Islamic Teachings about Women

Islamic Teachings about Women

The status of woman in Islamic society is a topic that stirs much debate. It is important to note that Islam includes very positive and liberating teaching about women as well as negative and oppressive teaching.

Positive Teaching about Women

In seventh-century Arabia, Islam undoubtedly accorded much more value and honour to women than the rest of society did. The Qur’¯an speaks of men and women as being created from ‘a single soul’, as a consequence of which men should treat them kindly:

Be careful of your duty to your Lord Who created you from a single soul and from it created its mate and from them twain hath spread abroad a multitude of men and women (4:1).

Muhammad preached against female infanticide, the cruel treatment of women and female prostitution. He also condemned the forceful inheritance of widows by relatives of deceased husbands:

O ye who believe! It is not lawful for you forcibly to inherit the women (of your deceased kinsmen), nor (that) ye should put constraint upon them that ye may take away a part of that which ye have given them unless they are guilty of flagrant lewdness. But consort with them in kindness, for if ye hate them it may happen that ye hate a thing wherein Allah hath placed much good (4:19).

The Qur’¯an also decrees those women are legally entitled to a share of any inheritance from their deceased parents:

Unto the men (of a family) belongeth a share of that which parents and near kindred leave, and unto the women a share of that which parents and near kindred leave, whether it be little or much a legal share (4:7).

Both Muslim men and women will be rewarded by God in the hereafter:

And their Lord hath heard them (and He saith): Lo! I suffer not the work of any worker, male or female, to be lost. Ye proceed one from another. So those who fled and were driven forth from their homes and suffered damage for My cause, and fought and were slain, verily I shall remit their evil deeds from them and verily I shall bring them into Gardens underneath which rivers flow. A reward from Allah. And with Allah is the fairest of rewards (3:195).

Respect and kindness towards parents in general, and mothers in particular,  is  emphasised  in  the  Qur’¯an.  In  4:15–17,  those  who  show kindness to their parents, and especially to their mothers, are promised paradise, while woe is pronounced on those who mistreat their parents. 

One famous saying attributed to Muhammad declares that ‘Paradise lies at the feet of the mother’.

The Muslim woman’s role in the home is to seek the happiness of her husband, nurture the physical and spiritual development of her children, and maintain the honour of the family. Abdullah bin Omar related that, ‘The Apostle of God said, “The whole world is valuable; but the most valuable thing in the world is a good woman.

 The well-known Arabic saying al-ummu madrasatun (‘the mother is a school’), conveys the importance of her role.

Husbands and wives are intended to be bound to one another in love and mercy (30:21) They are to be like garments for each other (2:187), meaning that each is to give the other warmth, protection, comfort, and joy.

Husbands are called upon to provide for their wives and treat them kindly.  ‘Men  are  maintainers  of  women’,  declares  the  Qur’¯an  (4:34).

The best among you is the one who is best towards his wife’, says one tradition. Another adds, ‘O people, your wives have certain rights over you and you have certain rights over them. Treat them well and be kind to them, for they are your partners and committed helpers.’

In Muhammad’s last sermon, he is reported to have told his followers: ‘You have a claim on your wives, and your wives have a claim on you.’ He did not merely preach this but practised it, for there are many stories relating how Muhammad helped his wives at home.