Status of Women in Islam

"Why is it that so many women who have been born and brought in Europe
and America are willing to reject their 'liberty'and 'independence' to
embrace a religion that supposedly oppresses them and is widely
assumed to be prejudicial to them?" This is a question that I found on
one of the sites while surfing around, and I found it an interesting
question and which I'd like to draw this articlearound.
Can Islam be prejudiced to women, and yet appeal to women? Can Islam
lower the status of a woman and still havemore women embracing it as
their way of life than men? According to an article written by Lucy
Berrington in the Times Magazine (London) dated 9th Nov. 1993: "It is
even more ironic that most British converts should be women, given the
widespread view in the west that Islam treats women poorly. In the
United States, women converts outnumber men by four to one, and in
Britain make up the bulk of the estimated 10, 000 to 20, 000 converts,
forming part of a Muslim community of 1 to 1.5 million "
How can the case of those women be explained?! Well, I could say that
there are only one of two choices that one can decide upon. Either all
those women who choose Islam don't know what they are doing or that
they discovered Islam is notprejudice to them as others have yet to
discover. New convert to Islam since September 11, US Navy petty
officer, Heather Ramaha. "Islam gives us Elevation; not Degradation"
In the Noble Quran Allah (Arabic word for God) says:
"Mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you
into nations and tribes, that you may know one another. Verily, the
most honorable of you in the Sight of Allah is the believer who has
Taqwa (i.e. piety and righteousness)and loves Allah most. Verily,
Allah is All-Knowing,All-Aware." The Holy Qur'an(49:13)
"I shall not lose sight of the labor of any of you who labors in My
way, be it man or woman;each of you is equal to the other. The Holy
Qur'an(3:195)"
On the light of those verses, Islam declares that it has not come to
disadvantage women, but in fact has been revealed to elevate women
ever since 1400 years ago, when women in many parts of the world and
especially in the western societies were considered objects that are
owned and withlittle to no rights in the society they live in.
Before any other religion or system in the world Islam gave a woman
the right to inherit, theright to vote and voice her opinion, the
right to trade investand improve herself financially, the right to own
- buy and sell, the right to seek knowledge andhave a good education,
the rightto work and has even gone further to oblige the males in
every stage of her life, whether it was a father, brother or husband
... It's their duty before God to take care of her, to spendon her, to
provide her with the food , clothing and shelter that she needs, to
provide her with agood education, to protect her from anything that
can harm her and to never hesitate to put their lives in stake for her
if the need calls them to do so. "As a modern westerner with a career,
of course I had to look into Islam's attitude to women - I couldn't be
oppressed all of a sudden. But I discovered that it is pro-women and
pro-men; in Islam, women had the right to vote in the year 600. Men
dress modestly, women dress modestly; neither should flirt with the
eyes, but rather they should lower their gaze. I think it's unhealthy
to flaunt your sexuality - it attracts the wrong energy back." (MTV
Presenter Kristiane Backer after being a Muslim) "Since I called
myself a feminist, my early reading centered around women in Islam. I
thought Islam oppressedwomen. In my Women's Studies courses I had read
about Muslimwomen who were not allowed to leave their homes and were
forced to cover their heads. Of course I saw hijab as an oppressive
tool imposed by men rather than as an expression of self-respect and
dignity. What I discovered in myreadings surprised me. Islam notonly
does not oppress women, but actually liberates them, having given them
rights in the 6th century that we have only gained in this century in
this country: the right to own property and wealth and to maintain
that in her name after marriage; the right to vote; and the right to
divorce." (Karima Slack, an American feminist fromsecular humanism to
Islam)
Some Muslim societies today lack those values. Some people may rightly
ask then, why do we see some Muslim societies lacking those values?
There is a beautiful and very true exampleI heard from a lecture by an
American Muslim called Khaled Yaseen, who said that every person can
be a father; but if a father does not turn out to be a good father
then it's not fatherhood that we would blam. ....
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Good news for the poorpeople

Once, Abu Dardaa (RA) was sitting in company with his students when
his wife came and said to him, "You are sitting here with your
students and wehaven't got a pinch of flour left with us in the
house." Abu Dardaa (RA) said to her, "Good lady, before us there is a
valley hard to travel (The Day of Judgement) and only such people can
traverse it successfully who travel light." Hearing this, his wife
went away, satisfied with the reply, and did not complain any more
about her needs. Abu Dardaa (RA) once said, "We have food and the rich
also have food; we wear clothes and the rich also wear clothes. The
rich people possess wealth, which exceeds their requirements, and they
just see it without using it. We can also look at wealth (possessed by
others) without using it. We are equal in this respect, but the rich
will be required to render an account, on the Day of Resurrection, for
holding extra wealth in their possession. We are free from Reckoning,
for, we have nothingin our possession."
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Shame on us

A pupil of Ali (RA) says:"Once Ali (RA) led people in Fajr Salaat. At
the end he turned his face to the right and sat there facing the
people till sunrise. He looked cast down. At last, he turned the palms
of hishands up as a gesture of regret and spoke to the people thus:
'By Allah! I have been an associate of the Sahabah (companions) of
Rasulullah Sallallaho alaihe wasallam, it's a pitythat nowadays I find
men who do not resemble them in any respect. When the Sahabah (RA) got
up in the morning, they looked disheveled, pale in face and covered
with dust. During the night they would prostrate before Allah Ta'ala
or stand in devotion reciting from theHoly Qur'an. They would spend
the whole night standing. When tired theywould lean to the right
orleft for respite, shifting the weight of their bodiesfrom one leg to
the other.When they recited lines glorifying Allah, they swayed in
ecstasy, as the trees do, when the wind passes through them. Andthey
wept (for fear or loveof Allah Ta'ala) shedding tears so profusely
that their clothes would become wet. Alas! men of today, spend their
nights in utter heedlessness."
From the book "Fadhail-e-Sadaqaa Part II", Translated by Prof. Abdul Karim.
What would Ali (RA) say if he saw our condition today?

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Confused about a fatwaon the ruling on showing pictures of women’s fashions

In your fatwa on the website entitled Putting women's pictures in
women-only chat rooms to learn how to do makeup and other adornments,
it says that itis permissibleto show pictures of fashion outfits in
chat rooms with the head cut off or with the facial features blotted
out completely. I was confused by this. How canthis be permissible
when a man who goes to this page could see it? Does blotting out the
facial features cancel out the fitnah altogether? How many men have
been tempted by a woman's body even though her face is ugly! If it is
permissible, then what is the benefit of the command to wear the
abayah if the body is not asource of temptation and it is permissible
for men to look at it? Aren't all parts of the woman's body 'awrah and
don't men have to lower their gaze and not look at her? What is the
evidence for this being permissible?.
Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly:
We appreciate your concern and your keenness to seek good. We ask
Allah to make us and you steadfast in obedience to Him.
Secondly:
The fatwa you mention has to do with women's chat rooms. It stated
that it is haraam to publish pictures of womenon the Internet, but it
granted a concession allowing posting pictures of "outfits minus the
head, or with the facial features blotted out completely". That is
because of what was mentioned in the question, which is that it isfor
the purpose of learning and benefitting. Undoubtedly the aim of the
fatwa was to avoid fitnah and block the causes that lead to it. If the
pictures of outfits leadto fitnah, such as if they werephysical
bodies or they were provocative pictures, then the answer is that it
is also forbidden to post them.
There is no doubt that men are enjoined to lowertheir gaze and avoid
looking at women, their faces and their bodies, with no
differentiation. And there is no doubt that the woman's entire body is
'awrah as you say. But thepoint that should be noted here is that the
chat room is for women and this means will divertmany...

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