In the book entitled Woman between Islam and Western Society, Maulana Wahiduddin Khan highlights the conceptual difference about women in Islam and women in the West by analyzing that the evils of Muslim Society stem from the gap between principle and practice, whereas the evils of western society are the result of a clash between principles and realities. Western civilization has formed principles independent of religious principles.
Further, the book elaborates the role of women from the Islamic perspective. The Quran tells us that men and women have equal status in God’s eye. None is superior to the other.
“I will not let the deeds of any doer among you go to waste, be he male or female. You are members, one of another.” (The Quran, 3:195)
We see that Islam gives equal status to women as that of men. In the early period of Islam, both the genders were fully active in different fields of life, from housework to agriculture and horticulture, and from worship in the mosque to the battleground. Everywhere women were visible and active. The following Hadith gives an apt description of the role of women:
“Men and women are two equal halves of a single unit.” (Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith No. 236)
We see that both the sacred scriptures of Islam make it clear that neither gender is inferior or superior to the other. The Islamic maxim runs: “Equal in respect, but different in role.”
