THE BOSS AT HOME
On a journey to the USA, I learned of an American lady who married a Pakistani Muslim, Naseer Ahmad Mirza, living in Utah. In the course of an interview she gave to an American journal, she made the following observation:
“While most Americans are under the impression that Muslim wives are oppressed, I did not find that to be true. ‘It’s just a different division. Outside the home, my husband’s the boss. But in my house, I’m the boss.’”
Several such incidents have come to my knowledge. Certain American women are wary of marrying for fear of divorce taking place at any time. This is why some women prefer marrying Muslims, preferably those who come to America for education. In this way, such marriages have become a means of conveying the message of Islam. When the newspapers ask them about Islam, they defend their newly acquired faith excellently, as quoted above.
Islam does not degrade the status of women as compared to that of men. Instead, the system of separate workplaces has been established on the principle of equality. Islam has divided the affairs of life into two fields, one outdoor and the other indoor. According to Islam, a man is in charge of the outdoor departments of life while a woman attends to indoor matters. She very aptly represented this principle of Islam in the light of her own experience.
This division is very appropriate for both genders. In this way, the man can devote his maximum energy to one department while the woman can give her full attention to indoor affairs. This makes for greater efficiency in both spheres.
This division, while giving independent status respectively to the husband and the wife, makes them both cogs in the great wheel of the family machine. And unless the wheels all smoothly interlock, the machine will come to a standstill. For the family to function as an efficient unit, there must be full cooperation between husband and wife. Otherwise, it would mean the end of family life and, ultimately, of all social relations. Humanity as a whole would suffer.
The division of labour relates not only to men and women but is also a general principle upon which the whole system of nature is based.
When you establish a business house where many people work, you have to assign some people to look after the office work, while some people have to be sent out to look after the fieldwork. This division of labour is necessary to run any business efficiently and successfully. If the workers of any factory or organisation are unwilling to accept this arrangement, that enterprise will undoubtedly fail.
The same is true of everyday life. God has planned things so that men and women together will make them work. Then, He has created men and women with the unique abilities necessary to perform the jobs assigned to their sphere.
Now, both reason and Islam demand that each gender should be willing to remain in their sphere and perform the assigned tasks. Men should not try to imitate women, and vice versa.
Those men and women who show their willingness to make this arrangement a success will, with the help of God, be rewarded in this life as well as in the next.
