In Muslim religious scholarship, the Arabic term fitna is used to provide underlaying legal

rationale (ʿilla) for broad restrictions on women’s active role in the society in modern times. It has
played an important role in legal reasoning on women related issues in conservative societies such
as Saudi Arabia in recent times. In this scholarship, the sexuality of women is theorized and as
imagined as a source of socio-moral chaos (fitna), which is a constant threat to the social order.
This conception of women’s sexuality is based on several custom–based assumptions regarding
what they consider as the ‘inherent’ nature of female and male. The foundation of this
understanding is based on the premise that the women’s attraction to men and their looseness can
bring disastrous consequences for the society. The obsession with this concept can be seen in
religious rulings such as women’s attendance in mosques, women’s listing to male recitation of
Quran, women’s greeting to men and even the color of women’s clothing is conditioned with this
concept. In this paper after briefly illustrating the concept of fitna, I argue that obsessive use of
fitna to regulate the gender relations in Muslim society is absent from classical scholarship of Islam
as well as from the early Islamic societies. The careful analysis of classical Islamic tradition, early
Islamic society suggests that most of the regulations were linked to defending the social status and
honor of the family.

According to Abd al-Qāhir al-Jurjānī (d. 1078), the primary meaning of Fitna is “putting to the
proof, discriminatory test”, as gold is tested by fire.1 Therefore, the idea of fitna is used by God to
test the faith of the believers and even the faith of the prophets. The Qur’an says that every human
being or community, regardless of their religion, will be put to the test as part of their human
experience. As Quran says, “He created death and life to test you, and reveal which of you does
best” (Q. 67:2). In the Qur’an the term fitna is used to mean ‘test’ ‘trial’, ‘temptation’, ‘sedition’
or ‘persecution’. The term fitna occurs thirty times in Quran and nowhere in Quran its explicitly
related to the sexual temptation. However, fitna is used for sexual temptation and other meanings
such as ‘civil war’, ‘revolt’, ‘affliction’ and ‘distress’ in legal Muslim tradition.

This concept of women sexuality as the threat for society is stems from the principle that
“the prohibition to look at a woman stems from the fear of temptation (al-aslu an la yajuz al-nazar
ila al-marªa lima fihi min khawf al-fitna).2 This and other similar explanation which can be found

1
Alī b. Muhammad al-Sharif al-Jurjāni, Kitāb al-Ta'rifat (Beirut: Maktaba Lebanon, 1985) P: 138.
2
Uthman bin Ali Zayla'i, Tabayin al-Haqa’iq li Sharh Kanz al-Daqa’iq (Beirut, 2000), vol. 7, P: 39.
in Islamic scholarship suggests that Muslims jurists supposed that modesty regulation for women
are required to make sure that people do not accede to temptation thus bringing the moral disorder
to the society. A prominent modern Islamic scholar Al-Maududī (d. 1979) while providing his
rationale for women’s confinement to their homes argues that women’s body is source of fitna for
a pious society.an unveiled women in the street is visual sin inexorably provoking sexual strom in
men. According to him, women’s voice, smell, not to speak of gaze is fitna.3
This idea of fitna constructed another conception of women’s superior sexual desire
(shahvat). To compensate her sexual desire there is a need for it with higher levels of modesty.
Modern Muslim academics also adopted this rationale and used it to illustrate that Muslim
jurists made laws based on this concept to contain and control women’s aggressive sexuality.
Fatima Mernissi claims, that In Muslim scholarship, the Muslim women is endowed with fatal
attraction which erodes the male’s will to resist her and therefore, through these regulations based
of the concept of fitna Muslim jurists attempted to civilized women’s sexuality.4
This discourse that women are fitna did not find any foundation in the Quran, however, it did
find its expression in the ḥadīth literature. For example, Al-Bukhārī (d. 870) narrates a report of the
prophet that he said,
“I have not left behind me any fitnah (temptation) more harmful to men than
women.”5

And Muslim (d. 875) narrates

“The life of this world is sweet and green, and verily Allah has appointed you as His
vicegerents in it so that He may see how you act. So, beware of the world and beware
of women. For certainly, the first trial (awwal fitna) of Banu Isrā‘īl was through
women.”6

However, the concept of fitna did not dominate the regulations regarding women in classical
Islamic jurist tradition. This discourse of women as fitna emerged only after the forth century
AH. After forth century Muslim scholars started to link their justifications for gender
segregation, seclusion of women and veiling to social morality.
Prior to that the basic premise for modesty regulations was to protect the social image and public
reputation of women. Imperative to mention that the reputation of a person and his/her family in an
early Islamic society played a crucial role in determining his/her social relations as well as impacted
his/her economic relations within the community. This further also affected his/her loyalty as well as

3
Maududi, Syed Abul Ala, Purdah. (Lahore: Markazi Maktaba Islami, 1953) P: 234.
4
Fatima Mernissi, Beyond the Veil: Male-Female Dynamics in Modern Muslim Society, (Indiana University Press,
1987) P : 41-45.
5
Muhammad ibn Isma’il al-Bukhari and, Sahih Al-Bukhari (’Ali Subeih, 1958) H: 419.
6
Muslim bin Al-Hajjaj and Abu Husaen Abu Husaen, “Sahih Muslim,” (Kitab Bhavan, New Delhi. 2000)H: 2742.
determined their trustworthiness in legal matters such as during trails, etc. Therefore, any damage to
the person’s reputation could potentially outcast him/her as a reputable member of the community.
Therefore, to secure the honor of the family, people ensured that women’s appearance and behavior
does not cause and doubt about her purity. The modestly laws helped to keep the sexuality of women
from social conversation. Therefore, in classic Islamic tradition, the rationale of modesty laws was the
social image and family honor. As Alshech argues

“To associate Islamic modesty regulations from the classical period exclusively with fear of fitna is to
restrict and oversimplify a whole corpus of regulations that addressed multiple concerns.” 7

The early exegetists of Quran did not show any sign that the modesty laws in Quran are there to control
the aggressive sexual desire of women. While interpretation the Ayah which is concern with the women
attire in Quran 33:59

Oh Prophet! Tell your wives and daughters and the believing women that they should
cast their outer garments (jalabibihinna) over their persons; that is most convenient
that they should be recognized and not molested, and God is forgiving, merciful.

The sbāb al-nuzūl (cause of revelation) of this verse was that when people migrated from Mecca to
Madinah, the situation in house was tight so women needed to go out every night to relieve himself.
The ill-reputed men followed them and touched them. ….. These people were in fact targeting slave girls
but could not distinguish at night between free and slave women. The believing women told their
husbands about their nocturnal encounters with the male adulterers and they in turn mentioned it to
the Prophet. As a result, God decreed that free women should place a veil.8

Drawing upon this sbāb al-nuzūl, Foremost exegetists of the Quran, Muqatil (d. 767), Mujahid (d. 722),
Al-Tabari (d. 923) linked the physical covering of women to women’s approachability. According to them
the Quranic regulations were sent by God to differentiate between the free and slave women.9 Mujahid
explains the regulations in attempt to prevent free women from approach of sinful person (fasiq).10 Al-
Tabari explains likewise that these regulations were sent because sinful men harmed the free women
with their offensive talk. This suggest the basic concern of Quranic veiling law, according to early the
exegetists, was to safeguard the reputation of women.

While making the modesty regulation, Muslim jurists were aware of this sabab (link) behind the
Quranic revelation. Therefore, they made laws not just to demonize of subjugate women but to protect
them from the bad talk of sinful persons and to save their reputation. While explaining that how much of
her body a woman can expose in front of a stranger the Muslim jurists only allowed face and palms of
women. The rationale behind this was that the exposer of women risked the social status of the women.
Therefore, they only allowed the exposer of women’s face and palms to strangers because this was

7
Eli Alshech, “Out of Sight and Therefore out of Mind: Early Sunnī Islamic Modesty Regulations and the Creation of
Spheres of Privacy,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 66, no. 4 (2007): 267–290.
8
Muqatil ibn Sulayman, “Tafsir Al-Qur’dn,” Ed.’Abdallah Mahmūd Shihata 5 (n.d.). vol 3 p: 507-8
9
Alshech, “Out of Sight and Therefore out of Mind.”
10
Al-Tabari, Tafsir Al-Tabari (Dar Al-Kutub Al-’Ilmiyya, 1999).vol: 10, P: 332
necessary for conducting daily business. As Al-Ghazzali’ suggests that physical exposure of a women risked
her social status and modesty laws were made to maintain her reputation.11

The fitna (temptation) could be caused by slave girls, or could be between women and women,
man and man and man and women. A man can be seduced by slave girl or by a man, and a woman0 can
be seduced by good looking man, however no men is asked to veil himself to avoid fitna. Muslim jurists
differentiated between the Sitr (dress code) of free women and slave women. the slave women are
allowed to expose more parts then a free woman. Sexual intercourse is forbidden with the slave girl one
does not own legally forbidden. It suggests that the fitna is was not the rationale for seclusion of
women. if it was the slave women would not allow to show her body parts more than free woman.

Imam Malik the founder of Maliki school of thought, allowed to eat food with a woman at a place where
non-kin male are present if its tradition.12 Imam Shafi the founder of shafi school said that in financial
matters the women who come to market and mix with people, and pay for themselves, is better than
those women who are limited to homes. 13If the fitna was his main concern, he would have praised the
women who stays in his home.

The reasoning behind the seclusion of women on the basis of fitna is also problematic. It is
against the basic principle of Islam that no one can be called to answer of for the sins of another.14 Here
Muslim women is suffering of exclusion and limitations because of the men connot contral his disre.
Therefore, Imam Muhammad the compiler of Hanfi school, states that it is men’s responsibility to not to
look at women face not the women. 15

It is also difficult to reconcile the numerous reports of women’s active participation during the
prophet’s time with the rationale of fitna. The prophet racing with his wife in public, Aisha watching sports
in Madinah, women participating in battles in different capacities, asking questions from prophet.

However, later jurists started to link the modesty laws with sexual morality. Therefore, they
expanded the scope of the regulations regarding gender issues.

Conclusion:

11
Abu Hamid Muhammad Al-Ghazali, Al-wasit fi al-madhhab, (London, Turath For Solutions, 2013) vol. 5, p. 37.
12
Mohammed ibn Abd al-Barr, Al-Istidhkâr li Madhhab `Ulamâ' al-Amsâr fîmâ Tadammanahu al-Muwatta' min
Ma`ânî al-Ra'î wal-Athâr (Bruit Dar al-kutub al-ilmiyah, 2018) vol 16, p 343
13
Al Imam Shafi, Kitab-Ul-Um Sharh Muta (Azhar: Maktaba tul Kulyaat.) vol 4 p 460
14
Khaled Abou El Fadl, Speaking in God’s Name: Islamic Law, Authority and Women (Oneworld Publications, 2014).
108
15
Kitab ul asal v 2 236