The document discusses the historical and current status of women in Islam, comparing it to women's status in various cultures and historical periods, including the medieval times and modern feminism. It highlights the equality and rights granted to women in Islam in areas such as education, marriage, and political participation, countering common misconceptions about their oppression. The conclusion emphasizes that the rights of women in Islam were established over 14 centuries ago and not as a response to external pressures, but as a reflection of fundamental truths.

2. Being Her
Status of women in
Islam
Dr. Nusrat Nisar
Professor OBGYN Department
Bilawal Medical college LUMHS

3. • Vice Chancellor LUMHS
• Study aid Project
• Director students Academics
• You All

4. Status of Women in Medieval times
• Romans regarded women as a slave.
• The Greeks considered woman as a commodity that could be
bought an
• In France, toward the end of sixth century AD, a meeting was held
to decided whether woman could truly be considered a human
being or not.

5. • Women in Asia In the middle-ages in India it was customary for a woman to be
burnt alive to death, when her husband has passed away.
• Those who escaped were not allowed to remarry and were used as slave-maids
of the brothers of their husband or other males.
Status of Women in Arabic region before Islam:
• In Arabia before Islam they used women as slaves.
• Female infanticide among some Arabian tribes was socially accepted norm

6. WOMEN in OUR SOCIETY
we are living today
Domestic violence
Sexual abuse
Gender discrimination
Acid attacks
Honour killings and what not.

7. Who/ what is the reason ?
How the sufferings of women
ends
Who do work/ fight for women?

8. • Western school of thoughts
called Feminism
• Western so called Liberal
Culture?
OR
• Package of Principles provided
by Islam/Deen ?
Who is going to solve
our issues?

9. Let's dig
deep into
it.

10. Feminism
 Belief in and advocacy of the political,
economic, and social equality of the
sexes expressed especially through
organized activity on behalf of Women's
rights and interests. (Merriam Webster)
 Simple? No, It's not that simple.
 Feminism movement isn't itself a single
movement but divided into many types
and subtypes with a lot of differences
and even contradictions.

11. Types of
Feminism
Liberal feminism
Radical Feminism
Conservative Feminism
Libertarian Feminism
Separatist Feminism
Ecofeminism
Marxist Feminism
Socialist Feminism
Anarcha Feminism
Black Feminism
Postcolonial Feminism
Womanism
Indigenous Feminism
Transnational Feminism
African Feminism
Christian Feminism
Islamic Feminism
Jewish Feminism
Secular
or Athiest Feminism
Post Structural Feminism
Post Modern Feminism
Lipstick feminism
Difference feminism
Third World Feminism

12. WAVES
Further establish feminist moment have primarily
fallen into 4 different time periods often term as :
First wave Feminism
Second wave Feminism
Third wave Feminism
Fourth wave Feminism

13. First Wave Feminism
• First-Wave Feminism: The term commonly used to
refer to the nineteenth and early twentieth-
century European and North American.
• Notable feminist "MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT" &
"ELIZBETH CADY STANTON"
• Largely aspired by upper middle class white
women
o The key concerns
o Education
o Employment
o The Marriage laws

14. Second Wave Feminism
The term commonly used to refer to the
emergence in the late 1960s, and early
1970s in Europe and North America of a
"new social movement" dedicated to:
Raising consciousness about
• Sexism
• Patriarchy
• legalizing abortion and birth control,
• Attaining equal rights in political and
economic realms
• Gaining sexual "liberation."

15. Third-Wave Feminism
In the 1980s and 1990s, third wave
feminism was powered by middle-class
women in their twenties and thirties
concerns expressed concerns with
retaining second-wave feminist
agendas and tried to create new
projects focusing on issues of race and
sexuality and fighting the new
backlash against feminism.

16. FOURTH WAVE FEMINISM
It begins around 2012 focusing on
empowerment of women and
intersectionality
Focus on gender equality and gender
norms

17. Fourteen Hundred Years ago:

18. Creation by Allah

19. Khilafat: (Mission) with Principles

20. Mission on earth
• Teaching about the earth’s wealth and fertility
• Prosperity
• The political principle of benevolence
• The development of culture, science, and economics
• Social and political developments
• Taking care of earth’s natural resources

21. Principles of Allah for Mankind :
• Family, society and ultimately the whole of mankind is treated by
Islam on an ethical basis
• Differentiation in gender is neither a credit nor a drawback for
men or women.
• Therefore, when we talk about status of woman in Islam it should
not lead us to think that Islam has no specific guidelines,
limitations, responsibilities or obligations for men.

22. Equity
• In Islam, men and women are treated with
equity: “natural justice”
• The limits and rights for men and women
may not be identical; because they are
different regarding their Creation Abilities
Roles and duties

23. Roles and Responsibilities
• Spiritual aspects
• Social Aspects
• Economical Aspects
• Political Aspects

24. The spiritual aspect
• In Islam there is absolutely no difference between men and
women as far as their relationship to Allah is concerned, as both
are promised the same reward for good conduct and the same
punishment for evil conduct.
• Qur’an 74:38 Every soul will be (held) in pledge for its deeds“
Qur’an 3:195
• “ ...So their Lord accepted their prayers, (saying): I do not leave
to waste the work of any of you (engaged in doing good), whether
male or female. You are all one from the other... “

25. Spiritual Aspect
• There is no hint that the first woman created by God is a creature of
lesser worth than the first male.
• The Quran deals with the pair with perfect equity. Both are equally
guilty of sinning; both are equally punished by God with expulsion from
the Garden; and both are equally forgiven when they repent.

26. Spiritual Aspect
• Qur'an16:97 Whoever works righteousness, man or woman, and
has faith, verily to him will We give a new life that is good and
pure, and We will bestow on such their reward according to the
their actions. Quran 4.124 And whoever does deeds of
righteousness, whether male or female, and is a (true) believer –
such will enter Paradise…

27. The Spiritual Aspect:
• Religious obligations and rewards:
• In terms of religious obligations and rewards, such as the Daily Prayers,
Fasting, Zakat, and Pilgrimage, woman is essentially no different from
man (small differences in practice of each obligation is due to
differences in their nature) “ If any do deeds of righteousness, be they
male or female, and have faith, they will enter paradise and not the
least injustice will be done to them.” Quran 4:124

28. The Social Aspect
As a child and an adolescent
Despite the social acceptance of female infanticide among some Arabian
tribes, the Quran forbade this custom, and considered it a crime like any
other murder.
"And when the female (infant) buried alive - is questioned, for what
crime she was killed.“ Qur'an 81:8-9
Criticizing the attitudes of such parents who reject their female children,
the Qur'an states:
When news is brought to one of them, of (the Birth of) a female (child),
his face darkens and he is filled with inward grief! With shame does he
hide himself from his people because of the bad news he has had! Shall he
retain her on (sufferance) and contempt, or bury her in the dust? Ah! What
an evil (choice) they decide on? Qur'an 16: 58-59

29. The Social Aspect
As a child and an adolescent
• Among the sayings of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in this regard are
the following: Whosoever has a daughter and he does not bury her
alive, does not insult her, and does not favor his son over her, God
will enter him into Paradise. (Ibn Hanbal, No. 1957). Whosoever
supports two daughters till they mature, he and I will come in the
day of judgment as this (and he pointed with his two fingers held
together).

30. The Social Aspect: How to treat women?
• The Qur'an admonishes those men who oppress or ill-treat women:
• O you who believe! You are forbidden to inherit women against their
will. Nor should you treat them with harshness, that you may take away
part of the dowry you have given them - except when they have become
guilty of open lewdness.
• On the contrary live with them on a footing of kindness and equity . If
you take a dislike to them, it may be that you dislike something and
Allah will bring about through it a great deal of good. Qur’an 4:19
• Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said: “ The most perfect believers are the
best in conduct and best of you are those who are best to their wives.”

31. The Social Aspect: Right to education
• The right of females to seek knowledge is not different from that of
males. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said:
Seeking knowledge is mandatory for every Muslim;. The Quran
repeatedly commands all readers to read, to recite, to think, to
contemplate, as well as to learn from the signs of Allah. In fact, the very
first revelation to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was concerned with
knowledge.
• Lectures of the Prophet were attended by audiences of both men and
women
• By the time of the Prophet's death, there were many women scholars

32. The Social Aspect: Rights in marriage
• The female has the right to accept or reject marriage proposals
• Her consent is a prerequisite to the validity of the marital contract,
according to the Prophet's teachings
• Right to retain her family name
• Full right to her Mahr – marital gift
• Right to be satisfied by her husband
• The husband is responsible for the maintenance, protection, and overall
leadership of the family, within the framework of consultation and
kindness.
• Right to divorce her husband

33. The Social Aspect: As a wife
• The Qur'an clearly indicates that marriage is sharing between the two halves of
the society,
• “ And among His Signs is this, that He created for you mates from among
yourselves that you may dwell in tranquility with them, and He has put love and
mercy between your (hearts); verily in that are signs for those who reflect.”
Quran 30:21 17.
• They (your wives) are your garment and you are a garment for them. Quran
2:187
• Just as a garment hides our nakedness, so do husband and wife, by entering into
the relationship of marriage, secure each other's chastity. The garment gives
comfort to the body; so does the husband find comfort in his wife's company
and she in his.
• The garment is the grace, the beauty, the embellishment of the body, so too are
wives to their husbands as their husbands are to them.

34. The Social Aspect: As a wife
• Marrying more then one woman
• The Muslim man is allowed to be married up to 4 woman. Only if the man
can treat them with equal fairness. If the man can’t treat them with
equal fairness then he should only marry one.
• Divorce
• If a Muslim couple get to the point of divorce, they should try their best
to save their marriage first. If they fail to save their marriage, the
divorce can take place. When this is taking place the woman can stay
with her ex-husband for three months and the husband must support her.
When the divorce is final the woman gets no more payment from her ex-
husband. Islam puts the right of the divorce to the husband and judge
only if the wife requests a divorce.

35. The Social Aspect: As a mother
• Islam considers kindness to parents next to the worship of God.
Quran says:
• "Show gratitude to Me and to your parents: to Me is (your
final) destiny." Quran 31:14
• Moreover, the Qur'an has a special recommendation for the good
treatment of mothers
• "And we have enjoined upon man (to be good) to his
parents: His mother bears him in weakness upon weakness...“
Qur'an 31:14

36. The Economic Aspect
• In the 19th century European women did not have the right to own their own property .
• In Britain, perhaps the first country to give women some property rights, laws were
passed in the 1860's known as "Married Women Property Act."
• In Germany the wife was denied any control over her property until 1922 by civil law!
• Islam provides a woman with:
• Right to possess personal property- buy, sell, mortgage, lease without anyone’s
permission being required.
• quot;Whatever men earn, they have a share of that and whatever women earn, they
have a share in that.
• " Qur'an 4:31
• In Islam the wife’s property and earnings are under her full control and for her use
alone. No matter how rich the wife might be, she is not obliged to act as a co-provider
unless she herself voluntarily chooses to do so.
• Right to seek Employment
• Right to Inheritance
• Financial security

37. The Political Aspect
• The general rule in social and political life is participation and
collaboration of males and females in public affairs.
The believers, men and women, are protectors, one of another: they
enjoin what is just and forbid what is evil: they observe regular prayers,
practice regular charity, and obey Allah and His apostle. On them will
Allah pour His mercy: for Allah is Exalted in power, Wise. (Qur'an 9:7)
• There is evidence of participation by Muslim women in the choice of rulers, in
public issues, in lawmaking, in a administrative positions, in scholarship and
teaching, and even in the battlefield.

38. The Political Aspect
Islam provides a woman with:
Right to vote
Participation in political affairs
Women can be in leadership positions
Participation in public affairs
During the Caliphate of Omar Ibn al-Khattab, a woman argued with
him in the mosque, proved her point, and caused him to declare in
the presence of people: “The woman is right and Omar is wrong.”

39. Misconceptions about “Women in Islam
• Muslim women are slaves to their husbands/inferior to them
• Women are forced by their husbands to cover
• Women are backward
• Women are oppressed in Islam
• Women are completely devoid of spiritual, social, economic or
political rights

40. Conclusion
• The status which women reached in the west was achieved through
a long struggle and sacrifice on woman’s part and only when
society needed her contribution and work, during the two world
wars, and due to the escalation of technological change.
• Even with such distorted image of women in Islam in the West it is
worth mentioning that:
• Out of every 5 Muslim converts, 4 are women!
• The history of Muslims is rich with women of great achievements in
all walks of life from as early as the seventh century

41. Conclusion
• In the case of Islam such compassionate and dignified status was
decreed more than 14 centuries ago, not because it reflects the
environment of the seventh century, nor under the threat or
pressure of women and their organizations, but rather because of
its essential truthfulness.
• Women in Islam – Worth to mention