Reigniting the Flame of Female Leadership
As a generational challenge of education emerges, the Prophetic example of supporting leadership development of women as well as men in Muslim communities will be crucial
By Alaa’ Alsamarrai and Usman Ali
Our journey begins in seventh-century Damascus, where one young woman spent her days sitting with leading male fellow scholars and intellectuals in the mosque. She wrote, “I’ve tried to worship God in every way, but I’ve never found a better one than sitting around and debating other scholars”. Umm al-Darda was a prominent jurist in the Islamic tradition, whose impact lasts until today. She taught the hadith, the traditions of Prophet Muhammad*, as well as jurisprudence to men and women, to jurists, Imams and scholars of hadith. Her students included Abdul Malik bin Marwan who ruled an empire spanning from Spain to India.
This is a striking example, but by no means an isolated one. Notions of Muslim women and religious scholarship or leadership, let alone cross-gender engagement, rarely feature in Muslim discourse today. Yet in Islamic scripture and history the unique leadership potential of women is enshrined. The old Arabic proverb, “a woman is like an institution – prepare her well, and you prepare a nation”, is lost in the milieu of cultural evolutions within Muslim societies. Today, the leadership potential of Muslim women in the UK faces a renewed threat given the growing marketisation of education.
Last week the NUS with FOSIS held the first ever student leadership programme for Muslim women. Over the last decade we have worked at the grassroots and felt it was time for the challenges of leadership facing young Muslim women to be properly explored.
Our event was pertinent. Some say the role of women in Islam is misunderstood – we believe the role of humankind itself in Islam is often misunderstood. In our experience of British Muslim communities many mosques do not accommodate women. Educational classes and institutes are dominated by men, while women only hold leadership roles in representative bodies and mosques in exceptional cases (15% according to the Charity Commission). Though the situation fares better at the youth level, we have witnessed men walking out of speeches delivered by women and only a small but growing number of student Islamic Societies have females occupying positions beyond “secretarial” and “sisters’ rep” roles.
This contrasts with the example of Umm al-Darda and the faith tradition that nurtured people like her. Dr Mohammed Akram Nadwi, of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, is clear in reminding of the purpose of humankind, for God knows no gender, clarifying cultural taboos and reaffirming the teachings of the Qur’an and the Prophet Muhammad. Powerful principles are at play – God created us as human first and foremost, not defined by gender, but for the purpose of worshipping Him, created from one being. Commandments to seek education, to strive for excellence, and to serve our society know no gender.
To consult scripture is one thing, to realise its implementation another. For all the naysayers of female leadership, no example is more striking than that of Khadija, the first wife of the Prophet. A successful businesswoman, she discerned Muhammad’s qualities and hired him to work for her. When the Prophet received his first revelation he returned home in shock – not to his uncle who raised him or Abu Bakr his closest companion – but to his confidante, close friend and advisor, Khadija, to whom his first words were “cover me, cover me”. In his vulnerability Khadija took leadership, gave him hope and reassured him, “you are good to your relatives, you are true to your word, you help those in need, you support the weak, you feed the guest and you answer the call of those who are distressed”.
Leadership extends beyond positional authority; true leadership is an ethos characterised by responsibility and courage, vision and excellence, intelligence and wisdom, respect and humility, integrity and servitude. Islamic tradition is replete with women of such qualities that have been forgotten today.
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