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Equality of men and women from the Qur'an 2 - Al-Shia The Scientific and Cultural Website of Shia belief Equality of men and women from the Qur’an 2 2022-12-01 511 Views Men and Women , Equality of rights In this part of the article titled “Equality of men and women from the Qur’an”, we shall focus on the issue of whether men are placed above women in Islam. ARE MEN A DEGREE ABOVE WOMEN?

People having a narrow look at the guidance of Allah’s Book, are often seen intimating that men are superior to women. They back up this statement just by a portion of verse 2:228 of Surah Al-Baqara, and do not present the whole context, but rather reach this short-sighted conclusion and imply that Islam maintains the superiority of men against women. It is an irony that the very verse which equates rights and obligations of gender is usually quoted to say that men are superior to women.

What they fail to realize is that in matters of biological construction men and women are different and have certain rights related to that aspect (maternity leaves are for women, not men) but apart from biological disposition, both men and women are equal according to Qur’an and both are equally capable and responsible for developing those qualities in themselves which the Qur’an has said are essential for believers.

The Qur’an says: “And they (women) shall have rights similar to the rights against them in a just manner” (2:228) In other words, for every responsibility given to them, they acquire a right. This is the equality they have been granted. Thus men and women have the same rights as each other.

The above verse continues to say: “… and they have rights similar to the rights against them in a just manner, and men have a degree above them,” (2:228) It would be contradictory to conclude from the statement: “ men have a degree above them “ that men are superior to women, as on one hand, the verse says that women and men have rights similar to each other, and the implication that men are superior, will contradict this impression.

One gender cannot be superior to another if their rights and obligations are equal. The word used by the Quran is “Daraja” meaning “degree”. This “degree” can be understood easily by reviewing the whole verse. The context of this verse informs us that it deals with the conditions attached to remarriage after divorce.