Islam for Non-Muslims

• RELIGIOUS FAITHS VS IRRELIGIOUS IDEAS
• 1 The Present State of the World Religions
• 2 Religious System as a Historical Reality
• 3 The Evidences of God across the Universe
• 4 The Absolute Oneness of God
• 5 The Reality of the Afterlife
• 6 The Growth of Irreligious Ideas
• 7 Worshipping Natural Elements
• 8 Worshipping Imaginary Idols
• 9 Worshipping Human Beings
• 10 Inventing Relationship to God
• 11 Inventing the Idea of Reincarnation
• 12 Inventing the Theory of Evolution (Darwinism)
• 13 Inventing ‘Nature’ as the Creator of the Universe
• 14 Importance of Religion in this Secular World
• ISLAM AS A RELIGION
• 15 Addressing the Criticisms of Islam
• 16 Islam as a Magnet for the Non-Muslims
• 17 The Quran as the Original Divine Book
• 18 The Quranic Reality in Archeological Findings
• 19 Muhammad (pbuh) as the Great Prophet
• 20 Islam as the True Religion
• 21 Islam as the Universal Religion
• 22 Islam as the Eternal Religion
• 23 Islam as a Practicable Religion
• 24 Islam as an Enjoyable Religion
• 25 Islam as the Peaceful & Savior Religion
• 26 Islam as the Progressive & Rational Religion
• 27 Islam in Health & Hygiene
• 28 Islam in Promotion of Science
• 29 Muslims in Practices of Science
• 30 Islam & Other Monotheisms: Similarities & Differences
• 31 Islamic Tolerance for Other Religions
• 32 Islamic Rights for Non-Muslim Citizens
• ISLAM AS A WAY OF LIFE
• 33 Islamic System vs. Human Ideologies
• 34 Moral & Social Impacts of Islamic Rituals
• 35 Moral Discipline in Islam
• 36 Sinning of 3 W’s: Women, Wine and Wealth
• 37 Dignity & Equality of Man in Islam
• 38 Human Rights in Islam
• 39 Social Duties in Islam
• 40 Dignity & Rights of Labor in Islam
• 41 Dignity of Women in Islam
• 42 Rights of Women in Islam
• 43 Marriage & Family Life in Islam
• 44 Political Philosophy in Islam
• 45 Economic Principles in Islam
• 46 Islamic Economy vs. Capitalism & Communism
• 47 Patriotism & Internationalism in Islam
• 48 Understanding Controversial Issues in Islam
• 49 Conversion to Islam: Problems & Prospects
• 50 Conclusive Message to the Non-Muslims

42: THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN ISLAM

Introduction: Islam offers a comprehensive package of rights and privileges for the women. These were unknown in the pre-Islamic societies as are yet mostly unseen in modern non-Islamic communities.  For example, the Revolution in France (1789) achieved the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, to the exclusion of women. The women in America got voting rights in 1920 through a long struggle about one century and a half after the Declaration of Independence in 1776. By contrast, Islam from its beginning awarded the rights to the women that are abundant enough for their honorable life and living amidst assurance that “women shall have the rights similar” to the men. (2:228). What’s more, these rights are fairly designed to balance with and complement to the rights of their male partners, in the overall interest of the society. 

1. The Right to Marriage and Happy Conjugal Life:

(i) Promoting Marriage: In many modern societies, the culture of free mixing between unwed males and females may partially serve biological purpose of marriage and therefore they feel less or no necessity for marriage at all.  Such a declining popularity of marriage is counteracted by Islam.  It condemns sex relations beyond wedlock as illegal. Instead it promotes the legal way of meeting sexual desire through marriage.  God has “established relationship of family lineage and marriage” (25:54).  He made your “mate (wife) of like nature” so that you might “live with her (in love)” and in tranquility and “He has put love and mercy between your (hearts)” (7:189; 30:21).  Marriage is a mutually beneficial union for both wife and husband and not a means for bringing her under his control (and therefore Islam does not require her to adopt his last name, like other societies). In view of multiple benefits of marriage, Islam has remarkably simplified the method of marriage compared to other cultures.  The essentials of such marriage are limited to only (a) clear consent of both partners and (b) public knowledge about that.

(ii) Encouraging Humane Treatment:  A Muslim woman has full freedom in choosing her husband.  For adult women, no marriage stands valid without her free and full consent as the Quran disapproves of “inheriting women against their will” (4:19). God also used this verse to reject the pre-Islamic dark culture of forced possession of deceased husband’s widow and her assets by his relatives. After marriage you are required to take care of biological needs of your wife (2:223).  For this reason, you are not allowed to live apart for too long without her consent.  You cannot use your wife simply as a tool of enjoyment, nor can you “treat her with harshness” or “annoy” her anyway (4:19; 65:6). Instead you are directed to treat her “on a footing of kindness and equity.  (Otherwise), if you take a dislike to them, it may be that you dislike someone through which God may bring about a great deal of good” (4:19). The Prophet said a good man is the one who is good to his wife. In practice, he was never badly behaved to any of his wives.

 (iii) Modeling Exemplary Behavior: With an eye on happy and lovable conjugal life, the Prophet advised: “If your wife has any bad qualities, you should remain satisfied with what of good ones she does have”.  As a model example of how a husband should live and deal with his wife, he told funny stories to his wife Aisha, raced with her in sportive running, lovingly ate together from the same plate, shared brush for cleaning teeth, tenderly wiped out her tears and so on.  

2. Right to Economic Security:  (i) Maintenance by Husband: Islam gives full economic security to women by legally obligating her father to pay for her living until marriage and her husband thereafter. The husband is liable to maintain his wife “in the same style as you live according to your means” (65:6).  His obligation to “bear the cost of her food and clothing on equitable terms” (2:233) does not change even if the wife has her own money.  Even after the death of husband, the widow is entitled to maintenance for at least “one year without being expelled” (2:241).

    Maintenance of her children is also exclusively a charge of her husband.  Even after divorce, a pregnant woman is entitled to means of living “until they deliver their burden” and after delivery, she will be “given compensation” for suckling the newborn, if not given to “another woman to suckle at the (father’s) expenses”. (65:6)

(ii) Dowry for Wife: As a unique provision of Islamic marriage, God provides for wife a mandatory sum of dower money (like a great saving) from the husband as he “derives benefits” from her (4:24).  The quantity is to be decided upon on the eve of marriage by balancing between her social status and his ability to pay.  She can spend this money like a “free gift” (4:4). Her husband “cannot take back any part of the dower” given to her, through harsh treatment (4:20).  There is insistence on clearing off such dues as soon as possible but mandated before divorce.  If she is “divorced before physical union but after fixation of the dower”, then she is entitled to “half of the dower” or “a reasonable amount of gift” if the same was not fixed (2:237; 2:236).

(iii) Inheritance:  Another economic benefit for the Muslim women is that they can legally inherit properties of their near relatives.  Particularly, husband has responsibility to make sure by means of a will that wife gets due share in his property following his death. It may be mentioned that in Islam out of 12 inheritor relatives: 8 of them are women and 4 men. Women, however, generally inherit at the rate of half the men based on the ruling “the male having twice the share of the male” (4:176), apparently in part for their freedom from any legal obligations to maintain family.  Women can spend their inherited or earned money in a way they like. “To men is allotted what they earn and to women what they earn” (4:32). This ruling, however, should not inspire her to go to the other extreme by neglecting her valuable services to the family for earning money outside home and spend that in a way not helpful for family harmony.

3.  Freedom of Movement with Secured Prestige: 

(i) Prestige Comes before Freedom of Movement: In modern permissive societies, women enjoy unrestricted freedom of movement and free mixing with men, often ending up with sex relations with them.  Such freedom may bring them some immediate pleasure, but that cannot be ultimately profitable, as their chastity, the most precious asset of womanhood, will be compromised. In that case, they may be part of unfavorable divine destiny of “Impure women are for impure men” (24:26). In reality, this may mean a devaluation of their marriage candidacy in value-dominated society, with lower demand from any potential chaste husband.  In yet worse case for married women, free mixing may break up the family, clouding the future of children. Islam therefore strikes a balance between their maximum freedom of movement and guaranteed prestige. 

(ii) Examples Set by Muslim Women: Accordingly, Muslim women, preserving their chastity, can step outdoors, if and when necessary.  Whenever they go on an external trip, they need to be properly dressed and their movement should be modest.  Meeting such conditions, the female members of the Prophet’s family often played a role in public life.  Aysha, for example, narrated over 2 thousand authentic Hadith (Prophet’s tradition), interpreted Islamic rules particularly on female matters and nursed the wounded warriors in the battlefield.  Fatima, beloved daughter of the Prophet provided emergency nursing services to the wounded warriors in the battlefield.  In 20th century, about 12,000 Algerian women set brilliant examples of what Muslim women potentially can do outside home, by successfully fighting, leading up to defeat of the French colonial soldiers in 1961. Thus Islam is not opposed to women’s freedom with necessary outdoor engagement as long as their safety or dignity is not compromised due to inappropriate clothing and/or inciting movement. In a show of heightened concern for female dignity, God codifies penalty of “flogging with eighty stripes” for inventing false charges against chaste women without producing 4 witnesses (24:4). 

(4) Right to Religion & Education: Islam accords complete freedom to the women to practice religion particularly the compulsory rituals including the 5 Pillars. Either before their marriage under guardianship of father or husband as a guardian after their marriage, no one can prevent them from practicing Islam preferably in home setting. In case they do, the women will have the right simply “not to obey them” (31:15). In order to be a successful practitioner of Islam, your quest for necessary knowledge through formal or informal (self-teaching) education is a matter of compulsion for all the Muslims: males and females.  Apart from such compulsory religious learning, the Muslim women are also allowed to seek secular education at formal institutions like school, college etc. (preferably at women-only campus) which is optional but potentially beneficial. Overall, they can benefit from education (formal or informal) in the following numerous ways. 

(i) They need to know vital rules for performing ‘fard’ deeds such as prayers, fasting etc. They are in dire need to know their gender specific rules such as prayer exemption days during menstruation, rules of modest clothing etc.  Their learning can better enable them to distinguish right from wrong and identify sins, needed to follow Islam. 

(ii) Education has power to enrich their morality and enhance judgmental power and thus enabling them to be an immediate advisor to husband.

(iii) They need to have education that is necessary for doing right kind of jobs for supplementing family income if and when husband's income falls short. Education can enhance their readiness for the job market when that becomes absolutely necessary such as in case of husband's death or unemployment.

(iv) Women's education can be a deterrent to potential abuses by the husband. An educated wife is likely to appear to husband more like an asset than a liability and may therefore be more loveable by him. Besides, education would make them less vulnerable as the husband would foresee his wife standing on her feet by means of a job in case he divorces or mistreats her.

(v) An educated mother can be a successful early educator in order to better prepare her children for formal schooling. Education can also qualify the women to provide other essential services such as for moral guidance, nursing or medical services etc. to family.

(vi) Education can give the talented women necessary skills to make innovative contributions or provide their gender specific services (like being a GYN doctor or early education teacher etc.) needed for the society.

(5) The Right to Work Outdoors:  In Islam, there is no basic restriction against the right of women to engage in any right kind of activities in public life.  The women related to the Prophet modeled examples of female employment or necessary engagement outside home. His first wife Khadeja ran a business enterprise, another wife Zainab was a maker of handicrafts. Nusaybah was an early female fighter for Islam who earned lavish praise from the Prophet. Khawlah was another valiant Muslim warrior. All these examples amount to an approval for similar roles for Muslim women in modern times as well. 

Female Employment: Women’s right to work or engage in legitimate outdoor activities is, however, subject to the following two conditions: One, their clothing needs to be decent and work environment safe.  Two, outdoor employment must not be a cause for their prolonged negligence in household obligations like caring of children and companionship with husband etc.  Based on these, female jobs are classified as follows:
(a) Preferable: Examples include tailoring for women customers, nursing for women patients, medical professionals with specialty in female diseases, delivery or child health etc., girls’ school teacher, working for economic survival etc.
(b) Not preferable: Jobs that are not generally considered suitable on ground of their vulnerability or physical/mental limitations include female night guard, attendant inside other’s home, combat soldier, steel mill worker, being actress or commercial model etc.
(c) Neutral: In between the above two extremes, there are numerous jobs that the women may take up by complying with the above two conditions and judging their individual situations e.g. work for survival takes precedence over pleasure jobs.

Conclusion: Obviously, the rights and privileges of women in Islam have a comfortable lead over those available in other societies. In consequence, an average Muslim woman is both happy and proud for their rights regardless of their conservative status.