Gimba Kakanda wrote:
On Child Marriage, Islam and the Muslim Woman...
I always have certain issues with ultra-conservatism among the so-called fundamentalists; much as I don't want any outright distortion of religious views, there are areas to which commonsense must be applied to see the differences between the contexts of ancient Arabia and the modern world; some decisions by the Prophet were largely based on what were on ground or in practice in that turbulent period. It's just like believing the Prophet would've chosen aeroplane over camels for his travels if the former had been in existence then. We must always do what will redeem the image and strength of Islam.
Concerning this furore over Child Marriage, it's simply one of those patriarchal aspects promoted my the male to continue their damaging domination of their women. I don't think anyone would be proud of a society where Muslim women are missing in the labour market. The chauvinists who insist that their daughters would not go to school, based on beliefs that education and campus would corrupt them, still want female doctors to attend to their wives, daughters, sisters, aunts and nieces, at the hospital. What irony!
I think, in Islam, a woman is entitled to certain royal treatments. It's just ridiculous that we consider the girl-child a "domestic appendage" - apology to Soyinka - based on our misinterpretation of Islamic history and the traditions of the Prophet. A society whose women are powerless has done a disservice to Islam because it's the same women, and not men, that shape the earliest education of every child. A woman deserves her freedom to rightly decide who her man is, and also be as empowered as her male counterpart. Shalom!
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