Women in Religious Life

RIGHTS AND PROGRESS OF WOMEN managers of the household, joined the congregational prayers in the mosque, too. (Sahih al-Bukhari Vol. 10, pp. 162,164) Mohammad Akram Nadwi, a religious scholar, has compiled biographies of 8000 female jurists. The famous Orientalist Ignac Goldziher has said that 15% of medieval Hadith scholars were women. (Power, Carla. ‘A Secret History.’ New York Times, Feb 2007.) He has also said that the number dwindled over the years. However, this was more because cultural barriers hindered women from seeking to pursue such a vocation. (Khalid Abou El Fadl ‘In Recognition of Women.’ Published in ‘The Minaret,’ July/Aug 1991. Reprinted in ‘Voices,’ Vol 1, No. 2 Dec/ Jan 1992). We can thus see how no other religion or society provides such considerate laws for the welfare of women as Islam does. And we can also see how women enjoy equal status. At the United Nation’s 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1994, 189 governments signed a document calling for equality between men and women. The international community acknowledged this as a guiding principle towards promoting Women’s Rights. However, this was rejected by many Muslim countries. This rejection was because they already had a Shariah, a Divine Law that cannot be questioned. Most importantly, the Shariah has made women equal to men as they should be! (Mayer, A.N. “Rhetorical Strategies and Official Policies on Women’s Rights.” The Merits and Drawbacks of the New World Hypocrisy, p. 107)