Sunday, July 29, 2007

Sexual Ethics and Islam

See a timely new journal on Contemporary Islam;

Sexual ethics and Islam: feminist reflections on Qur’an, Hadith, and jurisprudence” by Kecia Ali;

“And the problem, as I currently see it, is this: meaningful consent and mutuality, both of which I believe to be critical for a just ethics of sexual intimacy, are structurally impossible within the constraints of lawful sexuality as defined by the classical Muslim scholars, whose views – drawing from and building on Qur’an and sunnah – permeate all Muslim discourses. It is possible to rethink Islamic sexual ethics to accommodate these values and there are resources within Muslim texts, both revealed and interpretive, for doing so. Nonetheless, an egalitarian sexual ethics cannot be constructed through pastiche; a methodology of picking-and-choosing, combining isolated elements in expedient ways, will prove insufficient to resolve the core issue at stake. We need, instead, a serious consideration of what makes sex lawful in the sight of God” (p. 151).

So argues Kecia Ali in a refreshing analysis of sexual ethics in Islam with a focus on relevance to contemporary Muslims in the West. Apart from the characterization of Islam as a violent religion, nothing is as problematic in discussions about contemporary Islam as the debate over sexuality and gender. Western stereotypes of Muslim women as veiled slaves of the harem are often countered by Muslim scholars who claim that women are afforded more respect and security in Islam than in other religions. The truth, as measured subjectively in real time, lies in between the polarized ideals. In this book Kecia Ali addresses sexual ethics in Islam as an American feminist Muslim scholar with, as she notes from the start, “the luxury of deciding whether and how to apply religious doctrine in my own life – whether to arrange my affairs to follow the dictates of one or another school of jurisprudence, or the regulations in the Qur’an, or to follow civil law” (p. xxii). The result is a no-taboo-barred commentary on perennial ethical concerns (marital relations, sexual practices) past acceptable practices (slavery, concubinage, stoning of adulterers, clitoridectomy, the Prophet’s marriages) and contemporary critical social issues (spousal abuse, homosexuality and same-sex marriages). While the author revisits the arguments of classical Muslim jurists and commentators, the overall goal is to analyze their relevance for Muslims today.

An example of the author’s reform-minded approach is the relevance of dower (mahr) in contemporary Islam, especially in Western contexts where Islamic law is voluntary rather than state authorized. Noting that Islamic legal rulings on dower modify existing compensation arrangements in pre-Islamic Arabia, Ali suggests that there is room to further modify the existing legal rules according to the pragmatic living conditions of modern Muslims (p. 4). Although mahr has often been regarded as a form of economic security for a bride in case of her husband's death or divorce, today in the United States most dower amounts are miniscule and enforcement of payment after divorce (generally a civil proceeding) is rare. Thus, the ethical function of the dower changes when both wife and husband work or have access to civil law for divorce proceedings.

A major part of Ali’s exegetical message is the need to think outside the literalist box. The case of slavery, accepted as legitimate in classical Islamic sources, shows that moral issues once regarded as religiously justified have in fact been reinterpreted by virtually all Muslims to conform to social change. Ali argues, “Outside of accepting that slavery is a just and therefore not problematic practice (or insisting, against the clear sense of the text, that the Qur’an never actually allowed it), the only possible response is to suggest that the Qur’anic text itself requires Muslims to sometimes depart from its literal provisions in order to establish justice” (p. 55). Probing further on a contemporary issue in many Muslim countries, Ali asks if it is still necessary to insist that polygyny is an Islamic right for all time, given that slavery has been abolished (p. 156). As part of her feminist project, not unlike the earlier work of Fatima Mernissi, precedence is given to the Qur’an’s broad principles of justice rather than “specific, time-bound commands” (p. 53).

Although Islam has long been touted as a “sex-positive” religion, the adaptability of Qur’anic and fiqh sexual ethics to contemporary social conditions is fraught with difficulties. While recognizing the need to counter misogynist interpretations, a task already well under way in Christian and Jewish theological discourse, Ali is keenly aware of the difficulty in simply rewriting the rules. “Feminist exegetes,” she warns, “must take care not to be blinded by the commitment to equality, and the presumption that equality is necessary for justice, as classical exegetes were by their assumptions about the naturalness of male superiority and dominance in family and society” (p. 133). Unfortunately this moral quandary is not resolved in the text. Simply challenging the contradictions and limitations of male-dominated discourses does not in itself create an alternative vision of gender equality. But this work, by staunchly refusing to adopt a secular feminist stance, highlights the critical need for further interpretive efforts to rescue the moral precepts of the Qur’an and Islamic tradition from dogmatic inertia. For too long debates over sexuality and religion have lapsed into a “don’t ask-don’t tell” state of mind. Professor Ali is willing to ask the tough questions. Clearly there is much left to tell.


Some other interesting articles and book reviews from the Journal;
Messages to the world: the statements of Osama Bin Laden
Understanding political Islam in Somalia

The Egyptian movement for change: Intellectual antecedents and generational conflicts

The Muslimwoman

A theory of Islamic political radicalism in Britain: sociology, theology and international political economy

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