CHAPTER ELEVEN: GENDERED DISCOURSE ON TEENAGE MARRIAGE FROM ISLAMIC FEMINISM

Muhammad Alkali

“A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.”     William Shakespeare

11.0  Introduction

Whether gender or genre, the journey is set in the Nigerian novel seeing woman as minor. In consequence, regenerating girl-child education, the craze for women in key positions, the crave for women in offices shoulder to shoulder and number to number (what Nigerians call bumper-to-bumper) have, perhaps, presupposed a cause-effect syndrome in the polity – real and imagined in fiction. The theorist, B.F. Skinner is strongly desirable here with his Stimulus-Response Theory (S-R), as much as William Shakespeare would say, “If you prick us do, we not bleed? If you tickle us do, we not laugh? If you poison us do, we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?” The paper hazards the questions of revenge game by women since undoubtedly, it is claimed, they have, it would appear, been put thoroughly through mythopoeia on the second class pedestal as appendages to men, instead of as harmonious sexes. But, are women truly streamlined? And are they not? Can they be mainstreamed? And can they not? Mainstreaming gender issues has been at the centre of gender and feminism and various attempts have been made to ease off the generated sexual tensions. At proposition here is the Islamic answer to the generated tensions. This is not a comparative approach, but if we have provided a schema with which to base arising conflicts in gender issues, we shall have done a contribution on woman as human.

Very easily, this topic can be dismissed by serious feminists generally but more so by female feminists who are strongly of the opinion that men on women (issues) are unacceptable since there is likely observable bias in men. ‘What do they know about women, anyway?’ it is often asked. Men on women are under serious threat by female feminists as incompetent interpreters of women's issues. Real women interpreters here include author-reader, actor-spectator and critic females. It can also be noted that even insensitive women-to-women issues are rejected by this proposition. This exclusivist screening is alluded to by Ziemmerman on images of lesbians. To her base point, it is important to note how you see me and how I see myself. In this lesbian logic, “there is an important dialectic between how the lesbian articulates herself and how she is articulated and objectified by others” (Ziemmerman 459-75). Which is to say that context, or the specific female issue at stake by women and its reception is the final arbiter of meaning, and its integrity is absolute. Which brings us back to confirm the aggressive position on the insistence of women as only interpreters of female issues. It is warned that real gendered feminists should be wary of traditional disregard by men and their contempt for women’s writings and women’s modes of existence, which is a reality of male power. Thus, by this same position, real women writers and critics are under obligation to inscribe the experiences of women under patriarchal domination. But we can make space for men on women because there is a battery of evidence to prove that men can be used to undo what they did in the patriarchal world. This paper may throw enough light on its relevance in its effort to discuss early marriages plotted in Nigerian novels.

11.1  Problem Statement

When Buchi Emecheta stresses in her feminist novel The Joys of Motherhood, asking God when He will create a full woman who is not attached to man, it interprets to the reading public as a challenge to God. Philosophically, the created is short-sighted at the doings and powers of the Creator. It needs to be researched, then, to find out if aligning woman to the back seat is the doing of either the Creator or the created. Many things have been taken for granted as being religious, which in actual sense is only mysogynic. The blame should be appropriately placed. Aspects of gender are plotted severally in the Nigerian novel, and Abubakar Gimbar’s novel, Sacred Apples would be used to verify the authenticity or otherwise of answers to the questions of early marriages. Of import is, when a woman, Emecheta, raises the question, Gimba, a man, responds. What is the answer? How tolerable is the answer?

11.2  Conceptual Definition

The two terms, gender and feminism, have always been conveniently used by writers to suit them. In this Chapter, they are used interchangeably because essentially, they serve the same purpose; they ease off socially constructed impressions of women. In achieving the dreams of these interchangeable terms, traditional realist literature subtly places the reader within the confines of that particular ideology, shaping their subjectivity in the process. However, if a writer/text aims to challenge the prevailing ideology by subverting it, as a feminist writer or text might, they must employ strategies within the realm of discourse that effectively expose the embedded ideology. In the realm of writing, the patriarchal ideology ingrained in the narrative is undermined by these two concepts. Gender and feminism, in this context, naturally open up the possibilities for circularity and multiple perspectives, enabling feminists to explore not only gender but also issues of class, race, age, sexuality, and the insistence on presenting an alternative portrayal of female subjectivity. Gender and/or feminism here relate to human/woman relief of association between the sexes.

Islamic feminism is the interpretive woman’s position in Islam based on her enviable status, maximally enjoying her freedom, contrary to efforts that draw her to the backseat. These efforts are easily identifiable as unIslamic as Islam has never drawn them to the patriarchal trance. Islamic feminism is particularly characterised by cooperative, supportive behaviour among its adherents.

11.3  Objective

The objective of this paper is twofold: to highlight how gender has been wrongly used to allude to the Islamic view point in Nigerian novels and, how Gimba, a male writer is seen in his bid to rewrite the long-standing history, a pathbreaking stride to read Islam in the patriarchal world of Northern Nigeria through his novel craft. All his novels are usually set in Northern Nigeria which is predominantly Muslim occupation. Even with his fictional North in a fictional country, it is easy to see Gimba alluding to Northern Nigeria. Is Gimba’s information valid? If it is, is it tolerable by women since hardliner feminists like Ziemmerman would prefer evidence by women only?

11.4  Feminist Theory

We make bold to note that our novelist of choice, Abubakar Gimba, a male writer, may not have claimed feminism for his works, but yet, he may have advanced himself for feminist ideology. We have provided enough reason, in our thinking, for selecting a male novelist for the feminist formula in both the preliminaries and methodology, but we are doubly faced with the challenge of assigning novelists to theories. It is always dangerous to hazard author classification, but we do not think it would be far from wrong to assign Gimba somewhere in feminist writings. Gimba denies being classified as a feminist (see, Sunday Ode 1) and it won’t be a surprise if he is tingled by it and burns in consequence. But history would merely repeat itself, should he do that as he would not be the first, neither is he likely to be the last. I remember Delacroix was addressed with a formula and he vigorously disclaimed it. He, in an over-heat, objected to his being called a Romanticist writer (see, Jaques Barzun, 1961). In a similar stance, Joseph Conrad (1908) hit it hard on one of his reviewers, ‘There is even one abandoned creature, who calls me a neo-Platonist. What on earth is that?’ Conrad (1908) in Edward (1962). It is no news having an unfriendly relationship between writers and their critics. Suffice it to mention that the emergence of feminism has a startling analysis. Gimba must realise that women's issues occur in multiple circularities. He would have to reason with Virginia Woolf who says it is for a writer to say one thing to stand for twenty. Feminism and gender, then, can be read into any text that has female character(s). It is very possible to read feminism and gender in texts that have no female characters at all. I remember Bertolt Brecht’s technique here. But why are writers shying away from being called feminists?

Even female writers distance themselves from being associated with feminism. And, is it, for example, wrong to be a feminist in Islam? These and more attract the attention of this paper in investigating feminism to mainstream women.

Female feminists like the Nigerian Buchi Emecheta note that if by writing through an African woman’s eyes she would be branded a feminist, which she detests, she would wish to point to the signification of her being an African feminist instead; importantly, an African feminist with a small ‘f’ (Emecheta 175). People have signified the big ‘F’ as rebellious, injurious and disrespectful to womanhood. This is the more reason why the Ghanaian female writer, Ama Ata Aidoo explains African women’s distance response (response theory) with Western feminism by underlying that they (African women) cannot be ‘…acting today as daughters and grand-daughters of women who always refused to keep quiet’ (Ama Ata Aidoo 183).

Feminist theory shoots from feminism as a discourse that addresses the vicissitudes of misogyny, false universalism, and gender asymmetry of mainstream womanhood. The discourse surrounding feminism has evolved into a more diverse, nuanced, intricate, and captivating dialogue, shedding its initial dismissal as mere youthful idealism or at best, an archival curiosity. Over time, it has progressed from women expressing themselves boldly yet crudely that is now fast settling on a note of complementarity of the sexes. This evolution is seen in the emergence of new terms such as "Proper feminism," "Modified feminism," "True feminism," "New feminism," "Nego-feminism," "Islamic feminism," and others, all aimed at reshaping the perception of women away from confrontational approaches.

In contemporary times, feminism has moved beyond mere fixation on grievances. Lennox emphasises the importance of recognising that the focus of conflicts within feminism lies not in feminism itself, but rather in feminist theory, which has mistakenly positioned itself as the study of feminist discord, both in theory and in practice. While attempting to mediate that discord, she adds, it has, of necessity, succeeded in exacerbating it; an intolerable act of provocation that has taken underhand advantage of a need for negotiation and give the world a breathing space. Islamic feminism steps in to douse the tension. It asks the world to have a rethink on questions of womanhood. It submits that womanhood cannot truly be on the backseat neither can she be a frontliner of confrontation, which only exacerbate the already heightened mixes. The woman in Islam is conducted with solidarity, sympathy, and respect, a vehicle capable of moving present feminists past the positions where women are presently mired; moving her past feminist discord. Her situation garbed by misogyny would only simply need to be undressed as this paper proffers for vigorous debate in its novel plotting.

Finding itself in the misogynist world, feminist critics have become correctly alarmed by the practice of a discredit, excluding women from civilisation as they were and still extremely damaged or at least significantly threatened by the patriarchal world with its pseudo explanations that pathologises women’s capacity aspirations. In consequence of this, Anne Snitow warns that “when basic rights are under attack, liberalism feels necessary again” (27). So women became crude, unfortunately, feeling that they have never known a time when their fundamental rights have not been threatened and therefore, tread the path of rascality. This introduces Skinner’s response theory into our discourse.

11.5  B.F. Skinner’s Stimulus-Response (S-R) Theory

Building on the concept of arrant feminism through Skinner’s theory, Harriet Walker in Independent 2012 observes that women have laboured too long in the hands of patriarchy and in revolting against its people have distanced themselves from feminism. She asks as an example, “how did we kick things off? With a naked lady, of course”. It all started with the actress, Lara Pulver, whom several complaints trailed after she did a braless appearance.

B.F. Skinner’s response theory (Stimulus-Response, S-R theory) can explain to us why women themselves are running away from being addressed as feminists. The application of Skinner's argument to women's revolt against patriarchal persecution is consistent with his broader theory of behaviour. Like Skinner's overall work, it revolves around a framework of rewards and punishments, which shape and reinforce specific behaviours as either desirable or undesirable. Individuals tend to repeat actions that result in pleasure and avoid actions that lead to pain. This process is known as conditioning, which can be equated to the development of habits, such as a writing habit or a particular writing style, in our context.

11.5.1    Behaviourism

Skinner's theory of Behaviourism plays a significant role in his perspective on women's issues. According to this theory, individuals determine what is right or wrong based on their conditioned experiences of pleasure and pain. If an action elicits a painful response, it is likely to be avoided, while actions associated with pleasurable responses or rewards are deemed good. In this way, human behaviour is entirely influenced by the pleasure-pain connection. Habits are formed through the repetition of actions that are rewarded in some way. The application of this theory to women's issues suggests that the development of behavioural patterns and responses is equally applicable in understanding and addressing the challenges faced by women.

11.5.2    Features

As soon as writers begin to write on women issues, the interest of the concerned (women and men) is piqued. The result is that writers and critics, when they write acceptable aspects about women, are rewarded by the readership and critics. As a result, word/phrase usages, sentences and general ideologies are remembered and the nonsense unacceptable position(s) (that get(s) unattractive attention) are forgotten in the end, it is hoped.

11.5.3    Benefits

Skinner's theory is known for its simplicity and practicality, which is considered one of its primary advantages. It suggests that individuals are highly responsive to rewards, particularly when consistently provided, and they tend to develop habits based on actions that have been positively reinforced. This straightforwardness of the theory facilitates conducting research and comprehending patterns of writing behaviour. According to this perspective, humans are essentially animals that respond to external stimuli in a predictable manner. Chances are that with a new projection of the positive acceptable woman, the world order would eventually change against the woman as the underdog.

11.5.4    Problems/Effects

Skinner's theory has faced criticism from various quarters. One common critique is that his perspective reduces human beings to mechanistic entities or mere products of external stimuli, disregarding the complexities of human thoughts and motivations. Critics, including Chomsky, argue that Skinner's approach oversimplifies the intricate nature of human behaviour and fails to account for the multifaceted reasons and ideas that influence human actions. They contend that factors such as cognition, emotions, and social context play significant roles in shaping human behaviour, which cannot be adequately explained solely through Skinner's theory of rewards and punishments.

11.6  Methodology

In organising this thought, the methodology would be content analysis of Sacred Apples where gender statements are contrastively matched with the provisions of the Muslim Holy Book, the Qur’an. Feminism which has generated into various gender aspects which, in the beginning, is a revenge game by a revenge people in a revenge time is increasingly becoming the business of not only women but also a strong concern of men. And a question shoots, when will the revenge game stop? How? And by who? This paper’s methodology is to use representative men’s works to undo what men did. This has relevance for future literary practice to faithfully imitate the approach of Gimba in removing the gender chaffs from the grains. Correct gender efforts can engender correct crafting of the correct social realities. The implication is that there will be obvious behaviour pattern dissociating itself from social constructs to the best practice of the religion that has occupied the region, nay the nation in particular and Africa and the world in general.

It is, perhaps, unquestionable that by this practice, man who is and remains the enemy of woman is the centre point. The patriarchal world favours him. Women have been streamlined, marginalised, criminalised. Men are in advantage over women to the point of making them appendages to men. This is, perhaps, the singular reason why the Nigerian female feminist, Buchi Emecheta in 1979, went out of her way, we suppose, to challenge God on when He will create a full-grown woman who is not going to be anyone’s appendage. Such unguarded statement, in our thinking, only reflects a revenge game that is over shot by several metres.

In the design of this paper, it suspects whether it is not impossible in the patriarchal world to use the same men to undo what they did. Can’t this even be a softer feminist method of achieving the dream project of womanhood; mainstreaming them? If women must not be streamlined and appropriately streamed, men ought to be saddled with the responsibility of coming in shoulder to shoulder in mainstreaming women issues.

The take-off point is that we finally settled to engage in mainstreaming women because we, like other teeming men and women, have a strong stake. Our people are involved: our mothers, who were at extreme pains when we screamed into this world, our bed mates - our wives, and our daughters. Why should we want to streamline these people? This feminist morphology can be exploited through the novel industry, we think. So, distracting curious eyes may grant men on women issues as they are less off-putting, we hope.

We will invoke ‘gender’ a lot but our micro-point of reference will mostly be the Islamic experience. But Islamic experience is a more or less typical example of what is going on generally on the continent of Africa in particular, and the larger world, so that rhetoric has its impeccable practical justification. Our main emphasis would be Islamic feminism, that is, the framework of Islamic methodology in Nigerian novel plots.

11.7  Teenage Marriage

If we use Gimba’s Sacred Apples in reacting to gender misogyny by pointing out Islamic poetics, it would only intentionally pull together a pool of ideological issues.
In a gendered society, women are often denied the full range of rights and privileges that are considered appropriate for all human beings. Liberal feminists argue that, universally, women receive fewer opportunities and benefits compared to men, regardless of cultural context. If we want to understand what a society values, we can examine what it offers or denies to women. This does not mean that women are completely devoid of power, pleasure, property, or prestige anywhere and at all times, as that would be an extreme and unsustainable situation. Moreover, the extent of deprivations experienced by women can vary within and across cultures, leading to divisions and conflicts within feminist movements. It is important to acknowledge these disparities among women without subscribing to an illiberal view that only the most marginalised women can be considered "real" women. Arguments to the contrary are just mystification. This is precisely what Islamic feminism seeks to free women from but misunderstood as it would appear. In Islam, the woman is at total advantage, what is seen as controlled freedom is only justifying mystification taken for Islam as it shall soon be demonstrated.

Second, in using Sacred Apples, we follow Skinner’s response theory to react to unacceptable practices against women. In doing this, we return to the observation that such a feminist text should possess reactionary techniques, even if revolutionary to intolerable gendered contexts. Serious fiction with subversive techniques, Bakhtin tells us, counters the status-quo but offers alternative. This alternative is in Islamic poetics. Given the existence of discord within feminist movements, feminists have neither the option nor the luxury of overlooking it. Feminism (un)fortunately comes into conflict with many ideologies on women. We differ profoundly and intractably with other ideologies in our resolve that Islam is the answer to the challenges facing the woman. This Islamic discord undercuts any idea against all (wo)men while sharing a singular essence, serving in a capacity of human dignity. Let us exemplify.

Sacred Apples (54) works to convert the simplicity of female subjectivity into a complexity that surprises the readership. It addresses and resolves the contentious debates surrounding teenage marriages, polygamy, purdah, girl-child education, veil, etc. It makes several references to the Holy Book of Muslims, the Qur’an. This fact of Islamic value seems beneath to engage discord on early marriages, as an example of focus. Gimba uses Ya-Shareef, the older brother of the female protagonist in the novel, to simultaneously embrace and decline the challenge; it is the technique of doing and undoing at the same time. Thus, the technique involves performing and reversing actions concurrently, known as the doubling technique. His sister, who holds strong feminist beliefs, becomes concerned about the physical harm caused by early marriages. Ya-Shareef acknowledges her point and promptly contrasts it with the importance of the moral well-being of society. He questions the comparative impact of the moral health of the practice versus the physical health of a limited number of individuals within that society. Which of these two aspects inflicts greater harm? Ya-Shareef further points out that opponents of early marriages conveniently overlook this aspect. He emphasises that the moral well-being of society carries significant weight compared to the physical health of a few individuals. While he acknowledges that early marriages alone cannot resolve the increasing trend of sexual misconduct, he suggests that it has the potential to slow down its rapid escalation. Given the strong correlation between societal disintegration and this growth, it seems plausible that early marriage could act as a deterrent to this dangerous issue. Surprisingly, the sister remains silent. As a radical feminist, one might expect a reaction from her, as being steadfast in one's beliefs often carries its own value, demonstrating the lack of civilized behaviour among many elites despite their education. However, she demonstrates wisdom by choosing to remain quiet.

Continuing with his contrasting approach, Ya-Shareef acknowledges that it cannot be denied that some married women may choose to engage in extramarital affairs. However, even with this possibility, he emphasises that the number of such individuals is not as significant as the number of unmarried women engaging in similar behaviour across societies worldwide. This observation serves as a stark comparison to Carolina Överlien's alarming findings in 2003, where she highlights the increasing number of young girls, often referred to rhetorically as either innocent or active individuals, who frequent bars and clubs and engage in casual sexual encounters without heeding advice from others, as they assert their control over their own lives and decisions.

11.8  A Woman’s Surname

A woman is prone to carrying and loosing surname instantly during moments of death or divorce. Such circumstances change her plight. Thus, is it mythopoeia that asks her to carry her husband’s surname? When a woman divorces her husband or is divorced ten times or more, or loses her husbands to death, she inevitably looses her surname by that same number of times. Gimba discusses surname (74) with ingenuity and verve.

‘Call them by their father’s names …’, Gimba refers to the Qur’anic verse. The reason is quite simple. It is hardly disputable that losing one’s father’s name to one’s husband is ‘[a]small step in marital compromise, but a great leap towards marital subservience … .’ This being as it is, if a name denotes indenture, or ownership, would it not be more promising and more fulfilling to align with one’s own father instead? It seems to us indeed, that it would be better to be owned (if it must come to ownership) by our fathers than by our husbands.

11.9  Conclusion

Men’s superiority over women can only be through social constructs than by religious dictates. In this observation, there is relief as the Qur’an states that women are no less equal to men. Men’s superiority, Gimba amplifies the Qur’anic position, is merely in ‘a degree above women’, a degree of responsibility, not of superiority’ (305). It is the man’s responsibility to fend for the family in protection, food, shelter, etc.

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