Religious Rights of Women in Islam and Misconceptions of the Western Culture

However, such allegations about Islamic ways of treating women are not correct (Edwards 53). Actually, various progressive rights have been provided by Islamic culture to protect the women in Islam. This is contrary to ways that the Westerners think about the Islamic culture. According to every religion, men and women are often equal even though to some extent they are not. The Islamic religion has given women various rights such as a right to marry any person of their choice, to education, to retain their identity after marriage, to participate in democratic processes, to own or sell the property, to divorce, to work and to access the protection by the law. Motherhood Muslims believe that God provides various privileges to the females, which would elevate their positions in the Islamic family.

Actually, the Quran highlights God's teachings on how to treat women in Islam states. God outlines various challenges, which women pass through while bearing the children to remind Muslims that they should treat their mothers with love, care, and respect (Edwards 62). Moreover, Muhammad also emphasized that Muslims should be treating their mothers with care, respect, and love because heaven lies at the feet of their mothers. Similarly, when many people would be asking Muhammad about the most appropriate person for healthy companionship, he kept on referring them to their mothers. However, due to the revolutionary movements in the seventh century, Islam granted women the opportunity to inherit property from the relatives and own the property. Therefore, regardless of the age of the women, they have right to receive shares of a property of the deceased relatives (Mir-Hosseini 300).

However, shares depend on the level of relationship with the diseased and the number of heirs who are supposed to inherit the property of the diseased. On the other hand, many communities in the world still deprive women the right to inherit and own property. Moreover, such communities still treat women as a property for men to inherit when their husbands die. Islamic culture gives a woman such rights to enhance her financial security and independence in case the husband divorces her. Marriage In Islamic states, the woman's approval is essentially necessary to complete the marriage contract, therefore; she can either accept or reject the marriage proposals. The culture of the Muslims protects the woman against forceful marriages. Furthermore, women possess the freedom to ask for a divorce if they are not satisfied with the conditions of the marriage.

Muslims believe that marriage should be based on three aspects; peace, love, and compassion. Even though majority especially Westerners believe that Muslims oppress women based the modest on clothing, female Muslims are free from environmental objectification originating from the environment around them (Wadud 65). According to Muslims, woman’s modest appearance, which involves veiling, enhances her personality and character rather than the external beauty and figure. Such dresses promote deeper understanding and appreciation of her behaviors and personalities. Women in often emulate Mary, the mother of Jesus for her piety and modesty. Westerners’ Misconceptions On the other hand, Westerners’ perception about the female Muslim is quite contradicting. Muslims believe that currently, they give women equal opportunities to pursue knowledge. For example, Muslim women founded the world’s oldest University in the ninth century.

Moreover, currently, women in Islam are working extra hard to have access to education. Therefore, such Western beliefs about Muslims are wrong. Furthermore, Westerners believe that based on the Muslims culture, women are inferior to men. Therefore, the Islamic women have been empowered with various rights and freedoms that promote their protections under the Islamic law (1. The Liberation of Islamic Letters: Bint al-Shati ʾ is Literary License 35). Therefore, Muslims not only honor but also dignify women in the societal structure. However, Islamic states should eliminate the festering and diseased pustule, which would define a half of the community as a walking organ for sex. This would enhance theology, which is based on the arguments that empower and help women to make a dignified decision about their religious tradition.