Women in Qur'anic
Society
Equal status and worth of the sexes
The first of these characteristics of a
Qur'anic society which affect women is that both sexes are held to be
equal in status and worth. In other words, the Qur'an teaches us that
women and men are all creatures of Allah, existing on a level of equal
worth and value, although their equal importance does not substantiate a
claim for their equivalence or perfect identity. This equality of male
and female is documentable in the Qur'an in passages pertaining to at
least four aspects of human existence and interaction.
A. Religious Matters
The first of these Qur'anic
confirmations of male-female equality are contained in statements
pertaining to such religious matters as the origins of humanity, or to
religious obligations and rewards.
1. Origins of Humanity. The
Qur'an is devoid of the stories found in the Old Testament which
denigrate women. There is no hint that the first woman created by God is
a creature of lesser worth than the first male, or that she is a kind of
appendage formed from one of his ribs. Instead, male and female are
created, we read, min nafsin wahidatin ("from a single soul or self") to
complement each other (Qur'an 4:1; 7:189). Whereas the Torah or Old
Testament treats Eve as the temptress of the Garden of Eden, who aids
Satan in enticing Adam to disobey God, the Qur'an deals with the pair
with perfect equity. Both are equally guilty of sinning; both are
equally punished by God with expulsion from the Garden; and both are
equally forgiven when they repent.
2. Religious Obligations and Rewards.
The Qur'an is not less clear in commanding equality for men and women in
its directives regarding religious obligations and rewards. We read:
Lo! Men who surrender unto Allah,
and women who surrender, and men who believe and women who believe, and
men who obey and women who obey, and men who speak the truth and women
who speak the truth, and men who persevere (in righteousness) and women
who persevere and men who are humble and women who are humble, and men
who give aims and women who give alms, and men who fast and women who
fast, and men who guard their modesty and women who guard (their
modesty), and men who remember Allah and women who remember-Allah hath
prepared for them forgiveness and a vast reward. (33:35)
B. Ethical Obligations and Rewards
Secondly, the Qur'an reveals to mankind
the desired equality of the two sexes by establishing the same ethical
obligations and rewards for women and men.
And who so does good works, whether
male or female, and he (or she) is a believer, such will enter Paradise
and they will not be wronged the dint in a date-stone. (4:124)
Whosoever does right, whether male
or female, and is a believer, him verily We shall quicken with good
life, and We shall pay them a recompense according to the best of what
they do. (16:97)
If Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala had not
deemed the two sexes of equal status and value, such explicit statements
of their equality in ethical obligations and rewards would not have been
made in the Qur'an.
C. Education
Although the more specific commands for
the equal rights of women and men to pursue education can be found in
the hadith literature, the Qur'an does at least imply the pursuit of
knowledge by all Muslims regardless of their sex. For example, it
repeatedly commands all readers to read, to recite, to think, to
contemplate, as well as to learn from the signs (ayat) of Allah in
nature. In fact, the very first revelation to Prophet Muhammad (S) was
concerned with knowledge. In a Qur'anic society, there can never be a
restriction of this knowledge to one sex. It is the duty of every Muslim
and every Muslimah to pursue knowledge throughout life, even if it
should lead the seeker to China, we are told. The Prophet (S) even
commanded that the slave girls be educated, and he asked Shifa' bint
`Abdillah to instruct his wife Hafsah bint `Umar. Lectures of the
Prophet (S) were attended by audiences of both men and women; and by the
time of the Prophet's death, there were many women scholars.
D. Legal Rights
A fourth evidence in the Qur'an for the
equality of men and women is its specification of legal rights which are
guaranteed for every individual from cradle to grave. Unlike the
situation in the West, where until the last century it was impossible
for a married woman to hold property on her own, to contract with other
persons, or to dispose of her property without the consent of her
husband, the Qur'an proclaims the right of every woman to buy and sell,
to contract and to earn, and to hold and manage her own money and
property. In addition to these rights, the Qur'an grants woman a share
in the inheritance of the family (4:7-11), warns against depriving her
of that inheritance (4:19), specifies that the dower (mahr) of her
marriage should belong to her alone and never be taken by her husband
(2:229; 4:19-21,25) unless offered by the woman as a free gift (4:44).
As with any privilege, these rights of
women carry corresponding responsibilities. If she commits a civil
offence, the Qur'an tells us, woman's penalty is no less or no more than
that of a man in a similar case (5:41; 24:2). If she is wronged or
harmed, she is entitled to compensation just like a man.
It is clear that the Qur'an not only
recommends, but is even insistent upon, the equality of women and men as
an essential characteristic of a Qur'anic society.
The claim of the non-Muslim critics
that Islam denigrates women is denied emphatically by the Qur'an.
Similarly denied are the arguments of certain Muslims that women are
religiously, intellectually and ethically inferior to men, as Jewish and
Christian literatures had earlier maintained. |