Women in Islam

Presented by Dure-Ajam Ahmad and
Raazia Riffat on behalf of Lajna Oshkosh
(Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam)
€ Stereotypical
€ Fanatic
€ The
view of Islam and women
Islam
‘actual’ Islam
€ Rights
and status of women in Islam.
€ Islam
has given women rights that the NonIslamic world has given women only within
the past 200 years.
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The right to inherit property.
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The right to own, manage, and keep their
own property.
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The right to ask for, and get a divorce from
their husband.
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The right to remarry.
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The right to obtain an education.
€
Men and women are promised the same rewards.
Surely, men who submit themselves to God and women who submit
themselves to Him, and believing men and believing women, and
obedient men and obedient women and truthful men and truthful
women, and men steadfast in their faith and steadfast women,
and men who are humble and women who are humble, and men
who give alms and women who give alms, and men who fast and
women who fast, and men who guard their chastity and women
who guard their chastity, and men who remember Allah much
and women who remember Him — Allah has prepared for all of
them forgiveness and a great reward.
€
Men and women are given equal protection.
Those who persecute the believing men and the believing
women and then repent not, for them is surely the
punishment of Hell, and for them is the punishment of
burning.
€
But in some other things women are given more
protection than men.
‫عّي ْنَا ىٰٓنْدَا َكِلٰذ‬
ُ ْ‫نفَر‬
ْ َ ‫َنْيَذْؤُي اَلَف‬
‫َناَكَو‬
O Prophet! tell thy wives and thy daughters and the women
of the believers that they should draw close to them
portions of their loose outer coverings. That is nearer that
they may thus be distinguished and not molested. And
Allah is Most Forgiving, Merciful.
€
The Islamic society highlights three main
positions occupied by women
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Daughter
'He who brings up his daughters well, and makes no
distinction between them and his sons, will be close to
me in Paradise.' Saying of the Holy Prophet Muhammad
(pbuh)
|
Wife
'The best from among you is one who behaves best towards
his wife.' Saying of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)
|
Mother
'Paradise is at the feet of the mother.' Saying of the Holy
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)
€ Veil
is a sign of oppression of women
€ The
veil is imposed upon women of the
Islamic faith by cruel and suppressive men in
their lives.
€ Veiling
of the women is not something Islam
invented.
€ Old Testament:
When Re-bek'ah raised her eyes, she caught sight of Isaac
and she swung herself down from off the camel. Then she
said to the servant 'who is that walking in the field to
meet us?' and the servant said 'It is my master' And she
proceeded to take a headcloth and to cover herself.
(Genesis: 24: 64 and 65)
€ New
Testament:
But every woman that prays or prophesies with her head
uncovered shames her head for it is one and the same as if
she were a (woman) with a shaved head. For it a woman
does not cover herself let her also be shorn; but if it is
disgraceful for woman to be shorn or shaved, let her be
covered. (1 Corinthians: 11: 5, 6)
€
Because, by nature, women are of the weaker
sex, they need to be guarded and protected
from being molested or inconvenienced by other
people in any way.
‫عّي ْنَا ىجٰٓنْدَا َكِلٰذ‬
ُ ْ‫نفَر‬
ْ َ ‫َنْيَذْؤُي اَلَف‬
O Prophet! tell thy wives and thy daughters and the women
of the believers that they should draw close to them
portions of their loose outer coverings. That is nearer that
they may thus be distinguished and not molested. And
Allah is Most Forgiving, Merciful.
€ Far
from depriving women of their rights or
freedom, the veil actually shows the high
status of Muslim women, because it is a way
of showing how Islam thinks of women as a
precious treasure.
€
The Book of God does not aim at keeping women in seclusion
like prisoners. This is the concept of those who are not
acquainted with the correct pattern of Islamic ways. The
purpose of these regulations is to restrain men and women
from letting their eyes to rove freely and from displaying their
good looks and beauties, for therein lies the good for both men
and women. It should be remembered that to restrain one's
looks and to direct them only towards observing that which
is permissible… This is a blessed habit through which one’s
natural impulses would be converted into a high moral
quality without interfering with one’s social needs. This is
the quality which is called chastity in Islam. (The Philosophy of
the Teachings of Islam by Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, pp 2325)
€ Covering
oneself does not limit or stop one
from pursuing their dreams and ambitions.
In this day and age Muslim women are
playing a vital role in politics, sports,
education, medicine and many other fields.
(Bangladeshi Prime Ministers)
Khalida Zia
Haseena Wajid
Benazir Bhutto
(First woman Prime Minister of
Pakistan)
Amal Abdullah
Al-Qubaisi
Namira Salim
(First Pakistani to make
it to the South Pole)
(First woman
elected to the
U.A.E.’s Federal
National
Council)
Although the media today portrays Muslim
women as oppressed, weak and subordinate
to the men in their lives, and truth be told
there are many fanatic Muslims groups who
believe as thus. But the realty of Islam is
that it deeply respects women, and exalts
them to a high status.