Status of Women in Society

was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man.” (Bible, Corinthians, 11:8.) St. Paul is simply reaffirming the gospel truth in the Old Testament Book of Genesis. Women’s Status in Islam In ancient times, thanks to the unreasoning and unreasonable approach fostered by superstition, speculation, and other forms of irrational thinking, the woman came to be considered inferior; one distressing result was that she was deprived, among many other things, of the right to inherit property. She was entitled to no share, even in family property. How great an incapacitating factor this was may be judged by the neglect and degrading treatment that women had to suffer for centuries. It was not until the advent of Islam that, for the first time in the history of humanity, women were given their due legal rights over property. What is significant is that, in granting women equal status and proper rights, Islam set up an important precedent that had as far-reaching an effect on the civilization of the times as Western civilization has had on today’s world. If Islam could accomplish such a revolution in human affairs, it was because Islam did not remain just a philosophical creed, but it conquered and influenced the minds of the people in most parts of the inhabited world of the times. In the world of today, even those commentators who generously acknowledge the virtues of Islam often repeat