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Chapter 6What Role Did Women In the Attack?
Women in Islamic countries held a power whereby
they could have changed the traditions, old systems, social relationships,
ethics, spiritual values and, most important of ail, consumption (in‑ the
same way that they held a power to preserve them). Why? Because of the
sensitive spirit which they have, in particular in the East. They tend to
accept the luxuries of civilized life and new products more quickly and more
easily. This is especially true when they are confronted by bright, new, eye‑catching
things of beauty especially when opposed to these, they find nothing but
ugliness.
During the time of the
exploitation of Africa, European imposters would move among the black tribes
offering glass beads and fake jewelry, which is usually even brighter than the
natural stone,. and in all of the ceremonies, the better‑off among the
tribes, the kings, the large farmers and the feudal lords could all be pointed
out. This was particularly true of the local ceremonies and weddings because
their actions were based one hundred percent upon psychological laws. Those who
like the fake things the most, were the most primitive.
We see that today, those who
worship luxiourous ornaments are the Arab Sheikhs, the heads of the Black
Africans, the Movie Stars and the newly wealthy people. So a few of these fake
lights and glass beads were given to the heads of African tribes and in return
they received a herd of sheep or a great pasture land or the rights to mine
diamonds or permission to plant coffee. It is obvious from this how important
the role of the newly modernized African woman is.
It is also apparent how sheltered, Eastern women
suffer from social rules presented to them in the name of religion and
tradition like the present day Islam. They are presently denied learning,
literacy, many of the human rights, social possibilities and freedom to
develop. They are not able to explore and. nourish the spirit and their thoughts.
Even the rights and possibilities which Islam itself has given to women, have
been taken away from them in the name of Islam. They have placed her in the
same category as a washing machine. Her human values have been lowered to
mother of the child'. She no longer even has a name but is called by the name
of her child even if her child happens to be a boy. She is called Hasan's
mother. This is exactly like paralyze her and then saying that because she is
paralyzed, she is rived of everything. The sorrow lies here.Oppressors and the Oppressed
Hazrat Ali said two parties are
required in order to bring about oppression. One is the oppressor and the other
is the one who accepts the oppression. It is the co‑operation of these
two which brings about oppression. Oppression cannot be one‑sided. An
oppressor cannot perform oppression in the air. Oppression is like a piece of
iron which is formed by the striking of the hammer of the oppressor upon the
anvil of the oppressed.
Not only is oppression a result
of corruption, deviation and misery, but it requires two sides working
together to come, into being. In the defeat of a society, it is not just the
victor who breaks it; society must also be broken. For instance, in the 7th
century A.H., it was not Chengis Khan who defeated us. It was we ourselves who
were corrupted from within. From the 5th to the 6th century, we were preparing
ourselves to be defeated. It was because of this that Chengis defeated us. He
only kicked the corrupted states once and we fell down and were defeated. The
termites who had built their homes inside our tree and had begun eating away
the body from the inside, left it empty, dry and without roots. These termites
caused the tree to fall to the earth and not the strong wind which blew upon
the tree. Strong winds always blow in the forest. Why is it that just this tree
or that one falls down?
The creation of superstitions and
the spreading of ignorant backward beliefs of family traditions, the inherited
faulty systems of order along with servitude, the tradition of father power'
in the community, the lack of psychology, all weave themselves together like a
spider's web. And it is this very web which impoverishes the woman within
itself. She becomes known as someone who is behind the curtain'. All of this
occurs in the name‑ of Islam, in the name of religion, in the name of
tradition and worst of all, in the name of similarity to Fatima'.
It is explained to her in terms
of chastity and the necessity to nourish her children. I don't know how a person
who is herself incomplete and useless, who is missing a part of her brain and
who is excluded from literacy, books, education, discipline, thought, culture,
civilization and social manners could possibly be worthy of being the nourisher
of tomorrow's generation.
Most probably they mean fattening
their bodies when they say nourishing their children. What can this weak
creature of the house, born to sit behind a curtain without thought or
culture, who has not been educated, do for the development of her child? How
can she develop her child's sense of completeness? Can she awaken the depths of
the spirit within the person? How can she learn to accept the complicated ideas
and feelings of her child?
What can she do other than nurse
her child and change her baby's diapers? In disciplining her child she can only
swear at it or use lewd language or cry or scream or curse her fate. If none of
these have any effect, she strikes the fear of an older brother or the father
within the child. If this doesn't work, she calls upon the jinn and the angel
of death or threatens the basement or the well.
And if this bad child with a
roguish father, should die young, if he should be burned in the fire of brawls,
there is nothing this hidden creature can do when news of the death of her
child is brought to her. She herself had created additional hidden creatures
who are more terrible than the devil. She had called forth the dead, dark
monsters.
Yes! These are the ways and means
of educating and disciplining a child in a system where the only duty of a
woman is to nourish her children. It is perfectly natural to think that if she
spent her time making use of her cultural and social abilities, if she were to
become part of civilization, she would not be able to perform her special
mandate which is to bring up children. If she were to develop and nourish her
thoughts and her spirit and become aware of the system she is part of, some
would obviously conclude that her mandate would suffer.
Thus we see the fate of women in
our traditional, conservative society which has had false undertones of
religion added to it. She grows up in her father's home without breathing any
free air. She goes to her husband's home (her second lord and master) in
accordance with an agreement which is made between a buyer and a seller. She is
transferred to her husband's house where the marriage license or ownership
papers shows both her role and her price. She becomes a respectable servant. A
married man means someone who has a servant who works in his house. She cooks
food, nurses babies, watches the children and sees to the cleaning and ordering
of the house. She manages the inside of the house.
She is a household laborer and a
nurse but because she works without any wages, she has no rights. Because she
does the work of a servant in the name of common law, ritual or civil law, and
as she could not be a servant, she is called a lady. Because her lord is her
husband, she is called wife. As she acted as a nurse to the children, she is
also called mother.
At any rate; she is working for
herself. She is an expert at her work even though the level of work she does
is equivalent to the work of a servant or a nurse. It is no more than this
because she has not been trained to do more than this. She is uneducated.
We must point out here that our
objection is to the well‑established fathers and wealthy husbands who condemn
their daughters or wives and who do so cautiously because they are women. They
keep her from an education and from self‑completion in the name of
religion and inclination towards faith. There are many women in Islam who
reached the level of being authorized theologians, established centers of
learning and wrote important texts on science and ethics.
But girls who do not have the
economic means to pursue education and who work hard in their father's or
husband's house, are most worthy of praise. Such a girl is the woman of the
tribe or the farm who helps her husband, who shares in production, either by
taking care of the animals or by helping in the fields, who brings in an income
as well as doing the household work. She weeds, gathers greens, spades the
earth, gathers fruit, grapes and cotton. She gives water to the animals and
milks them. She then makes butter, yogurt or cheese for her family's consumption
or for selling at the market. She beats cotton and wool; she spins thread, she
weaves cloth; she sews clothes. At the same time, she nurses her child, she
cooks food, she cleans the house. Often she produces handicrafts within the
home as well. She is a wife, a nurse, a mother, a worker, and an artist. She
grows as freely as the trees of the gardens. She gives her love with the purity
of a turtledove. Like the deer of the plains, she gives loving, motherly birth.
She remains faithful in this free house though no force is applied. She gives
freely of her love to her family. Yes! She has the freedom to give‑and
she has something to give, as well. Her freedom has not been taken from her so
that she can no longer move. It is not as if she would want to run away if a force
were taken from her. Finally, she pushes her fingers into the earth of the
fields to cultivate it. She plays with her child in her home. In the bedroom of
her husband, she removes his tiredness. She creates the most beautiful and
colorful handicrafts for the bazaar. She is the woman we praise.
The funniest woman, on the other
hand, who must be called 'absurd', is the lady of the house. She is a
frightening creature. The absurd woman is neither traditional nor European. She
is not like the European woman who is a member of a household of two partners
where the husband and wife are equal, where both work outside of the home and
where both do the household duties inside the house. When the European is a
girl, she is free exactly like a boy. She is free to grow amidst everything
society has to offer. She is experienced from her encounters. She has seen
everything. She has come to know all types. She has seen corruption and the
correct way, the right way and the wrong way, the bad way and the good way, treacheries
and kindnesses and finally, all of the colors, designs and architectures of
life and society. She has seen all the things in her own environment. She has
sensed them. She has received an education like any boy. Like a boy she has
specialized. She has achieved social independence. She has her own economic
income. She makes her own choice of husband or partner in. life.
The absurd woman is the woman who
sits at home and is good for nothing. As she can afford it, she has a servant,
a cook, a nurse and it is they who actually do the work. She is a woman who
stays at home to take care of it but others actually do the work for her. As
she is not a village woman, she does not work and co‑operate with her
husband in the fields. As she is not literate, she does not read books, nor
does she write books. Because she has no artistic talents, she is not
productive. Because she has a wet nurse, she does not nurse her children. Because
she has a man servant, she does not do the shopping for the house. Because she has
nurses, she does not care for her children. Because she has a cook, she does
not cook. Because she has an F.F. system, she does not even open the door of
her house!
What does this living creature
do? Nothing. What role does she play in the world? None! Can it be that a woman
does not fit into either an eastern or a western mould, modern or old‑fashioned?
Neither a woman of the office nor of the factory? Neither a woman of a school
nor of a hospital? Neither a woman of art nor one of science, nor of the pen
nor the book? Neither a woman looking after the home nor a woman looking after
the children? Not even the most common‑place woman of women's magazines.
Yes, she is a Saturday night woman!
Really, what is her work? Who is
this person? She is the lady of the house, Daddy's lady of the old days. What
is her profession? Consuming and only consuming. How does she pass her time?
Her time? As a matter of fact, she is very busy. She is busy night and day. She
is a thousand times busier than the village woman: For instance, what does she
do? She gossips, she develops jealousies, objections, affectations,
ornamentation, rivalries, pride, false friendship; she complains, grumbles,
ogles, has a mincing air, full of coquetry and falsity. This lady of the house
is always busy. In her type of society, and in her social relationships, she
fills her frighteningly empty life.
The public woman's bath was a
weekly seminar where all of the chaste women , who had nothing to do, who
suffered no pain and‑who were with welfare, went. They gathered together
and each one told the biggest and most important event of her weekly life,
either honestly or dishonestly, through insufficient explanation. They sold
each other on their pride; they told their stories one after the other; their
imaginations took flight; their sweet ignorance implemented their lack of
intelligence. Surprisingly, all of them were also aware of these groundless
pretentions which only compensated for their spiritual complexes.
Each one had such a scenario. Each
one listened to the lies and exaggerations of the other ‑one with relish,
amazement, deep understanding and faked feelings. Each would believe the other
until it was her turn when she became indebted to them for listening to her.
Thus the others gave her a free chance and a carte blanche so that she could
speak of all of her bruised beliefs, namelessness, lack of excitement,
uselessness and ineffectiveness. Her existence, her inner emptiness and hollow
life to be was spread out to show off her ability, her current price, her
fantasies and her revenges.
Now the public women's bath has
been closed to women of this class. Modern living has prevented these women
from such social halls of 40 columns and 40 windows, where one full day a week
would be spent. To replace them, they have opened women's clubs under various
names. Absurd women leave their homes and enter these cold women's clubs which
even lack the steam and water of the previous establishment.
If our women today are crazy and
constantly changing color and look like foreign dolls (not foreign women), if
we look at the other side of the border, we see the innocent economics of
exploitation, whereas on this side of the border, we see ourselves, working
hand in hand with them. We caused our women to run away. Then they very simply
hunt her out. We call her the weak one', broken legged', servant of her
husband', mother of the child', and even lacking manners' and goat'.
We separate her from humanity.
When assuming she could learn, we thought that if she had a beautiful handwriting,
she would write to her lover. (With this type of thinking it would have been
better if we had blinded her so she would never see a forbidden' person). In
this way, Mr. Jealous; who feels the weaknesses of his personality, would not
have to worry about the disloyalty of his wife. He would be safe to the end of
his life.
The virtue and chastity of women
is preserved in this way, with a wall and chains, not as a human being who
thinks and who nourishes common sense and comes to know things. We present her
as a wild animal, incapable of being disciplined. She will never be tamed. The
only thing to do is to keep her in a cage. Whenever you leave the cage‑
doors open, she will slip away. Her chastity is like dew. When it sees the sun,
it is gone. Women are placed in a prison which neither leads to a school nor a
library nor to society. Like an unclean creature, like the untouchables of
India, she is not counted as a human being by society. People who are called
human beings are men, social animals. Women are kept apart from society.
It was the Prophet Mohammad who
said, Education is necessary for Moslems, both men and women.' But it is
always men who have had the right to be educated, and women, other than those
wealthy women who are educated with private tutors, are denied education. They
cannot take advantage of this important Tradition .
Parties centering on religion or
old religious traditions are no longer open to today's young woman. Ceremonies
for gaining favour and seasonal lamentation are not interesting to her, nor
are the special animal sacrifices, nor the cooking of a special stew on the
third day after someone departs on a journey, nor wedding activities prepared
without the groom nor hunting parties for a groom.
The young women sense the
loneliness and nothing to‑do‑ness of their mother which is covered
over by religion and tradition. This, they know, gives their mothers a feeling
of positive action. It gives them a sense of responsibility. They are busy
with comings and goings, attractions, work, sensitivities, designs and false
plans. But to the young women these channels have all been closed.
The opportunities which their
mothers had to show their beauty, the latest mode, ornamentations, jewelry and
the method of fixing themselves are now gone. Younger women no longer force
themselves into the falsity of these sessions and parties. If they go, they
take on an unattractive, cool, strange appearance and it is obvious that they
are looking for a way out.
The daughter of this woman, who
belongs to another generation and another season, lives in an intermediate
world having two meanings, The world of the grandmother is for her a complex
of stupidity and structured rites full of ugly men and restrictions. They want
to keep their gathering, their circle of friends, and lamentation ceremonies
like they were in the olden times. While for her, books, translations, novels
and art products are important. She has more or less sensed the cultural
spirit of the world. She has whiffed the scents of learning, knowledge and
progress in school.
The sermons which are given for
women at their ceremonies, which were mostly ceremonies of praise or
lamentation, are usually given by illiterate lamenters. The exhausting continuation
of this is unbearable. She wants to fly away. But to where? There are hundreds
of invitations for parties. There are dancing parties, surprises, bars, night
clubs and dirty cafeterias which look upon her as a free and easy hunt. They
pull her to themselves.
But she wants to retain her human
characteristics with faith, ethics and loyalty, but she sees that what her
mother, father, uncle and other members of her family, offer her in the name of
religion, ethics, character, chastity and strength is a collection of : No,
don't go, don't do that, don't sing, don't see, don't say, don't know, don't
write, don't want, don't understand!'
We see that the mother lives in a
type of comfortable, empty wasteland. She has no direction, no responsibility,
no philosophy of life and no meaning to her existence. She has money and no
problems and no reason for living. Day and night she turns her house around but
there is nothing to fill her life. Out of boredom, she leaves the house to go
shopping and then, under a veil, she tries to compensate for her losses with
amusement, exaggeration in jewelry, make up, the multiple changes in decorations
that it can bring about and expensive purchases of strange things so that she
can induce wonder‑and amazement in others.
But her daughter is not moved by
these wonders. She breathes a different air. She is like a doll found in the
second grade school books. She is caught between two bearded children who
understand nothing. Each one pulls her towards themselves until the doll is
torn to shreds. She becomes crushed and steam‑rolled.
Now, her heart is in colorful
clouds, romantic thoughts, the attractions of freedom and love, the whisperings
of her budding sex, the crises of youth, blossoming, intellectual endeavours and.
attractive images of the new world which exist outside her wall. Sometimes she
looks through a peep hole or turns to the windows like a thief. She is drowned
there but her body is under the influence of the commands of her mother and the
advice of her father. She is like a fly caught in the spider's web of no! no!
She remains imprisoned. She feels that the only crime she can be convicted of
is being a young girl. She is an illegal, dangerous entity who must remain
hidden in a corner of the house until an authorized thief comes and takes her
as his mate to his haram. And there, the only rambling sight of her existence
will be the space between the kitchen and the bed. It is only the man's stomach
and that which is under his stomach which can give her existence meaning and
her human mandate! The man doesn't even allow her to attend religious meetings
or entertain religious feelings. Even religion is separated in this system of
thinking.
Speaking, chanting, the
lamentation ceremony and table offerings for gaining favour, is the religion of
women, whereas centers and sources for schools, libraries, lessons, discussions
and lectures constitute the religion of the man.
The
Cries of Exploitation
What has prepared the groundwork
for exploitation which cries out, Free youself!'
From what?
It is no longer important to know
from what. You should be freed. Your breath is cut‑off. You have nothing.
Free yourself! Be free of all things.
The one who is burdened under the
heaviest of loads and is drifting off, only thinks about awakening, getting
free and rising above those things which cause one to drift and which bring
about pressure. She does not think, How should I arise?'
They said, "Women will be
freed but not with books or knowledge or the formation of a culture and clear‑sighted
vision or raising the standard of living, common sense and the level of feeling
and the level of vision of the world but rather with a pair of scissors. Yes.
Putting scissors to the chador! " This is how they think that women will all
at once become enlightened!
The complexes of Moslem and
Eastern women have become the greatest documents of psychologists and
sociologists in the service of exploitation and world economics as they
describe women in the following way:
A woman is a creature who shops!'
The description of a society and
its barriers which Aristotle gives of humanity when he says, A human being is
a rational animal, is transformed when it relates to women. It becomes, A
human being is an animal who shops.' She knows nothing other than this. She has
no feelings and essentially , plays no role. She has no spirituality, no
beliefs. She is valueless.
In one of these magazines devoted
to Eastern women, it was written that in Tehran from 1956 to 1966, the amount
of cosmetics and beauty centers increased 500 times.
500 times is a very great
quantity. It is a miracle. It has never happened before in the whole history of
humanity. The consumption of economic goods usually increases 8%, 9%, 10%, 20%
but not 500%! This is a symbolic consumption. That is, if 10 years ago the
consumption of cosmetics in Tehran was 100,000 tomans per year, today it is
50,000,000 tomans.
In a society, a new consumption
is followed by other consumptions. For instance, as soon as the traditional coat,
the qaba changes, the coat and
trousers replaces it. The old type of shoes, giveh are replaced by leather
shoes. Traditional styles of hats are replaced by new ones. In homes, carpets
change to modern furniture and old houses are replaced by new ones.
Thus, when Europe sends a new
product to our society, it paves the way for consumption of further new products.
When consumption changes, it is a sign that a person, a consumer, also changes
because there is a very sensitive relationship between a consumer and a
product.
In order to change consumption,
the type must change as well as the taste, tradition and history. Society must
be destroyed. This is why the capitalists put a fire in the royal palace for
the sake of a handkerchief.
Women in Islamic societies must
not only be changed from being consumers of goods exported from Europe and
America 'but they must also become active participants within their households.
They must learn to relate according to today and tomorrow's generations. They
must change the form of society. They must have an effect upon the ethics,
values, literature and art. They must have a deep revolutionary effect upon
everything. They should be put to work upon this way.
Time, culture, social
possibilities, new economics, changes in social relationships, new thoughts,
all of these conditions in an Islamic society by and of themselves change the
types and traditions. Women become obliged to change internal and external
conditions because the past conditions for women today are no longer practical
nor sufficient.
Now that things must be changed,
now that the new thinkers and the newly awakened ones of our society are
inexperienced and unaware, isn't it logical that capitalists should get busy
and prepare their moulds so that as soon as a woman puts aside her traditional
mould, their mould can be forced upon her? They make her into a form they want
and then place her instead of themselves in a position to corrupt society.What Should We Do?
In the midst of this disruptive
thought which has been imposed upon us and will continue to impose itself upon
us, what can we do? Who is it that can take up the mandate?
The one who can do something,
and, in saving us, play an active role, is not the traditional woman who is
asleep in her quiet, tame, ancient mould nor is it the new woman who is a
modern doll that has assumed the mould of the enemy and in the process has
become full and saturated. Rather, one who can choose the new human characteristics,
who can break the fastenings of old traditions which were presented in the name
of religion, but in fact, were national and tribal traditions ruling over the
spirit, thoughts and behaviour of society, is a person who is not satisfied
with old advice. Slogans which are given by doubtful sources do not enthuse
her. Behind the prepackaged. slogans of freedom [of the monarchy], she sees
ugly, frightening faces which act against the spiritual, which oppose humaness.
She sees that they are in contradiction‑to the spiritual, the rational,
the human. They are against women and the human reverence of women.
It is these people who know where
those things which are forced upon ‑us come from. They know where they
get their orders from . What creatures they have sent to the market place!
Creatures without sensitivities, without knowledge, without pain, without
understanding, without responsibility and even without human feelings. Fresh,
clean dolls, 'worthy ones'. It is obvious what their worthiness is in and for
what work. Their means of support and its derivation are also obvious. This is
thrown at our women and they know why.
It is because of them that 'Who
am I? Who should 1 be?' is pertinent, since they neither want to remain as
this, nor become that. They cannot surrender themselves to whatever was and is,
without their own will and choice playing a role.
They want a model.
Who?
Fatima.
