Woman’s Limitation in the Public Sphere

The public sphere here is all the social aspect of life which enables us to form a public opinion. Substantially, everyone can come into this sphere including men and women. The topic discussed in this sphere is about public interest matters excluding force. A democratic climate is formed in this sphere, and therefore a consensus free of force and domination can be achieved.

This concept is taken from Habermas’s social theory and invites debates among the feminists. The feminist have said that society as meant by Habermas in terms of the creation of public opinion, has neglected woman who are seen as identical with the private arena. Therefore, the critique of the dichotomy between the public and private sphere is an important aspect of feminist analysis.

The earliest critic regarding this public and private dichotomy was conveyed by Mary Walstonecraft, a liberal feminist pioneer in the 18^th century. In the contemporary context, she said, the growth of capitalist regulation has led to a confusion in the form of a dichotomy between the public and the private sphere. The emergence of the market economy as the initial indicator of capitalism in the 17^th and 18^th century considered the division between public and society as important. Public life is considered as relating to matters of and services provided by the state. Society provides rights for men and not for women. To Walstonecraft, laying women aside in the public sphere results in the domination of woman. It is not only the liberal feminists who criticize this dichotomy, but radical and socialist feminists as well.

Mosque as public sphere

In Islam, regardless of the feminist context, the concept of public sphere explained by Habermas was present and created when the Prophet was alive. As said by Fatima Mernissi in her book, Women in Islam, the design created by the Prophet in the beginning of Islam has conditioned a democratic climate between man and woman. Domination was only in the Prophet’s hand. The Prophet had divine authority from Allah and hence he took on a position and role as a problem solver in Islamic society.

In Islam, the dichotomy between the public and the private sphere is blurred. The Muslim woman keeps doing her reproductive task without leaving her public life. This is observed through the history of the Prophet’s wives and their companions’ contributions and activities.

Why did this happen? To Mernissi, it’s because since the beginning the design created by the Prophet has conditioned women to be active in the public sphere. The sphere created by the Prophet contained of mosque, the residence of the Prophet, his wives and also his closest companions, all formed as a unity. The plainness of their residences, each other’s intimacy, and their nearness to the mosque, gives a democratic dimension to Muslim society. In the meantime, the mosque was the centre of political and religious activity. The women’s voice and aspiration was also accommodated and became public opinion just like the voice of men, for instance the case of Ummu Salama who protested the Prophet and the case of Kubaysya binti Ma’an.

The union of residence and mosque did not hinder the Muslim woman’s participation. Women used to come in and out of the mosque to be educated by the Prophet. The emotional bond between woman and the mosque created an axis in society and fortified the level of their awareness and roles in society. The result was obvious in the Prophet’s era by the appearance of many examples female companions.

Hijabisasi (limitation) of woman in the public sphere

Following the death of Prophet Saw, woman’s activity declined little by little. Furthermore, the event of Aisha’s participation in leading the Camel War against the Caliph of Ali bin Abi Thalib occurred.  That event was controversial among the classical Islamic thinkers. One said that, it is ijtihad (individual interpretation) of Aisha and thus had no political effects. Others said that the event was the source of Muslim’s severance so it turned out that Muslim woman were excluded from politics. This is also supported by the hadits narrated by Abu Bakr about woman’s leadership.

The limitation’s climax happened during the Umayyad and Abbasid regime. During the rule of Caliph Al-Walid II (743-744 M), woman for the first time were placed in harems and had no political role. Woman’s participation was gone. By the end of the Abbasid regime in the middle of the 13^th Century, the harem system had been firmly established.

It was in this period, that classical interpretations of the Koran like Tafseer Ath-Thabari, Tafsir Ar-Razi, Tafsir Ibnu Katsir and etc were born. The circumstances influenced their interpretations which neglected equality in the Koranic verses. In this period, the hadits which were living sunnah (tradition) were codified and misogynist hadits humiliating women were also codified.

Many Muslim thinkers want to return womens’ roles to their position as in the period of the Prophet. This movement was initiated by Qosim Amin, a student of Muhammad Abduh, in his book tahrirul mar’ah which has become the basis of the woman’s movement in the Muslim world. Qosim analyzed the concept of hijab (veil), polygamy, thalaq (divorce) etc which are humiliating for Muslim woman. Now, many Muslim thinkers believe this. Furthermore, some woman thinkers are studying the holy texts critically, for instance Fatima Mernissi in Morocco, Riffa’at Hassan in Pakistan, Amina Wadud Muhsin in Malaysia, Nawal Al-Saadawi in Egypt and others.

In Indonesia, hijabisasi the veiling of woman has become a hot issue along with the demand of Islamic sharia enforcement. Hijabisasi is the first agenda in enforcing sharia in Aceh and Padang. Even the mosque which was formerly a public sphere is now possessed by men. These practices have also happened as well in countries with sharia law like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi   Arabia, Sudan etc. In the current context,  limiting woman from participating in the public sphere is a backward step for the future of Islam. []

The writer is editor of Islamic Liberal Network

(Translated by Lanny Octavia, edited by Jonathan Zilberg)