Women in Islam

                          O mankind! We created you from a single soul, male and female,
                         and made you into nations and tribes, so that you may come to
                         know one another. Truly, the most honoured of you in God's sight
                         is the greatest of you in piety. God is All-Knowing, All-Aware
(Quran,49:13)

                         "Prior to Islam," write the authors of Cultural Atlas of Islam, "a woman was
                         regarded by her parents as a threat to family honor and hence worthy of
                         burial alive at infancy. Before Islam, the birth of a female child was regarded
                         as a great misfortune and a shame, and fathers buried them alive: "When
                         news is brought to one of them of (the birth) of a female (child), his face
                         darkens, and he is filled with inner grief. With shame does he hide himself
                         from his people, because of the bad news he has had. ." (The Qur’an:
                         16:58-59). Islam made this primal injustice a case for the highest court
                         when on the Day of Judgment "the female (infant) buried alive, will be
                         asked for what crime she was killed." (The Qur’an: 81:8-9).

                         From this position of inferiority and legal incapacity, Islam raised women to
                         a position of influence and prestige in family and society." For women, Islam
                         is a special blessing; and the Prophet of Islam is indeed the greatest single
                         benefactor of womenfolk. In a world where woman was no more than an
                         object of sexual gratification for men, and at a time when the religious circles
                         argued over whether woman was human or not, with a soul of her own,
                         Islam proclaimed, "O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a
                         male and a female." (The Qur’an 49:13).

                         "O Mankind! Reverence your Guardian-Lord, Who created you from a
                         single person, created of like nature his mate, from them scattered
                         countless men and women. Fear Allah, through whom you demand your
                         mutual rights and reverence the wombs (that bore you), for Allah ever
                         watches over you." (The Qur’an 4:1) Islam removed some of the false
                         notions about woman. It for instance refuted the idea that Eve tempted
                         Adam to disobey God, and thus caused his downfall. The Qur’an explicitly
                         says that they both disobeyed and negates the idea that the woman is a
                         source of evil. The Qur’an mentions some of the women with great respect,
                         ea. the wives of Adam, Abraham, the mothers of Moses and Jesus. Some of
                         them (Mary and Sarah, for instance) were visited by angels and they talked
                         to them. This clearly puts woman on a pedestal of personal and social
                         respectability they never enjoyed before.

                         Islam elevated the position of woman in society and treated her on an equal
                         footing with man. "men and women are of the same family, and as such have
                         similar rights and duties, and their Lord promises them "Never will I waste
                         the work of a worker among you, whether male or female, the one of you
                         being from the other." (The Qur’an 3:195). In some cases, as a mother for
                         instance, clearly gave her precedence over man. Thus when a man asked the
                         Prophet (pbuh) "Who is most entitled to be treated with the best
                         companionship by me?" the Prophet (pbuh) told him "Your mother." The
                         man asked, "Who is next?" The Prophet (pbuh) said, "Your mother." Again
                         the man asked, "Who is next?" The Prophet (pbuh) said, "Your mother."
                         The man asked for a fourth time, "Who is next?" The Prophet (pbuh) said
                         "Your father." (Bukhari). In the transformed Islamic society, to have a
                         daughter was no longer a stigma or a matter of shame but a source of
                         perpetual blessing and a means of winning Allah’s pleasure. The Prophet
                         (pbuh) said: "If anyone cares for three daughters, disciplines them, marries
                         them and is kind to them, he will go to Paradise." (Abu Dawud).

                         . In Islam, a woman regardless of her marital status is fully capable of
                         owning, buying, selling and inheritance. "Unto the women of a family
                         belongs a share of that which parents and near kindred leave whether it
                         be a little or much, a legal share." (The Qur’an, 4:7)As a legal entity, her
                         marriage is not possible without her consent, and where a genuine case is
                         present she can even divorce her husband. The Muslim women were equal
                         partners with men in all spheres of life. The most important function of the
                         Muslim community as described in the Qur’an is "enjoining good and
                         prohibiting evil" in which women stand side by side with men: "The
                         believers, men and women, are protectors, one of another. They enjoin
                         what is just and forbid what is evil. They observe regular prayers, practice
                         regular charity and obey Allah and His messenger. On them will Allah
                         pour His mercy, for Allah is exalted in power, wise. Allah has promised to
                         believers, men and women, Gardens under which rivers flow, to dwell
                         therein, and beautiful mansions in Gardens of everlasting bliss." (The
                         Qur’an 9:72) Knowledge, which is the basis of all progress and
                         advancement, is compulsory on all Muslim men and women. So when a lady
                         asked the Prophet (pbuh), "Messenger of Allah, men have monopoly of all
                         of what you say. Appoint for us a day on which you may teach us of what
                         Allah has taught you," he appointed a time and place for them separately
                         and he would go and teach them.

                         Aishah (RA)[Wife of the Holy Prophet] occupies a unique position in the
                         history of Islam not because she was a wife of the Prophet (pbuh), but
                         because she is one of the greatest teachers in Islam. In the new Islamic
                         community women were so well informed that an old woman corrected
                         Caliph Umar (the Second Islamic Leader), when he wanted to limit the
                         amount of dowry. Umar was pleased and said, "The lady is right and Umar is
                         wrong." Now in this new social climate, women rediscovered themselves
                         and became highly active members of society rendering useful service