What are Muslim Women's Quran Rights?
Islam is a religion in which its followers, called "Muslims," believe that the original Arabic version of the Quran is the direct word of God. The rights of Muslim women are a controversial topic in Western society. Some believe that Muslim women live oppressed lives without the inalienable rights for which women in Western society have fought. Others purport that the Quran has given many rights to Muslim women and that local culture --- not religion --- is the root cause of oppressive traditions.
Other People Are Reading
-
Before the Quran
-
Before the Quran, Arabic women had no personal rights; according to WGBH's Global Connections, joy and celebration followed the birth of an Arabic son, but the birth of a daughter was considered a humiliation and cause for despair and mourning. In these cases, infanticide (the killing of infants) was an acceptable practice. When a baby girl was born, she was often buried alive. Women were viewed as slaves. They could not own or inherit property or goods. During war they were seen as plunder.
Rights
-
The Quran states that women are equal to men in soul and spirit and will reap the same rewards or punishments as men in the afterlife. The Quran forbids the practice of infanticide. Regarding marriage, a woman has the right to accept or reject a suitor. She has rights if she is divorced, and she also has the right to divorce. According to the Muslim Woman website, the Quran grants women an equal right to education, to employment, to attend mosque and to inherit property --- although women receive only half the inheritance of their male counterparts in Sunni Islam tradition.
-
Restrictions
-
A Muslim woman is required by the Quran to dress in loose, thick clothing that does not reveal the shape of her body. She is required to wear a hijab, or headscarf, which covers her head and hair, sometimes covers her face revealing only her eyes, and sometimes even covers her eyes. In the strictest view, she is to avoid looking at and speaking to men --- except for her husband or children --- in all aspects of her life including work and school when possible. The Quran states that Muslim men may marry more than one woman. One controversial verse in the Quran, verse 34, states that rebellious wives who do not respond to admonishment and forced abstinence should be beaten.
Modern Cultural Views
-
While Westerners may frown upon such restrictions, many Muslim women wearing proper Islamic dress express feeling liberated rather than oppressed stating that society values women for their appearance rather than intelligence. They claim that by covering themselves with a burga --- a traditional full robe --- society must judge their intellects and not their bodies. Monogamy is preferable and encouraged in much of the Muslim world --- polygamy being most prevalent in the Gulf of Arabia region --- and it is believed that the permission for polygamy germinated during times of war when men were killed, leaving women and children with no means for survival. Many current translations of verse 34 of the Quran downplay the call for beating one's wife. One translation --- "The Sublime Qur'an," a new translation by Laleh Bakhtiar --- removes it all together replacing it instead with the direction to leave the rebellious wife.
-
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Thinkstock Images/Comstock/Getty Images
