Women in Islam

There are many things to mention when talking about the role of women in Islam. Specifically, when talking about their role and rights when it comes to things such as marriage, divorce and even adoption. There are many rules in Islam dealing with women rights and actions towards women, a lot of which seem to work in their favor. For example, when looking at certain stories in the Quran, many different kinds of women are seen in varying circumstances. However, many of the women who were shown to have faith and devotion were given help in some way if they prayed.

Even in the early days when the religion was not as well established, whenever women prayed and devoted themselves, they were well taken care of, like Maryam, who was given resources and ways to take care of herself. Through the stories in the Quran, there are many details and saying to be analyzed when women’s rights are concerned. In the cases of marriage, adoption and divorce, however, there are many things that need to be covered; from certain rules and restriction to things that are a bit confusing or do not make sense. The laws vary in many ways for each topic, some in the favor of women and some not so much when looked at closely.

To start, there is the topic of marriage in Islam and what that exactly are the conditions and rules for marriage. For example, there are many verses in the Quran talking about who you can and cannot marry as well as some general criteria for how a spouse should be. Specifically, there are many conditions explaining that a person cannot marry certain people like polytheistic people until they believe in Islam (Al-Baqarah, verse 221). Another rule is one that relates to remarrying somebody and what rules to follow when doing so. In Islam there is a grace period when it comes to remarriage, which must be passed before a person can remarry. If talking about remarriage in specific, something that must be discussed is the concept of a couple separating but then marrying each other again.

In the Quran, it is stated that if a couple were to decide that they want to remarry, as long as they both agree, nobody can stop them from doing so; however, they must wait through the grace period to remarry(Quran, Al-Baqarah verse 232). However, if said couple were to divorce three times, they are not suitable to marry each other once again until the woman finds another husband first (Al-Baqarah). Conditions relating to marriage and divorce always talk about a grace period which is known and iddat and lasts for a certain amount of time, however, it also states that if a man were to divorce a woman without touching her, then iddat does not apply for either in that case (Al-Ahzab, verse 29).

These are a few conditions that talk about both marriage and divorce in the Quran, however, there are a lot more not mentioned so far. These rules seem prominent in specific situations of marriage and divorce, though some others are not as specific. An example of this are all the rules that emphasize that if a person has faith, then they must also marry somebody who believe in the religion as well and both husband and wife must not have had intercourse out of marriage before the marriage contract is to take effect. In Islam it is also not permissible to marry a woman without the permission of her family or the people around her. Another condition is that the man must pay a dowry to the woman he is to marry and when they are to divorce, under certain conditions, the woman is to return the dowry to the man if they are to be divorced.

The way divorce worked in Islam has changed a lot as times have changed and developed and there are cases of different outcomes to divorce depending on the circumstances. Even Islam had changed the way divorce works when it was first established. For in the beginnings of Islam, there were tribes and the women in those tribes had very low social statues and were basically treated as slaves, however, Islam pushed more towards equality between men and women so the rules regarding divorce were changed. There are some instances when the husband had given a dowry to the wife and sometimes if they divorce, the wife will have to give the dowry back to him as a result of the divorce.

According to the Quran, the husband cannot send her away from the house as that is her house as well and he is to still provide her with resources until she can do so herself. Another law pertaining to divorce is that a man cannot divorce a woman if she is pregnant or breastfeeding, the husband is to still provide for the mother and child until she stops breastfeeding the child before he can divorce her. Also, in order for the divorce to be confirmed, there need to be witnesses when the divorce happens. As stated in the Quran, there need to be at least to people present when it happens, specifying that it must be the husband’s two most trusted men. (Surat Talak) Up until a few years ago, there used to be a law that let men divorce women easily just by saying the word three times.

In many Muslim countries if a man said the word “talak”, which is the Arabic word for divorce then their marriage would be dissolved, it did not even need to be spoken out loud to the person as men were able to do it over the phone or text. However, many women spoke out against this rule as they were getting kicked out of their houses just by their husbands divorcing them and saying the word talak three times. The rule was overruled in almost every country over the years as it went against women’s rights to equality in the countries with India being one of the last countries to erase the rule. This law had brought up many movements among women in the countries as they argued that it was not fair to them that their husbands could so easily divorce them and the government agreed to change it after seeing the movements of the women effected. However, the men argued that the changing of the law would be unfair to them but the law was still erased as the government sided with the women in this situation in the name of equality.

Moving on to the topic of adoption and what the term means in Islam. Now, the concept of adoption is not allowed in Islam because adoption means that the child’s last name is being changed. In Islam, it is forbidden to change a child’s surname, instead it is permissible to foster children as it means they can still be cared for and taken in by a family but their surname will not be changed. When looking specifically and younger children, who were adopted, it is said that a child must be suckled by the mother a number of times before they can be considered their child. This same rule applies in the case of children who are breastfed by the same mother, they must be fed a number of times before being considered milk siblings.

Throughout the history of Islam there have been many cases of fostering as told in the Quran such as Mussa, Maryam, and, Mohammad however each story varies in the events that take place in it. Briefly looking at each story, there are many things to dissect in the ones mentioned above. To start with, there is the story of Mussa, a child born during a time where baby boys were being killed by the order of the Pharaoh. In this story there is a desperate mother who wishes to save her son from being killed so she prays and has her prayers answered as he is found by the Pharaoh’s wife who chooses to raise him. The mother was instructed to care for him for as long as she could and when she is scared for him, she will send him down the river in a basket. In the end Mussa is found by the Pharaoh’s wife and she convinces her husband to let her raise him. The mother was still able to be reunited with her son, though, because Mussa would reject all other wet nurses until his sister recommended his mother to the Pharaoh’s wife.

This story shows how Mussa’s mother’s faith led her to reuniting with her son even after she had sent him away for his own safety. In these circumstances, Mussa was found by the Pharaoh’s wife and taken in, but it was still considered fostering as she did not nurse him herself (Surat Taha and Surat Al-Qasas). Next, talking about the story of Muhammad, who was raised by many people throughout his life. Throughout his life he was raised by many people, from his grandfather to his uncle from a young age until he reached adulthood. Along with this though, he also had many milk mothers, since he was an orphaned child there would be wet nurses who would feed him when he was a baby.

During those times there used to be a lot of children in need of wet nurses so the wet nurses who would feed the children would also get paid for doing so. In the story of Maryam, she is raised by her aunt’s husband, who takes her in and cares for her. According to Surat Al Imran, Maryam was well provided for whenever Zakarya would visit her. She had all the resources she would need and whenever he would ask where it all came from, she would answer that it was all because of her prayers to Allah and her faith that she received all the things she had.

Moving onto the final topic of the paper, there is the concept of inheritance and what that entails for women in Islam. Some background information needed in order to understand Islam where it concerns inheritance. First if Rizq, which essentially translated wealth. In Islam, it is believed that wealth should be shared with others: whether that means with other family members, or people in need like charities or people in poverty struck places. The act of giving to people in need is known as zakat and it is something many Muslims will do much of in their lifetimes. Muslims have found many ways to give zakat to others: Muslims who are not able to fast will give zakat to feed the people who do not have easy access to food instead. Every Mosque, which is the Muslim place of worship, have a certain area where people are able to pass by and drop some money to give as zakat.

During Eid, a Muslim religious holiday, there are many families who will start donation boxes during family celebrations for Eid. Through the process of gathering donations during Eid, every year, people are able to gather hundreds of non-profit organizations to help the poem, such as non-profit hospitals and such. However, inheritance and what it means to the family members inheriting the things, there are some different things to see. Now, when it comes to discussing what inheritance means to women, it means that some information is needed for how much a person can inherit and the reason for that amount.

The amount of inheritance given to the beneficiary depends on how many beneficiaries there are. For example, a person cannot give all of their wealth to a singular person when other beneficiaries exist, it is simply not allowed in Islam. The beneficiaries of a person usually contain the person’s spouse, children and parents; all of whom are entitled to a portion of the inheritance. Although, it is widely known that, while women are entitled to the inheritances, they will receive less money is there is also a male present. In the case of sons and daughters, the daughters inherit half as much as the sons do. However, the reason for that is that the men tend to be the breadwinners of the family, therefore they receive a bigger share in order to help them with the family.

Along with these rules, some other general knowledge to know is that the inheritance cannot be distributed if the person deceased person had a debt to pay. The debt must be paid before the inheritance is given to the beneficiary. Another rule is that Prophets, cannot inherit wealth as a beneficiary but they can inherit knowledge from the person they are the beneficiary for. To summarize everything discussed above, the laws in Islam and how they affect women are quite different for each and every topic discussed.

From marriage, to inheritance some laws do work in the favor of women, though, especially when talking about resources and such because a lot of the times the man is expected to provide for the family. In order to marry a woman, the man must provide a dowry for her most of the time, usually resources or money. Even when they are divorced, the woman is still able to live in the same house, and the man is still expected to provide her with resources until she can take care of herself; she cannot be outcasted from the house right after the divorce.

These are some examples as to how the laws of Islam say to treat women; the women are able to be treated mostly like equals to the men in Islam. Of course, there are some differences, though. However, there are also many laws that work in the favor of women when it comes to Islam, such as the reasons stated above.