The Importance of Women's Rights in Arabia with the Birth of Islam

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In Islam, there is prevailing an equal treatment for both men and women. Islam worked as a changing factor to upgrade the position of women and for the betterment of the then pre-Islamic Arabian women to the early Islamic Arabian women. The Arabian peninsula which was mainly the center of spreading Islam is an arid place for survival. The Arabian people used to live within their clans where they belonged to from birth. Particularly, the Bedouin (nomadic group) culture evolved from this area and everyone had to be loyal to their tribal groups (Bedouin clan). Their lifestyle mainly depended on agriculture and camel and goat herding. Though it was always hard for Arabian Bedouins to struggle for their lives in a dry place, both men and women worked equally there. In large extent, the Bedouin women were not treated in a proper way. The women were oppressed by the male dominance. Their status was so disgraceful that they didn't have the right of decision making on family matters and on public life as well. It was considered as shame of being a female on that period and the deliberate killing of female child was nothing more than an obvious issue for them. Bedouin men were dominating over women and abusing them in whatever way they wished to be. The Arabian women of that period had no sorts of rights to inherent the property, to divorce or to have opinions of choosing partners. Women were supposed to treat as weaker person and were maltreated by men. Above all these reasons, this period was called "The age of Ignorance" (Aiyyame Jahelliyya). The rise of Islam brought about a drastic change of the position of Arabian women during the pre-Islamic period and some legalized Islamic rights were necessary for the shift from this dark age to a...

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...ainly came into women's lives after Islam while the Meccan people were known about the power of inheritance.
Islam gave the rights to inherent, to enjoy dowry from the bridegroom, to choose husband and it forbade the female infanticide and overall mistreatment of women. Islam paved the way for women to achieve their goals in their lives rather than being suppressed by the male dominance.

Works Cited:
Sechzer, Jeri Altneu. "“Islam and Woman: Where Tradition Meets Modernity”: History and Interpretations of Islamic Women's Status." Sex Roles 51.5-6 (2004): 263-272.
Hardwick, Anne. " From Muhammad to Present: Islamic Law and Women".
Muslim Women's League. "Women in Pre-Islamic Arabia". September 1995.
The verse verse (81:8-9) of Surah At-Takwir written in Quran
The verse (17:31) of Surat-Al-Isra written in Quran
The verse (4:3) of Sura-An-Nisa written in Quran

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