E. Legal Rights to a Woman

According to the Islamic law, men and women are equal - The Islamic Law protects the life and property of a man and woman both.

If a man murders a woman he too will receive the capital punishment of ‘Kisaas’.

According to the Islamic law of ‘Kisaas’, men and women - irrespective  the injury be of the eye, of the nose, of the ear, of the body - both receive equal punishment. 

And if the guardian of the murderer, even it be a woman - If she says, that forgive the murderer and she accepts ‘Dia’, that is compensation - her opinion cannot be rejected - they have to accept it.

And if there’s difference of opinion between the relatives of the person whose murdered - And some say that the murderer should be killed and some say that he should be forgiven and ‘Dia’  should be accepted - people should prevent the relatives from killing that murderer. 

And irrespective whether the witness or the opinion is given by a man or woman, it has same weight.

According to Surah Maida, Ch.5, Verse No.30 - It says… ‘As to the thief, whether he be man or a woman, cut off his or her hand as a  punishment for his crime, an example from God’.

Means, if a person robs, irrespective whether he is a man or a woman his or her hands should be chopped - The punishment is the same.

According to Surah Nur, Ch.24, Verse No.2, it says ‘If any commits fornication, be it a man or a woman, flog them with 100 stripes’.

The punishment for fornication in Islam irrespective whether it is a man or a woman, it is the same - Flogging with 100 stripes.

The punishment for men and women, is the same in Islam.

In Islam a woman is allowed to give witness

Imagine, Islam gave right to a woman to be a witness, 14 centuries ago.

Even now in as late as 1980, the Jewish Rabai, they were considering that whether the women should be given a right to act as a witness or not - And Islam gave that right 1400 years ago. 

Accord ing to Surah  Nur, Ch.24, Verse No.4, it is said ‘If any of you put a charge against the chastity of a woman, produce 4 witnesses, and if they falter, flog them with 80 stripes’.

In Islam for a small crime, you require 2 witness - for a big crime you require 4 witnesses.

Accusing a woman falsely is a big crime in Islam, therefore you require 4 witnesses.

Now a days you see in the modern society, you find men abusing women and calling them all sorts of name. They call them prostitutes etc, and nothing is done.

In an Islamic state, if a man calls her a ‘prostitute’ in public or anywhere else, and if she takes that man to court - And if that man cannot produce 4 witnesses or even if he produces 4 witnesses and any one of them falter, all of them will receive 80 lashes each, and in future all their evidence will be rejected.

Islam gives utmost importance to the chastity of the woman.

When a lady marries, she normally adopts the name of her husband.

In Islam she has the option of either keeping her husband’s name, either adopting the name of the husband, or maintaining her maiden name.

And maintaining the maiden name is recommended in Islam - And we find in several Muslim societies that women, even after they get married they maintain their maiden name, because according to the Islamic law men and women are equal.

Will you call such rights in Islam modernizing or outdated?  

F. Political Rights of a Woman

According to Surah Tawba, Ch.9, Verse No.71, ‘The men and the women they are friends (supporters) of each other’. 

Supporters not only Socially - even Politically – Politically, men and women should support each other.

Women can even take part in law making.

And according to the famous Hadith in which Hazrat Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), he was discussing with the Sahabas, and considering putting an upper limit on the ‘Meher ’, since young men were discouraged from getting married - a lady from the back seat she objected and said When the Qur’an says in Surah Nisa Ch.4, Verse No.20 that… ‘you can even give a heap of treasure, a heap of gold in ‘Meher’, when Qur’an puts no limit on ‘Meher’, who is Umar to put a limit (may Allah be pleased with him).

And immediately Hazrat Umar (peace be upon him) said… ‘Umar is wrong and the lady is right’.

Imagine, she was a common lady - If it would  have been a famous lady, the name of the lady would be mentioned in the Hadith.

Since the Hadith does not mention the name of the lady, we can understand that the lady was a common lady.

Means, even a common lady can object to the ‘Khalifa’, the head of the state.

And in technical terms it would be called that – ‘she is objecting to the breach of the constitution’,- because Qur’an is the constitution of the Muslims - That means a woman can even take part in law making.

Women have even taken part in the battle fields

There is a full chapter in the Sahih Bukhari mentioning women in the battle field - Women gave water - they give first aid to the soldiers.

Because the Qur’an says ‘Man is the protector of the ‘Woman’.

Under normal circumstances, the women should not go to the battle field. It is  the duty of the man.

Only when required, under necessity are women allowed - and they should go to the battle field if they want.

Otherwise you’ll have the same position as you are having in the USA.

Women in USA are Not Safe

In USA women were allowed to join the battle since 1901 but they were not allowed to take active part - They only played the part of a nurse.

Later on after the ‘Feminist Movement’ had started in 1973, the ‘Feminist movement’ demand ed – ‘Why aren’t women allowed to take active part in the battle field?’

So the American government allowed women to take active part in the battle field.

And according to a report of the Defense Department of America, which was  released on the 23rd of April, 1993 it said that, ‘90 people were sexually assaulted in a convention, out of which 83 were women and 117 officers were charged with in disciplinary action’. Imagine in one convention only, 83 women sexually assaulted.

What was the crime of those 117 officers?

They made the women run and they snatched at their clothes. They made them parade absolutely nude without even covering the genital parts. They were made to have sex in public.

Is this what you call ‘Women’s rights’?

If you think that this is what is ‘Women’s right’, then you can keep your rights to yourselves. We do not want our sisters, our daughters our mothers to be sexually assaulted.

And there was a uproar in the parliament and the President, Bill Clinton - he himself had to  apologize publicly and he said, ‘Necessary action will be taken’.

And you know when politicians say ‘necessary action will be taken, what happens.

So Islam allows women to take part in the battle field only when required.

But there also they should maintain their Islamic dress and the Islamic ethics, and their modesty.

USA Has One of the Highest Rates of Rape

United States of America is supposed to be one of the most advanced countries of the world. It also has one of the highest rates of rape in any country in the world. According to a FBI report, in the year 1990, every day on an average 1756 cases of rape were committed in U.S.A alone. Later another report said that on an average everyday 1900 cases of rapes are committed in USA. The year was not mentioned. May be it was 1992 or 1993. May be the Americans got ‘bolder’ in the following years.

Islamic Law Let's Women Breathe Easily

Consider a scenario where the Islamic law is implemented in America. Whenever a man looks at a woman and any brazen or unashamed thought comes to his mind, he lowers his gaze. Every woman wears the Islamic dress as mentioned in Quran. After this if any man commits rape he is given capital punishment. I ask you, in such a scenario, will the rate of rape in America increase, will it remain the same, or will it decrease?

If Islamic law is implemented in any part of the world, women will breathe easier.
 

Conclusion

Before I conclude, I’d like to give an example. 

As I said in the beginning of my talk, Islam believes in equality between men and women - Equality does not mean identicality.

Suppose in a classroom 2 students, student ‘A’ and ‘B’, during an examination both come out first - Both secure 80% marks - 80 out of 100. 

When you analyze the question paper, the question paper has 10 differ ent questions, each carrying 10 marks.

In question 1 student ‘A’ got 9 out of 10, and student ‘B’ got 7 out of 10 - So in question 1 student ‘A’ was higher than student ‘B’.  

In question 2, student ‘A’ got 7 out of 10 and student ‘B’ got 9 out of 10 - Student ‘B’ was higher than student ‘A’ in question number 2.

In question 3 both of them got 8 out of 10, both were equal.

So when we add up the marks of all the ten questions, both student ‘A’ and ‘B’ got 80 out of 100. 

So in short, student ‘A’ and student ‘B’ are over all equal.

In some questions ‘A’ is higher than ‘B’, in some questions ‘B’ is higher than ‘A’, in others both are equal.

In the same fashion, taking the example that since God has given man more strength - Suppose a thief enters the house will you tell, ‘I believe in women’s rights - I believe in women’s rights’ - will you tell your mother, your sister and your daughter, to go and fight the thief?’

No, but natural you’ll fight him - If required they may interfere - Under normal circumstances since God has given you more physical strength, you have to go and tackle the thief. 

So here, in physical strength, man is one degree higher than the woman

Let us take another example where it comes to respecting the parents - The children are supposed to respect the mother 3 times more than the father (as mentioned earlier). 

Here the women have one degree higher than the men - Over all both equal

So Islam believes in equality, not identically - Men and women are over all equal in Islam.

This was in brief, the highlights, of ‘the Women’s Rights in Islam’. 

After this what the Muslim society did is different - Many of the Muslim societies did not give the women their rights and they deviated away from the Qur’an and the Sunnah.

The Western society is largely responsible for this - because of the Western societies, many Muslim societies have become over protective, over precautions and have gone to one extreme and deviated away from the Qur’an and the Sunnah. 

On the other extreme, some of the Muslim societies turned to the Western culture, and followed their culture.

I want to tell the Western society that if you analyze the women’s rights in Islam according to the Qur’an and the Sunnah - you will realize it is  modernizing and not outdated.

but wait oh, I thought some parts of Islam says women are underdogs ni oh.... and that they should not be in a leading position..I even have a Muslim friend who said he can't work with a female boss because men are supposed to be the head....

anyway, I stand on egalitarianism.... males and females are d same.... we both spent 9months in the womb oh... so, no discrimination....#I_believe_in_gender_equality and women empowerment stated in the MDGs according to W.H.O.

sakafish:
but wait oh, I thought some parts of Islam says women are underdogs ni oh.... and that they should not be in a leading position..I even have a Muslim friend who said he can't work a female boss because men are supposed to be the head....

anyway, I stand on egalitarianism.... males and females are d same.... we both spent 9months in the womb oh... so, no discrimination....#I_believe_in_gender_equality and women empowerment stated in the MDGs according to W.H.O.

As long as you're not a feminazi. The whole muslims see women as inferior is just a common misconception.

ZoranderGraeme:


As long as you're not a feminazi. The whole muslims see women as inferior is just a common misconception.

hian, "feminazi" I am a feminist not a femifascist....

sakafish:


hian, "feminazi" I am a feminist not a femifascist....

So what kind of feminist are you. Women=men or women>men?

ZoranderGraeme:


So what kind of feminist are you. Women=men or women>men?

feminism is supporting the rights of women(right to live, to education, to power etc) but femifascism or feminazi is seeing male as lesser to female! so, choose for your self!