The concept of honour
By Dr Riffat Hassan
Friday, 19 Feb, 2010
VIOLENCE seen against women in Muslim cultures is rooted in the concepts of ‘honour’ and ‘shame’. In his essay on Honour and shame among the Bedouins of Egypt, A.A. Zeid states: “Of all the value concepts employed by the Bedouins of the western desert of Egypt, those of ‘honour’ and ‘shame’ are the most vague, most complicated and most difficult to grasp and to analyse.”
He points out that Egyptian Bedouins have a separate word for ‘honour’ that is used in the context of women: “This exclusive term, ‘ird’, is rather difficult to translate, for it is used only in connection with female chastity, prudence and continence.”
B. Fares, in his comprehensive study of family honour among pre-Islamic Arabs, describes ird as follows: “Ird from its etymology seems to be a partition which separates its possessor from the rest of mankind. This partition is certainly fragile since it was easily destroyed ... (In the jahiliyya period) ird was intense and of momentous importance; besides, it was the guiding motive in the acts and deeds of all the Arabs except those of Yemen ... on account of its sacred nature, it was entitled to take the place of religion; the Arabs put it in the highest place and defended it arms in hand.”
The writer asserts, “Among the modern Bedouins we still find ird with all its pre-Islamic force ... the use of the term ‘ird’, in its traditional sense, though less rich in meaning, has continued, keeping its sacred character and its relation with insult. In the present day, the meaning of the word has become restricted, in Transjordania it is associated with the virtue of a woman or even with her beauty. In Egypt, the ird of a man depends on his wife’s reputation and that of all his female relatives.”
The pre-Islamic Arabs, living in a state of constant warfare with their inhospitable environment and each other, were insecure in many ways. They were particularly fearful of a girl or woman from their tribe or group being captured and molested. This would bring shame to them, affecting their ird, and they would become duty bound to avenge the wrong done. In the opinion of A.A. Zeid, “ird once lost cannot be regained” but according to Peter C. Dodd, “ird does not have this all-or-none quality and though it may take generations to restore, yet ird may be regained”.
Whatever be the case it is clear that a very strong connection existed in the Bedouin mind between male honour and female chastity. To quote A.A. Zeid once again: “In a paternalistic society like the Bedouins’ where the male occupies a dominant social position in all aspects and activities of life, it is only natural that the honour of the group is determined primarily by the behaviour and achievements of the men rather than the women. Nevertheless, the woman can, and indeed does, play a conspicuous part in determining the honour of her family and lineage in a unique and decisive way that cannot be ignored or minimised … The woman’s own conduct in daily life bears heavily on the honour of her people … this is the clearest with regard to her sexual activities and especially her chastity.
“The Bedouins do not impose sexual segregation but they do respect severe rules for the behaviour of one sex towards the other. Deviation from these rules results in the murder of the offender. Thus a girl with a bad reputation may disappear suddenly from the camp. Everyone guesses what has happened to her, but no one speaks about it, let alone approaches the authorities. Rape on the other hand is considered a more humiliating offence than homicide.
“The offender himself is usually killed in retaliation ... Yet this is not regarded as sufficient to wipe out the shame. The girl herself is therefore killed, especially if it is thought that intercourse took place with her consent and her disgraced kinsmen usually desert traditional homeland and migrate in a voluntary exile in a region where no one knows about their ird.”
It is important to note that the term ‘ird’ does not appear in the Quran. Nevertheless, just as in the case of the Bedouins, many Muslim men’s concept of ‘honour’ revolves largely around the orbit of female chastity, and they do not react differently from the Bedouins to instances of ‘dishonour’.
Though a linkage is seldom made between female infanticide in pre-Islamic Arabia and honour killings in present-day Muslim societies, a deeper analysis of both suggests that they are similar in some ways. Both are examples of domestic violence though this term is relatively new and was not in usage in pre-Islamic Arabia.
One of the main reasons why some pre-Islamic Arabs killed their daughters at birth was their apprehension that these offspring were a potential threat to their honour. Fear of shame and loss of honour also play a pivotal role in the commission of many honour-related crimes. According to Amnesty International, “The number of honour killings is on the rise as the perception of what constitute honour … widens”.
The writer is professor emerita at the University of Louisville, US, and a scholar of Islam and Iqbal. rshass01@gwise.louisville.edu