GENDER EQUALITY IN ISLAM
Does Islam subjugates Women? On
what basis Islam distinguishes between Men and Women?
Unfortunately, some Muslim cultures and practices may indeed lead us to
the conclusion that in Islam women are oppressed and deprived of their basic
human rights. However, if you will examine objectively, the primary sources of
evidence in Islam, namely the Glorious Quran and the Hadith, you will find that
it has not only guaranteed the fundamental human rights for women but also it
secured those rights.
In the Glorious
Quran Allah Almighty mentioned that men and women are spiritually equal.
وَمَن يَعۡمَلۡ مِنَ ٱلصَّٰلِحَٰتِ مِن ذَكَرٍ أَوۡ أُنثَىٰ وَهُوَ مُؤۡمِنٞ
فَأُوْلَٰٓئِكَ يَدۡخُلُونَ ٱلۡجَنَّةَ وَلَا يُظۡلَمُونَ
نَقِيرٗا
“And whoever does righteous deeds, whether male or female, while
being a believer - those will enter Paradise and will not be wronged, [even as
much as] the speck on a date seed.” (Surah An-Nisa: 124)
A few years ago, discussion about the rights of women began to emerge in the western
context but in Islam, from 1400 years ago women's rights are defined. Men and
women are equal in the sight of Allah Almighty. Allah Almighty is the master
and all are His creation, He does not distinguish between a male and a female
based on gender but on biologically and physically. In fact from an Islamic
paradigm, Allah Almighty does not distinguish between human beings based on
their color or race but rather He looks at their hearts and their actions. And
this is beautifully exemplified in the Glorious Quran in many of its verses.
For example;
“Indeed, the Muslim men and Muslim
women, the believing men and believing women, the obedient men and obedient
women, the truthful men and truthful women, the patient men and patient women,
the humble men and humble women, the charitable men and charitable women, the
fasting men and fast women, the men who guard their private parts and the women
who do so, and the men who remember Allah often and the women who do so – for
them Allah has prepared forgiveness and a great reward.” (Surah Al-Ahzab, 35)
In this particular
verse, Allah Almighty clearly shows that in His sight, men and women are equal
in terms of their spirituality, conduct, moral ethics, or actions. Men and
women are equal in Islam but based on the makeup of their creation by Allah
Almighty, they are different physiologically, psychologically, and
biologically. Depending upon their makeup Allah Almighty set rules for them.
For example, men and women are at times allotted different rights and cultural
expectations. The Hadith of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him) states that;
"A man is expected to be the
"guardian of [his] family," whereas a woman is expected to be the
"guardian of her husband's home and his children."(Sahih Bukhari
9:89:252)
The Western people
or non-Muslims who speak against Islam and say, Islam, subjugates women because
of not giving them equal rights in Olympics, sports, forces, and inheritance.
Let's take a brief review of their behavior with women. What are they doing
with women? In their Olympics and sports, why do women and men have separate
teams? Why they don't make one team of boys and another of girls and set a
match between them? Why do they prefer to show girls over boys in their ads? I have
answers to these questions. They do because they are well known for the
difference in physical power and beauty attraction between men and women. While
on the other side, they evaluate the intelligence of men and women together in
exams because they know that men and women are equal in intelligence. The
western world knows but they don't want to admit it and they are subjugating
the women.
However, in many
fields of life men and women stand together but in some fields, Islam separates
them. Depending upon this Allah Almighty set rules for them like women have to
give birth to children and if Allah Almighty orders the women to go on Jihad,
it would be a very tough practice for them. So, Islam favors women in many
situations but does not subjugate them. In Islam, women have the rights of
marriage, education, economics, property, vote, and business under sacred law
or Sharia. Men are stronger than women and Allah Almighty created men for the
protection of their women. In the Glorious Quran Allah Almighty mentioned;
ٱلرِّجَالُ قَوَّٰمُونَ عَلَى ٱلنِّسَآءِ
"Men are in charge of women." (Surah An-Nisa: 34)
Therefore Islam
behaves equally to men and women but not identically. It can be more
understandable through this example if two players got the same number of gold
medals in last decade. Now by the progress, they stand on the same point but
they both were appeared in every annual match and played against one another, but
maybe player A lost the first one and player B won, and in the next match, player B lost and player A won. So, in some matches player A won, and in some
matches player B won but now they have the same points of progress and their
success is equal but not identical.