The Women of Islam

Executive summary about women in Koran by Lisa Beyer

Women had been treated as possessions of their husbands; Islamic law made the education of girls a sacred duty and gave women the right to own and inherit property. Muhammad even decreed that sexual satisfaction was a woman's entitlement.

As Riffat Hassan, professor of religious studies at the University of Louisville, puts it, "The way Islam has been practiced in most Muslim societies for centuries has left millions of Muslim women with battered bodies, minds and souls."

Even as Muhammad proclaimed new rights for women, he enshrined their inequality in immutable law, passed down as God's commandments and eventually recorded in scripture. Under Shari'a, compensation for the murder of a woman is half the going rate for men. In many Muslim countries, these directives are incorporated into contemporary law.

Family law in Islamic countries generally follows the prescriptions of scripture. In Islam, women can have only one spouse, while men are permitted four. The legal age for girls to marry tends to be very young. In Iran the legal age for marriage is nine for girls, 14 for boys. An attempt by conservatives to abolish Yemen's legal minimum age of 15 for girls failed, but local experts say it is rarely enforced anyway.

Forced marriages may still take place in certain Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities, but would be anathema to Muslim women from other backgrounds. Afghan women educated before the Taliban rule know that banning girls from school is forbidden in Islam, which encourages all Muslims to seek knowledge from cradle to grave, from every source possible. Man and woman, it says, "were created of a single soul," and are moral equals in the sight of God. Women have the right to divorce, to inherit property, to conduct business and to have access to knowledge.

Though in most Muslim states, divorces are entitled to alimony, in Pakistan it lasts only three months, long enough to ensure the woman isn't pregnant. Fear of poverty keeps many Muslim women locked in bad marriages, as does the prospect of losing their children.

Women's rights are compromised further by a section in the Koran, sura 4:34, that has been interpreted to say that men have "pre-eminence" over women or that they are "overseers" of women.

The veiling of Muslim women is a more complex issue. In practice, most modern Muslim women appreciate attractive and graceful clothes, but avoid dressing provocatively.

Sexual intimacy outside marriage is forbidden in Islam, including sex before marriage, adultery or homosexual relationships. Contrary to Christianity, Islam does not regard marriages as "made in heaven" or "till death do us part". Similarly, in marriage, a woman's salary is hers and cannot be appropriated by her husband unless she consents.

A good Muslim woman, for her part, should always be trustworthy and kind. While the spirit of Islam is clearly patriarchal, it regards men and women as moral equals.

Women may not be equal in the manner defined by Western feminists, but their core differences from men are acknowledged, and they have rights of their own that do not apply to men.