Are women not equal to men in Islam?



Q-Why does Islam not consider women equal to men?

ANS: There is a very common misconception about Islam that it makes society male dominated. But in actual it is not so.

Let us first consider one thing;

There are many issues on which human intellect is bound to fail especially when it comes to rights & obligations of;

1-Man & Woman
2-Employer & Employee, and
3-Ruler and the ruled

To have balanced rules for all these cases we need to refer to some Super-Human, All-Knowing and All-Wise Authority—ALLAH subhanahu wa ta’ala.

Men, only the protectors of women.

There is no Quranic verse or Saying of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) which speaks of superiority of one sex over the other. Let us examine a Quranic verse often misunderstood in this regard.

“Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has given the one more (strength) than the other, and because they support them from their means”.(4:34)

Abdullah Yusuf Ali’s writes in his commentary to this verse;

“Qawwam: one who stands firm in another's business, protects his interests, and looks after his affairs- or it may be, standing firm in his own business, managing affairs, with a steady purpose.”

People say the word‘Qawwam’ means, ‘one degree higher in superiority’ - But actually the word ‘Qawwam’ comes from the root word ‘Iqamah

‘Iqamah’ means for example ‘when you give the Ikamah before prayers - You stand up’.

So ‘Iqamah’ means to standup - so the word ‘Qawwam’ means one degree higher in responsibility, not one degree higher in superiority.

Even if you read the commentary of ‘Ibne-Kathir’ - He says that the word ‘Qawwam’ means one degree higher in responsibility, not one degree higher in superiority
.

And this responsibility, should be carried out by mutual consent of both husband and wife.

Thus we can see that in this verse the only thing told is that ‘men are the protectors and maintainers of women; and nothing more. And that too because they by nature have more physical strength.

Different role of man & woman.

Yes, in Islam there are different rules for different members of the society. And very reasonably Islam assigns different duties to men and women. In Islam a man is responsible for the financial and administrative affairs of the household whereas a woman is responsible for the internal affairs of the house. They can help each other but only when each of them has justly fulfilled his/her own obligations first. .
A woman is generally supposed to stay at her house and keep doing her primary job, managing the inside affairs.

“And stay quietly in your houses, and make not a dazzling display, like that of the former Times of Ignorance; and establish regular Prayer, and give regular Charity; and obey Allah and His Messenger”(Al-Quran 33:33)

Man & Woman are equal.

There is saying of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) that makes it clear as to how Islam strikes balance between the rights of a man & a woman.

The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) said; “The greatest right upon a woman is that of her husband while the greatest right upon a man is that of his mother.”

See ! How justly has Islam kept a balance between a man and a woman.

Equal reward of good deeds..

As for as reward of good deeds is concerned, a man and a woman are absolutely equal in this regard. ALLAH says in the Quran;

“Whoever works righteousness, Man or Woman, and has Faith, verily, to him will We give a new Life, a life that is good and pure and We will bestow on such their reward according to the best of their actions.” (16:97).

Share in inheritance.

Yes, it is true that Islam gives a male child double share in the inheritance then a female child. Quran says;

“Allah (thus) directs you as regards your Children's (Inheritance): to the male, a portion equal to that of two females” (4:11)

But again this is not without reason. As described earlier Islam makes the man responsible for the finances of the family not the woman. And for this reason he is given a double share. Man, being the manager of finances, has to spend money on his family while a woman is not bound to do that.

To sum up I think the following lines adequately describe the status of women in Islam;

Woman was made from the rib of man,
She was not created from his head to top him,
Nor from his feet to be stepped upon,
She was made from his side to be close to him,
From beneath his arm to be protected by him,
Near his heart to be loved by him.


INDEED ALLAH KNOWS THE BEST !!!

....By Waqar Akbar Cheema

For updates/revisions and new articles visit our new website

This article may have been revised. For updates/revisions and new articles visit ICRAA.org . You can find us on social media as well
Previous Post : Go to the previous Post
Next Post: Go to the Next Post

8 comments :

    1. well i am going to ask u few questions its doesn't mean that i am not agree with hadith Alhumdullillah i do but some questions arises in my mind as u said that it is mention in hadith that the greatest right upon the women is of her husband does it mean that if a husband if he is wrong and says to her wife don't met with ur parents ...don't do anything fro them if they are ill and they have to take care off u should bot go their does a husband can do that?because on the other site islam says that ur heaven is under the feet of ur mother so it is only for the men? one have to choose between the mother and the husband so what a woman can do ?and i also want to ask that i read hadith it says "if sijdah is allow i would order a women to to sijdah in front of her husband?why is that so Allah Apostle says that question hurt me alot its look like that husband can do everything they want but woman can't?and the third question of mine is that i also read that Allah Apostle says that "i see more women in the hell then the men "why is that so the reason was written that they talk about bad things of a persons behind him or her is that that case i see a lot of men more then women doing this then why only women go to hell?i want to ask these question from quite a long as they disturbs me a lot u don't know how much we women have to suffer men gives examples of islam for their own purpose they say to the women that i am ur "mizaji khuda"( u may heard this term) to their women .how can i accept it if their is only one god? they said that u can't even pray nafil prayers without our permission why is that so men do not need nay permission why the women need permission for praying Allah ?if u will say me that some women have a habit of doing prayers so long and ignoring their husbands that what men also do so why doesn't men need permission from their wives ?well and also a man is allowed is allowed to marry four girls at a time it is acceptable as i know the reason behind them but a man require permission from her wife to marry another girl or not in islamic laws?i am waiting for ur answers hope u didn't mind it

      ReplyDelete
    2. Assalamo Alikum wr wb sister

      Jazakillah for writing. no problem with the questions. I understand such queries do come to ones mind.

      Two of your questions have been answered.
      1-Why the hadith says that women will form majority in the Hell?

      2-Why is woman required to seek husband's permission for voluntary fasting?
      {you wrote the same about nafal salah. as to my knowledge there is no such Islamic injunction which asks the woman to seek husband's consent for nafal salah. But taking the spirit of your question, answer is given.}

      Please see the list top, answers have been added.

      And ofcourse no point to mind in this.

      Jazakillahu khair

      ReplyDelete
    3. u didn't give me the answer of the question: does a man require permission from her wife to marry another girl or not in islamic laws?i am waiting for ur answers hope u didn't mind it

      ReplyDelete
    4. it is mention in hadith that the greatest right upon the women is of her husband does it mean that if a husband if he is wrong and says to her wife don't met with ur parents ...don't do anything fro them if they are ill and they have to take care off u should bot go their does a husband can do that?because on the other site islam says that ur heaven is under the feet of ur mother so it is only for the men? one have to choose between the mother and the husband so what a woman can do ?and i also want to ask that i read hadith it says "if sijdah is allow i would order a women to to sijdah in front of her husband?why is that so Allah Apostle says ?and the answer of these questions tooo

      ReplyDelete
    5. Assalamo Alikum wr wb sister !!

      As to the question about the woman willing to go to her parents and her husband not allowing her.

      Firstly the husband must not impose such restrictions on his wife. Husband has no right to prevent his wife from visiting her parents.

      If the parents of the wife are ill and and need her care and attention and her husband disallows her to visit them then she can even disobey him. this is what the learned scholars have said:

      Allama Ibn Nujaym said: "If her (wife's)father is chronically ill, for example, and he needs her to serve him, and the husband prevents her from looking after him, then she should disobey him, whether the father is a Muslim or a kaafir. This is what it says in Fath al-Qadeer. From what we have mentioned it may be understood that she may go out to visit her parents and mahrams, and according to the correct view she may go out to visit her parents once a week with or without his permission, and to visit her mahrams once a year with or without his permission."
      {al-Bahr al-Raa’iq (4/212)}

      However man and woman should always try to manage such issues with consultation and harmony.

      In normal circumstances woman must seek permission from her husband to leave her home.

      ReplyDelete
    6. and i also want to ask that i read hadith it says "if sijdah is allow i would order a women to to sijdah in front of her husband?why is that so Allah Apostle says ?what about that u didn't give me the answer of that

      ReplyDelete
    7. As to this Hadith, it only emphasizes the right of a husband over his wife and wife's obligations.

      We need to understand the entire Family System as described by Islam. Its a fact that to ensure a well established Family System a setup has to be maintained.

      While Husband and Wife are supposed to have mutual respect and love, each of them is assigned some particular responsibility with regard to the other. While Man is asked to win bread, arrange finances and guarantee social protection for the lady, she is required to be obedient and loyal to him. The wording used in the Hadith only mean to show the importance of the matter as it is vital to keep the family structure intact.

      We can observe the in societies where the peculiar roles and responsibilities with regard to each other have been confused, there collapse of family structure has taken place.

      The reason that I dint answer this early beside some time constraints was that I believe that it has nothing too confusing in it.

      Anyway I understand your concern sister. Hope the above thing helped get away with the query.

      Take care. Keep visiting and do give suggestions (even in the form of questions) to answer some more questions.

      Jazakillahu Khair

      ReplyDelete
    8. thanks for the info i agree

      ReplyDelete