Women in Islam Term Paper

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Women and Islam

While the Koran states clearly that women are not the equal of men (2:228, 4:34), it also sets down rules that protected women in a variety of ways. It also requires what would be called a "cooling off period" today (2:226, 65:2), and if the woman is pregnant, the waiting period must extend until the baby is born (65.6). Women who are divorced are allowed to keep their possessions after divorce (2:229). However, in various matters the husband has considerable authority, including determining how long a baby will be nursed: the husband can require that the mother nurse the child for up to two years (2:233), although they can also hire a wet nurse. If a woman's husband dies, he is required to provide for him in his will for one year (2:241), but in addition were required to provide for divorced wives (2:241).


The rules for inheritance are complex, but specifies that a male child should inherit twice as much as a female child (4:8), and men are allowed to beat their wives (4:34). However, if a woman fears she may be treated badly by her husband, she is allowed to try to work out some compromise with him (4:129).

One notable difference between men and women was that while the husbands could take up to four wives, women could have only one husband (Upshur, et. al., p. 271).

The truly significant difference between men and women with the arrival of Islam was their relatively elevated position compared to other societies. While Islam was a patriarchal society where males had more rights than females, compared to the rest of the world, women had markedly more rights under Islam. They could divorce their husbands.....

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