the technological and economic benefits of mod-
ernization. Governments, too, have been forced to
make this distinction in order to garner legitimacy
in the eyes of their citizens.
See also mUst aFa kemal atatürk; rUhollah
khomeini; mUhammad mUhammad ali dynasty;
secUlarism.
Further reading: Talal Asad, Genealogies of Religion
(Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993);
‘Abdullah Ahmed Na‘im, Toward an Islamic Reformation
(Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1990).
wilayat al-faqih See khomeini, ruhollah.
wine See dietary laws.
women
The earliest Islamic exemplars for women are
the wives, daughters, and women companions of
mUhammad (ca. 570–632). The wives of Muham-
mad, known as “Mothers of the Believers,” were
witnessed by the two earliest and most authorita-
tive Islamic sources, the qUran and hadith. Fur-
ther, they were significant transmitters of the oral
record of Muhammad’s life (the hadith) and the
experiences of the early Muslim community. The
women of his household are “causes of revelation”
(asbab al-nuzul) in the Quran in several specific
contexts: (1) the definition of modesty required
of Muhammad’s wives is the first use of the term
hijab (usually translated as “veil”), in this instance
not meaning a garment but rather a physical
barrier or screen between the private women/
children’s quarters of Muhammad’s household
and the public areas where non-kin male visitors
might approach (Q 33:53); (2) the prescription of
casting an outer garment (jilbab) over their person
when outside the home (Q 33:59); (3) Muham-
mad’s wives are “not like other women” and must
keep a higher standard of public modesty, domes-
tic seclusion, voluntary charity, and supereroga-
tory piety (Q 33:28–34); and (4) the case of aisha
bint abi bakr and accusations of sexual miscon-
duct, which became the occasion for the Islamic
code of witnesses required for accusations against
a woman (Q 24:4–5, 11–20, 23–26). The stan-
dards set for Muhammad’s household, of Islam’s
foremost prophet, become the ideal standard for
Muslim women thereafter. Expectations regarding
modesty, domestic seclusion, and piety based on
this household, which later became applied to all
Muslim women, are being questioned by modern
interpreters of Islamic tradition. Precisely because
the standards set for Muhammad’s wives were
extraordinarily high, and their social situation
unlike that of any other Muslim woman, many
modern Muslim women have challenged tradi-
tional legal interpretations of Islamic sources (the
Quran and hadith) and see them as inappropri-
ate legal exemplars for modern Muslim women’s
behavior. Although adherence to the traditional
values of female modesty continues, the precise
forms of that adherence vary widely from veiling
in diverse forms to “modest dress” (long sleeves/
hems, loose clothing), to modesty of behavior and
attitude rather than dress.
Aside from the social role and spiritual exam-
ple of such historical figures as Muhammad’sTurkish women invite American visitors to join them at
a park in Istanbul. ( Juan E. Campo)women 711 J