Woman and Society [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

"In a report, the United
Nations strongly criticized the conditions of the children in Britain and the
laws and regulations of taking care of the children in that country.

"According to this report,
prepared by the Children's Rights Committee affiliated to the United Nations
Organization, the laws ruling in Britain concerning the health, eduacation and
social insurance of children pay no attention to the interests of the children
there.

"The specialists in the
Children's Rights Committee think that the laws concerning the children in
Britain only concentrate for punishing and imprisoning the deviated children
and teenagers.

"Among the criticisms in the
report is that the number of poor children has increased, the average of
divorce has increased, the authorities have decreased their relives to poor
families, and the number of children and teenagers, who loiter and beg in
streets, has increased.

"The writers of the report
expressed their worry about the mistreatment, sexual and physical exploitation
from which children suffer.

"According to what the
sources of the United Nations mentioned, the reports of this organization on
the conditions of the children in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark have criticisms
similar to those in the report about Britain."

An Iranian Newspaper, Jumhuri Islami, No.4485, mentioned the following: "According to IRNA News Agency from Bonn, the report of Germany Statistics
Office mentioned in the year 1993 that the number of mothers who brought up
their children by themselves increased each year. The report added that there
were 455 thousand mothers in the eastern states of Germany (21% of all mothers
in these states) who brought up their children by themselves.

"Besides there were 915
thousnad mothers out of 7 million mother (12% of mothers) in the western states
of German brought up their children by themselves.

"Thus, there were one million
370 thousand mothers out of 9 million 260 thousand in Germany who brought up
their children by themselves.

"According to this report,
46% of these mothers in the eastern states and 30% of them in the western
states did not marry officially, and 43% of these women divorced their
husbands. As the children in Germany are under the care of mothers, therefore,
they should take the responsibility of bringing them up.

There are over 9.26 million
mothers in Germany. They have children under 18 years old. 5.4 million of them
work outside their houses full time or part time in addition to their
responsibilities in their houses and the tasks of bringing up their children.

It is worth mentioning, the
average of divorce has doubled since 1968. It has increased from 65 thousand
cases in 1968 to 135 thousand cases in present years. Every year 390 thousand
contracts of marriage are recorded in Germany. However, 33% of them end with
divorce. This ratio reaches 50% in the large cities such as Hamborg.

Ittilaat Newspaper, No.20503, reported the following from the United
Nations-IRNA:

"The American's contribution
to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), in comparasion with its
national income, is less than that of the industrial counties in the
world."

The officials of UNICEF announced
that and added: "Though America occupies the second position after Japan
through paying 9.7 billion dollars as an aid to UNICEF, this sum of money is
only 0.15% of its national income. Holland and the Scandinavian countries
occupy the first position in this respect, for their aid is 0.8% of their
national incomes.

"The officials of UNICEF
expressed their concern with the low contributions from rich countries to the
under developed countries. Then, they added: This happens at the time when the
importance of supporting the growth and health of children and of improving the
conditions of the work of mothers exetremely increases.'

"According to this account,
13 million children die in the world every year of pneumonia, diarrhea, and
measles.

"Besides 200 million children
in the world suffer from the lack of vitamin C which leads to blindness."

Ittilaat Newspaper, No.20370, 15 December 1994, in another report
adds. In the report it has been mentioned: "Tehran-IRNA:
There are a half million children who loiter in America. Orphanages will be
built for them. However, the American society regards this as a shame against
it.

"Susan Fildiz, the analyst of
the Washington Times Newspaper, wrote: "Many
fatherless children live under the care of foster families. They are subjected
not only to hitting, abuse and mistreatment, but also, they are killed."

"Fildiz said: "The
quality of the treatment of society towards its children is an important sign
for the real identity of that society."

"She added: The number of
the children who loiter in America increases day by day to the extent that the
police sometimes find new-born babies in garbage cans. In such cases, financial
aid is not enough for mothers. Rather, it is necessary to find special centers
to meet the basic needs of these children.'"

The Woman in Islam

Why is the attack against Islamic attitude towards
Woman????????

Studying this matter (woman's
rights in Islam) is among the important civilizational and inellectual matters
and affairs at the present time. The opponents of Islam, their followers, and
those who have no knowledge of Islamic thought, precepts and concepts still
continue their oppressive attack against Islamic thought and law, claim that
the woman is oppressed in Islam.

Studying and analyzing the
elements of this intellectual battle between Islam, materialism and secularism,
we can conclude that the axle of the battle moves around a basic matter. The
matter is that the secular thought tries to spread sexual dissoluteness and
corruption. According to this theory, the woman will become a tool for
enjoyment and instinctive satisfaction
which destroys the family, society, and the woman. While, Islam honors the
woman and raises her from this low level. It also grants her rights and
position to allow her to share with man in building life and expressing her
humanity according to human bases which we will mention briefly in this study.

Before discussing this matter, it is
important for us to mention the basic reasons of this battle (of the rights of
the woman) and accusing Islam of depriving woman of her rights.

Muslim writers and thinkers, the
propagators of Islam, the religious scholars, the foundations of the Islamic message
and culture, and especially as it concerns the children of the Moslem
communities in the non-Islamic countries and especially in America and Europe
should explain this important matter through researches, studies, conferences,
seminars in all various political, psychological, social, family, and
civilizational fields.

We can summarize the reasons which
lie beyond the attack against the Islamic thought as follows:

1. The confusion
between the backward customs and social Islamic theory:

Muslim writers, thinkers, and
propagators should clarify such confusion, for the opponents of Islam, those
who are deceived by corrupt material thought, and those who confuse concepts
have no ability to distinguish Islamic concepts from the social customs existed
in backward Islamic societies. Such customs are contrary to the essence,
principles and methods of Islam that regulate society, sexual relationships and
the foundations of the relationship between man and woman. So, the opponents of
Islam attribute such backward customs to Islam to distort it, intentionally or
out of ignorance. It is necessary for us to differentiate between the present
society of Muslims and the Islamic society based on Islamic principles.

This social backwardness in the
society of Muslims is part of the general backwardness in the fields of
science, knowledge, development, industry, health, etc.

Some sociologists derive a distorted picture concerning the social
position of the woman from the rural of Muslim countries such as Egypt, Iraq,
Morroco and the desert areas of Peninsula. Thus, they diagnose the problem of
the woman through the backward rural or desert view that oppresses the woman.
Then, they give a distorted picture about the Muslim society, for its members
are Muslims. They forget that such concepts and practices have no relation with
Islam. We firmly believe that such concepts and practices oppose Islamic values
and teachings. Meanwhile, Islam has devoted part of its thought, laws, and
values to change these conditions.

2. Ignorance of
Islam:

Among the problems which Islamic
thought faces in our present time is that the people, in Europe, America, and
other non-Islamic countries, are ignorant of Islam and have no correct
knowledge of the simplest principles of Islam. In other words, they have a
distorted picture of Islam. They think that Islam is based on fable, terrorism,
bloodshed, and tribalism. They do not know that such ideas have been created by
the enemies of Islam, such as orientalists, Zionists, and church foundations.

Thus, Western man knows nothing
about Islam except distorted pictures. If Western man understands the essence
of Islam, surely he will embrace it through rationale.

To understand this problem more
clearly, let us return to the speech addressed by German President, Roman
Hotsogh, on the occasion of honoring Mrs. Ana Mary Shmil, a German orientalist,
who received a peace prize from the German Book Association in 10/1/1995.

Some people opposed giving a peace
prize to Mrs. Shmil, for she supports the Islamic thought, treats it justly,
and summons people to understand Islam and to change the distorted picture
which the European ministers made about Islam and Muslims.

In response to those who opposed
giving a peace prize to Mrs. Shmil, the German president said: "There is a
phenomenon that seems clear in our relations and dealings with Islam in our
present time. We do not accuse falsely of the German public opinion when we say
that many of us think that Islam is the religion of inhumane penal law,
non-tolerance, oppression against woman, and aggressive roots. However, this is
narrow-mindedness which we must change. In turn, we must remember the wave of
enlightenment that maintained great parts of the western inheritance six or
seven centuries ago, and that it found itself before a style of western
thought. Without doubt, it was radical and non-tolerant."11

In another part of his speech, the
German president indicated that the Europeans showed enmity toward Islam, for
they had no knowledge of it. Thus, in his speech, he asked them: "Isn't it
possible that we do not understand Islam because it depends on deep popular
faith, while we are in a secular society?

"Have we the right to
classify the pious Muslims with the radical terrorists because we have no sound
feeling towards the mockery at the religious feelings of others or because we
are unable to express this sound feeling?"12

Then, the German president
admitted that he had no knowledge of Islam until he read the books of Mrs.
Shmil. In this regared, he said: "I did not know the numerous Islamic
trends in the history of Islam except through the books of Ana Mary Shmil.
Perhaps, other than I witnessed the same experience. Indeed we are in need of
understanding each other."13

Then, the German president
summoned (people) to understand Islam to adopt another attitude towards it.
Thus, he said: "I confess that there is no other option before us except
that we must increase our knowledge of the Islamic world. That is if we want to
achieve human rights and freedom."14

Then he added: "Indeed, the
real reason for longing for understanding Islam and its rich civilization
arises from our belonging to a civilization differing from it. Mrs. Shmil has
moved this longing in my soul. I hope that others than me do the same."15

"Mrs. Shmil has paved the way
for us to meet Islam."16

The battle of granting a peace
prize to the orientalist Shmil in Germany in 1995, the agreement of the learned
political public opinion in Germany, which is among the most important
countries in modern history, and the victory of the front of Shmil, which means
the victory of the trend that summons (people) to understand true Islam and to
adopt an attitude towards it, among this advanced class of thinkers and
politicians, among the foremost being is the German president, whose important
speech we have read, all these denote that Muslim writers, thinkers, artists,
and scholars think men should shoulder their responsibility towards Islam.
Besides, religious foundations and clergy men should shoulder their
responsibility towards it. They should spread the true Islam that moves
intellect, heart, and conscience. They should follow the method of the Qur'an
when they summon people to believe in Allah, the Glorified: "And
call you unto the way of your Lord with wisdom and kindly exhortation and
dispute with them in the manner which is the best;..." Holy
Qur'an (Nahil 16:125)

That civilizational battle, which
took place in Germany and ended for those who summoned people to understand
Islam, shows us that Islam is great and that man is ready to understand it,
regardless of his faith. This battle is clearly shown in the Qur'an: "Go
you unto Pharaoh, verily he has transgressed (the bounds). Then speak you both
unto him a gentle word, happly he may get admonished or fear (Our punishment)."

Holy
Qur'an (Taha 20: 43-44)

From this we understand that the
Qur'an summons the propagators of Islam to hold true faith and communicate it