Mohammed Hijab
Interviews & Q&AFamily & Society

This One Assumption Breaks Feminist Theory

This text, which promotes donations to "saveiman.com" for building a Masjid, argues that supporting this project will earn donors a "house in Jannah" and shared rewards from activities like "Praying in the Masjid," "Making Dhikr," and "Memorizing the Qur’an," based on a saying of "The Prophet ﷺ" about Allah building a similar house for those who build a Mosque.

#feminism#patriarchy#gender-roles
TranscriptTranscribed from the video above. Speakers labelled per turn.

The Pillar of Feminism

You know how Islam has five pillars? If there was one pillar of feminism, it would be patriarchy. If you can get that, you can break feminism. You can break the whole ideology. Patriarchy assumes just the fact that men have power over women is evidence of what? Oppression. So hierarchy is inherently what? Oppressive. That is the hidden assumption of many of the patriarchy theorists.

So the first question that you would ask someone who believes in patriarchy theories is, "What do you believe that the fact that men have power over women is evidence of oppression?" If they say yes, then you ask them, "What brings your evidence for that?" And you'll see them scramble because no one has been able to bring evidence for that.

The Mother-Child Power Dynamic

The second refutation, which I thought about when I was in the shower – usually my best ideas come there. Why do they say men have power over women? Because they're stronger than them, because they're in certain industries that they're not in. They give a variety of different examples.

Let me ask you guys a question. Is there a power relationship between a mother and a child?

AudienceYeah.

Mohammed HijabYes, there is. Who's more powerful? The mother or the child?

AudienceThe mother.

Mohammed HijabIs that the case cross-civilizationally?

AudienceYes.

Mohammed HijabYes. Is that the case historically?

AudienceYes.

Mohammed HijabYes. So you can say throughout history mothers have had power over children, right? Even when they become adults, they have power still over them, over influence, right? So why is there not a word to describe this phenomena, just like there's a word like patriarchy?

Since you are against all types of power hierarchies, then why are you allowing mothers to have power over children? Or is it only when men have power that you have a problem, but when women have power, you have no problem? So if they say any power hierarchy equals oppression, if a mother has a power hierarchy, therefore a mother is doing what? Oppression. So some feminists will bite the bullet on that, but my criticism is, why is there no word for this? There's a word for patriarchy, but there's no word for the relationship between mother and what?

This One Assumption Breaks Feminist Theory — Mohammed Hijab Archive