WOMEN IN ISLAM
Who is Better Off - Secular or Islamic Women?

by Rabia Mills

Match the numbers on both the right and left columns. Read the right column first, then read the left column for the Islamic response. If you follow the links you are in for a lot of reading. But it is necessary for a more thorough understanding of the issues. Sorry.
ISLAM SAYS
1. Women are not required to be responsible for the housework
2. A woman must choose for herself whether or not to wear the hijab - more often than not males don't have any say in such matters. Also click here. Or here.

3. Women were accorded the right to vote by God in Prophet Muhammad's [pbuh] time [after 600 A.D.] [more info to come insha Allah]

4. The cause of their misery lies in the cultural practices of some countries, not in the religion of Islam. In some Muslim societies, women are oppressed by some backward ethnic customs which are often justified in terms of Islam. On equality  Or on oppression. Culture and law are two different things.

5. Women in Islam fear sexual assault much less than secularized women. Click here.
6. Boy are you in for a surprise.
Here's an old old article and click here too.

7. Yes. Click here.

8. True. For a more detailed discussion on polygamy click here. But did you know a Muslim woman can refuse her husband permission to do this if she so chooses as long as this right is claimed in a prenuptial agreement? Click here for more details.


9. Not at all. In fact they feel more liberated than secularized women despite media and cultural stereotypes. Here's one such article by a Muslim woman.

10. In Islam inheritance is based on need and not on a one-size-fits-all blanket ruling, irrespective of one's social status. A woman is to be taken care of by males for her food/shelter/ clothing etc. for her entire life according to her God-given rights. Therefore she is to be given a percentage that 'seems' or 'superficially appears' to be less than that of her compatriate brothers as an inheritance because of this. The actual amount she receives depends on many factors with this factor (i.e. being female) as well as other factors being taken into consideration.
SECULAR BELIEFS ABOUT ISLAM
1. Women must do the housework like her western counterparts do.

2. Women MUST wear the hijab [Muslim headscarf] a practice dictated by men -- no exceptions

3. Women are not allowed to vote or are they allowed to be heads of state

4. If Islam proclaims both sexes to be equal then why is it that in many Muslim countries, women are treated so miserably?

5. Muslim women are oppressed sexually.

6. Women in the west have more rights.

7. Do you have an article which discusses more Quranic rights of women?

8. Muslim men can have up to 4 wives.


9. Do Muslim women feel oppressed by Islamic standards?


10. Why do women receive 1/2 the inheritance of men then?