ROLE AND STATUS OF WOMEN IN THE QUR'AN DISSERTATION SUBMITTED in partial fulfilment of the Requirements For the Award of the Degree of Master of Philosophy IN Islamic Studies BY Shaista Azizalam Under the Supervision of Muhammad Azam Qasmf DEPARTMENT OF ISLAMIC STUDIES ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH [INDIAl 1988 Tf»y •V **; DS1802 TO PARENTS Who strive for the education of their daughters Phone : 5631 DEPARTMENT OF ISLAMIC STUDIES ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY AUGARH (Pin 202001) Junes© / 1988 This is to certify that the M.Phil, dissertation entitled "Role and Status of Momen in the our'an" being submitted by shaista Azizalam is an original research work of the scholar and suitable for submission to the examiners for the award of the Degree. •'MM---' ( M. AZAT-i QASMI ) Supervisor ACKN0V7LEDGEMENT My humble effort at writing this dissertation and getting it ready for submission for the award of M.Phil Degree has been made possible because of the invaluable help and encouragement I have received from a number of people. First and forenost I am indebted to my supervisor Mr. Azam Qasmi of the Department of Islamic studies, AMU for guiding me in my research work. I am highly grateful to him for the comprehensive and constructive criticism that he most graciously offered at all the stages of this work. I am equally indebted to my former supervisor/ Professor Amjad Ali/ Ex-Chairman, Department of Islamic studies, AMU for his guidance in the initial stage of my research work, i am also thankful to Professor Akmal Ayyubi, Chairman, Department of Islamic Studies, Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh, for his good wishes and steady support all along. I am glad to record my thanks to relatives and friends in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad for their kind help during my visit to Pakistan in connection with my research. I should particularly mention the name of Khalid Ishaq who had offered me to use his personal library for consultation. He was kind enough even to suggest books for reading and give his invaluable suggestions which went a long way to better my outlook on the f^ninine scene. It may not be possible to thank in words for the hospitality and consideration I received from so many, in that country. My special thanks are due to good friends on the Karachi University Central Library/ staff for making me perfectly at home whenever I turned up for my work. I cannot forget the obligation of Dc.Salahuddin of Arabic Department for the brilliant discussions with him and also for his decoding for me many a difficult Arabic texts. Yasmin Apa and Sibte Bhai deserve very special thanks for their affectionate petsuations and kind reninders to complete my work on-time. Thanks are due to my teachers and colleagues in : the Department for sharing experience and comparing notes. I very specially thank those among them who offered criticism and issued warnings; in only a few cases have I failed to take their expert advice. Tasneem YUsuf Khan and my brother/ Shahid Aziz sat beside me for hours proof reading the typed dissertation for which I thank them from the depth of my heart. The help rendered by Kabir Ahmad Khan, Professional Assistant in the Departmental Library, is spread over a long period of time for which I feel obliged. My thanks go to Mr. Mohd. Akhlague, who typed the entire manuscript • Finally/ I express my deep appreciation for the help rendered by my family. I am grateful to my father Prof. Aziz Ahmad/ who not only took the pains of going through to whole of the manuscript, but also gave his comments freely for the improvenent of expression and style of my dissertation. In short, my father, my mother and my brothers have all along been a source of inspiration and encourage­ ment in my academic endeavour. PREFACE The present study is an attempt to analyse the role and status of woman as defined in the Qur'an. This work has been arranged in seven chapters. In the Introduction a brief survey is attempted to assess the position of women in Arabia prior to -^Islam and her position in ancient Greece/ China, India, Rome etc. and her struggle in West for emancipation including her present status in the Muslim world. The first chapter establishes the equality of sexes before the Creator as seen by the Qur'an. The second chapter deals with the feminine character in the Qur'an^both ideal and deplorable. It leads to a discussion of her role in the family and wider social sphere. Her legal position in marriage/ divorce/ inheritance and punishments have been discussed in the subsequent chapter. An analysis of the ideology of the existing Purdah System vis-a-vis the Qur'anic injunctions in this regard is the subject of the fifth chapter. The sixth cliapter defining the rights of slave girls and Orphan girls, is followed by the conclusion. Throughout this work/ I have used the standard English translation of Abdullah Yusuf Ali from "The Meaning of the Glorious Qur'an"(Ed.l938), The table used for transliteration of Arabic names and words has also been added to faf^llitate exactitude in the pronunciation of words of Arabic origin. TRANSLITERATION OF ARABIC WORDS & NAMES Arabic Letter Transliteration Short vowels — a b Jl U t th _ 1 J j^ ,*, Long vowels ^ d » a 3 dh > u z W s sh s • i d t t z I gh f 6 q k 1 r m u n J w ^ h CONTENTS INTRODUCTION I "THE MESSAGE OF THE QUR'AN TO HUMANITY II THE FEMININE CHARACTER IN THE QUIT AN (1) The Ideal (2) The Deplorable ... III -V^MEN'S ROLE IN SOCIETY 4-4- (1) In Family (2) In Wider social sphere IV^ -WOMAN AND SHARIAH ffi. (1) Marriage (2) Divorce (3) Inheritance (4) Punishnient V PURDAH AND THE QUR'AN in VI -SLAVE GIRLS AND ORPHANS ifo VII CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY INTRODUCTION I_N;TRODUCT][ON The woman since the inception of human race on this planet has been man's closest kin in the form of mother^ daughter, sister and wife. Down the ages she has performed very vital role in the family. And yet, for thousands of years, she was treated as inferior and not allowed to enjoy a human status. Long before the advent of Islam woman had lost her rightful position and was inadvertently prevented from freely and effectively performing the role that Nature had. assigned her. The basic objection and function of marital relationship was perversely neglected. The feelings of love and mutual regard which bind two distinct and diffe­ rent individuals in wedlock and promote cooperation, team spirit and loyalty between then had been relegated to the background. Woman's honour, modesty and dignity which constitute the soul of married life, were wilfully dis- regarded. The form of the conjugal relationship was visible all over, but mostly its true spirit was absent. Women were tyrannized and degraded in all sorts of communities before Islam. It may be stated in all frankness that they (ii) were victims of higt>haadedness and male chauvinism. The woman vvras a sub-human beast or a chattel. She was used for sexual needs and required to do menial work. She was a bonded labourer who lived to be exploited by man in whatever manner he deemed fit. Men used them, not only for the gratification of their personal desires, but also made easy money by means of women prostitution. The exploi­ tation of women was common to all communities. In some parts of the v;orld they were even burnt or buried alive. The birth of a daughter was universally an occasion of sorrow and anguish. In order to understand the status and position of women in Islam, let us first peep through the window panes of civilization to review the condition of women and how they were treated by men, so that we may have a better pers­ pective of how Islam dealt with this delicate problem. There is no doubt about it that despite her vital role of motherhood in the family, the woman was held inferior. It was so, because of certain irrational beliefs that had prevailed since time immemorial. In ancient times, myths were developed to account for the origin of heavens and the earth, plants, beasts, and (iii) man. They also explained the origin of human institutions like the attraction between the man and woman/ marriage and war, success and failure etc. Myths were also created about the origin of woman. The most famous of these was invented in ancient Greece, which subsequently, gained currency all over Europe. It told the story of the First Woman whose name was Pandora. The very motive of her creation was revenge that 2eos wanted to take on mankind and on hornethiua for his offence of stealing fire from heaven for the benefit of mankind. Zeus had given her a box subsequently known aa Pandora's box, which was directed to present to the men she married on earth. When the box was opened, there issued from it all the evils that have since a:fflicted the human race. Thus/ woman came to be regarded as the source of all kinds of evils. The Bible story of the creation of woman and her subsequent role in the 'original sin' did irreparable damage to woman's prestige. After several hundred years of oral transmission it was around the tenth century BC that the first text of the Torah forming the backbone of the first 2 five books ascribed to Moses was written.