How do Muslims feel about women's rights?

Question

What are some of the rules in Muslim society on how Women must conduct themselves.

I've been curious about the rights of women in Arab countries, as well as countries such as India. With more people imigrating to the US, from those countries, it makes me wonder if they will be able to accept US law, regarding the treatment of Women.

Answer 1

Are you wanting to know about Islam or culture for they are two different things.

Quran and woman's rights
1.The Muslim woman has the same right as the Muslim man in all matters including divorce.Quran 3:195

2. She enjoys property and inheritance rights. (Which other religion grants women these rights?). She can also conduct her own separate business.Quran 4:7

3. She can marry any Muslim of her choice. If her parents choose a partner for her, her consent must be taken. Quran 4:24-25

4. The dowry in Islam is a gift from a husband to his wife .Quran 4:4

5. A Muslim widow is allowed to remarry, and her remarriage is the responsibility of the Muslim society. Quran 2:234

6.Mixed marriage is encouraged and is a mean to prevent racism creeping in society.Quran 4:25

7. A Muslim mother (and father) is given the highest form of respect. Quran 17:23

8. Marriage is between consenting adults. Since marriage is a more significant institution than a financial one which needs maturity, see 4:6. Maturity and understanding is required for marriage as much.

9.God teaches clearly in the Quran "...do not reverence human beings; you shall reverence Me (God) instead...." Quran 5:44, 9:18

What do women and Islam have in common? Besides the stereotyped images that each suffers from individually, the status of women in Islam is one of the most extremely misunderstood and incorrectly portrayed things in western society. We can investigate why this is so later. First, a brief introduction to the actual status of women in Islam is in order.

Before discussing issues pertinent to the social status of women, consider the original creation of the woman as portrayed by the Quoran (the Islamic holy book) which does not subscribe to the view that Eve was created from the crooked rib of Adam and thus is of inferior status: "O humankind, be conscious of your Sustainer who has created you out of one living entity, and out of it created its mate, and out of the two spread abroad a multitude of men and women." Instead, the verse of the Quoran shows that there is no superiority for one sex over the other. This sets the tone for the status of women in Islam.

The concept of gender equality in Islam is stressed by the non-superiority of either sex over the other. It came at a time when it was necessary to elevate the demeaned status of women and grant them rights equal to those of men. The equality of women in Islam is evident by the unprecedented legal rights given to them under a monotheistic religion as defined in the Quoran. As one of many examples, consider the rights of women in marriage and divorce. Both men and women have equal rights to contract a marriage as well as to dissolve it. The precondition of marriage is merely the mutual agreement by both parties. And unlike Christianity, a woman in Islam can divorce her husband at any time if she feels that she has been dealt with unjustly or even if she is just unhappy with her spouse since marriage is based upon mutual responsibilities toward each other. Islam has also ensured the woman's right to remarry pending a three month refrainment period.

As for social rights, Islam has always recognized the prominent role that women play in society. They are given the freedom to pursue any profession including political positions. Both in the past and present day, women in Islamic societies have reached political heights unparalleled in the most "advanced" western nations. Even in the earliest day of Islam, Aysha, the wife of the prophet, lead an army of 30,000 soldiers. Muslim women lead two Islamic countries: Benazir Bhutto served as the prime minister of Pakistan and was a strong and remarkable leader. Turkey was also headed by a Muslim woman, Tansu Ciller, who was elected the prime minister in 1993. Here in the U.S., we still have never had a female president and the outlook doesn't look too good either.

Those are just a few of the facts. Why then is Islam portrayed as a religion that oppresses women and puts them in a position inferior to men? Part of that is certainly due to the stereotyped image of how Islamic women are portrayed in western media as an extension of Islam-bashing. A prominent example is the movie "Not Without My Daughter" in which scores of false and fictitious depictions were made of women in an Islamic country. It is also true, however, that in many so called "Islamic" countries, women are not treated according to their God-given rights. But this is not the fault of Islamic ideology but rather the misapplication or sometimes the outright denial of the ideology in these societies.

Much of the practices and laws in "Islamic" countries have deviated from or are totally unrelated to the origins of Islam. Instead many of these practices are based on cultural or traditional customs which have been injected into these societies. For example, in Saudi Arabia, women are not allowed to drive by law. This rule, in a country which is supposed to derive its law from Islamic legislation, is completely an invention of the Saudi monarchy. This horrific rule as well as a host of others are residues of old pre-Islamic tribal traditions where women were not entitled to the same rights as men. As another example, in some "Islamic" countries, many civil laws remain those that were imposed upon them during European colonization. Much of the civil law that legislates personal and family matters in Egypt, for example, is directly based on old French law. As a result, an Egyptian man can divorce his wife much more easily than the reverse. Consequently, women often have to suffer long and expensive court procedures and have to prove that they were mistreated by their husbands before being granted a divorce. Often times, laws in Middle Eastern countries, which are legislated and enforced by men, only take bits and pieces of Islamic law and combine them with concocted rules based upon some cultural or foreign practices.

The status of women in Islam is one of equality and honor. Unfortunately, in the current day and age, though there are many societies in which the majority of citizens are Muslim, there are no Islamic nations.

Answer 2

Women should take care of the home and the children. They can work if they want and they can not have male friends. Men can not have female friends. Women have the right to an education. Women can not go outside alone without their husband or other mahram(male gaurdien). Men and women are to dress modestly. Women should cover everything except the eyes because it is ordered in the Qur'an that all beleiving women are to cover everything. And women are allowed to choose their own husband. Women can accept a dowry from the husband. A woman's duty is to ALLAH, her husband, her children. A woman can get a divorce.

Answer 3

I think you have to post this at a time of day when they are on. I am not sure when that is. I think that they will tell you one thing and think and practice another. Kind of like some white people in the U.S. when you ask about civil rights.

Answer 4

It depends on if they fundamentalist or liberal. Much like our society. However, for fundamentalist women in Muslim countries (like Saudi Arabia) woman's rights are much more limited than in secular Muslim countries (like Syria).

Answer 5

Following are some rights, which Muslim women have!

1. The RIGHT and duty to acquire education.

2. The RIGHT to have her own independent property.

3. The RIGHT to work [job or business] to earn money, which she keeps it.

4. The RIGHT to equal reward for equal deed and/or work.

5. The RIGHT to express her opinion.

6. The RIGHT to argue and/or advocate her cause or opinion to be heard.

7. The RIGHT to vote since 1,421 years.

8. The RIGHT to provisions from her husband for all her needs and more.

9. The RIGHT to negotiate marriage terms of her choice.

10.The RIGHT to obtain divorce from her husband, even on the grounds that she simply don't like him. In Islaam divorce is suppose to be last resort.

11.The RIGHT to keep all her own money. [She is not responsible for maintenance of family].

12.The RIGHT to get sexual satisfaction from her husband.

13.The RIGHT to get custody of her children in case of divorce [unless she is unable to raise them for valid reasons]

14.The RIGHT to choose husband of her choice.

15.The RIGHT to refuse a proposed and/or arranged marriage.

16. The RIGHT to re-marry after divorce or after becoming widow.

EXEMPTIONS GIVEN TO WOMEN IN CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCE.

Women are exempt from:

a.. Fasting when they are pregnant or nursing or menstruating,
b.. Praying when menstruating or bleeding after childbirth,
c.. The obligation to attend congregational prayers in the mosque on Fridays.
d.. They are not obliged to take part as soldiers in the defense of Islam, although they are not forbidden to do so.
But under normal circumstances they are allowed to do all the things that men do.

- Even when they are menstruating, on special days, like the two Eid festivals, they are still allowed to come to the Eid prayers, and menstruating women can take part in most of the actions of the Hajj pilgrimage.

Islamic laws does not requires that women should confine themselves to household duties.

Muslim women have [and are as well] headed Islamic provinces [and states as well], like Arwa bint Ahmad, who served as governor of Yemen under the Fatimid Khalifahs in the late fifth and early sixth century.

Name any other religion, political theory, or philosophy which offers such a comprehensiveness to women by giving her total control of her life and affairs ??? NONE

Think on this!

Answer 6

I read some of the answers. Some of those rights sound pretty good, but not as good as the rights American women have.

Answer 7

Is it like the "barefoot and pregnant" rule the Evangelical Christians preach about?

Answer 8

the same rules on modesty apply to men as they do to women, & it islaam was soooooooooooooo' unequal to women...why are 65% of it's new converts women?????

Answer 9

Muslim women are property of their men, they have none, but slowly one day at a time, they will have equal rights

check source below.

Answer 10

Women's what.