Women’s Human Rights in Islaam
By:
Shahid Bin Waheed شاهد
بن وحيد
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
الحمدلله رب العالمين والصلوة والسلام على اشرف الانبياء
وسيدالمرسلين نبينا محمد صل ا لله عليه وعلى آله واصحابه وازواجه اجمعين - امابعد
All the praises and thanks be to Allaah, Sustainer of the Universe, and blessing and salutation to be the most distinguish of the Messengers and foremost among the Prophets, our Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allaah be on him and on his wives, children and Companions.
Islaam addressed women’s human rights when false religions of the world were treating the women like personal property and/or livestock. The following excerpt has taken from the world’s most unintelligible religion i.e. Christianity to remove the veil of falsehood and show the abuse of women’s human rights by the Bible and Christianity.
Let us examine what Church
Fathers have said:
Tirtulion
once addressed women, saying:
“Do you not know that all of you are the daughters of Eve and therefore, God’s judgment regarding you is also valid today. Your sin also continues to remain. You are the door for Satan, you were the ones eating from the forbidden fruit, you were the first ones to disobey the Lord, and to discard the divine commandment so easily.”
At
another place Tirtulion said,
“She is Devil’s door. She was the
one to stretch out her hand to the forbidden fruit, she broke the Divine law,
she provoked man against God, and she is the one ruined man.”
Chrysosten,
another Christian scholar says:
“Woman is a never ending evil, an
evil inspiration from her very birth on, a pleasant catastrophe, a
danger to every household, a means of ruin, a way of ill fate.”
St. Bernard: Woman is the weapon of Devil.
St. Anthony: Woman is a mine of devil’s arm.
St. Bonaventer: Woman is a scorpion, always ready to sting. She is the Devil’s spear.
St. Cireen: Woman is that weapon which the devil uses to take possession of our souls.
St. Gerome: Woman is the door of the Devil and the sting of the scorpion.
St. John of Damascus: Woman is the daughter of dishonesty; she is a soldier of hell and an enemy of peace. Man has lost heaven because of her and of all wild animals she is the most dangerous.
St. Gregory: A woman possesses the poison of a snake and malice of a dragon.
In one of the convention of Christian clerics in the year 582 C. E. under the superintendence of Makooh was decided that a woman does not possess a soul which could attain salvation, rather that she does not have a soul at all.
Debates and/or conferences were held between 5th and 7th centuries of Christian era to preach and/or propagate the above absurd anti-women rhetoric, which were mainly perpetrated by Christian Church Fathers.
The advent of Islaam eradicated this cycle of abuse and gave women the absolute human rights that mankind has not seen before in history. The Glorious Qur’aan repudiated the claim made by the Bible, blaming woman {Eve} for man’s downfall or man’s departure from Paradise. In the Glorious Qur’aan and/or teachings of Islaam, woman is not blamed for Adam’s first mistake as we read in the Qur’aan that some Ayaat Adam آدم عليه السلام is specifically blamed.
Surah Ta-Ha 121
فَأَكَلَا مِنْهَا فَبَدَتْ لَهُمَا
سَوْآتُهُمَا وَطَفِقَا يَخْصِفَانِ عَلَيْهِمَا مِنْ وَرَقِ الْجَنَّةِ وَعَصَى آدَمُ رَبَّهُ فَغَوَى
In the result, they both ate of the tree, and so their nakedness appeared to them: they began to sew together, for their covering, leaves from the Garden; thus did Adam disobey his Lord, and allow himself to be seduced.
The advent of Islaam eradicated the women’s abuse and gave the women first ever human rights as we read in the Glorious Qur’aan,
Surah An-Nisaa 1
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اتَّقُوا
رَبَّكُمُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ مِنْ نَفْسٍ وَاحِدَةٍ وَخَلَقَ مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا وَبَثَّ
مِنْهُمَا رِجَالًا كَثِيرًا وَنِسَاءً وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ الَّذِي تَسَاءَلُونَ بِهِ
وَالْأَرْحَامَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ عَلَيْكُمْ رَقِيبًا
O mankind! Be dutiful to your Lord, Who created you from a single person (Adam), and from him (Adam) He created his wife (Hawwâ (Eve)), and from them both He created many men and women; and fear Allâh through Whom you demand (your mutual rights), and (do not cut the relations of) the wombs (kinship) {1} Surely, Allâh is Ever an All-Watcher over you.
{1} (V.4:
1) See the Ayaah (V.2: 27).
Surah Al-A'raf 189
هُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ مِنْ نَفْسٍ
وَاحِدَةٍ وَجَعَلَ مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا لِيَسْكُنَ إِلَيْهَا فَلَمَّا تَغَشَّاهَا حَمَلَتْ
حَمْلًا خَفِيفًا فَمَرَّتْ بِهِ فَلَمَّا أَثْقَلَتْ دَعَوَا اللَّهَ رَبَّهُمَا لَئِنْ
آتَيْتَنَا صَالِحًا لَنَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الشَّاكِرِينَ
It is He Who has created you from a single person (Adam), and (then) He has created from him his wife (Hawwâ’ (Eve)), in order that he might enjoy the pleasure of living with her. When he (a polytheist from Adam’s offspring - as stated by Ibn Kathir in his Tafsir) had sexual relation with her (the polytheist’s wife), she became pregnant and she carried it about lightly. Then when it became heavy, they both invoked Allâh, their Lord (saying): "If You give us a Sâlih (good in every aspect) child, we shall indeed be among the grateful."
Surah An-Nahl 72
وَاللَّهُ جَعَلَ لَكُمْ مِنْ أَنْفُسِكُمْ
أَزْوَاجًا وَجَعَلَ لَكُمْ مِنْ أَزْوَاجِكُمْ بَنِينَ وَحَفَدَةً وَرَزَقَكُمْ مِنَ
الطَّيِّبَاتِ أَفَبِالْبَاطِلِ يُؤْمِنُونَ وَبِنِعْمَةِ اللَّهِ هُمْ يَكْفُرُونَ
And Allâh has made for you Azwâj (mates or wives) of your own kind, and has made for you, from your wives, sons and grandsons, and has bestowed on you good provision. Do they then believe in false deities and deny the Favor of Allâh (by not worshipping Allâh Alone).
Surah Ash-Shura 11
فَاطِرُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ
جَعَلَ لَكُمْ مِنْ أَنْفُسِكُمْ أَزْوَاجًا وَمِنَ الْأَنْعَامِ أَزْوَاجًا يَذْرَؤُكُمْ
فِيهِ لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْبَصِيرُ
The Creator of the heavens and the earth. He has made for you mates from yourselves, and for the cattle (also) mates. By this means He creates you (in the wombs). There is nothing like Him; and He is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer.
Surah Ar-Rum 21
وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ أَنْ خَلَقَ لَكُمْ
مِنْ أَنْفُسِكُمْ أَزْوَاجًا لِتَسْكُنُوا إِلَيْهَا وَجَعَلَ بَيْنَكُمْ مَوَدَّةً
وَرَحْمَةً إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ
And among His Signs is this, that He created for you wives from among yourselves, that you may find repose in them, and He has put between you affection and mercy. Verily, in that are indeed signs for a people who reflect.
Surah Al-Hujurat 13
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُمْ
مِنْ ذَكَرٍ وَأُنْثَى وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوا إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ
عِنْدَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ
O mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another. Verily, the most honorable of you with Allâh is that (believer) who has At-Taqwâ (i.e. he is one of the Muttaqûn (the pious. See V.2: 2)). Verily, Allâh is All-Knowing, All-Aware.
In a nutshell Islaam does not differentiate between men and women, but it is interesting to learn that women in Islaam have certain advantages, such as:
Some more rights that Muslim women
have!
1. The RIGHT and duty to acquire education.
2. The RIGHT to have her own independent property.
3. The RIGHT to work [job or business] to earn money, which she keeps it (condition apply).
4.
The RIGHT to equal reward for equal deed and/or work.
5.
The RIGHT to express her opinion.
6.
The RIGHT to argue and/or advocate her cause or opinion
to be heard.
7.
The RIGHT to vote since 1,425 years.
8. The RIGHT to provisions from her husband for all her needs and more.
9. The RIGHT to negotiate and stipulate marriage terms of her choice.
10. The RIGHT to obtain divorce from her husband, even on the grounds that she simply doesn’t like him. In Islaam divorce is suppose to be last resort.
11. The RIGHT to keep all her own money. [She is not responsible for maintenance of family].
12. The RIGHT to get sexual satisfaction from her husband.
13. The RIGHT to get custody of her children in case of divorce [unless she is unable to raise them for valid reasons]
14. The RIGHT to choose husband of her choice.
15. The RIGHT to refuse a proposed and/or arranged marriage.
16. The RIGHT to re-marry after divorce or after becoming widow.
17. The RIGHT to retain her maiden name.
We will conclude this treatise by asking this question to the followers of false, fabricated and abrogated religions that: Can your religion and/or your holy scripture even come close to these human rights for women, let alone equaling these women’s human rights in Islaam?
Saturday, September 10, 2005