by : Habeeb Ibraheem
The idea of this article came to my mind after I read a history book which documented the behaviours and acts practiced on women in past eras , especially in the Roman times. Simultaneously , what I had studied in the university reminded me of the English literature and its various references to women and the reactions attributed to them.
The West grievously criticizes Islam for its treatment to women , alleging that it ill-treated them and repudiated their rights .This assertion is baseless .In contrary , Islam reveres women as mothers , wives , sisters & daughters. This can be distinctly affirmed through an objective historical review of women and their position in society .
Judaism , for instance, disrespected women and attributed the human misery to Eve when she abetted Adam to eat from the forbidden tree and caused him to descend from paradise .Unsurprisingly , Judaism refuses a woman's heirdom if she has a brother.
The Christian communities towards the end of the Middle Ages were reviewing and discussing woman's humanity out of scorn for them.
As for the heathen Brahmanism , it foolishly advocated abandoning woman as a condition to enter Paradise and absolutely believed that women were indecent creatures who must be stripped of their rights .Therefore, a woman must burn herself on the death of her husband. The British colonialists in India found it impossible to abolish this habit. The Roman law oppressed woman , considering feminism a cause for interdiction like insanity and immaturity. Even the age of Chivalry , which was called the age of woman , was really the age of horse as John L. Davis described it in his book " The Concise History of Women" .
Some pre-Islam Arab communities gave woman a meager respect although they kept on treating them in a similar manner as their contemporary nations. Some Arab tribes perpetuated infanticide against their new-born baby daughters to ward scandals off , banned women to inherit anything and treated them as a bequest to the parents of the dead man .Women were often held captives and this was common place in those uncivilized communities.
Beyond all the aforesaid injustices which crippled the identity of women , Islam became so articulate to enact the complete equity of women , sharing rights and duties with men .It also respects a woman as a part and parcel of man's life as they perform joint responsibilities in this existence .The holy Quran is copious of examples of these social values , versing and emphasizing the unity of the creation of man & woman :-
"Who created you from a single person. Created of like nature, his mate ."(Surrat Al-Nisa'a Women , verse 1)
In this respect , Quran always refers to the duties of men and women in regard to responsibilities , reward & punishment:
"And their Lord has accepted of them , and answered them:"Never will I suffer to be lost the work of any of you
Be he male or female
Ye are members , one of another [ surrat Children of Imran , verse 195]
Many direct references can be seen elsewhere in Quran such as Surrat Al-Ahzab ( the Confederates ,verse35):
"For Muslims men & women :
"Devout men and women"
These verses affirm the will of All-Wise God to enact equitable laws for men and women , as opposed to the above-mentioned earthly social laws. Furthermore, Islam rejects any injustices practiced on women, raising them above the pre-Islamic era conventions and rescinding the acts of captivity , disrespect and equitably giving them the right of heirdom on equal par with men .
The references are exuberant in Islam "Quran and Sunnah" , e.g. surrat al-Nisa'a (Women) which comes as an evidence of such respect , comprising heirdom systems. The heirdom division starts from verse 6 and follows on to the middle of the Surrah .
God shows the best outlet from argument & discord which occur in family .Islam also gives women full serious rights , including freedom of selling & buying independently from men's authority .This cannot be seen in any man-made laws from Europe to date. The French civil law which was being applied till until 1939 did not allow a woman to use her properties outside the authority of her husband .Then , it was amended to some extent , showing partial freedom to women's rights and submitting to certain conventions . Another example of this injustice towards women is the German Civil Law , which did not show flexibility towards women's freedom of possessing any property before 1957.
Prophet Mohammed(MGP&BUH) recommended his nation to treat women fairly as men's life partners , placing the importance of mother even before father's. We know Islam cares so much about community and its members in a full-scale equity .
Thereupon, rights & duties are properly entitled and classified to every member in regard to his or her capacities. Therefore , women share in this just position appropriate to their nature , not on the basis of the social differences .Many activities are better performed by women than men , such as household ,childcare as the famous dictum goes: "Mother is like a school if well prepared , noble generations succeed on."
That as a brief theological & social comparison expressing the Islamic right treatmrnt & equity basis on which society is based .
