ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books A New Perspective: Women in Islam Introduction by Fatma Saleh In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful The issue of women in Islam had always been a subject that offended and fascinated me. As a woman, born Muslim, I had been, in the past, not convinced and argumentative of my faith. I ascribed Islam as domineering, circumscribed, and prejudice towards women.

I, like many other Muslim women (and non-Muslims) had based my religious convictions on the practices of culture rather than the core of faith, which had left me inimical about Islam.

I often echoed the tauntingly and haunting words of a Muslim woman I encountered briefly, “Thank God I found Islam before I found Muslims.” Not only had I found “Muslims” before I found Islam, but the constructed animosity of my faith was also formulated on the adverse writings, teachings, and dogmatic matters that shackled Muslim women.

Thus, I lived most of my life distant with preconceived and misconceived ideas about Islam and Muslim women, until I began to discursively question and ponder various subjects that I perceived as disturbing and complex. Hence, my research began on women and their rights in Islam. Faithfully, I had maintained that God in His ultimate wisdom was just. So, -if God was a just God- then why was the share of inheritance not equal among the genders in Islam?

Why was a Muslim woman’s testimony worth only half of a man? Did God really intend to limit the livelihood of Muslim women while allowing Muslim men more freedom? Was there really such a thing as rights for Muslim women? How does Islam regard the disposition of women? Would a just God ever be unfair to His creations? Seeking the unalloyed truth, I interrogated the issues. Beneath the distorted images, misconstrued and omitted writings, the rights of women in Islam lay hidden.

Undoubtedly, Muslim women had profound rights in Islam. But, like most eras of civilization, when men were fully empowered, they deemed to obstruct, deny, or strip women of rights, regardless of their religion, class, or ethnicity. One of the most fundamental rights given to women in Islam was absolute freedom to educate themselves and Muslim women have either not taken advantage of this right, and in some cases, been denied the opportunity.

Ignorance about Islam has been a major opponent for Muslim women.