22 Mayıs 2018 Salı

gender equality in islam

When dealing with the Islamic perspective of any topic, there should be a clear distinction between the normative teachings of Islam and the diverse cultural practices among Muslims, which may or may not be consistent with them.

Yes women and men are both EQUAL! But, they are NOT the SAME!

In Islam men are supposed to be the in charge of the household. But they do not enjoy this position without any good reason. Men are also obliged to fulfill the needs of their family. A man is supposed to provide for the needs of his sister, mother, daughter and of course his wife. It is his duty. Women on the other hand have nothing to worry about in this matter. Their husband, brothers, father are supposed to look after their needs. What ever a woman earns through lawful means is hers and the best part is she does't have to work if she doesn't want to since she is not obliged to provide for anyone.If both are the in charge of household there will be chaos.

People often point out to the verse of Quran:

…And get two witnesses out of your own men. And if there are not two men (available), then a man and two women, such as you agree for witnesses, so that if one of them (two women) errs, the other can remind her…”
[al-Baqarah 2:282 – interpretation of the meaning]
With regard to the phrase, “
that if one of them (two women) errs
”, Ibn Katheer said: “This means, the two women, if one of them forgets the testimony, then ‘
the other can remind her
’, i.e., she can remind her about the matter concerning which testimony is being given.” (Tafseer Ibn Katheer, part 1, p. 724)Allaah has commanded the testimony of two women so as to be sure that they remember, because the mind and memory of two women takes the place of the mind and memory of one man.
 (See I’laam al-Muwaqqa’een, part 1, p. 75). 

This does not mean that a woman does not understand or that she cannot remember things, but she is weaker than man in these aspects – usually. Scientific and specialized studies have shown that men’s minds are more perfect than those of women, and reality and experience bear witness to that. The books of knowledge are the best witness to that; the knowledge which has been transmitted by men and the ahaadeeth which have been memorized by men far outnumber those which have come via women. 

Nevertheless, there are some women who are far superior to men in their reason and insight, but they are few, and the ruling is based on the majority and the usual cases. Islam encourages special care for the mother and her children, and enjoins upon children to honour their mother, treat her kindly and give her preferential treatment above the father. It was narrated that Abu Hurayrah said:

“A man said, ‘O Messenger of Allaah, who among the people is most deserving of my good companionship?’ He said, Your mother, then your mother, then your mother, then your father, then those who are closest in order of closeness.’”
(Narrated by Muslim, 2548).What greater honor can there be than this? 

Prophet Muhammad also said :

"The best of you are those who are best to their wives." [Tirmidhî, Sahîh]

And my personal favorite: 
'Paradise lies at the feet of your mother' [Musnad Ahmad, Sunan An-Nasâ’i, Sunan Ibn Mâjah] (by arbaz jalil )

Concept of Gender Equality in Islam (All parts) - The Religion of Islam

 

"O you who believe! You are forbidden to inherit women against their will. Nor should you treat them with harshness, that you may take away part of the dowry you have given them - except when they have become guilty of open lewdness. On the contrary live with them on a footing of kindness and equity. If you take a dislike to them, it may be that you dislike something and Allah will bring about through it a great deal of good." [Noble Quran 4:19]
"O mankind! Reverence your Guardian-Lord, who created you from a single person, created, of like nature, his mate, and from this pair scattered (like seeds) countless men and women. Reverence Allah, through Whom you demand your mutual (rights), and reverence the wombs (that bore you); for Allah ever watches over you." [Noble Quran 4:1]
 "For Muslim men and women, for devout men and women, for true men and women, for men and women who are patient and constant, for men and women who humble themselves (before God), for men and women who are charitable, for men and women who fast, for men and women who guard their chastity, and for men and women who remember God, for them God has prepared forgiveness and an immense reward." 33:36

The Qur'an talks about the high status of one's mother, but not so much about the father. Islam places no barriers in a woman's path to education, prosperity, success, or status. (Muslims do) The property of a wife is her property, and as such the husband must keep his hands off of it.
To first discuss the topic, we need to define “gender equality”. According to dictionary.com, gender equatlity is “the state of having the same rights, status, and opportunities as others, regardless of one's gender.”
However can we really have equal rights and responsible if the gender nature is different? For example female gets pregnant while male don’t, they can’t; the psychology of both male and females differ. I understand that there are some exceptions, but if you look around, there are actually many. Therefore full gender equality can never be achieved.
Lets now consider the Islam point of view of gender equality. If we do, we will end up with three cases:
1: females having superior rights/responsibilities/opportunities over males
2: females and males having equal rights/responsibilities/opportunities, in which gender equality is achieved to some extent in these cases
3: males having superior rights/responsibilities/opportunities over females.
I will only focus on providing one example of each.
For the first case, mothers have higher priority in company by children over the father:
A man came to the Prophet and said, ‘O Messenger of God! Who among the people is the most worthy of my good companionship? The Prophet (PBUH) said: Your mother. The man said, ‘Then who?’ The Prophet said: Then your mother. The man further asked, ‘Then who?’ The Prophet said: Then your mother. The man asked again, ‘Then who?’ The Prophet said: Then your father. (Bukhari, Muslim)
Therefore we see that females have more rights than males, which was a reward for their greater effort and pain during pregnancy, labor and childcare that the mother performed over the father. Therefore we can say their is justice and not equality in this case
For the second case - equallity between male and female - an example is mentioned in this verse (Quran 4:35):
“And if you have reason to fear that a breach might occur between a [married] couple, appoint an arbiter from among his people and an arbiter from among her people; if they both want to set things aright, God may bring about their reconciliation. Behold, God is indeed all-knowing, aware.” (Asad translation)
In summary, the verse explains how to deal with big issues with marriage that might lead to divorce, and if the couple cannot find solution, an arbiter should be brought from the family of each side, which can be male or female, to solve the issues. since both genders have equal opportunities to participate in solving the issue, their is gender equality and justice achieved at the same time.
For the third case - male have superior rights/responsiblities/opportunities over female- an example is similar to the previous example, but in case of witnesses. Before mentioning the example almost all (so far i only know one exception which is to be discussed in this case) cases of witnessing give equal opportunities/responsiblities/rights to females and males except for the case of financial transaction/debt. As the longest verse in the Quran discuss (2:282):
“O you who believe! When you contract a debt for a fixed period, write it down… And get two witnesses out of your own men. And if there are not two men (available), then a man and two women, such as you agree for witnesses, so that if one of them (two women) errs, the other can remind her. And the witnesses should not refuse when they are called on (for evidence)…” (Khan translation)
For this case, as i believe the verse already explained my point, during debt, male is perioritized for witness over females. This is because it was (and to some degree now) males have greater experience in financial transactions and aspect which allows them to benefit from higher knowledge (to low extent now) than females. Therefore if a female witness she might make more mistakes than a male, as the verse explained using the word “errs” or “تضل” in arabic. Therefore, it is more reasonable in such cases to pass the responsibility to men rather than females in this case, which makes it fair.
To conclude, Islam doesn’t focus on the concept of gender equality but rather justice between gender through provider equality or supriority depending on the situation, as explained using those three examples.( by ahmed eqab )


12 Quotes Depicting Women's Equality in Islam – Voice of Salam

 

 

Men guard women. For this reason Allah granted different capabilities and features for each of them. (Nisa Surah, 34)
The term ”erricalü kavvamune alennisai” in the verse has been translated as ‘’men dominate women’’ in most of the interpretations instead of ‘’men guard women’’ or ‘’men observe women’’.
Although most of the interpreters translate the word ‘’kavvam’’ in this verse as ‘’dominant, superior’’, they translate the same word in the 135th verse of Nisa Surah and 8th verse of Maide Surah as ‘’obsreve the justice, guard the justice’’.
Again in the same verse, the term ”feddelellahu badehum ala badin” means ‘’we granted different capabilities and features for each of them’’. But in most of the interpretations it is translated as ‘’Allah made some of the men superior to some of the women’’. If the verse had contained the meaning of ‘’Allah made some of the men superior to some of the women’’, it would have been; faddalellahur ricae alen nisai.
If the pronoun ‘’hum’’ in the word ‘’badehum’’ (some of) in the verse is addressed to men only, the meaning becomes: Allah made some of the men superior to some other. This interpretation conflicts with the verse.
If you address the pronoun hum to group that consists of men and women, the meaning becomes: Allah made some of the men and women superior to some other.
Same words are used in Nisa Surah 32nd verse and Rad Surah 4th verse. But they translated it here as ‘’some men superior to some women’’. The meaning of the verse is ‘’Allah granted different capabilities and features for each of them’’. There is no sexual discrimination. The true translation of the verse is as follows.
Men guard women. For this reason Allah granted different capabilities and features for each of them. The men is responsible of earning a living… (Nisa Surah, 34)
Another verse shown as proof of the male superiority is Bakara 228. When you take into consideration just the last part of the verse and ignore the first part, it may mean as if man is superior to women. But you see that the meaning is very different when you read the whole verse. Let us check the verse;
Divorced women, will wait for three months without getting married. If they believe in Allah and the judgment day, they should not conceal the creature of Allah in their wombs. If they like to make peace during this period, their husbands are entitled to take them firstly. Since men have some rights over women, women also have some rights over men. The husbands have priority over their wives. Allah I strong and wise. (Bakara Surah, 228)
The verse tells about the situation of the divorced men and women. The woman has to wait for three months after divorce and if it is realized that she is pregnant, the father of the baby has priority in marrying her comparing to other men.
Allah says in the verse, ”No matter if a man or woman, if a believer does a rightful act, we grant him a nice life and award him with the best against his rightful act.” (Nahl Surah, 97). Men and women are equal in terms of acts. ”The most superior of you before Allah, (regardless of race or family) is that of the most devotion.” (Hucurat Surah, 13)
As a result men are not superior to women, but they guard women. Quran mentions as ”believer men and believer women”. Nobody is superior to the other. Superiority is according to devotion. And that is before Allah.
Believer men and believer women are protectors of each other. They do the good and abstain from the bad, they pray accordingly, grant alms and obey Allah and his Prophet. These are the people to whom Allah will show mercy… ( Tevbe Surah, 71) ( via there is no contradiction in quran )


Rebuttal to James Arlandson: Women are inferior to men in the Quran?

 

 

Are men better than women in Islam? | Faith in Allah 

 

Men and Women's Rights in Islam: Equal or Equally Balanced?

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