eyear 405 of the Hejira he decided to act, ordering Egyptian women to be shut in. In thatyear al-Hakim forbade women to leave their houses at all; he forbade them to go to thepublic baths and put an end to the manufacture of shoes for women. many opposed hisorders and were killed.8The caliph al-Muqtadi, the twenty eighth ruler of the Abbasid dynasty, exiled womensingers and women of ill fame from the city. Their houses were sold and theythemselves sent into exile....Sailors were forbidden to transport men and womentogether.9Today the view is just as pervasive as it was in the past. One leader of the 1992Algerian Fundamentalist movement named Shaykh 'Abbas Madani said in a speech thatwine and women were at the bottom of his country's problems:Our religion enjoins us to take counsel. The Prophet, may health be his, said: "Religionis counsel".... So we have tried in all circumstances to consult with our brothers, to worktogether for the well-being of this community and this country....We have seen moralcalamities that have no connection with religion or with the traditions of the Algerian. Consumption of wine has become legal; mixing of the sexes in schools, lycees, anduniversities has led to the proliferation of bastards. Depravity has spread, and we seethat women no longer cover themselves but display their bodies with makeup and nakedfor all to see both indoors and outdoors. Where then is the dignity of the Algerian manafter his honor has been publicly flouted?10Many other complex ideas and customs exist that all undermine the equivocalparticipation of women in Islamic societies. The attitudes that exist towards marriage inIslamic countries contribute to the suppression of women. From the time that a baby girlis born into Islamic society, the parents begin to arrange her marriage. They go about itwith the same way that someone would negotiate a business transaction. Many marriagesare purely practical and are arranged with t...
