Islamic Women's Rights Dbq Essay

The rise and expansion of Islam has restricted Islamic women’s rights since the 18th century. Islamic women are expected to be obedient to men (Documents 3 and 10), are covered up at the expense of men (Documents 7) and are met with backlash when trying to gain rights (Documents 6, 8, and 9).

Despite in the Qur’an, the Islamic holy book, it states that men and women are equal under Allah’s eyes (Documents 1 and 2), Islamic women are still repressed from fundamental teachings in the Qur’an, as well as social expectations to be obedient. Umm Salamah says the Honorable Prophet states that if a women pleases her husband and dies she will go to Paradise. As she was a wife of Muhammad, the Islamic Prophet, her words were popular in the Islamic community

(Document 3). Hundreds of years later from a memoir of Ashraf Pahlavi, the twin sister of a Shah of Iran, asked her father to go to Switzerland but was denied although her brothers could go. She didn’t dare defy them as fathers in the Middle East were obeyed at all times. Although she was a woman of high social standing, she still wasn’t allowed the same opportunities as males. Her memoir is valid account on how Islam affected women’s rights (Document 10). In a cartoon from 1980, there’s a man rubbing his hands maliciously together watching a flower die that say Iranian women’s rights on the pot.

This is due to the Iranian government collapsing in 1979 leading to women to start

wearing the hijab again despite it being banned in 1935 (Documents 8 and 9). Women in Afghanistan are covered in burqas, full body coverings, and walk quickly away from other people if approached and the author observes a woman getting beaten for not walking away when a foreigner is near them. The author of this text is a reporter investigating women’s rights (Document 11). It’s because of the preceding reasons that Islam demands obedience from women.
Islamic women are required to veil to prevent men from having impure thoughts and protect themselves, as well as not leaving the house.

During the Ottoman Empire, a Flemish diplomat wrote about Turkish women being forced to stay home or in a harem most of the time and not allowed to talk to non-blood male relatives. However, upper-class women couldn’t leave at all and were not allowed to see any men or women expect for their parents after Ramadan. The author was a foreigner who was learning about Turkish culture so he wrote everything without a cultural bias towards women, and stated exactly what he observed (Document 5). Women of lower classes were forced to stay in harems and entertain men (Document 4). An Islamic leader in Egypt stated how women must cover themselves to not make men have improper thoughts as a women’s hair causes men to want to divorce his wife and marry a younger woman. The speaker is a leader of Islam and is stating their teachings. (Document 7). Most historians and anthropologists would agree with the preceding reasons on how women are oppressed in

Islam.
Women in Christianity and Islam had similar rights as women in Christianity are required be obedient as well. As in the New Testament it says for women to respect and obey your husband. Women in Islam and Christianity are also expected to cover their heads as well as in the the New Testament it says if a women doesn’t cover her head it should be shaved but since it’s disgraceful to shave her head to cover it.
Although Islamic women have constantly fought for their rights, they receive horrible backlash. In Egypt, when The Emancipation of Women was published for women to have education, some physical freedom, and more fair divorce laws, it was met with violence. The author of this book was an Egyptian man who is the starter of the Egyptian women’s rights movement (Document 6). As well as in Afghanistan during the ban for women to go to school, Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head on her way to school as a protest. Her story shows how Islamic women trying to have equal rights as men can be violent and even lethal.
In conclusion, the rise and expansion of Islam has restricted women’s rights after the 18th century. Women are required to be obedient, covered, and met with backlash once they try to gain equality.