Part One: Complete equal rights in Islam for man and woman; (Mar. 18, 2010)
Women visited the spouses of the Prophet Muhammad and said: “Allah in the Koran talked about you (the spouses) but said nothing about us women. Are there nothing in us that merit to be mentioned?” Thus, one of the spouses Umm Salma, a most beautiful matured spouse and an aristocrat from the tribe of Quraich, relayed to Muhammad this question: “Why men are mentioned in the Koran but not women?” Muhammad had to answer.
A few days later, the Prophet recited a verse in the adjacent mosque to the spouses residences which stated: “A man and a woman who have submitted to Allah (the one and only God), who are believers, who are pious, who are sincere, who are patients, who fear Allah, who give charity, who fast, who protect their sexual parts, who invoke Allah frequently, the Allah has prepared forgiveness and limitless recompense” Consequently, Allah sees no differences in gender who have submitted to Allah and are believers in the community.
Muhammad then endeavored to pronounce an entire Sourat called “Women” (Al Nissa2) and then demanded equitable shares in heritage to both gender and to children and orphans. In pre-Islamic Arabia, women were considered chattel as in then Jewish communities. One verse said “remit to men a part of what parents and relatives left in heritage; and remit equitably to women a part of the heritage whether the heritage is little or a lot”
Men in Medina tried their best to resume the pre-Islamic traditions. Umm Kajja (with 5 daughters) complained to Muhammad saying: “My husband is dead and his brother is demanding to stick to tradition and to ignore the new laws. He is claiming that women do not participate in fights for loots and thus we have claim to heritage” There was a succession of such complaints which required a Sourat on the questions of heritage and legal matters of remarrying. The verse 19 in Sourat “Women” states: “O you believers! You are not permitted to take away women in heritage against their will; or to forbid them remarrying so that you may capture part of what they received unless they manifestly committed a proven infamy.” Verse 2 said: “Give to orphans what is their due… Do not eat what belong of their shares: This behavior constitutes a great sin.” The Sourat on “Women” goes into great length on details of proportional shares in heritage.
Note 1: This article is extracted from “The Political Harem: The Prophet and the women” by Fatema Mernissi.
Note 2: There are bunches of mindless and rapacious seemingly matured men who plunder other people’s shares by fraudulent interpretations of the Koran; they were labeled “Sufaha2” in the Koran.
