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Chapter 7The Social
Customs of Hejaz
The Social Customs of the Hejaz
Fatima is the fourth and youngest
daughter of the Prophet of Islam. She is the youngest daughter of a household
to which no sons survived. She is a girl born into a society where both the
father and the family place special value upon a son.
The social order of the Arabs had
passed beyond the Age of the Matriarch centuries before Islam. During the Age
of ignorance, prior to the mission of the Prophet, the Arabs had established
the Age of the Patriarch. Their gods had become masculine whereas their idols
and their angels were feminine (that is, daughters of the great god, al‑lah).
The tribes were governed by white beards' and the family was ruled bg the
grandfathers. Essentially, their religion was a kind of ancestor worship. They
adhered to whatever beliefs and practices their fathers had had.
It was against the religion of
ancestral fathers that the great prophets, mentioned in the Qoran, revolt. When
confronted with the revolt against ancestor worship and myths which sought out
their first fathers, the tribes stood for the preservation of the masculine
traditions. It was a kind of inherited, imitative worship based upon the
principle of father worship.
The Prophets bring a
revolutionary message. They try to awaken a thought based on the principle of
worshipping God. Beyond this, the difficult life of the tribes of the dry
desert is filled with hostility between one tribe and another, for the basic
principles of life are 'defend and attack' and keep your promises'. In this
society, the son plays a special role which is based upon the uses and needs'
of the society's social and military principles.
According to a universal
principle of sociology, where profit is substituted for value, being a son is
by and of itself of the highest essence. It means embodying virtues, meaningful
social and ethical values and human nobility. For this very reason, being a
girl or having a daughter is humbling. Her frailness is substituted by being
weak'. Her being weak' pushes her towards slavery and slavery causes her human
values to lessen.
She becomes a creature who is the
slave of a man, the disgrace of her father, the toy of a man's sexual urges and
the 'goal' or slave of the home of her husband. Finally, this creature always
shakes her man's sense of honor because she is the highest form of shame and
disgrace. For the betterment of society and the relief of one's mind, how much
better to kill her while still a baby so that the honor of her fathers,
brothers and ancestors, all men for that matter, is not stained. As Ferdowsi
tells us in the Shahnameh:
It is better to bury women and dragons in
the earth.
The world will be better off if cleansed of
their existence.
An Arab poet tells us, 'if a
father has a daughter he wants to remain, whenever he thinks of her future, he
should think about three different son‑in‑laws: one, the house
which will hide her; two, the husband who will keep her and three, the grave
which will cover her! And the last one, the grave, is the best.'
The idiom which refers to the
grave as being the best son‑in‑law, has existed in all languages of
the wealthiest and most honorable men. All of the indigenous and honorable
fathers and brothers who are bound to and place emphasis upon their family,
father and male ancestors, all of those who understand the ideals of name and
honor are ready for and live in anticipation of dying so that they' can seek
the hand of their sister or daughter in marriage. The bride and the frightening
groom are united either by their own hands or the best possible son‑in‑law
is chosen for the bride. A poet reminds his daughter of the most beloved of son‑in‑laws,
The most beloved son‑in‑law is the grave.'
This is that very same poem that
says women and dragons are both better to be covered by the earth because it
is a means of exchange. Covering the girls with earth is a way of preserving
honor.' This is, why the Qoran, in the strongest terms, warns of the dangers of
this frightening 'highest honor' when it says: 'He hides himself from the people of the evil for the tidings given
him. Should he keep her with disgrace or bury her alive in the dust? Behold,
evil is what they decide. ' (16:59)
The sensitive point which a
contemporary Islamic writer has found in the Qoran is that the tragedy
essentially has economic roots because of society's fear of poverty which was
prevalent in the Arab Age of Ignorance.
The principal belief, which most
of the sociologists today accept and confirm, is the nobility in having a son
and the disgrace and baseness in having a daughter. This ethical and
spiritually based belief, this feeling and sensitivity, stems from the
discussion of spiritual values about honor, integrity, dignity, respect and the
virtue of man and woman or soil and daughter. Girls have been buried alive
because of the fear that they may bring dishonor in the future by marrying an
unsuitable husband or they fear falling into the hands of an enemy during a war
and then becoming slaves in a strange land. All of these are secondary
phenomena or, as they say, they are the apparent facts which result from
transformed realities which have taken on a new form. But the basic reason is
an economic one.
As we previously indicated, in
the tribal system, people are faced with the hardships of life and production
(particularly in the deserts of Arabia) and the constant difficult
relationships among the tribes. Such a life requires a strong and powerful
support. Automatically, a son becomes an important factor in the economic and
social situation as well as in the defense of his family or tribe. He is a
necessary social element of a family or tribe. A son brings bread but a daughter
eats it. It is natural that the sexual differences cause class differences. Men
fall into the class of ruling and owning and women fall into that of the ruled
and the owned.
The relationship between a man
and a woman is like that between a landowner and a peasant. A man and a woman,
as economic entities, have a different human and spiritual value placed upon
them. As an economic landlord brings about a blood‑line, an inherited
nobility for his family, as well as ethical and essential values, virtues and
great generosity; the opposite is true of a peasant or a woman.
Poverty sends all the male gains
or can gain to the four winds. This is why she could become the cause of the
family losing self‑respect. The possibility always exists that she will disgrace
the family by marrying someone who is not at the same level as this family. In
my opinion, this fear, which is an ethical phenomenon, is related to a clear
economic factor, that is, to preserve the ownership of land and to assure the
continuation of centralized wealth for ‑the next generation of the
family.
In patriarchial societies, when
the father dies, the oldest son inherits everything, not only the land, but
also the wives of his father, including his own mother! It was for this very
reason that the daughters did not inherit so that the wealth of the father
would not be divided up and be distributed to other families through the
daughters. This is the reason why in our old wealthy families there is still a
very strong emphasis placed upon the daughter marrying within the family. They
pledge an uncle's daughter to an uncles' son in heaven' so that the uncle's
daughter does not take her inheritance out of the family which would be the
case if she were to marry a stranger in City Hall.
This is why ancient historians and modern scholars who write
the history of religion, have different explanations for the burying alive of
female children in the Age of Ignorance. Beginning with the fear of shame,
disgrace, scorn, prejudice and fear of marriage with an unsuitable person, or,
scorn, as some of the scholars say, in primitive religions, girls were
sacrificed for the gods. But the Qoran most strictly and clearly says that the
fear was the fear of poverty. In other words, it was an economic factor. The other
explanations are just words.
In my opinion, this clear
interpretation and description is not only to express scientifically, the
reason for these murders, but also to emphatically disgrace and degrade people
who talk about the ethical, chaste and noble responsibility a tribe had in
burying new born females alive. Their crude, cruel action resulted from their
baseness, vileness, fear of poverty and love of wealth It was a direct result
of their fear and weakness, their drawing of the curtains of deception to hide
their deed by trying to explain it with the noble words of honor, integrity,
chastity, respect.
The Qoran emphasizes, 'Do not hill them from fear of poverty for We will provide for you and your
children. (6:1 51). It expresses the main reason for the tragedy. It
awakens people. Secondly, it negates the false, ethical and human explanations.
It directly and straightforwardly says that this practice is neither ethical
nor noble but rather, one hundred percent economical. It stems from greed and
wealth, from weakness and fear.
Before this, the public was not
aware of their real feelings. Other than the deprived class, the majority of
the people believed it to be a reaction of the public conscience: They
believed it showed a brave spirit and that it protected the family honor. The
Arab tribal society gave all the human values to a son, whereas a daughter was
considered to lack all virtues and human authenticity.
A boy is not only capable of
earning his livelihood, but he is also a help to his father, a protector of his
family, the family and tribal hero as well as the pride of his ancestry, the
bearer of the values of his heritage, the continuer of the existence of
society, the spirit of his family, the owner of a name, the protector of institutions
and the flame which lights the family lamp upon. the death of his father.
A daughter is an element within
the family, a living piece of furniture. After she marries, her personality dissolves
in a stranger's house. She becomes the furniture in another house where she
cannot even retain her family name. Her children belong to a stranger. They
carry his name and are inheritors of a heritage, both of which are strange.
A boy has the material power of
economic capital, he aides society and assists in the patriarchial system. He
decorates life, he has prestige, fame, value and spiritual credit. He supports
the authenticity of the family. He is the giver of security and subsistance and
the future authority of that family. But a girl, nothing. She is the total
private parts of the house, the bearer of a family. She is so weak that she
must always be protected.
Like a bird whose foot is tied to
a stone that prevents it from flying freely, she, like the. stone, prevents a
warrior from freely attacking the tents and castles of the enemies. And when
defending his tribe, the warrior is always anxious that she not be taken as a
slave. His slightest negligence may put her into the hands of the enemy. Then
the entire tribe would suffer the shame of her enslavement.
During times of peace, the family
must be careful that she doesn't cause them shame. After all of these troubles,
efforts, sufferings, expenses, anxieties, a stranger comes and takes her away.
She is like a field that another cultivates and bears off the crops. This is
why the best solution is naturally none other than that at the moment she is
placed in her mother's arms, she should be given over to her death or at an
early age, she should be given away in wedlock and call the cold grave, 'son‑in‑law'.
A man who has no sons is called
'cut‑off'. He has no progeny and no continuation; he is barren. Yet the
word kawthar in the Qoran means
fullness, advantages, blessings as well as meaning having progeny and many
children. God in answer to the disbelievers who called His beloved Prophet
'cut‑off' gave him the good news that he will have many progeny.
In such. an environment, the
moment is ripe for fate to render aside the veil which conceals it. It is the
time to participate and direct the state of things. Life had become a quiet,
spoiled lagoon. It is time for a serious, creative revolution. It is the moment
for a strong wind to blow. Suddenly an amazing plan is put into action, sweet
but difficult. Two people are selected to carry out this plan, a father and a
daughter. Mohammad (the father) must carry the heavy load and Fatima (the
daughter) must reflect within herself the newly created revolutionary values.
The Birth of Fatima
The largest Arab tribe is the
Qoraish. The Ka'ba is in their hands which, naturally gives them tribal
nobility. They are divided 'into two families, the Bani Omayyid and the Bani
Hashimi. The Bani Omayyid are the wealthiest but the Bani Hashimi are the most
honorable for they are in charge of looking after the affairs of the Ka'ba.
Abdul Muttalib is from this
family but at this time, he is dead and his son, Abu Talib, the leader of the
Bani Hashim, does not have the power that his father had. He has gone bankrupt
in his trading. He is living in poverty and has distributed his children to be
cared for among his family.
A very strong rivalry has broken
out between the two tribes. The Omayyids are trying to gain control of all of
the property and honors of the Qoraish. They wanted to, at the same time, break
the spiritual hold of the Hashimis. Among the Hashimi tribe, the family of
Mohammad has received new credit. The grandson of Abdul Muttalib has just
married Khadijeh, a wealthy, well‑respected widow of Mecca. This gives
him a stronger social position.
The personal standing and
personality which Mohammad shows, the trust and credibility which he has among
people and, in particular, among all the Hashimis and the leaders of the
Qoraish, makes everyone aware of the fact that he reflects the honor of Abd
Manaf and is the protector of the nobility of the Hashimis. In particular,
they sense he will be the activator of the honor and nobility which Abdul
Muttalib had had.
Hamzeh is a youth; an athlete.
Abu Lahab is a man without credit. Abbas is wealthy, but without character. Abu
Talib is honorable, but without money. It is only Mohammad,who along with his
wife, have character. He has youth as well. They have a respectable amount of
wealth and are part of the family tree of the Bani Hashimi. Great developments
should be strewn from this family. Their shadow will fall over Mecca.
Everyone is awaiting the sons to
be born of this family, sons to bring strength, credit and nobility to the family
of Abdul Muttalib.
The first child born is a girl,
Zainab.
But the family is anticipating a son.
The second child is a daughter, Roqiyyeh.
The anticipation grows stronger
and the need also increases.
The third, a girl, Umm Khulthum.
Two boys, Qasem and Abdullah are
born. They hold great promise. But they do not blossom. They die in infancy.
Now there are three children in this house, and all three are girls.
The mother has aged. She is over
60 years old. The father, although he loves his three daughters, shares his
tribe's feelings and their anticipation.
Can Khadijeh, who is almost at
the end of her life, bring forth another child? Hope has become very dim.
Yes! Happiness and hope once
again fill the house. The excitement reaches a peak. This is the last chance
for the family of Abdul Muttalib, the last hope.
But once again, a daughter.
They name her Fatima.
The happiness and hope of the
Hashimi tribe falls to the Omayyids. The happiness of the enemies! Whispering
bad names and screams of 'Mohammad is cut‑off', the man who is the last
link in his family chain, has four daughters. Nothing more.'
How sad. What a beautiful and
strange game fate is playing. Life passes on. and Mohammad drowns in the storm
of his mandate and his being appointed as the Prophet of God. He conquers Mecca
and frees al the Qoraish prisoners. All of the tribes are under his leadership
and his shadow is thrown throughout the whole of the Arabian peninsula. His
sword crushes the faces of the Emperors of the world. His song rings through
the heavens and the earth. In one hand, strength, and in the other, prophecy,
the full honors which would never even enter the heads of the Omayyids, the
Hashimi tribe or all of the Arabs and non‑Arabs.
And now, Mohammad is the Prophet.
In the city, filled with the most significant waves of happiness, he has the
power and greatness which a human being could never conceive ? of. A tree,
which does not grow from Abd Manaf nor HasNimi nor Abdul Muttalib, but rather,
grows from a light under a mountain, Hira'. It extends from one end of the
desert to the other, from horizon to horizon of the earth. Till the end of
time, it encompasses and will continue to encompass all of the future until
the end of history.
And this man has four daughters.
But no, three of them died before
he did. And now, he has only one child, a daughter, the youngest, Fatima.
