The Qur’an (in 33.35) emphasizes the equality of the sexes in the eyes of God in all but physical strength, which men should use to provide for women.
Mohammad said: “Women are the twin-halves of men.”
He changed the laws of inheritance so that women could inherit and maintain their own wealth and their husband’s in the event of his death.
Women could now keep their marriage dowries as their own personal property, even if they became divorced.
For the first time he gave women the right to divorce their husbands if they feared cruelty or ill-treatment. (4:128).
For the first time he limited the number of wives a man could have. He accepted that men should be able to have up to four wives, with one proviso: “only if you can treat them all equally” (The Qur’an 4:3).
He did not allow women to have more than one husband. The scholar Reza Aslan describes this step as one that was necessary to ensure the survival of the community at Yathrib, which, after war with the Quraysh, resulted in hundreds of widows and orphans who needed to be provided for and protected.
The tradition of women wearing a veil was borrowed from the upper classes of Iranian and Syrian women and used by Mohammad’s wives as an identifier and for their protection. Though modesty was required of all believers, during the Prophet’s lifetime only his wives wore a veil (Hijab).
As Leila Ahmed and others have observed, nowhere in the Qur’an is the term Hijab applied to any other women.
By the year 630 AD Mohammad had become the powerful leader of an expanding community and was able to lead 10,000 Believers back to Mecca for the Hajj, a pilgrimage that remains a cornerstone of the spiritual life of Muslims. There the same people who had tried to murder him now offered him the keys to the Ka’ba unconditionally and without a fight. From that time on he was generally accepted by the faithful as the true, final Prophet of God and continued to lead his community both spiritually and in earthly matters until his death in 632.
Mohammad said: “Women are the twin-halves of men.”
He changed the laws of inheritance so that women could inherit and maintain their own wealth and their husband’s in the event of his death.
Women could now keep their marriage dowries as their own personal property, even if they became divorced.
For the first time he gave women the right to divorce their husbands if they feared cruelty or ill-treatment. (4:128).
For the first time he limited the number of wives a man could have. He accepted that men should be able to have up to four wives, with one proviso: “only if you can treat them all equally” (The Qur’an 4:3).
He did not allow women to have more than one husband. The scholar Reza Aslan describes this step as one that was necessary to ensure the survival of the community at Yathrib, which, after war with the Quraysh, resulted in hundreds of widows and orphans who needed to be provided for and protected.
The tradition of women wearing a veil was borrowed from the upper classes of Iranian and Syrian women and used by Mohammad’s wives as an identifier and for their protection. Though modesty was required of all believers, during the Prophet’s lifetime only his wives wore a veil (Hijab).
As Leila Ahmed and others have observed, nowhere in the Qur’an is the term Hijab applied to any other women.
By the year 630 AD Mohammad had become the powerful leader of an expanding community and was able to lead 10,000 Believers back to Mecca for the Hajj, a pilgrimage that remains a cornerstone of the spiritual life of Muslims. There the same people who had tried to murder him now offered him the keys to the Ka’ba unconditionally and without a fight. From that time on he was generally accepted by the faithful as the true, final Prophet of God and continued to lead his community both spiritually and in earthly matters until his death in 632.
No comments:
Post a Comment