Islam introduced women’s rights for the first time in the Arabian Peninsula:
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was one of the first people in human history who stood up for women’s rights, he said:
“The rights of women are sacred. See that women are maintained in the rights assigned to them.” (Hadith)
“God enjoins you to treat women well, for they are your mothers, daughters, aunts.” (Hadith)
“Paradise lies under the feet of your mother.” (Hadith)
These Hadiths emphasize the immense respect, honor, and gratitude owed to women, suggesting that treating them with kindness and care is a path to spiritual reward and divine blessings.
Women’s Struggle Throughout History:
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) came in the 7th century and established women’s rights when they had absolutely none! For the Arab Bedouins and tribes of the time, it was a huge shock when they heard a man among them telling them that a revelation had come to him from God, ordering them to worship only one God and to treat women with respect, granting them rights, such as the right to inheritance, the right to be educated, the right to earn a wage, the right to own property, the right to say “Yes” or “No” to a marriage proposal, the right to divorce, and the right to participate in social and economic life.
Can you imagine how the Arab Bedouins of the time, who used to worship idols, bought and sold gods in the biggest market of the time (Makkah) would react? It was their main business and livelihood. Caravans used to come from all over as far as Syria, Iran, Iraq to buy gods from Makkah. Then, all of a sudden, came this man named Muhammad telling them to stop worshipping things they made with their own hands and to stop financially profiting from them? They were also told that there is only one God who cannot be bought or sold. But most of their shock came from being told that they were not treating their women right, whether it was their wives, mothers, or daughters and that God was granting them rights.
Not only did they try to kill Muhammad (pbuh), but they also tried to kill his message and what God sent him for: “Mercy to mankind,” and they tried as hard as they could to stop the message of Islam from spreading. How dare they be told how to treat their women and how could women have rights just like men? At the time of his death, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) made sure women had rights and he said his famous hadiths: “The rights of women are sacred. See that women are maintained in the rights assigned to them.” and “The best of you are those who are the best to their women.”
How women are viewed by certain groups:
Today, critics of Islam and Muslims often highlight the oppression of Muslim women, often influenced by news reports from impoverished countries like Afghanistan under the Taliban regime. At the same time, in Muslim-majority countries, there is a lack of understanding about the struggles women face in the West, such as how women are exploited and degraded in the adult film industry, sex trafficking, or the pressure women have to sell themselves on platforms like ‘OnlyFans’ just to make a living.
The majority’s views:
While most intelligent people in Muslim countries understand that not all Western women degrade themselves to make a living or to survive, similarly, most intelligent people in the West also recognize the deep respect Islam and Muslims have for women, particularly their mothers.
The undeniable historical truth:
However, it’s important to remember that Muslim critics often overlook their own history. For instance, Muslim women had the right to ownership as early as 562 AD, while women in the West didn’t gain similar rights until the 19th century. For example, England passed the Married Women’s Property Act in 1882, the USA in 1848, and France followed in 1907. Any historian will tell you that, unfortunately, for much of history, women in the West were considered spiritually inferior to men and were denied basic rights.
There are many ways to demonstrate how the non-Muslim women in the West have struggled starting from the early time of the crusades to the early 19th century. One of the most striking pieces of evidence comes from the 15th century when Pope Innocent VIII issued a papal bull called Summis Desiderantes Affectibus (in 1484 AD), which authorized the Inquisition to investigate and prosecute witchcraft. This led to the publication of the infamous Malleus Maleficarum (Hammer of Witches) in 1487, a guide for identifying, prosecuting, and punishing woman considered witches.
For a period of 300 years, between the 15th and 18th centuries, the Witch Hunts took place, fuelled by superstition, and religious persecution. Women were wrongly blamed for causing problems like sickness or bad harvests, and events like plagues or crop failures often led to witch hunts. An estimated 60,000 women were burned alive in Europe for witchcraft, though some argue the number could be higher. Other women were hanged or drowned.
In many Western societies, women had no legal right to own property, inherit wealth, earn a living, or even vote. It was not until the 19th and early 20th centuries that women finally gained these rights, such as the right to vote, the right to work and earn a wage, through movements like women’s suffrage and feminist activism.
Muslim women’s right today in the West:
In contrast, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) granted women these rights 15 centuries earlier, rights that are now being taken away again by the so-called developed nations of Europe. Muslim women born and raised their entire lives in countries like France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Austria, and other European nations, are not allowed to work or hold government positions, such as being teachers, working in the public sector, becoming police officers, working in the judiciary sectors (judges, prosecutors), or participating in the political or parliamentary system unless they renounce their faith and remove their hijab (a piece of cloth worn to cover their hair). What these governments still fail to understand (or simply choose to ignore) is that when a Muslim woman chooses to wear the hijab, it is a lifelong commitment, similar to getting a tattoo. It’s not like a baseball cap that can be put on and taken off at will. The hijab is a commitment to God, and removing it is not just not possible. Their perfect excuse is that they claim they choose to ban all religious symbols, even though, in reality, they know very well that no other religion besides Islam and Sikhism requires the wearing of a specific symbol. Women must cover their hair in Islam, and Sikhism requires men to cover their hair.
I would understand and totally agree if it were the niqab (face covering) that was not allowed, which would make sense for so many reasons. But a cloth covering a woman’s hair? Is that really something to be concerned about?
In my opinion, these countries (mostly men) choose to oppress women in a manner similar to how the backward Taliban in Afghanistan oppress women by refusing them the right to work or gain an education (which has absolutely nothing to do with Islam). These Western government chose to oppress women by not letting them have the right to choose what they want to wear, or to be who they want to be!
Many highly educated Muslim women living in these countries have no choice but to rely mainly on their husband’s income. Unfortunately, if they get divorced or if their spouse passes away, they often have no option but to ask for welfare assistance, even though they could easily contribute to society.
Basic human rights:
In countries like Canada, where human rights are upheld by the Supreme Court, it’s common to see police officers—both male and female—covering their hair, as well as teachers, lawyers, and even ministers, such as Harjit Singh Sajjan, the Minister of National Defence, wearing turbans. This right wasn’t automatically granted; it was the result of Baltej Singh Dhillon’s legal battle, which he won in 1990 before the Supreme Court of Canada. Unfortunately, in France, where there are 6 million Muslims, no one dares to challenge the government in court for their basic human rights. The French government is also very aware that the majority of Muslims do not vote, even though voting should be an obligation for all Muslims. During the time of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), there was a strong emphasis on consultation and collective decision-making, as this was demonstrated several times during his prophecy.
Below are other FAQs about women in Islam:
1. What is the status of women in Islam?
Answer: In Islam, women are regarded as equal in dignity and humanity to men. Both men and women are equally accountable to God, with identical rewards and punishments based on their actions.
2. What rights do women have in Islam?
Answer: Islam granted women a wide range of rights at a time when no other society did, including the right to education, the right to work, the right to participate in social, economic, and political life, the right to own property, those rights were granted to her 1400 years ago.
3. Can women seek education in Islam?
Answer: Yes, Islam encourages both men and women to seek knowledge. Matter of fact Muslim’s women were highly educated. The first university in human history ever built is generally considered to be the University of al-Qarawiyyin (also spelled Al-Karaouine), located in Fez, Morocco. It was founded in 859 AD by a Muslim women Fatima al-Fihri, she was born into a wealthy family and was highly intelligent. This university is recognized by UNESCO and the Guinness World Records as the oldest existing, continually operating degree-granting university in the world.
As mentioned on page 13 – “Knowledge in Islam” throughout early Islamic history, particularly during the “Islamic Golden Age” (from the 8th to the 15th century) when science, mathematics, philosophy, physics, chemistry, and medicine flourished mainly in the Islamic world, Europeans would come to study and learn from Muslims and during those centuries Muslims women played active roles in all aspects of the society. Female religious scholars, for instance, were not uncommon. Scholars such as Mohammad Akram Nadwi have documented the lives of over 8,000 female jurists during the 8th to 15th century, who were legal scholars deeply knowledgeable in the field of Sharia law, while Ignaz Goldziher estimated that around 15% of medieval Hadith scholars were women.
4. What does Islam say about a woman’s role in the family?
Answer: Islam places great importance on the role of women in the family, particularly as mothers. The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) emphasized the high status of mothers, saying, “Paradise lies under the feet of your mother.“
5. Are women allowed to work outside the home in Islam?
Answer: Yes, Islam permits women to work, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) made sure of that and it is recorded that in less than 80 years after his passing, in 710AD a very smart women by the name of Umm Warqa, who was appointed by Caliph Omar to lead the market committees in both Medina and Mecca, becoming the first woman to hold such a position, the equivalent of the CEO of a major corporation today.
6. What is the Islamic perspective on women’s modesty?
Answer: Islam encourages modesty for both men and women. Women are instructed to dress modestly, with the option of wearing the hijab.
7. What does Islam say about women’s involvement in politics?
Answer: Islam does not prohibit women from participating in politics. Women have historically held high leadership roles in Islamic societies, such as the first female governor in Islamic history, Shifa bint Abdullah, who was appointed by the Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab.
8. Are women allowed to divorce in Islam?
Answer: Yes, women have the right to seek divorce (called khula) in Islam if the marriage is causing harm or is no longer viable. They can also initiate divorce through the courts.
Additional historical facts:
Unfortunately, the progress made during the Islamic Golden Age diminished over time due to political instability in Muslim countries. Furthermore, Western colonization played a major role in disrupting these societies, exploiting their natural resources, and dismantling their educational systems. For example, my father who was born in 1935 and who came from a small rural village in Algeria, was not allowed to go to school under French colonial rule (France occupied and governed Algeria for 132 years, from 1830 to 1962). Around 80 to 90% of the Algerian population could neither read nor write when France was forced to leave Algeria in 1962. My father was a very intelligent man, and he could have accomplished many things if only he had been given the right to an education.
Like most colonizing powers, they ruled with an iron fist and killed more than 1.5 million Algerian Muslims, and to this day, France has still not apologized to Algeria.
The same occurred in many Muslim-majority countries, where European powers, with their Western ideologies, prevented further education for most of the inhabitants, stunting the development of these countries for centuries.
After all the damage they have caused, they still have the audacity to continue oppressing Muslim women in their countries by preventing them from covering their hair.