Progress of Women: An Islamic Perspective

WOMEN IN HISTORY AND TODAY at any time in life. But if it is not paid during the lifetime, it is considered a debt and, like all other debts, must be paid from the legacy of the deceased even before the distribution of property among the legal heirs. Apart from Mehr, the wife is also entitled to a share of her husband’s property upon his demise. During the period of the Prophet, the Caliphate, and early Muslim rule, these injunctions were followed. Therefore, women played an indispensable role in the construction of society. They received and imparted education and took an active part in opinion-building and decision-making. They delivered religious discourses, ventured outside their homes to pursue knowledge, and carried on independent trade. But later, as stagnation set in in Muslim society itself, the position of women also gradually deteriorated. Today, Muslim women, like the rest of their counterparts, are in more or less the same deplorable condition, deprived of their rights and opportunities, and kept under difficult conditions. Hence, to improve the present status of Muslim women and women in general, we have to give them their due share in what is their right. It is indispensable that Muslim organizations, as well as secular organizations, should come forward and make efforts to improve the status of women. They must see that women are not deprived of proper education. They have to see that more and more educational institutions for girls are opened and run efficiently for the benefit of women. A thoroughly planned strategy must be