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By Abdulkadir Salaudeen
Let’s start with some philosophical questions: are women owned by men when they are married? If yes, it would be right if they bore the names of their owners (husbands). If no, they should retain the names of their fathers who incontrovertibly owned them and gave them out in marriage.
The next question is: do fathers lose ownership of their daughters after they give them out in marriage? If your answer is ‘yes’, so, why shouldn’t wives bear their husbands’ names? If your answer is ‘no’, so, why should they bear their husbands’ names? If this logic is acceptable to us, comprehending it from the Islamic perspective will pose no difficulty. Islamic position on it is a factual fact that does not need disputation by factual minds whose minds are essentially free from misogynistic ego.
Another relevant question is: are women humans with thinking faculties? This question may sound outrageous; but scholars and philosophers of various religious inclinations, in the past, debated it. For instance Aristotle, the great Greek philosopher, held that the subjugation of women was both natural and a social necessity.
Influenced by Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas—the 13th Century renowned Christian theologian—wondered whether the woman should have been made in the first production of things. His discourse on Aristotle’s assertion that ‘the female is a misbegotten male’, ‘accidentally created’ and ‘not intended’ is well known.
Similarly, the 12th Century Qur’an exegete Fakhruddeen Ar-Razi (RA) in his ‘Mafaatihul Ghayb’ said: “women were created like animals and plants and other useful things…and that necessitates women not to be created for worship and carrying the divine commands…because the woman is weak, silly, in one sense she is a child, and no commands are laid upon a child”
Are you shocked that woman humanness was once a question of debate; even among scholars? But these are just few examples; there are legion of such thoughts and expressions of unhuman characterizations of women in the text (literature) if you can mine them.
This is the reason why even in Europe and America (bastion of modern civilization) women were not allowed to vote until 1869. Before then, their status as humans was questionable. And this mind-set is still in the deep recesses of many men even if it is not expressed. Hmmm! No wonder many men consider ladies inconsequential; save as ‘seks’ toys meant for enjoyment—or rather, the activities of the ‘other room’! Those men deny women all rights and treat them like possessed items.
Despite enlightenment, modernization, and globalization, there are still trending questions like: do women have thinking faculties to think for themselves? Can they be consulted and do their opinions matter on any issues (serious or trivial)? Do they have any social rights?
Answers to these questions should ordinarily be obvious. But the reality is that they still need to be discussed.
However, the topical issue that this article focuses on is the propriety (or otherwise) of women bearing husbands’ names; from Islamic perspective. The above questions were asked to make a point. Discussing them will be a digression. I will not digress.
In a nutshell, women from Islamic perspective, are humans with thinking faculties which should be consulted on specific and general issues. This is not in dispute; going by the Qur’an. They are owned only to the extent that men are also owned by their parents. Women are not owned by their husbands. Thus, they should not be named after their husbands.
They are full humans with full responsibilities, and are accountable before their Creator (Allah). Thus, women in Islam are not subjected to the difficulty of frequent name-changing when remarrying due to death of husbands or collapse of marriages.
Before Islam, females typified bad omens among the Arabs. In fact, to announce the delivery of a female child was a bad news. Umar ibn Khatab confessed thus: in Jahiliyyah, we used to have no regard for women whatsoever. But when Islam came and Allah made mention of them, this caused us to realize that they have rights upon us. Muhammad Akram Nadwi aptly captures, in his ‘al-Muhaddithat’, the status of women in the Qur’an: “The Qur’an speaks about women in general and specific terms. It does not associate womanhood with inferiority or deficiency of any sort, or any primordial sin, or any disposition to sin not also found in men, or any disposition to induce sin in others not also found in men. It does not regard women as an appendage of men, but as distinct beings, each called individually, just as are men.”
Premised on the above quote, it is not the Sunnah (the Prophet’s practice) for women to be named after their husbands as if they owned them. Every woman, of course, likes to be affiliated with dignitaries. Yet, none of the Prophet’s wives named herself after him; nor did he ask them to bear his name. Or who is more dignified than the Prophet? Because it is wrong, his wives did not take pride in naming themselves after him.
Let’s do some brainstorming. How can women bear their husbands’ names (who can divorce them anytime) as if they were appendages to them? Why should they bear husbands’ names if they are convinced of their humanness? How many times would they continue to change their names when they remarry after divorce or death of their husbands? These are things no one prays for, but happen on daily basis.
This happened to some women more than two or three times in their life time. Would they continue to change their names to that of their new husbands? Is it not humiliating to them being humans who are accountable for their actions? Except if they agreed to be actually occasioned, misbegotten, and accidentally created as Aristotle argued!! Or like animals and plants and other useful things as Fakhruddeen asserted!!!
Ancestry is jealously guarded in Islam, thus, a woman is prohibited to append herself to her husband as if she has no history or beginning. She must bear her father’s name after marriage in order not to disrupt her origin. Feminists who champion the rights of women should focus on issue like this rather than wasting their energies on gender equality which is a failed project at conception. In Islam, the concept is ‘gender equity’ not ‘gender equality’. Understood!?
Recall, the Prophet said: “whoever calls himself (or herself) by other than his father’s name, will be cursed by Allah, the angels and all the people, and Allah will not accept any deeds or excuses from him (or her) on the Day of Resurrection” (Muslim, 2433). He further said: “Whoever claims knowingly to belong to someone other than his (or her) father will be denied Paradise” (Agreed Upon). So, what should a Muslim woman who already bears her husband’s name do? She should revert to her father’s name.
This is a decision to which the husband, of course, cannot object except if he is not a Muslim. A Muslim will not fragrantly disobey Allah by disputing the Qur’an which says: “Call them by [the names of] their fathers. (Q33:5). And there are no legal encumbrances to actualize this as far as Nigeria’s Constitution is concerned.
If this is the Islamic position, why do many Muslims flout this ruling? Specifically, it is ignorance of the ruling. Note that the word ‘specific’ is employed to qualify this ignorance. For it is possible to be knowledgeable in the general sense and yet be ignorant of some certain things. It is this ignorance that is at play here.
It can also be said that Muslims disobey this ruling unconsciously because it is the common practice in the West and after decades of colonial experience, it remains one of the vestiges of colonialism.
Therefore, it behooves every Muslim to turn back to the Qur’an for guidance. Islam is truly a complete way of life (nothing has changed this fact), we should make it a habit that our entire lives mirror the Qur’an. It says: “O you who have believed, do not put [yourselves] before Allah and His Messenger but fear Allah. Indeed, Allah is Hearing and Knowing.” This implies that a Muslim follows the way of Allah and His Prophet on anything he does.
We ask Allah to set our affairs right and guide us to His favored path (Ameen).
Abdulkadir Salaudeen writes from Gashua
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com
Twitter handle, @salahuddeenAbd
Aameen. MaashaaAllah tabaarakaLlah!!! May Allah forgive us and may He make it easy for us to make amendments.
Aameen.