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Islam ensures a life of dignity and honor to her. |
| Name: |
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Syed Ali Safvi |
| Date Posted: |
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Oct 4, 05 - 9:09 AM |
| Email: |
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saggi_strikes@rediffmail.com |
| Message: |
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Islam ensures a life of honor and dignity to her
Source: Greater Kashmir (1st Oct 2005)
Here does she find a place which she deserves, Syed Ali Safvi writes about the status of women in the modern world
“They talk about woman’s sphere, as though it had a limit. There is not a place in earth or heaven, there is not a task to mankind given…without a woman in it,” declared Kate Field. One of the great contemporary French poets, Alphonse de Lamertine added, “There’s a woman at the beginning of all great things.” Karl Marx didn’t hesitate to proclaim, “Anyone who knows anything of history knows that great social changes are impossible without feminine upheaval. Social progress can be measured exactly by the social position of the fair sex.”
Woman has been an innocent and pet victim in all ages. In the primitive societies, woman was deprived of all fundamental rights. She was not even considered a human being. She was merely the means of fulfilling the sensual desires of man and used to work on farms and at home. She was physically tortured of being a means of satanic seduction. However, the contemporary world has revolutionized every aspect of human life and has also, in due course of time, changed the status of woman. Industrial revolution of Europe and Islamic revolution of Iran helped a woman to make her presence felt on the global stage.
The aspiration of woman to attain independence was not to open the doors of prosperity only, but it was an attempt of vengeance against the age-old exploitation of men folk. During this course, woman has gone so far that she has forgotten the basic principle that a woman cannot take the place of a man as both are poles apart in certain respects. Be it, physically, psychologically or biologically.
Nonetheless, a woman is the embodiment of virtue and endurance. Her life is blended in many folds. She enjoys a unique pleasure of being a compassionate mother, a beloved wife, an affectionate daughter and a caring sister.
Cleo Dalso, a female psychologist after doing a research in the psychological factors in women and men came to the following conclusions. Firstly, all women like to work under somebody else. In other words, they prefer to work as a subordinate under the supervision of some superior. Secondly, all women want to feel that their existence creates, and is a matter of need. (Rights of Women in Islam; by, Shaheed Murtaza Muttahhari).
History has provided ample opportunities for a woman to compete with man but owing to her natural and congenital weaknesses, she has failed to seize the place of men. However, there is no denying the fact that frequent attempts of woman to fight with her own innate weak self has brought her to a state of affairs where even the West has become distressful. It is a proven fact that the Western lifestyle has failed to confer the woman her courteous status.
The subject of women’s right and liberty has been a live and debatable issue for quite a long period now, particularly in the Western countries. Some of the Western countries provided women with so much freedom that she carried out such mean and unethical tasks, which has put to shame even the Feminist circle. Recent example of which are the events that shaped in the Abu Gharib prison. The abject act of the three charged women police officers has strongly hampered the cause of feminism ideology based on the assumption of female moral superiority over men. Barbara Ehrenreich wrote in the Los Angels Times, “A certain kind of Feminism or perhaps I should say a certain kind of Feminism naiveté, died in Abu Gharib.”
Today, Islam is being maligned and blamed for suppressing womenfolk. This is because of the general ignorance of the Islamic system in the West. On the contrary, Islam is the only religion which firmly advocates women’s rights. The Holy Quran speaks volumes about the gender equality and rights of women. God, the Almighty says in Quran, “Women have the same right on men as men have on women” (2:228). At another place, He says, `I waste not the labor of any that laborers among you be you male or female – the one of you is from the other.’ (3:195). Quran besides having numerous verses on Women also has a separate ‘surah’ (chapter) regarding women (Surat al-Nisa), which glorifies women. Quran also criticizes the attitude of pre-Islamic culture of burying the girl-child alive - “And when the buried infant shall be asked for what sin she was slain.”(81:8-9).
The Muslim woman is free to own her own property, run her own business and inherit in her own right. On the other hand, until sixties the Western societies had not even accorded equal rights to women. The right of inheritance and right to vote in some Western countries were given to women only in the 20th century, while Islam had given these rights to women centuries ago.
(To be concluded...) |
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