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July 23, 2006

Turkey: Sexist Proverbs And Muslim Misogyny To Be Scrapped

On July 13, the Times carried an article by Suna Erdem which reported that in Turkey, a whole class of sexist proverbs in Turkey were to be deleted from dictionaries, under the approval of the Turkish Language Institute.

But an article in today's Hamilton Spectator by Turkish journalist Mustafa Akyol, and originally printed in the Washington Post suggests that not only sexist proverbs, but also sexist Hadiths are going to be outlawed, with full approval of the Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) of Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Abandoning sexist traditional proverbs from dictionaries is one thing, but it is an extremely bold and welcome move for a Muslim country to abrogate the Hadiths, the traditional accounts of Mohammed's life. Firstly, let us look at some examples of the misogynistic proverbs.

A woman is the devil version of a man
Woman is the plaything of the Devil
No good comes of corn sown later than August just as no good comes of a woman who rises later than her husband
A man preserves a woman like animal skin preserves cheese
Even if a woman's candlestick were gold, it is the man for whom you should light a candle

These are actual lines from Hadiths, according to Mustafa Akyol, though their exact provenance is not cited:

Your prayer will be invalid if a donkey, black dog or a woman passes in front of you.
If a husband's body is covered with pus and his wife licks it clean, she still wouldn't have paid her dues.
If a woman doesn't satisfy her husband's desires, she should choose herself a place in hell.
The best of women are those who are like sheep
Women are imperfect in intellect and religion

The plan to revise the texts of Hadiths is being put forward by the Diyanet, the highest Islamic authority in Turkey, which controls 76,000 mosques in the country and beyond. Ali Bardakoglu is the president of the Diyanet. He is a liberal theologian who was appointed by the AKP three years ago.

Bardakoglu claims that the new collection of misogyny-free Hadiths will be completed by 2008. He also said that imams would be sent to the (mainly Kurdish) regions of the country's southeast, to preach against honor killings.

There are inconsistencies and contradictions in Hadiths, and there has always been a debate in Islamic jurisprudence between the importance of applying Hadiths based upon reason, and those based upon the chains of transmission by individuals (isnad). Mustafa Akyol states that transmission won the battle over reason.

The Diyanet willl have a tough job both editing the numerous Hadiths which exist (see below) and then to persuade the wider public that their results remain authentic. For many Turkish Muslims, the exactitudes of faith are left to imams and religious bodies. I have spoken with Turks who talk dreamily of seeing a modernisation and reformation of their traditional faith.

This move may be a first positive step torwards modernising and updating Islam, and if it succeeds in gaining approval, it may inspire other Muslims to follow suit.

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The Hadiths are the source of 90% of Sharia law. There are still arguments as to which Hadiths are authentic. Bukhari (810 to 870 AD) collected 300,000 Hadiths over a period of 16 years, but only confirmed 2,062 of these to be authentic ("sahih"). Similarly his student Muslim collected a similar number and deemed just over 2,000 to be authentic.

For Sunni Muslims, Bukhari is regarded as the most reliable author of Hadiths. Tabari (d. 923) was called the "Livy of the Arabians" by the historian Gibbon and his Hadiths are extensive. The earliest biographers of Mohammed were Zohri, who died in 741, aged 72 and Orwa, a close relative of Aisha, Mohammed's last wife. Orwa died in 712.

Zohri's works have not survived but are quoted in the Hadiths of Ibn Isshaq (d. 768) and these were used by Ibn Hisham (died 828). Waquidi of Medina (d. 822) wrote a biography of Mohammed, and this survives through the Hadiths of his secretary Katib. Abu Dawud (817 to 888) gathered 50,000 ahadith (sayings) of Mohammed, and included 4,800 in his collection, the Sunan Abu Dawud.

The earliest collection of Hadiths which survive in the anthology in which they were assembled are those of Malik bin Anas bin Malik bin Abu Amir Al-Asbahi (Malik for short) who was born in 711 and died in 808. His Muwatta (well-trodden path) contains a few thousand hadith. A late contributor to Hadith collection is the jurist Imam an-Nawawi, who lived in the 13th century who collected 42 Hadiths. His commentary on Sahih Muslim forms the basis of much traditional Islamic law.

The Hadith sources which have been most employed in the formulation of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) are those of Bukhari, Muslim, Ibn Majah (d. 886), Abu Dawud, Al Tirmidhi (d, 892) and al Nasa'i (d. 915).

Traditionally, the jurist (mujtahid) comes to a decision on what is legally appropriate by a process called ijtihad, whereby the jurist exerts himself by applying his own knowledge to the sources of law (usul) to arrive at a result.

There have been various schools of Islamic jurisprudence, many of which have been superceded by others, following the dictum that requirements of law must change with the requirements of the time (Al-hukm-u yadullu ma'a illatihi wujudan wa adaman or "The law is formulated in accordance with circumstances").

The most important current schools of law are: Shia, Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, with other locally followed minor schools.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at July 23, 2006 11:14 PM

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