Reflections from the Ahkaam: Women's affairs

As for those situations for which they can testify individually, an example is the midwife’s testimony regarding the child’s inception as long as she is reliable and trustworthy. Another example is their testimony regarding those things related to a free woman and slave woman that only women can act as witnesses for, such as any defect in their private parts that may deter a slave woman from being sold or bought. Examples include a prominent bone in her privates (al-qarn), a closed-up vagina (ar-rataq), rounded breasts (al-falak) and other female medical issues. If the women who act as witnesses to such are just, upright, truthful, pure and trustworthy—one can adjudicate based on their testimonies because they relate to those matters for which no one else can testify.

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful...

This passage from the Ahkaam of Imam al-Haadi, upon him be peace, appears in the testimony section of the book. The aspect that I would like to deal with is not necessarily what is directly stated, but more so what is indirectly stated. Obviously, this portion of the text covers the acceptance of testimonies from women regarding those matters in which women are knowledgeable and related. However, I think an aspect to discuss is more so the implications of this particular passage.   

The implication is more so that those affairs of women related specifically to women's reproductive and overall health is a matter that is designated in the women's sphere. By that, I mean that it is unfortunate that the male dominated paradigm of medical care and treatment has infiltrated society to the point that the European male is seen as the standard in terms of medical healthcare treatments and research. Those who are familiar with the medical field know that much of what we know regarding healthcare is based on a European, male model and doesn't take into account differences in physiology, culture, and anatomy. However, in the traditional Muslim world, those aspects of feminine health have always been relegated to the women in the community. That is to say that models of healthcare in the traditional Muslim world, have always been regulated, researched and governed by women. The preponderance of midwifery in the traditional Muslim world testifies to this fact. However, the sentiment has since changed due to colonisation, imperialism and other factors that have led to the removal of women from the feminine sphere and have been replaced by templates and models designed by and for European men. 

It is for that reason that I call for a renewed sense of priority and importance for feminine healthcare to return to the gentle hands of female practitioners--not those only educated in European, male dominated healthcare models, but those who have taken into account the uniqueness of the feminine. The cold image of a doctor with forceps should be replaced with that of a familiar feminine face who acts as a midwife to deliver the children of the community as well as an auntie after the birth.

In the traditional Islamic standard, righteous women who have a stake in the community are those who act as the advisors, aunties, midwives and any other roles they are to assume. These communal wise women are consulted even by men when it comes to the healthcare of the women in the community. It is for this reason that--according to Islamic Law--a lone woman's testimony was enough regarding stillbirths, milk relations, birth and genital defects and so forth. This would also entail that those legal judgements based on these, such as laws of inheritance and marriage, would be determined by these testimonies.