Does Islam degrade women?
Even though many aspects of Islam are misunderstood by non-Muslims, the ignorance, misinformation and incorrect assumptions that are made in regards to Islam's treatment of women are probably the most severe. Numerous verses of the Qur'an make it clear that men and women are equal in the site of God. According to the teachings of Islam, the only thing that distinguishes people in the site of God is their level of God-consciousness. Due to this, many people are surprised to find out that Islamic Law guaranteed rights to women over 1400 years ago that women in the Europe and America only obtained recently. For example, Islam clearly teaches that a woman is a full-person under the law, and is the spiritual equal of a male. Also, according to Islamic Law, women have the right to own property, operate a business and receive equal pay for equal work. Women are allowed total control of their wealth, they cannot be married against their will and they are allowed to keep their own name when married.
Additionally, they have the right to inherit property and to have their marriage dissolved in the case of neglect or mistreatment. Also, Islam does not consider woman an "evil temptress", and thus does not blame woman for the "original sin". Women in Islam participate in all forms of worship that men participate in. Actually, the rights that Islam gave to women over 1400 years ago were almost unheard of in the West until the 1900s.
Less than fifty years ago in England and America, a woman could not buy a house or car without the co-signature of her father or husband! Additionally, Islam gives great respect to women and their role in society --- it gives them the right to own property, marry who they want and many other rights. Also, it should be mentioned that the Prophet Muhammad's mission stopped many of the horrible practices in regards to women that were present in the society of his time. For example, the Qur'an put an end to the pagan Arab practice of killing their baby daughters when they were born.
Additionally, Islam put restrictions on the unrestricted polygamy of the Arabs of the time, and put many laws in place to protect the well-being of women. Today, most of the so-called reforms in the status of women came about after the West abandoned religion for secularism. Even those in the West who claim to follow the so-called "Judaeo-Christian tradition" really follow the values of Western liberalism --- but just to a lesser degree than their more liberal countrymen. The Myth and The Reality. If women in the Muslim World today don't have their rights, it is not because Islam did not give them to them. The problem is that in many places alien traditions have come to overshadow the teachings of Islam, either through ignorance or the impact of Colonization.
Additionally, they have the right to inherit property and to have their marriage dissolved in the case of neglect or mistreatment. Also, Islam does not consider woman an "evil temptress", and thus does not blame woman for the "original sin". Women in Islam participate in all forms of worship that men participate in. Actually, the rights that Islam gave to women over 1400 years ago were almost unheard of in the West until the 1900s.
Less than fifty years ago in England and America, a woman could not buy a house or car without the co-signature of her father or husband! Additionally, Islam gives great respect to women and their role in society --- it gives them the right to own property, marry who they want and many other rights. Also, it should be mentioned that the Prophet Muhammad's mission stopped many of the horrible practices in regards to women that were present in the society of his time. For example, the Qur'an put an end to the pagan Arab practice of killing their baby daughters when they were born.
Additionally, Islam put restrictions on the unrestricted polygamy of the Arabs of the time, and put many laws in place to protect the well-being of women. Today, most of the so-called reforms in the status of women came about after the West abandoned religion for secularism. Even those in the West who claim to follow the so-called "Judaeo-Christian tradition" really follow the values of Western liberalism --- but just to a lesser degree than their more liberal countrymen. The Myth and The Reality. If women in the Muslim World today don't have their rights, it is not because Islam did not give them to them. The problem is that in many places alien traditions have come to overshadow the teachings of Islam, either through ignorance or the impact of Colonization.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jonathan Huie on
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Ali, thank you. Your two last sentences deserve their own article. How did "female genital mutilation" and similar practices come to existence in Muslim countries if Islam forbids those practices?
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Permalink Reply by Victoria Munson-Engelkes on
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Thank you for sharing this information, Ali. My concern is, however, that the "pure" laws of Islamic culture
are NOT being followed. There are corruptions of the laws and women are not being treated as equals in all
Islamic countries. What about men marrying young children? Even if this is for the repayment of a debt the parents may have owed, it is not seen as an acceptable resolution in other countries. We all know this can be used by pediphiles, and children should not be taken away from their parents--does anyone think of the psychological damage and trauma this causes? -
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Permalink Reply by Ali Afifi on
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Before I answer u, I want to say one important point. The enemies of Islam neglected the greatness of Islam as a religion after Judaism and Christianity and the greatness of the Quran as a miracle from the God till the hereafter, and started to search and accuse Islam with some insults that are not true to attract the attention of the people away from the greatness of Islam and Quran. We must seek and search in the miracles of the Quran and the miracles of the prophet Mohamed during his life to prove to ourselves the righteousness of this religion and his book.
Acceptability in certain practices varies across culture and across time. Even in America there was a time when there were no laws restricting the age of marriage, and some were married at the age of 12 or 13. States, then, started to limit the age of marriage to 14 and, in some states, 16. All such practices and related law are tied to the socio-cultural practices of the time and place.
Islam forbid actual marriage(practicing sex) before real adolescence of both partner and the consent of both partner even if it is arranged marriage since childhood which is very very rare in Islamic countries and I do not hear about it all my life in Egypt.
The arranged marriage is also a bad tradition in some rural areas but the Islamic laws forbid any actual marriage before the age of puberty and after the consent of the partners of marriage. The marriage contract is annulled in case of rejection of one of the partners when reach the age of puberty but it is preferred to prevent any marriage contract before the age of puberty and in many Islamic countries they limit it with the Age of 18 for males and 16 for females.
As regard the news about the Girl of Saudi Arabia, the marriage is annulled.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8026545.stm
Media reports say an arranged marriage between a Saudi girl aged eight and a man in his 50s has been annulled, in a case attracting worldwide criticism.
The Saudi Gazette says the divorce was agreed in an out-of-court settlement after a judge rejected two attempts to grant the girl a divorce.
The case prompted Saudi officials to say it would start regulating the marriages of young girls. -
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All these practices are examples of states claiming to be "Islamic" failing to honor women as the Quran seems to instruct. These practices are a reflection of culture and politics and not of Islam, but nonetheless they are done in Allah's name. Female genital circumcision (mutilation) is not known in Saudi Arabia although it is the origin of Islam and one of the few countries which apply Islamic laws.
We have religious fatwa in Egypt and civilian law that forbade this act but still some people in rural areas insist to do it secretly. The culture and traditions take long time to be changed specially between the ignorant ones. -
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Permalink Reply by Brenda Green on
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Your explanation is good to read, however, as a Western woman, who owns property, has divorced, works and raises my child singlehandedly, I am appalled at the treatment of women in Afghanistan. That a country would try to pass a law limiting basic human rights is beyond my grasp. However it seems the issue is not Religion but the backward attitude of men.
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We are 1.6 billion Muslims in about 60 countries and every country has its traditions, culture, social laws and own ancient behaviors.
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Permalink Reply by Alex P. Real on
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New creeds don't simply sweep away preexisting beliefs, and practices such as female circumcision (animistic rite de passage) are prior to the advent of Islam. Rather frequently old and new blend into localised ways and some worshipers may actually believe such "pagan" customs as pertaining to Islam. In Sunni Islam (Ali, please correct me!) there is an unmediated relationship to Allah, & though it may be perceived as highly normative from a western perspective, it's a way of life rather than a set of beliefs; hence, the way to being a Muslim is through acting/thinking and thus the specific weight on personal effort. This involves a larger degree of freedom & interpretation than in other creeds which can well be double-edged for though at the core of Islam expansion, it's only human trying to adapt religion to suit selfish political/ economic interests.
At the same time I can't help wondering why we tend to identify such abhorrent practices with the entire Islam and Ummah. Is girl rape to avoid HIV/AIDS infection representative of Christianity because some Christians do it? No criticism meant, just food for thought :). -
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Yes, I agree with u dear Alex.
Most of these traditions are pagan customs and although Islam fought to finish it, still practiced in some countries. Circumcision is present in Egypt since Egyptian ancients and drawn on the walls, So u can find it in Africa, Egypt and Sudan but u do not find it in Saudi Arabia, Arab peninsula, Indonesia, Malaysia and most other Islamic countries.
The west always accuse Islam and do not refer to the old non-Islamic traditions.
Yes, Islam is a way of life. -
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Islamic feminists distinguish Islam from Muslims
by Amal Mohammed Al-Malki
31 March 2009
Doha, Qatar - How is it that one religion – Islam – seems capable of undermining women and promoting them at the same time?
Anyone attempting to take stock of the position of women in the Muslim world cannot help but be confused. One finds stories in the media all the time about injustices committed against Muslim women, such as "honour" killings, child marriages and discriminatory legal judgments in matters of divorce, custody and inheritance.
On the other hand, one also comes across stories about the remarkable strides made by Muslim women in education, career development and political activism in countries as diverse as Bangladesh, Morocco and Turkey.
How can we make sense of such a dichotomous picture?
The answer is simple: by distinguishing the religion of Islam from the Muslims who practice it.
Those who study the Qur'an know that Islam elevated the rights of women beyond anything known in the pre-Islamic world. In fact, in the seventh century Muslim women were granted rights not granted to European women until the 19th century, such as property ownership, inheritance and divorce.
That said, Muslims who codified the Qur'an and Hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad) into Islamic law did not succeed in expunging the patriarchy of the pre-Islamic world from their practices.
This distinction between the faith and the various manifestations of its practice is a subtle but extremely important one.
When a Westerner is trained to pick up on the distinction, he/she comes to recognise that the Muslim woman who criticises Muslim practices is not usually rebuking her heritage in favour of Western ideals – the kind of rebuke that hits best-seller lists in the West and that feeds Western stereotypes about the religion – but is instead encouraging other Muslims claiming allegiance to Qur'anic teachings to live up to its highest principles.
This inward criticism and call to action is often called Islamic feminism, a promising paradigm which supports change from within, and not in imported formulas.
While adopting the Qur'an at its core, Islamic feminism challenges two main norms: the patriarchal cultural customs mistaken for Islamic teaching and patriarchal interpretations of certain Qur'anic verses.
The project of disentangling what is true Islamic teaching from cultural traditions historically practiced in a Muslim territory is an ongoing project for Muslim feminists.
Arifa Mazhar, the manager of gender issues for the Pakistan-based Sungi Development Foundation, whose goal is to effect policy and institutional changes relating to development by mobilising marginalised local communities, declared at the International Congress on Islamic Feminism in Barcelona in 2008: "Instead of debating Islam, we should be debating culture and its impact…. There are a lot of social taboos and tribal traditions that oppress women, and they have little to do with Islam."
Islamic feminism's second challenge is to attempt to reinterpret verses in the Qur'an – especially given the present context – that have been misinterpreted or over-generalised.
One example is the disproportionate weight given to the few Qur'anic verses giving men authority over women within family structures versus the many others that emphasise equality between men and women. Islamic feminism encourages women to study the words of the Qur'an for themselves, and to judge whether the misogyny and failure to take women seriously prevalent in some customs is a matter of Islamic doctrine or, indeed, of cultural impositions on such doctrine. Islamic feminism thus provides the grounds for changing civil and national law in ways that prove progressive for women.
Sisters in Islam, a leading Muslim women's rights group in Malaysia, has been trying to reform the issue of polygamy. Rather than calling for the abolition of polygamy, for example, it calls only for its restriction to certain situations – such as obtaining permission from the first wife and from the court – and is working on public surveys that would provide empirical evidence of the negative effects of polygamy on society.
Rooted in Islam and the Qur'anic spirit of equity, Islamic feminism provides a credible political voice for women. It gives women's organisations, women's rights advocates, and gender scholars in the Muslim world legitimate grounds for action – and change – as fulfilment of society's religious obligations.
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* Amal Mohammed Al-Malki is an assistant teaching professor of English at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar and a member of the Qatar National Competitiveness Council, which promotes reform and transparency in the national economy. This article first appeared in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) as part of a series on Muslim women and their religious rights.
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 31 March 2009, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission is granted for publication. -
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Permalink Reply by Danielle Paonessa on
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Thank you for your in depth information. I am interested in understanding why it is that so many middle eastern countries practice and enforce the exact opposite of what is stated here? I find so many men from these countries to see and treat women as second class citizens. Why is that and where is this mentality coming from since it is so prevalent? Lastly, what can be done to change this?
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How well is Islamic feminism being recieved in Muslum cultures? How can we stop practices such as "honor killings" and female genital mutilation? These practices clearly do exist and are tarnishing the true ways of the Qur'an, so what can be done? I believe education is the key. Spread the word. What are your thoughts?
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