been a magnifying glass placed over the status of Muslim women.
Unfortunately, the magnifying glass that has been used is an unusual
one. Unusual in the sense that it is very selective about which items
it will magnify; other items it will distortto such a degree that they
will no longer look familiar. I remember once reading in an "in depth"
article about the lives of Muslim women. This article "explained" that
at any time a man can divorce his wife by simply stating"I divorce
you, I divorce you, I divorce you". This article can lead anyone
ignorant of the Islamic ruling regarding divorce to believe that in
less than five seconds the woman is left with no husband and is left
to care for herself (and possibly children) by any means necessary.
The question that immediately popped up in my mind was, "Did the
author innocently write that out of sincere ignorance or was itanother
of the many attempts to degrade the religion of Islam and its
followers (muslims)?" It may be my own paranoia, but I tend to believe
it was the latter of the two.
The truth of the matter is that Islam has the most humane and most
just system of divorce that exists. Firstly, many options are taken
and tried before coming to the decision of the divorce. If the man and
woman decide that theycan no longer live together successfully as a
husband and wife, the husband (in most cases, not always) pronounces
the divorce by saying "I divorce you". At this point the waiting
period begins. The waiting periodlasts for three menstrual cycles to
assure the woman is not pregnant. This period allows the couple time
to think about what they are doing and if this is what they really
want to do. There are no lawyers involved to antagonise an already
delicate situation.
In the case that it is realised, that the woman is pregnant, the
waiting period lasts the entire time she is pregnant. During the
waiting period (whether the woman is pregnant or not) the man is
obligated to provide food, clothing and shelter to the woman as he did
before the divorce pronouncement. If the couple carries the divorce
through to the birth of the child and the woman suckles the baby, the
man is obligated to feed and clothe both his ex-wife for the time the
woman suckles (the maximum being two years). Afterthis weaning, the
child will be provided for by the father until he/she is no longer in
need of support.
It is quite ironic that in such an"advanced society" as America, there
are divorce cases in which women are being forced to pay alimony to
their ex-husbands. Canthis and many other things we know about the
American system of divorce compare to the Islamic system of divorce?
I have also read stories wherein itis stated that women are forced to
marry men without their consent. This in no way resembles the marriage
system inIslam. In Islaam the woman marries the man of her choice. She
may even marry someone that her mother and/or father objects to. The
point is that it is the woman who makes the final decision as to whom
she will marry. Once the man and the woman decide that they are
interested in one another for marriage, a dowry is decided upon. A
dowry is not a brides price but, it is a gift from the groom to the
bride. They agree upon a gift that is affordable by the groom. In the
time of the Prophet (sas), often things such as livestock and money
were given. This is a wise decision in the event that a woman becomes
divorced or widowed, she has some financial security to fall back on
even if it is for a limited amount of time. Once the man and woman are
married, the man is required to clothe, feed, shelter and educate her
(or allow her to be educated) in the same manner as he does himself.
The last distorted image that I willcover is that of the Muslim
women's dress. The western influenced media portrays our dress to be
outdated and oppressive. Needless to say however, I differ with these
adjectives. Our dress code does not hinder us from doing anything
productive in our lives. Muslim women maintain a varietyof jobs, non
of which are devalued nor hampered due to their dress code. And as for
the timing of muslims women's dressduring these contemporary times,it
seems most appropriate due to decreasing morals in the world today.
For those who say that Islamic dress is outdated, they speak from
great ignorance. The decreasing morality and trials of this time makes
Hijaab even morein need.
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:-> :->
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