She describes how men can voluntarily feel
and think as equal to women through her ideal man,
Fozan Ibadi. For a long time Raisa has been haunted
with her thought and imagination of how man will
treat woman because of her bad experience of seeing
how her father treatsher mother. Due to this thought,
she cannot decide to accept Fozan Ibadi as her
husband while she actually falls in love with him
and even decides not to get married if she cannot
find a man who can treat woman equally as a man.
The thought and imagination influences her so much
and it is a serious problem for her that she cannot
stop being worried about her husband to be. She
finally decides to accept Fozan Ibadi due to his
promise and her belief that Fozan is the man who
will treat her as a human not as a woman that is
different from man. Raisa can see that Fozan Ibadi is
different from her father and believes that he is the
right man who will respect her and understand about
the equality between man and woman. That is the
ideal man she has imagined.
Fozan Ibadi is an ideal man for Raisa. He is a
typical romantic but serious man. Their relationship
is little bit different compared to Indonesian people
in general. Fozan Ibadi is like an admirer for Raisa.
He not only falls in love with Raisa but also
voluntarily wants to be a person who will do
anything for her. Raisa’s character as a woman is
also different from Indonesian women in general. As
a woman, she is very independent, self-confident,
brilliant, educated, easy-going, and determined. The
character of both of them is compatible and
complete to each other. This creates an equal
relationship that is a requirement for an ideal male-
female relationship.
The ideal male-female relationship also
shows ethics of equality, ethics of difference, and
ethics of liberation. There is no fundamental
difference between women and men. Full humanity
brings about a fundamental equality of human
beings that is grounded in the capacity of human
beings for reasoning and for understanding. The
base of the emphasis on the capacity of reason can
be found in the theological insight. The insight is in
line with feminist idea that the common possession
of reason and moral consciousness refers to the
actual capacities of men and women.
Humans are gendered persons and the
abstraction about universal humanity. This becomes
an ethic concerning the differences between men and
women, the existence of gender differences, and the
importance of social order of roles and relationships
that enable our gendered identities to be manifested.
The notion about the naturalness and the function of
social order that enable differences to grow in
balance and in complementary will be the best for
women and men together.
5 CONCLUSIONS
In spite of different representation, the three
pesantren writers demonstrate somewhat similar
ideas about Muslim women existence and the male-
female relationship. The pesantren novels present
the excellence of Muslim women. They are
described as intellectual, independent, and equal as
men. Their relationship to men shows a new kind of
male-female relationship pattern compared to the
pattern in the previous era. Muslim women and men
have equal right and responsibility even they may
change their position in certain task. Ethical ideas
shown in the analysis include ethics of equality,
ethics of difference, and ethics of liberation.
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