Fatima Mernissi, in the introduction to her book Beyond the Veil, identifies the need to understand how and why Muslims cling to the traditions that they do. She claims that the keeping of such traditions represents a psychological need to maintain a sense of cultural identity. It is by keeping women strictly in their traditional roles that Muslims find a way to define their culture, and only by maintaining this behavior can the society find stability in today's confusing and chaotic times.
At the root of this evaluation is what Mernissi describes as the concept of Islamic order. Within Islam, unlike in Christianity, sexual instincts or libido are not harmful in and of themselves. The goal of Muslims should be to channel these raw instincts into a positive outlet, primarily to use them according to religious law. However, if used negatively they can destroy this order. Used properly, sexual instinct serves two specific roles in the fulfillment of God's requirements. First, sexual desire entices men to procreate with women; to have children is the most important duty of man. Secondly, the pleasure serves as a hint of what is to come in heaven.
Mernissi uses George Murdock's categorization of the two ways of regulating sexual instinct, as represented by Western culture versus Eastern culture. Western societies socialize their members to internalize the rules and regulations of sexual conduct. Eastern culture enforces sexual conduct rules through "avoidance rules," such as veiling, seclusion or constant surveillance. Mernissi believes that the differences between these two societies really lies in their view of women as sexually active beings. Western societies view women as sexually passive, therefore there is no need to constantly monitor their behavior. Eastern societies believe that female sexuality is active and in need of regulation and control. Parallel to this idea is the concept of "fitna," which means disorder or chaos, as well as a beautiful woman. The double meaning is further explained by Muslim feminist Qasim Amin, who claims tht the seclusion of women occurs because they cause chaos among men. It is the men who need protection from this chaos because they cannot control their sexual urges. Submission to sexual urges would prevent them from fulfilling their social and religious duties and thereby ruin the social structure that Islamic society is founded on. These ideas are summed up in what Mernissi describes as the implicit theory of female sexuality, which has been deeply ingrained in the Muslim subconscious. This implicit theory was defined by Imam Ghazali, who sees Muslim civilization as a constant struggle to contain the effects of women's sexual power over men, for this power can destroy men and keep them from God. Ghazali sees this power of women as the most destructive element in the Muslim social order. The whole Muslim social structure can be seen in terms of this, as an attempt to subjugate this power and to negate it's effect on men.
Mernissi compares this "active" theory of Ghazali's to the "passive" theory, as defined by Freud. Mernissi identifies a major contribution of Freud as his acknowledgment of sex as the source of civilization. This, it seems to me, would parallel the above idea that the Muslim order was structured to eliminate the sexual power of women over men. Active or passive, both societies have their foundation in the sexual, yet their structures are both set up to deny the existence or effects of these sexual instincts. Yet Mernissi does not address how this situation led to the repression of women exclusively. Contrary to Freudian theories, the Muslim female has overwhelming sexual capacity, and the necessity to fulfill these needs becomes a social priority. Thus, the Ghazalian theory directly links the security of the social order to women's virtue, and the satisfaction of her sexual needs. In a response to the pending disaster that females can invoke, Islamic society has secured the social order by ensuring that women are tied to their husbands and cannot create fitna, or chaos, within other men.