Woman was deprived of inheritance From the other oppressive...

Woman was deprived of inheritance From the other oppressive procedures that the pre-Islamic age followed against woman was depriving her of the inheritance from her father and husband. However, Islam had cancelled that and legislated this right for her and made her equal to man in this concern that she could inherit and bequeath. Islam had honored woman by making her responsible for the education of generations and giving her the right in choosing a husband though with her father’s consultation.

Islam treated woman in a noble way of reverence and honoring and this was strange to the people of that age and far from their manners. C. getting married to one’s father’s widow From the habits of the pre-Islamic age was when a man died, his eldest son would throw his shirt over his father’s wife (his step-mother) and so he would possess her. He could get married to her if he liked; otherwise he could marry her to whomever he liked and get her dowry for himself.

Islam had forbidden the marriage of a dead man’s son to his father’s wife. Allah has said, (And marry not those women whom your fathers married. 4:22). Islam had also prohibited taking the dowry of woman for oneself at all. In the pre-Islamic era, people possessed women (their step-mothers) as they possessed any other property. If they liked, they would get married to them, or marry them to others and take their dowries, or force them to remain unmarried until they would die.

Islam had freed woman from all those ties and given her a frame of honor and dignity. 3. Prohibition of adultery Adultery was something familiar among people in the pre-Islamic era. Mo’awiya bin Abi Sufyan ascribed openly (illegitimate) Ziyad bin Abeeh to his father (Abu Sufyan) who had committed adultery with Ziyad’s mother. Islam had prohibited adultery and considered it as one of the worst major sins.

Of course, this prohibition contradicted the natures of most of the people of Quraysh who had grown up with vices and sins. 4. Prohibition of usury The Prophet’s mission clashed with the interests of the capitalist people of Quraysh who depended on usury in increasing their capitals. Usury was widespread in Mecca. Al-Abbas bin Abdul Muttalib was one of those who practiced it.

Islam had prohibited usury and considered it a major sin for it made some few persons very wealthy and the majority of people very poor and wretched. 5. Prohibition of alcohol Wine was lawful in the pre-Islamic age, and all classes of people drank it.