Sermon 80

 

Sermon 80

Introduction:

[Nahj al-Balagha, Sermon 80]

ومن كلام له (عليه السلام)

بعد فراغه من حرب الجمل، في ذم النساء

مَعَاشِرَ النَّاسِ، إِنَّ النِّسَاءَ نَوَاقِصُ الاْيمَانِ، نَوَاقِصُ الْحُظُوظِ، نَوَاقِصُ الْعُقُولِ: فَأَمَّا نُقْصَانُ إِيمَانِهِنَّ فَقُعُودُهُنَّ عَنِ الصَّلاةِ وَالصِّيَامِ فِي أَيَّامِحَيْضِهِنَّ، وَأَمَّا نُقْصَانُ عُقُولِهِنَّ فَشَهَادَةُ امْرَأَتَيْنِ مِنْهُنّ كَشَهَادَةِ الرَّجُلِ الْوَاحِدِ، وَأَمَّا نُقْصَانُ حُظُوظِهِنَّ فَمَوَارِيثُهُنَّ عَلَى الاْنْصَافِ مِنْ مَوارِيثِالرِّجَالِ; فَاتَّقُوا شِرَارَ النِّسَاءِ، وَكُونُوا مِنْ خِيَارِهِنَّ عَلَى حَذَر، وَلاَتُطِيعُوهُنَّ فِي المَعْرُوفِ حَتَّى لاَ يَطْمَعْنَ فِي المُنكَرِ

Imam ‘Ali said after the Battle of Jamal:

“O’ people! Women are deficient in Faith, deficient in shares and deficient in intelligence. 

1)As regards the deficiency in their Faith, it is their abstention from prayers and fasting during their menstrual period.

2)As regards deficiency in their intelligence it is because the evidence of two women is equal to that of one man. 

3)As for the deficiency of their shares that is because of their share in inheritance being half of men. 

4)So beware of the evils of women. Be on your guard even from those of them who are (reportedly) good. Do not obey them even in good things so that they may not attract you to evils.

This famous sermon of Imam ‘Ali, alternatively quoted in [al-Kafi Volume 5 page 17] and [al-Amali al-Saduq Majlis 5], has been a source of doubt and contention for many, to the extent that some have even rejected it’s attribution to Imam ‘Ali.

In this part of the series titled “Misogynistic Ahadith” , we shall discuss sermon 80 in depth and see whether it is Islamically accurate as well as whether it is discriminatory towards women.

I have divided the sermon into 4 points in order to discuss each of these points in separate sections. That being said, let us begin! :)

Bismillah.

Section A - Deficiency in Faith.

The Imam says : "As regards the deficiency in their Faith, it is their abstention from prayers and fasting during their menstrual period."

The Imam is referring to the fact that women are excused from prayers and fasting during the menstrual cycle. However, post menses, they are obligated to make up their fasts but are excused from the lapsed prayers.

[al-Kafi Volume 1 page 104]

Abu Ja'far (al-Baqir) and Abu 'Abdullah (al-Sadiq) have stated: "A woman experiencing menses must make up her fasts of Ramadhan but she need not make up the prayers."

عن معلى بن محمد، عن الوشاء، عن أبان، عمن أخبره، عن أبي جعفر وأبي عبد الله (عليهما السلام) قالا: الحائض تقضي الصيام ولا تقضي الصلاة

Thus, logically, since faith consists of actions of worship, and since the woman misses out on the prayers, she becomes deficient in faith- meaning she has missed out on some actions of worship.

But is this the case?

[al-Kafi, Volume 3, page 101]

"I once heard Abu 'Abdullah say, "A woman experiencing Hayd (menses) should perform Wudho'o at the time of each Salah, face the direction of the Ka'abah and perform Dhikr of Allah for a period of time equal to the period of time in which the Salah is performed."

 عن أبيه، عن ابن أبي عمير، عن عمار بن مروان، عن زيد الشحام قال: سمعت أبا عبد الله (عليه السلام) يقول: ينبغي للحائض أن تتوضأ عند وقت كل صلاة ثم تستقبل القبلة وتذكر الله مقدار ما كانت تصلي

Thus, a woman has the choice to perform the Dhikr of Allah while she is missing out on her prayer. If she does so, she would be making up for her missed prayers with other acts of worship.

Hence, she would not be deficient in faith in this sense. Then what conclusion do we derive from Imam 'Ali's words, keeping in mind the above mentioned fact?

It is that the Imam is referring to women who are not pious, who miss out on prayers and do not compensate it with other acts of worship. After all, is it the woman's fault that prayer isn't obligated on her during menses? No, but she would be considered to be deficient in faith (Imaan) if she does not perform other acts of worship in the meantime to make up for the time she has lost. Thus, the logical conclusion is that the Imam is addressing those women who do not have sufficient piety, calling them deficient in faith.

Section B - Deficiency in Intelligence.

The Imam says : "As regards deficiency in their intelligence it is because the evidence of two women is equal to that of one man. "

This is a direct citation of the following well-known verse of the Holy Qur'an:

"..Call upon two of your men to witness. If two men cannot be found, then one man and two women of your choice will witness—so if one of the women forgets the other may remind her.." (2:282)

In Allah's eyes, two women's testimony is seen as equal to one man's testimony - one woman's testimony alone is not sufficient, and the woman must be corroborated in her statement by another woman.

There is however again, another case of exceptions. A single woman's testimony in certain cases is sufficient!

[al-Kafi, Volume 7, page 390]

"I asked (Imam al-Sadiq) about the testimony of a nurse about childbirth. He (the Imam) said, ‘The testimony of one nurse is acceptable.’ He (the Imam) said, ‘Testimony of women in matters of a loan, childbirth and virginity is acceptable.’"

علي بن إبراهيم، عن أبيه، عن ابن أبي عمير، عن حماد بن عثمان، عن الحلبي عن أبي عبد الله عليه السلام أنه سئل هل تقبل شهادة النساء في النكاح؟ فقال: تجوز إذا كان معهن رجل وكان علي عليه السلام يقول: لا أجيزها في الطلاق، قلت: تجوز شهادة النساء مع الرجل في الدين؟ قال: نعم، وسألته عن شهادة القابلة في الولادة قال: تجوز شهادة الواحدة، وقال:
تجوز شهادة النساء [في الدين و] في المنفوس والعذرة،

A single woman's testimony can be taken upon in matters pertaining to women, such as childbirth, even if the testimony is devoid of men, as the following hadith clarifies.

[al-Kafi, Volume 7 page 391]

"He (the Imam) said, ‘The testimony of women without men is acceptable in matters that cannot be witnessed by men who are not allowed to look at it, and the testimony of a nurse is admissible about childbirth.’”

عنه، عن عبد الله بن سنان قال: سمعت أبا عبد الله عليه السلام يقول: لا تجوز شهادة النساء في رؤية الهلال ولا تجوز في الرجم شهادة رجلين وأربع نسوة وتجوز في ذلك ثلاثة رجال وامرأتان، وقال: تجوز شهادة النساء وحدهن بلا رجال في كل مالا يجوز للرجال النظر إليه، وتجوز شهادة القابلة وحدها في المنفوس

Also, a single woman's testimony is accepted and even can protect herself from punishment if she swears by Allah that her husband has wrongly accused her of adultery.

"For her to be spared the punishment, she must swear four times by Allah that he is telling a lie." (24:8)

And her singular testimony here is accepted and she is protected from punishment.

Now we have to reconcile this with Imam 'Ali's words. The logical conclusion one may derive is that the Imam is making a factual observation based on the Qur'an and isn't referring to every single situation that requires testimonies, rather the Imam is only referring to the specific situations in which the man's testimony is considered superior. That would be related to debts, finances and so on (as 2:282 as well as our ahadith indicate). This wouldn't be discriminatory towards women but rather a statement of the Imam derived directly from the Qur'an.

Section C - Deficiency in Shares,

The Imam says : "As for the deficiency of their shares that is because of their share in inheritance being half of men." 

This is simply again a factual observation the Imam makes based on the following verse: 

"Allah commands you regarding your children: the share of the male will be twice that of the female..." (4:11)

['Uyun Akhbar al-Ridha Volume 1 page 105]

Imam al-Ridha states:

‘And another reason for giving to two females what is given to one male, is because the female is among the family of the male for the needs, and it is among him that he is the breadwinner for her, and it is upon him to spend upon her for her expenses, and it is not upon the woman that she should be the breadwinner for the man, nor for him to take the expenses if needed. And this is the word of Allah when He says “Men are the maintainers of women…” (4:34).’

وعلة إعطاء النساء نصف ما يعطى الرجال من الميراث لأن المرأة إذا تزوجت أخذت والرجل يعطي فلذلك وفر على الرجال.

وعلى أخرى في إعطاء الذكر مثلي ما يعطى الأنثى لان الأنثى في عيال الذكر إن احتاجت وعليه أن يعولها وعليه نفقتها وليس على المرأة أنتعول الرجل ولا يؤخذ بنفقته إن احتاج فوفر الله تعالى على الرجال لذلك وذلك قول الله عز وجل: (الرجال قوامون على النساء بما فضل اللهبعضهم على بعض وبما انفقوا من أموالهم)

[al-Kafi Volume 7 page 85]

Imam al-Sadiq, commenting on this same issue:

“There is no rationale for her, nor any expenses, nor Jihad and a number of things other than this which is upon the man. Thus it was due to this that two portions were made for him and one for her.” 

قال لي ابن أبي العوجاء: ما بال المرأة المسكينة الضعيفة تأخذ سهما واحدا ويأخذ الرجل سهمين؟ قال: فذكر بعض أصحابنا لأبي عبد اللهعليه السلام فقال: إن المرأة ليس عليها جهاد ولا نفقة ولا معقلة وإنما ذلك على الرجال ولذلك جعل للمرأة سهما واحدا وللرجل سهمين 

The narrations are God willing, self explanatory. It is clear now that this isn't a contest for who is superior, but rather it is a designation of duties upon the man and upon the woman based on their roles in society designated by God.

Conclusion:

I will complete section D of this Sermon in part 3 of this series, as I believe it is a separate and lengthy discussion that needs it's own post.

Anyway, we have discussed the sermon and seen how it is entirely Qur'anically accurate but it is not that the words of the Imam are to be taken in a negative light, but one can rather derive the right teachings of the Imam from it.

Some writers have gone so far as to reject this sermon and it's content entirely, even attributing it's supposed fabrication to philosophers of the past. This reasoning is absurd in my view and requires no further comment.

Others have tried to reason it as being specific to 'Aisha bint Abi Bakr and her followers, since the sermon was delivered right after the battle of Jamal. I reject this view since the sermon is directly derived from the Qur'an which makes a general statement towards women.

"...And live with them (women) in kindness. For if you dislike them, perhaps you dislike a thing and Allah makes therein much good." (4:19)

Wa Allahu 'Aalam.