Islamic Society's Treatment of Women
From the time of birth, a Muslim woman's place in Islamic society already has a
shadow cast over it. Instead of the joyous cry that boys receive of "Allah Abkar"1 when
they are born, a baby girl is welcomed into the world with a hushed Qurannic prayer.
Although Islam venomously denies its role in the suppression of women, a survey of
Islamic countries reveals that women are denied their humanity.
The status of women in Islamic countries is undeniably inferior to men. Over the
last twenty years, progress has been made in many countries which has helped elevate the
roles which Muslim women play in their societies. Although progress has been made in
certain countries, there still exist those Islamic countries where being born female
guarantees a lack of rights, liberty, and happiness. This paper will explore the question,
"What forces are limiting the Muslim woman's equivocal participation in Islamic society?"
Islam's followers are approximated at 1.2 billion, which makes it a runner up only
to Christianity that has about 2 million adherents. Women constitute about half of that
population. However, it is important to note that this paper examines the treatment of
women in the strongholds of the Islamic domain. These populations include the Arab
countries of Saudi Arabi, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey, Jordan, Kuwait,
Yemen, Israel, Oman, and Lebanon. Muslim women of the African countries of Sudan,
Libya, Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia are also weighed in this analysis. In addition
to these better known Islamic countries, the paper also observes the societal treatment of
women in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, India, and Bangladesh. About 90...
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...d rationalists of yesteryear who tried to import Greek
ideas...Women have been, are, and will continue to be targets of intimidation and
violence, whether from regimes in power or opposition movements that hark back to the
past. It happened in Pakistan in the 1980s; it is still going on in Iran; and today at the
beginning of the 1990s, it is happening in Algeria. Tomorrow the same thing can
happen elsewhere...Today they constitute one of the most dynamic components of the
developing civil society. Although up to the present they are still politically
unorganized, they have succeeded in infiltrating one of the citadels which was long
forbidden to them: formal education. Education, with high school and university
diplomas, is women's new acquisition. Until now all women were taught to do, from
housework to carpet weaving, was devalued and poorly paid.
The Islamic Revolution of 1979 placed an ideological wedge that created an increasingly pervasive rift in gender equality that is now only gradually being successfully challenged and correct upon.
1. What is the difference between Introduction: The decree passed by the president in 2009 related to women's rights was opposed by some of the conservative members of Parliament. Afghanistan has a cultural society where from the past and still up to this time majority of people abuse women and are opposed to the liberty of women in country.
Muslim Women and Western Ideas of Feminism Western feminists aim for completely equal rights for men and women. They want to liberate women from perceived oppressions from men. Their aims are to give women completely free choice in their decisions. Such examples are child-bearing. This is a good view to the extent that men and women were created equally and so they should be treated equally.
On September 27th, 1996, the extremist militia, the Taliban, seized control of the capital city of Afghanistan, Kabul. Up until that day, women and girls in Afghanistan could go to school, work, and walk freely. Then the Taliban issued decrees banning woman and girls from receiving education, entering the workforce or leaving their homes without a close male relative as an escort, wearing a burqa. The Taliban violently plunged the occupied territories of Afghanistan into a brutal state of gender apartheid in which women and girls have been stripped of their basic human rights. The Taliban claims religious reasoning behind this gender apartheid, using the Muslim faith as their backing, though many critics denounce this logic, saying that The Qur'an condones no such thing. Woman in Afghanistan have become but a shadow of real people. Not only can they no longer enter the workforce or attend school, they cannot choose what they wish to wear, or call to friends in public for fear of being beaten, stoned or killed. The female sex has truly been enslaved by the Taliban, however what rarely comes to light, is that males in Afghanistan have also had strictures of dress and conduct imposed on them. These conditions have roused quite a varied response from the Western World. Western-born Muslims who practice Islam identify with some of the Taliban's strictures, even wearing the burqa or hajib in Canada. Others who do not know the Muslim faith, are outraged that woman can be subjugated so completely and that the rest of the world can sit back and watch it happen complacently. Human rights atrocities are committed towards women everyday by the Taliban in the name of their religio...
For years American women have been and still fight for equality. On the other side
The first religion and its views on women that will be discussed in this essay is Islam. Islam is a religions founded in Saudi Arabia almost two thousand years ago, by the prophet Muhammad. In fact, Muhammad dedicated much attention towards women in the Koran, the holy book of Islam. However, even though much was dedicated to women in the Koran, it was not dedicated to them in the sense of equality. Women in Islamic culture were apparently much lower on the totem pole than men, "The men are made responsible for the women, since God endowed them with certain qualities, and made them the bread earners...If you experience opposition from the women, you shall first talk to them, then [you may use such negative incentives as] deserting them in bed, then you may beat them (129)." Excerpt...
The World’s Religions by Huston Smith is a novel based on the different religions found around the world. The main area of focus within this book was to expand the knowledge of different cultures and their religions. The chapters that were specified to focus on include Islam, Judaism, Christianity and the Primal Religions. Go into detail about each religion. Smith goes into great detail about each religion, concentrating on the teachings and essential elements of each religion, important people that helped form the religion, and traditions. He specifically discusses how these three religions are very similar rather then how different they are, with the main studies on Moses, Jesus, and Mohammad. Finally he discusses the Primal Religions – meaning the traditions that are passed down through oral communication.
In discussing the role of women in contemporary society there are three main areas that can be addressed. The perceptions of woman within contemporary Muslim societies. The status, position and role of woman in the Qur'an and in early Islam
daughters, he and I will be like this…” At that moment he put up two
While people in the west think that women in Islam are oppressed, they do not know that Islam liberated women from oppression. There are many people who have opinions about the religion of Islam, but mostly about the women who follow it. Westerners have this idea that women in Islam are disrespected, mistreated and oppressed. In actuality, these allegations are incorrect. Women in Islam have rights and are not oppressed. The veil is widely misunderstood and many do not know what it represents. In many ways, men and women are equal as much as they are not; and this is in every religion.
If we want to maintain our self-esteem and honor then we should not keep away our female children from higher realization of our society and Islamic norms and values. (Editorial, 2012)
“Women’s rights in Islam” is great controversial topic going on nowadays. The world is colored with different cultures and religions. Most people come up with different thoughts for other religion’s people by just having one look on them. Veil is obsession for some people, whereas, being bald is freedom in some people’s point of view. There are lots of misconceptions about women’s rights in Islam among non muslims. If women are covering their body or if they like to stay at home, people think that they don’t have any freedom in this religion and women are obsessed. But this is not reality. A person cannot point out anything wrong and blame other’s religion just because of his own confusion. He needs to study thoroughly and then come up with opposing viewpoints. Therefore, the misconception about women’s rights in Islam should be removed because women have equal rights, veil is for their protection, and they have freedom of speech and expression.
In today’s globalized world, women’s studies is emerging as a fast growing discipline which is not restricted any more to the academia but is significantly capturing the attention of the civil society. The way civil society responded to “Nirbhaya” gang-rape case of December, 2012 in Delhi; the way people came on the streets in protest against this horrific and barbarous crime committed against a 23 year old woman; this people’s movement has undoubtedly engineered the emergence of a new consciousness among us about the need for a realization of women’s honour and dignity in the society. There have been serious debates on the issue of whether more stringent laws (in the line of Shari’a law) be implemented in our Indian society so that such heinous crimes against women can be prevented. However, the aforesaid incident is only one among many hundred other such crimes happening everyday in almost every corner of the globe. Many such incidents of crime are either suppressed or do not come to limelight. The following analysis is a humble attempt to deal with the status of women (especially in Islam) in a globalized world.
Women who have the misfortune of living in predominately Muslim societies often are confronted with adversities concerning their rights in marriage, divorce, education, and seclusion. Consequently, many Westerners seeing a lack of equality towards women in these societies consider it as a confirmation of their own misconceptions about Islam itself. Islam is often rejected as being an intolerant and violent religion that discriminates against and subjugates women, treating them as second-class citizens. From a Muslim’s perspective, Islam’s stance on women can be approached by two opposing views. Scholars amongst the Muslim apologists have claimed, “The verses in the Qur’an represented Muhammad's intention to improve a debased condition of women that prevailed during the Jahiliya, the time of ignorance before Islam came into being.” (Doumato, 177) If inequalities still exist between men and women, they cannot be attributed to Islam, but are a result of the misinterpretation of Islam’s true meaning. Others have entirely denied the notion of inequality between men and women in Islam, claiming that the alleged inequalities “are merely perceived as such by foreign observers who confuse seclusion and sex difference with inequality.” (Ibid.) Many Muslim apologists defend the Koran as noble for the very fact that it raises women to an equal status of men despite their inferiority.
...el the status of women in the Muslim world today as "Islamic" is as far from the truth as labeling the position of women in the West today as "totally liberated and equal".