Are Women Human?

Believe it or not, this question confused and puzzled Europeans for a long time. In 568 AD a gathering took place in France to research and answer the question.  After the meetings, consultations and discussions they concluded that a woman is a human - created to help man.

Before the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ

In Arabia, it was a noble deed to kill young girls or even bury them alive since it was thought they brought shame to the family.

In India, it was believed that women had no right to live after the death of their husbands and so they would be killed on the same day.

In Judaism, when a woman would menstruate they would not eat or drink with her but instead desert her.

After the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ


30 years after that meeting in France, Prophet Muhammad ﷺ  was sent and told the world that women are soul mates of men. In a Hadith he said "The whole world is pleasure, and the best pleasure of the world is the righteous woman.”; and there are many, many more Quranic verses and Hadiths that honour women and rank them very highly in society.

Whoever reads about the way of life during the time of  the Prophet ﷺ finds that the role of the woman in the society at that time, was much bigger than her role in society today. 

A woman at the Prophet's ﷺ time was a wife and a mother, she fought in battles, became a doctor, gave opinions in Islamic law, narrated Hadiths and even advised the Ruler or judges.  Therefore, many of the Prophet's wives ﷺ use to give him advice in the concerns of politics & society.

I wonder, has the role of women today returned to how it was before the era of the Prophet ﷺ?

Till today, there are fathers who force their daughters to get married to a man they don't want. Although a woman came to the Prophet ﷺ, complaining that her father forced her to get married against her will, so he called her father and put the entire decision back to her choice - either she permits what her father had done or cancel the marriage, then she said "I permit what my father has done but this was for the purpose of letting women know that their fathers have nothing to do with this".

Also a common phenomenon in the Arab society is that some men find it embarassing to mention the name of his wife or mother infront of friends -  to a point where as if the name of a woman has become something that is to be 'veiled'! Even though when the Prophet ﷺ

 was asked "Who is of most people beloved to you?" he said "Aisha". He did NOT say something like "my 2nd wife" or "the children's mother" but rather mentioned her by her name.

There is no doubt that Islam has given many rights of man over the woman. In a hadith the Prophet ﷺ said: "If I were to command anyone to prostrate to anyone other than Allah, I would have commanded women to prostrate to their husbands from the magnitude of his right on her".  However, Islam does not permit  a man to tyrannize his wife or daughter or suppress them or injure/harm them because whether it's the daughter, wife or mother - they have a great position in Islam that must be respected.

Did you know?

- In the US, a woman is hit by her husband every 18 seconds.

- 2 million woman are beaten up in France every year.

- In Britain 77% of husbads beat their wives for no reason

The Prophet 

ﷺ 

described women as '

Qawareer' the plural Arabic for "Glass Vases" to signify their delicateness and need for gentleness 

and one of the scholars said "It's true that women are half of the society but since she's the one that nurtures  the other half then the woman is all the society."

I'm certain that the Islamic Ummah will not rise to as it once was until women are given their stature, honour and respect in the society and only then will mothers raise the likes of Saladin al Ayoub, Umar ibn Abdulaziz and others from unrivaled men




"The man who treats his wife like a Princess is proof that he was raised by a Queen."

From Ahmad al Shugairi's "Thoughts"