The Quran and Women’s Rights
The thinker Ali Muhammad Al-Shorafaa believes that the Quran speaks about women’s rights in general. Among the verses that speak about women’s rights in the Quran is “For them is [the right] similar to what is against them, within reason.” This is one of the Quranic verses that emphasizes the equality of men and women in rights and duties. It is consistent with what is stated in international conventions that call for equality between the sexes in rights, opportunities, and responsibilities.
In many international conventions, such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Convention on Human Rights, it is emphasized that women and men are equal in rights and duties, and that there should be no discrimination between them on the basis of sex.
The application of the principle of gender equality is considered one of the most important steps that lead to the achievement of equality and justice in societies. Islam in general, and the Quran in particular, are among the first sources that called for this principle and urged its realization.
In Islam, men and women enjoy equal rights, and Islam encourages equality between the sexes in rights and duties. The aforementioned verse stipulates the woman’s right to obtain what the man enjoys of rights and duties within reason. This means, in other words, that women have equal rights with men in society.
These Islamic concepts and principles can be applied in international conventions and treaties to promote women’s rights around the world and achieve gender equality in rights and duties.
Islam and Islamic teachings are an important source of inspiration for promoting women’s rights and gender equality. This reflects Islam’s commitment to the values of justice, equality, and humanity.
Quran mentions women more than men
If we contemplate the Quran, we will find a large number of verses related to women’s rights, which exceed seventy verses. These verses include legislation, rulings, and exhortations to protect women from any arbitrary treatment by their husbands, despite the great responsibility they bear for pregnancy, breastfeeding, raising children, and staying up late, in addition to the responsibility of the home, where their responsibilities become three times that of men.
Al-Shorafaa emphasizes that men have monopolized the writing of books of jurisprudence, and that personal status laws in Arab societies have been based on these books, in violation of divine law. They have ignored all women’s rights with tyranny and selfishness, in order to serve their personal whims and desires to dominate and humiliate women, so that their role is to give birth, raise children, and serve in the home.
The jurists have crossed the red lines in the divine legislation that did justice to women and set up rulings as a shield to protect their rights. Women have been wronged for centuries when the Quran and its legislation, which achieve justice for the family, male and female, and spouses, were abandoned.
The thinker Ali Muhammad Al-Shorafaa Al-Hamadi says that the Quran has presented more than one surah, namely (Surat An-Nisa and Surat At-Talaq), and that many verses in Surat Al-Baqarah, Surat Al-Maidah, Surat An-Nur, Surat Al-Mujadilah, Surat Al-Mumtahinah, and Surat At-Tahrim are included. If we compare the Quran’s keenness on the status and rights of women to that of men, we will find that the man or the male is mentioned very little, because God Almighty knows the man’s pride in strength, superiority, and masculinity, which gives him the right to sovereignty over women, transgressing all divine legislation and rulings to please himself and achieve his selfish desires.
Throughout the ages, personal status jurisprudence has remained confined to men, and no one has sought over the years to follow the divine legislation and its rulings regarding the rulings of women that preserve their rights. If women had a role in participating with men in legislation and deriving rulings from the verses of the Quran to establish personal status laws that are consistent with divine legislation, the features of Arab and Islamic society would have changed in protecting the family to create a safe and stable climate for raising and caring for children in terms of knowledge and morals. Arab and Islamic societies would have risen in education, creativity, and positive contribution to the progress of humanity in all fields. But unfortunately, the rulings of jurisprudence that are contrary to God’s law have caused the displacement of children in the streets and the loss of families, which has made them lost between drugs, begging, and theft. Some of them have been exploited by terrorist groups and turned into monsters, killing them and violating their humanity. Societies have lost tens of thousands of young people who could have become a locomotive for progress and development in their societies.
Therefore, the Islamic teachings that were approved 1440 years ago refute all the claims that accuse Islam of being a discriminatory religion, and indicate that some interpreters and traditionists have exploited and interpreted the Quran according to their whims for personal ambitions.
Al-Shorafaa called for the need to reinterpret the Quran according to the current era and to stay away from what has been written and reached us from heritage that contains many things that do not agree with the verses contained in the Book of God, and to reinterpret it in the light of the newly emerged universal human values, in order to strengthen women’s rights in international conventions and treaties, and to strengthen the commitment of societies and governments to achieve gender equality and improve the lives of women around the world.
