Role of Women in History

WOMEN IN HISTORY AND TODAY If she can bear this burden, no objection will be raised from any quarter. One example of this can be found in the Quran with reference to the people of Sheba. They lived in Yemen. The famous dam of Marib made their country very prosperous and enabled it to attain a high degree of civilization. The Quran tells us that they were ruled by a woman (27:23) without disapproving of her rule. Bilqis, the Queen of Sheba, was sagacious, even more so than the men in her court. She did not want to embroil her country in war, while the men advised her to confront her enemies, Solomon’s army. It is an accepted principle with the commentators of the Quran that when the Quran reports something without any disapproval, it means the Quran has approved of that. So, when we look at the above incident in the light of the Quran, we find the status of women in Islam is even higher than that of men. A woman is in charge of men and has shouldered this responsibility with greater efficacy. Thus, the example of the Queen of Sheba in the Quran shows that rulership is not man’s monopoly. A woman can be a ‘qawwam’ over a man, and the Quran has itself testified to it. In fact, in the early period of Islam, both sexes were fully active in different fields of life, from housework to agriculture and horticulture and from worship in the mosque to the battleground. Everywhere, women were visible and active. Gradually, there came about a division of labour, which is justifiable not only biologically and physiologically