Muslim Women

The experiences of Muslim women ( ''Muslimāt'', singular مسلمة ''Muslimah'') vary widely between and within different societies. At the same time, their adherence to Islam is a shared factor that affects their lives to a varying degree and gives them a common identity that may serve to bridge the wide cultural, social, and economic differences between them.

Many women are mentioned in the Quran, but only one is named: Mary, who appears more times in the Quran than in the Bible. According to the Quran, divine grace surrounded Mary from birth, and, as a young woman, she received a message from God through the archangel Gabriel that God had chosen her, purified her and preferred her above all "the women of the worlds".Stowasser, Barbara Freyer, "Mary", in: ''Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān'', General Editor: Jane Dammen McAuliffe, Georgetown University, Washington DC.

Among the influences which have played an important role in defining the social, legal, spiritual, and cosmological status of women in the course of Islamic history are the sacred scriptures of Islam: the Quran; the ''ḥadīth'', which are traditions relating to the deeds and aphorisms attributed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his companions; '' ijmā''', which is a scholarly consensus, expressed or tacit, on a question of law; '' qiyās'', the principle by which the laws of the Quran and the ''sunnah'' or prophetic custom are applied to situations not explicitly covered by these two sources of legislation; and ''fatwā'', non-binding published opinions or decisions regarding religious doctrine or points of law. Additional influences include pre-Islamic cultural traditions; secular laws, which are fully accepted in Islam so long as they do not directly contradict Islamic precepts; religious authorities, including government-controlled agencies such as the Indonesian Ulema Council and Turkey's Diyanet; and spiritual teachers, which are particularly prominent in Islamic mysticism or Sufism. Many of the latter, including the medieval Muslim philosopher Ibn Arabi, have themselves produced texts that have elucidated the metaphysical symbolism of the feminine principle in Islam.

There is considerable variation as to how the above religious and legal sources are interpreted within the Sunni branch of Islam. In particular, extremist and fundamentalist Sunni movements such as Wahhabis and Salafists tend to reject Islamic mysticism and theology outright; this has profound implications for the way that women are perceived within these ideological sects. Conversely, within Islamic Orthodoxy, both the established theological schools and Sufism are at least somewhat influential.

Sources of influence

There are four sources of influence under Islam for Muslim women. The first two, the Quran and ''ḥadīth'' literature, are considered primary sources, while the other two are secondary and derived sources that differ between various Muslim sects and schools of Islamic jurisprudence. The secondary sources of influence include '' ijmā''', '' qiyās'', ''fatwā'', and ''ijtihad''.Motahhari, Morteza (1983). Jurisprudence and Its Principles, translator:Salman Tawhidi, .Kamali, Mohammad Hashim. Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence, Cambridge: Islamic Text Society, 1991.

Primary

Within Sunni Islam, women are provided a number of guidelines prescribed by the Quran and ''ḥadīth'' literature, as understood by ''fiqh'' (Islamic jurisprudence), as well as in accordance with the interpretations derived from the ''ḥadīth'' that were agreed upon by majority of Sunni Muslim scholars as authentic beyond doubt based on ''ḥadīth'' studies.Haddad and Esposito, (1998), Islam, Gender, and Social Change, Oxford University Press, . The Quran holds that men and women have equal moral agency and they both receive equal rewards in the afterlife. These interpretations and their application were shaped by the historical context of the Muslim world at the time they were written.

During his life, Muhammad married nine or eleven women, depending upon the differing accounts of who were his wives. In pre-Islamic Arabian culture, marriage was generally contracted in accordance with the larger needs of the tribe and was based on the need to form alliances within the tribe and with other tribes. Virginity at the time of marriage was emphasized as a tribal honor. William Montgomery Watt states that all of Muhammad's marriages had the political aspect of strengthening friendly relationships and were based on the pre-Islamic Arabian custom.

Al-Nisa'

''Women'' or ''Sūrat an-Nisāʼ'' is the fourth chapter of the Quran. The title of the surah derives from the numerous references to women throughout the chapter,Haleem, M. A. S. Abdel. The Qur'an. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. Print. including verses 4:34 and 4:127 – 4:130.

Secondary

The above primary sources of influence on women of Islam do not deal with every conceivable situation over time. This led to the development of jurisprudence and religious schools with Islamic scholars that referred to resources such as identifying authentic documents, internal discussions, and establishing a consensus to find the correct religiously approved course of action for Muslims. These formed the secondary sources of influence for women. Among them are '' ijmā''', '' qiyās'', ''ijtihad'', and others, depending on the sect and the corresponding schools of Islamic law. Included in secondary sources are the ''fatwā'', which are often widely distributed, orally or in writing by Muslim clerics, to the masses, in local language and describe behavior, roles, and rights of women that conforms with religious requirements. ''Fatwa'' are theoretically non-binding, but seriously considered and have often been practiced by most Muslims. The secondary sources classify the lawful and unlawful behaviors of Muslim men and women which typically fall into the five categories (''al-ahkam al-khamsa''): ''wajib/fard'' (obligatory), ''mustahabb/mandub'' (recommended), ''mubah'' (neutral), ''makruh'' (disapproved), and ''haram'' (forbidden). There is considerable controversy, change over time, and conflict between the secondary sources.

Gender roles

Gender roles in Islam are simultaneously colored by two Quranic precepts: (i) spiritual equality between women and men; and (ii) the idea that women are meant to exemplify femininity, and men masculinity.

Spiritual equality between women and men is detailed in Sūrat al-Aḥzāb (33:35):

Islam's basic view of women and men postulates a complementarity of functions: like everything else in the universe, humanity has been created in a pair (Sūrat al-Dhāriyāt, 51:49)neither can be complete without the other. In Islamic cosmological thinking, the universe is perceived as an equilibrium built on harmonious polar relationships between the pairs that make up all things. Moreover, all outward phenomena are reflections of inward noumena and ultimately of God.

The emphasis which Islam places upon the feminine/masculine polarity (and therefore complementarity) results in a separation of social functions. In general, a woman's sphere of operation is the home in which she is the dominant figureand a man's corresponding sphere is the outside world. Women are highly respected in many aspects of domestic life such as being praised for their knowledge as ritual specialists, healers, caretakers, and those who arrange marriages in their community.

However, this separation is not, in practice, as rigid as it appears. There are many examplesboth in the early history of Islam and in the contemporary worldof Muslim women who have played prominent roles in public life, including being sultanas, queens, elected heads of state and wealthy businesswomen. Moreover, it is important to recognize that in Islam, home and family are firmly situated at the centre of life in this world and of society: a man's work cannot take precedence over the private realm.

The Quran dedicates numerous verses to Muslim women, their role, duties and rights, in addition to ''Sura'' 4 with 176 verses named "An-Nisa" ("Women"). And according to Hadith, prophet Muhammad commanded his male followers to be kind towards their wives.

Gender segregation

While Islam has sometimes been lauded for a historically more progressive portrayal of women, others criticize the Islamic religion for the discriminatory nature of its personal status laws and criminal code as applied to women. Islam's patriarchal values remain one of its most contested principles, although it is important to note that these values vary in the context of different Muslim-majority countries. Generally, however, male and female rights differ considerably according to Islamic personal status laws. For instance, Muslim men are permitted to engage in polygamy and marry Non-Muslim women while Muslim women are forbidden from having multiple husbands and marrying Non-Muslim men, and female inheritances are half of their male siblings’. Furthermore, conviction by Islamic criminal jurisprudence further discriminates against women, as it relies heavily on witness testimony. Female testimonies alone are considered insufficient to convict a murderer, requiring a male testimony for validation.

Some interpretations of the Quran suggest that Islam does not explicitly require women to cover their heads or faces, though the observance of sexual modesty and plain dress for both Muslim men and women is prescribed by the ''ḥadīth'' literature and ''sunnah'' (deeds and sayings attributed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his companions). In practice, this is interpreted by most contemporary Muslims as requiring headcoverings for women and clothing from the navel to the knee for men. The practice of forced veiling is not due to any universal Islamic code; rather, the practice has risen under different contextual circumstances. The dress codes imposed in the Islamic Republic of Iran and in Afghanistan under the Taliban regime, and Islamic schools that require girls to wear a headscarf, have all been cited as examples of forced veiling. These policies of forced veiling have been criticized as coercive instruments for gender segregation that deny female autonomy and agency. However, objections to this argument suggest that forced veiling does not constitute gender apartheid and that social constructions of the veil have wrongfully made it a symbol of gender inequality. During the five-year history of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the Taliban regime interpreted the ''Sharia'' law in accordance with the Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence and the religious edicts of Mullah Omar. Women were banned from working, girls were forbidden to attend schools or universities, were requested to observe ''purdah'' and to be accompanied outside their households by male relatives; those who violated these restrictions were punished. Men were forbidden to shave their beards and required to let them grow and keep them long according to the Taliban's liking, and to wear turbans outside their households. Among other things, the Taliban also forbade both male and female participation in sport, including football and chess, as well as recreational activities such as kite-flying and keeping pigeons or other pets were also forbidden, and the birds were killed according to the Taliban's ruling.

Women's rights activist Mahnaz Afkhami writes that the Islamic fundamentalist worldview "singles out women's status and her relations to society as the supreme test of the authenticity of the Islamic order." This is symbolized by the institutions of ''purdah'' (physical separation of the sexes) and ''awrah'' (concealing the body with clothing). As in much of the world, institutions suppressing women were becoming less powerful until the resurgence of Islamic fundamentalism at the end of the 20th century. Walid Phares writes that Marxism in the Soviet Union and China, as well as "secular anticlericalism" in Turkey forced women to "integrate themselves into an antireligious society" resulting in a backlash of "gender apartheid" by Islamic fundamentalists. He notes that other religions also have "witnessed similar historical struggles".

Salah

There are location-variations for women within mosques and congregations. Within some Islamic schools and branches, there are specific prayer variations for women. Women are not obligated to pray during their menstruation and for a period of time after childbirth. Majority of mosques worldwide have dedicated ladies-only prayer spaces. These include mosques in Muslim-majority countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as mosques in countries where Muslims are a minority group, like Singapore, South Korea, Japan and the United States. In India, as well as some mosques established by South Asian migrant communities in the UK, however, women are not permitted to enter mosques. This causes considerable concern and psychological distress for many Muslim women.

Female education

The classical position

The Quran, ''ḥadīth'' literature, and ''sunnah'' (the spoken or acted example attributed to Muhammad) advocate the rights of women and men equally to seek knowledge. The Quran commands all Muslims to exert effort in the pursuit of knowledge, irrespective of their biological sex: it constantly encourages Muslims to read, think, contemplate and learn from the signs of God in nature. Moreover, Muhammad encouraged education for both males and females: he declared that seeking knowledge was a religious duty binding upon every Muslim man and woman. Like her male counterpart, each woman is under a moral and religious obligation to seek knowledge, develop her intellect, broaden her outlook, cultivate her talents and then use her potential to the benefit of her soul and her society. Copyists made it evident that women were entitled to seek an education just as much as any man by stating in the ''ḥadīth'' literature that it is everyone's duty, whether male or female, to seek knowledge. Along with these ideals came with hesitation from some who believed an educated woman who could read and write was described as poisonous. Many women throughout the Muslim world took this opportunity to receive as much education that was permitted under the law.

Muhammad's teachings were widely sought by both sexes, and accordingly at the time of his death it was reported that there were many female scholars of Islam. Additionally, the wives of Muhammadparticularly Aishaalso taught both women and men; many of his companions and followers learned the Quran, ''ḥadīth'', and Islamic jurisprudence (''fiqh'') from Aisha. Notably, there was restriction placed on the type of knowledge acquired: a woman was free to choose any field of knowledge which is religious not other subject that interested her. Because Islam recognises that women are in principle wives and mothers, the acquisition of knowledge in fields which are complementary to these social roles was specially emphasized.

History of women's education

James E. Lindsay states that Islam encouraged religious education of Muslim women. According to a ''ḥadīth'' in ''Saḥih Muslim'' variously attributed to Aisha and Muhammad, the women of the '' ansar'' were praiseworthy because shame did not prevent them from asking detailed questions about Islamic law.

While it was not common for women to enroll as students in formal religious schools, it was common for women to attend informal lectures and study sessions at mosques, ''madrassa'' and other public places. For example, the attendance of women at the Fatimid Caliphate's "sessions of wisdom" (''majālis al-ḥikma'') was noted by various historians, including Ibn al-Tuwayr, al-Muṣabbiḥī, and Imam. Historically, some Muslim women played an important role in the foundation of many religious educational institutions, such as Fatima al-Fihri's founding of the al-Karaouine mosque in , from which later developed the University of al-Karaouine. Many royal women were founders of educational institutions, including ''madrassa''. In Mamluk Cairo, women were responsible for endowing five ''madrassa'' and could even have the responsibility of being a supervisor of a madrasa administration if they had familial ties to a founder. According to the 12th-century Sunni scholar Ibn 'Asakir, there were various opportunities for female education during the Islamic Golden Age. He writes that women could study, earn ''ijazah'' (religious degrees) and qualify as ''ulama'' and Islamic teachers. Similarly, al-Sakhawi devotes one of the twelve volumes of his biographical dictionary ''Daw al-Lami'' to female religious scholars between 700 and , giving information on 1,075 of them.
Women of prominent urban families were commonly educated in private settings and many of them received and later issued ''ijazah'' in ''ḥadīth'' studies, calligraphy, and recitation of poetry. There was a period of time where women scholars were vital to the transmission of the ''ḥadīth''. Important female scholars such as Shuhda, Zaynab, Aisha, and Fatimah were trained at a very young age and influenced heavily by family members who were also scholars or immersed in the knowledge. Each had an extensive following and made many contributions to teaching those of various backgrounds. Working women learned religious texts and practical skills primarily from each other, though they also received some instruction together with men in mosques and private homes.

During the colonial era, until the early 20th century, there was a gender struggle among Muslims living under the British Empire; educating women was viewed as a prelude to social chaos, a threat to the moral order, and man's world was viewed as a source of Muslim identity.Francis Robinson
The British Empire and Muslim Identity in South Asia
Oxford University Press, pages 18–21; Francis Robinson (1982), Atlas of the Islamic World Since 1500, Muslim women in British India, nevertheless, pressed for their rights independently of men; by the 1930s, 2.5 million girls had entered schools, of which 0.5 million were Muslims.

Women as educators

The mid-14th century saw a rise in women's participation, such as the teaching of ''ḥadīth''. This increase was due to the greater contribution to the education of women and greater encouragement in women's religious participation. Contact with scholars as well as the mosque allowed women to learn and obtain the credentials to teach the ''ḥadīth''. This newfound movement allowed for greater mobilization on the role of women in the passage of knowledge. The expansion of women's religious involvement helped challenge the role of women in the domestic sector and paved the way for a greater expansion of knowledge. ''ḥadīth'' transmission also allowed women to gain status by putting them in a pedigree that connected them to the time of Muhammad. Women who participated in the transmission of the ''ḥadīth'' were known as ''muhaddithat''.

Traveling for knowledge

One way that Islamic scholars obtained knowledge was through traveling. Traveling for knowledge is highly encouraged not only among men but also among female scholars. Women could travel with their ''mahram'' or relatives to other towns to learn and acquire education in the study of ''ḥadīth'' literature. Furthermore, women scholars also took journeys to different cities to teach the ''ḥadīth'' as well as other genera of knowledge, such as literature and law. Students would undertake long journeys just to hear their teachings. Traveling for knowledge allows women scholars the ability to take part in religious teachings outside of their homes. Through traveling and other venues, women hadiths were able to contribute a tremendous amount to the transmission of knowledge in the Islamicate world.

Famous ''muhaddithat''

Zaynab bint al-Kamal

Zaynab bint al-Kamal (1248–1339 CE) was a famous ''ḥadīth'' scholar. She is known to have obtained numerous amounts of ''ijazah'' (permission to teach the ''ḥadīth'') throughout her life, especially in her early years. At the age of one, she received her first ''ijazah'' from Abd al-Khaliq al-Nishtibri. Her father was not a famous hadith transmitter, and there was no account of his role in her studies. However, it was noted that her uncle, Shams al-Din Muhammad, excel in the field of transmission and was most likely the one that facilitated her studies. Her reputation came from her association with al-Nishtibri, with students traveling far to hear her teachings. She was known as a reliable authority that encompasses different genera of studies. She held mixed classes in al-Madrasa al-Diya’iyyah, a congregational mosque, and her home. Students would come from afar to listen to her teachings. She is also known to travel to Egypt and Medina to teach her works. In her later years, she continued to thrive as a teacher. She also repeated her cycle by giving out ''ijazah'' to her students during their early years. In a field where male ''ḥadīth'' teachers predominate, her reputation helped pave the way for more female transmitters of the ''ḥadīth''. Furthermore, she acts as the last connection to the work of famous scholars that might have passed during her time.

Current situation

;Literacy

In a 2013 statement, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation noted that restricted access to education is among the challenges faced by girls and women in the developing world, including OIC member states. UNICEF notes that out of 24 nations with less than 60% female primary enrollment rates, 17 were Islamic nations; more than half the adult population is illiterate in several Islamic countries, and the proportion reaches 70% among Muslim women. UNESCO estimates that the literacy rate among adult women was about 50% or less in a number of Muslim-majority countries, including Morocco, Yemen, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Niger, Mali, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, and Chad.Adult and Youth Literacy, 1990–2015
UNESCO (2012), Egypt had a female literacy rate of 64% in 2010, Iraq of 71% and Indonesia of 90%. Literacy has been improving in Saudi Arabia since the 1970s, the female literacy rate in 2017 for women ages 15–24 was 99.3%, equivalent to the male literacy rate of 99.3%. Western ideals have had an influence over education in Muslim countries due to the increased demand of literacy in males and females. It is evident that more women are making an effort to receive an education by attending primary and secondary school in Muslim countries.

;Gender and participation in education

Some scholars contend that Islamic nations have the world's highest gender gap in education. The 2012 World Economic Forum annual gender gap study finds the 17 out of 18 worst performing nations, out of a total of 135 nations, are the following members of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC): Algeria, Jordan, Lebanon, (Nepal), Turkey, Oman, Egypt, Iran, Mali, Morocco, Côte d'Ivoire, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Chad, Pakistan, and Yemen.

In contrast, UNESCO notes that at 37% the share of female researchers in Arab states compares well with other regions. In Turkey, the proportion of female university researchers is slightly higher (36%) than the average for the 27-member European Union as of 2012 (33%). Comparably, at 36.5%, the overall share of women researchers at universities and science centres in North Africa is above world (22.5%), European (33%) and developed country (26%) averages. In Iran, women account for over 60% of university students. Similarly, in Malaysia, Algeria, and in Saudi Arabia, the majority of university students have been female in recent years, while in 2016 Emirati women constituted 76.8% of people enrolled at universities in the United Arab Emirates. At the University of Jordan, which is Jordan's largest and oldest university, 65% of students were female in 2013.

In a number of OIC member states, the ratio of women to men in tertiary education is exceptionally high. Qatar leads the world in this respect, having 6.66 females in higher education for every male as of 2015. Other Muslim-majority states with notably more women university students than men include Kuwait, where 41% of females attend university compared with 18% of males; Bahrain, where the ratio of women to men in tertiary education is 2.18:1; Brunei Darussalam, where 33% of women enroll at university vis à vis 18% of men; Tunisia, which has a women to men ratio of 1.62 in higher education; and Kyrgyzstan, where the equivalent ratio is 1.61. Additionally, in Kazakhstan, there were 115 female students for every 100 male students in tertiary education in 1999; according to the World Bank, this ratio had increased to 144:100 by 2008.

A notable development specific to the study of physics is that women in Muslim-majority countries enjoy significantly greater representation than their counterparts in the United States: in the US, women make up 21% of physics undergraduates and 20% of PhD students, while the equivalent figures for Muslim-majority nations are 60%+ and 47% respectively. Female physicists who studied in Muslim-majority states and then moved to the US for academic positions noted that when they were in their previous locations, 'they did not feel they had to suppress their femininity to have their intellect – and not their appearance – be the focus of the interaction'.

Similarly, the very high (c.50%) female engineering enrolment rates in three diverse OIC member states – Tunisia, Jordan and Malaysia – have prompted the incorporation of Women in Engineering in Predominately Muslim Countries ('WIEPMCS') at three American universities (Washington State, Purdue and Western Washington). The aim of this project is to 'shed light more generally on how context shapes women's successful participation in STEM in ways that inform our efforts to broaden participation in the US', where female enrolment rates in engineering are typically 15–20%.

In the United States, a recent study done by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding found that Muslim American women (73%) are more likely than Muslim American men (57%) to achieve higher education (post-high school education or higher).

Female employment

Some scholars refer to verse 28:23 in the Quran and to Khadijah, Muhammad's first wife, a merchant before and after converting to Islam, as indications that Muslim women may undertake employment outside their homes.

Traditional interpretations of Islam require a woman to have her husband's permission to leave the house and take up employment,Ziba Mir-Hosseini (2009), Towards Gender Equality: Muslim Family Laws and the Shari'ah, Wanted: Equality and Justice in the Muslim Family (Editor: Zainah Anwar), Musawah, Kuala Lumpur, , pp 31–33Doi, A. Rahman, & Bewley, A. (1992). Women in Shari'ah. Ta-Ha, 4th Edition; though scholars such as Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa and Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Ebrahim Jannaati have said that women do not require a husband's permission to leave the house and work.

History

During medieval times, the labor force in Spanish Caliphate included women in diverse occupations and economic activities such as farming, construction workers, textile workers, managing slave girls, collecting taxes from prostitutes, as well as presidents of guilds, creditors, religious scholars.Maya Shatzmiller (1994), ''Labour in the Medieval Islamic World'', Brill Publishers, , , 350–401;
* Maya Shatzmiller (1997), "Women and Wage Labour in the Medieval Islamic West: Legal Issues in an Economic Context", ''Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient'' 40(2), 75–7

In the 12th century, Ibn Rushd claimed that women were equal to men in all respects and possessed equal capacities to shine, citing examples of female warriors among the Arabs, Greeks and Africans to support his case. In the early history of Islam, examples of notable female Muslims who fought during the Muslim conquests and Fitna (civil wars) as soldiers or generals included Nusaybah bint Ka'ab a.k.a. Umm Amarah, Aisha, Kahula and Wafeira.

Medieval Bimarestan or hospitals included female staff as female nurses. Muslim hospitals were also the first to employ female physicians, such as Banu Zuhr family who served the Almohad caliph ruler Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur in the 12th century. This was necessary due to the segregation of male and female patients in Islamic hospitals. Later in the 15th century, female surgeons were employed at Şerafeddin Sabuncuoğlu's ''Cerrahiyyetu'l-Haniyye'' (Imperial Surgery).

Islamic faith states that in the eyes of God, men and women should be equal and are allowed to fulfill the same roles. Therefore, they also are required to complete all the duties of a Muslim worshiper, including the completion of religious traditions, specifically the pilgrimage to Mecca. Islamic culture marked a movement towards liberation and equality for women, since prior Arab cultures did not enable women to have such freedoms. There is evidence that Muhammad asked women for advice and took their thoughts into account, specifically with regard to the Quran. Women were allowed to pray with men, take part in commercial interactions, and played a role in education. One of Muhammad's wives, Aisha, played a significant role in medicine, history and rhetoric. Women, however, did not hold religious titles, but some held political power with their husbands or on their own. The historic role of women in Islam is connected to societal patriarchal ideals, rather than actual ties to the Quran. The issue of women in Islam is becoming more prevalent in modern society.

Modern era

Patterns of women's employment vary throughout the Muslim world: as of 2005, 16% of Pakistani women were "economically active" (either employed, or unemployed but available to furnish labor), whereas 52% of Indonesian women were. According to a 2012 World Economic Forum report and other recent reports, Islamic nations in the Middle East and North Africa region are increasing their creation of economic and employment opportunities for women; compared, however, to every other region in the world, the Middle East and North African region ranks lowest on economic participation, employment opportunity and the political empowerment of women. Ten countries with the lowest women labour force participation in the worldJordan, Oman, Morocco, Iran, Turkey, Algeria, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Syriaare Islamic countries, as are the four countries that have no female parliamentarians.The Global Gender Gap Report 2012
World Economic Forum, Switzerland (2013), page 11, 25

Women are allowed to work in Islam, subject to certain conditions. For example, an acceptable circumstance is if a woman is in financial need and her employment does not cause her to neglect her important role as a mother and wife.Al Qaradawy, Yusuf.

'. Chapter: The Woman as Member of the Society: When is a woman allowed to work? It has been claimed that it is the responsibility of the Muslim community to organize work for women, so that she can do so in a Muslim cultural atmosphere, where her rights (as set out in the Quran) are respected. Islamic law however, permits women to work in Islamic conditions, such as the work not requiring the woman to violate Islamic law (e.g., serving alcohol), and that she maintain her modesty while she performs any work outside her home.

In some cases, when women have the right to work and are educated, women's job opportunities may in practice be unequal to those of men. In Egypt for example, women have limited opportunities to work in the private sector because women are still expected to put their role in the family first, which causes men to be seen as more reliable in the long term. In Saudi Arabia, it was illegal for Saudi women to drive until June 2018. It is becoming more common for Saudi Arabian women to procure driving licences from other Gulf Cooperation Council states such as the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

According to the International Business Report (2014) published by global accounting network Grant Thornton, Indonesiawhich is the world's largest Muslim country by populationhas ≥40% of senior business management positions occupied by women, a greater proportion than the United States (22%) and Denmark (14%). Prominent female business executives in the Islamic world include Güler Sabancı, the CEO of the industrial and financial conglomerate Sabancı Holding; Ümit Boyner, a non-executive director at Boyner Holding who was the chairwoman of TÜSİAD, the Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen Association, from 2010 to 2013; Bernadette Ruth Irawati Setiady, the CEO of PT Kalbe Farma Tbk., the largest pharmaceutical company in the ASEAN trade bloc; Atiek Nur Wahyuni, the director of Trans TV, a major free-to-air television station in Indonesia; and Elissa Freiha, a founding partner of the UAE-based investment platform WOMENA.

In the United States, the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding found that, "Instead of hiding, Muslim women responded to a Trump win with greater giving." Nearly 30% of Muslim women vs. 19% of Muslim men have increased their donations to an organization associated with their faith community since the 2016 US presidential election, demonstrating a level of financial independence and influence.

Financial and legal matters

According to all schools of Islamic law, the injunctions of the sharia of Islam apply to all Muslims, male and female, who have reached the age of maturityand only to them. All Muslims are in principle equal before the law. The Quran especially emphasises that its injunctions concern both men and women in several verses where both are addressed clearly and in a distinct manner, such as in Sūrat al-Aḥzāb at 33:35 ('Verily, men who surrender unto God, and women who surrender...').

Most Muslim-majority countries, and some countries with a considerable population of Muslim minorities, follow a mixed legal system, with positive laws and state courts, as well as ''sharia''-based religious laws and religious courts. Those countries that use sharia for legal matters involving women, adopt it mostly for personal law; however, a few Islamic countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen also have sharia-based criminal laws.

According to Jan Michiel Otto, " thropological research shows that people in local communities often do not distinguish clearly whether and to what extent their norms and practices are based on local tradition, tribal custom, or religion." In some areas, tribal practices such as ''vani'', Ba'ad and "honor" killing remain an integral part of the customary legal processes involving Muslim women. In turn, article 340 of the Jordanian Penal Code, which reduces sentences for killing female relatives over adultery, and is commonly believed to be derived from Islamic law, was in fact borrowed from French criminal law during the Ottoman era.

Other than applicable laws to Muslim women, there is gender-based variation in the process of testimony and acceptable forms of evidence in legal matters.Donna E. Arzt, The Application of International Human Rights Law in Islamic States, Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. 2 (May 1990), pp. 202–230 Some Islamic jurists have held that certain types of testimony by women may not be accepted. In other cases, the testimony of two women equals that of one man.

Financial and legal agency

The classical position

According to verse 4:32 of the Quran, both men and women have an independent economic position: 'For men is a portion of what they earn, and for women is a portion of what they earn. Ask God for His grace. God has knowledge of all things.' Women therefore are at liberty to buy, sell, mortgage, lease, borrow or lend, and sign contracts and legal documents. Additionally, women can donate money, act as trustees and set up a business or company. These rights cannot be altered, irrespective of marital status. When a woman is married, she legally has total control over the dowerthe ''mahr'' or bridal gift, usually financial in nature, while the groom pays to the bride upon marriageand retains this control in the event of divorce.

Quranic principles, especially the teaching of ''zakāh'' or purification of wealth, encourage women to own, invest, save and distribute their earnings and savings according to their discretion. These also acknowledge and enforce the right of women to participate in various economic activities.

In contrast to many other cultures, a woman in Islam has always been entitled as per sharia law to keep her family name and not take her husband's name. Therefore, a Muslim woman has traditionally always been known by the name of her family as an indication of her individuality and her own legal identity: there is no historically practiced process of changing the names of women be they married, divorced or widowed. With the spread of western-style state bureaucracies across the Islamic world from the nineteenth century onwards, this latter convention has come under increasing pressure, and it is now commonplace for Muslim women to change their names upon marriage.

Property rights

Quran states:

Bernard Lewis says that classical Islamic civilization granted free Muslim women relatively more property rights than women in the West, even as it sanctified three basic inequalities between master and slave, man and woman, believer and unbeliever. Even in cases where property rights were granted in the West, they were very limited and covered only upper-class women. Over time, while women's rights have improved elsewhere, those in many Muslim-dominated countries have remained comparatively restricted.

Women's property rights in the Quran are from parents and near relatives. A woman, according to Islamic tradition, does not have to give her pre-marriage possessions to her husband and receive a ''mahr'' (dower) which she then owns.Jamal Badawi,
The status of women in Islam
'. June 4, 2008 Furthermore, any earnings that a woman receives through employment or business, after marriage, is hers to keep and need not contribute towards family expenses. This is because, once the marriage is consummated, in exchange for ''tamkin'' (sexual submission), a woman is entitled to ''nafaqa'' – namely, the financial responsibility for reasonable housing, food and other household expenses for the family, including the spouse, falls entirely on the husband. In traditional Islamic law, a woman is also not responsible for the upkeep of the home and may demand payment for any work she does in the domestic sphere.

Property rights enabled some Muslim women to possess substantial assets and fund charitable endowments. In mid-sixteenth century Istanbul, 36.8% of charitable endowments (awqāf) were founded by women. In eighteenth century Cairo, 126 out of 496 charitable foundations (25.4%) were endowed by women. Between 1770 and 1840, 241 out of 468 or 51% of charitable endowments in Aleppo were founded by women.

The Quran grants inheritance rights to wife, daughter, and sisters of the deceased. However, women's inheritance rights to her father's property are unequal to her male siblings, and varies based on number of sisters, stepsisters, stepbrothers, if mother is surviving, and other claimants. The rules of inheritance are specified by a number of Quran verses, including ''Surah'' "Baqarah" (chapter 2) verses 180 and 240; ''Surah'' "Nisa(h)" (chapter 4) verses 7–11, 19 and 33; and ''Surah'' "Maidah" (chapter 5), verses 106–108. Three verses in ''Surah'' "Nisah" (chapter 4), verses 11, 12 and 176, describe the share of close relatives. The religious inheritance laws for women in Islam are different from inheritance laws for non-Muslim women under common laws.

Economic equity

The Islamic teaching of going out of one's way to treat women equitably in financial dealings is exemplified by a story featuring Abū Ḥanīfa al-Nuʿmān ibn Thābit ibn Zūṭā (700–767) – the founder of the Ḥanafī School of Law, who in his earlier life was a textile merchant in a garrison town – and a woman who came to his store offering to sell Abū Ḥanīfa a silk garment. The author and investment banker Harris Irfan narrates the story as follows:

"The lady offered to sell the garment to Abu Hanifa for 100 dirhams but Abu Hanifa would not buy it. 'It is worth more than a hundred', he told the surprised woman. 'How much?' he asked her again. She offered to sell it for 200 dirhams and he turned her down. Then she asked for 300, then 400, at which point the exasperated woman scolded him. 'You are mocking me', she declared, and prepared to walk away from the deal to try her luck elsewhere. So they summoned another merchant and he solemnly valued the garment at 500 dirhams. Rather than profit from the woman's ignorance, Abu Hanifa had opted to settle for a fair trade, a principle he would abide by all his life – that the greedy should be regulated from taking advantage of the vulnerable."

Sexual crimes and sins

Zina

; Traditional jurisprudence

Zina is an Islamic legal term referring to unlawful sexual intercourse. According to traditional jurisprudence, zina can include adultery (of married parties), fornication (of unmarried parties), prostitution, bestiality, and, according to some scholars, rape. The Quran disapproved of the promiscuity prevailing in Arabia at the time, and several verses refer to unlawful sexual intercourse, including one that prescribes the punishment of 100 lashes for fornicators. Zina thus belong to the class of ''hadd'' (pl. ''hudud'') crimes, which have Quranically specified punishments.

Although stoning for zina is not mentioned in the Quran, all schools of traditional jurisprudence agreed on the basis of hadith that it is to be punished by stoning if the offender is ''muhsan'' (adult, free, Muslim, and having been married), with some extending this punishment to certain other cases and milder punishment prescribed in other scenarios. The offenders must have acted of their own free will. According to traditional jurisprudence, zina must be proved by testimony of four adult, pious male eyewitnesses to the actual act of penetration, or a confession repeated four times and not retracted later. Any Muslim who accuses another Muslim of zina but fails to produce the required witnesses commits the crime of false accusation (qadhf, القذف).Quraishi, A. (1997)
Her Honor: An Islamic Critique of the Rape Laws of Pakistan from a Woman-Sensitive Perspective
''Michigan Journal of International Law'', , (1997).Sidahmed, A. S. (2001). "Problems in contemporary applications of Islamic criminal sanctions: The penalty for adultery in relation to women", ''British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies'', 28(2), . Some contend that this sharia requirement of four eyewitnesses severely limits a man's ability to prove zina charges against women, a crime often committed without eyewitnesses. The Maliki legal school also allows an unmarried woman's pregnancy to be used as evidence, but the punishment can be averted by a number of legal "semblances" (''shubuhat''), such as existence of an invalid marriage contract. These requirements made zina virtually impossible to prove in practice.

; History

Aside from "a few rare and isolated" instances from the pre-modern era and several recent cases, there is no historical record of stoning for zina being legally carried out. Zina became a more pressing issue in modern times, as Islamist movements and governments employed polemics against public immorality. After sharia-based criminal laws were widely replaced by European-inspired statutes in the modern era, in recent decades several countries passed legal reforms that incorporated elements of hudud laws into their legal codes. Iran witnessed several highly publicized stonings for zina in the aftermath of the Islamic revolution. In Nigeria local courts have passed several stoning sentences, all of which were overturned on appeal or left unenforced. While the harsher punishments of the Hudood Ordinances have never been applied in Pakistan, in 2005 Human Rights Watch reported that over 200,000 zina cases against women were underway at various levels in Pakistan's legal system.Pakistan
Human Rights Watch (2005)

Qazf and Li'an

In 'qazf' when someone accuses a chaste woman without four witnesses then he is to be punished with being flogged with eighty lashes. His testimony will become inadmissible forever unless he repents and improves (24:4–5) However, in 'lian', when the husband accuses the wife of adultery without witnesses, he have to swear five times each to support his case. If he takes oaths she is to be punished with 100 flogging and stoning unless she too takes oaths in similar way to support her case, her oaths are upheld over his and she will not be punished(24:6–9).

Rape

;Traditional jurisprudence

Rape is considered a serious sexual crime in Islam, and can be defined in Islamic law as: "Forcible illegal sexual intercourse by a man with a woman who is not legally married to him, without her free will and consent".

Sharia law makes a distinction between adultery and rape and applies different rules. According to Professor Oliver Leaman, the required testimony of four male witnesses having seen the actual penetration applies to illicit sexual relations (i.e. adultery and fornication), not to rape. The requirements for proof of rape are less stringent:

Rape charges can be brought and a case proven based on the sole testimony of the victim, providing that circumstantial evidence supports the allegations. It is these strict criteria of proof which lead to the frequent observation that where injustice against women does occur, it is not because of Islamic law. It happens either due to misinterpretation of the intricacies of the sharia laws governing these matters, or cultural traditions; or due to corruption and blatant disregard of the law, or indeed some combination of these phenomena.

In the case of rape, the adult male perpetrator (i.e. rapist) of such an act is to receive the ḥadd zinā, but the non-consenting or invalidly consenting female (i.e. rape victim) is to be regarded as innocent of zinā and relieved of the ḥadd punishment.

;Modern criminal laws

Rape laws in a number of Muslim-majority countries have been a subject of controversy. In some of these countries, such as Morocco, the penal code is neither based on Islamic law nor significantly influenced by it, while in other cases, such as Pakistan's Hudood Ordinances, the code incorporates elements of Islamic law.

In Afghanistan and Dubai, some women who made accusations of rape have been charged with fornication or adultery. This law was amended in Pakistan in 2006.

Witness of woman

In Quran, surah 2:282 equates two women as substitute for one man, in matters requiring witnesses.

Regarding the hadith, that is used to prove the half-testimony status, Ghamidi and members of his foundation, Al-Mawrid, argue against its reliability and its common understanding.^(27:37) Ghamidi also contends that the narration cannot be used in all general cases because it is related to the Qur'an verse whose subject is related only to financial matters. Another Pakistani religious scholar Ishaq argues that acquiring conclusive evidence is important, regardless of whether it can be obtained from just one man or just one woman. According to Ghamidi, regarding the verse Ibn al-Qayyim