Articles

Women`s Rights
Author : Dr. Ibrahim Ejjo
Date Added : 16-10-2022

 

 

All perfect praise be to Allah the Lord of the Worlds. May Allah`s peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Mohammad and upon all his family and companions.

Unlike any pre-Islamic or post-Islamic legislation, Islam has given women a great deal of attention. It has been the beginning of the turning point for women. Rather, it is the actual turning point. In pre-Islamic times, women were given no consideration whatsoever: They were buried alive, deprived, enslaved, humiliated, and degraded. The attention Islam has given to women emanates from realizing their significant role in educating and upbringing future generations since the mother is a school. 

 

However, the enemies of Islam seize every opportunity to corrupt women. They do this in cold blood through pretending to cry for women and their rights; as if these are lost or wasted. They incite women against the religion of Allah under the pretext of reform, but Allah knows their evil intentions. They want Muslim women to abandon their modesty and get off their chastity. They launch slogans for women and give them hope for freedom and happiness. This is in a bid to entrap Muslims and destroy their last fortress. Had they been fair-No way they are-they would have recognized what Islam, compared to any other legislation, has achieved for women. Islam has guaranteed her full humanity at the time when the philosophers and the rational people were arguing whether women are human beings or not? Do they have souls? If they have souls, then are they human or animal? This is at a time when women were looked at as an extra burden and were inherited as if they were property.

 

Islam came to decide that women are equal to men in being created from a single person and having the same fate. Allah Says {What means}: "O mankind! reverence your Guardian-Lord, who created you from a single person, created, of like nature, His mate, and from them twain scattered (like seeds) countless men and women;-" [An-Nisa`/1]. He also Says (What means): "O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise (each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of God is (he who is) the most righteous of you." [Al-Hujurat/13].

 

Women and men come from the same origin and have the same fate before Almighty Allah. Men and women are the two halves of humanity and the same soul. The Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) has spoken the truth when he said: "Women are counterpart of men or women are of the same nature as men." [Transmitted by Abu Dawood].

 

In principle, this equality doesn`t mean that women are like men in all aspects since assuming this ignores human nature and changes the nature of things. Of course, the male isn`t similar to the female in terms of nature, creation, and function. Almighty Allah has given men physical strength to work and seek provisions while women are kind and compassionate to raise their children to be pious and righteous. In this regard, a poet once said {What means}: "The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world."

This difference doesn`t mean preferring women over men or vice versa. Rather, men and women are like day and night; they differ but each complements the other.

 

Life can`t be endured if it is only daytime or nighttime and the same goes for men and women. From an Islamic angle, women`s blood, honour, property, and dignity are inviolable. Allah has spoken the truth when He said: "And women shall have rights similar to the rights against them," {Al-Baqarah,228}. This verse indicates that women and men are peers in terms of rights and obligations, but not Qiwama (men are the protectors and maintainers of women). Necessity dictates that men have the Qiwama over women for there has to be a caretaker for every household. Allah Says (What means): "If there were, in the heavens and the earth, other gods besides God, there would have been confusion in both! but glory to God, the Lord of the Throne: (High is He) above what they attribute to Him!" [Al-Anbiyaa`/22]. He The Exalted Adds: "behold, each god would have taken away what he had created, and some would have lorded it over others!" [Al-Mu`minon/ 91]. Accordingly, reason and logic dictate that the man is more capable of shouldering this responsibility because he can handle things without emotional excitement. Man`s nature and ability to endure makes him more fit for Qiwama.

 

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Summarized Fatawaa

Allah The Almighty Made marrying up to four women lawful, but human beings prohibit that with their own land laws. What is the position of Sharia on this?

All perfect praise be to Allah the Lord of the Worlds. May His peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Mohammad and upon all his family and companions.
What Allah has made lawful, human beings can`t make it unlawful. However, taking the decision to marry up to four women requires material and physical abilities, in addition to having the courage to make such a decision. And Allah The Almighty Knows Best.

I work at a company that provides cash advances of 800 dinars, 1000 dinars, or 1200 dinars, depending on the employee’s years of service. An administrative fee of 40 dinars is deducted from the amount in the first month, and the remaining amount is repaid in installments. What is the ruling on this, knowing that the deducted amount (40 dinars) is fixed?

We fear that the deducted amount may be a means of circumventing interest (Riba). If the deducted amount is equal to or less than the actual administrative expenses, then there is no issue, as some scholars permit the borrower to bear the costs of documenting and managing the loan. However, piety suggests refraining from taking this loan under these conditions, as dealing with private individuals and companies is not the same as dealing with the state, which spends from the public treasury. And Allah Knows Best.

1- A young man whose father and grandfather are dead. Unfortuntly, he passedaway leaving a mother, two sisters and a brother. Do his paternal uncles inherit him? 2- A man died leaving daughters, a wife, brothers, a mother or no mother. It is well known that the daughters inherit two thirds and the wife one eighth. To whom does the rest of the estate go and what is the evidence on that from the texts of Sharia?

All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
1- The full brother or the paternal half-sibling disinherits the paternal uncles. The paternal half-sibling takes one sixth and because they are from the Asabah (Male relatives on the father`s side) of the deceased they take the rest of the estate. The proof of this is that Ibn ‘Abbas (May Allah Be Pleased with them) reported God’s Messenger (PBUH) as saying: "Give the shares to those who are entitled to them, and what remains over goes to the nearest male heir." [Agreed upon]. In this case, nothing is left to them.
2- The brothers take the rest of the deceased`s estate and the full brother disinherits the paternal half-sibling, and the proof of this is the aforementioned narration. And Allah The Almighty Knows Best.

What should the man, whose wife wasn`t on good terms with his mother, do?

Both the mother and the wife have rights on the man in question; therefore, each should be given her rights justly, and he should resort to wisdom to please both of them and make reconciliation. And Allah Knows Best.