House of Obedience

The Bait-al-taa or polarity of deference is a provision in Islam law of nature which gives husbands the reclaim to demand bow from their wives. If a woman moderates her husbands home without his permission he has the right to force her to come game. The husband can claim nushaz or disobedience and order her to come back with a qadi (judgement. ) Once the woman returns she stays any at her husbands home or in a nonher maintenance bea ( tin of obedience) which provides the woman with essential necessities. Divorce is non allowed unless the husband decides that is what he wants.In her short horizontal surface field of Obedience Ihsan Assal rejects the idea of Bait-al-taa for it plainly hinders the progression of women in Islam. The short story House of Obedience by Assal follows the life of a vernal Egyptian young woman named Nabila. Nabila is unify off to a man at the age of xv and is very unhappy, she therefore runs away only to find herself life sentence in the H ouse of Obedience. The story opens in a court room where Nabilas get down gets exonerated for marrying Nabila off at such a young age.Nabila returns home to her parents that soon after learns that her court case has been reopened by her husband. She is taken away by a police officer, a spend and a woman and is brought to the House of Obedience where her husband awaits her. The House of Obedience had a sofa that was much like a swing. On either side was a cane chair, and in front was a abject table 12 different furnitures included a wooden bed, larger-than-life cupboard, a clothes peg. 13 Nabila is upset and saddened right away and can non see that she is existence agonistic to live in the juristic augury.Her husband, Adil tries to reaquaint himself with Nabila and Nabila does not stand for it. She tells him that she will neer like him and pushes away his advances. She refuses to eat the sustenance he gives her and ignores him to the best of her abilities, You think th at the obedience verdict means that I flip to give myself to you against my will? Adil, whatever you do I shall never in my whole life be yours. 14 Although Nabila gets visits from her parents and shares the misery and difficulties of living in a house of obedience with her mom she feels alone and trapped. nonpareil day, when the door was unlocked Nabila runs away from the House of Obedience and returns to her parentss home. This commence however, as well as her second attempt are not successful. Her husband comes with police to look for Nabila and makes her return to the House of Obedience. after cautiously analyzing her options Nabila goes to her husband and asks for nushuz. This would certify Nabila as being disobedient and would relinquish her rights to disunite and alimony, the only right she would have left would be to leave the house of obedience.Although these are rather harsh conditions Nabila agrees to them for she is miserable living at a lower place the House of Obed ience. Happy with the prospects of freedom, Nabila goes on about her day, this happiness however quickly fades. Adil returns to the jural house with papers that registered Nabilas nushuz for the rest of her life and gave Adil the right to oblige obedience whenever he felt like it. In other words, Adil could have Nabila return to the House of Obedience whenever he pleased. Nabila becomes angry and runs away to her parentss home.Adil follows her and grants her a split for he realizes that no matter how hard he tries no House of Obedience will make Nabila love him. In the end, Adil and Nabila divorce one another, leaving Nabila to question her true feelings for Adil- did her ira towards the House of Obedience block her judgement and view of how Adil truly felt for her? Regardless, Nabila moves on with her life. This story captures the determination and strong will of a young female. It is only because of her wits she is able to leave the House of Obedience.This story shows us the di fficulties living under the House of Obedience. You have no say in much anything, you are a prisoner. Nabila is a rare case for not some women are allowed to escape the House of Obedience, she utilise her smarts to get out of a dead end and excruciating life that the law made possible. This story also shows us how the House of Obedience essentially served as a blockage to a marriage that might have worked out. If Nabila was not forced to stay in the House of Obedience and was allowed to stay at her parentss house, she might have come to realize that Adil did infact love her.Instead she pore all of her time and energy on her hatred towards the House of Obedience, she didnt have time to realize how Adil truly felt, I started to cry when I heard the vow of divorce as though a dagger was plunged into my heart. I felt some regret, for I had discovered suddenly that he really loved me. 15 The origin of Bait-al-taa can be attributed to the traditions of Muslim family structures. Wome n had to stay home, bear and raise children, and listen to their husbands in rallying for financial support.If she was to ever leave without her husbands consent therefore the husband has every right to demand her to comeback home. When she does return it is advise that the great unwashed and neighbors are near, this way they could hear the women scream and be witnesses to her treatment. This shows that legion(predicate) women faced the potential of being beaten by their husbands. For the most part, Bait-al-taa is used by husbands to avoid paying alimony upon divorce, if a woman refuses to go to the House of Obedience, she forfeits her right to alimony. 16 Bait-al-taa is used as another play by men to enforce their authority and control over women. infra Bait-al-taa women have no say at all, if they leave the house of obedience they are forced to return and if they refuse to go they give up their alimony, which umpteen women need to support themselves financially. Women also ca nnot get a divorce until they can legally prove that their marriage can no longstanding be continued in a healthy manner. All of these restrictions and buck of proof are placed on women. In the 1920s the Egyptian womens liberationist Union fought long and hard to try to outlaw Bait-al-taa but they were not successful.The Egyptian Feminist Union tried to show the political science that women deserved the right to ask for a judicial divorce, many other Egyptian groups also tried to abolish bait-al-taa but they too were unsuccessful. It wasnt until February 1967 that an amendment to the Bait-al-taa was passed that outlawed the usage of police officers to force a woman back to her home17 and later in the year it was completely ended. 18 Unhappy marriages are the cause of women running away and age plays an important role in this decision. As time passes our ideas and perspectives begin to change.In the beginning of Islam girls were being married off at the age of 8, this practice was understood and accepted. However, with time multitude started to disagree, this was especially true in Egypt in the early and mid 1900s when bait-al-taa was being widely practiced and Egyptian Feminist were beginning to emerge. Age correlates with due date and therefore, the Egyptian Feminist Union rallied and petitioned the government to set an age mark on marriage. After some deliberation the Parliament agreed and declare the minimum age for females to get married was sixteen and for males eighteen.Although, this is what the Egyptian Feminist Union cute, it was not a complete win. This new law helped the shopping centre and upper class families who wanted to educate their daughters while it hurt the tear down class families for they had to continue providing for their daughters for a longer time. Also, this law was not followed regularly, people began to create fake birth certificates and worked around the system to get what they wanted, my father was not punished for havin g me married off when I was a legal minor. 19 This law gave females more time to themselves before they got married but it also reinforced the idea that males were more important under this law males were expected to finish school and get degrees while girls were not.20 After reading The House of Obedience it is clear that Assal does not agree with the Bait-al-taa and wanted it to be removed and I agree with her completely. Bait-al-taa goes against some of the fundamental beliefs of Islam, Islam says to not take revenge on your women and Be gentle with them or leave them respectively. 21 Women are supposed to be companions and partners to their husbands not their slaves. Bait-al-taa only causes friction, anger and resentment between the couple. The husband gets upset at the wife for leaving, and the wife gets upset at the husband for keeping her in captivity, this causes violence to let out and nothing is solved. The Bait-al-taa gives too much control to men and leaves women weak and defenseless, the bait-al-taa is more dangerous than prisons for criminals the prisons are guarded by men invested with authority by the law The husband is clearly and involved guard.No one controls him. he can insult her and hit her and the courts will not consider this demeanor to be outside his legal rights. 22 No one wins under the bait-al-taa, its principles are not found in the Quran, Hadith or Sunnah. It goes against Islam and contradicts many laws in societies. For example, how could a husband get away or not be punished for beating his wife and keeping her in a house against her will while theyre laws to protect citizens from bodily ill-use? The idea of Bait-al-taa is very contradicting and getting rid of it was the right thing to do.