Womens Rights – An Islamic Perspective of Equality

What is the Islamic concept of equality between men and women?

The holy book of Islam, the Quran,  clearly states that ‘all believers, without distinction, are equal and that only righteous deeds elevate one person above another’. Muslims therefore have an immense respect for righteous and pious men and women. Islamic history also tells us that men and women both served in many capacities from being teachers, doctors, leaders and even as soldiers.

Islam however also recognises that such equality does not mean that men and women are the same. It notes their different physical and emotional strengths and in view of this sets out their key roles in life. The roles are therefore not a question of superiority or inferiority, but a question of natural capacity and proper functioning.

For example men have been assigned the duty to work and provide for their family and women have been assigned the role of motherhood and of looking after the household.

Islam places equal importance on both and also stresses that the roles are not exclusive nor inflexible. This does not mean that women cannot work or serve society or that men have no duties or responsibilities for their children or for their household.

It is interesting to note that where women choose to work the money they earn is theirs and the husband has no right over it, whereas a husband must provide financially for the whole family.

All of this is in direct contrast to the status of women before the advent of Islam

Status of women before Islam

Before the advent of Islam, women were treated extremely harshly.  It was acceptable for female babies to be buried alive and  women were treated more as chattels and objects of sexual pleasure.  Islam changed all this, and taught equality of both genders.
It also granted women the right of inheritance and accordingly they received their due share as prescribed by the Shariah Law (Islamic Law).  A woman is entitled to individual ownership of property as a mother, as a wife, as a daughter, and as a sister. – rights that were granted to women in England hundreds of years later.

The Holy Prophet exalted the intellectual and spiritual status of women and said that the acquisition of knowledge is an incumbent duty to every Muslim male and female. The Holy Prophet of Islam knew the essential part women had to play in the development of society, so he laid great stress on the upbringing of girls by saying:

“A man who has two  daughters and brings them up and educates them to the best of his capacity shall be entitled to paradise”

According to Islam women are not considered inferior to men. Men and women have similar rights and in some areas women actually enjoy certain privileges that the men do not. In terms of property, marriage and divorce women have been given rights and in fact at each turn they have been considered and provided for as appropriate. It is true to say that Islam gave women rights which are unparalleled in the history of women.

Allah has declared in the Holy Qur’an that He has created men and women as equal beings.

He has created you from a single being; then from that He made its mate.
(Ch 39: V.7)

There is also a hadith of the Holy Prophet(saw) that:

‘A person who is blessed with a daughter or daughters and makes no discrimination between them and his sons and brings them up with kindness and affection, will be as close to me in Paradise as my forefinger and middle finger are to each other.’
(Muslim II, Section  Beneficence).

The above removes any concept of inferiority leveled at women in Islam. Furthermore, there are many references in the Holy Qur’an that refer to the various spheres of life  where the status of women has been elevated.

In summary Islam is the only religion that gives women the right to an education, property rights, the right of inheritance, and freedom of marriage and divorce. Similar rights were not available to women in Europe for many centuries after the advent of Islam.