Islamic Expansion Women and Islam Final exam UGC 111LR P1 May 13 2014 Tuesday 11 45 AM 2 45 PM Knox 109 2 Exam preparation 1 Lecture Notes all overheads for semester 2 My History Lab test exams pre tests post tests and chapter exams 3 Final Exam Essay Outline Go through all civilizations 4 Bring enough paper for essay 2 pencils and erasers 5 One cheat sheet allowed one side 8 by 11 inch 6 pt font minimum 3 Topics 1 Different interpretations translations of the Koran on Women 2 Expansion of Islam Holy War 3 Place of Islam in India 4 Role of Sufism in the acceptance of Islam in India Rumi s Path of Universal Love 1 Women in Islam God treats women equally with men The lord responded to them I never fail to reward any worker among you for any work you do be you male or female you are equal to one another Qur an 3 195 Adaptations to Earlier Civilizations Certain scholars argue that tribal nomadic Arabia treated women with relative equality but the neighboring empires with their settled urban civilizations veiled women and kept them home under male domination The Arabs adopted these practices The Quran is more liberal In effect this group of scholars is also saying that the more liberal Quranic rules regarding women were reinterpreted after contact with societies outside Arabia Whatever the rules of the Quran in practice gender relations varied widely in different parts of the world of Islam Spodek 353 Contrary text Men have authority over women because God has made the one superior to the other and because they spend their wealth to maintain them Good women are obedient They guard their unseen parts because God has guarded them As for those from whom you fear disobedience admonish them and send them to beds apart and beat them Then if they obey you take no further action against them God is high supreme Koran 4 34 Spodek 352 Translations of the Qur an Spodek A J Arburry or N J Dawood trans Men have authority over women because God has made the one superior to the other and because they spend their wealth to maintain them Ahmed Ali trans in series Sacred Writings vol 3 ed by Jaroslav Pelikan Men are the support qawwam of women as God gives some more means than others and because they spend of their wealth to provide for them Qawwam Rule over or Care for does not mean lord and master but provider of food and necessities of life and through its form qaim to take care of Obedience to whom Spodek citation Good women are obedient They guard their unseen parts because God has guarded them Ali So women who are virtuous are obedient to God and guard the hidden as God has guarded it qanitat only means devoted or obedient to God as in 2 116 16 120 33 35 etc Admonish or Persuade S As for those from whom you fear disobedience admonish them A As for women you feel are averse talk to them suasively Nushuz Apart from rising up ill treatment it also means aversion to an act and has been used in this sense here as in 4 128 for men s aversion Raghib in his Al Mufridat fi Gharib al Qur an says fa izu means talk to them so persuasively as to melt their hearts Beat or Sleep with S and send them to beds apart and beat them A then leave them alone in bed without molesting them and go to bed with them when they are willing Daraba strike or have intercourse Ali Raghib points out that daraba metaphorically means to have intercourse It cannot be taken here to mean to strike them women This view is strengthened by the Prophet s authentic hadith found in a number of authorities including Bukhari and Muslim Could any of you beat your wife as he would a slave and then lie with her in the evening There are other traditions in Abu Da ud Nasa i Ibn Majah Ahmad bin Hanbal and others to the effect that he forbade the beating of any woman saying Never beat God s handmaidens Final reconciliation S Then if they obey you take no further action against them God is high supreme A If they open out to you do not seek an excuse for blaming them Surely God is sublime and great Rights of women Divorce Inheritance Veiling Polygamy Public life in early ummah Hijacking by patriarchy Karen Armstrong Islam p 15 16 2 Extent of Islamic Expansion See map p 355 365 In 1453 Byzantine Empire falls to Muslim Turks By 1500 Islamic states in Arabia Persia India Indonesia Turkey Greece and Balkans Egypt North Africa Sahara East Africa Spain Beginning of Islamic Expansion 1 Successful unification Arab tribes establishes peace between them and a united power of herding people naturally trained in war 2 Traditional raids to the north are now more successful and provoke the responses of the Byzantine and Sassanid Persian empires Collapse of Persian empire 3 the Sassanid Empire collapsed almost immediately Meeting little opposition Arab armies swept across Iraq Iran Afghanistan and central Asia 354 Why was there little opposition For centuries the Arabs had tried to raid the richer settled lands beyond the peninsula the difference was that this time they had encountered a power vacuum Persia and Byzantium had both been engaged for decades in a long and debilitating series of wars with one another Both were exhausted Armstrong 30 Recall previous history 1 Recall Gilgamesh the people cry out against their hard ruler and the god sends the animal man herder Enkidu 2 Recall easy victory of Cyrus the shepherd herder after terrible wars of Assyria and Babylon Greater freedom tolerance of religion of one God for all Zoroastrianism History repeats itself 3 Once again the people of old Mesopotamia are subject to terrible wars by their rulers Now it is the herders from the south the Muslim Arabs who fill a void created by war and bring about peace with a religion of one God for all peoples and respect of religious differences among monotheists 3 Hinduism and Islam On surface thousands of gods Muslim conquerors say idol worshipers Deeper understanding of Brahmins Hindus are also monotheists Unity in Diversity Hindu Trinity gods avatars are diverse expressions of unity of Brahman Hinduism acquires dhimmi protected status Spodek 363 376 Gandhi a Hindu Both the Koran and the Bhagavad Gita are the inspired word of God Islam s role in India Recall geography of India role of caste system in the weakness of India s political culture Islamic culture is state centered Muslims save India from Mongols Ala ud Din 1297 1306 Taxes rich Brahmins to build strong army A Hindu warrior caste ruler could not do this Stops Mongol army at Khyber pass The Islamic State in India Next