Status of women in ISLAM

To each society, there is its own set of rules. Many of these rules separate the women from the men or the children from the adults by creating certain duties for each individual. There are many comparisons between the women of Islamic and Roman societies. The roles that are given to these two groups of women show what is expected of them as a wife, the mother of the family, and where they stand politically.

Assess the view that religion is a major source of instability and conflict in society today Religion has held an important role in society since the beginning of civilisation and it has such power over people’s minds and shape the way our world developed. Whilst some sociological theories such as

Throughout centuries of human existence, women have been deemed as inferior to men in multiple different cultures and religions. Men have developed a norm to be the individual who carries out duties to help maintain a stable life for himself and the family in which he is providing for. Because

Like most religions the perception of women has evolved over time. Sometimes it was for the better other times it is for the worse. An example of this is exemplified in Hinduism. According to A Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism by Klaus K. Klostermaier, “In Vedic times women were the equals of men in almost

Treatment of Islamic Women Throughout the history of Islam, muslim women have been oppressed and treated unequally in marriage, in court, and in society. Difficulty through marriage for Muslim women can come from age, divorce, and having to be subservient to their husbands. Not only is there difficulty in marriage, but also in the unequal treatment in the islamic justice systems, such as when “evidence given by a female witness counts for half that given by a man” (Dargie 22). Although the societies of major Islamic countries differ, it is clear that women are not represented equally to men in any of them, for example having to dress and act certain ways so as not to attract any attention from men. However, there are Islamic women who are willing to change how their religion views females by speaking out and encouraging others to do the same.

In “An Introduction to Muslim Women’s Rights,” Azizah al-Hibri discusses how patriarchy affects the interpretation of Quran. She argues that Muslim jurists that interpreted the Quran and Islamic Law, lived in a patriarch world. Their views about men and women are based on the patriarchy in their societies, hence, their interpretation of the Quran and Islamic Law represents patriarchy. Al-Hibri argues that throughout the Quran, God emphasizes his Oneness and says that all humans were created by him from one soul. This emphasizes the concept of tawhid; there is no God but Allah and that Allah considers all human beings equal regardless of their gender. Furthermore, she argues that for Allah, the one who is the most pious is the most honorable, hence, gender plays no role and does not make one superior than the other. Moreover, she argues that considering men to be naturally superior to women is the same mistake that Satan committed. He considered himself to be naturally superior to others and refused to bow to Adam. Aziza Al- Hibri also gives suggestions for what important changes need to be made in order to improve the status of Muslim women in the society. She argues that any interpretation that may be harmful towards any member of the society should be re-evaluated, which include issues such as guardianship, polygamy and divorce, so that Muslim women are given the rights that their religion gives them. Al-Hibri’s work is useful for my research as it argues that the way jurists translated the Quran was affected by the society they lived in. Hence, they interpreted the Quran in a patriarchal context and manipulated it to validate that men are superior to

Women have been oppressed in many religions such as, Catholic, Christianity, and Muslim. Women are viewed as less than men. They are not allowed to express themselves or have control over their own life. In the Catholic religion they believe women should not be allowed to have abortions. They are saying that Women should not have control over their body. In these religions there is no gender equality being practiced. There are some religions that have enhanced the activities in Women. The Mormon women in Utah were the first to vote in 1870, but it was later revoked by congress in 1887 (Women’s Suffrage). The Mormon Religion has enhanced the activities of women because they both genders equally.

The Quran is the text that guides the Islamic society, and is meant to be the everlasting word of God. Given that the word of the Quran is the word of God, women in Islamic society should be treated as equal with men. If women were given equal religious matters and independent legal status, then in a society which revolves around religion, women should have the same rights as men. They should also be given the freedom to make their own decisions pertaining to most issues. American Muslim women today are struggling to address the stereotypes and misconceptions that come with the role of being a woman in Islam. Muslim women occupy a large variety of important positions in American life: medical doctors, engineers, lawyers, chemists, housewives, broadcast journalists, professors, clerical workers, business women, schoolteachers. Some are immigrants, from countries ranging from Saharan Africa to Indonesia, while many others were born in America; some American Muslim women were raised in Muslim homes, while others

Mohammed (ca. 570-632) was the founder of Islam which means “submission to God”. Prophet Mohammed gave his thoughts of women’s roles

In Islam, the differences of man and woman are not only biological or physical but also spiritual. Both male and female are based on God. The male body reflects power and majesty while the female body

After reading about “Women in Islam” in the text, Women and Religious Traditions, I have discovered that the potential for women to become equals is greatest within the Islam religion. The religious texts say that women and men are equal in value. In the YouTube video, “Dr. Ingrid Mattson: Women of Islam”, Dr. Ingrid Mattson mentions, “gender has nothing to do with whether you have the ability to submit yourself to God”.

As Christians identify the Bible as its religious text, Muslims identify the Quran as theirs. The Quran does not signify any difference in male or female followers; however, the culture of the Islamic society does relegate different roles, rights and expectations based on the gender of the follower (Al-Mannai, 2010). Traditionally women who are followers of the Islamic faith are seen as obedient servants to their spouses (Jailani, 2016). Women are expected to remain within the home, while the husband takes on the guardian and protector role of the family, and handles any business outside of the walls of the home. Traditionally when a woman has reason to go into the community, a burqa with only their hands and part of their face visible

For example, if a women decided to become a doctor, this would be impossible because she wouldn’t be able to operate on her patient if she was wearing the required dress. Although the Quran states that women are equal to men, there are also man made books, called the Hadith, which put women on the same level as animals. As stated in the Hadith, “Women are naturally, morally and religiously defective.” Although this may sound odd, the more traditional Muslims prefer the Hadith, over the Quran even though it is their religious book.

Women in Islam are free and have same or equivalent rights as any other woman. As Souhelia states in her article, many women that come from Islamic upbringing are free and others are working on bringing more change into their lifestyles (Souhelia, 2006). Although the process of change does not measure up to how far Western women got, cultural differences and geographical positioning and distribution of Islam law - better known as sharia - studies have shown that education, political participation and social reforms made considerable

Women in Muslim Society           The role of woman, her position and status in society, and her nature have been issues of debate and discussion informed by religion, tradition and culture, misogyny, feminism and - many times - downright ignorance and bigotry.