The liberation of women, contrary to popular belief, started 1400 years ago with Islam. World wide they were deemed the possessions of men. Islam changed all of this. Contrary to the propaganda that Muslim men oppress, dehumanise and are harsh in treatment towards women we find the opposite to be true in Islamic teachings.

Ancient Communities including the Romans Greeks, Hindus and Persians took women as their property, they had no individual rights. When a woman's husband died in India, up until very recent times, she was expected to throw herself upon his "funeral pyre" and burn to death. The French in 1586 were debating whether or not a woman was a human being, and in their conclusion they stated, that women were only created to serve men. In the 17th century the church decided that a woman had no soul and therefore would not enter paradise.

Muslim men and women are valued equally by Allah. We see many examples cited in the Quran such as surah 33 ayat 35 "For Muslim men and women, for believing men and women, for devout men and women, for true men and women, for men and women who are patient, for men and women who humble themselves, for men and women who give in charity, for men and women who fast, for men and women who guard their chastity, and for men and women who engage much in Allah's praise's for them, Allah has prepared a great reward"

According to english common law, as we see in the following quote, taken from the encyclopedia Americana international (vol. 29) "All real property which a wife held at the time of her marriage, became the possession of her husband. He was entitled to any profit that might be made from operating the estate during the joint life of the spouses. As time passed, the english courts devised a means to forbid a husband transferring real property without the consent of his wife, but he retained the right to manage it and to receive the money that it produced." As for a wife's personal property, her husband had the right to spend it as he saw fit." Not until 1887 did women in the west achieve the right to own property, and to enter contracts such as spinsters and widows could.

Not until 1938 did a woman in America or Britain, have the right to hold her own money in an account or to deal in property without the consent and signature of her husband.The status of women in Islam is clear,any money a woman comes to a marriage with is hers to spend,any money a woman earns is hers to spend,any money her husband gives her is hers to spend,however any money her husband earns he must spend on supporting his wife,familly paying the resnt bills buying the groceries and so on.Leaving the wife free from financial responsabilaties.Muslims have been accused of being a "backward society" which clearly couldn't be further from the truth.

The Muslim woman has enjoyed the right, to solely retain her possessions, property and wealth upon the event of her marriage for more than 1400 years. When the Prophet Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him married his wife Khadija she was a very wealthy businesswoman, dealing in trading from Arabia to Syria she fully retained all of her assets after marriage.

The respect of women in Islam extends further, to the degree that when a woman marries, she does not take the surname of her husband, but retains her family name. She also does not wear a wedding ring, which originates as a sign of a man owning a woman, in Christian traditions.

There is nothing in Islam that forbids a woman working outside of the home, indeed at the time of the Prophet Muhammad, May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, we have documentation of women working as successful nurses, business women and even participating in battle. This is a woman's choice, and if she chooses not to work then she certainly is not expected to go and work an eight hour shift, return home to take care of the children and clean the house. There is nothing that can compare to a mother having the freedom to raise her children, and as the saying goes "great nations were raised on the laps of their mothers" Narrated Sahl bin Sa'd The Prophet said, "I and the person who looks after an orphan and provides for him, will be in Paradise like this," putting his index and middle fingers together. "

A society in which you find women living alone, and struggling to raise children single handedly, with no family members, whether an uncle, father, grandfather or brothers supporting her, is certainly a society bereft of compassion and decency. Islamicly, it is the duty of a woman's male family members to take care of her if she is unmarried divorced or widowed. It is the duty of a woman's ex-husband, in the case of divorce, to house his wife and financially support his children and the duty of the Muslim ruler to ensure and oversee that all women and children are properly cared for.

By Maysaa bint Mikail