The Rights of Woman in Islam in Different Aspects

1. Introduction: Quranic Foundation of Equality

Islam is based on the Quran and the hadith — sayings of Prophet Muhammad — and these together provide the basic source of evidence for any view ascribed to Islam.

The Quran gives clear authentication to women that she has rights and responsibilities in the sight of God equal to men. It does not condemn women for Adam's first sin. It says that both are responsible for their disobedience to God, unlike the Christian concept which makes women responsible for the original sin.

In every field of woman's activity, Islam takes into account the physiological and psychological difference that is associated with the natural female propensity. It emphasizes kind and just treatment of the female child and ordains upon Muslims to impart equal care for boys and girls.

"Whosoever has a daughter, and he does not bury her alive, does not insult her and does not favour his sons over her, God will reward him paradise." — Ibn Hanbal, Compilation No.1957

For more on gender equality, see the UN Global Issues: Gender Equality.

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2. Marital Status of Muslim Women: Consent, Mahr, and Mutual Love

The objective of marriage according to the Quran is to immortalize the human race, emotional well-being and harmony. Its foundation is mutual love and affection. [The Quran – 30:21]

Generally, people may believe that according to Islamic law a woman has to marry with her parents' approval. But the fact is Islamic law does not compel a woman to marry without her consent. Moreover, all provisions to safeguard her rights at the time of marriage are precisely decreed.

Woman has the full right to mahr, a marriage gift payable to her by her husband according to the nuptial convention. The concept of mahr in Islam is not an actual or symbolic price for woman as is generally deemed. Rather, it is an obligation on the husband to pay it to the wife as a gift, symbolizing love and attachment. [The Quran – 4:34]

2.1 Rights Within Marriage: Leadership, Not Dictatorship

Marriage in Islam is a divine forfeit. Wife and husband have equal rights and claims over each other, except for one responsibility — that of leadership.

As a man involved in many activities he has to take responsibilities. This leadership in maintenance and protection of the family refers to that natural difference between the sexes which entitles the fairer sex for protection. It suggests no supremacy or advantage before the law.

Man's role of leadership does not mean the husband's dictatorship over his wife. Beyond her basic rights as wife, the right emphasized in the Quran and Hadith is the right to kind and generous treatment.

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"The most perfect believers are the best in conduct, and the best of you are those who are best to their wives." — Ibn Hanbal, Compilation No.7396

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2.2 Right to Divorce: Qula and Talaq

As the woman's right to make a decision about her marriage is recognized, so also her right to seek an end for an unproductive marriage is considered.

To ensure the stability of the family from the evils of prompt decision under emotional tension, certain steps and waiting periods are to be observed by couples seeking separation. Like men, women can also seek divorce. When separation is sought by a woman it is called 'Qula'; when it is sought by a man it is termed 'talaq'.

2.3 Status of Mothers: Paradise at Their Feet

Islam recommends good treatment of mothers in the strongest terms and contemplates the uppermost position of woman.

"Paradise is at the feet of mothers." — Gamal A. Badawi, 'Women in Islam', ed. Khursheed Ahmed, 1977

3. Right to Work and Property: Economic Independence

Islam has given consent to woman to take a step further in future. Islamic law fully acknowledges a woman's right to her money, estate or other movable and immovable property. This right undergoes no change whether she is married or single.

It is nowhere suggested in the law that a woman is secondary because she is a female. [Ali Parveen Shoukat. Status of Women in the Muslim World. Lahore: 1975. pp.50-60]

If we look upon woman's right to seek employment, it should be affirmed that Islam regards her role in society as mother and wife as the most esteemed and essential one. Society always makes her at home. It does not back up appointing maids or baby-sitters to take the mother's place as educator of the child.

However, there is no decree in Islam which interdicts woman from seeking employment when there is an obligation for it — especially in positions which fit her and in which her presence is necessary by society.

Islam has given woman a place in community where she can exercise her ability, talents and tactfulness without confiscation of even a part of her crucial feminity. She stands today with many of the advanced rights and favorable circumstances at her discretion — rights women in the West waged long-term efforts against traditions and government.

All the great religions of the world find place in this country. Diversification is apparent in beliefs, customs, and traditions. Unity lies in the merge of rites and rituals — the result of heavy borrowings from one way of life into another. This gave reality to a common cultural environment captioned 'India'. Also read: Indian Writings from 1920s-1950s: Political and Social Aspects.

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Also explore: Self Confidence: Belief Transforms Life

4. The Gap Between Shariah and Society

The place and position allowed to women in Islamic Shariah has already been revealed. Now: did Indian Muslim women really enjoy their rights, and if so, to what extent?

According to Praveen Shaoukat Ali (1960), the Muslim woman did not take pleasure in the rights sanctioned by the religion. Cross-cultural trends enormously affected Muslim society. Customs of other civilizations were fully imbibed by it.

Muslim rulers were so lacking in integrity that they took hardly any pains to enforce Shariah law on their people. On the contrary, they allowed themselves to be carried away by what other cultures did. They began to consider women as mere pieces of male desire.

The Indian viewpoint became so wrapped up in day-to-day life that a woman should stay all the time at home with piles of domestic labor, so that her "perverted thoughts" never raise their heads — the idea being she is evil personified, "Eve the temptress."

4.2 Cultural Practices That Contradicted Islam

The middle class Muslim men, most illiterate and ignorant of Quranic injunctions, came to believe woman is much inferior to man, more impure, and should never be trusted in regard to emotions and moral conduct. [Yousuf Islahi Mohammad, Islami Muashira, 1965]

During Muslim rule, Islamic law was apparently prevalent in law-courts. The 'Qadi' and the 'munsif' gave verdicts according to Shariah. But in practical social interaction, treatment of women was very derogatory. Only daring women who boldly went to the Qadi to ask for their due could get it. The majority had no access to executive or judicial authorities and had to content themselves with whatever little society and traditions gave them. [Ansar Amri Moulana Jalaluddin, Islami Maushere Mein Aurat ka Mugam, 1955]

It became common practice with non-Muslims to desert a woman who did not bring forth an issue for her husband. Widows were made to shave heads bald, hide from public, and were denied good clothes and ornaments. It was considered unlucky to look at them. A widow was forbidden from attending cheerful gatherings, touching brides, or partaking in marriage rituals. [Chattopadhyay Kamala Devi, Indian Woman's Battle for Freedom, 1983]

For further reference, see Women in Islam — Wikipedia.

4.3 Education: Denied and Distorted

It is not possible to appraise the extent of education among women in early Indian Muslim communities. Hardly any facts are available. However, girls were forbidden any acquisition of knowledge along with boys. Among non-Muslims too, holy teaching was not allowed because they were "not clear enough" to handle holy books.

Though Muslims could not depart their women from reading the Quran, only formal initial knowledge was open to them. A large number of women were illiterate, trained only through oral instructions to learn the Arabic text and daily prayers. Then they were initiated into domestic chores.

Only girls of upper classes had access to reading, writing, poetry, calligraphy, alchemy and embroidery. Girls of ordinary households grew up as submissive non-entities without training. Such dispossession spoilt their inner potentialities. In the long run it got established in men's minds that women are backward, inferior, and have no intelligence.

Muslims began to consider girls secondary to boys, and renounced giving them training in reading and writing. All they taught was a little Persian and arithmetic for domiciliary accounts. The reasoning: if girls learnt to read and write well, they would maintain clandestine correspondence with boy-friends. Hence education was deemed a "forbidden tree."

Related reading: Multicultural Families in Zadie Smith's White Teeth.

5. Conclusion: Reclaiming the Quranic Vision

We learn from this that during these times womanhood was esteemed only in the woman's role in carry-over. It was necessary for woman to advance everything — her rights, honor, self-esteem.

The uneducated middle-class Muslims, having lost sight of the Quranic concept of womanhood, need to be aware of the facts given in the Quran and should erase misconceptions. Some years ago the birth of a female child brought frowns. Families hid their faces from shame. They often threatened wives with 'talaq' if they constantly brought forth female children without male issue.

This clearly meant a woman's personal worth had no congenital value. These difficult pressures gave a despotic shape even to marriage and motherhood. The son came to be thought of as heavenly light, and the daughter of misery and darkness. The saying of Prophet Muhammad that a girl and a boy are equal in the sight of Allah except on grounds of piousness and righteousness was cast aside for all practical purposes.

Most Indian women living in orthodox families felt self-conscious to raise their voice against male dominance due to inferiority complex and rigid code of conduct imposed on them. Their ambitions, desires, sense and sensibility are faithfully expressed in the novels of women novelists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

For a woman, life is always a challenge. Since ages she has been subjected to challenges thrown by society, customs, traditions and men. Tradition has assigned a lower and subordinate position to women. A woman is obliged to subordinate her interest and desires to the collective will of her community, and to male members. These constricting social norms constrained her to obliterate her 'self' and separate identity.

But change is the law of life. The status of women all over the world has been undergoing rapid change. Traditionally, the Indian woman accepted the family framework with blind faith and rarely showed rebellion. But time has changed. The women of today in India are taking strides — though slow — towards attainment of selfhood, independence and personal dignity. [Rao, A.V. Krishna, The Indo-Anglian Novel and the Changing Tradition, 1972]

Also read: Self Esteem: Building Inner Strength

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