian in Ankara. "The hadiths that portray him so should be abandoned."
Similarly, in proposing to create its new standard collection, the Turkish Diyanet intends to look beyond the chain of transmitters to logic, consistency and common sense. In many ways, this is a revival of an early debate in Islamic jurisprudence between rival camps known as the adherents of the hadiths and the adherents of reason — a debate that ended with the triumph of the former.
The reawakening of this medieval debate and the consequent revision of the hadith literature could be a revolutionary breakthrough.
It is no accident that Turkey is the place where the traditional sharia is being reconsidered. The process of modernizing Islam, which dates in Turkey from the late Ottoman Empire, has accelerated since the 1980s, when Turkish society began to open. Since then, a flourishing Muslim bourgeoisie has emerged, and members are wittily called "Islamic Calvinists" for their religiously inspired capitalism. This has given rise to a new social atmosphere: In modern Turkey, you see models parading down the catwalk in fancy headscarves and Koranic courses promoted by clowns handing out ice cream. Muslim politicians such as Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul repeatedly stress the need for change in the Islamic world.
These reform-minded Muslims are not secularists who want to do away with religion. On the contrary, they want to reinterpret Islam because they believe that its divinely ordained, humane and generous essence has been eclipsed by mortal man's erroneous traditions and ideologies.
This is crucial because only such godly reformists have a chance to appeal to more traditional members of their faith. Since the 19th century, traditional Muslims have felt forced to choose between their faith and modernity — a dilemma that has been fueling a reactionary strain of radical Islam. The Islamic world needs an alternative — a path between godless modernity and anti-modern bigotry. With its revision of the traditional Islamic sources and with its rising Muslimhood that embraces democracy and open society, Turkey may just be opening the way. The West should be taking notice — and encouraging other Muslim countries to take inspiration from Turkey's moderate course.
Posted by Mustafa Akyol at July 19, 2006 12:30 AM
Good for Turkey. I have always liked them as a people, even if they are sort of crazy in a good way.
This is a good step but it doesn't go far enough. Please don't forget the hadiths that tell us about the vile things that Mohammad did to infidels. Yes, they are there, they are many and they are not nice.
As a non-Muslim I don't want these things just removed, but an apology and a condemnation would be in order. Torture, rape, rapine, plunder, slavery and murder are serious issues.
Then please haver your dear Arab neighbors to do the same. And then other Muslims. Is that too much to ask?
Too bad all Muslims are not like the turks, who, with a few minor exceptions, are pretty much nice folks.
Take care... JOhn
Posted by: john at July 20, 2006 12:07 AM
Dear John,
I think you have some biases that are very normal to have after 911. There are many biases of many Muslims also for Christianity and Judaism because of the wild things done on Iraq and Palastine. Some people thing what is done in Middle East is nothing more than the commands of Bible and Old Testament which I do not agree.
There could be some vile things done to infidels in the long past history of Islam, but no hadits or treatments at the prophets' time for sure. On the contrary, there are many good Hadiths for Cristians and Jews. I suggest you to read "Life of Prophet Mohammad" written by Martin Lings. And at least you should read the Holy Quran. I've read the Holy Bible twice. I do love Christ and all the true-believers of Christianity.
Posted by: blue at July 21, 2006 5:21 PM
To the first poster, I don't think you really are getting the point. The point is that the Turkeish authorities are removing things falsely attributed to the Prophet (peace be upon him) starting around 150 or 200 years after his death. Your suggestion that these other things be removed and your 'demand for an apology' insinuates that these items were true. I, also, hope they remove the hadith that tend to portray actions as you describe because there is simply no firm evidence to prove they are true. Quite the opposite in fact, there is much evidence to prove they are not true. There are problems with the chain of transmission method of validating a hadith as reliable, which the Turkish authorities have acknowledged and are rectifying. So you are essentially 'demanding an apology' over actions our prophet (pbuh) did not do. I won't even go into how biased it was lol.
Posted by: Meme at July 23, 2006 11:11 PM
Dear Mustafa,
Your idea of a-Hadith is not in line with mainstream Muslims. Many of the a-Hadith you mentioned are not even sahih. Islam is a religion for all times as Allah Himself has declared. The Ulama are there to give rulings when necessary, not to "revise" Islam. Islam, basically, doesn't need revision.. Let's not forget, we are not Jew's or Christians, and neither are we in need of their approval or condemnation.
Anyhow, you and I both know, that there are rulings that can be given, and there ones that can't.
By the way, it's fascinationg how you are concerned of the West's acknowledgement of Turkey's reformation, but not of the East's..
Posted by: Zehra Sevinc at July 25, 2006 9:33 PM
This is great. There are many true muslims who want these types of changes to take place. Removing the many inconsistent and fabricated sayings from the shari'ah of Islam is one great step in the right direction. Although I doubt that any other countries will follow Turkey's example, doing so will bring us much closer to God's plan for humanity -- the real "islam" -- not just a religion, but a true system for all humankind!
Posted by: Leena J. at July 26, 2006 2:08 AM
A system, eh? I'm supposedly a Muslim and I had no idea that such wording existed. Despicable tripe. Good riddance.
I've not read the Koran cover to cover, yet (I need to replace my English version of it, lent it to a friend and never saw it again), but it seems pretty certain I won't be reading the Hadith, at all.
All due respect, I am a so-called Muslim more out of respect for my elders, than for any other reason. Any of us could have easily been born into families comprised of Jews, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists etc.. Our religion chooses us, folks, and the path of least resistance is to embrace the faith of our parents.. Makes the word 'belief' seem less meaningful, like a choice rather than a conviction.
Posted by: Amerikan Turk at July 31, 2006 7:59 AM
I would love to see some changes in the Islamic world
Posted by: idatasha at July 31, 2006 10:31 AM
I believe that no one needs to apologise for the existence of the hadith.As they are useful sources of history,though not necessarily always accurate.Also,muhammad would never have done any of those vile things ascribed to him,as God himself says in the quran that God has blessed muhammad with a noble character.I personally think that all hadith that contradicts the quran should not be taken as sources of law.Also those that are in line with the quran,are hence redundant as the quran already has mentioned about the issue at hand,and hence would just make good reading material.The main thing is, it is not revision to islam that we are making by starting to point out the irrelevance of hadith to shariah.When the prophet was alive,there was no book called hadith and neither was there during the rule of the first 4 khalifas.THe key thing is,how then did they practice islam?They simply followed the one book for all time and all of mankind..jinns included,the quran al karim.SO the current steps are not revisions that distort islam,but are steps towards restoring islam to its pristine purity.Salam.
Posted by: Jai at August 2, 2006 9:43 AM
This is totally against the Original.So Iam against it.
Posted by: Arslan at February 17, 2007 3:47 PM
I wave the flag for Turkey and must do so this time. Of course, anyone who has read one minute of the Koran would not think to find such horrible statements about women because just the opposite is written lavishly in the Koran (although I am certainly no scholar on the Koran).
I don't understand why Muslims think that they cannot both change with the times and stay true to their faith. In the Christian and Jewish communities, people have not given up their faith to be modern. To be modern does not equate to not believing in God or abiding by the practices of your religion. Islam is no different. Islam has been hijacked by the crazies, changed in principle and thought, not to mention the various sects believe different from one another, just as many of the other religions in the world.
The main principle should be for everyone to live in peace together and show tolerance in all cases. Do I say approval? No! I say tolerant, understanding and open to at least listening to "the other."
Posted by: joybringer at September 14, 2007 7:54 AM
If you religious people would realise that the notion of god is all in your mind, we might get somewhere sensible. 'God' is a man-made invention (which is bad enough) but to then go on to worship that which man has himself invented borders on the insane.
Posted by: Ken Partington at February 26, 2008 11:06 AM
The quoran discusses women in the third person like some inhuman commodity similar to owning a goat or a sheep. How am I suppose to respect something like that which completely wipes out my existance as an equal human being. Ok written in maybe the 8th century.
There is no mention of wearing a headscarf in the quoran so why are so many women wearing it? It only says cover your jewels. Why are so many women forced to cover themselves when basically its men that are out of control on this planet in both body and mind.
I have looked at the bible and the quoran and both are books written by men for men so as a woman Im not impressed with either one.
Posted by: Istanbulian at October 23, 2008 7:40 PM
Dear Istanbulian,
I share your thoughts. You do not have to go as far as the headscarf issue. I am not sure if you are following the Uzmez case in Turkey, but he claims that the has not done anything "wrong" out of respect to the Turkish laws but according to his "beliefs" it would be a legitimate relationship since the alleged victim is at her puberty. This person is one of the prominent Islamic writers in Turkey. How shameful on the part of Turkish population in general and "Islamic" writers in particular that such "noble" writers lecture the populace on human rights, including the freedom of religion and by implication freedom to choose. Given the opportunity and of course maturity, I wonder which 14 year old kid would marry a 76 year old guy.
I do not know whether Uzmez is guilty or not but his "beliefs" that he vehemently advocates are archaic, barbaric, primitive and should be buried in the dusty books of history for ever. I am embarrassed to hear about it; but he appears to be comfortable somehow.
If the Islamic community wants to join a sincere and meaningful debate on democracy and human rights, they must abandon this overly teleological logic that treats women simply as eggs to be fertilized by men so that we as human beings can dissociate ourselves from animals. If the Islamic community continues with its advocacy of its "fundamentals" of this kind, and hides behind the militant - if not childish - rhetoric that such acts are consonant with their "beliefs", Islam will continue to be associated with practices associated with illiteracy, fundamentalism, and backwardness.
This mentality has little to contribute to democracy; it shamelessly exploits it however.
Posted by: cingoz at October 29, 2008 8:08 PM
The Turks have no hope of getting away with this. The a-hadith are part of Islam, you can not revise the religion.....if you don't like the things the prophet said and done, then don't be a muslim. To say you don't need a-hadith is stupid, you can't make any sense out of the Koran without them. The core belief in Islam is that the Prophet is the perfect example of a human being, and his behaviour is perfect. Islam means submission, and you must submit to be a muslim.......you don't get to question the behaviour of the prophet......you accept it and submit to his wisdom which is the wisdom of Allah. Altering it to suit yourself is just refusing to accept. Many of the a-hadith that people don't like they say......oh it couldn't be true...but many of the things they don't like are not only in the a-hadith....they are historical facts reported in other non Islamic sources.........so we are going to say that such and such did not happen because we don't want it to have happened. Get this through you thick heads wanna be muslims.....if the prophet went on a raid and slaughtered all the men and boys and took the girls captive and turned them into slaves and forced a jewish woman whos father and brother he beheaded early in the day to become his sex slave.....then that is because that is what should have been done.....period.....if you don't like it.....don't be a muslim
Posted by: Stu at October 22, 2009 5:18 AM