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Injunctions of the Qur'an
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Ahadith of the Holy Prophet
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Rights in the Light of Qur'an and Hadith
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Views of the Scholars
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Rights in Other Societies
I ‑ INJUNCTIONS OF THE QUR'AN
Injunctions
of the Holy Qur'an regarding the rights of woman as wife are:
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Permitted
to you, on the night of the fasts, is the approach to your wives. They
are your garments and ye are their garments. Allah knoweth what ye
used to do secretly among yourselves: But He turned to you and forgave
you:(2:187)
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Your
wives are as a tilth unto you: so approach your tilth when or how ye
will: but do some good act for your souls beforehand; and fear Allah,
and know that ye are to meet Him (in the Hereafter) and give (these)
good tidings to those who believe. (2:223)
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And women
shall have rights similar to the rights against them, according to
what is equitable; but men have a degree (of advantage) over them. And
Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise. (2:228)
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A divorce
is only permissible twice: after that, the parties should either hold
together on equitable terms or separate with kindness. It is not
lawful for you, (men), to take back any of your gifts (from your
wives) except when both parties fear that they would be unable to keep
the limits ordained by Allah. If ye (judges) do indeed fear that they
would be unable to keep the limits ordained by Allah, there is no
blame on either of them if she gives something for her freedom. These
are the limits ordained by Allah; so do not transgress them. If any do
transgress the limits ordained by Allah, such persons wrong
(themselves as well as others). (2:229)
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There is
no blame on you if ye divorce women before consummation or the
fixation of their dower: but bestow on them (a suitable gift) the
wealthy according to his means, and the poor according to his means;‑
A gift of a reasonable amount is due from those who wish to do the
right things. (2:236)
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O
mankind! reverence your Guardian‑Lord, Who created you from a single
Person, created, of like nature, his mate, and from them twain
scattered (like seeds) countless men and women;‑ Reverence Allah,
through Whom ye demand your mutual (rights), and (reverence) the wombs
(that bore you); for Allah ever watches over you. (4:1)
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And give
the women (on marriage) their dower as a free gift; but if they, of
their own good pleasure, remit any part of it to you, take it and
enjoy it with right good cheer. (4:4)
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In what
your wives leave, your share is a half, if they leave no child; but,
if they leave a child, ye get a fourth; after payment of legacies and
debts. In what ye leave, their share is a fourth, if ye leave no
child. But if ye leave a child, they get an eighth; after payment of
legacies and debts. (4:12)
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O ye who
believe! ye are forbidden to inherit women against their will. Nor
should ye treat them with harshness, that ye may take away part of the
dower ye have given them,‑except where they have been guilty of open
lewdness; on the contrary live with them on a footing of kindness and
equity. If ye take a dislike to them it may be that ye dislike a
thing, and Allah brings about through it a great deal of good. (4:19)
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But if ye
decide to take one wife in place of another, even if ye had given the
latter a whole treasure for dower, take not the least bit of it back:
Would ye take it by slander and a manifest wrong? (4:20)
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Men are
the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has given the
one more (strength) than the other, and because they support them from
their means. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient, and
guard in (the husband's) absence what Allah would have them guard. As
to those women on whose part ye fear disloyalty and ill‑conduct,
admonish them (first) (next), refuse to share their beds, (and last)
beat them (lightly); but if they return to obedience, seek not against
them means (of annoyance):Foy Allah is Most High, great (above you
all). (4:34)
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If ye
fear a breach between them twain, appoint (two) arbiters, one from his
family, and the other from hers; if they wish for peace, Allah will
cause, their reconciliation: for Allah hath full knowledge, and is
acquainted with all things. (4:35)
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It is He
Who created you from a single person, and made his mate of like
nature, in order that he might dwell with her (in love). When they are
united, she bears a light burden and carries it about (unnoticed).
When she grows heavy, they both pray to Allah their Lord, (saying);
"If Thou givest us a goodly child, we vow we shall (ever) be
grateful." (7:189)
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And Allah
has made for you mates (and companions) of your own nature, and made
for you, out of them, sons and daughters and grandchildren, and
provided for you sustenance of the best: will they then believe in
vain things, and be ungrateful for Allah's favours.‑ (16:72)
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And among
His Signs is this, that He created for you mates from among
yourselves, that ye may dwell in tranquillity with them, and He has
put love and mercy between your (hearts):Verily in that are Signs for
those who reflect. (30:21)
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Let the
women live (in 'iddat), in the same style as ye live, according
to your means: Annoy them not, so as to restrict them. And if they
carry (life in their wombs), then spend (your substance) on them until
they deliver their burden: and if they suckle your (offspring), give
them their recompense: and take mutual counsel together, according to
what is just and reasonable. And if ye find yourselves in
difficulties, let another woman suckle (the child) on the (father's)
behalf. (65:6)
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II ‑ AHADITH OF THE PROPHET
Ahadith of
Hadrat Muhammad (may Allah's peace be on him) on the rights of the wives
are:
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Abu
Omamah reported from the Messenger of Allah who used to say: Next to
fear of Allah the believer finds nothing good for him than a virtuous
wife. If he bids her, she obeys him; if he looks at her she gives him
pleasure; if he gives her a promise, she fulfils it, and if he is
absent from her, she guards herself and his property. (Ibn Majah)
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Abu
Hurairah reported from the Holy Prophet who said: When a man has two
wives and he does not deal equitably between them, he will come on the
Resurrection Day with a side hanging down. (Tirmizi, Abu Daud, Nisai)
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Hakim‑b‑
Muawiyah from his father reported: I asked: O Messenger of Allah! what
right has the wife of one among us got over him? He said it is that
you shall give her food when you have taken your food, that you shall
clothe her when you have clothed yourself, that you shall not slap her
on the face, nor revile (her), nor leave (her) alone except within the
house. (Ahmad, Abu Daud, Ibn Majah)
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Abu
Hurairah reported that the Messenger of Allah said: The most perfect
of the believers in faith is he who is the best of them in conduct,
and the best of you are those who are the best to their wives.
[Tirmizi (approved, correct)]
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aber‑b‑Abdullah
reported that the Messenger of Allah said: Fear Allah regarding women.
Verily you have married them with trust of Allah and made their
private parts lawful with the word of Allah. You have got (rights)
over them that they entertain nobody to your beds which you dislike.
If they do this, give them a beating without causing injury. They
have got (rights)
over you in respect of their food and clothing according to means.
(Bukhari and Muslim)
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Anas
reported that the Messenger of Allah said: When a woman says her five
(prayers) and fasts her month, and guards her private parts, and obeys
her husband, let her enter Paradise by whichever door she likes. (Abu
Nayeem in Hilya)
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Abu
Hurairah reported that a man came to the Messenger of Allah and said:
I have got a dinar. He said: Spend it for yourself. He said: I have
got another. He said: Spend it for your children. He said: I have got
another, He said: Spend it for your wife. He said: I have got another.
He replied: Spend it for your servant: He said: I have got another. He
replied: you know best. (Abu Daud, Nisai)
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Abu
Hurairah reported that the Messenger of Allah said: (As for) a dinar
you have spent in the way of Allah, and a dinar you have spent in
emancipating a slave, and a dinar you have given to a poor man in
charity and a dinar you have spent for your family, the greatest of
them in reward is that which you have spent for your family. (Muslim)
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Abu
Hurairah reported that the Messenger of Allah said: Let no believing
man hate a believing woman. If he hates one trait of her character, he
shall be pleased with another that is within her. (Muslim)
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Nothing
among the choicest blessings of this world is better than a virtuous
wife. (Ibn Majah)
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It is
reported by Abdullah bin Umar that during the life time of the Holy
Prophet, the companions treated their wives most politely for fear
that a Commandment concerning them might be revealed, and not until he
had passed away did they begin talking with them freely." (Bukhari)
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Once
Hazrat ‘Umar complained that women had grown insolent and sought
permission for beating them to‑Ft them right. The Prophet granted the
permission. The same day seventy women were beaten in their houses by
husbands who had long been awaiting such permission. The next day all
the women came to the Holy Prophet's house with bitter complaints. The
Holy Prophet called the people together and addressed them: "Today
seventy women have visited Muhammad's house ‑ all complaining against
the harsh treatment of their husbands. The men who have misbehaved in
this manner are certainly not the best among you." (Ibn Majah)
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In his
famous Farewell Address, delivered at Arafat on the occasion of last
pilgrimage in 10 A.H., the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)
declared: "Well then, people! verily there are rights in favour of
your women which are incumbent upon you, and there are rights in
favour of you which are incumbent upon them. As to what is incumbent
upon them in your regard, is that they should not let your beds be
trampled by others than you, should not allow those to enter your
houses whom you do not like without your authorization, and should not
commit turpitude. If they do commit that, then God has given you
permission to reprimand them, to separate yourself from them in beds,
and to strike them but not hard. If they abstain and obey you, then it
is incumbent upon you to provide their food and dress in accordance
with good custom. And I command you to treat women well,, because they
are like captives in your houses, possessing nothing for themselves,
and you, on your part, take them as a deposit from God, and permit
yourselves the enjoyment of their persons by means of a word of God.
Have therefore the fear of God with regard to women, and I order you
to treat them well. Attention! Have I communicated? O God, be
witness!" (Ibn Hasham quoted by Dr. Hamidullah)
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III ‑ RIGHTS IN THE LIGHT OF QUR'AN AND HADITH
In the
following paragraphs, the status of woman as wife in the light of the
Qur'an and Sunnah, and the rights granted to her in this position by
Islam are discussed.
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About the
relationship between the husband and wife the Qur'an says "They are
your garments, And ye are their garments" (2:187). This beautiful
description indeed sums up in an excellent way the relation of husband
to his wife and the relation of wife to her husband. As one's clothes
are close to one and nothing is in between one's clothes and one's
body, similarly husband and wife are closely related to each other. As
the clothes protect a persons from the heat and cold and from the
vagaries of the weather, similarly husband and wife protect each other
from the onslaught of social evils and moral vices of base passions,
lewdness, fornication, inequity, sexual indulgence etc. The husband
and wife are thus for mutual support, comfort and protection, fitting
into each other like garments.
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Again (in
2:223), the Holy Qur'an has declared the women as tilth for their
husbands. Here the relationship has been declared to be that which
exists between a tiller and his tilth, between the cultivator and his
field, and between the farmer and his land. As the farmer goes to his
field not as a matter of sport or enjoyment but with the serious
intention of getting as good produce as he can, so he works hard, sows
seed and protects his field and crops from the natural calamities as
well as the trespass of human beings and animals. Similarly the
husband is required to take this relationship seriously and not to
consider his wife as a source of mere enjoyment and pleasure. He
should provide her and his children which he gets out of her, as best
maintenance as he can and also love and affection, protection and
security, and comfort and happiness. Thus the revealed book of Islam,
in this verse, has highlighted that aspect of the relationship between
husband and wife which deals with the duties of husband towards his
wife and children.
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Islam,
for the first time in the history of man on earth, raised the status
of woman from mere chattel which was to be owned and possessed and
enjoyed like any other object of property, to the status of a human
being having the same rights as of man. The Qur'an says:
"And
women shall have rights similar to the rights against them, according
to what is equitable." (2:228)
The
Prophet of Islam (peace be upon him) declared: "Fear Allah regarding
women. Verily you have married them with the trust of Allah ...They
have got rights over you in respect of their food and clothing
according to means"‑(Bukhari, Muslim). Again the Prophet said:
"The most
perfect of the believers is he who is the best of them in conduct, and
the best of you are those who are the best to their wives" (Tirmizi).
The woman
enjoys many rights as wife in her marital life in respect of marriage,
divorce, dower, inheritance, maintenance, protection, love and
affection etc. These rights would be discussed in detail at the proper
place. There is a chapter in the Holy Qur'an entitled "The Women" (Surah
An-Nisa), the major portion of which is devoted to the rights and
obligations of women, law of inheritance, family life etc. Surah
Baqarah, Surah An‑Nur, Surah Al‑Ahzab and Surah AI‑Talaq also deal
with subjects pertaining to women and family life to a great extent.
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The
Qur'an enjoins upon the believers to accord good treatment to their
women. It says: "Treat them kindly, if you hate them it may be that
you dislike a thing while Allah has placed abundant good in it‑"
(4:19). The best commentary on this verse has been made in a Hadith of
the Prophet of Islam who said: "Let no believing man hate a believing
woman. If he hates one trait of her character, he shall be pleased
with another that is within her‑" (Muslim).
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A woman
has absolute right to dower (Haq Mahr) from her husband (Qur'an
4:4) and there is no maximum limit on the amount of dower (Qur'an
4:20). She is entitled to inheritance after the death of her husband.
If the deceased has no child, the share of the wife in the heritage
would be one fourth and in case the husband leaves child after him,
the share of his wife or wives would be one‑eighth ‑ (Al‑Qur'an 4:12).
She is entitled to maintenance during the subsistence of marriage and
in certain circumstances even after the dissolution of the marriage
(Al‑Qur'an 65:6). She has certain legal rights in respect of divorce
also, can obtain Khula (AlQur’an 2:229) and also can seek dissolution
of her marriage in certain circumstances (Dissolution of Muslim
Marriages Act 1939). An arbiter can be appointed from her side to look
after her interest in case of her differences with her husband (AlQur'an
4:35) She has legal rights of owning property, managing it and
disposing it of, without reference to her husband.
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As a
wife, she is the source of comfort and peace for her husband and
similarly her husband is a source of comfort, consolation, peace and
security for her. Allah has created love and affection between them
(Al‑Qur'an 30:21). Allah blesses the men with children through their
wives (Al‑Qur'an 16:72).
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From
verse 34 of the chapter 4 of the Holy Qur'an and from some Ahadith of
the Prophet (peace be upon him), some people have wrongly concluded
that Islam has issued an unrestricted licence in the favour of the
husbands to resort to beating of their wives. The Western writers have
particularly, made a lot of fuss on this issue. However, this is
absolutely incorrect to presume that the husbands have been empowered
to undertake indiscriminate beating of their wives on mere trivials.
Qur'an permits it as a last resort in the form of light punishment in
the case of serious defiance and rebellion by the wife. But the Qur'an
allows it after the exercise of certain preliminaries like admonition
and separation from bed. In spite of this permission, the Prophet of
Islam discouraged its exercise except in very extreme cases of
lewdness or immoral conduct or rebellion. He also prescribed that the
mild punishment may be awarded with small things like tooth‑stick but
never with whip. Punishment should not be excessive to injure the wife
and it should not at all be inflicted on her face.
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IV ‑ VIEWS OF THE SCHOLARS
The views
of some eminent scholars of Islam about the status of woman as wife are
cited below:‑
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Maulana
Fazlul Karim in his book ‘Al‑Hadis' writes: "The ideal of wifehood in
Islam is love and affection and not subordination and servitude. She
is regarded as the safeguard for husband against sin and not the `road
to inequity', a strong fortress against inroads of the devil and `not
the gate of the devil' a light house of virtue that saves man from
shipwreck when tossed by the raging waves of passion, and not the
instrument of devil's works, and a great transformer of a brute
husband into an angel. A virtuous wife is the best treasure which a
man can justly be proud of. She is the queen of the household because
the Prophet said that a woman is a ruler over the household of her
husband. She forms the greatest factor in the formation of the
character of children and in reclaiming husband from falling on
slippery ground of immorality. Indeed, she is a partner in life for
consolation and peace".
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Justice
Aftab Hussain writes: Marriage confers no right on either party over
the property of the other. The legal capacity of the wife is not sunk
in that of the husband; she retains the same powers of using and
disposing of her property, or of entering into all contracts regarding
it, of suing and being sued without his consent, as if she were still
unmarried. She can even sue her husband without the intervention of a
trustee or next friend and is in no respect under his legal
guardianship. (Status of the Women in Islam)
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Syed
Ameer Ali sums up the status of woman as wife in the following
words:"On her marriage she does not lose her individuality. She does
not cease to be a separate member of society. An ante‑nuptial
settlement by the husband in favour of the wife is a necessary
condition, and on his failure to make a settlement the law presumes
one in accordance with the social position of the wife. A Moslem
marriage is a civil act, needing no priest, requiring no ceremonial.
The contract of marriage gives the man no power over the woman's
person, beyond what the law defines, and none whatever upon her goods
and property. Her rights as a mother do not depend for their
recognition upon the idiosyncrasies of individual judges. Her earnings
acquired by her own exertions cannot be wasted by a prodigal husband;
nor can she be ill‑treated with impunity by one who is brutal. She
acts, if sui juris, in all matters which relate to herself and
her property in her own individual right, without the intervention of
husband or father. She can sue her debtors in the open courts, without
the necessity of joining a next friend, or under cover of her
husband's name. She continues to exercise, after she has passed from
her father's house into her husband's home, all the rights which the
law gives to men. All the privileges which belong to her as a woman
and a wife are secured to her, not by the courtesies which "come and
go," but by the actual text in the book of law. Taken as a whole, her
status is not more unfavourable than that of many European women,
whilst in many respects she occupies a decidedly better position. Her
comparatively backward condition is. the result of a‑ want of culture
among the community generally, rather than of any special feature in
the laws of the fathers." (The Spirit of Islam)
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V ‑ HER RIGHTS IN OTHER SOCIETIES
Among the
pre‑Islamic pagan Arabs, the wife had no locus standi. She was
taken as a mere chattel like any other household goods and was
considered to have no soul. She was kept in the house not for conjugal
love and happiness but for satisfaction of lust and passions of the
husband.
Among the
Athenians, the most civilised and most cultured of all the nations of
antiquity, the wife was a mere chattel marketable and transferable to
others and subject of testamentary disposition. She was regarded in the
light of an evil, indispensable for the ordering of a household and
procreation of children.
Encyclopedia Americana writes about the position of wife in Hebrew Law:
"The word for wife, beulah meant "owned" and the Scriptures instructed
the wife: "Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over
thee." The husband had a proprietary rights over his wife. The property
rights of the wife were limited. Her earnings and her property income
belonged to her husband. Virginity of brides was highly prized.
Intercourse during menses was ‑punishable by death. In ancient Israel,
all a man had to do if his wife did not find favour with him, was to
write her a bill of divorcement and send her out of his house.
Under Hindu
Law, wife is subjected to her husband and does not enjoy any
independence with regard to enjoyment or disposition of property. The
husband can seize property of his wife at any time on the pretext of
extreme necessity. Child marriage was the general practice among the
Hindus. Marriages of the minors are contracted by their parents and
minor girls after attaining puberty had no right to exercise option of
repudiating such marriages.
In a modern
and most civilised country like England, wife had no rights regarding
property independently of her husband. Under common law, wife had no
independent existence or entity. Wife and husband were regarded as one
person and entity of wife was merged into that of her husband. She could
not acquire, enjoy or alienate property. Law of Property Act, passed in
1925, however, conferred on her some property rights and recognised her
as an entity separate from her husband. The Law Reforms Act, 1935,
enabled her to enter into contracts, independently of her husband; and
sue and be sued.
On the
contrary, Islam confers full rights on the woman in her 'status as wife.
She not only enjoys property rights independently of her husband but
also can sue and be sued. She does not lose her entity after marriage so
much so that she even retains her maiden name unlike the western
practice where she changes her name after the name of her husband.
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