Social Rights Of Women In Islam As a Wife

 

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1. According to the Oxford Dictionary, ‘Women’s Rights are “rights that promote a position of legal and social equality of women with men’. According to the Webster’s dictionary.

‘Women’s rights claimed for women equal rights with those of men with respect to suffrage {right to vote}, property etc.

2. According to the Oxford dictionary, ‘Modernising’ means “to make modern, adapt to modern needs or habits. “Webster dictionary defines ‘Modernising’ as “to make modern, to give a new or modern character or appearance’. For example, to modernise one’s ideas. Therefore, modernising is a process of updating and opting for the betterment of the present status; modernising is not the present status itself.

3. Can we modernise ourselves in time to master our problems and realise a new and satisfying way of life for the whole human race?

I am not too concerned about the so called ‘modern’ ideas, conclusion, and categorical statements of scientists and inexperienced arm-chair experts on how life should be lived by women. I am more inclined to base my considerations and conclusions on truths which can be proven in experience. Experience and unbiased holistic factual analysis are the only sure test between the gold of truth and the glitter of theory.

Our thinking has to be checked against reality or our mental processes can lead us very much astray. Indeed the best brains of the day in earlier days believed the world to be flat.

4. If you agree with the picture portrayed by the Western media on the status and rights of women in Islam, you have no option but to believe that women’s rights in Islam are outdated.

All talk of women’s liberation in the West is actually a disguised form of exploitation of her soul.

The Western society while claiming to improve the status of women has actually degraded them to the status of concubines, mistresses and society butterflies, who are employed as mere tools at the hands of pleasure seekers and sex marketers hidden behind the colourful screen of art and culture.

5. Islam’s radical revolutionary call gave women their due status and rights in society in times of the “Days of Ignorance” more than 1,4000 years ago.

One of the objectives of Islam was and continues to be of modernising the thinking, living, seeing, hearing and feelings of women and striving for women’s upliftment and emancipation in society.
Six Important Points to be Noted

1. Muslims constitute about 5th of the population of the world. Different Muslim societies have different cultures. Some of these cultures may be close to Islam while some others may be far away from Islam.

2. Status of women in Islam should be judged according to authentic sources of the teachings of Islam on the subject and not by observing what individual Muslim do or what any Muslim society does.

3. The authentic sources are: A) The Qur’an which is the word of Almighty God. b) Authentic Hadith or Sunah (tradition) of Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh).

4. The Qur’an will never contradict itself; nor would the authentic Hadiths contradict among themselves nor would the authentic hadith contradict the Qur’an.

5. Scholars differ at time. This difference on many occasions can be removed by analysing the Qur’an as a whole and not be deriving the meaning form one single verse. In cases of ambiguity many a time the clarification is given in some other part of the Qur’an. To support one idea the scholars quote a source and ignore other sources.

6. For a dedicated Muslim, be it a male or a female, the ultimate goal is to seek the pleasure of Allah and to fulfil our duties on earth as his trustees and not a satisfy one’s own ego or to gain fame.

Islam believes in equality between men and women. Equality does not mean identicality: it means equity. Islam presents the roles of men and women as complimentary roles and not contradictory or conflicting roles; the roles of partners with a common set of goals and objectives and not roles that conflict with each other with each of them having the objective of striving for supremacy.

We shall in this publication discuss the rights of women in Islam under six major headings;
1. Spiritual
2. Economical
3. Social
4. Educational
5. Legal
6. Political.

Social Rights

Socially Islam gives women four different status:

1. As a Daughter
2. As a Wife
3. As a Mother
4. As a Sister

As a Wife :

i.a. Islam does not consider “Woman as an instrument of the devil” as considered by the Bible. But rather the Qur’an calls her “Mohsana” - a fortress against Satan, because a good woman by marrying a man helps him keep a straight path in life.

b. Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) declared that there is no Monasticism in Islam. He further ordained, “Oh you young men - whoever is able to marry should marry for this will help him to lower his gaze and guard his modesty” (Al-Bukhari). c. It is narrated by Anas that the messenger of Allah (Pbuh) said, “when a man marries he has completed one half of his religion!”

Once during a question and answer session somebody asked me does this imply that if I marry twice I will complete my full religion? The Prophet (Pbuh) considered marriage for a Muslim as half of his religion because it shields him from promiscuity, fornication, homosexuality, etc, which add to half the evil in society.

Secondly, only after you marry do you have an opportunity to become a husband or wife, a father or a mother and thus perform your duties as either as a husband or as a wife; as a father or as a mother. Whether you marry once or twice you are yet fulfilling only half your deen.

ii. a. According to Islam marriage is a blessing and bounty on both men and women.

In Surah Al-Rum Chapter 30, Verse 21 (30:21)

“And among His signs is this, that He created for you mates from among yourselves, that ye may dwell in tranquillity with them, and He has put love and mercy between your (hearts)”.

b. In Surah Nisa Chapter 4, Verse 21 (4:21)

The Qur’an refers to marriage as a “Misaq” that is a sacred covenant or agreement between husband and wife.

iii. a. In Surah Nisa Chapter 4, Verse 19 (4: 19)

“Oh! You who believe, you are forbidden to inherit women against their will!”

b. Islamic law requires the consent of both the parties before marriage. In matters related to marriage a woman cannot be forced by anyone including her father. Parents can help and advise the daughter on marriage but cannot impose or force his will. There have been cases where Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) had given the choice of continuing or invalidating certain marriages where the consent of the daughter was not taken (Ibn Hambal No.2469).

c. Ibn Abbas reported that a girl came to the messenger of God, Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) and she reported that her father had forced her to marry without her consent. The Messenger of God gave her the choice (between accepting the marriage or invalidating it _Ibn Hanbal No.2469).

In another version, the girl said : “Actually I accept this marriage but I wanted to let women know that parents have no right (to force a husband on them)” (Ibn-Maja, No.1873).

iv. Woman in Islam is considered to be a home-maker and not a housewife because she is not married to the house. v. In Islam, when a woman is married to a man it is not that she is married to a master so that she should be treated like a slave but she is married to her equal and should be treated like a partner with love and dignity.

The Prophet (Pbuh) said the most perfect believers are those that are best in character and behaviour and those that are best to their families (that is to their wives) (Ibn Hambal No.7396).

vi. a. The rights of husband and wife are equal in all respects except in the aspect of leadership in the family.

In Surah Al-Baqarah Surah 2, Verse 228 (2: 2228)

“And women shall have rights similar to the rights against them, according to what is equitable but men have a degree of advantage over them.”

Here a degree higher does not mean in superiority but refers to responsibility. The Qur’an has stated in Surah Al-Nisa Chapter 4, Verse 34 (4 :34).

“Men are the protectors and maintainers of women because Allah has given one more (strength) than the other because they support them from their means.”

The Arabic word used is “Qawwam” which many a time is mistaken for superiority but is actually derived from “Iqama” meaning to “stand up for” in the same fashion as Iqama is given before prayers that is “standing up for prayers.”

Therefore men are not one degree higher in superiority or dictatorship but one degree higher in standing up for responsibility.

b. According to the commentary of Al Tabari the word ‘Qawwam’ means a degree higher in responsibility and service and not superiority. Therefore it is the duty of the man to see that he provides security and maintenance to women and this should be carried out with mutual consent.

vii. Even if there is lack of affection or liking between husband and wife this is not a justification to be unjust and not compassionate.

In Surah Al-Nisa Chapter 4, Verse 19 (4:19)

“Live with them (wives) on a footing of kindness and equity. If ye take a dislike to them it may be that ye dislike a thing Allah brings about through a great deal of good.”

viii. There is a system of divorce in Islam which is to be applied only in extreme cases where the problem between the husband and wife is too grave to be solved and the continuation of married life would be counterproductive. The method of divorce is clearly spelt out in the Qur’an in Surah -Al-Talaq in Chapter 65 and in Surah Al-Baqrah Verses 227 to 242.

According to Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh), among the permissible things in Islam, the most hated in the sight of Allah is divorce. It is as though the heavens shatter (metaphorically).

There is a great deal of misconception and myth about the system of divorce in Islam, not only among the non-Muslims but also amongst the Muslims, who think that men have the exclusive right to give divorce.

Following are the ways of dissolution of marriage in Islam.
a. By the unilateral will of the husband.
b. By the unilateral will of the wife (if the marriage contract so specifies).
c. By the judgment of a Muslim judge (Kazi). After a reasonable complaint lodged by a wife against her husband on grounds such as ill treatment, lack of support, etc., or any other legitimate and satisfactory reason.
d. ‘Khula’ where even if the husband is not at fault and if the wife does not like staying with the husband. She need not specify the reason for seeking a ‘Khula’. An incident of Khula had taken place during the time of Prophet (Pbuh) where he commanded the husband to give divorce.
e. Many westerners have the misconception that Polygamy is compulsory in Islam and that Islam ordains that all Muslim men should marry four wives.

The true fact is that monogamy is what is preferred in Islam. The Holy Qur’an is the only religious book on the face of the earth which has the following phrase in its directives to men, “marry only one”.


Conclusion :

A. As I mentioned earlier equality does not mean identicality. In Islam Women are over all equal but not identical in each and every aspect.

I would like to conclude my talk by giving an example:

In an examination, two students "A" and "B" both obtain the first rank by scoring 80 out of 100. The question paper contained 10 questions each carrying 10 marks.

In question No. 1 Student "A" obtained 9/10 and student “B” obtained 7/10.

Student "A" gets higher marks and is better off than student “B” in question No.1.

In Question No.2 Student "A" scores 7/10 and student "B" scores 9/10.

Therefore in question 2 student "B" gets higher marks and is better off than student "A".

In question 3 both "A" and "B" obtained 8/10 i.e. in Q.3. both are equal.

When you add up the grand total of all the ten questions, both obtained 80/100. Therefore both the students "A" and "B" are overall equal. In some questions "A" has higher marks than "B" and in some questions "B" has higher marks than "A", while in other questions both are equal.

To take the analogy to practical terms, Allah has made man physically stronger than woman. Suppose a robber enters your house, will you talk about women’s right and say men and women are identical and equal and hence tell your mother, wife, sister or daughter to go and fight the thief? It is but natural that your answer is "no"! Concerning physical strength, men are at an advantage as compared to women and it is their duty to tackle such problems first. If required, in some circumstances, the womenfolk too can help.

On the other hand, as I mentioned earlier, in Islam, a child gives three times more love and respect to his mother as compared to what he gives his father. Here, when it comes to children giving love and respect to their parents, women have more advantage as compared to men.

In the same fashion men and women ln Islam are over all equal, but in some aspects men have a degree of advantage (and the related responsibility) and in some aspects women have a degree of advantage (and the related responsibility), while in other aspects both are equal.

B. This, in brief high lights Women’s Rights in Islam as based on the Qur’an and Sunnah.

However, in respect to these, whether Muslim societies in different parts of the world now and in the past have behaved or misbehaved is a different story. Many Muslim societies did not give woman the complete rights because of wrong interpretations of the Qur’an and Sunnah.

Western Society has done so much harm to women that some Muslim societies have become over-cautious, and deviated from the Qur’an and Sunnah by going to the other extreme; yet others have blindly imitated, aped and followed the western society without analysing the rights given to women in Islam.

If they had analysed and understood the Qur’an and the Sunnah they would have realised that women’s rights are modern and not outdated.