The issue of women in Islam is
topic of great misunderstanding and distortion due partly to a lack of
understanding, but also partly due to misbehavior of some Muslims which has been
taken to represent the teaching of Islam teaches, and that is that standard
according to which Muslims are to be judged. As such my basis and source is the
Quran-the words of Allah and the sayings of the Prophet, his deeds and his
confirmation. Islamic laws are derived from these sources. To facilitate our
discussion we can discuss the position of women from a spiritual, economic,
social and political standpoint.
The complex relationship between women and Islam is defined by both Islamic
texts and the history and culture of the Muslim world. The Quran does not
explicitly state that men and women are equal, but states in 4:34 that "Men are
the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has made one of them to
respect the other, and because they spend from their means. Therefore the
righteous women are devoutly obedient and guard in the husband's absence what
Allah orders them to guard." Although the Quran does say this, the superiority
of men is interpreted in terms of strength by the context – men maintain women.
This verse however refers to a relationship between a husband and wife, not as a
society in whole. In general, women played much bigger role in Islam than most
people would imagine, there are examples of female warriors in the armies of
Prophet Muhammad.
Sharia (Islamic law) provides for complement, differences between women's and
men's roles, rights, and obligations. However neither the Quran nor Hadith
mention women have to be housewives. In Majority Muslim countries-women exercise
varying degrees of rights with regards to marriage, divorce, civil rights, legal
status, dress code, and education based on different interpretations. Scholars
and other commentators vary as to whether they are just and whether they are a
correct interpretation of religious imperatives.
The Islamic Prophet Muhammad (S.W.W) was in a precarious position as he began to
spread his teachings to his disciples. As a man with no male descendants, in a
naturist and patriarchal culture, his proclaimed identity as the messenger of
God and temporal head of a new religion was viewed as an affront by many who
attached authority to a man with a proliferation of wives and children, and in
particular, a male heir to ensure the descendants of his authority. Nonetheless,
Islam spread to become the dominant religion in the Arab regions of the Middle
East, as well as Maghreb in Northern Africa, the Anatolian region such as
Turkey, and into South Asia as far as Pakistan, India, Malaysia and Indonesia.
The patriarchal character of pre-Islamic Arabic culture influenced not only the
content of the Quran and related doctrine, it persists today in the
interpretation and application of Islamic dogma. Theological scholarship and
practices vary widely according to the country, region, or sectarian beliefs
where an Islamic community is located. The largest groups of Muslim women are
in: Indonesia (over 100 million), Bangladesh (over 75 million), Pakistan (over
85 million), India (over 80 million), Egypt (nearly 40 million), Nigeria (nearly
40 million), Turkey (over 35 million) and Iran (over 35 million). These
countries total more than 60% of the world's Muslims; there are more than 750
million Muslim women worldwide, including sizeable minorities in several
countries of Africa and Europe, and in China.
Islamic doctrine is the product of Quranic guidelines, as understood by Islamic
jurisprudence (fiqh), as well as of the interpretations derived from the
traditions of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad (hadith), that were agreed upon by
majority of Sunni Muslim scholars as authentic beyond doubt based on the science
of hadith.
The Sunni Muslims are the largest Islamic sect, comprising approximately 80% of
the world's Muslims. The Sunni sect includes many theological schools and
doctrines interpreting the Quran. To Sunni Muslims, the hadith constitutes an
important source of legislation. The fiqh is the basis of jurisprudence, or
legal practice, developed by Muslim jurists during the centuries following the
creation of Islam, and largely influenced by the hadith. These interpretations
and their application were shaped by the historical context of the Muslim world
at the time they were written. Many of the earliest writings were from a time of
tribal warfare which could have been inappropriate for the 21st century, but
most remain appropriate to how a Muslim following the sunnah should behave.