Essays Are Necessary in Making Notes

Abstract
Man and woman are the two parts of a whole. One is incomplete without the other. The need of the one for the other is so great that it was honored even in Heaven when Eve was created for Adam. In the days before Islam, women were treated like slaves or property. Their personal consent concerning anything related to their well-being was considered unimportant and unnecessary to such an extent that they were never even treated as a party to a marriage contract. Islam brought a new lease of life to women. Islam elevated the status of women to great heights: so high that she stood shoulder to shoulder with man. Islam granted them rights of Mehr, ownership, properties and trade. But still a western woman is a woman who is difficult and stressful. She also hates how Asian women are often happy being subservient to men.
Describe Outline
Women’s Position
History
Man and woman are the two parts of a whole. One is incomplete without the other. The need of the one for the other is so great that it was honored even in Heaven when Eve was created for Adam. As the Holy Quran says:
“And We Have created you in Pairs”
It means that ALLAH Almighty Has created us in pairs because existence of one without the other would be colorless and boring.
Lack of Rights
In the days before Islam, women were treated like slaves or property. Their personal consent concerning anything related to their well-being was considered unimportant and unnecessary to such an extent that they were never even treated as a party to a marriage contract.
Furthermore, the birth of a daughter in a family was not an occasion for rejoicing, but was regarded with humiliation. The practice of killing female children was rampant. The pagan Arabs used to bury alive their daughters with the fear that these girls will grow up and will get married to some men who will be called their sons-in-law. (Rao Safdar)
Rights in Islam
(Aneeqa Arshad) Islam brought a new lease of life to women. Islam elevated the status of women to great heights: so high that she stood shoulder to shoulder with man. Islam granted women the right to ownership. They now owned the amount of their Mehr. They could engage in trade and have their own properties. They were also given the right to inherit the property of the deceased father and husband. As Holy Quran says
"Unto the men (of a family) belongs a share of that which parents and near kindred leave, and unto the women a share of that which the parents and near kindred leave, whether it be little or much #150; a legal share." (4:7)
Western Women
A western woman is a woman who is difficult and stressful. She also hates how Asian women are often happy being subservient to men. The lifestyle of a western woman is completely different from an Islamic woman. Almost in every field of life, a western woman feels freedom while in Islam, the status of woman is quite different from it. Just a simple example of it is that Western woman is not enforced to cover her body from men while in Islam Hijab is necessary for women, while face-veiling is also advised. (Aneeqa Arshad)
Women’s Life
Gender roles
(Habiba Aslam) The Quran expresses two main views on the role of women. It both stresses the equality of women and men before God in terms of their religious duties (i.e. belief in God and his messenger, praying, fasting, paying zakat (charity), making hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca/ Medina)) and places them "under" the care of men (i.e. men are financially responsible for their wives).
In one place it states: "Men are the maintainers and protectors of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other, and because they spend of their property (for the support of women)."
The Quran explains that men and women are equal in creation and in the afterlife, but not identical.
Surah an-Nisa' 4:1 states that men and women are created from a single soul (nafs wahidah). One person does not come before the other, one is not superior to the other, and one is not the derivative of the other. A woman is not created for the purpose of a man. Rather, they are both created for the mutual benefit of each other.[Quran 30:21]
Female Education
Historically, women played an important role in the foundation of many Islamic educational institutions, such as Fatima al-Fihri's founding of the University of Al Karaouine in 859 CE. This continued through to the Ayyubid dynasty in the 12th and 13th centuries, when 160 mosques and madrasahs were established in Damascus, 26 of which were funded by women through the Waqf (charitable trust or trust law) system. Half of all the royal patrons for these institutions were also women.
According to a hadith attributed to Muhammad (S.A.W), he praised the women of Medina because of their desire for religious knowledge:
"How splendid were the women of the ansar; shame did not prevent them from becoming learned in the faith."
Clothing
Hijab is the Qur'anic requirement that Muslims, both male and female, dress and behave modestly. The most important Qur'anic verse relating to hijab is sura 24:31, which says:
"And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and guard their private parts and not to display their adornment except that which ordinarily appears thereof and to draw their headcovers over their chests and not to display their adornment except to their maharim..."
There are regional and sectarian variations of the veil associated with hijab. Depending upon local views regarding female modesty, they may or may not cover the face or the eyes, or the entire body. These variations include: * Hijab - A scarf covering the hair. * Chador - A cloak covering the head and body, but leaving the face uncovered; worn by many women in Iran when outside the home. * Shayla - A long rectangular scarf, pinned or tucked at the shoulder, leaving the face uncovered; worn by many women in the Persian Gulf region. * Khimar - A long rectangular scarf, covering the head, neck and shoulders, but leaving the face uncovered. * Burka - Covers the entire head and body, including the eyes; the wearer sees through a cloth mesh eye veil sewn into the burka. * Al-Amira - A two-piece veil that includes a close-fitting cap and a tube-shaped scarf covering the head and neck, but leaving the face uncovered. * Niqab - A veil that leaves the eye clear (although it may be worn with an eye veil), and worn with a headscarf.
The hijab, and the veil in particular, have often been viewed by many as a sign of oppression of Muslim women. The wearing of the hijab has become controversial in countries where Muslims are a minority, and where majority secular opinions regard the hijab as violating women's freedom, especially in Europe amid increasing immigration of Muslims. (Habiba Aslam)
(Hamza Habib) Questions
Marriage
In Islam, polygyny is allowed while polyandry is not, with the specific limitation that men can only have no more than four wives at any one time, with the requirement that they are able and willing to partition their time and wealth equally among the respective wives.
For a Muslim wedding to take place, the bride and her guardian must both agree on the marriage. Should either the guardian or the girl disagree on the marriage, it may not legally take place. In essence, while the guardian/father of the girl has no right to force her to marry, he has the right to stop a marriage from taking place,[citation needed] given that his reasons are valid. The professed purpose of this practice is to ensure that a woman finds a suitable partner whom she has chosen not out of sheer emotion.
From an Islamic (Sharia) law perspective, the minimum requirements and responsibilities in a Muslim marriage are that the groom provide living expenses (housing, clothing, food, maintenance) to the bride, and in return, the bride's main responsibility is raising children to be proper Muslims.
`Abd Allah ibn `Umar narrated:
The Prophet (S.A.W) said, "All of you are guardians and are responsible for your wards. The ruler is a guardian and the man is a guardian of his family; the lady is a guardian and is responsible for her husband's house and his offspring; and so all of you are guardians and are responsible for your wards."
—Sahih al-Bukhari: Volume 7, Book 62, Number 128
Female Employment
The labor force in the Caliphate were employed from diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds, while both men and women were involved in diverse occupations and economic activities. Women were employed in a wide range of commercial activities and diverse occupations in the primary sector (as farmers, for example), secondary sector (as construction workers, dyers, spinners, etc.) and tertiary sector (as investors, doctors, nurses, presidents of guilds, brokers, peddlers, lenders, scholars, etc.). Muslim women also held a monopoly over certain branches of the textile industry, the largest and most specialized and market-oriented industry at the time, in occupations such as spinning, dyeing, and embroidery. In comparison, female property rights and wage labour were relatively uncommon in Europe until the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries. (Hamza Habib)

Employment Patterns in Islam
(Nadeem Gill) Patterns of women's employment vary throughout the Muslim world: as of 2005, 16% of Pakistani women were "economically active" (either employed, or unemployed but available to furnish labor), whereas 52% of Indonesian women were.
Women are allowed to work in Islam, subject to certain conditions, such as if a woman is in financial need and her employment does not cause her to neglect her role as a mother and wife. It has been claimed that it is the responsibility of the Muslim community to organize work for women, so that she can do so in a Muslim cultural atmosphere, where her rights (as set out in the Qur'an) are respected. Islamic law however, permits women to work in Islamic conditions. * The work should not require the man or the woman to violate Islamic law (e.g., serving alcohol), and be mindful of the woman's safety. * If the work requires the woman to leave her home, she must maintain her 'modesty' just as with men.
Role of Women in Society
Women in Islamic Life
In Islam, there is no difference between men and women's relationship to God; they receive identical rewards and punishments for their conduct.
According to a saying attributed to Muhammad (S.A.W), women are allowed to go to mosques. However, as Islam spread, it became unusual for women to worship in mosques because of fears of unchastity caused by interaction between sexes; this condition persisted until the late 1960s. Since then, women have become increasingly involved in the mosque, though men and women generally worship separately. (Muslims explain this by citing the need to avoid distraction during prayer prostrations that raise the buttocks while the forehead touches the ground.) Separation between sexes ranges from men and women on opposite sides of an aisle, to men in front of women (as was the case in the time of Muhammad (S.A.W)), to women in second-floor balconies or separate rooms accessible by a door for women only.
In Islam's earlier history, female religious scholars were relatively common. Mohammad Akram Nadwi, a Sunni religious scholar, has compiled biographies of 8,000 female jurists, and orientalist Ignaz Goldziher earlier estimated that 15 percent of medieval hadith scholars were women. (Nadeem Gill)
(Khushbakht Shams) As a Mother
Muhammad (S.A.W) described the high status of mothers in both of the major hadith Collections (Bukhari and Muslim). One famous account is:
"A man asked the Prophet (S.A.W): 'Whom should I honor most?' The Prophet (S.A.W) replied: 'Your mother'. 'And who comes next?' asked the man. The Prophet (S.A.W) replied: 'Your mother'. 'And who comes next?' asked the man. The Prophet (S.A.W) replied: 'Your mother!'. 'And who comes next?' asked the man. The Prophet (S.A.W) replied: 'Your father'"
In Islam, the primary role played by women is to be mothers, and mothers are considered the most important part of the family. A well known Hadith of the prophet (S.A.W) says:
"I asked the Prophet (S.A.W) who has the greatest right over a man, and he said, 'His mother'".
While a woman is considered the most important member of the family, she is not the head of the family. Therefore, it is possible to conclude that importance has no relevance with being the head of the family.
As a Scholar
While women accounted for no more than one percent of Islamic scholars prior to the 12th century, there was a large increase of female scholars after this. In the 15th century, Al-Sakhawi devotes an entire volume of his 12-volume biographical dictionary Daw al-lami to female scholars, giving information on 1,075 of them.
Recently there have been several female Muslim scholars including Sebeca Zahra Hussain who is a prominent female scholar from the Sunni sect.
There are a number of prominent female Islamic scholars. They generally focus on questioning gender-based interpretations of the Qur'an, the traditions of the Prophet and early Islamic history. Some notable Muslim women scholars are: Azizah al-Hibri, Amina Wadud, Fatima Mernissi, Asma Barlas, Riffat Hassan, Leila Ahmed, Aisha Abdul-Rahman, and Merryl Wyn Davies. (Khushbakht Shams)
(Sajjad Ali Shah) Questions
As a Politician
The only hadith relating to female political leadership is Sahih al-Bukhari, 5:59:709, in which Muhammad (S.A.W) is recorded as saying that people with a female ruler will never be successful. (Muhammad (S.A.W) was referring to the Persian people. He said, "Such people as ruled by a lady will never be successful." (The al-Bukhari collection is generally regarded as authentic, though one Muslim feminist has questioned the reliability of the recorder of this particular hadith.) However, many classical Islamic scholars, such as al-Tabari, supported female leadership. In early Islamic history, women including Aisha, Ume Warqa, and Samra Binte Wahaib took part in political activities. Other historical Muslim female leaders include Razia Sultana, who ruled the Sultanate of Delhi from 1236 to 1239, and Shajarat ad-Durr, who ruled Egypt from 1250 to 1257.
In Pakistan women has played a vital role in politics. Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah was the first female politician in the history of Pakistan who had played a vital role in the foundation of Pakistan with The Great Leader Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed was the former Prime minister of Pakistan. She was elected prime minister of Pakistan twice. On 27 December 2007, Bhutto was killed while leaving a campaign rally for the PPP at Liaquat National Bagh Rawalpindi. Doctor Noor Jehan Panezai is a women Politician from Pakistan. She served as Deputy Chairperson of the Senate from 1991 to 1993.
She was elected Member of National Assembly of Pakistan Muslim League on reserved seats for women.
In the past several decades, many countries in which Muslims are a majority, including Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkey, and Kyrgyzstan have been led by women. Nearly one-third of the Parliament of Egypt also consists of women.
According to Sheikh Zoubir Bouchikhi, Imam of the Islamic Society of Greater Houston’s Southeast Mosque, nothing in Islam specifically allows or disallows voting by women. Until recently most Muslim nations were non-democratic, but most today allow their citizens to have some level of voting and control over their government. The disparate times at which women’s suffrage was granted in Muslim-majority countries is indicative of the varied traditions and values present within the Muslim world. Azerbaijan has had women's suffrage since 1918.
Saudi women have been allowed to vote in some elections.
Economic Extension
Women help economic extension by following ways. * Women, by having their own position, better health, self-confidence and better methods of payment savings can support their family in a right way. * Without going out, women can feed their family e.g. afford school fee of her children by savings made from the income of their men, and one should also not be violent in her family for better future of herself, husband and her children.
As a Nurse
A unique feature of medieval Muslim hospitals was the role of female staff, who were rarely employed in hospitals elsewhere in the world. Medieval Muslim hospitals commonly employed female nurses. Muslim hospitals were also the first to employ female physicians, the most famous being two female physicians from the Banu Zuhr family who served the Almohad ruler Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur in the 12th century. This was necessary due to the segregation between male and female patients in Islamic hospitals. Later in the 15th century, female surgeons were illustrated for the first time in Şerafeddin Sabuncuoğlu's Cerrahiyyetu'l-Haniyye (Imperial Surgery). (Sajjad Ali Shah)

(Taha Zia) Questions

In Army Women have played a vital role in Army in the history of Islam. Hazrat Fatimah (R.A) is an exemplar for Muslim women. She herself took part in historical Islamic Battles.
Following the Battle of Uhud, Hazrat Fatimah (R.A) tended to the wounds of her Father (S.A.W) and husband (R.A), and took it upon herself to regularly visit the graves of all those who died in the battle and pray for them. Hazrat Fatimah (R.A), along with her husband, was also called upon by Abu Sufyan to intercede on his behalf with Muhammad (S.A.W) while attempting to make amends following the violation of the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah. Abu Sufyan also asked for Hazrat Fatimah (R.A)'s protection when she went to Mecca while it was under occupation which she refused under instruction from her Father (S.A.W).
As Housekeeper
Traditionally, a woman's place has been inferior to that of the average man. Whatever is considered most valuable in society is placed under the direction of men; whatever is considered less valuable is given to women to care for - even when people ostensible know better. The basic duty of women in Islam is of a housekeeper. Women in the past were only regarded as housewives. To take care of the home, family and her was the first duty of women. But due to increasing requirements of today, women have to go outside for job to afford the expenditures of the whole family.
The Prophet (S.A.W) said, "All of you are guardians and are responsible for your wards. The ruler is a guardian and the man is a guardian of his family; the lady is a guardian and is responsible for her husband's house and his offspring; and so all of you are guardians and are responsible for your wards."
(Taha Zia)
Cultural Activities
Women in Islam have to pay the same attention to their cultural activities as the men do. In Islam, there is no difference between men and women's relationship to God; they receive identical rewards and punishments for their conduct. According to a saying attributed to Muhammad, women are allowed to go to mosques. However, as Islam spread, it became unusual for women to worship in mosques because of fears of unchastity caused by interaction between sexes; this condition persisted until the late 1960s. Since then, women have become increasingly involved in the mosque, though men and women generally worship separately.
Women of the Past & Present
Islam brought about liberation of women from bondage and gave her equal rights and recognized her individuality as a human being. Islam improved the status of women by instituting rights of property ownership, inheritance, education, marriage (as a contract) and divorce. The women of the Prophet's time enjoyed the full range of rights and freedoms that Allah and the Prophet allowed them. There were many prominent Muslim women in that generation who were outspoken and contributed to building the Islamic society. Their names have been recorded. Quran is insistent on the full participation of women in society and in the religious practices. The history of Muslims is rich with women of great achievements in all walks of life from as early as the seventh century. Since the beginning of Islam, Muslim women have made strong contributions in the development of Islamic Societies. The Qur'an provides clear-cut evidence that woman is completely equated with man in the sight of God in terms of her rights and responsibilities. Few examples of Quranic injunctions for the rights of Woman are as follows:
“Every soul will be (held) in pledge for its deeds” (Qur'an 74:38).
Some Quotations
Some other Muslim Intellectuals, in recent past, have condemned attitude of Muslim societies for their anti-Islamic treatment of womenfolk. Few examples are stated below:
Mohammed Ali Jinnah : “No nation can rise to the height of glory unless your women are side by side with you. We are victims of evil customs. It is a crime against humanity that our women are shut up within the four walls of the houses as prisoners. There is no sanction anywhere for the deplorable condition in which our women have to live”. (March 10, 1944, AMU, Aligarh), “I have always maintained that no nation can ever be worthy of its existence that cannot take its women along with the men. No struggle can ever succeed without women participating side by side with men.” (March 25, 1940).
Farkhonda Hassan: “Let us prove that a society which empowers its women is a society sure to succeed. In many Muslim countries, gender-based discrimination, coupled with social and cultural barriers, limits access and participation of women in higher education. Some people attribute these barriers to the teachings of Islam, but this is false.”
Feroze Bakht Ahmed : “Although there's a lot of wailing about the veiling of Muslim women, no one is bothered about their pathetic literacy levels despite the fact that Prophet Mohammed stated: “Talabul ilm farizatun ala kulli muslimin wa muslima” (It is compulsory for both men and women to be educated). To say that Muslim women have no rights would be a misnomer as Islam has given sufficient rights to them during the days of the religion's advent. The problem is that most clerics have misinterpreted Quranic teachings with an anti-women tilt. A hue and cry is raised over issues like talaq (divorce), model nikahnama (marriage document), polygamy, family planning and the purdah (veil) - all issues that have been tirelessly talked over for decades without any consensus. But clerics, scholars or politicians rarely bother to promote education of Muslim girls. Abject illiteracy among Muslim women still lies at the root of the endemic backwardness of the community. More than veils, it is education that will make the Muslim women safer”.
Yahya M. (US ) : “At the beginning Islam was the most revolutionary liberalization of women's rights the civilized world has ever seen. But afterwards Muslims became ignorant of this and now Muslim countries are the scene of some of the worst abuses of women's rights”.