Muslim men and women have equal rights to contract marriage as well as to dissolve it based on the precondition of a mutual agreement, which was a concept ahead of its day where contracts were rigorously used as partnership documents.

However, women's rights activist Zaitun Mohamed Kasim said that women today are not even told about this.

"It baffles us that instead of informing and empowering women, some religious personalities will instead 'teach' the husbands how to contract polygamy instead.

"Although equality and mutual consultation are repeatedly found in the Koran again and again we are fed the doctrine that men are more superior and always heading households," she said in her paper entitled "Roles of Muslim women in the family and society: rights and responsibilities".

Zaitun, representing Sisters in Islam, a group of Muslim women professionals promoting women's rights within the framework of Islam, believed the Koran addressed men and women explicitly without discriminating either.

Polygamy verse selfishly misused

She was speaking to more than 70 participants attending a one-day seminar on human rights in Islam organised by Era Consumer Malaysia. The seminar in Dungun, Terengganu, saw representatives from civil society, human rights and women's organisations, and members of PAS and its legal bureau.

She cited Surah Al-Nisa on polygamy, which excerpt goes like this: "if you fear that you will cause the orphans injustice, then marry women of your choice, two, three or four. If you fear that you will not be able to deal justly (with them), ... that will be more likely to prevent you from doing injustice."

In practice, she said, no one noticed the word "orphan" as mentioned in the verse because polygamy in Malaysia was rarely a question of an orphan's care and few men in polygamous marriages could claim to have done it for this purpose.

Zaitun said she was mystified as to why the Koran's recognition of the impossibility of living up fully to these ideals, as stated in the verse "you are never able to do justice between wives even if it is your ardent desire", was rarely quoted.

She said some even claimed to follow the practices of the Prophet when he himself practiced polygamy by marrying elderly widows and divorcees for political and tribal reasons, and the only virgin he had ever married was Aishah.

While divorce was technically available to men and women, in reality it was harder for women due to the prevailing mindset among court officials that they must remain in marriages no matter how dangerous or violent their homes are.

Zaitun said a new Section 55A introduced in 1994 had since led to a three-fold increase of divorces after talaq pronouncements outside court were allowed if the court was satisfied according to Hukum Syara'.

"Yet for women, it seems near impossible to get a fair divorce. There are too many cases of women waiting for years.

"One woman who had acid splashed on her face had to ask her husband to pronounce a talaq because the courts would not allow her to apply for a divorce by revocation ( faskh )."

On women in public life, she said it was not a new thing because many women were cited in Islamic history as having participated in activities ranging from politics to religion, such as Bilqis, the Queen of Sheba, whose rule over a nation was never subtly or directly implied in the Koran as inappropriate for her, or any other woman.

"Her qualities were measured by her capacity to fulfill the requirements of the office, political skills, purity of faith and independent judgement."

Women on top

Zaitun named several other women who were involved in decision-making and advisory roles in Islamic history, like when the Prophet consulted Salma regarding the treaty of Hudaybiya.

"Shifa binte Abdullah was appointed as commercial ombudsman, and given the fact that management of trade affairs used to be entrusted to ombudsmen and that it was a judicial matter, women were consequently entitled to become judges."

She said women were also involved in religious matters such as the transmission of Prophetic reports and the development of legal doctrine among the first generation of Muslims.

"The most prominent was Aishah, who was extensively consulted on her knowledge of the Sunnah."

She said one of the greatest scholars of the Shafi'e school of thought in his time, Imam Zarkashi, had devoted a book dedicated to Aishah's particular contribution in this field entitled "Collection of Aishah's Corrections to the Statements of the Companions".

Another woman of importance was Hafsa (wife of the Prophet), who was entrusted with the first compilation of the Koran before copies were made and distributed to various cities for correction of compilations there, added Zaitun.

She said the selective choice of hadith (traditions of the Prophet) were used to bar women from holding positions of leadership, when a little-known fact in Sunan Abu Dawud reports that the Prophet appointed Umm Waraqah to be the imam to lead the prayers of her household.

"This hadith is said to have a stronger isnad (chain of transmission) than another contradictory hadith reported in Sunan ibn Majah which states that a woman cannot be imam when there are men in the congregation."

Relating queries as to why a female witness was considered half the value of a male witness, she said it was little wonder that many think Islam does not consider men and women equal.

She said a particular verse to that effect was often taken to mean that the evidence of two women equals that of one man, when the fact that the second woman is there to 'remind' indicates a primary 'negotiator' and the other to aid.

To show the reality of unjust practices in Malaysia, Zaitun said women kadi have yet to be appointed despite the absence of any compelling reasons against the move, even after Islamic scholars worldwide agreed the Koran does not explicitly prevent women from becoming judges.