Are Men and Women Equal in Islam?

Gender equality in Islam | Women rights

This is one of the many constant questions that speculate in the minds of people nowadays, and it is often discussed in the media, as well as many social platforms. 

It has become an issue due to the society that we live in today; a society that is being driven by secular and liberal values. 

Thus, it is the liberals and secularists who try to inhabit the minds of Muslims with the idea that Islamic laws and commands lack equality between the genders; thereby, causing confusion in the minds and hearts of Muslims. I pondered upon this issue a while back, and I would like to share a few thoughts.

The first response to this question must be: What is equality?

I have noticed, through observation, that many people have inconsistent definitions of what equality is; it seems to change from one individual to another. 

Furthermore, these days the agenda of gender equality seems to be tending towards turning women into men! This whole concept of women having to match men in every regard, being side-by-side with them in every law and every facet of life, is projected onto what people are perceiving to be equality. 

Let us be clear, this is not equality! Rather, it is uniformity: the attempt to make both genders the same in every regard, which is utterly absurd! One must ask the question, is our idea of equality a side-by-side, copy-cat fashion of behaviours between men and women, or are we speaking of equality in terms of rights?

Say we accept that equality is women behaving and carrying out the exact same tasks as men, then what of the men who wish to carry out certain behaviours that are specific to women? 

What if a man wishes to carry a child through pregnancy? 

What if he wishes to give birth?

It is, of course, apparent that there are biological limitations here and, therefore, ultimate equality, according to the above stated definition, cannot be achieved. 

We come to understand from this that equal rights should not be conflated with identical rights, and this is something that Islam has clarified and taught us. If only we sought out the right means of understanding this from our revelatory evidences and the noble scholars; rather than lending an ear to the secularists and liberals who have no consistency in what they consider to be morally or ethically right or wrong!

In Islam, we learn that each gender has an inherent role or responsibility, that it is in their nature to be inclined towards a particular way of living or the choices that they make. 

There are even several scientific studies which prove this (one may look them up); however, for the sake of brevity I will not go into detail regarding these studies. 

An example of genders taking certain roles or responsibilities, in order to achieve harmony and success, can be seen within a football team: the goalkeeper and the striker both have different roles and responsibilities within their team; however, if the goalkeeper starts to demand the right to carry out the same roles as that of the striker, and vice versa, then we can confidently say that this team will not have any success in winning any games.

Likewise, men and women have particular roles that are established within their nature, which allows them to work in harmony with each other, as well as maintain a balanced and healthy lifestyle.

For example, every finger on a hand is not the same length, each serves an individual purpose (though we may not understand how). If we were to attempt to make all the fingers equal in size, it would result in a hand that does not function correctly. 

For this reason, Islam has allocated independent rights to each gender, in accordance with their roles, responsibilities and their capacity; thus, it can be argued that Islam has a greater application of what equality is and that, ultimately, it is more just!

Many a times, attacks are made on Islam by putting forward examples that the attackers themselves have failed to understand; such as, questioning why a woman inherits less than a man, and why the testimony of a woman is only half of that of a man in court. These questions have answers, which we can comfortably address through explanation and education, so as to prove that this does not cause any inequality in rights; however, it is another point, or rather a question, that I am trying to raise here: why are these questions, where a woman is seemingly inferior to a man, zoomed in on using microscopic vision, and not other elements of our religion? For example, we believe that the purpose, the entire meaning of our existence and the ultimate objective of all our endeavours is to attain Jannah (Paradise); in Islam, we believe that Allah has placed this at the feet of women, i.e, our mothers. 

Furthermore, Allah has conditioned the entire goodness and excellence of men in women. How? 

Consider the following hadith of the Prophet ﷺ, wherein he said:

"The best of you are those who are best to their women and I am the best of you to my wives." [Tirmidhi]. 

Aren't these narrations seemingly biased and unfair towards men? 

Maybe, but in reality they are not, because they have specific contexts and applications according to the specific roles and responsibilities of men and women.

However, we will never hear such narrations mentioned by these people, and I can confidently say that this will not sit well with them, no matter how many examples or arguments we provide in response to their confusions. 

But, anybody with some serious objective and sincere insight will know that Islam is the perfect religion for both men and women, and the only religion or way of life that truly gives women their rights that are due to them. 

We ask Allah to grant us all understanding of His Dīn! Āmīn. 

Muhammad Yasir al Hanafi

#GenderEquality #Islam #WomenRights

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