Simply...Queen

4.5. |Woman in Islām|

Woman in Islam

With the advent of the Last Messenger Muhammad (Peace and Blessings be upon him) all the stereotypes concerning the female figure faded, little by little, from the peninsula in question. The Qur'an prohibits the burial of living baby girls and states that there is no evil or shame in giving birth to a female baby and growing it. The Sharī'ah forbids that women become the object of inheritance and that they do not receive part of them. Secondly, it provides not that the dowry is paid to the man, on the contrary, it is the man who has to give a sum in cash to the woman as a dowry along with all the matrimonial expenses on him.

The dowry in Islām

The dowry, according to a purely Islamic conception, is a woman's right enshrined in the verses of the Holy Qur'ān and, therefore, its order is not discussed at all; however, without dowry marriage is juridically valid, but it is still one less rule matched and since it is sanctioned by the Qur'ān therefore it continues to burden on the groom until its compensation. However, many people are often completely nonchalant; as we have seen, in certain communities or religions, man does not spend anything and lets everything burden on the shoulders of the girl's father, coming, perhaps, from a family that is not well-off. All of this helps to make people think even more that having a daughter is a big burden leading to cases of femicide and suicide.

Why dowry?

The dowry is prescribed in Islām as a sign of honor and valorisation of the figure of the wife as an individual.

Enslaved?

This topic is also very vast, as it would sink its roots in an era far farther from the advent of Allāh's Messenger and Prophet.

In Ancient Greece, women of a specific social rank were slaves, or they became slaves simply by being debtors to someone belonging to the bourgeois class. As well as in the Greek one, even in Roman society who was a slave, such he was to remain since social status was hereditary. The situation in pre-Islamic Arabia was similar. With the advent and spread of Islām, slavery has ended; inasmuch as, as prescribed in the Holy Qur'an, when someone fails a vow, a promise, or other kinds of negligence, numerous to be listed, he should free a slave or feed the poor or fast for three days. Qur'ān places first the act of freeing a slave as a sign of spiritual purification. From this it follows that the Book of Allāh the Most Compassionate indirectly discourages the Muslim individual from keeping slaves under his possession. Also because according to the Sharī'ah Law the human being is born free, with social freedom among individuals as a divine gift bestowed on him,  hence, no one  would have the right to extort from him what Allāh has granted him, ( i.e. freedom). Who is born free can not be a slave. Islām also had developed new methods and reasons for slave liberation that did not exist ever before its advent and spread.

Regarding the relationship between husband and wife, suffice it to see the hadīth (Sunnah) of the Messenger of Allāh (Peace be upon him)

"The best of you is the best of his family, and I am the best of my family"

"Among the Muslims, the most perfect in the faith are the best in moral conduct, and the best of you are those who are best with their wives"

It is clear, therefore, that wives are not "slaves" of their husbands.

The Greek culture, despite its emblematic and fascinating features, worthy of pride for Europeans and attention, its approach to the female figure is not the most ideal, as it allowed the woman a only few rights even within the home because she could not even participate to the ceremonies, while organizing them, or at the banquets of their own home, nevermind the outside world. Nothing remotely similar is expected in Islām.

As we have said, the Athenian man could have four (4) types of women. The wife for legitimate children; the concubine who, after all, was like the wife, the age and the prostitute.

This, from the Islamic point of view, is clearly mistreatment of women in terms of her morality. Islam does not allow the Muslim to look at any other individual of the opposite gender other than his own wife. Yes, even only the gaze is forbidden.

In Sparta women would have more rights and more freedom, apparently. They could go to the gym, do not worry about their children; all this privilege only because the Spartan put the State first. It rather seems nothing but a manipulation by the government in order to build a strong militia composed by healthy men to defy their enemies, not for the sake of Women's Rights!

It should be noted that the dowry legislation also contributed to bring a further reason for confusion regarding land ownership; many of the Spartans were firmly convinced that their spouses should be chosen for their natural physical prowess, precisely because of their tendency to patriotism in order to be able to generate strong and powerful males able to fight wars, rather than for the economic abilities possessed through inheritance acquired, so no formal dowry was assigned at the time of marriage. In this way women could easily become richer, inheriting both from the father and the husband according to the Spartan Legislation. While the Sharī'ah Law provides both the dowry for the Muslimah, and the inheritance from her father, her husband and her brother.

From here on, the comparatives will end and the rights of women in Islām will be discussed in detail.