LETTERS Women in Islam
Sir: I was asked by a friend in Manchester to read the 3 January issue of the Spectator as there was a 'bad' article on Islam in it by Ray Honeyford (Muslims in the swim'). After reading it, however, I found that most of the inaccuracies about Islam were made by the Muslims mentioned, although Mr Honeyford did make a couple of mistakes himself.
Firstly, Muslim girls or even women, are permitted to swim where no man can see them and providing they are dressed in a way which conceals their private parts from each other. The Muslim parent really summed up his position when he said, 'I do not like her to swim.' The Prophet Muham- mad (peace be upon him) said that Mus- lims must tie their camels and then trust in Allah, so we cannot leave our children untrained for certain eventualities, like being stranded in open sea and then say it is the Will of Allah, when they drown. 'Tying the camel' means that we must take precautions.
Secondly, Mr Honeyford mistakenly says that it is the religion which assigned girls maternal and domestic roles, but actually scientific tests recently carried out in Canada, the USA and Britain, have shown that the woman's brain and general make-up, differs from a man's and men and women are designed to be able to complete some tasks more satisfactorily than the opposite sex can. The religion of Islam, however, allows women to take on other roles, apart from maternal and domestic ones, but often Muslims (not Islam) prevent it.
As far as the book Sexuality in Islam is concerned, I am afraid I have not read it and cannot therefore confirm that Mr Honeyford's quotation is accurate. If it is, however, it is a completely incorrect inter- pretation of a cluster of verses of the Holy Quran and some of the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), which appear to have been taken totally out of context.
I agree that many of the problems which Muslims experience in this country, are as a result of living in this country, but I do not agree with the assumption that Pakis- tan is an Islamic state. It is, rather, a country with Muslims residing in it. To be an Islamic state it would have to make itself available to all Muslims, regardless of their race and would have to base its social, economic, political and legal systems en- tirely on the Islamic system. Pakistan does not have a complete Islamic system and many of the aspects of Pakistani Law which are termed 'Islamic', either fall far short of actually being 'Islamic', or are too harsh to be considered 'Islamic', the severe and painful floggings being one such example. Flogging in Islam is meant to humiliate and the rule is that a book be held under the arm of the flogger, which must not be allowed to fall to the ground. Also, Pakis- tan offers residence etc mainly to Pakistani Muslims and not to all Muslims.
Finally, I also do not agree with Mr Honeyford's statements about Maudoodi. He, like many Muslims, denounced the bad aspects of 'the West', but always stressed that many good things exist there, such as certain technological achieve- ments, which should be made use of.
I hope this has cleared up some mis- understandings, God Willing.
lsa L. Darby
The Islamic Organisation for Media Monitoring, 3 Furlong Road, London N7
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