September, 2010

Certain known and hidden elements having vested interests within and outside the country have initiated a disgusting campaign for maligning Islam. They sometime make abortive attempt to equate Islam with terrorism or fundamentalism and sometime they project Islam as anti women and male dominated in the garb of Equal Rights.

Equal Rights is a phenomenon which is common to everyone in today’s world but its pros and cons are highly complicated. Especially in a country like ours where Islam is the foundation stone of our policies and the integral part of our constitution, the concept of Equal Rights should be used and utilized in a very sensible and prudent manner.

Our Holy religion Islam has granted a dignified and respectable role to the women folk in every sphere of society, but the men and women have not been termed equal. In verse 36 of Surah ‘Al Imran’ it has been stated that when the spouse of Imran gave birth to a female baby she said “Man and woman are not alike, I have named her Merry”. Like all the teachings of Islam, this philosophy of Islam is completely in conformity with natural and universal truths.

According to our holy religion, there are three kinds of relationship between men and women. As per the first aspect in some matters women have been bestowed with more privilege and respect than men. For example as a mother the status of women is more valuable than that of father. Similarly the family and the house where a female baby is born has been termed as more lucky and honored than the one where a male baby is born.

Unlike the men, the women have been exempted from Jehad and congregational prayers. In the same way, women have been relieved from performing certain religious obligations during particular days of their lives. In the second instance, there are some matters in which men and women enjoy equal rights.

Such matters include the reward and punishment on account of virtues and vices respectively. In this regard, Islam has not made any difference between them. It is not so that noble deed of a man would be having more reward than that of a woman and vice versa. Similarly the women are not likely to be punished more for nefarious deeds than those of men.

In the third instance there are certain matters in which the men have been given more powers and rights than women not owing to some discrimination but due to the physical and mental structure of both and certain ground realities. The rights and powers of husband are more than those of wife.

In respect of leadership too, the status and position of man is more important than that of woman as a woman is not allowed to lead a congregational prayer. Likewise the share of men in inheritance is double than that of the women and the testimony of women are considered half to that of the man. Islam also favors patriarchal family system. The Almighty God says in the Holy Quran, “Man are in charge of woman because Allah has made the one of them to excel the other and because they spend of their property”(Verse 34, Surah Nisa/Chapter The women).

Similarly (in verse 228 of Surah Baqara/Chapter The cow) the Almighty God says, “Women have the same rights against men as men have against them but men have a higher degree over them”. Biologically too, women have different instincts such as shyness, passiveness and frequently changing temperament etc. whereas man have different such as aggression, boldness and rudeness etc.

Similarly women have more loving, kind hearted and tender nature than that of the man. In this regard, the Holy Prophet (PBUH) has said, “Woman was created from the rib and the most crooked part of the rib is its top. If you attempt to straighten it you will break it, if you leave it then it will remain crooked; so act kindly towards them (Bukhari and Muslim)”.

Instead of having a sense of inferiority and deprivation, if we compare the rights and privileges enjoyed by women in our beloved country with the other so called developed countries of the world, we would find that the status of women in our beloved country is much more respectable than that in those countries. For instance in our country a woman has assumed the office of Prime Minister twice, whereas in the 218 years history of US Presidency, and amongst the 44 US presidents never a woman has assumed this office.

The same is the case with other European countries as in German history for the first time a woman has assumed the office of Chancellor and in France the first female presidential candidate has been defeated. The government of Pakistan has also undertaken marvelous and laudable reforms for the betterment of the status of women folk in our country.

These steps include the provision of 33% representation to the women in all spheres of legislature. Similarly women have been extended due representation in the federal and provincial cabinets and they have been given appropriate and concrete share in all kind of services including all the fields of Armed forces.

As misperceived by many; wearing a half naked dress, indecent inter mixing of male and female in certain obscene gatherings, not offering the obligatory five time daily prayers, blatant violation of other Islamic obligations and flouting Islamic code of ethics cannot be termed acquisition of women rights or enlightened moderation as the Islamic concept of enlightened moderation emphasis and concentrate on properly educating both the sexes about their original rights and responsibilities so that they could be enabled to play a stable and dignified role for the betterment of society while remaining within the limits prescribed for both the sexes as well as adhering to and implementing all the obligations of Islam in letter and spirit.

We cannot claim that no abuse of woman right exists in our motherland but in the same way we cannot held our holy religion Islam responsible for these vices and abuses. The causes for these vices should be traced in the inherent flaws of our administrative and judicial system as well as the in the un-Islamic and brutal customs and tribal traditions that are prevalent in our society which varies from region to region.

Source: JWT