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Womens' Rights in Islam

Some Examples of Absolute Justice in Islam
The first sin

In most religions prior to Islam Eve, peace be upon her, was behind the temptation of Adam, peace be upon him, till he disobeyed Allah and ate from the forbidden tree and was expelled out of heaven and that is why we are all now living on earth not in heaven.

In Islam this idea is totally forbidden and this judgment is totally unfair to Eve, peace be upon her.

The holy Quran enforces four main points regarding this first sin which are:

First : It was both Adam and Eve, peace be upon them, who Allah ordered to eat from all fruit in heaven except a certain tree. The holy Quran says: “And We said: O Adam! Dwell you and your wife in the garden and eat from it a plenteous (food) wherever you wish and do not approach this tree, for then you will be of the unjust." (AlBakaraa : 35)

Second : It is evident in the holy Quran that the one who tempted Adam, peace be upon him, is satan (Al-Shaitan). Satan tempted both Adam and Eve, peace be upon them, and so Eve, peace be upon her, was a victim of the devil’s temptation as much as Adam, peace be upon him. The holy Quran says: “But the Shaitan (Satan) made an evil suggestion to them that he might make manifest to them what had been hidden from them of their evil inclinations, and he said: Your Lord has not forbidden you this tree except that you may not both become two angels or that you may (not) become of the immortals And he swore to them both: Most surely I am a sincere adviser to you." (Al-Araaf : 20-21)

Third : The holy Quran was so clear in blaming Adam, peace be upon him. The holy Quran says “and Adam disobeyed his Lord, so his life became evil (to him)." (Tahaa : 121)

Fourth : Which is a key point in Islam which is that no one is to be blamed for what others did. Guilts are not inherited and every man is responsible for his actions “Whoever goes aright, for his own soul does he go aright; and whoever goes astray, to its detriment only does he go astray: nor can the bearer of a burden bear the burden of another, nor do We chastise until We raise an apostle." (Al-Israa : 15) Accordingly, Islam refuses to put the burden of what Adam, peace be upon him, did on Eve, peace be upon her. And so it is totally forbidden in Islam to put the burden of this first sin on all women by claiming that they are behind every guilt on earth.

This idea of blaming Eve, peace be upon her, was wrongfully used by some religions to unjustly blame all women and considering her the source of all evil for example:

1. Considering sex as absolute evil that prevents a man from being pious and avoiding sex became the way to absolute faith. This concept contradicts with the human nature and with God’s wisdom in creating man to live and be Allah vicegerent on earth

2. The idea of sex being absolute evil led to underestimating and sometimes hatred of women as being the cause of rousing desires.

3. This strange view of women as the source of evil led to the appearance of even stranger ideas like “Are women human?", “ Do women have spirits?"..etc. Some examples of this strange views are :

  • In the bible (John 2) it says : “And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: 2 And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. 3 And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. 4 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee?". Do you really believe that Jesus, peace be upon him, would speak in this improper way to his mother who the holy Quran said about her “And when the angels said: O Marium! surely Allah has chosen you and purified you and chosen you above the women of the world." (Al-Emran – 42)

  • In the bible (Timothy 2:13) it says : “For Adam was first formed, then Eve. 14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression."

In fact there are many examples that clarifies how women were regarded inferior to man in many occasions. I do not intend to go on with these examples because the point here is to say that Islam freed women from being inferior to man and the first step that Islam used to enforce this idea of equality was to ensure that Eve was not responsible for Adam’s mistake and that every human carries the burden of only what he himself committed by his own will.