Nadia I Harhash

It is easy to make a flat look on our existence as human nature and make a quick calculation on the injustices and inequality that never seized to shape the existence of women. It is also as easy to make a quick straightforward judgement and say it is this misogynist nature of men. At the end, it cannot just be a coincidence that they all end up being like this, as a general rule, and yet, not exclusive, of course.
However, is it all about this misogynist nature of men that always tend to overpower women, dominate them, oppress them and seize full domination on them?
It occurs to me at this very moment as I am standing here more than two Millenia and some centuries after Aristotle and think, why did he look down on women? Is it possible that all women were either uncontrolled devilish prostitutes-to- be or obedient subordinating-housewives-to- be?
In today’s world where women also became either empty headed or head veiled, the misogynist figure of a man cannot change.
As if it is a stigma. A woman cannot but be one of those.
While I believe that men are not born misogynists, I also believe that women are not categorized into the empty headed and head veiled stigmas.

Twenty years ago, on October 31 st , 2000, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) approved Resolution 1325 with great hopes for women around the world, as the resolution urged member states of the Security Council to take the necessary measures to advance women's participation in decision-making and peace processes, integrate gender into training and peacekeeping, protect women, and integrate gender into all UN reporting systems and program implementation mechanisms. This decision differed from other decisions related to the protection of women and the advancement of their rights by being the first official and legal document issued by the Security Council calling on parties in conflict to respect the rights of women and support their participation in peace negotiations and in rebuilding and reconstruction in conflict areas during the post-conflict phase. With this decision, women advanced from being victims of armed conflict and have become part of conflict resolution and participants in peacekeeping forces and in negotiations as a result of their increased participation in decision-making at all levels. Since its adoption, the resolution has helped women in many places around the world overcome the difficulties that hindered their participation in peace and human security issues. Despite governmental and nongovernmental efforts, however, there is still a gap in the implementation and understanding of the resolution in the Arab world. That gap relates to various provisions of the resolution, especially those concerned with having more women's presence in decision-making positions and with protecting women from gender-based violence. The resolution is essentially based on two main components: combating sexual violence during armed conflict and increasing women's participation in peace processes and political institutions.

The status of women in today’s Muslim world continues to spur debates regarding their role not just today but during the entire history of Islam. It also raises questions as to whether Muslim women have experienced greater or declining rights and benefits along that history.
An important checkpoint for this debate takes place in medieval times, as between the ninth and the thirteenth century thoughts and views about women were shaped by scholars such as al-Ghazālī’, Ibn Rushd, and Ibn Taymiyya.
The school of al-Ghazālī’ emerged from the Ash’ari school of religious thought, and is considered the representative of al-Ash’ari in today’s major scholastic school in the Muslim world, Al-Azhar.
Ibn Rushd is viewed as a progressive thinker among Muslim and Western scholars, and, by al-Ghazālī’’s followers, as a rival. This is largely a result of his book Tahafut al-Tahafut, which Ibn Rushd wrote in response to al- Ghazālī’’s Tahafut al-Falasifa.
Whereas the debate took the form of refuting or not refuting philosophy in the first place, it continued among followers from both schools into what each of the scholars (al-Ghazālī’ and Ibn Rushd) stood for, and thus refuted or supported all of what one scholar preached or taught.
In this sense, many Islamic scholars didn’t do justice to the thought of Ibn Rushd that was beyond the Tahafut, and hence, much of his thought stayed in the unopened drawer of “different” discourse .
Ibn Rushd’s progressiveness is demonstrated not in his jurisprudence books. In many ways he adapted in his jurisprudence and his fatwa’s to the general line of Islamic jurisprudence voice of his time. His philosophical works, however, were a demonstration of his true ideals. His views on women were
challenging then, and still are challenging in today’s Islamic world. His view on the development of the society as a whole is portrayed from a progressive understanding that was far from application in his time. It is true, however, that his views were mainly a revision, as well as influenced by his predecessors such as Ibn Sina and al-Kindi, a school of thought that integrated Aristotelian philosophy with Islamic thought.
Ibn Taymiyya, on the other hand, leaves behind him a school at the opposite extreme of Ibn Rushd’s progressiveness, one that in today’s religious approach is followed by Salafists and Wahhabis in Saudi Arabia. His followers include Ahl al-Sunna wal Jama’a1, the same branch of Islamic schools that stands opposite the Shiite2. Ibn Taymiyya, according to his followers, is considered the “Man of Awakening.” It was his view that many a stream of Muslims, mainly in Arab countries, decided to take after the failure of Arab Nationalism following the Arab defeat of the 1967 war.
The importance of these three thinkers’ work lies in their continuing effect on today’s Islamic lifestyle, and that includes the perception of women in the Islamic world.
This study attempts to discuss and explore the following: 1) the status of Muslim women in that period of al-Ghazālī’, Ibn Taymiyya, and Ibn Rushd (ninth through thirteenth centuries), with special focus on these men’s views on women, and 2) comparing the effect of their views on today’s thought in regards to women, through a) discussing the general status of Muslim women today, and b) examining different Islamic feminist scholars, namely Fatima Mernissi, who in her works has excessively criticized al-Ghazālī’’s views on
1 When mentioning Ahl al-Sunna, it also includes the same stream that al-Ghazali and Ibn Rushd come from.
2 After the death of the Prophet, and by the time Ali ibn Abi Talib became caliph. Split among the Islamic world started when Shiite; those who believed that Ali is the natural heir of the Prophet, since he was his cousin, the first to believe in him, and his son-in-law. And those who came from the Umayyad tribe, led by Mu’awiya ibn Abi Sufian, who saw that their strong tribal ties and the power they acquired in the Levant made them the deserving caliphs of Islam. From that moment on Islam was strongly fractioned between Shiites and Sunnis. Their faith in what defines Islam as
religion is the same. The differences are not in the belief but in certain behaviors in the schools of jurisprudence. But originally their difference is political.

women, and Nawal Sa’dawi, who has discussed women’s status from a different perspective relevant to the medieval era and its scholars. And last ,but not least ,this paper will attempt to show the effects of the teachings of al- Ghazālī and Ibn Rushd on the role of woman in Muslim societies, and how the teachings of earlier Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle influenced their views. To accomplish this, the background of this paper will briefly look at the views of Plato and Aristotle regarding women in Ancient Greek and will try to shed light on the resemblance or influence, if any, of Plato’s and Aristotle’s schools on the thoughts of the medieval era of Islam.
This research will highlight the thought of both Mernissi and Sa’dawi, measuring their direct discourse against medieval thought and how it shaped women’s status.

The research discusses the development of the women’s movement in Palestine in the early British Mandate period through a photo that was taken in 1945 in Jerusalem during a meeting of women activists from Palestine with the renowned Egyptian feminist Huda Sha’rawi.
The photo sheds light on the side of Palestinian society that hasn't been well explored or realized by today's Palestinians. It shows women in a different role than a constructed "traditional" or "authentic" one. The photo gives insights into a particular constituency of the Palestinian women’s movement: urban, secular-modernity women activists from the upper echelons of Palestinian society of the time, women without veils, contributing to certain political and social movements that shaped Palestinian life at the time and connected with other Arab women activists. Veiling or unveiling of the women is often analyzed through the frames of ‘modernity' and ‘tradition,' where for modernists unveiling women represents progress and modernity, while the veil becomes the symbolic locus of culture, backwardness and gender discrimination.  A shift in the way women dressed indoors and outdoors, publically or privately might indeed be read as saying something about the margin of freedom women had, and hence the contradictions women encounter in the society, but the veil must not be simplistically equated with tradition or religious conservatism. Modernity and education, often represented as vehicles of empowerment, have in fact also had a regulatory and disciplinary effect on women's lives- they are not a panacea for women’s emancipation. Consequently, analyzing women's movement in Palestine as elsewhere, must be set within a wider frame that analyses the politics of modernity, and the rhetoric of binary discourses  juxtaposing ‘tradition', 'modernity', 'East' and ‘West' by different political actors on the ground engaged in processes of modern state building. 
Palestinians have been doomed to face the challenges of liberation. That time was no exception. This exploration delves into those activities, and the roles women helped to form in that period. 
Women’s roles were part of a collective forgetfulness due to the brutal decades of the end of the Ottoman era—a forgetfulness that resulted in a total amnesia regarding real acts of that era. When people remember stories of forced militarization and collective punishment, massacre, poverty, and illnesses, such negative aspects overshadow the reality of the life of that era.
Hence, the thesis attempts to explore how the political disputes, national consensus affected the development of an effective social feminist agenda.
The thesis will examine the question of whether the rise of women’s movement was part of the rising modernist middle or /and elite class, due to the natural development of the period, including education, political activism, etc. within the mandate period; or it was as well, a collective awareness within the society and its different classes.

The status of women in today’s Muslim world continues to spur debates regarding their role not just today but during the entire history of Islam. It also raises questions as to whether Muslim women have experienced greater or declining rights and benefits along with that history.
A critical checkpoint for this debate takes place in medieval times, as between the ninth and the thirteenth-century thoughts and views about women were shaped by scholars such as al-Ghazālī’, Ibn Rushd, and Ibn Taymiyya.
The school of al-Ghazālī’ emerged from the Ash’ari school of religious thought, and is considered the representative of Al-Ash’ari in today’s primary scholastic school in the Muslim world, Al-Azhar.
Ibn Rushd is viewed as a progressive thinker among Muslim and Western scholars, and, by al-Ghazālī’’s followers, as a rival. This is largely a result of his book Tahafut al-Tahafut, which Ibn Rushd wrote in response to al- Ghazālī’’s Tahafut al-Falasifa.
Whereas the debate took the form of refuting or not refuting philosophy in the first place, it continued among followers from both schools into what each of the scholars (al-Ghazālī’ and Ibn Rushd) stood for, and thus refuted or supported all of what one student preached or taught.
In this sense, many Islamic scholars didn’t do justice to the thought of Ibn Rushd that was beyond the Tahafut, and hence, much of his thought stayed in the unopened drawer of “different” discourse.
Ibn Rushd’s progressiveness is demonstrated not in his jurisprudence books. In many ways, he adapted in his case law, and his fatwa’s to the general line of Islamic law voice of his time. His philosophical works, however, were a demonstration of his true ideals. His views on women were
challenging then, and still, are challenging in today’s Islamic world. His view on the development of the society as a whole is portrayed from a growing understanding that was far from application in his time. It is true, however, that his views were mainly a revision, as well as influenced by his predecessors such as Ibn Sina and Al-Kindi, a school of thought that integrate Aristotelian philosophy with Islamic thought.
Ibn Taymiyya, on the other hand, leaves behind him a school at the opposite extreme of Ibn Rushd’s progressiveness, one that in today’s religious approach is followed by Salafists and Wahhabis in Saudi Arabia. His followers include Ahl al-Sunna wal Jama’a1, the same branch of Islamic schools that stands opposite the Shiite2. Ibn Taymiyya, according to his supporters, is considered the “Man of Awakening.” It was his view that many a stream of Muslims, mainly in Arab countries, decided to take after the failure of Arab Nationalism following the Arab defeat in the 1967 war.
The importance of these three thinkers’ work lies in their continuing effect on today’s Islamic lifestyle, and that includes the perception of women in the Islamic world.
This study attempts to discuss and explore the following: 1) the status of Muslim women in that period of al-Ghazālī’, Ibn Taymiyya, and Ibn Rushd (ninth through thirteenth centuries), with particular focus on these men’s views on women, and 2) comparing the effect of their views on today’s thought in regards to women, through a) discussing the general status of Muslim women today, and b) examining different Islamic feminist scholars, namely Fatima Mernissi, who in her works has excessively criticized al-Ghazālī’’s views on
1 When mentioning Ahl al-Sunna, it also includes the same stream that al-Ghazali and Ibn Rushd come from.
2 After the death of the Prophet, and by the time Ali ibn Abi Talib became caliph. Split among the Islamic world started when Shiite; those who believed that Ali is the natural heir of the Prophet since he was his cousin, the first to believe in him, and his son-in-law. And those who came from the Umayyad tribe, led by Mu’awiya ibn Abi Sufyan, who saw that their strong tribal ties and the power they acquired in the Levant made them the deserving caliphs of Islam. From that moment on Islam was firmly fractioned between Shiites and Sunnis. Their faith in what defines Islam as
religion is the same. The differences are not in the belief but certain behaviors in the schools of jurisprudence. But originally their difference is political.

Women, and Nawal Sa’dawi, who has discussed women’s status from a different perspective relevant to the medieval era and its scholars. And last, but not least, this paper will attempt to show the effects of the teachings of al- Ghazālī and Ibn Rushd and Ibn Tamiya on the role of woman in Muslim societies,
This research will highlight the thought of both Mernissi and Sa’dawi, measuring their direct discours​e against medieval thought and how it shaped women’s status.

The two stages of al-Ghazâlî's skeptical crisis in the Munqidh: (a) what he describes as the "breaking of tallied and (b) his loss of confidence in his cognitive faculties (senses and intellect). Carefully examine his arguments for distrusting his cognitive faculties and his account of how this trust was restored.

A book review : Sydney Griffith

In “The Church in the Shadow of the Mosque”, Griffith offers a major highlight on understanding the reality of relations between Christians and Muslims in the Muslim milieu from the time of Mohammad (PBUH) until the Mongol conquest.
Griffith observes Christians as an indigenous population that comprised what could have summed to more than half of the total inhabitants in certain times and places along the Islamic conquered territories. He provides the reader with an informative package about Christianity in the East within an interesting exploration inside Christian theological and ecclesiological visions within an illuminating historical context of many of the controversial points between the faiths.

Social relations between Muslims, Jews and Christians
in the Medieval Islamic West . Mark Cohen’s Under Crescent and Cross

"The myth" and the "countermyth," in Cohen's own position as he develops it in the course of his book. How does he describe the position of Jews (and dhimmis in general) in medieval Islamic society as opposed to that of Jews (the only sizeable minority) in European Christian society in the same period?

the current affair in the Palestinian situation is the same affair that was there at the beginning of the 20th century on the eve of the end of the Ottoman Empire . is it a coincidence.or is it about the palestinian set up of affairs , on top of it all ,leadership ? this essay is a kind of incoherence in questioning what if we seriously need a statement of surrender, and defeat?

تبدأ مع رمضان الفتاوي المختلفة المتعلقة بمختلف شؤون الحياة ، وتشغل المرأة اطياف المجتمع في أمورها من عبادات تبدأ بالحجاب وتنتهي بالعلاقة الزوجية ، وفيما بين الفتاوي التي تشغل المراة والمجتمع تقف أمور اخرى تنطوي تحت طائلة النوافل،وتتسارع المرأة والمجتمع نحو فتاوى تقربها من الله اكثر في الاقتضاء برسوله والصحابة والمقربين من اهلً البيت .

وبين طاعة عمياء لله أولآ والزوج ثانياً تستطيع المرأة أن تحيى حياتها كما أرادت في كنف مجتمع ذكوري ساعدت هي طوعاً أو قصراً ، وعياً أو غشياً بالسعي للمحافظة عليه،فالمرأة في المجتمعات الإسلامية المعاصرة تركت والمجتمع شأن الدين للشيخ والفقيه سواء تعلمت وحصلت على مختلف الشهادات والتحصيلات العلمية والاكاديمية أو اكتفت بمراحل معينة من التعليم تكفيها للحصول على فرصة لزواج أفضل . فالحلال والحرام بين والبت فيه من شأن الفقيه والمفتي . فبينما تنشغل المرأة المسلمة اليوم بأمور الحقوق والمساواة ، شأنها بذلك شأن المرأة المعاصرة في مختلف أرجاء العالم ، لا تزال المرأة المسلمة تعيش وراء حجاب يغطي رأسها وعقلها عن أمور الدين الاسلامي الحقيقي الذي أراده الله عن طريق نبيه محمد عليه الصلاة والسلام. فاكتفت المرأة بالأخذ بما يملى عليها من واجبات اقتنعت بأنها عبادات وحقوق اعتبرتها امتيازات ، وكأنها مخلوق تبعي منقوص العقل والتعقل . فكيف لا ولقد قيل لنا على لسان الله ورسوله بأننا ناقصات العقل والدين. نمسك القرآن بالشهر الفضيل ونقلب صفحاته سعيا وراء ختمه مرة أو مراراً من أجل أجر عند الله ، وتسارع النساء منا بالإكثار من العبادات من صلاة ونوافل ونردد الشعائر والشعارات من عبادات تربينا عليها ونشأنا على ترديدها حتى أصبح الله فينا متلازمة لا خالقا . فعبادتنا هوس بخالق ، نسعى للوصول إليه من خلال عبادة نرددها وندّعي الإيمان بها من دون إيمان حق وخالص لذلك الباري . نسجد ونركع ونبتهل إليه خاشعين باكين راجين ولا نعرف منه إلّا ما يرهبنا . نقول عنه رحمن رحيم ونخشاه خشية الحاكم الطاغي . نصوم بهذه الأيام عن الطعام ونجوّع بطوننا كما هو حالنا طيلة أيًام السنة من جوع ثقافي إسلامي حقّ وحقيقي . فنردد عبادات قيل لنا أنّها من الله ورسوله ولا نستطيع نقاشها أو التفكير فيها . فهي من المسلّمات فإمّا نكون في تصرفاتنا في المنجيات أم المهلكات من التصرفات . فأقبل أنا المرأة المسلمة طوعا وهونا في سبيل رضى الله أن يقوم زوجي بضربي اذا ما أزعجته . وإذا ما كان ظالما فثوابي أجر محفوظ لدى الله. ولي من الطلبات ما يمكن أن يتكرم علي ّبتقديمها لي . عليّ حق الطاعة وعليه تلبية رغباته التي يستطيع اليها سبيلا . فهو بالنهاية الرجل الذي أمرت بعبادته إذا ما خيّرت بعبادة بعد عبادة الله . وللرجل الحق في الزواج من مثنى وثلاث ورباع وإن لم تكفيه أربعتنا فله ما رغب فيه من ملك يمينه . ومن تطوّر من الرجل المسلم منا يكون ذلك المتمدن الذي اختار بأخلاقه العظيمة التّنازل عن حقوقه التي وهبها الله له . فنكتفي نحن معشرالنساء بالدور الوجودي بكوننا أمّهات ونشكر التطور الذي سمح لنا من خلاله الرجل بالعمل والتعليم . ونكتفي بأدوار في معظمنا ثانوية لا ترقى لدرجة القيادة او المسؤولية الكبيرة ، فنحن في نهاية الأمر مكسورات الجناح ، ناقصات العقل . وبينما نصرّ بأننا نتبع الله والرسول في عباداتنا التي ندعي ممارستها ونمارسها بكل جدّ بإخلاص أو رياء ، فإنّ الله ورسوله بريئون ممّا نمارسه وندّعيه من عبادة المرجوّ منها الوصول إلى رضى الله وتقواه هي طريقنا إلى الإنسانيّة المترفّعة عن غوغاء الأرض . فالعبادات التي نمارسها لا تخرج في أحسن أحوالها عن مدرستين قررنا بجهل مرصوص كالبنيان المصفّح ألّا نخرج عنهما ، بينما نتّبع بلا معرفة حقيقة، أحد أربع مذاهب وخامس شيعي قررنا نحن معشر السنة بإسقاطه عبر الزمن الذي نسينا في مرورنا منه أنّ علياً رضي الله عنه كان أعز الناس للرسول الكريم وزوج أحب بناته وجد أبنائه، ومشينا مع الزمن وراء معاوية بن أبي سفيان ورفعنا القرآن على السيف بناءا على نصيحة عمرو بن العاص وصرنا سنة وشيعة وخرج فيما بينهما طفراً وقرفاً ربما الخوارج. فكفروا بتزمتهم وأجرموا بحق دينهم وأبنائه . وانشغلنا بتكفير كل من خرج عنا فالخوارج أخرجونا من الملة ونحن أخرجناهم من ملتنا الصادقة والوحيدة . وكفّرنا الشيعة وما خرج عنها في سرّنا وعلننا إلى اليوم . وبينما نحن منشغلون بمن هم خوارج منا اكتفينا بأن نشكل مفاهيم الإسلام فينا من مدرسة الغزالي الذي تبنى الأشعرية وتمنى الوصول الى الصوفية . مدرسة نادت ببعض الفكر والتفكر والنقد والتأمل فيما يخرج من تأويل وتفسير ، ومدرسة زهدت بأمور الدنيا وتفرغت بحب ( الرجل ) لله . وفريق آخر منا لم تعجبه المساحة في التحليل والتأويل واكتفى بما ظهر من القرآن وأهل الرأي من الحديث بدأها ابن حزم وتبناها فيما بعد ابن تيمية . فالغزالي للمطلع العادي منا هو شافعي أوّلا . فهنا نستطيع تقسيم أنفسنا في أحد المذاهب الأربعة . وأشعريّ المدرسة التي بدأها الحسن البصري، وصوفيّ الهوى . أمّا ابن تيمية فهو حنبليّ المذهب ظاهريّ المدرسة . وكلاهما اتفقا على ضحد الفلسفة وتكفير أتباعها على الرغم من تأكيدهم على ما جاؤوا به من علوم غيرت مظاهر العالم وتفكيره. وفي خطوة متسارعة إلى هذا الزمن ، تبنى حسن البنّا المدرسة الأشعرية وكان الغزالي إمامه الروحي .فيما نهجت الأزهر على المدرسة الأشعرية التي خرجت الاخوان المسلمون والتحريريون وغيرهم. فيما خرج محمد عبد الوهاب في السعودية وكان إمامه الروحي ابن تيمية والمدرسة الظاهرية وخرجت منه المدرسة السلفية التي خرجت القاعدة وداعش وغيرها. وَمِمَّا لا شك فيه ، عظمة ما قدمه علماء أجلاء كالغزالي وابن تيمية . فالفكر الإسلامي الحديث لم يكن لولا تلك الجماعات من العلماء والفقهاء الذين اثروا وبصدق التراث الإسلامي ومنهجوه . فما قدمه الغزالي من كتب في الفقه والعلوم الدينية يعتبر من أعمدة التراث الإسلامي . وابن تيمية كان عالما وفقيها وقاضي وساهم مساهمات أثرت الفقه الإسلامي من خلال العشرات من الكتب التي تشكل عمودا آخر في الفقه الإسلامي . ولا يخلو الفقه الاسلامي من العشرات من الأسماء الخالدة في التشريع و الفقه والعلوم الإسلامية المختلفة من تفسير وتأويل . فما من مسلم لا يعرف البخاري ومسلم . فهما من أعمدة نقل الحديث وما نردده عنهما يعتبر من أعلى درجات الصحة في الحديث،والإمام ابي حنيفة والشافعي ومالك واحمد بن حَنْبَل . وطبعا هناك من نقل عنهم الأحاديث من الصحابة كأبي هُريرة وغيره ... فالويل لمن يفكر منا بالتشكيك بصحة ما نقلوه وما أكدوا على صحته .

فأولئك اجتهدوا لنرتاح نحن لا لنشكك ونتساءل، وتناسينا بجهل او معرفة انهم خرجنا من زمن كان السباق العلمي في شأن الفقه والتشريع كالحرب التي نشهدها اليوم بين اطياف المسلمين . إلا أن قتالهم كان يحدد نصره أو هزيمته سلاح القلم والمحاججة والمعرفة والإجتهاد . كانت صراعاتهم على أوجهها بين صفائح مخطوطاتهم وكتاباتهم . اختلفوا فتحاججوا ولم يقتلوا بعضهم الآخر ولم يستهزئوا عنوة بل كرّسوا طاقاتهم في إثبات أفكارهم وإيماناتهم ،لذا تَرَكُوا لنا كل هذا الكنز من الكتب التي لا نزال نكشف النقاب عنها .

إلّا أنني أتوقف عند الغزالي وابن تيمية تحديداً وذلك لأنهما لا يزالان حاضران معنا بعد ما يزيد عن ثماني قرون من رحيلهما . وكلاهما يشكلان ما يشبه المعبر الذي نستطيع من خلاله الاتطلاع على ما أمرنا الله به ورسوله . فهم علماء اجلاء قاموا بكل الأمور الفقهية من دراسة وتنقيح وفهم ووفروا علينا عناء البحث والتنقيب، فهم الأدرى بالصحابة والاحاديث بتواتراتها من صحيح وضعيف وغيره من أمور بحثية تقتصر في فهمها على العلماء والفقهاء ، على الرغم من أنهم كانوا على بعد أكثر من خمسة قرون عن زمن الرسول والصحابة . وَمِمَّا لاشك فيه أن ما قام به السابقون للغزالي وابن تيميه في القرون السابقة من تجميع لما اصبح يعرف بالفقه والتشريع كنز في التراث الاسلامي حافظ على الإسلام دينا وشريعة . فكان أولئك السابقون من فقهاء كالشافعي مثلا نابغة في ما أصرّ عليه بما اصبح اليوم يعرف بالتشريع . فكتابه 'الأم' أسطوري بما يحمله من تشابك محكم في الفقه الاسلامي أوقف من خلاله الحراك اللا منتهي من نقل الحديث على مدار اكثر من مئة وخمسين عام بعد وفاة الرسول الكريم . إلّا أنّ كل أولئك أنعم الله عليهم نعمة الإسلام في انفتاحه على نفسه وعلى الآخر . فلم تكن صدفة أنّ أوّل كلمة أنزلت على الرسول عليه الصلاة والسلام كانت'اقرأ' . فالقراءة لم تكن ما كتب أمامه لأنّه لم يكن بقاريء . فالقراءة كانت باسم ربك الذي خلق ، والذي علم الانسان ما لم يعلم . فالعلم والسعي إليه أمر الله للإنسان على الأرض للوصول الى الله . لم يقتصره على أحد ولا على جنس. فخديجة رضي الله عنها كانت إلى جانب الرسول على مدار نزول الرسالة عليه داعما وأول من آمن بنبوّته . وعائشة رضي الله عنها نقلت ما يقرب عن نصف الحديث الشريف وقادت بنفسها معركة الجمل .

منذ قيام إسرائيل سنة ١٩٤٨ ، واحتلالها لفلسطين الذي امتد لسائر الارض الفلسطينية سنة ١٩٦٧ شاملة بذلك القدس . دأبت اسرائيل على نهج تمحور حول أسرلة ما يمكن اسرلته من ارض وشعب ، وبكل الأحوال الحرص على ابقاء العرب من السكان في القدس تحديدا ضمن معادلة لا تتعدى ثلث السكان والتأكد من تقليص هذه النسبة وهذا ما كان ولا يزال.
موضوع الإسكان هو ما يترتب على هذا النهج من تطبيقات تطال بها الانسان والمكان معا . فالسكن هو حق بديهي يرتبط ارتباطا وثيقا بشعور الانسان بالامن . فبهذا الموضوع تأكدت اسرائيل من انها تقوم باصطياد عصفورين بحجر واحد : تهديد الوجود عن طريق انعدام الامن ، وحصر المكان بتحديد مناطق الانتشار بالنسبة للسكان .
فقامت اسرائيل باستعمال شتى الطرق لاحكام قبضتها على السكان المقدسيين من خلال توسيع الاستيطان بمحيط القدس من جهة ، والتوغل بداخل احياء القدس (العربية) من جهة اخرى ، وذلك عن طريق بناء وحدات استيطانية جديده وشراء العقارات اما عن طريق الاغراء المفرط بالمال والعمالة او النصب والاحتيال على القانون والاحكام التي صنعتها انظمة الاحتلال نفسها والذي يتمثل بالإضافة الى تصعيب الحياة وتعقيداتها من فرض ضرائب باهظة ومختلفة ، ومطالبة السكان بإثبات وجودهم من حيث السكن لضمان البقاء المبدئي في المدينه ، هدم البيوت يمثل المحطة الاكثر الما وكسرا في محطة التنكيل المفروض على الفلسطينيين.

The place of women in society has been subjected to scrutiny and has been disputed for a long time as many societies regard them inferior. Different myths about the creation of women provide material for debate about their status from ancient figures like Ishtar , Athena, Aphrodite, Hera  with their different capacities and down to Eve, the wife who tempted Adam into intemperate behavior that came to bedevil the human race. The process of demonizing women has not only occurred within the structures of traditional monotheistic religions, but had existed even before these religions took form.
Islam projected itself with the image of liberation and empowerment for the weak, slaves, and women: it was Islam that prohibited the burying of girls alive, and improved the status of women. The wives and daughters of the prophet were important examples of women playing central roles in society.

What are the rights we didn’t receive from occupation What  are the rights we want to receive and couldn’t receive?

The General Assembly proclaims The UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.
However, Israeli occupation continued to violate all basic human rights through its ongoing occupation , in all Palestinian Territory including Jerusalem , as well Palestinians inside Israel ,comprehensively through each and every article of the UDHR.

The purpose of this study is to provide a framework that can give an adequate account of challenges as seen by Muslim women in Jerusalem and to evaluate strategies that can provide suitable solutions to these challenges.

Key issues of women’s rights on political participation, education, work, family, and social participation will be discussed and analyzed in the light of a theological and feminist approach with specific reference to the writings of some prominent women authors such as Fatima Mernissi, Amina Wadud, Nawal Saadawi, Margot Badran and others.
Muslim women in Jerusalem continuous struggle against injustice will be discussed within common strategies and solutions that different researchers and scholars have used and developed as well as on field research directly conducted within a case study in the neighborhood of Beit Hanini.

The study will discuss how Islamic feminism and traditional theology are assessed, related and coped with social change and how effective it could be in seeking justice for women through historical, and contemporary approaches.

مدارسه للامام محمد الغزالي . تحاكي الواقع الاسلامي اليوم في نظرته السابقه الحاليه بالتعامل مع القران وبالتالي الاسلام.
تناولت قبل أيام البحث في كتاب " كيف نتعامل مع القرآن للإمام محمد الغزالي )ليس أبو حامد الغزالي( في
مدارسة أجراها الأستاذ عمر عبيد حسنه في أواخز الثمانينات من القرن الماضي ، ولقد طبع هذا الكتاب للمرة السابعة في سنة ٢٠٠٥.
الامام محمد الغزالي لمن لا يعرف هو أحد دعاة الفكر الاسلامي الحديث وتوفي سنة ١٩٩٦ . سماه والده بالغزالي تيمنا بالامام ابو حامد الغزالي المتوفي سنه ١١١١. والغزالي كاتب هذا الكتاب هو مصري ، بينما ابو حامد هو فارسي الاصل ولد في طوس ايران اليوم.
تتلخص مدارسة الغزالي بأن القرآن هو المعجزه المستمرة لنا على هذه الارض ، وهو )القرآن( حدد نفسه مواصفاته باعتباره كلام الله تعالى ، واوضح أنه كامل يستجيب لما كان حالات تاريخية سابقة ، ويستمر باتجاه المستقبل عبر مختلف العصور مستجيبا بمكنوناته التي تنكشف طبقا لحالات الاستدعاء الزماني. فالقرآن الوحيد المعصوم من بين جميع الكتب السماوية ،فهو المرجع الموثق الوحيد للآخرين وقضاياهم أيضا.
بينما نعيش حياه لم نعد نعرف أين نقحم الإسلام والقرآن فيها تارة ، ونبعد الاسلام لأبعد ما يمكن ابعاده تاره أخرى . خشية ، او عدم ثقة ، او تحفظا ، او حماية ربما لما نكنه لهذا الدين من حب كوني ربما ، او حب غريزي ، او قد يكون فطري ،او هو بكل بساطة حب تربينا ونشأنا عليه ، والحفاظ عليه مرتبط بالحفاظ على كينونتنا.
ولكن تعاملنا مع الدين يشبه تعاملنا مع حياتنا ، فنحب بجهل ما هو نور ، ونخلص بتعصب لما لا يحتاج تعصبنا ، حتى اصبحنا مكبلين بعصبة من المشاعر والاحاسيس والافكار التي تكبلت بداخلنا ولم نعد قادرين الا على المشي بها كالأسير المكبل بجنازير وأثقال .
في منطقة تسمي الاسلام دينها في هذه الأيام، تضحي داعش رمزا لما يقره الإسلام شرعا وشريعة ، يتبرأ البعض منا منها لأبعد الحدود ، ويتعاطف البعض منا معها صمتا او حتى جزئيا ، يذهب البعض منا الى ما أصبح يبدو أقل تطرفا)الاخوان( ولقد وقع عليه الظلم نوعا ما في ظلمة اللا أنسنة المسلمة في هذه الأيام . وانقسم الاسلام مرة أخرى بين تطرف يكفره تطرف ، وبين جهل يظلمه جهل ، وبين تخلف يحجبه تخلف . ويستمر الجميع برفع القرآن عاليا مدعيا صدقا في داخله ، مؤمنا بأن قرآنه وشريعته هي السنة الحقيقية والشريعة الوحيدة الواجبة التطبيق.
ولا أعرف كيف ، ولكن ، وجدت في هذه المدارسة مدارسة حقة تستحق المراجعة ، بما أنها خرجت نتاج دراسة حقة )ليس من قلم هاوية ( ، مبنية على اسس ايمانية لا تزال تستجدي بالقرآن طريقا لخلاص هذه الامة . أضع بين أيديكم ما استحسنته تلخيصا لهذه المدارسة ، علنا توقفنا قليلا وراجعنا انفسنا جميعا ، علمانيون،متدينون، سلفيون، اخوانيون، ......

The research discusses the development of the women’s movement in Palestine in the early British Mandate period through a photo that was taken in 1945 in Jerusalem during a meeting of women activists from Palestine with the renowned Egyptian feminist Huda Sha’rawi.
The photo sheds light on a side of Palestinian society that hasn’t been well explored or realized by today’s Palestinians. It shows women in a different role than what today, by some is constructed as the “traditional” or “authentic” one.
The photo gives insights into a particular constituency of the Palestinian women’s movement : urban, secular-modernity women activists from the upper echelons of Palestinian society of the time, women without veils, contributing to certain political and social movements that shaped Palestinian life at the time, and connected with other Arab women activists. Veiling or unveiling of the women, is often analyzed through the frames of ‘modernity’ and ‘tradition’, where for modernists unveiling women represents progress and modernity, while the veil becomes the symbolic locus of tradition, ba​ckwardness and gender discrimination . A shift in the way women dressed indoors and outdoors, publically or privately might indeed be read as telling something about the margin of freedom women had, and hence the contradictions women encounter in the society, but the veil must not be simplistically equated with tradition or religious conservatism. Modernity and education, often represented as vehicles of empowerment, have in fact also had a regulatory and disciplinary effect on women’s lives- they are not a panacea for women’s emancipation.  Consequently, analyzing women’s movement in Palestine as elsewhere, must be set within a wider frame that analyses the politics of modernity, and the rhetoric of binary discourses juxtaposing ‘tradition’, ’modernity’, ’East’ and ‘West’ by different political actors on the ground engaged in processes of modern-state building.
Palestinians have been doomed to face the challenges of liberation. That time was no exception. This exploration delves into those activities and the roles women helped to form in that period.
Women’s roles were part of a collective forgetfulness due to the brutal decades of the end of the Ottoman era—a forgetfulness that resulted in a total amnesia regarding positive acts of that era. When people remember stories of forced militarization and collective punishment, massacre, poverty, and illnesses, such negative aspects overshadow the reality of the life of that era.
Hence, the thesis attempts to explore how the political disputes, national consensus effected the development of an effective social feminist agenda.
The thesis will examine the question of whether the rise of women’s movement was part of the rising modernist middle or /and elite class, due to the natural development of the period, including education, political activism, etc. within the mandate period; or it was as well, a collective awareness within the society and its different classes.

The status of women in today’s Muslim world continues to spur debates regarding their role not just today but during the entire history of Islam. It also raises questions as to whether Muslim women have experienced greater or declining rights and benefits along with that history.
A critical checkpoint for this debate takes place in medieval times, as between the ninth and the thirteenth-century thoughts and views about women were shaped by scholars such as al-Ghazālī’, Ibn Rushd, and Ibn Taymiyya.
The school of al-Ghazālī’ emerged from the Ash’ari school of religious thought, and is considered the representative of Al-Ash’ari in today’s primary scholastic school in the Muslim world, Al-Azhar.
Ibn Rushd is viewed as a progressive thinker among Muslim and Western scholars, and, by al-Ghazālī’’s followers, as a rival. This is largely a result of his book Tahafut al-Tahafut, which Ibn Rushd wrote in response to al- Ghazālī’’s Tahafut al-Falasifa.
Whereas the debate took the form of refuting or not refuting philosophy in the first place, it continued among followers from both schools into what each of the scholars (al-Ghazālī’ and Ibn Rushd) stood for, and thus refuted or supported all of what one student preached or taught.
In this sense, many Islamic scholars didn’t do justice to the thought of Ibn Rushd that was beyond the Tahafut, and hence, much of his thought stayed in the unopened drawer of “different” discourse.
Ibn Rushd’s progressiveness is demonstrated not in his jurisprudence books. In many ways, he adapted in his jurisprudence, and his fatwa’s to the general line of Islamic law voice of his time. His philosophical works, however, were a demonstration of his true ideals. His views on women were
challenging then, and still, are challenging in today’s Islamic world. His view on the development of the society as a whole is portrayed from a growing understanding that was far from application in his time. It is true, however, that his views were mainly a revision, as well as influenced by his predecessors such as Ibn Sina and Al-Kindi, a school of thought that integrate Aristotelian philosophy with Islamic thought.
Ibn Taymiyya, on the other hand, leaves behind him a school at the opposite extreme of Ibn Rushd’s progressiveness, one that in today’s religious approach is followed by Salafists and Wahhabis in Saudi Arabia. His followers include Ahl al-Sunna wal Jama’a1, the same branch of Islamic schools that stands opposite the Shiite2. Ibn Taymiyya, according to his followers, is considered the “Man of Awakening.” It was his view that many a stream of Muslims, mainly in Arab countries, decided to take after the failure of Arab Nationalism following the Arab defeat in the 1967 war.
The importance of these three thinkers’ work lies in their continuing effect on today’s Islamic lifestyle, and that includes the perception of women in the Islamic world.
This study attempts to discuss and explore the following: 1) the status of Muslim women in that period of al-Ghazālī’, Ibn Taymiyya, and Ibn Rushd (ninth through thirteenth centuries), with particular focus on these men’s views on women, and 2) comparing the effect of their views on today’s thought in regards to women, through a) discussing the general status of Muslim women today, and b) examining different Islamic feminist scholars, namely Fatima Mernissi, who in her works has excessively criticized al-Ghazālī’’s views on
1 When mentioning Ahl al-Sunna, it also includes the same stream that al-Ghazali and Ibn Rushd come from.
2 After the death of the Prophet, and by the time Ali ibn Abi Talib became caliph. Split among the Islamic world started when Shiite; those who believed that Ali is the natural heir of the Prophet since he was his cousin, the first to believe in him, and his son-in-law. And those who came from the Umayyad tribe, led by Mu’awiya ibn Abi Sufyan, who saw that their strong tribal ties and the power they acquired in the Levant made them the deserving caliphs of Islam. From that moment on Islam was firmly fractioned between Shiites and Sunnis. Their faith in what defines Islam as
religion is the same. The differences are not in the belief but certain behaviors in the schools of jurisprudence. But originally their difference is political.

Women, and Nawal Sa’dawi, who has discussed women’s status from a different perspective relevant to the medieval era and its scholars. And last, but not least, this paper will attempt to show the effects of the teachings of al- Ghazālī and Ibn Rushd on the role of woman in Muslim societies, and how the lessons of earlier Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle influenced their views. To accomplish this, the background of this paper will briefly look at the views of Plato and Aristotle regarding women in Ancient Greek and will try to shed light on the resemblance or influe​nce, if any, of Plato’s and Aristotle’s schools on the thoughts of the medieval era of Islam.
This research will highlight the thought of both Mernissi and Sa’dawi, measuring their direct discourse against medieval thought and how it shaped women’s status.

The status of women in today’s Muslim world continues to spur debates regarding their role not just today but during the entire history of Islam. It also raises questions as to whether Muslim women have experienced greater or declining rights and benefits along that history.
An important checkpoint for this debate takes place in medieval times, as between the ninth and the thirteenth century thoughts and views about women were shaped by scholars such as al-Ghazālī’, Ibn Rushd, and Ibn Taymiyya.
The school of al-Ghazālī’ emerged from the Ash’ari school of religious thought, and is considered the representative of al-Ash’ari in today’s major scholastic school in the Muslim world, Al-Azhar.
Ibn Rushd is viewed as a progressive thinker among Muslim and Western scholars, and, by al-Ghazālī’’s followers, as a rival. This is largely a result of his book Tahafut al-Tahafut, which Ibn Rushd wrote in response to al-Ghazālī’’s Tahafut al-Falasifa.
Whereas the debate took the form of refuting or not refuting philosophy in the first place, it continued among followers from both schools into what each of the scholars (al-Ghazālī’ and Ibn Rushd) stood for, and thus refuted or supported all of what one scholar preached or taught.
In this sense, many Islamic scholars didn’t do justice to the thought of Ibn Rushd that was beyond the Tahafut, and hence, much of his thought stayed in the unopened drawer of “different” discourse.
Ibn Rushd’s progressiveness is demonstrated not in his jurisprudence books. In many ways he adapted in his jurisprudence and his fatwa’s to the general line of Islamic jurisprudence voice of his time. His philosophical works, however, were a demonstration of his true ideals. His views on women were challenging then, and still are challenging in today’s Islamic world. His view on the development of the society as a whole is portrayed from a progressive understanding that was far from application in his time. It is true, however, that his views were mainly a revision, as well as influenced by his predecessors
2
such as Ibn Sina and al-Kindi, a school of thought that integrated Aristotelian philosophy with Islamic thought.
Ibn Taymiyya, on the other hand, leaves behind him a school at the opposite extreme of Ibn Rushd’s progressiveness, one that in today’s religious approach is followed by Salafists and Wahhabis in Saudi Arabia. His followers include Ahl al-Sunna wal Jama’a1, the same branch of Islamic schools that stands opposite the Shiite2. Ibn Taymiyya, according to his followers, is considered the “Man of Awakening.” It was his view that many a stream of Muslims, mainly in Arab countries, decided to take after the failure of Arab Nationalism following the Arab defeat of the 1967 war.
The importance of these three thinkers’ work lies in their continuing effect on today’s Islamic lifestyle, and that includes the perception of women in the Islamic world.
This study attempts to discuss and explore the following: 1) the status of Muslim women in that period of al-Ghazālī’, Ibn Taymiyya, and Ibn Rushd (ninth through thirteenth centuries), with special focus on these men’s views on women, and 2) comparing the effect of their views on today’s thought in regards to women, through a) discussing the general status of Muslim women today, and b) examining different Islamic feminist scholars, namely Fatima Mernissi, who in her works has excessively criticized al- Ghazālī’’s views on women, and Nawal El Saadawi, who has discussed women’s status from a different perspective relevant to the medieval era and its scholars.
This research will highlight the thought of both Mernissi and Saadawi, measuring their direct discourse against medieval thought and how it shaped women’s status.

In The Shadows Of Men

In the Shadows of Men is a brave novel, which reflects the lives of women in the Middle East through a personal perspective of one woman’s experience. 

A journey inside a life of a Palestinian, Arab, Muslim woman who emerges from a patriarchal setup of a life that is strongly secured with male dominance, but continues to exist on the verge of the shadows of men.
Male figures dominant in her life from the moment of birth and accompanies her throughout her life.

It combines narrative and descriptive styles to bring the story of one woman and her mixture of emotions and experiences, that touch the lives of men and women alike.

In the shadows of men is a journey inside the depth of a woman, with her expectations and disappointments.  Her escaping dreams and forced nightmares.
Her challenges and her aspirations. Her strengths and here weaknesses.

As she maneuvers her life between motherhood and womanhood. Between sacrifice and giving. Love and compassion. Rage and anger.
A life of adaptation and revolting.
A life of struggle and a non-stop attempts of resilience and resistance. Surviving, or attempting to survive within and throughout the different layers and verges of patriarchal bonds and military occupation.

A life of a woman who walks away from men and their shadows.


The number​ of words: Approximately 39500.