Legal Status
The rules laid down by the Quran in the matter of the legal rights of woman are
clear and comprehensive. The Quran says:
"Men shall have a portion of what the parents and the near relatives leave, and
women shall have a portion of what the parents and the near relatives leave"
(4:7).
And:
"For men is the benefit of what they earn. And for women is the benefit of what
they earn" (4:32).
Spiritual Rights
Islam declares that man and woman both came from the same source (the Quran
repudiates the idea of woman being created from the rib of man), so that both
must possess the same quality of soul. The following verse is clear about this:
"Surely the men who submit and the women who submit, and the believing men and
the believing women, and the obeying men and the obeying women, and the truthful
men and the truthful women, and the patient men and the patient women, and the
humble men and the humble women, and the almsgiving men and the almsgiving
women, and the fasting men, and the fasting women, and the men who guard their
private parts, and the women who guard, and the men who remember ALLAH much, and
the women who remember ALLAH much - ALLAH has prepared for them forgiveness and
a mighty reward" (33:35).
Social Position
In contrast to the popular views on the rights of woman as against those of man,
we have the following in the Quran:
"And they (i.e. women) have rights similar to those against them in a just
manner" (2:228).
The interdependence of man and woman is still more clearly asserted in the
words:
"They (your wives) are a garment for you, just as you are a garment for them"
(2:187).
What a beautiful metaphor is this! As garments hide our nakedness and such
physical defects as need covering, so do husband and wife hide the animal
weaknesses each of the other. Unfortunately, the civilized man of modern times
does not seem to realize that sexual passion in man is only the expression of
the animal that is in him, and that the more it is hidden and controlled, the
better it is for his dignity. Again, as our clothes give comfort to the body, so
do husbands and wives find comfort in each other's company; and, lastly, the
garment is the grace, the beauty and the embellishment of the body; so, too, are
wives and husbands, the one to the other.