Women in Quranic Society [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Women in Quranic
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.