What is wrong with modern feminism?

What is feminism and why is it controversial?

Feminism is a highly ambiguous term. Wikipedia defines it as “a range of social movements, political movements, and ideologies that share a common goal, i.e. to define, establish, and achieve the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes.” Feminism seems to be calling towards liberation, but in fact, it calls towards gender privilege masquerading as equality. In essence, feminism denies the human reality and is not a cause for justice.

Feminists advocate that women have traditionally been dehumanised by a male dominated society, which they call the patriarchy; and that it has always been better to be a man. But this one-sided claim rejects the privileges that women have often enjoyed simply for being women. This privilege is not appreciated by feminists, because privilege is invisible to those who have it.

Virtually all species, from bees to primates have different gender roles, with different biological abilities across the sexes. Yet feminists insist that any gender difference between humans is invented and there is nothing biological about men or women that should inform their social roles. Scientific studies have clearly demonstrated, however, the role of testosterone in building muscle, in increasing competitiveness, confidence and risk taking – making men better suited to the more hazardous and competitive roles of society. Because of testosterone, men naturally tend to be faster, bigger, possess more stamina and are physically stronger. So, teaching a girl that she can naturally compete equally with men in everything is misleading.

How modern feminism fails women

A fair, objective look at the statistics reveals a deeper complexity of the topic:

1. 10.4 million families in America are headed by single mothers who are the sole providers for their families, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
2. More than one million children are killed by abortion every year in America., according to the Centers for Disease Control.
3. 683,000 women annually are subjected to rape in America, at a rate of seventy-eight women per hour, as stated by the U.S. Department of Justice.
4. 1,320 women are killed annually, meaning that approximately four women are killed every day, by their husbands or boyfriends in America.
5. Approximately three million women every year in America are subject to physical abuse from a husband or boyfriend, according to the official government website of the State of New Jersey.
6. 22.1% of women in America are subjected to physical abuse by a husband or boyfriend (current or former), according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
7. A report issued by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics confirms that most women in the West work in low-wage and low status jobs, and despite the pressure that the government exerts to improve women’s jobs, 97% of higher leadership positions in most companies are occupied by men.
8. 78% of women in the armed forces are subjected to sexual harassment from military employees.
9. Approximately fifty thousand women and girls are trafficked into America every year, where they are enslaved and forced into prostitution, according to the New York Times.
10. Exploitation of women’s bodies in various permissive ways is an industry that brings in twelve billion dollars annually in America alone, according to a report on Reuters.
11. According to a study carried out in fourteen countries, it was shown that 42% of British people admit having illicit relationships with more than one person at the same time, whilst half of Americans have illicit relationships. The rate in Italy is 38% and in France it is 36%, according to the BBC.

There is an almost endless list of dark, hidden pages which speak of the situation of women in materialistic Western civilisation, all of which have been documented on official Western websites which constitute trustworthy and reliable sources for such statistics.

The twisted feminist agenda of secular governments

The system that exists in Western secular countries is a liberal system. It pushes and promotes liberalism, which is maximizing personal liberty, freedom and equality. In other words, worshipping the self; being completely consumed with the individual at the expense of all else. Everything in a secular, liberal society revolves around the individual and the individual alone. The system is designed to force all individuals into a specific, predetermined path: wage slavery - the dual-income family, where both husband and wife must work in order to just make ends meet. In the past, the system was structured in such a manner that a family could survive and live well on just the income of the father, while the mother stayed home with the children. The system has shifted in the direction of the two-income family, forcing both the father and the mother out of the home, for work.

But what about the children? Mass schooling institutions. But what about the babies that are too young to go to school? Mass childcare institutions. But what about the elderly who are too old to continue working as wage slaves? Mass elder-care institutions. Everyone is institutionalized. Men are separated from their women, and parents are separated from their children. The natural ties between people are severed. The organic bonds are broken. The normal relationships that are supposed to exist between human beings are destroyed.

One example of this bond-breaking is the separation of a mother and her infant child. In nature, within the animal world and all traditional human societies across time and space, mother and infant have always remained together. Being away from the mother is not natural, especially at such a tender age. This separation of a mother and her baby is unbelievably harsh, and it is extremely taxing on both the mom and the baby. It conflicts starkly with the natures of both, mom and baby, and it thus disrupts the deepest needs of both.

This is often neither the fault of the mother nor any specific person. The poor mother is often (though, not always) forced, by necessity, to leave her baby at a daycare with strangers while she goes off to work. She often has no choice. Single mothers are prevalent, especially in a society in which Zina (fornication) is rampant, normalized, un-shamed and, in fact, actively encouraged by society and even by parents. Individualism is pushed as something all-important.

What is the result of all of these “rights,” hyper-focused on only the individual and their own momentary pleasures? The rights of all others are ignored and violated. Children suffer and are abandoned. Marriages suffer and die. Nuclear families suffer and break down. Extended family suffers and dissolves. Kinship ties break. The community is disjointed. Society weakens. Civilizations collapse.

Governments push feminism through mass-media and through their agencies, such as the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency). They utilize people like Gloria Steinem (American journalist and social activist) to push their agendas, playing the long game. More specifically, because mothers become too busy at work, their children will go to daycare as early as possible (even before 6 months old). In this way, these children become institutionalized early so that they can be indoctrinated with the ideologies that the government wants to push on them, which makes them easy to control in society later on in life.

Islam: a natural solution to gender justice

Allah has honoured women greatly. He honours them as daughters, mothers and wives, and gives them rights and virtues, and enjoins good treatment in ways that are not shared by men in many cases. Islam does not deny women's humanity. Rather it gives her her rights and holds her in high esteem. For example, before Islam, women were not allowed to inherit, let alone the fact that they could be buried alive, and many other things. Then Islam came and forbade burying females alive; it regarded that as murder, which is a major sin. Islam gave women their share of inheritance, it allowed women to buy, sell and own property, and encouraged them to seek knowledge and call people to Allah. It commanded that women should be honoured as wives and as mothers, and made the mother’s rights three times greater than those of the father. And there are many other ways in which Islam honoured women.

Islam has an entirely different system — an elegant, refined system that has a delicate balance between the rights of all people: the individual, the family, children, parents, the community and society. The most important, most fundamental rights of each party are safely secured so that no one suffers; and so that human nature is upheld and the fitrah (natural innate disposition) is maintained. The dignity of children, mothers, fathers and the elderly is assured. Their needs are respected.

Allah tells us in the Quran:

O humanity! Be mindful of your Lord Who created you from a single soul, and from it He created its mate, and through both He spread countless men and women. And be mindful of Allah—in Whose Name you appeal to one another—and ˹honour˺ family ties. Surely Allah is ever Watchful over you.

Quran - 4:1

(interpretation of the meaning)

Islam is the system that meets all human needs; fulfills all the natural rights of all people; and organizes society in a way that beautifully aligns with our inherent human nature and does not destroy it. Islam governs the way we interact with our children, our parents, our siblings, our neighbors, friends and even strangers. Islam deepens our intuitive love for our loved ones and nurtures our organic human relationships. How?

With mechanisms built into our religion, such as gender roles (where the husband has financial obligations and the wife is free to be a mother at home with her children); with “birr al-walidayn” (excellence towards parents), which ensures respect for parents from their children; with “silat al-rahim” (maintaining the ties of kinship), which assures the safety net and support network of extended family and relatives and also maintains ancestry. In an Islamic system, it would be exceedingly rare for a mother to be separated from her baby six weeks after she gives birth. Both the mother and tender child are saved from the agony of being an unnatural distance apart from one another. In the Western secular system, however, this mother-baby separation is basically the norm.

Islam recognizes and accommodates for the subtle differences between men and women because the One who sent Islam is also the One who created men and women with their vast array of similarities and differences. Given these variances between the sexes, in actuality, mirror equality would be oppressive because it would force one sex to bend to the standards that apply to the other sex.

If feminists acknowledge that the sexes are different and therefore women should be treated “equitably” as opposed to “equally” and there is room for variances in law to account for said differences, then where do we draw the line? Every instance of different treatment could be chalked up to different nature/creation of the sexes. Every difference in gender role could be attributed to and explained away by reference to difference in nature/creation between the sexes.

Why should women be primarily socialized to take on maternal caretaker roles as opposed to men, who should be socialized for bread-winning roles? Difference in nature. Why should women dress a certain way as distinct from men? Difference in nature. Why should women be barred from becoming imams (religious leaders) while men fill that role? Difference in nature. Why should the role of khalifa (caliph) and state leadership be reserved for men and not women? Difference in nature.

All gender differences can be rationalized in this way, which is a nightmare for feminist philosophy. So to avoid it, feminists have to insist on mirror equality, but that also causes conflicts and incoherence, as we saw. This is one among many of the conceptual problems that plagues feminist thought, but Islam and the Sharia are completely free of these problems. Allah has given each of us a different position and place in society and in our families, and He will judge us according to our taqwa (consciousness of God), not according to our wealth, our status, our leadership, our position, or any of the other criteria feminism is obsessed with.

The misunderstanding of Islam and women’s rights

Misunderstandings related to Islam appear to stem first of all from a lack of knowledge (ignorance) of the status of women in Islamic teachings, the high esteem in which woman is held in Islam, the recognition of her rights, how Islam protects her dignity and instructs men to treat women kindly and not to mistreat them. People may be looking at some Muslim societies which may go against the teachings of Islam and mistreat and oppress women. Islam has nothing to do with that; rather these are mistakes and the responsibility for them rests with the one who does that and he is the one who will be brought to account for it. Such things should not be attributed to Islam.

Secondly, misunderstandings also appear from not looking at the real situation in society in the light of official numbers and precise statistics which describe what women are going through in those secular societies, and from being deceived by some apparent freedoms for women. We should point our attention to the international acknowledgement of incidents of sexual harassment, rape and appalling sexual exploitation, news of which has reached everywhere and people everywhere talk about it, to the extent that there are reports that half of British women have faced sexual harassment of different types, according to the BBC. Similarly in France, 100% of female public transport users have experienced harassment or sexual aggression at one time or another according to the High Council for equality between men and women (HCEfh).

With the onset of Islam and its special teachings, the life of women entered into a new phase – a phase which differed vastly from the previous one and became one in which women availed of all kinds of individual, social and human rights. The basis of Islamic teachings with respect to women is exactly what we read in the Noble Quran. Allah says in the Quran:

Whoever does good, whether male or female, and is a believer, We will surely bless them with a good life, and We will certainly reward them according to the best of their deeds.

Quran - 16:97

(interpretation of the meaning)

Islam considers a woman, like man, to be completely free and independent. It declares this freedom to be for all people, men and women. Allah mentions in the Quran:

Whoever does good, it is to their own benefit. And whoever does evil, it is to their own loss. Your Lord is never unjust to ˹His˺ creation.

Quran - 41:46

(interpretation of the meaning)

Marriage is the bedrock of family life and the fundamental unit of Islamic society, giving us rights and duties to one another. Allah says in the Quran:

And one of His signs is that He created for you spouses from among yourselves so that you may find comfort in them. And He has placed between you compassion and mercy. Surely in this are signs for people who reflect.

Quran - 30:21

(interpretation of the meaning)

In marriage, men are entrusted with the task of being responsible for women, to take care of them, to guide them in the best possible way, and to issue commands and prohibitions. Allah says in the Quran:

Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has made one of them to excel the other, and because they spend (to support them) from their means. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient (to Allah and to their husbands), and guard in the husband’s absence what Allah orders them to guard (e.g. their chastity and their husband’s property) ...

Quran - 4:34

(interpretation of the meaning)

As a mother, the woman is given preference for respect from her children over their father. Such is the esteemed role she plays as the heart and soul of the family and, by extension, society. It was narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said:

A man came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ (peace be upon him) and said: O Messenger of Allah, which of the people is most deserving of my good companionship? He said: “Your mother, then your mother, then your mother, then your father.”

Sahih Muslim, 2548

In short, Islam regards a woman as a fundamental element of the society and thus, she should not be treated as an entity that is lacking in will.

The Islamic system is not based on selfish individualism. In Islam, women do not serve men, nor do men serve women. Rather, we serve Allah by helping each other and giving to each other based on human needs, with the understanding that humans are not all the same. Islam provides a clear, natural and just solution to ensuring justice for all humans, and has no need for feminism’s vain attempts to reinvent the wheel that Islam set in motion over 1400 years ago.