WOMEN IN ISLAM AND SURGES OF MODERNIZATION
AN OBJECTIVE POINT OF VIEW
If we look to the eastern communist world or the democratic nations, we find that woman is not really in a happy position. Her status is not enviable. She has to work so hard to leave and sometimes she may be doing the same job that a man does but her wage is less than his.
She enjoys a kind of liberty which in some cases amounts to libertinism. To get to where she is nowadays, woman struggled hard for decades and centuries .To get the right of learning and the freedom of work and earning, she had to offer painful sacrifices and give up many of her natural rights. To establish her status as a human being possessing a soul, she paid heavily .Yet in spite of all these costly sacrifices and painful struggles; she has not acquired what Islam has established by a divine degree for the Muslim woman.
The rights of woman of modern times were not granted voluntarily or out of kindness to the female. Modern woman reached her present position by force and not through natural processes or mutual consent or divine teachings.
What Islam has established for woman is that which suits her nature, gives her full securities and protects her against disgraceful circumstances and uncertain channels of life. We don t need here to elaborate in on the status of modern women .Most woman today exercise the right of freedom to go out independently , to work and earn , to pretend to be equal to man, but this , sadly enough, is at the expense of their families .This all known and obvious .What is not known is the status of woman in Islam .An attempt will be made in the following passages to sum up the attitude of Islam with regard to woman.
1. Woman is recognized by Islam as a full and equal partner of man in the procreation of humankind. He is the father , she is the mother and both are essential for life. Her role is not less vital than his .By this partnership she has an equal share in every aspect ; she is entitled to equal rights ; she undertakes responsibilities ,and in her there are as many qualities and as much humanity as there are in her partner . To this equal partnership in the reproduction of humankind god said:
“o mankind ! verily we have created your form a single (pair) of a male and a female ,and made you into nations and tribes that you may know each other …(Qur’an)
2. she is equal to man in bearing personal and common responsibilities and in receiving rewards for her deeds . She is acknowledged as an independent personality , in possession of human qualities and worthy of spiritual aspirations . Her human nature is neither inferior to nor deviant from that of man. Both are members of one another .She is equal to man in the pursuit of education and knowledge . When Islam enjoins the seeking of knowledge upon Muslims , I makes no distinction between man and woman .Almost fourteen centuries ago, the prophet Mohammad declared that the pursuit of knowledge is incumbent on every Muslim male and female . This declaration was very clear and was implemented by Muslims throughout history.
To conclude , I think that the main problem of Islam and woman in Islam ,our subject, is the fuzzy and horrible picture Muslims send to the other nations . I aimed from this topic to change this picture and give the real theory of Islam about woman .
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