How are women treated in islam

At some point in the history of Arabia, female children were buried alive while women viewed as transferable property. However, Islam respected women in the society through protection and granting them with exceptional rights. Also, women were given the right to marry spouses of their choice, education, sell and own property, divorce, preserve their identity after marriage as well as engage themselves in political and civic issues. The holy book of Quran transformed the mindset of the Arabs regarding how women should be treated. God called upon Prophet Muhammad to encourage the people to be merciful to each other. The religion of Islam has made a successful attempt at enhancing the position of women in the society more than other religions in the world.

Okon (21) asserts that throughout history, religion has led to the women marginalization and has offered a platform for male dominance in the society. He adds that religion is like a social anesthesia or a lullaby that calms and eases revolutionary practices and hampers rebellion. It has encouraged women to admit their fate, since it in God’s will. Such practices are against the norms of the society and a bend of reality, something that led philosophers like Karl Marx to term religion as a sigh to creatures that were oppressed and a heart to a world that was heartless (Okon 21). Based on the teachings of the Quran, both the man and the women were subjected to temptation which led them to sin and God pardoned them for their sin after they repented.

Furthermore, the Quran states that God addressed both Adam and Eve jointly and his teachings deny the view that creation of the woman was the second thought. Islam identifies with the legitimate status of women and considers them as men’s equal partners in the procreation of mankind. Besides, the equality of man and woman focuses on all the characteristics of human endeavors. For instance, women are equal to men in the quest for knowledge, they are entitled to freedom of choice, speech, and association. For instance, the aspect of veiling among Muslim women has been depicted as signs of backwardness. Also, a veiled woman is depicted to an oppressed Muslim woman. Individuals who are devoted to their religion such as the Jews, Catholics and Christians are normally believed to be conservative since they chose to incorporate religious teachings into the lives (Schønemann).

On the other hand, Muslims are believed to be fundamentalists if they devote themselves to Islam. The media has been accused of widely misusing the word “fundamentalist” to point to terrorists who may happen to belong to Islam or are anti-American (Schønemann). The veil in Islam is generally viewed as a symbol of backwardness of Muslim, anti-liberalism and gender oppression, in opposition to democracy and freedom as well against progression (Schønemann 63). Thus, veiling is viewed as a negative sign of Islam since it reflects all the negative things that are associated with the religion of Islam. Besides, the notion has been heightened by the present media obsession on the veil which has resulted in a slim understanding of Muslims.

In Islam, tradition demands that a woman should not expose herself to the public without a sense of modesty. In the Quran, the wives of Muhammad were directed to cover their bodies while talking to other men. He argues that a woman’s body is used for the purposes of selling things such as cosmetics, clothing, and others. The term freedom has been used to transform a woman into a marketable commodity (Jafri n. p). In detail, the covering up of sex parts of a woman’s body was termed as an obligation in the Roman culture and pre-historic Greek. Furthermore, it was obligatory for women to cover up in Christian and Jewish society. With respect to motherhood, Islam regards women with high status and uplifts their position in the family.

God tends to remind people of the sacrifices that women make while bearing children and advice them to respect, love and care for their mothers. The Prophet Muhammad emphasized the value of women especially mothers by stating that heaved lies under their feet. In the foundational texts of Islam, motherhood is an institution that is valued with respect to the roles played by women. But, instead of focusing the discussion on kindness and respect to motherhood, the texts have remained mute on what motherhood should truly be (Orakzai 43). Islam teaches that women should always dress decently as a way of maintaining their dignity and preventing the likelihood of temptation. As well, the mixing of the two sexes is something that should be controlled.

The Islamic religion tends to reject the moral and values of the West and perceives them as foreign to the culture and religion of Islam. The fundamentalists also believe that women should not be in a position to compete with men since both of them have been given their distinct rights to help them fulfill their duties and recognize justice in the society of Muslims. Thus, for Muslim women, the concept of feminism of the West, a product of foreign societies would result into inequality among the sexes in the Muslim society and eventually break the existing harmonious relationship. Islam forms the fundamental core of life in Islam and thus it is not a subsidiary component in the society. Additionally, the individual ethical conduct described in the Quran is applicable to the whole Muslim community (Khimish 134).

Therefore, Muslims have the core responsibility of promoting and facilitating such conduct since it is considered as a religion of both divine and worldly concerns. The Islam religion is committed to the regulation of the behavior of Muslims in harmony with the principles of Islam. Hence, any discussions regarding the status of women in an independent manner could be perceived as agreeing with the concepts of the Western Feminists which are thought of as corrupted movements. Some scholars have argued that Islam has developed a fully integrated perspective of women in these countries as well as their rightful place in the society. It is believed that the Holy Quran granted women a special position that is also converted into a legal and normative description that details both their rights and duties in their private roles as wives, daughters, and mothers.

It is also emphasized that Islam granted women with the right to education, work, inherit property and the right to choose their marital spouses. Furthermore, it is argued that the laws of Islam do not deny women their right to look for paid employment. The laws of Islam permit women to own as well as control property which is a sign that they can manage the affairs of both their businesses and property. As well, the husband to limit an undisciplined wife while in their matrimonial home. In most cases, the teachings of Islam were meant to offer practical and logical concepts taking into account the society's welfare. However, their presence of misleading explanations of Islam has impacted the status of women in a negative way.

Many scholars believe that the current practice of Islam is patriarchal yet true Islam is not. Islam is different from the idea of patriarchy and through the historical process of co-optation, the practice of patriarchy managed to overwhelm Islam and quickly decline after the death of the Prophet. Galloway, Sonia D. “The Impact of Islam as a Religion and Muslim Women on Gender Equality: A Phenomenological Research Study. ” Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations (2014). Jafri, Masqood. The Islamic Concept of Veil. "The rights of women in Islam: The question of ‘public and ‘private'spheres for women's rights and empowerment in Muslim societies. " Journal of Human Rights in the Commonwealth 2. Rouhana et al. “The Impact of Religion on Women in the Development Process.