Extolling Women's Rights in Sharia

April 14, 2005 - (Daily Trust - Abuja) The days of 29th and 30th March, 2005 are historic to the women folk in northern Nigeria. They were the days when a two-day conference was held with the theme: "Promoting women's right through Sharia in Northern Nigeria," organised by Centre for Islamic Legal Studies Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, with the support of Security, Justice and Growth Programme Department for International Development, U.K (DFID).

According to Dr. Usman Bugaje, a member of the House of Representatives, who delivered the key note address at the occasion, women were now relegated to the background, and cited examples of great women in Islam like Sumayya, who contributed tremendously in different ways to the development of Islam. He underscored the fact that all the scholars of Islamic thoughts studied at the feet of women, pointing out that prophet Muhammad (SAW) directed people to seek half of knowledge from Aisha, his wife. He, therefore, emphasised that half of knowledge possessed by mankind is acquired from the woman.

Also speaking at the occasion, a renown Islamic scholar from Kano, Sheikh Ibrahim Khalil, noted that in Islam a woman has a right as a wife, a daughter and as a human being. "Islam gives custody of children to a woman until she remarries what right could be more than this?", he queried. Sheikh Khalil further explained that in some aspects women have the same right with men, while some rights affect men only and others, women only.

He advised people to look broadly at issues in different places, noting that behaviours and attitudes among mankind are enforced by prevailing circumstances. Sheikh Khalil cited the example of late Emir Usman Dan Tsoho of Kano, during whose reign women were denied a house as share in inheritance, but they were given farms and money instead. This decision, according to him, was because if women were given houses they would bring men to perpetrate depravities and criminal activities in the house. So they were denied houses to guard against such unlawful perpetrations. Furthermore, a divorcee's brothers were told to accommodate and cater for her should there be any circumstances that compels her to return to her parents or any relation's home.

The wife of Zamfara state governor, Dr Karima Ahmed Sani, in her own contribution, urged women to learn Quran and hadith, asserting that men are not depriving women of their rights but that the women should blame themselves for failure to seek knowledge to know their rights. She said although men and women were equal in acts of worship, she cited physiological and anatomical differences as essential considerations between the two sexes, which determine the role each plays in such biological duties as child birth.

In a goodwill message, Hajiya Bilkisu Yusuf, National Amirah of Federation of Muslim Women Association in Nigeria (FOMWAN), emphasised that education was the important tool for the achievement of women's rights, adding that Islam as an expansive and flexible religion has explained what and how the education should be acquired by women to enable them achieve such rights.

She chided the Ulama for failing to tell the truth to the leaders about the position and rights of women, which she said resulted in poor and unfair leadership.

Giving his fatherly admonishment at the occasion, the Emir of Dutse in Jigawa State said "I come from a rural area where women fetch firewood and water under the guise of Islam, but only acting strictly according to un-Islamic traditions." stressing that marriage is a partnership of equal responsibility. According to him, the low status of women in the society was as a result of inadequate education, noting that whereas he was privileged to attend school because he is a man, his sisters were not so opportune and are now grandmothers and great-grand mothers. The emir therefore called on those concerned to encourage women to acquire religious and western forms of education.

The governor of Kaduna state, Alhaji Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, who was the chief host at the occasion, observed the need to remove the geographical constraint of the theme of the conference, 'the northern women.' Instead, he advised, it should include the right of all Muslim women in Nigeria wherever they are. The governor also noted that the distinction should be emphasised between rights and privileges in order to avoid confusion.

The governor of Kebbi State, Alhaji Muhammadu Adamu Aliero, who was represented at the occasion by his adviser on Islamic affairs, Alhaji Umar Isa, admonished that "If we talk of rights, we should also talk of responsibilities," advocating the promotion of Taqwa, the fear of Allah, because it is the foundation and springboard of all good deeds. The governor of Zamfara State, Alhaji Ahmed Sani, who also spoke at the conference on promoting women's right through the Sharia noted that women's right was part of human right.

The co-ordinator, North, of the Department for International Development (DFID), Dr. Audu Grema, lamented that the issue of women's right was rarely discussed even in academic pursuits and urged that "it is about time it is discussed, to take it beyond the conference."

Hajiya Saudatu Mahdi, the secretary general of Women's Right Advancement and Protection Alternative (WRAPA), who was also the representative of women groups at the occasion expressed optimism at the conference and urged women to take an active part in similar and other initiatives that would facilitate and enhance their full enjoyment of the right granted them by Allah.

"This by extension will prepare them to discharge their responsibilities as meaningful members of their families and communities. This will also ensure a sustained dialogue of respect and complimentarily beginning from the family level to the social level," she concluded.

Dr. Fatima L. Adamu of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, spoke elaborately on practices relating to the girl-child such as the education of the girl-child. She maintained that the right of the girl-child on education has often been violated in the north through complete refusal by parents to send their daughters to school for "obnoxious" reasons.

"A study on the situation of the girl-child in Kano notes that mothers support girls to go out hawking because of the stake they have from the proceeds of their hawking. The proceeds are used to buy kayan daki (marriage trousseau) for the girls and other preparation for the girls' marriage. While hawking, the girls fall prey to men and could be become sexually harassed. This continued despite the recent declaration of sharia criminal law in some northern states," she explained.

She noted that in Islam, parents have the responsibility of providing education to their children and that the practice of denying women education is against the sharia which expects both men and women to be equally educated. She also spoke on exploitation of the girl-child, noting that though such exploitation could take different forms, the major one is child labour which she described as injurious to the physical, social and moral development of the child. Child labour exposes a child to long hours of work in a dangerous environment and at the expense of schooling, she maintained, stressing that for the girls this often occurs in relation to hawking of their mother's products. Dr Fatima said: "Sharia does not accept this practice on the ground that it exposes the girl child to dangers of sexual exploitation by paedophiles and other morally bankrupt members of the society." On early and forced marriage, she stated that girls are often married at an early age when they are not mature enough to take up the responsibility of being wives and becoming effective mothers.

However she noted that although the practice of early marriage was dying in the cities because of many factors such as education, economic and environment, it still endures in the rural areas.

She noted with dismay the practice of forced marriage perpetrated by adult members of the family as a girl could be forcefully married to a man old enough to be her father against her wish because of financial or other social benefits to the parents in most cases. She pointed out that according to Sharia it is recommended and always necessary to seek the consent of the girl before she is given out in marriage.

"There are authentic reports in the traditions of the prophet where some parents gave their daughters in marriage without the daughters' consent, but when the women concerned objected to them before the prophet, the daughters were given the option to revoke the marriage," she recalled. She further spoke on the abuse and violence against the girl-child, which she said took place both within and outside the home.

The abuse and violence, she explained, could take several forms such as mental and psychological abuse, sexual exploitation, excessive beating and favouring the children of some co-wives more than those of others in polygamous homes, adding that foster children in general get less affection and care. She maintained that sharia prohibited any form of injustice, adding that it is unlawful under the sharia to maltreat and abuse any other's children because all children are not only a gift but also a trust from Allah.

Lack of provision and care is another important practice affecting the rights of a girl-child relating to her entitlement to nutritious food and decent clothing, Dr Fatima observed. She explained that because of the economic situation in the country parents were increasingly finding it difficult to cater for the basic needs of their children. She disclosed that national data indicated a higher level of malnutrition among children of the North West zone than their counterparts in the South.

For instance, according to her, such data in 2003 reported that children living in the North were disadvantaged in terms of nutritional status with 55% of prevalence of stunting in the northwest zone and 43% in the northeast zone compared to 18% in the southeast and 25% in the southwest. She said one of the main factors of poor feeding is poverty. She noted that the refusal by some parents to make necessary provision for the decent development of their children is against the teachings of the sharia.

Dr. Fatima also spoke on the care for the orphans and the children of the poor, observing that the practice that needed to be sustained in the society was one where the extended family system provides security for the abandoned girl child from a broken marriage and orphaned children.

However, she lamented that this kind of support was declining without any alternative. She underscored the fact that one of the most meritorious acts in Islam is the feeding and taking care of the orphans and the needy.

Dr. Ali Ahmed of the Bayero University, Kano talked on socio-economic and political practices relating to women, laying more emphasis on the misuse/abuse of Talaq form of divorce, which is a unilateral divorce by the husband. It means the husband can divorce his wife without consulting anybody. He noted that Talaq was a trust Allah has given men to have power over women, but which, unfortunately, men abuse. According to him, the manner in which Talaq is practiced adversely affects the protected rights of the victims, in this case women and their young children.

The most common abuse of Talaq process, he highlighted are (a) pronouncing the Talaq at prohibited times (b) threatening her with Talaq on frivolous reasons, such as wife's insistence on her right of maintenance (c) pronouncement of 1st, 2nd and 3rd Talaqs in one sitting. The evaluation according to sharia, observed Dr. Ali, was that pronouncing 3 Talaq at the same time in one sitting or pronouncing the Talaq while the wife was observing her menses or when the woman was not in a state of fresh purity was contrary to sharia.

On the issue of denial of wives' post-talaq entitlements, Dr Ali explained that sharia requires that husbands continue to make automatic provision for the maintenance of their devoiced wives. He, however lamented that this was followed more in breach than in observance. According to him, sharia places most, but not all, of the post-talaq entitlements on the good conscience and sense of justice of the husband, adding that however, because talaq is accompanied by bitter separation, almost all divorcing men have their sense of justice compromised and beclouded. Explaining further, he said that apart from these unspecified entitlements, the sharia-guaranteed entitlements, which are also denied almost always, are: (a) preventing the wife from staying in matrimonial home for the 3-month period. (b) denying her, after forcing her out of the home, any provision for maintenance (c) denying her maintenance for her infant or young children (which include feeding, clothing and schooling expenses); this extends beyond the 3-month period. (d) Denying her custody of her young children or denying her their maintenance allowance.

Dr. Ali Ahmad pointed out that evaluation according to the sharia required that following divorce, the husband must continue to maintain the wife in all respects as if no divorce had take place for a certain number of months in which she is serving the iddah (waiting period), stressing that it is unlawful to ask her to leave the matrimonial home during that period.

He however, stipulated that ways should be found to prevent the frequency and ease of divorce. He said, "the fact that divorce can be secured by either of the couple relatively easily may have been one of the several factors responsible for the high rate of divorce in the Northern part of the country." While this phenomenon could be advantageous to the cause of women empowerment where necessary, according to him, it could also harm them.

He emphasised that women were divorced with ease, leaving them to fend for themselves without any preparation, adding that this practice however is matched by comparative ease of remarriage by divorcees. Evaluation according to sharia on this issue, he noted, that there were various grounds and mechanism to dissolve a marriage and at the some time there were various alternative for redeeming it.

On the issue of custody of children after divorce, he stated that whatever form of divorce occasioned separation and dissolution of marriage, the sharia entitled the wife the custody of young children of the marriage, the female child until she married off and the male until he reaches puberty. He observed that in practice however, wives were denied custody of their children by threat or actual use of force. "A woman only gets the custody of her children if the husband doesn't want them", emphasised Dr. Ali Ahmad.

On inheritance, he explained that interference with any specific share of inheritance was not common except in landed property for subdivision. According to him, for the simple reason that female inheritors are almost always married and living outside the family house, co-inheritors, who are male, often take various decisions that are injurious to the interest of the female on jointly inherited landed property. Evaluation according to sharia regarding this, he observed, was completely against the teachings of the sharia, which emphasises that Muslims must not devour each other's property, except based on mutual consent and for beneficial reasons.

Dr. Ali also spoke on property ownership, where he elaborated on denying women direct access to acquisition of land. He stated that women were not favoured in any land deals, because it was considered inappropriate for a woman to aspire to own land. Accordingly, he explained further that concern for specific women issues in land matters were overlooked or deliberate obstacles were placed in their ways to discourage them from directly aspiring to hold title to land. Evaluation according to sharia, he maintained, entitles both men and women to own property, including land.

The second day of the conference, Hajiya Saudatu Sani, chairperson, committee on women and youth development of the House of Representatives, urged the Muslim Umma to look at current issues going on in Nigeria such as NYSC, which though intended to unite the country, but have adverse effect on Muslim's culture. Such adverse effects, according to her, was where a married woman was posted to another state, where many husbands refused to allow the wives to go, and they lose a year or two while seeking for redeployment. She advocated for a decree that would make a married woman to serve at her husband's state.

She called on Muslims to condemn in a strong united voice such practices that infringe on the rights of Muslim women, just as she called for the encouragement of the Muslim women to participate in all developmental programmes.

Islam gives women sufficient rights, societies deny them.

From: http://allafrica.com/stories/200504140904.html