The Woman

A Breath
of Inspiration
Reviewing the works of early Greek philosophers, such as
Aristotle and Plato, one finds that they had very weary
.views of women
Aristotle argued that women were not full human beings
and that the nature of women was not that of a full
.person
As a result, women were by their nature incomplete, not
.to be believed and to be seen as inferior

This Aristotelian outlook of women later

passed on into the Christian tradition of the Catholic
.Church

Saint Thomas of Aquinas proposed that women were the

trap of Satan, his motivation being the belief that man
had been created as a pure being in the image of God and
that he had been duped into his fall from grace by the
.corrupting influence of a woman
Contrary to erroneous popular belief, Islam
elevated the status of women by proclaiming
that women are in harmony to men, not
inferior, condemning pre-Islamic practices that
left women in a state of degradation and
.oppression

The Islamic understanding is that there is a

single humanity, a single essence which is
shared, and there are twin halves of which one
.is man and one is woman
O people! Be careful of (your duty to) your
Lord, Who created you from a single being and
created its mate of the same (kind) and spread
from these two, many men and women; and be
careful of (your duty to) Allah, by Whom you
demand one of another (your rights), and (to)
the ties of relationship; surely Allah ever
.watches over you
Holy[
]Quran 4:1
Indeed throughout the Quran
there are many examples of
highly prominent, respected
women. One being the wife of
the Pharaoh during the time of
…the Prophet Moses
And Allah sets forth an example
to those who believe the wife of
Firon when she said: My Lord!
Build for me a house with Thee in
the garden and deliver me from
Firon and his doing, and deliver
.me from the unjust people
]Holy Quran 66:11[
Another example being
…that of the Virgin Mary
And Marium, the daughter
of Imran, who guarded her
chastity, so We breathed
into her of Our inspiration
and she accepted the truth
of the words of her Lord
and His books, and she was
.of, the obedient ones
]Holy Quran 66:12[
In Islam, however, the basis of submission is not that of
women’s submission to men, but that of both men and
women’s submission to God only. Thus, in reading the Qur'an,
it becomes very clear that the compliant from among both the
believing men and women receive paradise, which is the
.greatest aim and goal in a Muslim's life

The Arabic language, like French the romance languages, and

many others, has two types of verbs, one representing the
feminine and one the masculine. Looking at the Qur'an
.linguistically, one finds both sexes being addressed

This stands in marked contrast to the aforementioned notion of

“Satan’s trap” of the Aquinan tradition and the political and
social understanding common among the philosophers before
the coming of Islam. As a result, we find that Islam accorded
.women rights some 1400 years ago
Surely the men who submit and the women who submit, and the
believing men and the believing women, and the obeying men and the
obeying women, and the truthful men and the truthful women, and the
patient men and the patient women and the humble men and the humble
women, and the almsgiving men and the almsgiving women, and the
fasting men and the fasting women,
and the men who guard their
private parts and
the women who
guard, and
the men
who
remember Allah
much and the women
who remember-- Allah
has prepared for them forgiveness
. and a mighty reward

]Holy Quran 33:35[

 Islam senses that women have the nature of motherhood,
not merely by cultural tradition or by some
sociological system, but inherently by the very
fiber of their being, and that, in
providing and taking care of
the offspring,
there is a
bond which
goes beyond
: cultural tradition

A psychological bonding, a physical bonding, something

which is more than just traditions of human beings. As a
result, nature has placed greater responsibilities upon
.women towards their children than those of men
If one really ponders over every
society’s perception on women, they
would be able to see very clearly
that the most distinct concept of
these societies in general is their
essential belief that women are the
bearers of children and have a great
deal of responsibility in raising them.
A closer observation of this may
reveal more about the essence of
women in general and where this
.idea of motherhood comes from

In Islam there is a defined role for men and a defined role for
women. Who is the one who defines this role for men and women?
It's their Creator. Perhaps that natural motherly instinct is really
planted in the heart of women and for that reason even the most
.immoral, vicious societies can see this
What has gone wrong, plainly, is that
women have confused sexual sameness
with equality and have imagined that
competing with men was part of their social
.emancipation
We should understand that Muslims, in
contradiction to the ancient Greeks or the
philosophes of the French Revolution, are not
under the belief that their ideas are of other
men. Instead they believe that Islam in its
entirety is all a part of a divine revelation given
to them by God, a religion that covers all aspects
of life, from family law to the broader political
.laws

The Muslim argument is that God knows best, He

created mankind and therefore knows what is
best for them. Muslims live under a code of law
in order to reinforce those rules God has given
them so they can have a more peaceful
.productive life
Even though the differences
between men and women are
obvious in the Islamic point of
view, they are not, however, in
opposition to one another, which is
quite unlike much of the western
thought, especially that of radical
feminist traditions. In Islam, men
and women work in harmony, not
against one another, and share in
the same aim and the same
humanity. They have different
roles, but these roles harmonize
one another and of mutual
necessity to the success of
.humanity
Her never-ending labor,
her constant soul
nurturing and mothering
of her children add to
her recognition in this
.world, and the next

Her husband and her

children will ascend
higher to praise her for
the everlasting love she
.gave them
The current rights of the women
in the west today were not
shaped voluntarily or out of
.kindness to women

The common western woman

has arrived at her present
position by force, not through
natural development or common
.consent of Divine tradition

She had to push her way

through, and a variety of
conditions assisted her. Scarcity
of manpower throughout wars,
pressure of economic needs and
necessity of industry required
women to leave their homes and
.go off to work
Whether or not the majority of women
are genuinely pleased with these
circumstances, and whether or not
they are content with the results, is a
completely different issue. The
underlying fact still remains that
whatever rights the western women
have, they still fall short of those of the
Muslim woman. Islam has given the
woman what compliments her female
nature. It gives her full security and
looks after her against becoming a
mere sexual object, or a slave to her
.husband