Islam Women In Islam

[Auzer]

Since there is alot of negative propaganda in the media , I decided to educate people about the issue of women rights in Islam.

Islam started in 7th century in the tribal society of Arabia. In those times , Arabs used to bury their daughters alive. After the advent of Islam, Arabs got revolutionized. Islam explicitly gives women these rights :

1-Right to education
2-Right to divorce (even on the basis of sexual dissatisfaction)
3-Right to property and inheritance.
4-Right to do independent business

Today , West blames Islam for many bad practices of the Muslim societies such as honor killings or women rights in Saudi Arabia etc but all this has nothing to do with Islam. Cultural practices should not be mixed with the religion.Interestingly , Westerners never talk about women rights in the bible. In the bible , with due respect , women are given a very low status and hence we see Secularism in the West today because Western thinkers rejected Christianity.

If you read the Medieval European criticism of Islam , one of the main criticism was that Islam gives too much liberty to the women

Here is one link comparing Women in Islam and Judeo-Christian scriptures

http://answeringchristian.wordpress.com/2011/02/22/womans-status-in-bible-and-quran/

My purpose is not to condemn any other religion but just to show the hypocrisy and lies that Western media portrays regarding Islam. They take bad doings of Muslims and link it with Islam,which is very wrong approach.

Also , hundreds of thousands of educated Western women are converting to Islam. Why would any girl , specially educated Westerner , convert to a religion that oppresses her? These converts are average 27 years old and university graduated..This shows that these women are mature and educated.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...ord-numbers-embrace-muslim-faith-2175178.html

 

[Ambarsaria]

Auzer ji thanks for your post. I know little about Islam as portrayed in Saudi. I came from Punjab, India and Burkah and stuff way back was non-existent. Do you believe it is a forced cultural or religious practice? There appear to be Imam's providing guidance on it and I assume it is Religious as of such. It may be worn by women of free choice and may be some and all like it. I just want your comments as this for sure is an outward sign of oppression in the name (may be misguided again) of preventing Muslim men from getting evil thoughts? Is the richness or depth of Islam such that the faith gets destroyed by looking at a woman without a Burkah?

Again I am not very knowledgeable and my questions are legitimately to know the truth and I will delete my post if it appears to offend.

Take care.

 

[Auzer]

Auzer ji thanks for your post. I know little about Islam as portrayed in Saudi. I came from Punjab, India and Burkah and stuff way back was non-existent. Do you believe it is a forced cultural or religious practice? There appear to be Imam's providing guidance on it and I assume it is Religious as of such. It may be worn by women of free choice and may be some and all like it. I just want your comments as this for sure is an outward sign of oppression in the name (may be misguided again) of preventing Muslim men from getting evil thoughts? Is the richness or depth of Islam such that the faith gets destroyed by looking at a woman without a Burkah?

Again I am not very knowledgeable and my questions are legitimately to know the truth and I will delete my post if it appears to offend.

Take care.

No problem amber ji.There was nothing offensive in your post. Asking questions FROM Muslims about Islam is the best way to go. I know about how people get brainwashed by visiting anti-Islamic hate sites and believe in things that have absolutely NO connection to Islam at all.

Now coming to your question : Well in Islam , there is a concept of Hijab and NOT "Burka" ... See it this way , Turkish girls , Iranian girls , Pakistani girls , Indonesian girls , Malaysian girls , European (Muslim) girls , American (Muslim) girls , Morrocan girls , Tunisian girls etc etc etc are all Muslim girls but do we see any burka there? No,instead we see hijab. Hijab just means to cover your body and dress nicely/decently. Just like in India/Pakistan , ladies wear "Dupata" etc ... Burka is an Arab "culture" and NOT Islamic obligation. The problem is that Islam's holiest sites are located in Saudi Arabia and people think that Saudi Arabia is an ideal example of Islamic society. They are not! I have personally lived in Saudi Arabia and I know how they are. They mix tribal culture and wash it with the name of Islam. At its core , Saudi Arabia is an tribal society and hence many tribal customs (e.g women can't drive lol) ... So , Hijab is a part of Islam and NOT burka (though some ladies prefer burka). Have you seen pictures of Lebanese , Egyptian or Iranian girls etc? They wear Hijab and some girls wear hijab not as religious duty but as a fashion statement. There are several kinds of Hijabs etc ...

P.S Hijab is encouraged in Islam. Many Muslims would argue that Hijab is "compulsory" in Islam but its not the case,atleast in my understanding of the Qur'an. Its highly encouraged that Women should dress decently and maintain themselves (Look presentable) and males also should wear nice/clean clothes and use little perfume etc...Probably it has more to do with personal hygiene because Islam puts GREAT emphasis on cleanliness and personal hygiene etc. There is a saying of prophet (S.A.W) that cleanliness is Muslims' half-faith etc .

I hope I have answer your question. If you have other questions , you can ask them.


Thanks.