by Nayyar Ahmed 

Many terrorist organizations such as Boko Haram have committed severe atrocities against innocent school girls for receiving Western education in Nigeria. Similarly, the case of Malala Yousafzai, a 14-year-old recipient of the Nobel Peace prize, became a victim of a heinous crime committed against women in the Islamic republic of Pakistan. She took a bullet to her head for receiving secular education while advocating peace and empowerment for her fellow Muslim girls. There are many brave examples of women who have suffered the same fate as Malala at the hands of terrorists and extremists. A more recent example is the killing of educated and professional women in Iraq by ISIS. The UN has warned that educated women are at higher risk of being killed by ISIS. Naturally, to our utter dismay, people are inclined to believe that Islam may well be a catalyst that promotes such acts of terrorism against women. However, it must be understood that terrorism has no religion, let alone blaming Islam or a faith of more than a billion people.

 Recently, women’s rights activists have brought the Muslim world under the spotlight in the East and the West. The Islamic world, now plagued by totalitarian dictatorships and terrorism, is in sharp contrast to the Western world’s secular and democratic way of life. In just the last few decades, women in the West have become torch-bearers of education and a symbol of freedom to many cultures from around the world. More often than not, the Western values of women are weighed against the teachings of Islam with regards to rights of women. As a result, the secular West has unleashed a war of words and arguments against the teachings of our Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him (pbuh) with the stated intent of liberating women from the alleged evil clutches of a pre-dominantly misogynistic society. In this, the first of two essays, I will site the true teachings of the Islam and the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) that demonstrate that Islam served to liberate and advance women. In my second essay I will give practical examples to prove this truth.

Women’s rights granted by the religion of Islam were a renaissance more than a millennium ago. Islam liberated women from a life of bondage under barbaric and savage men. This was truly a period of ignorance where women were considered an unquestionable property of men, to be bought and sold for business or pleasure. Male heirs were the undisputed owners of women. It was during this oppressive time that God raised a prophet in a desert valley town called Makkah (now in Saudi Arabia), who was to change the role of women in society. His name was Muhammad (pbuh). The curtain of ignorance was to be lifted with his arrival. The Quranic text revealed the Prophet (pbuh) did not distinguish men from women but regarded them as equals in the sight of God Almighty (Quran 4:33; shown below). It was a brutal custom of Arabs to commit infanticide of girls out of a twisted fear of poverty and shame. It was at this time of need that a savior was vouchsafed with a message of God that infanticide was declared forbidden and men and women were granted an equal status in Islam. The Holy Quran states “Surely, men who submit themselves to GOD and women who submit themselves to HIM, and believing men and believing women, and obedient men and obedient women, and truthful men and truthful women, and men steadfast in their faith and steadfast women, and men who are humble and women who are humble, and men who give alms and women who give alms, and men who fast and women who fast, and men who guard their chastity and women who guard their chastity and men who remember ALLAH much and women who remember HIM – ALLAH has prepared for all of them forgiveness and a great reward” (Quran 33:36). More specifically, earning of livelihood became a right of both men and women as the Quran declares, “Men shall have the share of what they have earned, and women shall have the share of what they have earned. And ask Allah of His bounty. Surely, Allah has perfect knowledge of all things.” (Quran 4:33). Although many other verses in the Quran advocate equality and justice for women, the aforementioned verses should be sufficient evidence to serve the purpose of this article.

In the modern world, acquiring secular knowledge has become a pinnacle of strength for a strong nation, a driving force for industrial innovation. The roots of such teachings can be found in a very popular saying of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), which relates “It is the duty of every Muslim man and every Muslim woman to acquire knowledge”.¹ This saying alone has been a driving force behind Muslim women to become pioneers of knowledge and reasoning during a time known as the Dark Ages of Europe. Also, the first revealed word of God to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was to “Read thou in the name of thy Lord Who Created … created man from a clot of blood. Read! And thy Lord is the Most Beneficent … Who taught man by the pen … taught man what he knew not”(Quran 96:2-6).  The keywords ‘read’ and ‘pen’ highlight the importance of these verses indicating that a foundation of Islam is laid upon knowledge. 

Certainly the teachings of the Quran and Prophet Muhammad laid a great emphasis on the equal rights of women and their educational advancements. Testimony of this is not just apparent in the actual content of these teachings but also in the practical historical examples of several Muslim women. But that is a story that I will tell in my next essay.