"Womenfolk in Islam”
History is silent as to whether there was any distinction
in status between the male and the female sexes during the beginnings of human
civilization. In later days no doubt the female sex was regarded as inferior to
the male and the idea of inferiority developed to such an extent that the male
sex not only claimed a complete superiority over the female sex, but further arrogated
to himself the right to utilise and employ the female sex as he liked.
Surveying the history of the world on this point we find that
in pre-Christian Europe and Greece, which was the centre of light and learning
for a long time and which provided philosophical and scientific inspiration to
the Europe of later days, regarded woman as something definitely inferior to
man. She was a subservient creature who had come into existence solely for the
purpose of breeding citizens for the state and soldiers for the army. Their
opinion of women was that these creatures were deprived of any good and was
instead the sources of many evils. Such degrading conceptions led to a moral degeneration
which ultimately ruined the Greek society. The names of virtuous women scarcely
appear in Greek history.
In pre-lslamic Arabia, the general conception of womanhood
was of such a degraded type that her very existence was considered ignominious
for the family. Female infanticide was consequently practiced on a wide scale.
Those women who, however, escaped early death were allowed to live only on
sufferance. For, an Arab woman had no rights; she could not inherit property;
her person formed part of the inheritance which came to the heir of her
husband, and he was entitled to marry her against her will. Hence, there sprung
up the impious marriages of their sons with their stepmothers and others of an
even worse character. Polygamy was universal and quite unrestricted;
equally so was divorce at least as far as man was concerned.
Prophet Muhammad (sa) on Women's Rights
Such was the condition of the female sex in the world when the
Holy Prophet of Islam, the Perfect Man, Muhammad (pbuh) the Saviour of
womanhood, stood up in Arabia and, through the Divine Revelation of the Lord of
the Universe Who created both the male and the female and Who loves them
equally, preached to the world that females were just like males and that they have
equal rights, equal honour and an equal status in life.
