Lesson video

Hi, my name is Miss Speakman and we're on lesson 8 of 14.

And in today's lesson, we're looking at the role of women within Islam.

Lesson 7 of 14 was the status of women in Christianity.

So we'll be looking now at sort of the comparison between it and looking at a couple more things which are a bit more relevant to the role of women within Islam.

So in our lesson today, we're going to look at Islamic views on the roles of women, look at women and worship within Islam, consider the treatment of women within Islam, and discuss the use of a hijab or a face covering and look at the impact of culture versus religion with reference to face coverings.

Let's make sure that we are ready for our lesson then.

So we're going to need a pen or a pencil, a piece of paper or an exercise book, and a different coloured pen ready for corrections.

We're also going to need a nice quiet, clear working space.

So TV, music off, phone to one side if you're not using it for the lesson, making sure you've got a nice quiet, clear desk space away from any distractions.

Because if we are less distracted, we're going to work better and when we work better we learn more.

So if you need to get yourself set up at all, please pause the video now and then unpause it when you're ready to start learning.

Amazing.

Okay, let's get started.

So I want you, first of all, to tell me what you know already.

So from what you've already studied about Islam, or perhaps maybe what you already know from your own experience, can you think of any Islamic views on the role of women? What do you know so far? Just jot some ideas down.

It can be bullet points.

It could be very short sentences.

You don't have to write in full sentences.

Only want you to spend about two minutes on this.

Just jotting down any ideas you've got.

So from what you've already studied, can you think of any Islamic views on the role of women? Pause now.

Unpause when you have finished writing down your ideas.

Okay, great.

Thank you so much for writing down your ideas.

What I'm going to do is talk through then the roles of women within Islam and the views within the Qur'an and the views within Islam.

And you might see that some of your ideas come up and perhaps maybe some of them don't come up.

That's absolutely fine.

We'll talk about quite a lot today and you might find it comes up later.

So Islamic teachings on the role of women.

We'll start with two Qur'an verses.

It makes sense to look at what the scripture actually says about the roles of women.

So the first one says, "Never will I allow to be lost the work of any worker among you, whether male or female; you are of one another." Now this is perhaps referring to, many Muslims believe, referring to the fact that Allah created all human beings and therefore they're all part of the human race and therefore shouldn't be treated any differently, that men and women are equal in value.

It could also refer to this idea of work, the idea that what they're doing throughout their life, so their roles that they play that Allah will essentially be watching every single one of them and looking at their deeds good and bad.

And those we take into account, not this, their agenda.

And then we have the second verse, which says, "And whoever does righteous deeds, whether male or female, while being a believer, those will enter paradise and will not be wronged." Many Muslims here would say that you know the idea of whether you're male or female does not make one more superior than the other.

It's your deeds that make you superior to another person, that make you better than another person.

So the idea that, essentially, Allah's not going to say men and women are either better or worse than each other.

It's your deeds that sets you apart.

It's your deeds that Allah takes into account, not your sex or your gender.

Many Muslims believe that men and women are of equal value but not the same.

So, put it this way.

I've got two pens.

I've got a black pen and a red pen.

Now these cost me exactly the same in a shop, and I can't remember how much, but they cost me the same.

And you'd say here they're of equal value, so they're worth the same, but they are different aren't they? Because this one's red and this one's black.

So they are different, but they are of equal value because they're worth the same.

That's the idea within Islam that many Muslims believe that men and women are of equal value, so worth the same, but they're not actually the same.

And this was because many Muslims believe they're designed by Allah with different physical characteristics and different purposes.

So they have been created differently from each other specifically for different purposes.

I guess it's again like my pens, isn't it? They are designed by a pen maker with different physical characteristics.

This one's black, this one's red.

And they do have different purposes.

I use this one for writing normal things and red for my corrections when I'm doing it in class.

So this is the idea really within Islam that they're designed by Allah with different physical characteristics and different purposes.

So what are those characteristics and what are those purposes? Many Muslims believe that the man's traditional role is to go out and work and provide financially for the family.

So it's the man's job to get the money in for the family and provide financially.

It would be the woman's role to stay at home, care for her husband, care for any children they have, prepare meals for the family, and also with any children they have, to raise them within the faith.

So traditionally, the idea is that men go out to work and women stay at home and look after the home and the children.

You may see within some more Western countries, women have interchangeable roles within Islam, but the traditional idea is that women stay at home and men go out and provide for the family.

That's not to say, though, that Muslims would teach that therefore the man is more important because of course many Muslims believe that they have different purposes, but they're of equal value.

Those are just as important as each other.

So for example, if the man didn't provide for the family, then of course there would be no home for the woman to look after.

And if the woman didn't look after the home and the children, then the man's going to come home to a home that is essentially a little bit chaotic.

So both are equally important, Muslims believe, in the eyes of Allah.

But of course not the same.

You may find, of course, some Muslims who would interpret this as meaning that the man is of authority, but that of course is based on interpretation of these teachings.

So what we're going to do is what I call some multiple choice quickfire questions.

These are a really, really good way of testing understanding so far.

It means you don't have to write anything down, but you do have to commit to what you're going to say or point at the screen.

So essentially, I'm going to give you a question.

There'll be two possible answers.

After a countdown of three seconds, I ask you to point to the screen or say out loud which one you think is the correct answer.

Essentially, whatever you feel most comfortable with.

And then we will go through the answers.

I will give you a little bit of feedback on whether that's the correct answer or not.

Then we'll move on to the next one.

It's just a really, really good way of essentially just checking so far what have we learned? What we need to go back to? How are we doing? So I'm going to disappear and we're going to get started on multiple choice quickfire questions.

Most Muslims believe men and women are equal value to Allah.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one.

Good, that is true.

Most Muslims believe, because they have equal value, men and women have the same roles.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one.

Good, that is false.

Many Muslims believe men and women have been designed for different purposes.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one.

Good, that is true.

Traditionally, Muslims believe the woman goes to work and the man looks after the children.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one.

That is false.

Of course, it is the idea the other way around.

Traditionally, the woman's responsibility is looking after her husband, preparing food, and teaching the children the basics of Islam.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one.

Good, that is true.

The traditional roles of women within Islam mean a woman can never work.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one.

That's false.

You may see that women do work, as well.

Many Muslims believe the man still has duties and responsibilities within the home.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one.

Good, that's true.

So still helping with raising the children and providing for the family.

Well done if you've got all of those correct.

We're now going to do some longer questions to bring all of that together.

So I want you to answer the following questions.

Spend about five minutes on this.

So what's the traditional Islamic view on the roles of women.

Why does this view exist? And what do Muslims believe about the value of men and women and what evidence is there for this? So what I'd like to do is to pause the video now for me, please, and unpause when you are ready to move on and look at corrections.

Okay, please have your different coloured pen out ready for corrections.

If you're not quite ready, then you can rewind the video and continue with your questions.

But then now we're going to look at the answers for this question.

So the traditional Islamic view of the role of the women is that women look after the home and the family, including looking at her husband, preparing food and teaching the children about Islam.

Evidence for this is that many Muslims believe Allah has designed men and women with different characteristics and purposes.

Second question.

Many Muslims believe that men and women are of equal value to God as they're all part of his creation.

Evidence for this is that in the Qur'an it says, "And whoever does righteous deeds, whether male or female, while being a believer, those will enter paradise and will not be wronged." This shows it is your deeds that gets you into paradise and not whether you are male or female.

If you need to make any corrections, please pause video now and do so.

And then after you unpause, we're going to start looking at the role of women within worship.

Looking then at Islamic teachings on women in worship.

And we'll start off with the obligation that all Muslims believe that they have a duty to worship and obey Allah.

Now the five pillars are these obligatory practises that all Muslims must do.

Salah is one of the five pillars of Islam.

Salah means prayer, worship and it's the idea of praying five times a day.

Because of the traditional roles of women, women are exempt from attending mosque for prayers.

So although women are expected to pray five times a day within Islam, they are exempt from attending mosque for prayers.

They can pray at home.

This, of course, is essentially so that they can look after the home and raise the children and not need to keep going back and forth to mosque.

However, it doesn't mean that a woman is barred from going to mosque, but if she does attend mosque, there are separate seating areas for women in the mosque.

Now this, for some people, may seem like segregation, but Islam would teach that the reason behind this is so that the sole focus will be on Allah and not getting distracted by each other.

So although women have a duty to worship and that although they're exempt from attending mosque, worship is still expected of all Muslims and actually Islam encourages women to get involved in the faith and to learn more about the faith and to write about the faith.

So there are many famous women's scholars who study Islam, who write about Islam, who look at interpreting scripture, et cetera, and also very many women community leaders.

However, many believe that the role of the imam, so leading prayers in the mosque, is for men only.

This is because of the traditional role of women.

If women are exempt from attending mosque, that seems to contradict the idea that an imam should be at mosque for all prayers, especially the Jumu'ah prayer on a Friday at midday.

For men, Jumu'ah prayer on a Friday is obligatory.

So they have to go to mosque Friday midday to attend Jumu'ah prayer.

Of course, women are exempt from that too, 'cause they would be seen to be at home looking after the children, looking after the family.

And therefore if the imam on the Jumu'ah prayer on a Friday is expected also to lead a sermon, then many Muslims feel that that contradicts the idea that a woman would become an imam.

However, there have been a large number of Muslims perhaps changing their views slightly and believing that women can lead prayers.

So for example, Amina Wadud led Friday prayers in New York in 2005.

So she was actually allowed to lead the Jumu'ah prayer.

And she essentially is well-known for her interpretation of the Qur'an and writing books about her interpretations of the Qur'an.

So she is a woman scholar but also has been allowed to lead Friday prayers in New York.

So essentially worship is still very important and that is something that people still be judged on, whether they're male or female, but the traditional roles of men and women means that you will probably not find many, if any, women imams. What we're going to do now is we're going to pause and I'm going to ask you some questions based on what we've just looked at.

You're going to write these things down so that we've got a nice explanation of the roles of women in worship in Islam.

So I'm going to disappear.

So I want you to answer the following questions.

Spend about five minutes on this.

We're going to bring everything that we've just learned together.

So what are women exempt from doing with regards to worship and why? What do most Muslims believe a woman cannot do with regards to worship? Who is an example of a woman leading worship in Islam? If you need to go back at all in the video to answer these questions absolutely fine.

What I'd like you to do please is to pause now, spend about five minutes on this, and then I want you to use the sentence starters and then unpause when you are ready to look at corrections.

Okay, if you can see this screen, I'm going to assume that you are ready for corrections.

Please have a different coloured pen out ready for corrections if you are ready.

If you're not quite finished, then you can rewind the video, carry on with your questions, then come back to me when you are ready.

Let's look at the answers.

So women are exempt from attending praise in a mosque, including Jumu'ah prayers on a Friday.

This is because of a woman's traditional role of caring for the home and the family.

Many Muslims believe a woman cannot be an imam and lead praise in a mosque.

This is because they are exempt from attending mosque for prayers because of their responsibilities at home and leading Friday prayers at mosque is necessary for an imam.

And an example of a woman leading worship in Islam is Amina Wadud who in 2005 led Friday prayers in a mosque in New York.

If you need to make any corrections, can you please do that now by pausing the video then unpause when we are ready to move on to the next section.

Okay, I'm just going to bring my screen back up.

Okay, so what we're going to look at now is the treatment of women within Islam.

So according to the teachings of Islam, men and women are equal in value.

Remember my pens example? Different, but equal in value.

So different, but they're still equal in value.

So according to the teachings of Islam, many Muslims would therefore believe men and women are equal in value.

In some Muslim societies, there are a number of restrictions on the rights of women, which has been sort of a matter of controversy.

So for example, in some countries, women cannot leave the house unchaperoned, so without a male chaperone.

They might attend separate schools so have separate schools for boys and girls.

And in some countries, there are female only shopping centres.

In 2017, the ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia was actually lifted.

So until 2017, women were not allowed to drive.

Many in this situation in these countries where this happens, many would argue this is to protect women.

And the idea that her having a chaperone is for her safety.

Separate schools so they can focus on their studies and not be distracted by each other.

Female only shopping centres means a woman is safe when she is shopping.

And it's all done to protect.

Many Muslims would also argue that this is more cultural and not something confirmed in the teachings of Islam.

It's actually a really complex matter.

Some people would say that there is teachings or that are teachings within the Qur'an which seem to suggest that women should be cared for, protected, that men have authority.

But also many Muslims would believe that culture has essentially got a very, very big influence on the treatment of women.

Many people would condemn some of these things that happen here and saying that they're too restrictive of women, taking away her rights.

And some countries would say that this needs to change.

But other people might argue that this is done for women's safety and it's the right thing to do.

It's a very, very complex issue.

And perhaps more than just saying it's just based on the teachings of Islam, we can say there's a great, many different influences into why we see this treatment of women in these of types of countries.

When the driving ban was lifted in Saudi Arabia, they even opened up women driving schools and they had a large number of women take up these lessons for driving.

So it obviously had a big impact on society and that many women wanted to learn to drive.

And so it's really, we're not going to sort of pass judgement on whether or not we think this is the right treatment of women or not, because of course many people believe it's there to protect women.

And many people believe that it's perhaps would be the wrong thing to do and too restrictive.

And perhaps maybe we have to be really, really aware when we discuss things like this, that these things aren't always as easy as just saying it's because of this religious teaching or that religious teaching or because it's just cultural, not religious.

There's a huge mix of things which result in laws being passed.

So yes, although Saudi Arabia is a country that is based on Islamic law, we may also argue that there's also a different idea of a culture out there than perhaps maybe in some other Islamic countries.

So what we're going to do now are some multiple choice quickfire questions based on what we've just looked at.

So you should hopefully know what these are by now.

Let's get started on them.

Most Muslims believe men and women are equal.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one.

Good, that is true.

Most Muslims believe that men and women are equal in value.

Muslim societies always treat women equally to men.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one.

False, so Muslim societies, we can see that some are quite restrictive of women's rights and therefore don't have equal treatment to men.

In some of Muslim societies, women cannot leave the house unless they're chaperoned.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one.

Yes, that is true.

In some Muslim societies, that is the case.

Women are not allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one.

That's false.

Women are now allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia.

All Muslims believe the restrictions on women's rights are supported by the teachings of Islam.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one.

That's false.

So many Muslims might say there are some basis in scripture, but not all Muslims would say they're completely supported by the teachings of Islam.

Many Muslims believe the treatment of women in countries, such as Saudi Arabia, is based more on cultural views.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one.

Yes, that's true.

So many Muslims believe that there is an influence of culture as well as religion in the way that women are treated in places like Saudi Arabia.

Well done if you got all of those answers correct.

It's just a way of just recapping what we've done so far.

What we're now going to do is move on to looking at the views all about hijab and face coverings within Islam.

Now we're going to look at what is hijab and what is the view on face coverings in Islam? Now you may have come across the term hijab before.

It's actually something that I think is often discussed about Islam, whether it's in school or perhaps maybe it's the wider context, but hijab, face coverings within Islam I think is often a topic of discussion.

Now the word hijab in Arabic means barrier or partition.

So it doesn't actually refer to an actual physical face covering, as many people believe, but essentially just means barrier or partition and that sort of is in between something.

More broadly, though, it refers to this idea of modesty in terms of behaviour.

So behaving modestly, but also with dress.

So what do we mean by modesty, first? Well, you might think that's slightly confusing.

What do we mean by that? Modesty is essentially being modest and being covered correctly in terms of dress.

So for example, it wouldn't be modest of me if I was teaching you in like a tiny crop top, because you wouldn't expect a teacher to wear that sort of dress.

You'd expect teachers to look quite professional, don't you? So it's very hard actually to define the word modesty.

It's better to give examples.

But what I'm wearing now is modest.

When I'm teaching, I've got my shoulders covered or I have got the rest of me covered.

You can't see the rest of me but if I was standing up, I was wearing trousers, et cetera.

So I've got things, parts of me covered that you'd expect to be covered if I'm trying to be professional in teaching.

Now when we talk about it within Islam, modesty, the Qur'an speaks of modesty for both men and women.

Often the assumption is that this idea of face coverings and being modest, et cetera, applies only to women, but the Qur'an actually addresses that both men and women need to be modest.

So to men, it says, "Tell the believing men to reduce some of their vision and guard their private parts." Essentially means is like reducing some of their vision means to not look inappropriately at the other sex.

And then to women, it says, "Tell the believing women to reduce some of their vision and guard their private parts and not expose their adornment, except that which necessarily appears thereof and to wrap a portion of the headcovers around their chest." So in Muhammad's time, face coverings and head coverings would have usually covered the hair with the face on show and then over the neck and the chest.

So you would have had like a cloth across here that also then wraps around the head.

So in Muhammad's time, this is sort of common and there are lots of different interpretations of what these two passages actually mean about what should be covered.

As you can see here, it doesn't say, apart from the bit about women's showing that their head covers and their chest, it doesn't actually specifically say what women or men should cover, but just says that they need to guard their modesty.

So this has led to quite a few different interpretations within Islamic schools about what modesty actually means, how that should be interpreted, and therefore what should be covered.

Some will believe a covering should include the head, the neck, and the chest, which is called a hijab.

This is probably one that you will be most familiar with, where the woman will have her neck and her chest and her hair covered and have like this part of her face on show.

Some will interpret this to mean that women should only show what is necessary for day-to-day tasks, such as hands, face, and feet.

So it'll often have sort of like I do now sleeves up to here.

They'll often have their face covered, their hair covered with their face on show, and then something all the way down to their feet.

So just their feet are on show.

And that's the idea that those are the necessary things that you need for day-to-day tasks, eyes, hands, and feet.

Some people believe that that applies to men as well.

So men would have to have everything from chest to knees covered.

So you might see many men wearing sort of like a full, I don't know what you'd call it really, a full covering on their bodies.

Many believe though, a woman should be covered when she's in front of unrelated men.

So many people who wear these, many women who wear these face coverings or coverings from only showing their hands, their face, and their feet, they believe that that should be in front of unrelated men and when they're out and about.

Many people believe that it's okay to remove that in front of related women or related men, so her husband, for example.

Some though would say that, as long as a woman remains modest, a head or a face covering is not needed.

So especially in Western societies, you might find many Muslim women not wearing a face covering believing that as long as she is modest then a face covering is not needed.

I went to a university in which there was a vast different sort of demographic.

So I knew Muslims and Sikhs and Jews, et cetera.

And I had, I knew someone on my course who was Muslim and she didn't wear a face covering.

Yet, I had another person on my course who was Muslim who did wear a face covering and discussions with them were very interesting.

As they said, they had different interpretations of what modesty meant.

So the girl who didn't wear her face covering would always have long sleeves and wear trousers, which covered all the way down to her feet and would often wear closed in shoes and just said that that to her was modest.

Whereas the other girl who did wear a face covering believed it was modest for her to cover her hair and therefore wore the same sort of outfits as I was wearing, so like a top, cardigan, and jeans, but would also wear her face covering.

Some people would say that face coverings is more of a cultural thing than a religious thing.

So this is sort of quite a complex issue.

Saying that a face covering is required in Islam is perhaps maybe what some Muslims would believe, but other Muslims would believe that it's not required and it's not clear in the Qur'an that you should be wearing a face covering.

And so therefore many believe that it's more of a cultural idea than religious idea.

As we say, it's very complex.

There are lots of different views, lots of different interpretations in Islamic schools.

What is just really helpful to know for you is that for a vast number of women, this will be a choice.

It won't be something that you're forced into.

There may be some cases where a woman is forced into wearing face covering, but for a large number of women within Islam, a face covering, whether it's a burqa, hijab, niqab, will be a choice, what she feels that she wants to do in terms of being modest.

And it may be that her family prefer a certain type of face covering, as well.

So it could be personal choice.

So very interesting to look at sort of the different views behind hijab, niqab, burka 'cause I think it's something we don't often talk about when we learn Islam.

So I'm just going to give you sort of a couple of examples of what face coverings look like, just so perhaps maybe put some of the thoughts you had in your mind to some pictures.

So this is an example of a hijab.

You can see that she's got her neck, her shoulders covered, and also her hair.

So just her face is on show.

This is perhaps maybe the most common example of a face covering you may see within Islam in the UK.

It is perhaps maybe one of the most common face coverings, definitely in the UK.

You might also see women wearing the niqab.

This is the example we said earlier, where they've only got what they need to have necessary on show, so eyes, hands and feet.

You see this a lot in Islamic countries.

You do also see it in the UK.

Now, of course, as well, we can talk about this being a personal choice.

And again, we can say that some women might choose to wear the niqab or choose to wear the hijab and some may choose to wear the burka.

I don't have a picture of this, but this is perhaps where they've got the face covering but instead of having the eyes on the show, there might be a full veil with only mesh so that she can see through.

It's also important to note.

There are lots of different face coverings in other religions too.

And lots of other faith will either require or have as an option for women to wear a head covering or hair covering as a woman.

So, for example, in some Orthodox churches in Christianity, you have to wear a hair covering head covering when you enter into a church.

The same within Sikhism when you enter into a gurdwara some of them require you to cover your hair.

So this is not just something that is unique to Islam.

What we're going to do now is move onto some questions, just to bring this all together and to test our understanding.

Okay, what I'd like you to do then is to answer the following questions, spending about five minutes on this.

In Arabic, hijab means face covering.

True or false because.

The Qur'an only talked about modesty when it comes to women.

True or false because.

Not all Muslims would agree on the use of face coverings.

True or false because.

An example of a face covering in Islam is.

This is where the blank is covered.

So essentially what you need to do is to answer the following questions, to copy out the questions, complete them, write in full sentences, work your hardest.

You can do it.

So pause now, five minutes, unpause when you are finished and ready for corrections.

Okay, if you can see this screen, I'm assuming then you already for corrections again.

Please have your different coloured pen out ready for corrections and we're going to go through the answers.

So in Arabic, hijab means face covering.

It's false because the word hijab is translated to mean partition or barrier.

The Qur'an only talks about modesty when it comes to women is false because the Qur'an references modesty for both men and women.

Not all Muslims will agree on the use of face coverings is true because many different Islamic schools will believe modesty refers to different parts of the body being covered but that in general men and women should be modest in dress.

And an example of a face covering Islam is the niqab.

This is where the whole face is veiled with only the eyes on show.

If you need to make any corrections, please pause the video and do so now and then unpause it when you are done.

Okay, I want to say a huge thank you for taking part in the lesson today.

You've worked so, so hard.

I hope you've really enjoyed our lesson today.

And I hope to see you again soon for another lesson.

Goodbye.