CHAPTER 2

RIGHTS AND PROGRESS
OF WOMEN

Islam accords equal status to men and women, notwithstanding the natural differences between them. Besides conferring innumerable rights to women, Islam has enhanced their prestige in their families and communities. At the time of Prophet Muhammad, women were free to participate in congregational prayers in mosques and attend the sermons of the Prophet.

Women were given the right to own property, dispose of it, inherit from their relatives, and keep to themselves their earnings, which they could spend in any way they wished. Muslim women play many societal roles: daughters, sisters, mothers, and wives to men. In their different capacities, they are allowed to share in the properties of their relatives in proportions fixed by the Quran, which are explained in the traditions of the Prophet and the literature of Islamic jurisprudence.

According to Islam, a woman can seek employment and work if she wishes to work. No text in the Quran or the Hadith prevents a woman from working outside the house, as long as it is lawful, within the preview of the Islamic Shariah, and as long as she maintains her dignity and safeguards her honour. The 12th-century famous Islamic philosopher Qadi Ibn Rushd (Averroes) said that women were equal to men in all aspects and thus could excel in times of trouble like war or peace. (Jamil Ahmed 1994. Ibn Rushd. Monthly Renaissance IV. Retrieved 2008-10-14) Professor T.W. Arnold has written in this regard: “It is interesting to note that the propagation of Islam has not been the work of men only, but that Muslim women have also taken their part in this pious task.” (T.W. Arnold, The Preachings of Islam. (1976), p 415)

From this, we can understand that women have played an important role in Muslim history.