Women in Islamic culture

Introduction

The women have a crucial place in the Islam society. Unlike many of the other religions, the Islamic religion does hold women in high esteem.  The Prophet Mohammed clearly states the importance of women in the Islamic society. The prophet said that “Paradise lies at the feet of your mothers.” One time a person asked Mohammad to find out who deserved more respect from the person, and Mohammad replied, “”Your mother” three times after which he said, “Your father and the closest relatives.”  During his farewell speech at Arafat when he was marking the tenth year of Hijrah, Mohammad put the woman at the same position as the man by saying that the woman has certain rights over a man while the man has certain rights over a man. He also commanded men to treat women well and be kind to them as they are partners and dedicated helpers.  He also added by saying that best among the Muslim men is the one that is best towards her wife.  People have a misconception that women are exploited but according to the evidence from the Islamic culture, they are highly esteemed.

Arguments

Considering that picture and then looking into the position of women in the Islamic religion, we can conclude that Islam is the religion that liberated women from exploitation and slavery since its inception (Wadud, 2013).  The Islamic religion is a religion of common sense, and it is also in line with the human nature.  However, that does not mean that it recognizes the equality of a man and a woman in all respects. Rather, it has a clear definition of the duties of men and women that are in lines with their biological make-up.  Even regarding the payment of dowry, the woman has more say than a man. Whatever a woman decides to be paid as her dowry, the man cannot have any objections, particularly the remainder of dowry that is to be paid in installments. 

But it is also worth to note that Allah did not establish total equality between a man and a woman, so it would be against nature if we try to achieve total quality between the man and woman (Suad & Afsaneh, 2012). The ways the women are being treated differently in light of Allah’s will is what people call as exploitation in women.  Thus, whatever the Islamic society is doing is trying to create the social balance that helps to inculcate peace and harmony in the society. The society cannot prosper, but it would have insolvable issues like broken marriages, the disintegration of family life, and illegitimate children.  Those problems can be observed in the western society where we can observe such problems as schoolgirl pregnancies, high rates of abortion, divorce and many other issues emanating from the so-called freedom of women (Mojab, 1998).

In the Islamic society, women have distinct and separate identities.  A woman has a right to own property, unlike other societies where that is not allowed. That is a clear sign that it if the other societies where a woman is exploited and not in Islam. Islam has also given a woman the right be the manager of her earnings. She has the right to dispose of her earnings as well as the property she owns as she wishes in a lawful (Halal) or unlawful (Haram) manner (Ask  & Marit, 1998).  Women also have the right to inheritance; therefore, they can claim the property of their dead fathers, husbands or their childless brothers.  The woman also in the Islamic society has a right to seek separation from the husband in case their marriage cannot be sustained.  The Qur’an asks the Muslim men to treat women kindly and therefore that makes the men safeguard them from any mistreatment or exploitation (Barazangi, & Nimat, 2004).

The Islam community of all communities has tried to create a fair as well as a balanced system of life as a compared to other societies about women treatment.  There are no duties or tasks to which women in Islam are forced to carry out without their consent; otherwise, we can then say that there is exploitation (Wadud, 2013).  An Islamic woman also assumes an absolute role of over her domestic affairs although cooperation and mutual consent run families.  The Islamic woman is the queen of her household, and she is in charge of the domestic life.  The sharia views the man and woman in the Islamic society as being complementary to one another, and there is none that dominates the other. It recognizes that each one of them has rights that in turn protect them from exploitation.  Although Islam recognizes the household leadership of a man, that does not mean that a man dominates a woman or that she is exploited.

Objections

The sayings of the prophet are a clear proof the important position of women in the Islamic society although there are some people that have misgivings concerning the status of women in Islam. Those people that have misgivings especially come from the West, and they see a woman as a prisoner enclosed within the walls of the house, someone that has no right, a non-person, and someone that is being dominated by man. Those perceptions are totally wrong and have a basis on ignorance instead of knowledge of Islam. Muslims know and uphold a very important rite of hajj referred to as the fast walk between the As-Safa and Al-Marwah that is observed to commemorate the event of Hajar, who was the mother or Prophet Ismail, who ran between the named hills to find water (Wadud, 2013).  That is a proof of the importance given to the women in the Islamic society.

We can judge those false ideas held by the people that have a notion that the Islamic women are exploited by looking at the attitudes different societies have towards women.  For instance, during the Roman civilization, a woman was treated as a slave.  Also, the Greeks regarded a woman as a commodity that could be bought or sold. The early Christians also regarded them as temptresses and accountable for the fall of Adam.  In the Indian society, until recently they had regarded women as being worse than death, serpents, and pests or even as Hell.  They considered the life of the woman as much as the wife was alive, but immediately after the death of the husband, the wife’s life ended. Also in the past, in the Arabian state, they regarded a woman as the cause of sorrow and unhappiness, and even the baby girls in some cases were buried alive after their birth.

There are also some more publications that show that the women are being exploited in Islam but those claims are from unreliable sources, or they are from the pre-Islamic era. For instance, one source from Offenhauer, Priscilla, Buchalter, (2005) shows that there is an increase of women in prisons because of harsh and unfair Hudood Ordinances that were had an establishment in the region in 1979. They also claim that these ordinances have increased domestic violence, but the laws are not applicable nowadays in Islam because they were replaced by the woman’s protection Bill in the year 2006. Lao, the proponents of women exploitation in Islam, claim that the Sharia considers a woman’s word a half that of a man during the court decisions, but there is no justifiable evidence that can support that claim using a reliable source.

Conclusion

Throughout history, there has not been an equal treatment of men and women, and that is what helps to create a balance in society. That problem is coupled with the failure of other religions and philosophies to visualize the right roles for women. In the West, the women have been turned into the commodity of fancy and enjoyment. The women in the modern society are degrading themselves without their knowledge in the name of equality, thereby becoming the objects of exploitation. Also, the slogans they use for liberty and equality are making them become playful commodities. Islam has tried to address many of the issues in women exploitation whereby one of the ways is a clear definition of the woman’s duties in the home.

Works Cited

Ask, Karin and Marit Tjomsland. Women and Islamization: contemporary dimensions of discourse on gender relations. Oxford: Berg (1998). 47.

Barazangi, Nimat Hafez. Woman's identity and the Qur'an: a new reading. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. 2004.

Mojab, Shahrzad. "" Muslim" women and" Western" feminists: The debate on particulars and universals." Monthly Review 50.7 (1998): 19.

Offenhauer, Priscilla, and Alice R. Buchalter. "Women in Islamic societies: a selected review of the social scientific literature." Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, 2005.

Suad Joseph, Afsaneh Najmabadi (ed.). Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures. Brill Academic Publishers.2012.

Wadud, Amina. Inside the gender Jihad: women's reform in Islam. oneworld Publications, 2013.

Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at Melda Research in <a href="https://www.meldaresearch.com">already written essay</a> if you need a similar paper you can place your order for <a href="https://researchpapers247.com/nursing-paper/">nursing writing services</a>