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"And among His signs is this: that He created mates for you form yourselves that you may find rest, peace of mind in them, and He ordained between you love and mercy. Lo, herein indeed are signs for people who reflect." [30:21]
Prophet Muhammad said:
"The most perfect in faith amongst believers is he who is best in manners and kindest to his wife." [Abu Dawud]
Muslims believe that Adam and Eve
were created from the same soul. Both were equally guilty of their
sin
and fall from grace, and both were forgiven by Allah. Many women
in Islam have had high status; consider
the fact that the first person to convert to Islam was Khadijah,the
wife of Muhammad, whom he both loved and respected. His favorite
wife after Khadijah's death, AŒisha, became renowned as a
scholar and one of the
greatest sources of Hadith literature. Many of the female Companions
accomplished great deeds and achieved fame, and throughout Islamic
history there have been famous and influential scholars, jurists
and mystics.
With regard to education,
both women and men have the same rights and obligations.
This is clear in Prophet Muhammad's saying:
"Seeking knowledge is mandatory for every believer." [Ibn Majah]
This implies men and women.
A woman is to be treated
as God has endowed her, with rights, such as to be treated as
an individual, with the right to own and dispose of her own property
and earnings, enter into contracts, even after marriage. She has
the right to be educated and to work outside the home
if she so chooses. She has the right to inherit from her father,
mother, and husband. A very interesting point to note is that
in Islam, unlike any other religion, a woman can be an imam, a
leader of communal prayer, for a group of women.
A Muslim woman also has
obligations. All the laws and regulations pertaining to prayer,
fasting, charity, pilgrimage, doing good deeds, etc., apply to
women, albeit with minor
differences having mainly to do with female physiology.
Before marriage, a woman
has the right to choose her husband. Islamic law is very strict
regarding the necessity of having the woman's consent for marriage.
A marriage dowry is given
by the groom to the bride for her own personal use. She keeps
her own family name, rather than taking her husband's. As a wife,
a woman has the right to be supported by her husband even
if she is already rich. She also has the right to seek divorce
and custody of young children.
She does not return the dowry, except in a few unusual situations.
Despite the fact that in many places and times Muslim communities have not always adhered to all or even many of the foregoing in practice, the ideal has been there for1,400 years, while virtually all other major civilzations did not begin to address these issues or change their negative attitudes until the19th and 20th centuries, and there are still many contemporary civilzations which have yet to do so.
