The Role of Women in Islam - Case Study Example

Woman and Religion: Critically discuss the role of women in one of the following worlds religions: Islam Islam is a religion that teaches fair and equal treatment to all its men and women alike. It allows for freedom to a certain limit for both these genders, which is mostly governed by a certain set of laws and regulations basically known as the ‘Shariah’. The Muslims need to obey this Shariah in order to spend their lives and in accordance with the same, they carry out clean activities and good deeds to please the Lord Almighty Allah. Hence the opinion put forth by the Holy Book Koran is that women within Islam or even outside it, should not be oppressed under any circumstances whatsoever as they serve as mother, wife, sister or daughter and thus contribute towards half of the whole make up of the family. (Hekmat, 1997, 181)1 The first position that has been taken in this paper thus suggests that women have an equal right in nearly all the day-to-day activities of Islamic life and thus they stand shoulder to shoulder with their men, be they their husbands, sons, fathers or brothers. Thus this view is totally backed on the liberal stance, which is also very rightly followed by different religions all over the world. However, one needs to understand that this liberalism and a sense of freedom does not guarantee that she can roam around with any and everybody and go out without having a veil over her body. This is the point where the real liberty seems to crop up when we compare Islamic point of view with that of the West. People in the Christian communities and western circles believe that going out and dating, meeting new people for their women is an open and common thing yet Islam does not allow the same. It has certain restrictions, which need to be followed in order to have a society, which can be easily remarked as being close to that of a welfare one. Thus the term was coined as the ‘Welfare State’ that takes all these points in to consideration. Another interpretation of status of women in Islam takes rise from the fact that these Muslim scholars are not willing to give the women equal rights at all. These people are the ones whom the world trademarks as the ‘fanatics’ or the ‘terrorists’ as they have been carrying out their extremist acts of violence be the same in the United States, Kenya or any other nation of the world. These people think that women are there just to serve their children and they must feed those at all odd times of the day while sitting at home, without even taking a step out of their homes at all. These people believe in oppression of women and call it their due right when they think the latter have crossed their pre-set limits and boundaries. A classic case in point here is that of Taliban-led government in Afghanistan that used to treat its women in the most inhumane of situations and also chalked up quite a few penalties on women like stoning until death for committing a heinous act and similar other ones as well. This interpretation takes its seeds from the fact that the Muslim scholars who are teaching the same do not have the real Islamic manifestations within their hearts and souls. The reason is due to their ignorance and illiteracy levels, which have really crossed all boundaries possible. These scholars think that the best way to treat women is to have a stick in their hands and beat them any and every time they think the women has committed a mistake, not even thinking for a slight second that men and women both are puppets when committing mistakes is concerned as no one in this big world is error free or one who does not undertake mistakes day in day out. (Sechzer, 2004, 82)2 The Prophet Muhammad was against similar practices that were there before he spread the word of Islam 1400 years back. He brought about a fresh lease of life within the hearts and souls of women when he announced that all men and women, within the eyes of the God are equal and men do not have the right to be unfair or unequal to their women under any circumstances whatsoever as after all these women are created by Allah only and He knows what is right for Him and what is not, thus Allah Almighty would be the best judge as to how He can penalize those women who go overboard and displease their male counterparts. Thus it is very clear that the Muslim scholars who are sowing the seeds of hatred within the men and women of Islam are doing no good to the religion and more than that to the fairer sex. They are not letting the right message of Islam reach to the masses so that more and more people could accept Islam rather they are doing something very bad, which is not liked by Allah Almighty at all. Another interpretation that is raised by Muslim scholars in the past as well as of today is somewhat lenient that allows for anything to go underneath their eyes without them even saying a word about the same. The rituals are discussed in essence since these form up as important elements of the religion of Islam. Women are allowed to be a part of the domestic as well as outdoor rituals in much the same manner as any other religion would allow their women. The only difference is that Islam asks its women to properly cover themselves, in line with the teachings of Islam and to keep away from men who are not known to them. An Islamic society is one that allows for everything in a fair and equal manner without any prejudice for any woman and does not believe in oppressing women just for the sake of it. It rather aims at having a close knit relationship with the women of the society as it allows for them to be liberal and open to all kinds of situations and conditions and that these women should not care about day to day activities, whether or not they are in line with the preaching of Islam or somewhat quite far away from it. This interpretation is a cold one as it does not ask for oppression on women but at times, there is a kind of hue and cry whenever something terrible happens with the women of the society. This is the situation when everyone gets up and starts taking notice as to what really needs to be done in order to come back to the same mode the people were in, when the mentioned situation had not taken place. Thus it is clear from this interpretation that is raised here that women within such a society are not under any kind of pressure whatsoever and they are open to exercise their activities and whatever they need to do in order to be equal to the men of the society. (Smith, 2002)3 However, this interpretation is somewhat confusing as it says in an indirect manner that it has got nothing to do with Islam at all and women within this kind of situation are not really bound to attend the different rituals and events under the tenets that are preached by the religion. The western society has quite a lot of reservations when it comes to the dressing of Muslim women. What the west does not understand is that these women are just following the teachings of their own religion and are not doing something to displease any community or any elected form of government yet these end up more or less at the mercy of the non-Muslims. The issues of headscarf and veil wearing within France and even in the United States are nothing but a story of shambles. Every man or woman, no matter where he or she belongs from, must have the right to do what he or she wants to and on this very teaching, Muslim women have all the right in the world which has been given to them by their religion to exercise the same in the best manner possible. The historical analysis is pretty clear for one and all to understand the significance of the headscarf and veils since women in Islam are asked to cover their body from people they do not know, effectively known as the ‘Na-mehrums’. Islam does not teach that its men and women are treated by each other in an unequal and unfair manner rather it looks at restoring the balance between the two, which was quite missing before the religion was brought to the fore 1400 years ago. (Ansari, 1998)4 The three different positions that have been mentioned here are existent in different nations of the world and it might even be possible that a single country could even see the three different positions of women been executed in it. The same owes to a lack of understanding (of the religion), sheer shortcoming on the part of the believers of Islam in relevance with knowledge and information and more than following what has been going on for centuries now, which can be rightly called as the customs or traditions of an area or society. In the end, what is true from the Creator’s stance is the one that is taught by his Messenger Prophet Muhammad and no one else can detract from the same course of teachings and course of action as has been laid down in the Holy Book Quran. References Ansari, Massoud. (1998). Womens Woes under Islam. World and I, Vol. 13, February (No page number, magazine article) Hekmat, Anwar. (1997). Women and the Koran: The Status of Women in Islam. Prometheus Books, pp. 181 Sechzer, Jeri. (2004). "Islam and Woman: Where Tradition Meets Modernity": History and Interpretations of Islamic Womens Status (1). Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, Vol. 51, pp. 82 Smith, Jane I. (2002). Women in Islam. The Christian Century, Vol. 119, 30 January (No page number, magazine article) Bibliography Moaddel, Mansoor. (2004). The Future of Islam after 9/11. Futures, Vol. 36 Peters, Ralph. (2002). Rolling Back Radical Islam. Parameters, Vol. 32 Shehadeh, Lamia. (2000). Women in the Discourse of Sayyid Qutb. Arab Studies Quarterly (ASQ), Vol. 22 Stepaniants, M. T. (1992). The Image of Woman in Religious Consciousness: Past, Present, and Future. Philosophy East & West, Vol. 42 Stratton, Allegra. (2005). Islam: A Woman Breaks a Taboo. New Statesman, Vol. 134 Tamimi, Azzam S. (2003). The Renaissance of Islam. Daedalus, Vol. 132 Word Count: 1,614 Read More