Ali mohd khan
The followers of western system refer to various Islamic rules of dower, maintenance, divorce, polygamy and the like in a way, as if they were insulting to women and derogatory to her position. They assert that Islam is the religion of male sex. It does not recognize women to be a full human being .had it recognized her as full human being it would not have allowed polygamy, it would not have given man the right of divorce, it would not have considered the evidence of two females equal to that of one male and so on.
They credit themselves for the women’s liberation movement, carrying the perception that it is because of them that women of the present era is enjoying her rights and is keeping pace with time .
We all would agree to the fact that human dignity being common to man and woman, they both must enjoy same rights .but at same time we completely renounce the allegations of west.
To know the views of Islam on woman, we will refer to holy Quran, it says.
ALLAH made all of you from one being, and from that being he made its mate. (4:1)
So it is clear from above verse that Islam does not support the notion of people who say that woman has been created of some inferior material, rather it endorses the fact the woman and man have been created for sake of each other.
Islam has its own philosophy of gender equality which is completely different from that of west. We will try to elucidate this.
Firstly when it comes to man and woman, everyone recognizes that there are inherent indisputable differences between them .These differences fall under separate categories such as physical, psychological, physiological and so on.
From the physical point of view man, on average man has larger limbs and woman smaller .Man is taller and woman is shorter, man is coarser and woman is finer. From the psychological perspective man is more inclined to physical exercises whereas woman has a peaceful disposition .man is aggressive woman is comparatively calm and quiet. And it is because of physiological differences that men and women compete differently in Olympics and other competition scenarios.
Considering these differences Islam has enjoined justice between men and women, as holy Quran narrates ‘’verily, Allah enjoins justice’’ (16:9).
Islam as religion focuses more on justice which means treating equally those who are equal and differentiating between those who are different.
Secondly .Does equality of rights mean similarity of rights? The answer is no. Equality means a condition of being equal in value and degree, whereas similarity means uniformity. A father can distribute his property to his sons equally but not uniformly. God created us with different but complementary strengths and capabilities .A man does not need to become a woman nor vice versa in order to be successful.
Islam has presented different roles for men and women because of the difference between two genders .and it sustains the fact that woman can do some things better than man and vice versa.
Islam has done wonders in empowering women ,but the step taken by Islam is completely different than what is happening in west .According to the author of ‘’woman and her rights’ ‘west has chosen a completely wrong path in this regard he says ‘’ The west intended to beautify her eyebrows, but deprived her of her eyesight
Western society blames so many cultures and religions (especially Islam) of degrading and objectifying women. But when we examine things we find that it is actually west that has degraded and objectified women. Liberation is there but it is actually men who enjoys the fruits of women’s liberation. He is liberated to see her body in various seductive forms, he is liberated to enjoy her body and then dump her without caring about her pregnancy and child that she would bear. Western society is filled with the menace of prostitution, unwanted pregnancy, divorce, sexual violence. Out Of the 77 countries that reported to the United Nations in 2014 about rates of sexual violence showed Sweden, the U.K., Botswana and Australia had the highest rates of sexual violence. The U.S. has especially high rates of rape.
Islam has done great service to woman. It never provided any opportunity to the unmarried men who are after enticing women. Quran has created a balance between men and women, its heroes are both men and women. In the Qur’an, side by side with every great and saintly man, a great and saintly woman has been mentioned. It has glorified the wives of Adam and Abraham and the mothers of Moses and Jesus. If it has mentioned the wives of Noah and Lot as unworthy of their husbands, it has not ignored the wife of the Pharaoh, and has mentioned her as a great woman who was in the hands of a wicked man. There have been many eminent and saintly women in the history of Islam. Few men can attain the high position of Khadija, the beloved wife of the Holy Prophet, and no man, except the Holy Prophet and Ali (P) can match with Zahra (p), the beloved daughter of the Holy Prophet (p).
Islam advocates the fact that creator has bestowed both man and woman with separate innate characters and that is why they don’t share similar rights.
There is no doubt in saying that there is need of woman’s liberation movement ,but that movement must be free from westerns stains .Time demands a pure white revolution that will empower woman without harming her sanctity.