Women as "Hunna" and Men as "Kum": The Quran’s Audience

Pre-script: kum = "you all" (includes all genders); hunna = "they (feminine)"

I know this is such a typical question, but I cannot figure out why God is always talking to men in the Quran. For the longest time, I accepted the reason that the Holy Book is sent to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), who was a man, and so it makes sense. But reading it over and over makes one realize that there are very few instances in the Quran that begin with Qul (“Say [O’ Prophet]”) or otherwise indicate that the verse is specifically talking to the Prophet.  And, even so, is this really a good enough justification for God’s speaking only to men -- save one or two instances, maybe?

I was reading Surah al-Nisa, the chapter of “The Women,” a while ago and was trying to understand something.

Verse 4:19 starts off talking to those who believe: “O’ those who believe” (in Arabic, yaa ayyuhalladheena aamanu). Yet, the verse is about how men should deal with women. Clearly, then, the believers the verse is talking to directly are male believers only; female believers are excluded from it. Meaning, believers = men. From 4:19 to 4:25, it talks to men directly – about women. In these verses, I understand why the Arabic kum (“you all”) is translated to “you all,” but check out the verses after 4:25, and a big question comes to your mind: “How do we know that the kum in these verses is referring to all believers and not just men believers?” In other words, what reason do I have to believe that the guidelines set in the verses after 4:25 apply to both women and men and not just to men? 4:26, for instance, reads: "Allah would explain to you and guide you by the examples of those who were before you, and would turn to you in mercy. Allah is Knower, Wise."

Who's the "you" in here? Just men, right? If in the other verses before this, the "you" refers to men alone, then what is our reason for believing it includes women, too?

It’s highly upsetting and disappointing. It feels like God just doesn’t want to talk to me, a woman, directly and has to talk to me through man. Why? And then I'm not allowed, according to one interpretation of Islam, to talk to God through man. Why? Am I not worthy of hearing my God talking to me directly? Am I incapable of understanding what my God has to say to me and that’s why it has to be done through my husband or another man?

Again, I know this is a typical question, and I understand that some will say, “Oh God. What’s new? Everyone, especially anti-Muslim/anti-Islam folks, ask this all time!” But I have not found an answer that I can understand or accept. I know there are many, but I need an answer given by an objective person, most certainly not from someone who's gonna say, "Oh, you're saying that just because you're a feminist and have been brainwashed by feminism," etc., etc. In that case, thanks for your opinion, but it doesn't contribute to the topic. Also, the person whose answer you give me can't be someone who accepts the interpretation of verse 4:34 as “man can beat his wife” and then says, “But, you see, it’s not like he can just abuse her all the time! He has to have a legitimate reason, like if she doesn’t submit to his sexual urges, you know? And it’s not like he can beat her with a belt or whatever; he can use only a miswaak [toothbrush] or its like.” Uh, no. If someone like this is going to explain to me why God talks directly to men in the Quran and rarely (if ever) to women, I am not going to bother considering it. (When you find the answer, don't share it with me if it's gonna be something like, "That's how all the scriptures are." What? What's your point? I haven't read all the Scriptures yet, and I may not ever get to them during my lifetime; but that has nothing to do with the question of why the Quran often uses men as the medium between God and women and doesn't talk to women directly.)

And don't worry if you don't end up convincing me, whether by yourself or through your favorite sheikh/scholar. I'll keep searching until I find the answer to this. That's what we're here for, right? To think, question, think again, and seek as much knowledge to answer our questions as possible for us. I hope – so desperately hope – that I find the answer at some point in my lifetime; even if it is to take me my entire lifetime to find the answer, I am willing to keep on exploring possible solutions to this quandary of mine so that I get closer to God and am not repelled by the voice I imagine when reading the Quran.
EDIT (April 30, 2012):
I posted this question on Facebook, and I got some excellent responses. The question was: Does anyone know of any Islamic feminist work that discuss why the Qur'an never directly talks to women? I'll be grateful for any suggestions! I'm looking, but I don't know what to search for, even. "The Qur'an's audience"? Naaaa... thanks in advance. The responses are as follows:

Person 1: But the Qur'an does speak to women--either specifically or towards both men and women.
Me: Directly? Which verses?
Person 1: Quite a few..in Surahs Maryam and An-Nisa for instance.

Me: ‎(Indirectly as debatable, which is why I don't ask about it.) But specific verses would be greatly helpful :) Basically, what I'm asking about is this: When the Qur'an has something to say to women, it asks men/husbands to tell women to do that ... or it'll say "Oh men, do this to/with your wives" and it's never "O believers, do this with your spouses" or "oh wives, do this with your husbands" ... get what I mean?
Person 1: Yeah. I'm not versed in arabic enough, but I have heard shayukh discuss meanings of gendered words in different ways. I wouldn't say the Qur'an's (i.e. God's) audience is male, but many directives/laws are aimed at men and many of which are in relation to women (in terms of ensuring the rights of women, how to treat them, marriage, etc). Otherwise women are addressed with men (Oh Children of Adam, oh you who believe, of wives of the believers, etc), yes. In a way it makes sense if we recognize patriarchy in our societies and mores against women -- it makes sense that the Qur'an would, in terms of specific laws and directives that seek to benefit the status of women, would address males. As much as the Qur'an is a book for all times, it also spoke directly to the people to whom it was first revealed. Allahu 'Alim.

Me: Got it. That, yes, I understand - I'm just wondering if anyone's addressed this "issue" yet and what they've said specifically about, again, why the Qur'an never talks directly TO women alone rather than using men/husbands as a medium to talk to us through. I'll be on the lookout and let y'all know what I find. Thanks for your input, Sana! Greatly appreciated :)

Person 2: There is a hadith that suggests that the Prophet's wives asked him why the Qur'an didn't speak to women, and after that he received the verse that address "O believing men and believing women! ..." Maybe someone has written about that hadith.

Me: I do talk about that in my paper, but that's still not very helpful, quite honestly. I mean, I applaud Umm Salmah for being bold enough to ask such a question, but if you think about the verse that was sent in response to her query, it is, again, to BOTH women and men. (I'm surprised she was satisfied with it.) I think her concern was probably that the Qur'an *never* directly talks *to* women. Again, it uses men as a medium through which it talks to women. And, besides, only one verse was revealed in response to her concern, whereas men get like all the rest that are directly only to men (like "Oh men, tell your wives...") ... but, as said,  that's prolly just 'cause I am not [we are not] easily satisfied, LOL.Oh, and the verse sent in response to her concern was actually not "to" women, either; it was ABOUT women and men. It reads: "For Muslim men and women, for believing men and women, for devout men and women, for true men and women, for men and women who are patient and constant, for men and women who humble themselves, for men and women who give in charity, for men and women who fast, for men and women who guard their chastity, and for men and women who engage much in God's praise, for them has God prepared forgiveness and great reward" (Qur'an, 33:35) ... does my point make sense? I'm not sure if I'm asking exactly what I'm really trying to ask.

Person 3: Just scanned the comments, the Qur'an begins to address women when Umm Salama (or another woman) complains about it to the Prophet. The Qur'an is, though, an androcentric text. No way around that. Amina Wadud's "tawhidic principle" addresses this issue in a powerful re-reading of the Qur'an's address (look at Qur'an and Woman and Inside the Gender Jihad). Kecia Ali talks about it directly in Sexual Ethics in Islam. There is more but this is off the top of my head. I'll read your blog in a bit, I'm a bit swamped at the moment but I hope this helps a bit. You've prolly already seen these sources, though. [...] ‎66:4-5. I forgot the name of the woman who is supposed to have asked the Prophet why women are not directly addressed (in general, not a specific woman), then the believers verse is revealed...). I haven't read Believing Women in the Qur'an in ages but I betcha she covers this. [...] anyway, I think there is a way to search verb endings in http://corpus.quran.com/ I just looked and can't sort it out, but I hear it is possible. So you could search for ti/tuma/tunna/ina/na


Me: Thank you so much! Yeah, I did mention in these comments somewhere the verse that was revealed in response to one of the Prophet's wives (I think it was Umm Salmah) when she complained that the Qur'an never addresses women -- but that verse doesn't answer my question either, unfortunately. I'll look at Kecia Ali's and Barlas's and Wadud's texts again and see what they say. I know they talk about "huwa" and the fact that it can be both masculine and gender-neutral, but that's not what I'm looking for. I'm specifically looking for a discussion on why God uses men as a medium through which it talks TO women -- in other words, women are always being talked ABOUT, not talked TO (unless it's an address to all of humankind). Thanks again for your responses!


Person 3: I mean they talk about the androcentric address of the Qur'an. There is someone who wrote about this specifically and I cannot remember who right now. Anyway, the Qur'an addresses men directly and women indirectly or inclusive of men except in 66:4-5 (and I believe one other, I'll check) where the Qur'an is addressing specific women in the Prophet's community (and at least in 66:4-5 about women who are disobedient). If you mean indirect address, like about women and their characteristics, I don't know off the top of my head but yeah, I would wager that all of the social discussions are gendered (women are understood in relationship to men) except maybe in discussions of taqwa. But maybe there too? I think it is something to be pissed about, but there are ways out of it according to how you want to think about the divine address theologically and the Qur'an as a transmitted revelation. I would say that the Qur'an is speaking to me, but through a historically contingent language and in a historically contingent context (and all that is orthodox to say in Sunni Islam) which I have to critique to get at what is *really* being said to me (which is also orthodox to say...I just disagree with a lot of what men say is being said to me). But there are lots of people who talk about this sort of stuff in more creative ways (mine is really very uncreative and tradition bound despite its jaundiced assessment of the material conditions). I think you want to look at Aysha Hidayatullah in this respect, Wadud, or Nasr Abu Zaid and others.

Person 4: I see Umm Salamah’s tradition in another way as well – she realised that Quran was gender partial which means that it *was* partial and that revelations needed reminding that partiality existed. That makes me a little uncomfortable like the traditions about Omar Ibn Khattab inspiring some revelations (alcohol ban, hijab etc). In early Mu'tazilite literature these examples were used to argue that Quran was created.

Quran has these audiences: the Prophet; the Prophet’s wives (in a couple of verses); Muslim men; the Muslim ummah as a whole (believing men and women); opponents of Islam and Muslims.

In the verses where Allah speaks to Mary, it exists in Christian texts as well so it is a reference to another text and Mary in those verses is not the direct audience of the Quran rather it is a reference to a dialogue that existed between Allah and Mary.

I think I can understand your query, Shehnaz. You want to know why where Allah could have easily addressed women directly does He address men to tell women. Perhaps it is because of the patriarchal culture of those times but I feel like equality, equity and egalitarianism would have been much easier had women been empowered by being addressed directly by the God they worship. I know that Dr. Amina Wadud tries to explain all this elaborately but the question still remains why were women not addressed directly about hijab or period or divorce or custody of children etc? And I would have liked to read what scholars have to say about how addressing woman would have empowered them.

Me: Thank you guys so, so much! You've given me lots to think about. I'll most certainly compile a list of scholars and their arguments/reasonings for this whole audience and share it with you when it's done.

<@ Person 3>, that's it! "the Prophet; the Prophet’s wives (in a couple of verses); Muslim men; the Muslim ummah as a whole (believing men and women); opponents of Islam and Muslims." "Women" are missing from this (whether Muslim or non-Muslim). And, indeed, my query is why God never addresses women when it so easily could have and would even have given us grounds to believe that the Qur'an CAN be read in a pro-woman view. But I honestly don't know about that anymore ... I'm not even one of God's intended audience, except as a "Muslim community. And I find that very troubling and problematic.