Women in Islam

11 Key excerpts on "Women in Islam"

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  Criticism of Islam

  • (Author)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • Library Press

    (Publisher)

  ________________________ WORLD TECHNOLOGIES ________________________ Chapter- 7 Women in Islam The study of Women in Islam investigates the role status of women within the religion of Islam. The complex relationship between women and Islam is defined by both Islamic texts and the history and culture of the Muslim world. While men and women have different roles within Islam, the Koran makes it clear that they are equal. Sharia (Islamic law) provides for differences between women's and men's roles, rights, and obligations. Majority Muslim countries give women varying degrees of rights without regards to marriage, divorce, civil rights, legal status, dress code, and education based on different interpretations. Scholars and other commentators vary as to whether they are just and whether they are a correct interpretation of religious imperatives. Conservatives argue that differences between men and women are due to different status, while liberal Muslims, Muslim feminists, and others argue in favor of other inter-pretations. Some women have achieved high political office in Muslim majority states. Sources of influence Islamic law is the product of Quranic guidelines, as understood by Islamic jurisprudence ( fiqh ), as well as of the interpretations derived from the traditions of Prophet Muhammad ( hadith ), that were agreed upon by majority of Muslim scholars as authentic beyond doubt based on the Science of Hadith These interpretations and their application were shaped by the historical context of the Muslim world at the time they were written. Many of the earliest writings were from a time of tribal warfare which could have been inappropriate for the 21st Century.

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  Routledge Library Editions: Women in Islamic Societies

  • Various Authors(Author)
  • 2021(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  I think it can be helpful, instead, to examine the points of view which exist and are propagated from within Islam, that is to say, how Muslims justify the woman's position, rights and obligations with direct reference to Islam's norms and authorities. It is not sufficient to consider the factual status of women in one or another area. The intention here is rather, to take notice of how questions relating to women are understood, on the basis of the Koran and Muhammad's Sunna, among contemporary 'fundamentalists'. 'The woman in Islam' is a controversial subject. There are few areas in which Muslims are more sensitive to Western criticism than in this. It is vehemently maintained that Westerners misunderstand and distort, that they fail to see how 'progressive' Islam is with regard to women, that it is Islam which liberates, and not oppresses, women. Western society, secularization, Christianity, 'women's lib', capital-ism, and communism oppress women whereas Islam liberates them. But what is meant by this? Islam has norm-giving authorities. Above all is the Koran, the Revelation from God to Muhammad and, thus, it is the absolute authority. Next in line follows the Prophet's Sunna, his words and deeds. His first disciples (both men and women) are also considered exemplary. Within Shi'ite Islam is found an additional authority: the Shi'ite imams and their sayings and examples. These sources contain regulations and command-ments including some which relate to the status of women. The problem is that of interpretation. What do these instructions mean? In what way are they norm-giving? How are they correctly applied? It is at this point that different attitudes and methods of interpretations appear.

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  Islam and Social Policy

  • Stephen P. Heyneman(Author)
  • 2004(Publication Date)
  • Vanderbilt University Press

    (Publisher)

  46 Islam and Social Policy do—that may confound stereotypic beliefs prevalent about Muslim women. This essay surveys precepts of Islamic law to determine how they are used to formulate legal stances on women’s issues and reforms of those positions. Here customary practice and expectations often intersect with the historical te-nets of a revealed religion. Practice and expectations emphasize women’s submissiveness. The Qur’an nowhere states that women submit to male domination and enjoins both men and women to behave judiciously. Anyone who deals with Islamic law faces the question of the interpretation of Islam and the formulation of Islamic law. Conservatives, reformers, and activists contend for the right to interpret Islam definitively, so any interpretation becomes prob-lematic. Debates on the direction in which society should move still rage between fundamentalists, liberal democrats, leftists, and traditional social groups. In the midst of this struggle, the question of women’s role takes prominence. Reasons for this are many. First, the family is the basic institution of society: its health reflects that of society in general, and women are still seen as the prime keepers of family well-being. Women’s roles, in many cultures, are used as symbols that indicate domestic and social order or disorder. Any confusion in that order has society-wide reverberations. Second, defining women’s roles also defines men’s roles, and societies around the world have been highly resistant to suggestions of gender-role changes. Third, women’s issues are highly visible and arouse, as referred to above, considerable emo-tion and thus are a good rallying point for social movements— conservative or liberal. While the status of women is the major issue, other social and economic issues that are less amenable to symbolic representation lurk in the background as an important, if unstated, part of the overall debate. This is easily demonstrable in the case of Muslim activism.

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  Muslima Theology : The Voices of Muslim Women Theologians

  • Ednan Aslan, Marcia Hermansen, Elif Medeni(Authors)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • Peter Lang International Academic Publishers

    (Publisher)

  Throughout more than fourteen centuries of Islamic history, diversity and plurality have characterized Islamic cultures and societies. Hence, it is difficult to determine exact reasons for overall dearth of women’s engagements in religious schol-arship within Muslim societies at large. Less than three decades after the Prophet’s death, new concepts and ideals detrimental to women’s status were introduced into the social fabric of the early Muslim soci-ety. Particularly as the empire of the early Muslims grew and became increasingly urban, Islamic values were put to the test by conflicting tribal and authoritarian forces. As the Caliphate took on dynastic ten-dencies, submission to the ruler was often deliberately equated with submission to God, and as a result, legitimate protest against politi-cal oppression was conflated with so-called chaos-inducing rebellion. In theological discourse, concepts of fate were emphasized over those of human freedom. Women, for the most part, lost the esteemed pub-lic roles they had gained under the Prophet and his immediate succes-sors, and by and large, an older, deep-rooted ideal of women as inferior gained greater staying-power within religious discourses and society at large.9 While women were still able to exert influence, particularly through their male kin, on the whole women’s contributions to pub-lic life were drastically curbed, and their epistemic authority regularly regarded as secondary to that of men.10 As discussed below, the deri-vation of religious law and trends in exegesis often further inscribed women’s perceived inferiority. 9 See the arguments of Mona M. Abul-Fadl, “Revisiting the Muslim Woman Question: An Islamic Perspec-tive,” adapted from Muslim Women Scholars on Women in Islam, symposium hosted by Chicago Theological Semi-nary, November 7, 1990, http://muslimwomenstudies.com/WomRevisit.htm (accessed June 1, 2011).

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  African American Islam

  • Aminah Beverly McCloud(Author)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Women in Islam      

  And one of His signs is that He created mates for you from yourselves that you may find rest in them, and He put between you love and compassion; most surely there are signs in this for a people who reflect

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    —Sura Rum 30:21.

  DISCOURSES ON THE STATUS OF MUSLIM WOMEN

  uslim women and their roles in communities continue to be a major concern of both scholarly and everyday inquiry. To non-Muslims, Muslim women have been the subject of speculation, consternation, and ridicule for decades. As one Muslim teacher and scholar has noted:

  Old ideas about the place of Women in Islam have hardly changed. The most difficult task I have faced in years of teaching Islam is how to provide an accurate account of the role of women in face of the deep prejudices of not only my students but also my colleagues… . And given the background of the students, it was natural for them to come into class convinced, on some level of their awareness, that Eastern women, and especially Muslim women, are the most oppressed and downtrodden women on earth, and that although Islam may have something interesting to say on some level, it certainly has nothing to offer on the level of women’s role in society.1

  Scholarly works have called Muslim women’s existence and ways of being in the world as oppressed and voiceless, and have explored these characteristics in a variety of communities, elaborating a discourse replete with negative stereotypes. Western women feel that their “work on” Muslim women is a model of excellence.

  Our knowledge of Women in Islamic society has benefited from the burgeoning studies on women in the West. This interest has resulted in excellent monographs, essay collections, scholarly and popular articles, and translations of works by Muslim women into Western languages, particularly English.2

  Muslim women, however, are generally unflattered by such scholarship. For example, Leila Ahmed had complained that

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  The Contemporary Islamic Governed State

  A Reconceptualization

  • Joseph J. Kaminski(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  169 INTRODUCTION—TRACING THE PATHOLOGY OF REACTIONARY ATTITUDES TOWARD WOMEN TODAY IN THE MUSLIM WORLD One of the most revolutionary aspects of the Qur’ān was the rights it gave to women. According to Riffat Hassan; Within the Islamic tradition both negative and positive attitudes are found toward women and women’s issues. However, the Qur’an, which is the primary source on which Islam is founded, consistently affirms women’s equality with men and their fundamental right to actualize the human potential that they possess equally with men. (1999: 275) Hassan’s claim is supported by the Qur’ān, which states; Lo! men who surrender unto Allah, and women who surrender, and men who believe and women who believe, and men who obey and women who obey, and men who speak the truth and women who speak the truth, and men who persevere (in righteousness) and women who persevere, and men who are humble and women who are humble, and men who give alms and women who give alms, and men who fast and women who fast, and men who guard their modesty and women who guard (their modesty), and men who remember Allah much and women who remember—Allah hath pre- pared for them forgiveness and a vast reward. (Qur’ān, 33:25) CHAPTER 6 The Importance of Involving Women in the Political Apparatus of a Contemporary Islamic Governed State © The Author(s) 2017 J.J. Kaminski, The Contemporary Islamic Governed State, Palgrave Series in Islamic Theology, Law, and History, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-57012-9_6 170 J.J. KAMINSKI Women are explicitly given the same status as men in the eyes of Allah for their actions and deeds. Women in Islam have explicit social, eco- nomic, and political/legal rights as well. Some examples of these rights include the right to work and earn money, the right to keep their earn- ings, the right to negotiate the terms of marriage, the right to divorce, the right to custody of her children following a divorce, the right to property, and the right to education.

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  Islamic Education in Britain

  New Pluralist Paradigms

  • Alison Scott-Baumann, Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor(Authors)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • Bloomsbury Academic

    (Publisher)

  Most Muslim women – whether feminist or not – agree that in their own ways they are reclaiming their faith from certain types of patriarchal interpreters who hijack its egalitarianism and from similar types of secular interpreters who hijack its pluralism. Their struggles, activism and scholarship may lead them to paths that seem more secular or alternatively more religious; in either case, women are reclaiming a space and a religious identity where, in the feminist sense, they are treated with rights and respect. And as their struggles are informed and inspired by their readings and interpretations of Islamic foundational texts, it seems that in furthering their struggles Muslim women are engaging with and living through a debate about the nature of Islamic education in a ‘modern’ Western context. They are critically engaging with Islamic texts, challenging patriarchy and building bridges between religiosity and secularism. This chapter will attempt to unpick this debate about feminism for our readers, exposing tensions, contradictions and fault lines to better craft an Islamic educational feminism. A brief history of Muslim women’s Islamic education In this section we briefly look at the historical opportunities that have been available to women to acquire Islamic knowledge. Have women always been ‘invisible’ in the annals of scholarly pursuit? We go back to the prophetic era and look at the evolution of schools where women could study the Quran: in doing so, we demonstrate the centrality of women’s Islamic education and their scholarly contributions to the history and praxis in the formative years of Islam. 5. Muslim Women’s Voices, Feminisms and Theologies 111 The lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad During the lifetime of the Prophet, the Hadiths 13 indicate that, in a format that is the opposite of contemporary practice, men and women shared the same space, usually in the mosque, to learn the Quran.

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  Routledge Library Editions: Women and Religion

  • Various, Various Authors(Authors)
  • 2022(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  The Status of Women in Early Islam the early Islamic eli te the traits of the inspirational example rather than just that of the realistic portrait. Given, therefore, the inevitable gap between the actual and the idealized, between the genuine and later ascriptions, it is only to be expected that the Hadith entails much varied and often contradictory information on the society it describes. 27 Because of the limited scope of this paper, only a few aspects of the status and roles of women in the Hadith literature can be presented. A. The Images of Women in the Hadith The nature of women as reflected in the Hadith spans the whole spectrum from the saintly to the evil ana unclean. 1. The saintly women The most extraordinary women who are especially favoured by God and therefore blessed with unusual powers and extraordinary experi- ences are, of course, Muhammad's wives whose close association with the Prophet lifts them above the realm and ranks of ordinary womankind. Most of them, e.g. had extraordinary dreams or visions prior to their marriage to the Prophet, such as Sawda 28 and 'Umm Habiba. 29 'Nisha's picture, on the other hand, was shown by the Archangel Gabriel to the Prophet prior to his proposal of marraige to her father;30 or, according to another account, she was shown to Muhammad as his future bride and a substitute for Khadija by Gabriel while still in the cradle. This was a favour from God to take away the Prophet's grief over Khadija's death. 31 Muhammad received revelations while he was in 'A'isha's company32 and, according to some 'A'isha could even see the Angel and exchanged greetings with him,33 while, according to others, they sent greetings through the Prophet to each other, although she could not see him. The Prophet took his wife Hafsa back after he had divorced her, because the Angel Gabriel commanded him to do so, as she was a righteous woman and would be his wife in Heaven.

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  Islam in Historical Perspective

  • Alexander Knysh(Author)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)
• The wives of the Prophet are subjects of Qur’anic injunctions, including one that concerns false accusations of adultery (against ‘A’isha). Qur’anic norms of proper behavior are incumbent upon Muslim women.
• There is a tension between Qur’anic verses asserting the equality of men and women in terms of their obligations toward God and those that seem to privilege men over women in the domestic, social, and economic spheres.
• The Prophet’s wives are presented as Mothers of the Believers and as the models for other Muslim women to emulate.
• There are injunctions concerning adultery and polygamy, as well as an issue of temporary marriage (mut‘a ).
• Women are subject to regulations regarding marriage, divorce, and child care.
• Women, in the hadíth and fiqh , are subject to the variations in opinions among legal schools and between Sunni and Shi‘ite jurisprudence in particular.
• There are contradictions between Islamic juridical theories and the patriarchal ethos and customs of some Muslim societies, as well as confusion between patriarchy and Islam. Patriarchy has an adverse effect on Muslim women.
• Some theoretical approaches to the status of Women in Islamic societies are discussed. Nabia Abbott and Leila Ahmad argue that Muslim women are victims of the androcentric, patriarchal culture that has dominated Muslim societies since the early Middle Ages; the Muslim ruling elite inherited and internalized the misogynistic attitudes of their imperial predecessors, the Byzantine and Sasanian Empires. These misogynistic attitudes were appropriated and justified in Islamic terms by the Muslim scholars under the ‘Abbasid dynasty to become the model and pattern for later generations to follow.
• Polygamy, female slavery, and seclusion in the harem are the three means of subjugating and disenfranchising women under the ‘Abbásids and their successors.
• Marshall Hodgson’s thesis concerns the emergence and persistence of the “harem system.” It is the consequence of the so-called cult of masculine honor that was predominant in Mediterranean societies in the premodern epoch. The idea that a woman’s chastity (shame) is the essential measure of her man’s social worth led to the deliberate isolation of women from any possible contact with a potential sexual partner. The cult of masculine honor and interclan conflicts are symptomatic.