The record set straight:
Women in Islam have rights
November 16, 1995Noha's thoughts Noha Ragab
What do women and Islam have in common? Besides the stereotyped images
that each suffers from individually, the status of women in Islam is one of
the most extremely misunderstood and incorrectly portrayed things in
western society. We can investigate why this is so later. First, a brief
introduction to the actual status of women in Islam is in order.
Before discussing issues pertinent to the social status of women, consider
the original creation of the woman as portrayed by the Quran (the Islamic holy book)
which does not subscribe to the view that Eve was created from the crooked
rib of Adam and thus is of inferior status: "O humankind, be conscious of
your Sustainer who has created you out of one living entity, and out of
it created its mate, and out of the two spread abroad a multitude of
men and women." Instead, the verse of the Quoran shows that there is
no superiority for one sex over the other. This sets the tone for
the status of women in Islam.
The concept of gender equality in Islam is stressed by the
non-superiority of either sex over the other. It came at a time
when it was necessary to elevate the demeaned status of women and
grant them rights equal to those of men. The equality of women in Islam
is evident by the unprecedented legal rights given to them under a
monotheistic religion as defined in the Quoran. As one of many examples, consider
the rights of women in marriage and divorce. Both men and women have equal
rights to contract a marriage as well as to dissolve it. The precondition
of marriage is merely the mutual agreement by both parties. And unlike
Christianity, a woman in Islam can divorce her husband at any time if
she feels that she has been dealt with unjustly or even if she is just
unhappy with her spouse since marriage is based upon mutual responsibilities
toward each other. Islam has also ensured the woman's right to remarry pending
a three month refrainment period.
As for social rights, Islam has always recognized the prominent role that
women play in society. They are given the freedom to pursue any profession
including political positions. Both in the past and present day, women in
Islamic societies have reached political heights unparalleled in the most
"advanced" western nations. Even in the earliest day of Islam, Aysha, the
wife of the prophet, lead an army of 30,000 soldiers. Currently, women
lead two Islamic countries: Benazir Bhutto has served as the prime minister
of Pakistan since 1988 and has been a strong and remarkable leader. Turkey
is also headed by a Muslim woman, Tansu Ciller, who was elected the prime
minister in 1993. Here in the U.S., we still have never had a female president
and the outlook doesn't look too good either.
Those are just a few of the facts. Why then is Islam portrayed as a religion
that oppresses women and puts them in a position inferior to men? Part of that is
certainly due to the stereotyped image of how Islamic women are portrayed in western
media as an extension of Islam-bashing. A prominent example is the movie "Not Without
My Daughter" in which scores of false and fictitious depictions were made of women in
an Islamic country. It is also true, however, that in many so called "Islamic"
countries, women are not treated according to their God-given rights. But this
is not the fault of Islamic ideology but rather the misapplication or sometimes
the outright denial of the ideology in these societies.
Much of the practices and laws in "Islamic" countries have deviated from
or are totally unrelated to the origins of Islam. Instead many of these
practices are based on cultural or traditional customs which have been
injected into these societies. For example, in Saudi Arabia, women are
not allowed to drive by law. This rule, in a country which is supposed
to derive its law from Islamic legislation, is completely an invention
of the Saudi monarchy. This horrific rule as well as a host of others
are residues of old pre-Islamic tribal traditions where women were not
entitled to the same rights as men. As another example, in some "Islamic"
countries, many civil laws remain those that were imposed upon them during
European colonization. Much of the civil law that legislates personal and
family matters in Egypt, for example, is directly based on old French law.
As a result, an Egyptian man can divorce his wife much more easily than
the reverse. Consequently, women often have to suffer long and expensive
court procedures and have to prove that they were mistreated by their
husbands before being granted a divorce. Often times, laws in Middle
Eastern countries, which are legislated and enforced by men, only take
bits and pieces of Islamic law and combine them with concocted rules
based upon some cultural or foreign practices.
The status of women in Islam is one of equality and honor.
Unfortunately, in the current day and age, though there are many
societies in which the majority of citizens are Muslim, there are no Islamic nations.
Noha Ragab is a Durham resident.
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