By TCN News
More than 1 lakh women attended the 26th Grand Annual Sunni Ijtema event to acquire Islamic knowledge; understand their roles and responsibilities, prepare themselves in accordance with Islamic teachings for developing a moral society.
The following is a summary of the topics covered in today’s event by various speakers:
Rights of women in Islam
According to the Holy Qur’aan, men and women have been created from the same essence, and consequently both are equally honorable and their spiritual status, moral status, legal status as human beings is different.
The mother, according to Islamic theology, is three times more honorable than man as the father. The Holy Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said, ‘Paradise lies by the feet of the mother’. He has not said this about the father.
So, woman as mother is three times superior to man as father.
Woman as a daughter is twice more honorable than man as son.
Woman as sister is twice more honorable than man as brother.
Woman as wife is the equal of her husband.
The Holy Qur’aan has clearly laid down “And they (women) have rights similar to those (of men) over them, according to what is equitable…” (Quran 2:228)
The mutual obligations between the husband and wife, as far as the legal status is concerned, they are exactly the same, they are on par. It is not that women is inferior in a manner, it is not so. Then the Holy Qur’aan says something which is absolutely natural and rational and that thing is that physically, man is stronger than women. Consequently man is capable of shouldering more obligations in connection with the obligations towards the family. All these obligations have been placed on the shoulders of man and not on the shoulders of women.
Although the woman has been given the economic freedom to earn for herself, but the economic unit of the family is really man who has also been made the head of the family. If he likes the head that wears the crown, he has been crowned, but crowned with the crown of thorns.
He has been made the protector of the honor, property and life of all those other interests which might be there. He is the guardian of his wife. The obligations have been placed upon his shoulders in connection with the affairs of the family.
It is a fact, that woman is more delicate in her personality, biologically and psychologically: and it is easier to damage a woman, than to damage a man. Men are polygamous by nature whilst women are monogamous by nature. She feels very hurt when her husband wants to play any trick on her. So in this connection, Islam has taken great care, to appeal to the Muslim men, to be very careful about the rights of women. To an extent that in connection with the husband and the wife, the Holy Prophet Muhammad ﷺ has made it the standard of the dignity and honor of a mumin (Believer)as to how nicely and excellently he behaves towards his wife. He may be doing some other things in his life, which might be good, but the Holy Prophet Muhammad ﷺ says that if he is not good to his wife, then he cannot be regarded as a good man in any sense of the word. “The best of you is he who is best to his wife”
The Holy Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was so careful about it and viewed it so seriously that when he gave the Charter of Human Rights, at the time of the Farewell Pilgrimage, he mentioned the women, especially the wives as something sacred. He said to the Muslims, ‘O Muslims! Remember that your wives are a trust of God in your hands. Be careful, you will be called to account on the Day of Judgment by God Almighty’. As regarding the word ‘trust’, remember that a ‘trust’ is always something sacred.
Women enjoy equal rights in Shari‘ah in respect of ownership, management of financial affairs, civil transactions and contracts.
Objectives of Sharia Law
The primary concern of Sharî‘ah is protection and advancement of the five essentials (al-daruriyat al- khamsah) for all human beings
1. Right to Life,
2. Right to Religion,
3. Right to Property,
4. Right to Intellect and
5. Right to Family (Lineage)
It is often said that Shari‘ah in all of its parts is concerned with the manner of best protecting these values.
Procedure in case of serious disagreement and conflict between the husband and the wife:
1. Effort at reconciliation through arbitration by a Family Council composed of one representative from each side.
2. a) While lending its weight to the sanctity of the marriage relation, the Holy Qur’an gives due consideration to the weaknesses and aberrations of human nature. Therefore, it allows divorce as a necessary evil, when that becomes the only remedy for rectifying a situation of irreconcilable incompatibility.
b) In allowing the divorce, however, the Holy Qur’an prescribes a procedure which aims at eliminating the evils of idiosyncrasy and availing every possible opportunity and means for reconciliation before the final rupture, the procedure consisting in abstention from pronouncing divorce during the menstrual period, which is the period of least mutual husband-wife attraction, and pronouncing it in three stages at intervals of one month each, thereby preventing hasty step and providing the parties repeated opportunity for cool deliberation.
c) Though pronouncement of divorce has been placed in the hands of the husband, the wife has also been given the right to sue for, and obtain, divorce.
d) In case of divorce, again, the Holy Qur’an emphasizes with full force the safeguarding of the welfare of the wife and treatment of the wife with generosity
e) The Qur’anic teaching is also emphatic in safeguarding the welfare of the unborn child, if that may be the case.
f) When the marriage tie has been finally dissolved, the husband is not permitted to take back his wife, until she has married someone else sincerely and has thereafter become a widow or a divorcee. This injunction is meant to check husbands from making fun of marriage, which is a serious affair according to the Holy Qur’an.
g) A period of waiting, or probation, has been prescribed for the divorced women as a healthy gap in their sexual life, and for saving them from taking any hasty step in connection with their next marriage (which is necessary after the emotional disturbance caused by the shock of divorce), and for safeguarding the interests of the unborn child, if any.
h) Cessation of relations with the wife without freeing her from the marriage-tie has been prohibited.
Restriction on Polygamy and rights of woman
It was not Islam that initiated polygamy. Islam rather reformed and regulated the already existent practice.
Before Islam, there was no limitation as to the number of women a man could marry. Restricting this number to four, Islam at the same time emphatically recommends monogamy, if one is apprehensive of not being able to treat all spouses with justice.
Secondly, contracting more than one marriage is not a commandment, but rather a permission given in special circumstances, motivated by the aim of upholding and safeguarding the marital institution.
In times of war and plague, for instance, the number of men can tend to decrease drastically, leaving many women without spouses. The practice can therefore serve to protect women left without protection. Moreover, if one is married to a woman depleted with ill health, a physical disorder or one who is unable to conceive, then the practice can provide opportunity for remarriage without the need for divorce. Regardless of the circumstance, the upper limit is four, whatever the motive behind it may be.
“As for contracting multiple marriages; essentially, this is only a permission, rendering permissible (mubah) something that at the same time can become impermissible (makruh) if there is fear of committing injustice towards any of the spouses.
It’s better to get divorce than to stay in horrible marriages in a miserable state. The worst thing about horrible marriages is ingratitude. It’s hard to be in a state of gratitude with Allah if you are miserable.
The Blessed Prophet states, “A man married to two women without having established justice among them will be resurrected half paralyzed in the Hereafter.” (Ibn Majah)
Islam also allows women to lay down the condition, at the time of their marital contract, that her husband observe monogamy throughout the marriage. This is a legal right given to women permitting them to make a case against any second marriage provided they had stipulated it at the time of the contract.
Islam places great emphasis on the progeny of human beings, to the point of demanding that a divorced woman wait a period of at least three months before marrying again, lest she may be pregnant from her previous marriage, in which case the waiting period will clear any confusion that might arise with regard to the child’s father. The waiting period described is ignored today by almost all secular legal systems. The difference illustrates the level of care shown by Islam for human honor, through the laws it lays for ensuring its protection.
The first day of the Ijtema ended with mass prayer for peace and prosperity of the whole mankind.