Religion as an instrument in exploiting women's rights

 Gender issues related to women are the productions of religion, culture, and politics. All these factors have harmed and affected the freedom, rights, and reputation of women over the centuries. Muslim women have been repressed in the name of religion and culture, which stripped them of their individual identities. Religion has manipulated the role and liberation of women. The Moroccan Islamic feminist, Fatima Mernissi has discussed key motifs behind the manipulation and exploitation of women’s gender identity in her works. She also challenges the synthetic laws, which subjugate women in every aspect of life.
The works of the Islamic feminist question the Muslim women’s gender identity and socio-political and cultural organization that restricts females. She provides authentic and solid pieces of evidence to defy the patriarchal societal, cultural, and political laws. Mernissi’s attempt to disentangle the tangled web of rigid patriarchal religious laws against Muslim women, claims Mernissi the advocate of Muslim women's rights.
Mernissi posits historical pieces of evidence from the Quran and Hadiths to question the contemporary system of oppression of women. In her book, Women and Islam: An Historical and Theological Enquiry, she questions political Islam and not authentic Islam (Quran and Hadiths) – the Islam during Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H)’s time. She believes Muslim societies, in the modern day, have exploited and suppressed the role of Muslim women for their interests. Mernissi does not blame authentic Islam but she directly targets the political religion that is created by Muslim men after the demise of the Prophet. Her argument’s main focus unveils the political agenda of men over the centuries that have used and misused Islam for their economic and political interests.
However, her approach in positing solid shreds of evidence to tackle and challenge the oppressed narratives about Muslim women is acknowledged. She has delved deeper into Quran and Hadiths to eradicate the false image of Islam as a rigid and stringent religion in the eyes of the West and Muslim Ummah. She does not rely on generalized, sweeping, and unauthentic references to support her argument just like men did and do. She points out the incident at the grocery shop where a male teacher quoted misogynistic Hadith to defend the oppressing role of men. This scenario is quite common in Pakistani society as well. The male Muslim scholars and mullahs are doing the same. They never appreciate the role of Muslim women in the public domain but instead, they criticize her gender and bombard a plethora of fatal and unauthentic misogynistic Hadiths to subdue her gender.
A similar incident has occurred in Pakistani society back in 2016 when Maulana Mohammad Khan Sherani proposed a bill in favor of domestic abuse. He permits domestic violence that if a wife disobeys her husband for not fulfilling his sexual gratification then he has the right to slightly beat her. He employs Quran and Hadiths as sources to protect his narrative. It upsurges the whole Pakistani nation and questions his interpretation of the Quran. Nevertheless, in the parallel narrative, Elif Shafak dedicates the whole chapter to how to interpret the Quranic verses, in The Forty Rules of Love. She quotes Surah Nisa’s translation where it is mentioned that men have an upper hand and agency over the other gender. She re-interprets the verse by quoting what men want to see and believe they will similarly comprehend the verse. “They take the verses too literally . . . they arrive at the conclusion that men are held superior to women. Because that is exactly what they want to see” (Shafak 174).
Mernissi raises a voice for the silenced voices who have been crushed brutally in the false patriarchal laws that are created in the name of religion. Her main debate revolves around Moroccan society but it reflects the lives of other Muslim women. Her narrative conjoins many Muslim women across the borders. A similar biggest example in Pakistani society is Maulana Sherani’s bill on domestic violence. He employs religion as a tool to politically suppress women in the name of Islam. He defends his actions in the name of the Quran. This kind of mullah has harmed the peaceful image of Islam. They always seek their benefit and interest in the religion, which completely goes against the actual Islamic teachings. Mernissi also objects to this narrative where Muslim women act as a commodity to men. However, in actuality, Islam is the first and only religion that gives recognition and rights to women as human beings equal to men. Some people have misused the harmonious message of Islam for their interests and have created a huge division in the actual Islam and the political religion. Yet, Mernissi has emphasized all these minute issues. She presents a platform for women to have agency and autonomy in their bodies and identity.