Women in Islam - Essay Example

erent kind of devotion from that which is requisite in a place dedicated to the worship of God (Ruthven, 153), According to the author Lane, very few women, even of the upper class, could read or write, and though they were urged to do their praying at home, very few of them, bothered to do so (Ruthven, l53) Therefore, the primary argument that we encounter is that the Quran fails to stress the equality and understanding between men and women in general and marriage partners because we find numerous instances where Islam is a male-dominated religion.

So in analyzing the above argument, on e feels why the Quran stresses more on the marital/conjugal relationship rather than parent-child or sibling relationship. It is found that the Quran places greater emphasis on the values present in the institution of marriage and sexuality, but it fails to stress the equality and understanding between the marriage partners themselves. As a popular Hadith explains, “Marriage is the half of religion”, which means that religion and marriage go hand in hand and as such should be equally given importance.

Another famous Hadith in the Bukharis collection states, Copulate and procreate! I shall gain glory from your numbers on the Day of Judgment! (Ruthven, 154). In analyzing the above statement we could find that though emphasis is laid on increasing their numbers, not much respect is given to the sanctity of the institution of marriage because divorcing a partner is made all too simple, and in addition to this, Muslim women are not given the status they deserve nor are they much respected in society.

This point can be clearly seen in yet another well-known Hadith (Bukharis collections) that explains if a man fancied a woman other than his wife, he should go immediately and make love to his wife. This kind of attitude lays more emphasis on womens sexuality while leaving their individuality at stake, reducing them to nothing more than objects of sex. Moreover, though the Quran has