No other religion can compare with Islam in the revolutionary changes, it introduced in the status of women. These changes required a major re-adjustment in the way women were to be evaluated and treated, both legally and morally. The prophet in his life time demonstrated the new way that Islam wants women to be treated. It is a tragic irony that today it is possible for the world in general to mistakenly regard Islam as a religion that suppresses women's rights and lowers their status. The Qur'an affirms in several places the equal spiritual status of men and women, their equal religious duties and their equal reward for their deeds:"whoever performs good deeds, whether male or female, and is a believer, we shall surely make him live a good life, and we shall certainly reward them for the best of what they did."
Islam as a religion gives much emphasis to understanding and the exercise of the intellect. Numerous Qur'an verses urge mankind to think, to reason, and ponder on Allah's creation as a means of attaining greater consciousness of Allah (taqwa). Since this increase of taqwa is required for the moral and spiritual development of both male and female, it should not come as a surprise that the prophet (S.A.W) spelled out the need for both men and women to study and seek knowledge. In a Hadith reported by Anas, he is quoted as saying :"The search for knowledge is a duty for every muslim, male and female".(ibn Majah Bayhaqiy)
By this it can be seen that women are considered capable of benefiting from intellectual effort and study in the same way as men, and of contributing to human knowledge and enlightenment. As illustration of this the prophet urged people to learn about islam from Aisha (radiyAllahu anha), his wife. She was later held in high regard as a very important source of Hadith and as a person to be consulted generally about islam and the affairs of the Ummah. Other women also played important roles as teachers and scholars.
The idea of leaving women uneducated and cut off from intellectual life is an anti-islamic one which is the contrary of what Qur'an and sunnah have prescribed.
The solution to this problem therefore seems to lie in giving girls and women equal access to islamic and general knowledge and education in accordance with the prophetic tradition and in enlightening the society in general and the younger generation in particular, about the true status of women in islam.
-Written by Maryam Sani
Islam as a religion gives much emphasis to understanding and the exercise of the intellect. Numerous Qur'an verses urge mankind to think, to reason, and ponder on Allah's creation as a means of attaining greater consciousness of Allah (taqwa). Since this increase of taqwa is required for the moral and spiritual development of both male and female, it should not come as a surprise that the prophet (S.A.W) spelled out the need for both men and women to study and seek knowledge. In a Hadith reported by Anas, he is quoted as saying :"The search for knowledge is a duty for every muslim, male and female".(ibn Majah Bayhaqiy)
By this it can be seen that women are considered capable of benefiting from intellectual effort and study in the same way as men, and of contributing to human knowledge and enlightenment. As illustration of this the prophet urged people to learn about islam from Aisha (radiyAllahu anha), his wife. She was later held in high regard as a very important source of Hadith and as a person to be consulted generally about islam and the affairs of the Ummah. Other women also played important roles as teachers and scholars.
The idea of leaving women uneducated and cut off from intellectual life is an anti-islamic one which is the contrary of what Qur'an and sunnah have prescribed.
The solution to this problem therefore seems to lie in giving girls and women equal access to islamic and general knowledge and education in accordance with the prophetic tradition and in enlightening the society in general and the younger generation in particular, about the true status of women in islam.
-Written by Maryam Sani