The religion of Islam has obtained the reputation of violence and misogyny in recent decades due to radical sects in the international spotlight. Although violence has been limited to radical groups, many people outside of the religion view Islam’s law, Shari’ah law, to define the status of women below men. However, from the original holy text, the Qur’an, and the Prophet Muhammad’s Sunnah, a framework of equality and mutual respect across sexes is evident. Although the Qur’an is the unadulterated Word of God, it is interpreted by Muslims in many different ways. It has been through these patriarchal interpretations of the five schools of Islamic law that the status of women has been impinged upon (Barlas, 2002). The Qur’an itself contains versus which demonstrate the equality of men and women, but also seemingly contradicts itself by undermining the status of women. These contradictory phrases have recently been interpreted by female scholars differently than the original schools to support the equality of sex. Muhammad’s life also displays his affection and respect for his wives as opposed to a lifestyle of misogyny. In the end, the status of women in Islam has been largely degraded by human interpretation of the text to create a power dynamic between a husband and his wife, or wives. Although a woman’s status has been lowered in the eyes of many Muslims, recent civil rights movements and women activists are challenging these emboldened concepts to achieve social and political leadership.
The context of the birth of Islam provides important insight into the position of women in the religion. Pre-Islamic Arabia was largely nomadic and violent. Tribes often raided other tribes, taking with them food, tools, and women. These captu...
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Very frequently Islam is portrayed as a male centered, patriarchal faith. This has led to many outside of Sufism, even within the Islamic community, to be completely unaware of the importance of the feminine in Islam. Perhaps it is due in part to the interiority of the Feminine presence in Islam, this aspect of the culture and religion is widely unknown, though extremely important (Schimmel, “My Soul Is a Woman”). In recent years there has been much discussion and controversy over the role of women in Islam, however when looking at the most viewed and valued poetry of Majnun and Layla the role of the Feminine becomes fairly clear. As seen with how Layla responds to Majnun, the role of the Feminine in Islam is to be the counter balance to the Masculine. In short, just as Layla acts as both the spiritual reminder and voice of reason to Majnun, so too is the role of the Feminine in general (Galian, “The Centrality of the Devine Feminine in Sufism”).
These data’s were selected during the year of 1976-1977 in Kundoz a province of Afghanistan located in the Northern of Afghanistan. The Islamic terms, which are used in this article, are nafs, aql and fitna and there were mosques that educate both men and women about these Islamic theories. This article also covers about the Good women and the Bad women and describes the meaning of good and bad.
Young, Serinity. Encyclopedia of Women and World Religion: A-K. New York, NY: Macmillan Reference USA, 1999. Print.
Spencer, R. (2002). Does Islam respect women? Islam unveiled: Disturbing questions about the world’s fastest growing faith. San Francisco: Encounter Books.
The Iranian Islamic Revolution of 1979 created a lasting affect on the societal role of women through modern day Iran. Women in Iran before the revolution were not entirely treated equal to men, but despite some cultural perceptions of women being inferior to men, they had made progress to become socially equal under the Shah. Several misconceptions and theories have been published and studied to show the inequality of women versus men because of Islam. However, contrasting theories have also been made to show that inequality has little to do with the religion, but instead with the forceful nature upon which it was implemented in the revolution. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the Islamic and political history of Iran and its social implications over Iranian women.
The Koran is a book following the religion of the Muslim people. In it, many aspects of their ways of life and their attitudes towards different people are addressed. It mentions the strong feelings of the true believers towards Jews and Christians, however it gives a view of women that is taken two ways. A major part of their religion is the way women should be treated. This idea is a controversial topic as seen from a person that is not a true believer, or a Muslim. Conventional thinking brought out by the media have led non-Muslim people to perceive the treatment of women as suppressive. The Koran shows the reader both sides of the coin, and therefore, the reader must form an opinion of the way they thing women are treated. After reading The Koran, one would think that it belittles women, such as the way they are treated, and the role they play in society. However, with respect to their society habits, rituals, ways of life, and their religion, Muslim women are actually treated with more respect, and with more decency.
Abu-Lughod, Lila. "Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections On Cultural Relativism And Its Others." American Anthropologist 104.3 (2002): 783-790. Print.
In the Koran women are repeatedly regarded as inferiors to men. Women are given less rights and privileges in contrast to men. Women are seen as objects to own and control, and not as equals.
Contrary to what a lot of people believe, women in Islam are not oppressed; they are not victims of their religion and culture. “It is really frustrating to see how people perceive women in Muslim religion; how they are portrayed as prisoners of their lives, which is not true. Back home, women have as much freedom as men do. I mean, Jordan has a queen. That’s how much freedom women have” says Anan. It would be a lie to say that women in Arab world were not treated as objects, possessions of, first, their parents, and later their husbands. However, that was before Islam arrived in the Middle East. When asked, Karma, one of Anan’s friends who also attends the Brigham Young University says “the biggest issue is the fact that a lot of people confuse Muslim religion with Arab culture.” Islam is the second largest religion in the world, having almost 1.6 billion members and only 15% out of all of them are Arab. Recognising that, in some Arab countries, women are still treated as servants, however, Islam has nothing to do with it. Quite the opposite actually, in the Qur’an women are portrayed in an utterly positive way. They are described as equal to men. Women and men are both friends and partners in
Nabia Abbott's chapter on The Umayyads takes an in-depth look at the rise and fall of this dynasty, paying close attention to women of this time and the roles they played. Abbott discusses early Umayyad Caliph's and their wives, giving awareness to Uthman and Na'ilah as well as Mu'awiyah and Maisun bint Bahdal. Each of these matches is portrayed by Abbott as somewhat equal or at least a mutual respect between the couples. But as time wore on slowly the ideal Arab wife was being infringed upon by the harems that the elite Umayyads were setting up. Filling their halls with slave women from far off lands, such as Persia. An example of the impact that these women had on the Caliph can be seen during Walid I reign, where although he had eight different free Arab wives only one borne him any children, the rest of his off spring came from his servant girls. This shows that Walid I preferred these foreign women to those of his own Arab decent.
In the Middle East, women’s roles in society have been confused with the different interpretations of the Qur’an and different influences the regions have had from pre-Islamic times until the 21st century. Women’s roles in marriage in the Qur’an are equal and loving, but have been twisted and altered due to different interpretations of what marriage means in the regions. Tunisia is a significant country in the Middle Eastern region as far as women’s rights go. It is important to distinguish what “women’s rights” mean in the Middle East versus what the Western world perceives, and often times expects, of those societies. Women’s rights in Tunisia have improved and go against the many stereotypes the West has about the region to this day.
daughters, he and I will be like this…” At that moment he put up two
A review of Muslim history and culture brings to light many areas in which Qur’anic teaching notwithstanding, women continued to be subjected to diverse forms of oppression and injustice, often in the name of Islam, while the Qur’an because of its protective attitude toward all downtrodden and oppressed classes of people, appears to be weighted in many ways in favor of women...
In today’s globalized world, women’s studies is emerging as a fast growing discipline which is not restricted any more to the academia but is significantly capturing the attention of the civil society. The way civil society responded to “Nirbhaya” gang-rape case of December, 2012 in Delhi; the way people came on the streets in protest against this horrific and barbarous crime committed against a 23 year old woman; this people’s movement has undoubtedly engineered the emergence of a new consciousness among us about the need for a realization of women’s honour and dignity in the society. There have been serious debates on the issue of whether more stringent laws (in the line of Shari’a law) be implemented in our Indian society so that such heinous crimes against women can be prevented. However, the aforesaid incident is only one among many hundred other such crimes happening everyday in almost every corner of the globe. Many such incidents of crime are either suppressed or do not come to limelight. The following analysis is a humble attempt to deal with the status of women (especially in Islam) in a globalized world.
Today, people think that women were liberated in the west and that the women's liberation movement began in the 20th Century. Actually, Islam preceded all the existing systems in introducing women's rights more than fourteen centuries ago. The women's liberation movement was revealed by God to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in the seventh century. A whole package of new rights was given at once to women by their creator without their having to strive to get them. The Qur'an and the Traditions of the Prophet (Hadith and Sunnah) guarantee every Muslim woman certain rights and duties.