❞ كتاب Women 039 s Right in Islam ❝ ⏤ ساره شريف

PREFACE
''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.
Jamal-un-Nisa bint Rafai, PhD
London, 3rd Dhul-Hijjah 1409 (6th July 1989)

In tfie name of J'L[{afi tfie 'Beneficent tfie 'Mercifu[
'I did not create humanity andjinn but to worship Me'
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:
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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

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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 ... "

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The result of these developments is that though women have been shown
to be equal and even superior to men in some areas, they have been losing
this privelege when they have been forced to compete with men as equals

on a quantitative scale (something which the Equal Opportunities Commis-
sion regularly highlights in its Reports). Western families and Western

society are in crisis, because women have been forced " .... to live a life
devoid of personality and individuality".... Alienation is increasing,
suicides are increasing, lonliness and depression are up, divorce and

separation are rising, women are being exploited like never before for com-
mercial and other less savoury purposes. Finally, male aggressiveness

against women has increased to such an extent that the so-called liberated
woman is counselled not to go out after 5pm in the winter for fear of being
attacked.
~ Amazingly, it is this fallible Western model for the liberation of women
which is being presented to the whole world as the one to be applauded and

introduced into the so-called 'backward' societies; of course, Muslim com-
munities are considered to be most in need of reform in terms of women's

rights and role. The West's venomous and incessant onslaught against
Islam's treatment of women has infact become so sustained and aggressive
that some Muslims have been lead to think that Islam is unfair in its
treatment of women, and that the West offers greater freedom and fairness.
Part of the reason for the success of Western propoganda is the fact that
Muslim women are being denied rights and freedoms accorded to them in
the name of Islam. It seems the only way to regain their rights is to abandon
Islam, but in reality, many of the rights and freedoms that women have in
this society have only been secured in the past 100 or so years, after a very
long and bitter struggle which has caused women to question and overturn
all the logical norms and invent a new ideology, 'Feminism'. For instance,
adherents have argued that religion and history shows nothing but hatred
towards, and subjugation of, women from the beginnning of time; others
have wondered whether God is male or female; and yet others have made
it fashionable to worry about the use of terms such as 'manhole' or

'mankind' because they argue, these terms are evidence of male domina-
tion!

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