The Islamic Emancipation of Women

[SisterJennifer]

Islam brings justice to male-female relations and puts an end to harmful practices resulting from customs and traditions of pre-Islamic societies. One example is the situation of women in pre-Islamic Arab society. The pagan Arabs regarded women as inferior, and having a daughter was something to be ashamed of. Fathers of daughters sometimes preferred to bury them alive rather than announce their birth. By means of the Qur'an, Allah prohibited this evil tradition and warned that on the Judgment Day such people will definitely have to account for their actions.

In fact, Islam brought with it a great emancipation for women, who were severely persecuted in the pagan era. Prof. Bernard Lewis, known as one of the greatest Western experts on the history of Islam and the Middle East, makes the following comment:

In general, the advent of Islam brought an enormous improvement in the position of women in ancient Arabia, endowing them with property and some other rights, and giving them a measure of protection against ill treatment by their husbands or owners. The killing of female infants, sanctioned by custom in Pagan Arabia, was outlawed by Islam. But the position of women remained poor, and worsened when, in this as in so many other respects, the original message of Islam lost its impetus and was modified under the influence of pre-existing attitudes and customs.

Karen Armstrong, another Western expert on Islam, makes the following comment:

We must remember what life had been like for women in the pre-Islamic period when female infanticide was the norm and when women had no rights at all. Like slaves, women were treated as an inferior species, who had no legal existence. In such a primitive world, what Muhammad achieved for women was extraordinary. The very idea that a woman could be witness or could inherit anything at all in her own right was astonishing.

In fact, during the many centuries that followed Prophet Muhammad, women of the Islamic societies had a much higher social position than the women of Christendom. Karen Armstrong emphasizes that, during the Middle Ages;

... the Muslims were horrified to see the way Western Christians treated their women in the Crusader states, and Christian scholars denounced Islam for giving too much power to menials like slaves and women.

Anna King, a modern Muslim woman and a convert - or, better to say, a revert - to Islam, explains the Islamic emancipation of women as follows:

Islam first gave women their rights in a time when women were nothing but the property of men. Islam gave women the right to buy and sell on their own, own businesses and express her views politically. These were all basic rights which the American woman was not granted until relatively recently! It also encouraged women to study and learn Islamic knowledge, breaking a ban which several religions had stipulated, which forbid women to acquire any religious knowledge or touch religious texts... It also abolished the practice of marrying a woman without her consent. Thus, one would have to be very stubborn indeed to refuse such obvious facts and proofs that Islam was women's first liberator.

The tendencies to see women as "an inferior species" who has no right for education and that must be totally secluded from the society arose much later in the Islamic world, as a result of deviations from the right Qur'anic path.

[Guest]

This is very interesting. However, why can a man have up to 4 wives and a woman only 1 husband ? Also, why is it that a man has the right to beat his wife if she does not do his bidding ?

[SisterJennifer]

He doesn't have that right to beat his wife, who told you that?! :confused:

The others here do a better job of explaining the 4 wives concept than I do. I believe we have some threads about that here titled 'poligamy.' I believe it's right here in this section, you might want to take a peek at that.

[Guest]

<i>Originally posted by SisterJennifer </i><b>He doesn't have that right to beat his wife, who told you that?! :confused: </b>

It's in the Qu'ran although there is some confusion about the arabic translation of the word and the context it is used. It could mean to leave/exit or to beat/strike. Some scholars say it means to beat the wife lightly :eek: so it does not leave a mark or not to srtike the face (this actually applies to discplining children) so the ambiguity of it leaves women open to abuse depending on interpretation. It's not difficult to find this subject matter.

<i>Originally posted by SisterJennifer </i><b></b>

The others here do a better job of explaining the 4 wives concept than I do.  I believe we have some threads about that here titled 'poligamy.'  I believe it's right here in this section, you might want to take a peek at that.

Who would want 4 wives anyway?

But seriously, there are other religions such as mormons who like to have a couple (at least !) of extra women handy. So I don't see this as a religious issue, a lot of societies have this trait where the man can have mutliple wives and it is nothing to do with religion. I see it as a male desire to spread the genes as it were. So it is a bit of a double standard there, no ?

[SisterJennifer]

<i>Originally posted by HabibHibee </i><b>Some scholars say it means to  beat the wife lightly :eek:  so it does not leave a mark or not to srtike the face (this actually applies to discplining children) so the ambiguity of it leaves women open to abuse depending on interpretation. It's not difficult to find this subject matter.  </b>

This has diverted away from the original post, but I'll reply here anyway. If it needs further discussion, maybe it would be better for you to begin a new thread for this topic.

To the best of my knowledge: If a wife commits some serious offense (she is drinking heavily, out all night, etc...) The husband has a right to be upset about that. So he has steps to take to solve the problem:

The first step is to sit down and voice his concerns to his wife, and get some dialoge going on the problem. Hopefully a solution will be reached.

If the problem persists or worsens, the second step is to sleep apart from her, something like a cooling off period.

And the third step is to strike her lightly. He cannot strike her face, and it should not leave a mark, as you said. It has more to do with the emotional effect it causes rather than a show of physical force.

This is all I can tell to the best of my knowledge on this topic.

[Guest]

<i>Originally posted by SisterJennifer </i><b>If a wife commits some serious offense (she is drinking heavily, out all night, etc...)  The husband has a right to be upset about that.  So he has steps to take to solve the problem:</b>

The first step is to sit down and voice his concerns to his wife, and get some dialoge going on the problem.  Hopefully a solution will be reached.

If the problem persists or worsens, the second step is to sleep apart from her, something like a cooling off period.

And the third step is to strike her lightly.  He cannot strike her face, and it should not leave a mark, as you said.  It has more to do with the emotional effect it causes rather than a show of physical force.

This is all I can tell to the best of my knowledge on this topic.

All well and good SisterJennifer, but I view the last part as the husband's "get out of jail free" card when facing charges of domestic abuse. The scenario being that the the husband goes to court, says to the judge, "I tried to reason with her your judgeness (or whatever) that didn't work so I slapped around a bit". The judge says "Alright then, you did the best you could, she was asking for it."

Or am I reading too much into it ?

[Muslimah]

as salam alykom Jennifer

Mash a Allah u explained well about the striking and about polygyny yes we have loads of info, it will be only replication of effort, Insh aAllah later I will locate the threads for u habibhibbee

[Guest]

<i>Originally posted by Muslimah </i><b>as salam alykom Jennifer</b>

Mash a Allah u explained well about the striking and about polygyny yes we have loads of info, it will be only replication of effort, Insh aAllah later I will locate the threads for u habibhibbee

I am going to withdraw from this thread and stick to the Non Muslim guest forum.

[Muslimah]

as u wish, no one asked u to do so you are most welcome any way

[Guest]

I'm here to try and educate myself, not make trouble which I kind of did by posting on this thread. I'll try and stick to the non muslim thread. it's just that not many people contribute !