The Status of Women in Islam

The Status of Women in Islam


I.
INTRODUCTION

The status of women in society is neither a new issue nor is
it a fully settled one.

The position of Islam on this issue has been
among the subjects presented to the Western reader with the least
objectivity.

This paper is intended to provide a brief and authentic
exposition of what Islam stands for in this regard. The teachings of Islam are
based essentially on the Quran (God's revelation) and Hadith (elaboration by
Prophet Muhammad).

The Quran and the Hadith, properly and unbiasedly
understood, provide the basic source of authentication for any position or view
which is attributed to Islam.

The paper starts with a brief survey of the
status of women in the pre-Islamic era. It then focuses on these major
questions: What is the position of Islam regarding the status of woman in
society? How similar or different is that position from "the spirit of the
time," which was dominant when Islam was revealed? How would this compare with
the "rights" which were finally gained by woman in recent decades?

II.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

One major objective of this paper is to provide a
fair evaluation of what Islam contributed (or failed to contribute) toward the
restoration of woman's dignity and rights. In order to achieve this objective,
it may be useful to review briefly how women were treated in general in previous
civilizations and religions, especially those which preceded Islam (Pre-610
C.E.). Part of the information provided here, however, describes the status of
woman as late as the nineteenth century, more than twelve centuries after
Islam.

Women in Ancient Civilization

Describing the status of the
Indian woman, Encyclopedia Britannica states:

In India, subjection was a
cardinal principle. Day and night must women be held by their protectors in a
state of dependence says Manu. The rule of inheritance was agnatic, that is
descent traced through males to the exclusion of females.

In Hindu
scriptures, the description of a good wife is as follows: "a woman whose mind,
speech and body are kept in subjection, acquires high renown in this world, and,
in the next, the same abode with her husband."

In Athens, women were not
better off than either the Indian or the Roman women.

Athenian women were
always minors, subject to some male - to their father, to their brother, or to
some of their male kin.

Her consent in marriage was not generally thought
to be necessary and "she was obliged to submit to the wishes of her parents, and
receive from them her husband and her lord, even though he were stranger to
her."

A Roman wife was described by an historian as: "a babe, a minor, a
ward, a person incapable of doing or acting anything according to her own
individual taste, a person continually under the tutelage and guardianship of
her husband."

In the Encyclopedia Britannica, we find a summary of the
legal status of women in the Roman civilization:

In Roman Law a woman was
even in historic times completely dependent. If married she and her property
passed into the power of her husband... the wife was the purchased property of
her husband, and like a slave acquired only for his benefit. A woman could not
exercise any civil or public office, could not be a witness, surety, tutor, or
curator; she could not adopt or be adopted, or make will or contract. Among the
Scandinavian races women were: under perpetual tutelage, whether married or
unmarried. As late as the Code of Christian V, at the end of the 17th Century,
it was enacted that if a woman married without the consent of her tutor he might
have, if he wished, administration and usufruct of her goods during her
life.

According to the English Common Law:

...all real property
which a wife held at the time of a marriage became a possession of her husband.
He was entitled to the rent from the land and to any profit which might be made
from operating the estate during the joint life of the spouses. As time passed,
the English courts devised means to forbid a husband's transferring real
property without the consent of his wife, but he still retained the right to
manage it and to receive the money which it produced. As to a wife's personal
property, the husband's power was complete. He had the right to spend it as he
saw fit.

Only by the late nineteenth Century did the situation start to
improve. "By a series of acts starting with the Married women's Property Act in
1870, amended in 1882 and 1887, married women achieved the right to own property
and to enter contracts on a par with spinsters, widows, and divorcees." As late
as the Nineteenth Century an authority in ancient law, Sir Henry Maine, wrote:
"No society which preserves any tincture of Christian institutions is likely to
restore to married women the personal liberty conferred on them by the Middle
Roman Law."

In his essay The Subjection of Women, John Stuart Mill
wrote:

We are continually told that civilization and Christianity have
restored to the woman her just rights. Meanwhile the wife is the actual
bondservant of her husband; no less so, as far as the legal obligation goes,
than slaves commonly so called.

Before moving on to the Quranic decrees
concerning the status of woman, a few Biblical decrees may shed more light on
the subject, thus providing a better basis for an impartial evaluation. In the
Mosaic Law, the wife was betrothed. Explaining this concept, the Encyclopedia
Biblical states: "To betroth a wife to oneself meant simply to acquire
possession of her by payment of the purchase money; the betrothed is a girl for
whom the purchase money has been paid." From the legal point of view, the
consent of the girl was not necessary for the validation of her marriage. "The
girl's consent is unnecessary and the need for it is nowhere suggested in the
Law."

As to the right of divorce, we read in the Encyclopedia Biblical:
"The woman being man's property, his right to divorce her follows as a matter of
course." The right to divorce was held only by man. "In the Mosaic Law divorce
was a privilege of the husband only.... "

The position of the Christian
Church until recent centuries seems to have been influenced by both the Mosaic
Law and by the streams of thought that were dominant in its contemporary
cultures. In their book, Marriage East and West, David and Vera Mace
wrote:

Let no one suppose, either, that our Christian heritage is free of
such slighting judgments. It would be hard to find anywhere a collection of more
degrading references to the female sex than the early Church Fathers provide.
Lecky, the famous historian, speaks of (these fierce incentives which form so
conspicuous and so grotesque a portion of the writing of the Fathers... woman
was represented as the door of hell, as the mother of all human ills. She should
be ashamed at the very thought that she is a woman. She should live in continual
penance on account of the curses she has brought upon the world. She should be
ashamed of her dress, for it is the memorial of her fall. She should be
especially ashamed of her beauty, for it is the most potent instrument of the
devil). One of the most scathing of these attacks on woman is that of
Tertullian: (Do you know that you are each an Eve? The sentence of God on this
sex of yours lives in this age: the guilt must of necessity live too. You are
the devil's gateway: you are the unsealer of that forbidden tree; you are the
first deserters of the divine law; you are she who persuades him whom the devil
was not valiant enough to attack. You destroyed so easily God's image, man. On
account of your desert - that is death - even the Son of God had to die). Not
only did the church affirm the inferior status of woman, it deprived her of
legal rights she had previously enjoyed.

III. WOMAN IN ISLAM

In
the midst of the darkness that engulfed the world, the divine revelation echoed
in the wide desert of Arabia with a fresh, noble, and universal message to
humanity:

"O Mankind, keep your duty to your Lord who created you from a
single soul and from it created its mate (of same kind) and from them twain has
spread a multitude of men and women...". [Noble Quran 4:1]

A scholar who
pondered about this verse states: "It is believed that there is no text, old or
new, that deals with the humanity of the woman from all aspects with such
amazing brevity, eloquence, depth, and originality as this divine
decree."

Stressing this noble and natural conception, them Quran
states:

"He (God) it is who did create you from a single soul and
therefrom did create his mate, that he might dwell with her (in love)..." [Noble
Quran 7:189]

"The Creator of heavens and earth: He has made for you pairs
from among yourselves" [Noble Quran 42:11]

"And Allah has given you mates
of your own nature, and has given you from your mates, children and
grandchildren, and has made provision of good things for you. Is it then in
vanity that they believe and in the grace of God that they disbelieve?" [Noble
Quran 16:72]

The rest of this paper outlines the position of Islam
regarding the status of woman in society from its various aspects - spiritually,
socially, economically and politically.

1. The Spiritual
Aspect

The Quran provides clear-cut evidence that woman is completely
equated with man in the sight of God in terms of her rights and
responsibilities. The Quran states:

"Every soul will be (held) in pledge
for its deeds" [Noble Quran 74:38]

It also states:

"...So their
Lord accepted their prayers, (saying): I will not suffer to be lost the work of
any of you whether male or female. You proceed one from another..." [Noble Quran
3:195]

"Whoever works righteousness, man or woman, and has faith, verily
to him will We give a new life that is good and pure, and We will bestow on such
their reward according to their actions." [Noble Quran 16:97, see also
4:124]

Woman according to the Quran is not blamed for Adam's first
mistake. Both were jointly wrong in their disobedience to God, both repented,
and both were forgiven. [Noble Quran 2:36, 7:20-24]

In one verse in fact
[20:121], Adam specifically, was blamed.

In terms of religious
obligations, such as the Daily Prayers, Fasting, Poor-due, and Pilgrimage, woman
is no different from man. In some cases indeed, woman has certain advantages
over man. For example, the woman is exempted from the daily prayers and from
fasting during her menstrual periods and forty days after childbirth. She is
also exempted from fasting during her pregnancy and when she is nursing her baby
if there is any threat to her health or her baby's. If the missed fasting is
obligatory (during the month of Ramadan), she can make up for the missed days
whenever she can. She does not have to make up for the prayers missed for any of
the above reasons. Although women can and did go into the mosque during the days
of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and thereafter attendance at
the Friday congregational prayers is optional for them while it is mandatory for
men (on Friday).

This is clearly a tender touch of the Islamic teachings
for they are considerate of the fact that a woman may be nursing her baby or
caring for him, and thus may be unable to go out to the mosque at the time of
the prayers. They also take into account the physiological and psychological
changes associated with her natural female functions.

2. The Social
Aspect

a) As a child and an adolescent

Despite the social
acceptance of female infanticide among some Arabian tribes, the Quran forbade
this custom, and considered it a crime like any other murder.

"And when
the female (infant) buried alive - is questioned, for what crime she was
killed." [Noble Quran 81:8-9]

Criticizing the attitudes of such parents
who reject their female children, the Quran states:

"When news is brought
to one of them, of (the Birth of) a female (child), his face darkens and he is
filled with inward grief! With shame does he hide himself from his people
because of the bad news he has had! Shall he retain her on (sufferance) and
contempt, or bury her in the dust? Ah! What an evil (choice) they decide on?"
[Noble Quran 16:58-59]

Far from saving the girl's life so that she may
later suffer injustice and inequality, Islam requires kind and just treatment
for her. Among the sayings of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)
in this regard are the following:

Whosoever has a daughter and he does
not bury her alive, does not insult her, and does not favor his son over her,
God will enter him into Paradise. [Ibn Hanbal, No. 1957]

Whosoever
supports two daughters till they mature, he and I will come in the Day of
Judgment as this (and he pointed with his two fingers held together).

A
similar Hadith deals in like manner with one who supports two sisters.
[Ibn-Hanbal, No. 2104]

The right of females to seek knowledge is not
different from that of males. Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)
said:

"Seeking knowledge is mandatory for every Muslim".
[Al-Bayhaqi]

Muslim as used here including both males and
females.

b) As a wife:

The Quran clearly indicates that marriage
is sharing between the two halves of the society, and that its objectives,
besides perpetuating human life, are emotional well-being and spiritual harmony.
Its bases are love and mercy.

Among the most impressive verses in the
Quran about marriage is the following.

"And among His signs is this: That
He created mates for you from yourselves that you may find rest, peace of mind
in them, and He ordained between you love and mercy. Lo, herein indeed are signs
for people who reflect." [Noble Quran 30:21]

According to Islamic Law,
women cannot be forced to marry anyone without their consent.

Ibn 'Abbas
reported that a girl came to the Messenger of God, Muhammad (peace and blessings
be upon him), and she reported that her father had forced her to marry without
her consent. The Messenger of God gave her the choice... (between accepting the
marriage or invalidating it). [Ibn Hanbal No. 2469]

In another version,
the girl said:

"Actually I accept this marriage but I wanted to let women
know that parents have no right (to force a husband on them)" [Ibn Majah, No.
1873]

Besides all other provisions for her protection at the time of
marriage, it was specifically decreed that woman has the full right to her Mahr,
a marriage gift, which is presented to her by her husband and is included in the
nuptial contract, and that such ownership does not transfer to her father or
husband. The concept of Mahr in Islam is neither an actual or symbolic price for
the woman, as was the case in certain cultures, but rather it is a gift
symbolizing love and affection.

The rules for married life in Islam are
clear and in harmony with upright human nature. In consideration of the
physiological and psychological make-up of man and woman, both have equal rights
and claims on one another, except for one responsibility, that of leadership.
This is a matter which is natural in any collective life and which is consistent
with the nature of man.

The Quran thus states:

"...And they
(women) have rights similar to those (of men) over them, and men are a degree
above them." [Noble Quran 2:228]

Such degree is Quiwama (maintenance and
protection). This refers to that natural difference between the sexes which
entitles the weaker sex to protection. It implies no superiority or advantage
before the law. Yet, man's role of leadership in relation to his family does not
mean the husband's dictatorship over his wife. Islam emphasizes the importance
of taking counsel and mutual agreement in family decisions. The Quran gives us
an example:

"...If they (husband wife) desire to wean the child by mutual
consent and (after) consultation, there is no blame on them..." [Noble Quran
2:233]

Over and above her basic rights as a wife comes the right which is
emphasized by the Quran and is strongly recommended by the Prophet (peace and
blessings be upon him); kind treatment and companionship.