Will Durant, after studying the best archaeological evidence, wrote
in The Story of Civilization 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 in the ‘Abbasid period. 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’ân
teaches sacred sex in a couple of
verses, and the Sufis developed the
mysticism of Divine Love growing out of
human eros. For example, witness Ibn
al-‘Arabî’s mystical erotic poetry in
the Tarjumân al-ashwâq, and his
exposition of sacred sex in the Fusûs
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 Peire Vidal (fl.
1200)
said in one of his poems: "I think I see
God when I look on my lady nude." He
was put on trial and nearly 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?