Basic Rights of Women in Islam

Basic Rights of Women in Islam

In Islam, women are guaranteed rights and are even equal to men in many areas. Islam’s views on women are to liberate or free them but at the same time remind them of their spiritual responsibilities just like men. The following list represents the basic laws all Muslim countries need in order to follow Islam properly.

1. The right and duty to obtain education
2. The right to have their own independent property.
3. The right to work to earn money if they need it or want it.
4. Equality of reward for equal deeds.
5. The right to express their opinion and be heard.
6. The right to provisions from the husband for all her needs and more.
7. The right to negotiate marriage terms of her choice.
8. The right to obtain divorce from her husband, even on the grounds that she simply can't stand him. (pls note that God deeply frowns upon divorce as a solution unless there is hardly any other alternative but it does not mean that men have more right to divorce their wives than women do.)
9. The right to keep all her own money (she is not responsible to maintain any relations).
10. The right to get sexual satisfaction from her husband.
11. custody of their children after divorce
12. To refuse any marriage that does not please them

In the West, particularly in America, the subject of women in Islam holds quite a bit of negative light. As a matter of fact, Ibn Warraq makes all sorts of bogus statements about women in Islam. However since Warraq is a secularist/humanitarian I can imagine that he really doesn’t care about what other religions have to say about women. To the Jewish/Christian reader of this book, I can state that the views on women in Christianity and Judaism are not very good, in light of the Old Testament, The New Testament, Christian and Jewish history and the Talmud. Although I will not get into that here, since this book’s focus to clear up the image of women in Islam, I’ll mainly be showing that women are truly honored in Islam.

First off, Prophet Mohammed the last messenger of God, told his followers to be kind to women, as this hadith which I have already stated, incidates:
Abu Huraira (Allah be pleased with him) reported Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) as saying: "He who believes in Allah and the Hereafter, if he witnesses any matter he should talk in good terms about it or keep quiet. Act kindly towards woman, for woman is created from a rib, and the most crooked part of the rib is its top. If you attempt to straighten it, you will break it, and if you leave it, its crookedness will remain there. So act kindly towards women. (Translation of Sahih Muslim, The Book of Marriage (Kitab Al-Nikah), Book 008, Number 3468)"
So Prophet Mohammed is indicating that women are to be treated nicely and kindly. But one who has read Warraq’s book might argue, what about the Quranic Verse which states to beat women which would be sura 4:3. The verse is this:
Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has given the one more (strength) than the other, and because they support them from their means. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient, and guard in (the husband's) absence what Allah would have them guard. As to those women on whose part ye fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them (first), (Next), refuse to share their beds, (And last) beat them (lightly); but if they return to obedience, seek not against them Means (of annoyance): For Allah is Most High, great (above you all).(Quran 4:3)
Of note, the following verse tells that women who are ill mannered or disloyal, the first step is to admonish then, then not to share their beds, then the last step is to beat them. However read the verse carefully. After beat them, the word lightly is there. So the Quran is saying to beat them lightly after you have done the previous two steps.
Another point to be considered is the Arabic word, Udhdhribuu literally means to strike. The word beat is a rather extreme translation used, and isn’t exactly accurate. The word strike can mean a host of things such as from a powerful punch to a slight tap. Moreover the Quran does not endorse physical harm that causes injury as the following hadith maintain:
Narrated Mu'awiyah al-Qushayri: "I went to the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) and asked him: What do you say (command) about our wives? He replied: Give them food what you have for yourself, and clothe them by which you clothe yourself, and do not beat them, and do not revile them. (Sunan Abu-Dawud, Book 11, Marriage (Kitab Al-Nikah), Number 2139)"
Narrated Mu'awiyah ibn Haydah: "I said: Apostle of Allah, how should we approach our wives and how should we leave them? He replied: Approach your tilth when or how you will, give her (your wife) food when you take food, clothe when you clothe yourself, do not revile her face, and do not beat her. (Sunan Abu-Dawud, Book 11, Marriage (Kitab Al-Nikah), Number 2138)"
Further, Prophet Mohammed also said not to beat on the face:
Narrated Salim: "....Umar said: 'The Prophet forbade beating on the face.' (Translation of Sahih Bukhari, Hunting, Slaughtering, Volume 7, Book 67, Number 449)"
Narrated AbuHurayrah: "The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: When one of you inflicts a beating, he should avoid striking the face. (Sunan Abu-Dawud, Book 38, Prescribed Punishments (Kitab Al-Hudud), Number 4478)"
Of further note, the Quran indicates that men should treat women kindly and not with harshness as the following verse indicates:
"O ye who believe! Ye are forbidden to inherit women against their will. Nor should ye treat them with harshness, that ye may take away part of the dowre have given them, except where they have been guilty of open lewdness; on the contrary live with them on a footing of kindness and equity. If ye take a dislike to them it may be that ye dislike a thing, and God brings about through it a great deal of good. (Quran, 4:19)"

When it comes to rape, the person who raped a woman is to be punished not the victim as the following hadith illustrates:

Book 38, Number 4366:
Narrated Wa'il ibn Hujr:
When a woman went out in the time of the Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) for prayer, a man attacked her and overpowered (raped) her.
She shouted and he went off, and when a man came by, she said: That (man) did such and such to me. And when a company of the Emigrants came by, she said: That man did such and such to me. They went and seized the man whom they thought had had intercourse with her and brought him to her.
She said: Yes, this is he. Then they brought him to the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him).
When he (the Prophet) was about to pass sentence, the man who (actually) had assaulted her stood up and said: Apostle of Allah, I am the man who did it to her.
He (the Prophet) said to her: Go away, for Allah has forgiven you. But he told the man some good words (AbuDawud said: meaning the man who was seized), and of the man who had had intercourse with her, he said: Stone him to death.
He also said: He has repented to such an extent that if the people of Medina had repented similarly, it would have been accepted from them.
Now this is a lot more reasonable then what the Bible has to say about rape:

22 If a man is found sleeping with another man's wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.
23 If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, 24 you shall take both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death—the girl because she was in a town and did not scream for help, and the man because he violated another man's wife. You must purge the evil from among you.
25 But if out in the country a man happens to meet a girl pledged to be married and rapes her, only the man who has done this shall die. 26 Do nothing to the girl; she has committed no sin deserving death. This case is like that of someone who attacks and murders his neighbor, 27 for the man found the girl out in the country, and though the betrothed girl screamed, there was no one to rescue her.
28 If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, 29 he shall pay the girl's father fifty shekels of silver. [c] He must marry the girl, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives. (Deuteronomy 22:22-29)
So the following Biblical verse is stating that when a man violates his neighbors wife, then he is to be put to death. However if a man rapes a virgin or an unmarried woman then he has to pay the victims father 50 shekels of silver and then marry her rapist. Clearly the Islamic viewpoint makes a whole lot more sense.

In regard to women allowed to exercise Free speech and to be educated the following saying of Prophet Mohammed is to be noted:

Anas reported that the Messenger of God said: “Search for knowledge is compulsory upon every Muslim male and Muslim female.” (Ibn Majah)

Of further note, Prophet Mohammed had also taught women during his time as the following hadith indicates:

Buhkari Volume 9, Book 92, Number 413:
Narrated Abu Said:
A woman came to Allah's Apostle and said, "O Allah's Apostle! Men (only) benefit by your teachings, so please devote to us from (some of) your time, a day on which we may come to you so that you may teach us of what Allah has taught you." Allah's Apostle said, "Gather on such-and-such a day at such-and-such a place." They gathered and Allah's Apostle came to them and taught them of what Allah had taught him. He then said, "No woman among you who has lost her three children (died) but that they will screen her from the Fire." A woman among them said, "O Allah's Apostle! If she lost two children?" She repeated her question twice, whereupon the Prophet said, "Even two, even two, even two!"
As noted previously, the laws of marriage and divorce have already been discussed. So women are given a pretty comfortable place in Islam and the former Taliban regime of Afghanistan does not reflect Islamic teachings along with other Muslim countries which treat women harshly and unkindly.