Women's Status In Early Islam

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Women’s Status in Early Islam


The main objective of monotheistic religions is to emphasize the importance of faith in God and its existence. However, most religions such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam introduced many rules and practices in order to make people lead a proper life. In their articles, Leila Ahmed and Barbara Freyer Stowasser discuss one of the most critical of these issues, the changing status of women in Islam. In order to understand their arguments, we should first take it into account that the writers differ in their approaches. Ahmed approaches the subject in a historical context by analyzing the effects of Islam to the daily lives of women along with the most significant events of the time and the way the religion was practiced whereas Stowasser mostly focuses on textual evidence such as the Koran itself and the early Islamic Traditions, Haddiths. As one will see throughout this essay, Islam as described in Koran is quite dissimilar to the Islam practiced by its believers after Mohammed died. In other words, the approaches of Stowasser and Ahmed differ from each other in terms of the Koranic and practiced Islam. The variety of conflicting information causes many disagreements between the two writers. Before going into the details of their arguments I would like to try to give a general portrayal what the writers talk about and I also would like to express my general view on their opinions. After reading both articles, it appeared to me that Leila Ahmed is more critical of the religion. One can see her judicious perspective right at the beginning of her article where she says “Islam’s banning of infanticide established the fact that Islam improved the position of women in all respects, seems both inaccurate and simplistic” (4). She generally believes that Islam put a lot of limitations on women and made life more severe for them. Conversely, one can also grasp the more objective perspective of Stowasser right at the beginning where she says “It is thus a worthwhile undertaking to investigate exactly and in some detail what the Koran and early Islamic Traditions (Haddith) contain of information” (11). In this sense, her analysis seems to be more differentiated and convincing because she is more neutral about the improvements and limitations implemented by Islam. In my opinion, Islam regulated many aspects of life with new rules which does not necessarily mean that it absolutely improved or worsened women’s status. In my essay, I would like to talk about these regulations or changes Islam brought to women’s lives in terms of their connection with men (marriage), their duties and legal rights by comparing the arguments of Ahmed and Stowasser.


First of all, I would like start my analysis and comparison by examining a disagreement between the two writers, different marriage practices before and after Mohammed. According to Stowasser, “The majority of pre-Islamic urban women appear to have lived in a mail-dominated society in which their status was low and their rights were negligible” (15). Stowasser points out that “The marriage contract was a contract between husband and guardian, with the bride the sales object” (15). She also mentions that “neither conventions nor laws seem to have existed to put a limit to the number of wives that a man could have simultaneously” (15) whereas Islam limited this number to four with the condition of treating all of the wives equally. In contrast to Stowasser, Ahmed argues that Islam did not improve the rights of women in terms of marriage. She points out that “Jahilia marriage practices correlate with women’s enjoying greater sexual autonomy than they were allowed under Islam. They also correlate with women’s being active participants, even leaders, in a wide range of community activities including warfare and religion” (4). Although it may be true that Islam restricted certain social activities for women I believe that the abolition of the marriage contract and limitation on the number of wives are unavoidable improvements in terms of women’s marital rights. Treating women as sales objects and push them to lead a life with a man chosen by someone else are blatant violations of personal rights which is much more important than the sexual autonomy of a woman. Therefore, I must say that I mostly agree with Stowasser on this particular point. Moreover, the writers look at the Islamic marriage from totally different perspectives. Stowasser does not consider marriage regulations instigated by Islam as restrictive rules. She rather sees them as tools which made marriage an institution of commitment and loyalty. In opposition, Ahmed acknowledges these rules as restrictive and does not even bother to talk about the marriage contract in pre-Islamic societies. She also does not make a distinction between marriage and divorce practices which is her main divergence from Stowasser. In order to fully understand, women’s status through the framework of marriage one should also explore the topic of divorce. Although both writers give different information about divorce practices in pre-Islamic times they pretty much agree on these practices after the introduction of the religion. Stowasser mentions that “divorce was a matter entirely up to the will of the husband who having purchased his wife could discharge his total obligation to her by payment of any portion of the mahr” (15). However, this information contradicts with the information given by Ahmed where she says, “The women in Jahilia, or some of them, divorced men, and their divorce was that if they lived in a tent they turned it round, so that if the door had faced east in now faced west. And when the man saw this he knew that she had divorced him and did not go to her” (44). As a result of this contradiction, it is not possible for the reader to have a clear idea about the divorce practices before Islam. However, we see that both writers agree on the fact that Islam left the decision to divorce to the men. As Stowasser says, “the inequality of men and women remains in full force as the husband can repudiate his wife, but she cannot repudiate him” (0). Briefly, we can conclude that Islam improved some of aspects of marriage while limiting certain rights for women. While Islam abolished infanticide or “guaranteed women the right to have full possession and control of their wealth” (Stowasser 17) it also “left the decision to divorce to the men” (Stowasser 1) or evaluated “the testimony of woman worth half that of a man” (Stowasser 1). Despite some ambiguities such as the contradicting information about divorce practices in pre-Islamic times, it is clear that Islam abolished the comprehension of women as sales objects which is a very righteous improvement compared to the practices of pre-Islamic times. Before finishing the discussion of marriage I also would like to compare the resources used by both writers for this particular subject. We see that Stowasser mainly uses excerpts from Koran in order to analyze changes in the marital status of the woman. She first points out the main changes implemented by Islam and then proves it by showing exact excerpts directly from Koran. However, she does not use Haddith to scrutinize the issue of marriage which causes her to miss the practical aspect of marriage. Conversely, Ahmed uses more Haddith material and historical events such as the marriage of Aisha and Mohammad. She depicts a more practical aspect of the issue. For instance, when Ahmed is talking about Islamic marriages she refers to Aisha and mentions “Aisha, in her remarks about the different types of marriage, concluded When Mohammad was sent with the Truth, he abolished all the types of marriage of the pre-Islamic period… except the type of marriage which is people recognize today” (45) However, I believe that combination of both resources would provide the reader with a more reliable view about the changing marriage practices. As a result, the reader would have the chance to see what Islam intended to regulate and how people followed these regulations on a practical level.


Although Koran regulated some of the inequalities within marriage it did not really improve women’s status in terms of economic, social or political equality which is one of the points both writers agree on. However, it is very important for us to know that after the death of Mohammad Koran was interpreted in a way it isolated women from the society. Despite that, there were still new laws or rules in Koran which restricted women’s rights. For instance, as Stowasser quotes from the Koran “the testimony of woman is worth half that of a man” or “women inherit half of what men inherit” (1). While Stowasser uses Koran in order to support her argument Ahmed focuses on the wives of the prophet. She first talks about the first wife of the prophet, Khadija and highlights that she used to own a caravan which traded between Mecca and Syria. This shows that women were participating in activities such as trade which was restricted to them with the imposition of Islamic rules. Ahmed touches on this situation by expressing verses about the duties of women by focusing on the wives of the prophet. At the end of these verses we can see a blatant suppression of women “Stay at home and do not show off in a manner of the women of the days of ignorance” (57). Ahmed also emphasizes the transition from pre-Islamic to Islamic customs. It is important to know that even during the time of the prophet women still possessed some authority. Ahmed mentions this by saying that “The very fact of women’s contribution to this important literature indicates that at least the first generation of Muslims � the generation closest to Jahilia attitudes towards women � and their immediate descendants had no difficulty in accepting women as authorities” (47). Another significant matter we cannot ignore is the declining social status of women in a progressive and continuing way. It is obvious that both writers agree with this deterioration. Stowasser scrutinizes this particular aspect of Islam through Haddiths. She shows the interpretations of Umar Al-Baydawi and Abd Allah Ibn as evidence stating that women are viewed as “creatures incapable of and unfit for public duties” (6). Ahmed also supports this argument and points out the separation of women from community affairs which directly relates to the question of seclusion and veiling. First of all, we should recognize that although veiling and seclusion seem to be restrictive practices I do not believe they are meant to limit certain rights of women. The primary purpose of veiling - a sign of social standing has been a common practice in many pre-Islamic societies - and seclusion is to avoid certain abusive actions. Stowasser proves the intention of this legislation with a Surah stating “Tell the wives and the daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks round them. They will be better, so that they will be recognized and not annoyed” (4). Similarly, Ahmed refers to early texts and the circumscription of Mohammad’s wives. However, as Ahmed says there are no clear commands in Koran dealing with women’s clothing. In this sense, Islam does not really affect the status of women in terms of clothing. However, after the death of the prophet the believers of Islam went far beyond the regulations Islam intended to put into practice in terms of the status of women. Islam rose in a male-dominated society and most of the scholars who interpreted Koran were men. Therefore, one can think that Koran may be misinterpreted deliberately in order for some people to pursue their own interests and control a significant part of the society (women) more easily. The last social aspect I would like to indicate is the identity of a woman as a human being after the rise of Islam. Infanticide which is absolutely violent and unacceptable was common in pre-Islamic societies. Fortunately, this practice was banned by Islam which at least reveals the respect of the religion towards human life if not women rights. However, I still believe that the abolition of infanticide also means a great deal of respect towards women. Ahmed says that “Islam’s banning of infanticide established the fact that Islam improved the position of women in all respects, seems both inaccurate and simplistic” (4). Although it is true that Islam did not improve women’s status in all aspects of life Ahmed cannot really see the magnitude of this change. Islam may not have provided women with excessive freedoms. However, it is obvious that Islam gave women in the Arabic peninsula the greatest and most meaningful right above all, the right to “live”. Therefore, I must say that Islam changed the most significant aspect of women’s status in society, if not all.


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To put it briefly, I have a better understanding of certain practices in Islam in terms of women rights. At least I know that inhumane and brutal practices such as stoning of women or infanticide are not even mentioned anywhere in Koran. I also know that most of the practices I cannot justify in Islam are misinterpretations of some unclear parts of Koran. Some of the ambiguities in Koran gave scholars the chance to interpret Koran in any way possible � positive or negative. In addition to that, most interpretations were written hundreds of years ago by scholars who were thinking in the context of the time they lived - a time in which people were not really aware of their freedoms and personal rights. I was also able to understand that people in charge such as Umar also caused many unacceptable changes such as prevention of women attending prayers or choice of male imams for women which have nothing to do with the nature of Islam. Unfortunately, these practices became common and made us believe a stereotypical image of Islamic woman. In order to destroy this stereotypical or biased image, I believe that everybody should take his/her own interpretation from the Koran, combine it with his/her own values and live his/her life the way it right for him/her.





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