Essay On The Golden Age Of Islam

Women in the Golden Age of Islam

Today in ISIS there are honor killings where many women are killed since they went against the will of their families. One twenty-three year old palestinian woman named Hiyam was killed by her father and brother simply because they found a male neighbor in the house. Many women even set themselves on fire in order to avoid marriages they were forced into. ISIS claims that they are making islam go back to the golden age, where there were few controversies and all women followed islam and were treated as they should. The Qu’ran states that “... be you male or female, you are equal to one another” (Quran 3:195) However, this wasn’t necessarily true. Men and Women were treated very differently throughout the Golden Age of Islam. Men were given many more rights than women were in Islam during the Golden Age of Islam, and going back to this “golden age” would not create a

While traveling, a man could bring his wife if he wished to, or he could bring someone else. He could also opt to travel by himself. On the other hand, women were not able to travel by themselves or choose who they could travel with if they were traveling a distance of over forty eight miles. Women had to travel with either their husband, or a mahram, a male relative of the women that was unmarriageable. The dress of men and women in Islam was also different. Women would wear hijabs in public, which were veils that originated from a requirement for Muhammad’s wives to wear in public, and jilbabs, or cloaks (Anwar and McKay). Women wore these pieces of clothing that fully covered them so they could be seen as respectable women. Men, however, did not have anything in particular to wear in public to make them seem respectable. Men and women had very different treatment and requirements from society for their modesty, which also shows that the Golden Age of Islam wasn’t very golden after