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To: alt.sufi,alt.islam.sufism,alt.religion.islam,talk.religion.misc,alt.magick.tyagi From: tyagi@arkaotika.abyss.com (tyaginator) Subject: PKatalikkiren: Islam liberated women Date: 27 Mar 1999 02:49:20 -0800 [from tariqas@world.std.com: Penkalai Katalikkiren] Will Durant, in the Story of Civilization, after studying all the available archaeological evidence, wrote that slavery always followed the subjugation of women, and may actually have been caused by it. (The same has been said about the subjugation of women in Islam developing at same time as extensive slavery. The Prophet Muhammad not only encouraged the freeing of slaves, he raised women's status and gave them their rights. His friends accused him of being ruled by his wives!) Patriarchal Christianity in the early Middle Ages condemned women as inferior and the cause of sin, and enforced the most repressive rules ever. How they could have done this in the name of the gentle prophet Jesus Christ is beyond understanding. It was only when the benign influence of Islam and Sufism began to make itself felt in Europe that Christendom began to ease up on its misogyny. The Sufis honored women because of their high spiritual significance. The Qur'an teaches sacred sex in a couple of verses, and the Sufis developed the mysticism of Divine Love growing out of human eros. For example, Ibn `Arabi's mystical erotic poetry in the Tarjuman al-Ashwaq, and his exposition of sacred sex in the Fusus al-Hikam. The High Middle Ages of Europe arose from contact with Islamic civilization. Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122-1204) was a key figure in this (and according to Idries Shah she was descended from Prophet Muhammad). At her Court of Love at Poitiers, she was a great patroness of the arts and encouraged the troubadors who sang of courtly love, i.e. spiritualized eros, which came from Sufism. She promoted the idea that real men loved and honored women, rather than fighting feudal wars or becoming monks. After this, Western civilization began to soften toward women, and the veneration of Mary came to the forefront. However, sacred sex had to remain underground in Christianity and could only be detected in the veiled, symbolic language of the poets and the alchemists. The French troubador Pierre Vidal said in one of his poems: "I think I see God when I look on my lady nude." He was burned at the stake. The West may feel proud for thinking it invented "Women's Liberation" in the recent past, but considering the extreme misogyny of early Christianity, how could that have come about? The first raise of Western women's status came from Islam, especially Sufism. That was the basis for all subsequent women's liberation. Will Islam ever be able to regain its original role of honoring and empowering women? == penkalai katalikkiren EOF
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