❞ كتاب Women s Right in Islam ❝ ⏤ ساره شريف

''We must educate ourfe[[ow :Musfims -ana especiaf{y tfi.e youtfi. for tfi.ey are tfi.e [eaders
of tomorrow -witfi. regard to tfi.e importance ana via6ifity of tfi.eir Qt;r'anic traditions
concerning women, tfi.e fami[y ana society.' Lois Lamya :Faruqi
The purpose of this book is to explain to the reader in as concise a manner
as possible, the basic rights of women in Islam with an awareness that much
could be written in the days and years to come. This work may serve as
a stepping-stone to a deeper study of the subject.
Everything inside quotation marks has come from two basic sources: the
Qur'an and the Traditions of the Prophet Muhammad (SAAS) i.e. Ahadith.
Chapter four of the Qur'an, 'An-Nisa', ('Woman'), has been referred to
several times because many of the verses in it deal with the rights of women
and with questions relating to family life in general.
In the present work an attempt has been made to draw a realistic picture of
the woman's rights in Islam. The authoress, a practising young Muslimah

has made an effort to see the subject for itself, rather than making com-
parisions with alien concepts; truth is left to speak for itself.

Conscious and unconscious prejudice against Islam has pervaded Western
cultural notions ever since the time of the Crusades. The Western media
has always misrepresented the rights of woman in Islam and painted a
gloomy picture, not always innocently. The need for an accurate and more
sympathetic understanding of the rights of women in Islam is indispensible
for the present time, especially in the Western and Westernizing societies.
The book is a good effort in response to the moral necessity of the present
time. The authoress has dealt with the subject with clarity of ideas and

simplicity of expression. Insha Allah the book will benefit future genera-
tions as well as present society as an aid to understanding the rights of

women in Islam.

The role designated for a Muslim woman by Islam is the clearest proof of
the equality and rights that she enjoys within the faith. Being a woman does
not absolve her from any of the following fundamental roles that she shares
with her male counterparts:
*
*

*

*
*
worshipping the Creator and Sovereign of this universe, the
primarypurpose for which all human beings were created.

carrying out the duty of being the khalifatulAllah- God's viceger-
ent on earth - whose role is to bring mankind to Islam and to

establish peace and justice and to enjoin right and forbid the
wrong.
having to perform the daily acts of ritual and general worship
enjoined on the believer- for instance, prayer, giving charity,
telling the truth, correcting error etc, all of which come under the
banner of ibadah.

having to answer for one's beliefs and actions on the day of Judge-
ment when all humanity will be raised up and held to account.

receiving the reward or punishment ordained by Allah on
the basis of her performance of good deeds in this life.
The Qur'an of course makes it clear that the reward or punishment for
fulfilling or not fulfilling these duties is absolutely equal:
'For Muslim men and women, for believing men and women, for devout
men and women,for true men and women,for men and women who are
patient and constant, for men and women who humble themselves, for
men and women who give in charity,for men and women who fast (and
deny themselves),for men and women who guard their chastity,for men
and women who engage much in God's praise, for them has God
prepared forgiveness and a great reward'. (33: 35)
It is however a fact that Allah in His wisdom ordained that all of animate
creation is created in zawaj, pairs, and that our species, the species of

2

human beings is no different. Thus, we form a dual sex society. Each of
the two sexes, male and female, have been created to fulfil a certain role:

role specialization or responsibility if you will, for which it has been emo-
tionally, mentally and physically prepared. This natural division oflabour

is part of the natural balance with which Allah has created our whole
universe. According to it, the male is obliged to bear a greater part of the
economic responsibilities, whilst the female is equipped to shoulder a
greater part of the childbearing and rearing responsibility. This role
specialization in no way negates the absolute equality of males and females
in terms of their worth, first of all as human beings, and secondly as
Muslims.
To find fault with this natural ordering of things, is to question God's
wisdom or to waste one's time wondering 'Why was I born male and not
female?' To actually alter the system is to play with nature- it is akin to
buying a complicated machine and instead of using the Manufacturer's
Operating Instructions, discarding them and making up one's own as time
goes on. The consequence of such action can be seen in what has happened
here in the West. Lois Lamya Faruqi, wife of Professor Ismail Faruqi, and
like him a great commentator on Islam and the West, has observed:
"Probably all of you are familiar with the contemporary move
towards unisex clothes and shoes, unisex jewellry and hairstyles, unisex

actions and entertainments. This results from the current notion in West-
em society that there is little if any difference between the two sexes in

physical, intellectual and emotional endowment, and that there should be
no difference in their functions and roles in society. The dress and the
actions are but a superficial evidence of a deeper conviction. Accompanied
by a downgrading of the qualities and roles traditional! y associated with the
female sex. This current idea has generated a unisex society in which the
male role only is respected and pursued. Although meant to bring a large
measure of equality for women, the idea that men and women are not only
equal but equivalent and identical, has actually pushed women into
imitating men and despising their womanhood. Thus it is generating a new
type of male chauvenism. Tremendous social pressures have resulted in the
stripping from women of their role responsibilites

 The woman's right in Islam, in the form of pdf by Sarah Sharif, a short message, in which the author addressed the rights of women in Islam, and explained to us what they have and what they have in this religion in simple terms, and clearly, and made a simple comparison between what the West gave women And what Islam gave to Muslim women, in the door of rights, and illustrates the distorted image portrayed by the media in this matter, and how many eager to say that Islam is unfair and that the injustice of women, and other suspicions and false images addressed by the author and corrected